Sermon
Using "Right Words" | April 19, 2026 Sunday School
Publisher transcript
Transcript
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Welcome to the Liberty Baptist Sermon Archives.
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The message you're about to hear was preached at Liberty Baptist
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Church in Easton, MA. You can find out more about us
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or contact us at mylibertybaptist.org or just
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look us up on Facebook. And now we hope that this
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message from God's Word will be a blessing to you.
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Job job number six. Speaking of the words we use,
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but words are powerful, aren't they?
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You know, there's the old saying, sticks and stones can
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break my bones, but names will never hurt me.
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That's one of the biggest lies ever perpetuated on being kind.
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Because there are things that somebody might have said to you
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when you were young and you can be in your elder years, but
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there could be something that someone said to you while you
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were young that you still remember as if they said it to
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you last week. I, I remember talking to people
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actually when we were in Holden going to visit some folks that
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had an issue, a controversy back with a previous pastor.
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And they were talking to me like it had happened maybe within the
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last few months. Just trying to figure out,
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because I think my brother Smith's been here for a couple
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years. How is that?
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And I realized as he's telling me about this, this happened
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like 2025 years ago, but he was talking about it like it
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happened just a few weeks ago. Because we can say that words
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don't matter. We can say that words don't
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hurt, but that's really just our own way of trying to maybe give
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ourselves a little bit of defense and to be able to look
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at, oh man, that's so close right there to to give ourselves
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a little bit of cover because words do matter.
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Now we often think about the words that people use towards us
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and, and why not? Because there are things that
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people have inflicted upon us. But yet at the same time, you
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remind ourselves, we're not in control of the words that people
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use with us. We are in control of the words
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that we use with other people. And so Job talks about this in
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Job chapter #6 a book full of words, the book of Job.
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And you say, well, isn't every book of the Bible a book of
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words in every book of book of words?
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Well, of course it is, just by its very nature.
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But at the same time, you got a lot of guys talking and a lot of
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people saying stuff. And a lot of stuff that's being
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said in the book of Job, honestly is just a bunch of
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malarkey. There's just not a lot that's
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being said there that is really biblically based, if you will,
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that honors God and is really uplifting what God wants to be
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said. And so I want us to look at just
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a couple words, you know, just a couple verses rather here they
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are words, but couple verses and give us a place to begin this
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morning. So Job chapter 6, beginning of
Job 6 chapter mention
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verse #24 where it says, teach me and I will hold my tongue and
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cause me to understand wherein I have heard how forcible are
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right words. But what doth you're arguing
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reprove? Now look at that phrase right
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there at the beginning of verse #25 it says this.
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How forcible are right words? Maybe you've heard this verse
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before, How forcible are right words?
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I want to talk this morning to our Sunday school hour a little
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bit about using the right words and the power of right words.
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Now interestingly enough, that word forcible that is used there
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is only used once in the Bible, either forcible or some other
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version of that word. It's only really found here and
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it means exactly what you would think.
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The word forcible means powerful and could even mean violent.
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That not necessarily the violence is being perpetuated
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upon somebody, but that there is great, great power that comes
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behind whatever is being spoken of.
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And here it is the issue of words.
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Words have power. Words have great power.
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And because of that, we know that we must be careful in how
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we use them. Think about the common weapons
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of the day that you might have a license to be able to use.
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And we think about the safety and the care that comes along
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with that. As a, as a gun owner myself, now
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I realize it, You can't just be casual about how you handle
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something with such great power. I'm casual about a lot of things
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like, oh, you know, here's just kind of the way life is, you
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know, and just that's kind of the way I operate.
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But I would tell you when it comes those things, oh, I'm
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going to handle it properly. I'm going to use it properly.
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I'm going to point it properly. I'm going to care all those
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things. Why?
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Because there's a lot of power here.
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Think about our vehicles. What are you told?
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If you're under some sort of medication, what do you not do?
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Operate heavy machinery. Why?
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There's a lot of power at your disposal when you're behind the
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wheel. You got to make sure that you
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are being careful. How?
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Most people in Boston area aren't careful when they're
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behind the wheel. But the general principle is you
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need to make sure that you're careful.
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This is what we need to do. We are careful when it comes to
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the issues of weaponry. We be careful when the issues of
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a vehicle, but how careful are we really with our words?
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Because cars can be repaired, issues can things.
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These are types of things that cannot that that can be
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repaired, some of these things of life.
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But yet when it comes to the words, once they're gone, it's
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like toothpaste out of a tube. You can't put it back in.
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There's a lot of power that comes with words, but yet we're
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often very casual with the words we use.
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And here's the problem. We're very careful at monitoring
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the way other people speak to us, but we're not nearly as
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careful in the way that we use our words as well.
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Far as 1821 says this, death and life are in the power of the
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tongue, and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.
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I've heard this said before that your tongue is a divine healer
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or a devilish murderer. And boy, I could tell you that's
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the truth. And that's not my quote.
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That's really just coming from Proverbs 1821, that death and
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life are in the power of the tongue.
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We could go to, in fact, why don't we go there quickly to
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James chapter #3. We can go back to Job here in
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just a moment, but James chapter #3.
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There are many great verses in the Bible to talk about our
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words, but when you look at James chapter 3 of this
James 3 chapter mention
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concentration of a discussion book of James near the end of
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your Bible, James chapter #3. And we'll begin in verse #1 And
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it says this, my brethren, be not many masters, knowing that
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we shall receive the greater condemnation for many things.
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We offend all. If any man offend not in Word
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that same as a perfect man and also able to bridle the whole
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body. Could I just give this a, a
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quick explanation for you? If you think that you don't have
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a problem with your tongue, then you're perfect.
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Are you perfect? No.
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Then you got a problem with your tongue.
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You see how that kind of works around right there?
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Again, we're very careful to be an inspector of other people's
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tongues, but not as quick to be an inspector with our own tongue
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first. 3 Behold, we put bits in the horse's mouths that they may
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obey us, and we turn about their whole body.
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Behold also the ships which though they be so great, are
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driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about the very small
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helm with a so ever the governor listed.
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So a big horse and I've not been around many horses.
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I've ridden a couple horses and wasn't a great experience all
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things considered, but I've been around enough of them to know
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this. That horse is going to go on its
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own unless it has a bit in the mouth.
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That little bit that's in its mouth controls that whole big
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body of the horse. A ship, again, not being someone
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that's been a whole lot on the sea, but I do know this, no
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matter how big the boat or the ship is that in proportion, that
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which is guiding the ship is very small.
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Oh, sure, it might be big on a cruise ship, but in proportion
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to the cruise ship, it's quite small.
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It might be very small on a pontoon boat, but a pontoon
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boat's also very small. It is very small compared to the
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size of the ship. Now, why is Jane talking about
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that? Because he's interested in horse
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racing and because he's interested in sailing ships?
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No, because he's about to make a comparison.
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Verse #5 Even so, the tongue is a little member, boy.
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It's small in proportion to our whole body, isn't it?
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And boasted great things. Behold how great a matter a
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little little fire kindleth. The tongue is a fire, a world of
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iniquity. This is verse 6.
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So is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the
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whole body, and set it on fire the course of nature.
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And is set on the fire of hell. For every kind of beasts, and a
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birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea is tamed, and
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hath been tamed of mankind. But the tongue can no man tame
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is an unruly evil full of deadly poison.
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We'll just stop right there for a moment.
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That tongue is very small, but it causes a lot of problems.
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It causes great problems. And James makes mention here of
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the idea that there's a lot of animals that are wild that have
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been tamed. And think about the fact that
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pretty much every animal that you could find on earth in some
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form or fashion has been tamed, even if it's still wild.
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You know, you can tame a lion, but you have to have respect for
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the lion. So you can tame a snake in the
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sense that a snake can be used to sometimes harvest venom and
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different things like that. But you better be careful around
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that snake. You may have tamed it, you may
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have it under control, but you better be careful.
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If that is true about the animal world, understand this the
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tongue no man can tank. You say, well, mine's under
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control, then you've deluded yourself.
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Now we can have more spirit leadership in our life than
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maybe others do by the grace of God, but on our own, listen, you
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cannot tame the tongue. And it continues verse 9, there
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with blessed we God, even the Father, and there with cursed we
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men, which are made after the similitude of God.
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Could I put it this way? Don't come to church and saying
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how great thou art and then go out of the church and talk in a
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way that does not honor the great God.
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We can't come in and talk about holy, holy, holy and use unholy
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words and we leave. It doesn't make sense to be able
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to do that, but this is the way that we can be if we're not
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careful. Out of the same mouth proceeded
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blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought
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not so to be doth a fountain setting forth at the same place
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Sweetwater and bitter can the fig tree, my brethren, bear
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olive berries can either a vine fig?
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So can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh.
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Who is a wise man and dude with knowledge among you, Let him
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show out of a good conversation his works with meekness and
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wisdom. But if you have bitter and envy
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and strife in your hearts, glory not and lie not against the
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truth. You can't have these two worlds.
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One has to be in control of your mouth.
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And in the end, James is going to talk about, and we'll take
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our leave of this text here in a moment, but James is really
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talking about the issue of the mouth comes down to really the
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issues of the heart. As the Bible tells us, out of
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the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh.
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Pastor, if I use, if I use my words like you're saying what?
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Hold on, that's not what I'm saying.
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But if I just to use the argument, if I use my words like
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you are saying, Pastor, the world will run over me.
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The world will walk right across my back.
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I'm going to be a pushover in this world.
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I don't see anywhere in this text or anywhere in the Bible
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where someone cannot be able to defend their rights or to be
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able to defend that which is right.
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You don't have to roll over, but you don't have to act like the
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world when you're doing those things.
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Say, well, how on earth am I supposed to thread that needle
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of making sure I defend honor or say things that are right or
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make sure my rights are not being trodden over by someone at
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A at a store or by someone who's trying to take advantage of me?
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How do I do that? Here's the only way, by being
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led by the Spirit, because it's not easy.
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It's not easy at all. I can tell you stories this
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morning that would be probably pretty embarrassing, all things
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considered, of ways that I have spoken to somebody because maybe
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I was even in the right and how I was being handled, but then I
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took it wrong by using my words inappropriately.
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You say, oh, pastor, did you cuss?
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You know, you don't have to cuss and you could still use wrong
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words. I think sometimes we just
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default to the fact that as long as you don't cuss, then you must
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be using right words. And there's a lot of ways to use
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words wrongly and still not use coarse language.
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Now, should a Christian use coarse language?
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Those shouldn't be in our vocabulary.
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Say pastor, I'm working them out.
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And as new believers, sometimes that is the way that we have to
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work them out. But I would say this, keep
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working them out. Don't stop working them out.
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I, I cussed like I was like a sailor when I was a teenager,
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not at school, not around Steve Smith, but I did and I got saved
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and I realized I'm not supposed to be doing that anymore.
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By the way, no one told me that. I just realized I don't think
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this is honoring to God what I'm saying.
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And it was hard for a while now, not so hard.
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You know why? Because it's been eradicated
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from the mental dictionary that I have of words that I'm
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reaching for when I hit my thumb with a hammer.
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Which the way I solve that is I don't use a hammer all right,
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But so it makes it a lot easier. Amen.
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So, so don't get in the ID even this morning.
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Well, as long as I don't cuss, as long as I don't curse, then
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I'm probably doing pretty well with my tongue.
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You can curse someone without using foul language.
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By meaning this literally cursing is is wishing I'll upon
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someone. I'm not talking about a hex.
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I'm not talking about anything like that.
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But you can wish I'll upon someone and not use profanity.
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And So what do we need to do? Our words are powerful.
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Let's go back to James James chapter 6 and we'll just kind of
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give you an overview of the book of James or sorry job job
Job 6 chapter mention
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chapter 6. My apology.
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If you're looking for James Chapter 6, you're going to look
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a while job chapter 6. My apologies.
Job 6 chapter mention
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How forcible are right words now why is that coming up in
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conversation? Well, you can go back to chapter
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#1 and you would find that in chapter #1 that Job is tested,
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that Satan comes before the Lord and says Job is only righteous
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because you've been good to him. And God says, well, I give you
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permission to do thus and thus to him.
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And in chapter #1 he found out that he lost his children and he
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lost almost all of his possessions.
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I mean, Can you imagine in one day this is what happens to him?
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And, and in chapter #1 at the end of the chapter, he basically
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says, this naked came I from my mother's womb, and naked while I
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return thither said the Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh
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away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
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Powerful statement. And I don't believe that he was
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just saying that in a way to try to convince himself.
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Now, surely he was hurting, surely he was going through
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great sorrow, but he had a faith in the Lord, and that was going
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to carry him through. But then you get into chapter #2
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and Satan says this skin for skin, if I touch his body, he's
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going to curse you. And the Lord allowed that to be
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able to happen as well. Well what happened Satan rather
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Job's wife comes up to him and says curse God and die.
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Now a lot of people get real angry at Job's wife, but you
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realize that everything happened to Job happened to her as well
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that she was going through great grief.
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Now there's some that have taught I don't know the
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necessary I subscribe to this, but I see where they're coming
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from. They believe that she said this
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at a mercy to him in the sense that if you curse God, then you
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will be taken by the Lord, and that would be a sweet mercy
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compared to what you're going through right now.
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I don't know if that's the case or not.
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I know that Job's wife was a woman who was grieving herself,
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and I don't stand in judgment of her other than to say that's not
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the answer at that moment to curse God and die.
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But then at the end of the chapter, why don't you go back
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to chapter #2 I know I said chapter 6, but go back to
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chapter #2 look at verse #11 chapter 2.
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Verse #11 just a few pages back. It says Now when Job's three
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friends heard of all this evil that was come upon him, they
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came, Everyone from his own place.
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Eliphaz the team, a knight, and Bildad the shoe height, and
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Zophar the Nemethite. For they had made an appointment
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together to come and mourn with him and to comfort him.
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I'll stop here just a moment. Does anyone know how tall Bildad
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was? This might seem like it's out of
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left field, but anyone know how tall Bill Dad was?
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No, he's pretty short. He was a shoe height.
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Look right there, says Bill Dad. The shoe height.
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All right, I've been sitting on that one for days, folks.
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Come on. Give me something here.
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All right. So I'm still glad you're here
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today, Tom. All right.
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And when they lifted up, I was hoping for more than that.
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And when they lifted up their eyes afar off and knew him not,
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they didn't even recognize this, how much his body was filled
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with these swords. They even recognize them at
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first. They lift up their voice, they
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wept, they rent everyone his mantle, sprinkled dust upon
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their heads towards heaven. So they sat down with him upon
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the ground, seven days and seven nights, and none spake a word
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unto him, for they saw that his grief was very great.
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The very best thing that these friends did was the seven days
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they sat there with him and said nothing because as soon as they
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open their mouth, things went downhill quickly.
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Can I give you some free advice on how to help people?
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There are times when there are people who are greatly grieving.
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There are times that people are going through great sorrow.
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You know, oftentimes they don't need a sermon.
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They don't need a lecture. Particularly in those very raw
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initial moments. You know, the very best thing
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you can do is sit and listen. And these men sat and listened
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and this was the best it got because as soon as Eliphaz and
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Bill dad and so far and another man named Ella who that will
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come later, ended up opening their mouth, things got bad very
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quickly for Joe. Well, why is that?
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Well, in chapter 3, Job opens his mouth and cursed his day.
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Now very carefully, he does not curse God.
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He curses his day. He curses the day he was born,
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but he was very careful to not curse the Lord meaning this.
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He spoke I'll of his own life. He spoke I'll of of the way that
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he was born, but yet he refused to curse God in all of this.
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Now these friends should have been discerning enough to
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understand this, but yet they immediately pounced on him.
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And so first of all, I wanted to see this morning that there's
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the power of wrong words. There's the power of wrong
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words. And these come from the friends.
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Chapter 4 and chapter 5 leading up to chapter #6 Eliphaz starts
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to speak. And Eliphaz basically says this.
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The reason this is all happened to you is because you were in
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great sin and the Lord's got you.
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So all you need to do is repent and you will do better.
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Now, how does Eliphaz know this? The answer is he does not know
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this. It would be the equivalent of me
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walking into a hospital room, and I visited a lot of you in
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the hospital room over the years.
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But it would be the equivalent of me going to your hospital
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room and saying something like this.
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You know the reason you're here. You got hidden sin in your life.
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He didn't even know what it was. It was hidden sin in his life.
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You had hidden sin in your life and this is the only reason
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you're here now. Are there times that God brings
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calamity into our life because there's hidden sin in our life?
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Yes. Hebrews chapter 12.
Hebrews 12 chapter mention
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Go read it. Later you'll find out that if
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you are a child of God, He chastises his own.
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But it's very presumptuous for me to be able to walk into a
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hotel, hotel room, a hospital room.
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I don't know why if you're sick, if you're in a hotel room, but
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they walk in the hospital room and say, hey, Vince, you know
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why you're here. There's some things going on in
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your life. I don't even know what they are,
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but I know they're there. Of course you wouldn't be here.
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That's bad doctrine. That's bad teaching to be and
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presumption for a pastor to be able to do something like that.
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But Elifaz felt the need to be able to tell Joe, this is what
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your problem is. And here's the issue.
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Elifaz was wrong. We know that because.
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The beginning of the book was all about how Job served the
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Lord in a way that other people weren't.
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So we know this is the issue. God removes the curtain of
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heaven, if you will, for just a moment to allow us to know the
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back story of what's taking place.
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Eliphaz doesn't know, and so immediately takes a man who's
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down and pounds him further. This is a problem.
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Which brings us to chapter 6 where Job says this.
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How forcible are right words? The old saying is true.
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If you don't have anything good to say, don't say it at all.
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What does Satan do? He cast doubt.
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What does Satan do? His very first half.
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God said questioning the Lord. Questioning could even put it
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this way, questioning truth itself.
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That's what he does. And we have to be careful that
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we don't use the wrong words. There are many people in the
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Bible who had an opportunity to take someone who is going the
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wrong direction and with the right words bring them back.
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I think of of Amnon, his friend Jonadab.
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Remember it says, but Amnon had a friend sad verse in the Bible.
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But Amnon had a friend when that friend should have said what's
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the matter with you? You're not thinking right.
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He said this if you want to get this done, here's what you do.
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David went to his advisors. Who's that woman on the on the
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roof there? They should have said, O king,
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please don't, don't, don't ask any further.
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Don't, don't inquire of who she is.
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But what do they say? Well, this is who she is.
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We'll fetch her for if you want. Later on there'd be a king named
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Rehoboam. Rehoboam had the Kingdom come to
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him. And they said, will you relieve
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some of the taxes that Solomon has placed upon us?
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And he went to the old man. I like that he went to the old
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man. Especially the closer I get to
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that. I went to the old man and and
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the old man said this, just relieve the taxes a little bit.
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You do that, they will serve you forever.
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But then he went to his friends. His friends had lived in the
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palace with him. His friends were insulated from
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reality. And they said this.
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You go to those people and say this.
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You think my bad, my dad was bad, I will be worse his the
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power of his loins would be like the power of my middle finger
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coming upon you. Meaning this.
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You thought he was strong, I'm stronger.
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You thought he was bad, I'm badder.
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And you know what? The people said bye, bye.
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And the Kingdom was split for the next couple 100 years.
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What is it? The wrong word?
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It's said wrong. And something like that can last
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in someone's life far beyond what you can imagine.
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A few years ago, there's a young man at our at Westgate.
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Both Smith and I taught in the Christian School there, and I
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know he would admit the same thing, that that wasn't Our
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Calling. We did it because, well, we were
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told to do it. Now, I, there were times I
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really enjoyed teaching. There's a lot of times I really
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didn't enjoy teaching, but there were times that I enjoyed
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teaching. But I remember not understanding
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classroom management. I were to understand, I didn't
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even know what a teacher's guide was or how to do the lessons
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until like two or three years in when someone showed me, Brother
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Shaw showed me, have you been doing this?
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You know, if you've been following the lessons, I said,
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you mean there's a book that tells us what lessons to teach
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every day. I thought I was supposed to
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figure that out on my own. So I was, so it was unreal.
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I had no idea what was going on, but I remember probably 5 or 6
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years ago, maybe somewhere around there, I went back to
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Tampa and I saw a young man there who I taught and if I told
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you the name, you know exactly what I was talking about.
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I went to him and we're talking about the old days, you know,
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back at Westgate Christian School.
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He's graduated, he's in business now.
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He's doing pretty well for himself.
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And he says, he said, I remember something you told me when we
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were in school and I immediately got, So what was that?
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And he says, he said, I, I was really acting up in class and I
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was acting up for a long time. I can't believe I'm telling you
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this. I think I may have said this
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before church. He said, I, I, I, I, I was
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acting up. I wouldn't stop.
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I wouldn't listen. This young man's Hispanic.
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And so I went up to him and I'm also Hispanic, Rivero, you know.
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And so I went up to him and I knocked him on the head like
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that. And I said you speak into
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English. I said, I am so sorry.
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I don't know. No, it's funny.
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Oh, it's funny. I only told you because I said
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it's not funny. What was I, what was I thinking?
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What what was going on that day of my life that I would even
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think that that was something that was funny that that, that,
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that I would have treated you that way.
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I know it is really funny. It wasn't.
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I am so sorry. And this is what came to my
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mind. I didn't even think about that.
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I said it, It was gone and I went about my day.
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He had been thinking about it for the last five, 6-7 years.
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I don't know. Wow.
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The wrong words said at the wrong time.
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You may not even think about it. Someone else would think about
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it for a long time. And you know this is true
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because the opposite is true. You've had this inflicted upon
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your life. And before you get too caught up
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on me, listen. We've all done this in ways that
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we wish we could take back. And I wish that was the worst
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thing that I ever said. I'm sure it wasn't.
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I'm sure it wasn't. But what have we done with our
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mouths? That the power of right words is
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great, but the power of wrong words is also great when you
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take our words and line them up with Scripture.
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Words that speak health. Words that speak truth but yet
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that speak health. Words that help lead people to
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repentance if there's problems, but words that help build people
-
up to become more like Christ. Words that even when there are
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issues that are handled in ways that are Christ like and filled
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with the Spirit. Oh, there's power and wrong
-
words. But #2 I also see this.
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There's power and right words. There's power and right words.
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Joab in chapter #6 reminds Eliphaz and his two friends
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about the power of right words. And they're going to go back and
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forth, chapter after chapter after chapter.
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Proverbs 25, verse 11 says a word fitly spoken is like apples
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of gold in pictures of silver. Think about the beauty of a
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great painting. Now imagine the amount of money,
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of the value of a great painting with gold and silver.
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You know to have it framed in such a way, the power of words
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fitly spoken or more beautiful than that, what they can do to
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someone's life. The Proverbs 12/18 says the
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tongue of the wise is health. Ephesians 429 says that our
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words can minister grace to the hearers.
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How do we give grace to someone else?
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Often it starts with our mouth. Often it starts with the way we
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talk to someone else. The right word spoken at the
-
right time could save someone's life, if not physically,
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spiritually. James chapter 5 talks about the
James 5 chapter mention
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brethren being able to watch out for one another to help one
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another in our times of need. Well, how does that happen?
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It happens when you come with right words, not with
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self-righteous words, but words of saying, I'm not saying I'm
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better than you. I have my own struggles, but
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there's something that I'm kind of down the road a little bit
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further in my Christian life that I, I want to, I want to
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mention to you, and I've had this happen in my life before
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where people have come to me. It happened when I was a
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teenager. I can think of very specific
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people that cared about me that would come to me and say, you're
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not doing right here. This is what you need to do.
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There have been people since I've been an adult and there's
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been people since I've been a pastor who've come to me and
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said, I don't think this is right now.
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I'll be honest with you, now that I'm a pastor, if I'm not
-
careful, I can kind of bow up a little bit.
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Well, you know who I am, You know who I am a Sinner saved by
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the grace of God like anyone else and we ought to be able to
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handle. Now if you come to somebody
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about a need, you handle it with the right spirit yourself.
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But at the same time we should be able to with one another, be
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able to help with it, not in a spirit.
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Again of self righteousness. Christ makes that clear.
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You better take care of your own business in your eye before you
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take care of someone else's business.
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But when that does happen, can you use right words?
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The right words can make a huge difference and, and to be clear,
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how forcible our right words is not about the number of the
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words. It's about the power of the
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words that are used. In fact, sometimes we use so
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many words we dilute the power of the words because we keep
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talking. You say, well, if a 40 minute
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sermon is good, then an hour sermon is better.
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Actually, nobody says that, never mind.
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But but think about 40 minutes of truth is good.
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An hour ought to be better. Maybe not.
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I've heard some pretty powerful sermons log in right at 30
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minutes. Well, I mean, the pastor's not
-
really doing well. The power of the word is there,
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and you leave it there so that people understand and not dilute
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it just by speaking more and more and more and more, and by
-
the time you're done, people don't even remember what you
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said 30 minutes ago. There's something to that.
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There's power and right words. There's the power of the wrong
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words that came from the friends.
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There's power of the right words that comes through Job's
-
humility. But also Speaking of the word of
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God, there's power in perfect words, the power of perfect
-
words. Say pastor, where were their
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perfect words in Job? Well, after the four friends
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so-called had their peace. Well, God said his peace and
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you're likely aware of what took place next is that when God
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spoke, he didn't even deal with those four guys.
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He deals right with Job and he says, were you there when I and
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starts asking him questions because a lot of times if we're
-
not careful, we can play armchair quarterback with God.
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God, why are you doing this to me?
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Why is this happening to me? I've been serving you.
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I thought you were going to do more for me.
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And God just asked him some questions.
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It's almost as if God says this, I'll answer your questions if
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you can answer mine. And he asked some questions that
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Job's never going to answer because these are questions that
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came from eternity past. And Job is so overwhelmed by the
-
words of God that he says at the end of the book, he says, I'm a
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worm. Who am I?
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Because just like Isaiah in Isaiah chapter 6, when you truly
Isaiah 6 chapter mention
-
see God for who you are, for who he is, you see yourself or who
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you are. A lot of our problems are just
-
coming down to the fact that we don't see God like we should
-
because when we see him high and lifted up, we realize how low we
-
have gone. And Job looks at his own life
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and says, I can't, I can't answer this.
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Psalm 19, verse 7. The law of the Lord is perfect,
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converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is
-
sure making wise the simple. Nothing could have been more
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powerful than God. God's words, a whole book full
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of words again, just people talking and talking and talking
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and talking and talking and talking and God speaks and
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everyone's quiet. Why?
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Because God has the last word for four chapters.
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Do you know, can you do this? Were you there?
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Job says I was not, I cannot and I do not know.
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So I leave this in your capable hands.
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Lord, the words that we need every day to make sure our words
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are right. Are these perfect words that we
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have here, the word of God. You want to make sure that your
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mouth is right. Start every day in the Word of
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God, because the Word of God will remind us who we are and
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what we need to be now every day when you read the Bible, it's
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not going to necessarily be about your mouth, but just when
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you read more about the holiness of God, you read more of
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examples of people who use words rightly and wrongly.
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You should start to realize I need to be careful in how I
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talk. I need to be careful with what I
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say. The words we need the most every
-
day are the perfect, never changing words of God.
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What does it say in Second Timothy 316?
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All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and it's
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probably for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for
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instruction and righteousness. The man of God may be perfect,
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thoroughly furnished unto all good works.
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And I love that verse and the reason why those verses, the
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reason why doctrine, that's what's right for reproof, that's
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what's wrong for correction. That's how to make things right
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when something's wrong and instruction and righteousness.
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That's once you make it right, how do you stay right?
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The Word of God tells what's right, what's wrong, how to get
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right, how to stay right. What more do you need?
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That's everything of the Christian life.
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And that's why Paul tells us that that everything that we
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need that pertains to life and godliness is found in this book.
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The answers are all here. And if you want to have right
-
words, you got to be in the word.
-
If you want to speak rightly, you must have communion with the
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one who always speaks rightly because he is right and he is
-
holy and he is just the powerful words of God.
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It's what we need. What's the end of the story, The
-
book of Job, you might ask? Well, again, God does not
-
directly address the four men. He addresses them through Job.
-
And interestingly enough, he doesn't mention Ella, who at
-
all, because Ella, who is the young man, he kind of swooped in
-
and he was probably more foolish than the rest of them because he
-
thought he was young and he knew more than these old guys.
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And God doesn't even address him.
-
It's like he wasn't even there. But Job, God works through Job
-
for the men. And he says this about the three
-
friends. He says this, Job, you make
-
sacrifice on their behalf. You help them get right.
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And I believe that was for one very clear reason.
-
It was to show those men that God didn't approve of the way
-
they spoke. Job was real.
-
He was raw. He didn't say everything right,
-
but it came from a heart that wanted to be right with the
-
Lord. That doesn't mean because you
-
want to have a heart that's right with the Lord, you're
-
allowed to say whatever you want.
-
God addressed Him on those things.
-
We got to be careful about that. Just because we believe we're on
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the side of the angels doesn't mean we get to say whatever we
-
want because we're on the side of the angels.
-
Well, I'm doing right, so I'm going to, I'm going to, I'm
-
going to say whatever I want, and I'm doing it for the Lord.
-
Well, you're probably more doing it for yourself because it feels
-
good, let's be honest, than doing it for the Lord.
-
In the end, Job received more than he had before.
-
Why was that? It was God authenticating the
-
way that he had handled a very difficult situation.
-
We got a lot of issues with our words.
-
We think about it and take inventory of it.
-
There are probably things we're embarrassed about with the
-
things that we have said over the years.
-
You flew off the handle of the conversation.
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Someone got your goat at the store and you put them in their
-
place. You put that 16 year old
-
teenager making minimum wage in their place.
-
The coffee wasn't right and so you went back in and you told
-
them off. Someone at work had it coming
-
and eventually you told them what they needed to hear, quote
-
UN quote at home. Isn't it strange that sometimes
-
we're most casual with our words?
-
That the people we're the closest to?
-
That seems backwards, doesn't it?
-
It seems like we should probably be more casual with strangers
-
and more careful with the people we live with in our own home.
-
But sometimes we are the loosest with our lips, with the people
-
that live in our own home. Maybe the person you made vows
-
to, to love and honor and cherish.
-
And yet those words that come out aren't pleasing to God at
-
all. How forcible are right words and
-
every marriage that has not made it.
-
I will be honest with you. There's somewhere along the line
-
there are words that were not right.
-
I'm not saying that was you if that this is your situation.
-
I'm not saying it's all one it both sides.
-
What I'm saying is there were not helpful words in there
-
because somewhere along the line someone with helpful words
-
should have said we got to get this right.
-
We got to fix this. What I'm saying is words
-
destroy. But, and we'll end here this
-
this morning, words also build up.
-
They build up. They heal marriages that are on
-
the brink. They heal relationships with
-
children. They can heal a situation that
-
might be on the brink and they gets pulled back.
-
You could have somebody that's about to blow up and the right
-
words might help them to see how you take a breath and calm down.
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How forcible are words? Yes.
-
That's not what the Bible says. How forcible are right words?
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And whether it's in a church, whether it's in a home, whether
-
it's at your workplace, whether it's at the fast food place,
-
whether it's with the person that visits your home dropping
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off mail or packages or whatever it is, wherever, whenever, use
-
write words. And when you don't because you
-
won't all the time, that's not an excuse, it's just reality.
-
When you don't ask the Lord to forgive you, ask Him to help you
-
the next time. Ask the Lord to help you.
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Have your tongue to be guided by the Spirit, the fruit of the
-
Spirit, Lovejoy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness,
-
goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.
-
Against such there is no law. This should be coming out of the
-
mouth of those who are Spirit LED.
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So let's be people who understand how forcible right
-
words are. Thank you for listening to the
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sermon from the pulpit of Liberty Baptist Church.
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If this message was a blessing to you, or if there's any way we
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can serve you, please let us know by contacting us at
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[email protected]. Or you can visit us this Sunday
-
at 800 Washington St. in Easton, MA.
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May the Lord bless you as you grow in His Word.