The Integrity of My Words // Sermon on the Mount

Welcome to the Lookout Weekly podcast.

Church of the Lookout is in Boulder, Colorado, and our vision is Jesus abiding in his presence, growing in his family, and living on his mission to transform the world with awe-inspiring love.

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Good morning.

Oh, that was weak.

Good morning.

Ah, thank you.

I was thinking earlier, I uh I agree with Gary that this the awkwardness between bringing worship to the Lord and bringing the word.

I was I'm a musician and I was on worship teams for years and years and years.

And um I remember being on the team one morning and the speaker came and he said, Look, whatever you do, make sure that by the time I get up there, you get people out of the presence of the Lord.

I don't want them deep in worship when I teach.

I want them to really hear the word.

And I thought, what have you been drinking, man?

No, keep them there, no matter what.

Keep them there, keep keep the people in the presence of the Lord to hear the truth, the beauty, the freedom of the word.

So thank you, Luke, for that centering time again for coming back to the kingdom of God being within us.

Yeah.

So, got some questions this morning.

This is kind of an obscure thing.

This is one of those parts of the Sermon on the Mount that you go, I don't remember that part.

Because we usually read through it really, really fast and then skip over to the stuff that's more familiar.

And uh this is one of the odd ones, I guess.

So, but thank you for the freedom for not teaching on lust and divorce last week.

I I also appreciate that.

Um start with a question this morning.

Do we expect God to keep his word?

Do you?

That's kind of a no-brainer.

Does he expect us to keep ours?

Yeah, he does.

He's a God of his word.

We're made in his image.

We're part of his family.

In this family, we tell the truth.

In this family, we don't lie.

In this family, there's an honor code.

There's a we live by his heartbeat.

And it's my opinion that one of God's highest values is truth.

It's honesty.

So he expects no less of us.

We expect him to keep his word, he expects no less of us.

So we imitate him.

We'll talk about some of our problems this morning, but we imitate him until we begin to emulate him.

We practice truth-telling, we practice honesty until we value it like he values it.

And we do it naturally, and we don't let ourselves get by kind of skirting the issue.

We teach our kids to tell the truth.

God expects no less of us to be truth tellers.

So, this message this morning, it's it's a little odd.

Here's the question that I want us to start with.

Are you like me, sick and tired of being challenged and want to be changed?

I am tired of being challenged.

I've been challenged for anything can challenge me.

I mean, I'm just not the sharpest knife in the drawer, and every time I come to church or hear a teaching or anything, I go, yeah, I'd uh I just feel so challenged.

I feel so I want to be changed.

I'm pretty sick of me in some areas.

You're pretty sick of you?

Better say yes.

So we don't want to just sit here and be content with being challenged.

No more.

No more.

Jesus didn't die for us to be challenged, he didn't resurrect for us to just be challenged, he did that for us to be changed.

And so, my encouragement to you as you go through the Sermon on the Mount is to bring your Bibles and have three chapters really marked up by the end of the summer.

To use it as your textbook, to use it as your own commentary for what the Lord speaks to you and what you learn.

So here we go.

Here's the passage for this morning, Matthew chapter 5, verses 33 to 37.

Matthew 5:33–37

If you do have your Bibles this morning, I'd like you to open them up.

I hope I hope you have them.

I'd like you to open them up and look there and not just default to the screen, but that's cool if you don't.

Matthew chapter 5, verses 33 to 37.

Matthew 5:33–37

Again you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, do not break your oath, but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made.

But I tell you, Jesus talking, of course, do not swear an oath at all, either by heaven, for it's God's throne, or by earth, it's his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king, and do not swear by your own head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black.

All you need to say is simply yes or no.

And anything beyond this comes from the evil one.

Jesus, come on.

What in the world comes from the evil one?

What a way to end that passage, huh?

So today what we're gonna do is go back and forth from the cultural context to personal application, okay?

Because we see this stuff in the Bible, we don't know culturally what it means, but we can learn.

And let's become students, students of the heart of God.

And his mouth, his word, is the overflow of his heart.

So let's learn what he's talking about here.

So we're gonna go back and forth.

So here's an overview of Jesus' intention with the Sermon on the Mount.

This is number four of six, where he says, You have heard it said, but I say unto you.

You have heard it said in the law, this is the behavior God expects.

But I say unto you, do you remember in Matthew chapter 5, 17, where Jesus said, um, I didn't come to abolish the law and the prophets, I came to fulfill, complete, build on, make it all come true.

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

And so Jesus is saying, you've heard it said from the law, which, by the way, couldn't save you.

It wasn't there to save you, it was there to expose that you can't save yourself.

Right?

But I say unto you, let's build on this.

I'm gonna give you a deeper truth, even a deeper truth.

Have you ever experienced that with the Lord before?

Where you know the truth and then he gives you a deeper one about the very same thing, right?

So he says, I'm gonna give you a deeper truth here, and we're gonna talk about oaths.

We're gonna talk about the words of our mouths.

Basically, what Jesus is doing in the Sermon on the Mount is he's raising the bar.

He's saying, You thought you couldn't keep the law and you can't.

Well, I'm gonna make it harder.

Because the law is all about external behavior, and I want to talk to you about your heart.

Because it's not enough when God just has your behavior.

Just because he has your behavior doesn't mean he has your heart.

But I'm telling you, if he has your heart, he'll have your behavior.

So God's always saying, Give me your heart.

Give me your heart, son.

Come on, daughter, I want your heart.

Give me your heart.

Will you trust me?

And then do you remember in Luke chapter 6, verse 45, where God's uh Jesus says, out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.

Luke 6:45

I think it's the NLT says, the mouth talks about what the heart is full of.

So whatever's going on in our mind, our will, and our emotions leaks out our mouth, right?

It leaks out you you want to know, you want to know where that stuff you say sometimes comes from?

Comes right out of your heart.

Yeah, mine too.

It's convicting.

But let's be changed, let's not just be convicted.

So basically, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is calling us higher from external behavior to internal transformation, right?

From from uh, ooh, from rightness to righteousness.

Yeah?

From being right and getting it right to putting on that robe of righteousness and becoming who he's created us to be in Jesus.

So he gives us 101, Kingdom Living 101, an intro to living, now that you've become a Jesus follower.

How to act in God's family, how to behave, the standard of living we have, yes, absolutely, but more than that, Jesus emphasizes the heart.

So in this passage, we're talking about oaths and vows, the words of our mouth that come out of our heart.

So let's start with the definition, okay?

Over 200 times this word oath is used in the Bible, and here's what it is.

I think you have the definition up here.

A solemn promise to indicate that you're telling the truth to add emphasis to your words.

Your word alone doesn't carry enough weight.

So you appeal to a higher authority and verify your word with an oath or a vow.

Does that make sense?

It's pretty clear, right?

Okay, let's keep going here then.

Here are some examples of modern day oaths.

A kid might say, You'll come see me, right?

Pinky promise?

That's a cheesy one, but it's still like an oath.

It's a promise.

It's, I know you'll say you'll come see me, but will you pinky promise?

Right?

Um, we use this expression, I swear.

I didn't do it.

I swear, that's an oath.

It's appealing to a higher authority.

I'm absolutely telling you the truth.

Cross my heart.

Stick a needle in my eye?

What?

How twisted and weird is that?

I remember saying that as a little kid.

It's like nobody called me on it, and they should have.

How weird is that?

It's a it's an oath.

I'm promising so much that I cross my heart that I hope to die.

That's just weird.

Do you remember the presidential oath?

It starts like this I do solemnly swear.

It's an oath.

That I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I'm about to enter.

So help me God.

It's an oath.

Here's another one.

As God is my witness, I did what I said I was gonna do.

It's a modern-day oath that we take, okay?

You got the idea now?

We're still using oaths.

We're still taking oaths.

We'll talk more about that later.

So back to our text, Matthew 5.33.

Do not break your oath, but fulfill, what are the next three words?

To the Lord, the vows you have made.

To the Lord not only refers to the vows we make to Him directly, but emphasizes that the Lord is witness to every vow we take, no matter who.

The Lord is witness to everything we say.

So be careful what comes out your mouth.

The premise of this verse is uh Exodus chapter 20, verse 7.

Exodus 20:7

Super familiar to us.

You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.

Once you listen to a couple of other translations, here's the amplified.

You shall not take the name of the Lord your God irreverently, in false affirmations, or in ways that impugn the character of God, for the Lord will not hold guiltless, nor leave unpunished the one who disregards its reverence and its power.

Here's the Aramaic Bible.

You shall not swear in the name of Lord Jehovah your God with a lie, because the Lord Jehovah does not declare him innocent who swears in his name with a lie.

Here's God's words translation.

Never use the name of the Lord with your God carelessly.

Starting to feel convicted yet?

Culturally?

The Lord will make sure that anyone who carelessly uses his name will be punished.

Good news translation.

Do not use my name, the Lord says, for evil purposes, for I, the Lord your God, will not punish anyone who misuses my name.

And this is the premise for this passage in the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus is saying, take seriously what comes out of your mouth.

Okay?

In other words, okay, here it is.

I'm gonna read it because I don't want to mess it up.

In other words, if you're going to bring the authority of God's name into your oath or vow or promise, you'd better be telling the truth.

If you're going to call on a higher authority to verify what you're saying, then don't do it carelessly or irreverently.

And certainly not in a lie or for evil purposes.

In other words, fear the Lord and use his holy name with honor.

Using God's name is serious.

All hail King Jesus.

Now we've got some cultural challenges, don't we?

The most common one I can think of that has become we don't, I don't know, maybe some of us don't give it any thought anymore.

And I realize I may get some pushback on this, but it's just the blatant response to a whole lot of kinds of situations.

Oh my God.

I'd like to challenge a little bit this morning.

Not long ago, I read this quote, and I was just struck in my heart.

God speaking, here's what he says.

You appealed to my authority ten thousand times in your lifetime.

But not once did you acknowledge my rule in your heart.

See the difference?

Oh my god, I can't believe that happened.

Authority and rulership cannot be separated.

They're connected.

So the oh my god phrase that has become so commonplace is a flippant and careless and irreverent use of the name of the one to whom we have given our entire lives.

At least that's the way I read it.

Can't separate using those words, my God, oh my God, with my God without giving rulership, without yielding rulership.

So, let's transition a little bit.

Here are some biblical examples of why people take oaths.

Uh, oaths are taken and to seal an agreement or confirm a decision that was made.

Remember, this is these are biblical examples of oaths.

To seal an agreement or confirm a decision that was made.

Abraham made a uh decision in Genesis chapter 24, and he had his servant, here's what it says, swear by the Lord the God of heaven and earth, that you will not get a wife from my son Isaac from the Canaanite people, but you'll go back home to my home country and find a wife from my people.

Genesis 24 · chapter mention

I mean, Abraham was serious about this.

I want you to swear with an oath, okay?

Here's the second reason biblically that people take oaths.

To solve the dispute.

In uh Genesis 26, Abraham or Isaac and Abimelech, a local king, had a dispute over a well that Abraham had originally dug, and they made a sworn agreement between themselves.

It's like a treaty, that they would do one another no harm.

Here's a third reason.

Oaths are taken sometimes to make a deal with the Lord.

Does that make you cringe a little bit?

That just that phrase, to make a deal with the Lord.

We have an incredible, thoughtless example in Judges chapter 11.

Judges 11 · chapter mention

There's this guy named Jephthah, and he was asking God for defeat over the Ammonites, Israel's enemy.

Here's what he said.

You're not going to believe this.

If you give the Ammonites into my hands whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites will be the Lord's, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering.

Yeah.

Uh-oh.

After his victory, Jephthah went home and his daughter came out dancing through the door, and she was his only child.

Thoughtless, careless oath.

An oath was taken by Herod to validate approval based on the fear of man in Matthew chapter 14.

Matthew 14 · chapter mention

Herod was so pleased by the dancing of Herodias' daughter that he took an oath in public and said, Whatever you want, I'll give you.

She said, the head of John the Baptist on a platter.

And he was bound to the oath.

Words are powerful.

Words are powerful.

God takes them seriously.

Lord may we take our words as seriously as you do.

But we have some problems, human problems.

Welcome to the human race.

We all share these.

You ready?

Ready to talk about problems?

Yeah.

Oh, you can hardly wait, right?

First one, we lie.

Shall we do a show of hands?

I think not.

Let me tell you some of the words that are associated with this lie.

We're liars.

We exaggerate, we stretch the truth, we tell white lies.

What the heck is that?

We deceive, we manipulate, we coerce, we twist, we give partial information, we imply untruths.

Am I right?

Yeah.

All two of you admitted it.

Bless you.

Listen to the scripture in Deuteronomy 10.20.

Fear the Lord your God and serve him.

Hold fast to him and take your oaths in his name.

And in his name is not just in his authority, it's as his representative.

We take them in his name.

The phrase in his name literally means five things.

It means in his character, in his authority, in his rank, in his reputation, and as his representative.

This is serious.

He hears every time.

Leviticus 19, 12, don't swear falsely by my name and so profane the name of the Lord.

I'm the Lord, he says.

So don't bring the name of the Lord into a vow if we're not going to fulfill it.

Okay, so our first human problem is we lie.

Second human problem is we really like loopholes.

Agreed?

Yeah?

What's a loophole?

It's an ambiguity.

It's something unclear, something not exact, it's an inadequacy in a set of rules or in the law.

And so the questions we ask are: how can I get around this?

How can I get more than my share?

How can I get what I want?

So we look for loopholes.

Let's go back to the passage, Matthew 5, 34 to 37.

But I tell you, don't swear an oath at all, either by heaven, for it's God's throne, by earth, it's his footstool, by Jerusalem, it's the city of the great king.

Don't swear by your head, for you can't make even one hair, black or white.

So swearing by something else or someplace, rather than using God's holy name, became a loophole in this culture.

They started swearing by all kinds of things because they're appealing to a higher authority, but they don't want to go so far as appealing to God's name.

Because they know better.

At least they're that smart.

Not super smart, but at least they're that smart.

So to create a loophole, let's vow, make a vow to a higher authority that verifies what I just said.

By heaven, by earth, by Jerusalem, even by myself.

And they created these lesser oaths.

Why?

So that they could lie and Not carry out the weight of using God's name in an oath.

Manipulating God's word.

In other words.

So the religious leaders were constructing a religious, not relational system so that they could have wiggle room.

God, you can be part of this part of my life, but not part of that life.

And the reason I say it that way is this the Greek word for oath literally means to build a fence around.

To build a fence around, to create an area of restraint.

Here's how it works.

Some places I invite God into, some places I don't.

Some rules I keep, some I don't.

He has some of my heart, he doesn't have all of my heart.

Examples.

God, you're allowed into my Sunday, but not my Saturday, because I'm putting a fence around that.

That's my day off.

You can have my family, but not my finances.

I've got a restraining order on you with my money.

You're invited into the books I read, but not the screens I watch.

You see?

Preferably, don't really want to obey it at all, but at least let's make it easier.

Jesus really gets into their business here in this part of the sermon.

So Jesus destroys the thinking.

Listen to 533 again.

Again, you have heard it said to my the people long ago: don't break your oath, but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made.

The scribes and the Pharisees, they had twisted the law, you shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.

Why?

To allow the use of any other name in a false oath.

Because it didn't carry weight.

And Jesus destroys this thinking.

He says, You want to swear by heaven instead of God?

What are you thinking?

Heaven is God's throne.

You want to swear by earth instead of by God?

Well, picture it.

That's his footstool.

You want to swear by Jerusalem?

That's his city.

You can't get away from him.

You want to swear by yourself?

Are you kidding me?

Seriously?

In other words, there's no space you can create that God's not already part of.

He can jump any fence, any oath.

He's there.

He hears.

He can invade any space and be right there in the middle of it.

Why?

Because of his nature.

He is omnipotent, all-powerful.

He is omniscient, all-knowing.

He is omnipresent.

He is present everywhere.

Everywhere.

For from him.

Through him.

And to him are all things.

Romans 11, 36.

So to God be the glory forever.

God doesn't just God doesn't just hear words spoken in his name.

He hears all words.

And all words reveal the heart.

Serious stuff.

So if I swear by heaven, earth, Jerusalem, or even by myself, I swear by God.

And my oath must be honored.

There aren't loopholes for Jesus' followers.

We're bound to our family code of honor.

We're honest people.

We don't lie.

And so in verse 37, Jesus says, so let your yes be yes and let your no be no.

Having to make an oath can display the weakness of my word.

Hang with me for that thought.

If I feel like I have to make an oath to verify or validate my word, it demonstrates that there's not enough weight in my own character to confirm my words.

How much better to just say yes or no and have my character back it up.

Some people have taken this word from Jesus to be more than an emphasis on truth-telling and honesty, but rather they've taken it to be an absolute prohibition of taking any kind of oath.

But this is misguided.

This is not Jesus' intent here, in my opinion, because oaths are permitted under certain circumstances, right?

As long as they're not abused, as long as they're not a cover-up for deception.

They're permitted.

I mean, God even takes oaths.

We'll talk about that in a second.

So we've got some concluding principles here.

Here's number one.

It's okay to take oaths, to make promises, to take vows, but be careful.

It's super serious, right?

In verse 34, when Jesus says don't swear at all, it's not a literal statement.

He's drawing attention to the seriousness of an oath and the power of our words.

We do this on a wedding day, right?

We take an oath, we make a vow, we make a promise.

God hears it, we do it in public, other people hear it, people sign their name, people say, we will stand with you and make sure that you follow through with what you just said.

We make commitments to God sometimes.

God himself swears on an oath.

In Hebrews 6.13, God made his promise to Abraham since there was no one greater by him, but no one greater for him to swear by.

He swore by himself.

He took an oath by himself, saying, I'm going to bless you, Abraham.

Jesus spoke under oath right before the crucifixion.

Do you remember that?

Pilate said, or sorry, not Pilate, the high priest says, I charge you under oath by the living God.

Tell us, are you the Messiah?

And Jesus said, under oath, it's as you say.

Paul made all kinds of oaths.

We have several instances.

Here's one in Galatians 1.20.

I assure you before God that what I'm writing to you is no lie.

Oh, that gets my attention.

Does it get yours if somebody says it that way?

I assure you before God, that's his oath.

So, principle number two.

Wait, number one is it's okay to make oaths, promises, and vows, but let's be careful.

It's serious.

Number two, let honesty be constantly on our lips.

One sentence at a time.

Matthew 5, 37, all you need to say is simply yes or no and let your character back it up.

Psalm 119, remove from me the way of lying.

Psalm 120, deliver my soul from lying lips.

Proverbs, six things the Lord hates, one of them's lying.

He's pretty clear about it, really.

I mean, there's not a lot of discussion on whether or not this can be interpreted differently, you know?

Several years ago, when I joined Mercy Ships, it's a fleet of hospital boats that goes to the poorest nations in the world to give first world medical care.

And I realized that from that time on, I was going to be having a whole lot of short-term relationships.

And my question for the Lord was what it how do you have valid, life-giving short-term relationships when you probably will never see these people again?

It looks like I'm going to be spending the rest of my life doing this, so help me out here.

Show me.

And he gave me two guiding principles for how to do this.

The first one he said is, wherever you are, be all there.

Embrace every situation and add value to every situation.

Be all there.

It has served me well.

Second principle, he said, was no matter what you do, tell the truth in every relationship because you don't want to have to pick up any pieces if you do see those people again.

That was a good motivator for me.

That was really good.

Made it clear for me, just two guiding principles.

He made it really clear.

And one of them I find very interesting, tell the truth no matter what.

So my prayer has become, God give me love for truth telling, right?

God give me love for truth telling.

May I value honesty as much as you do.

So, concluding principles.

Number one, it's okay to make oaths, promises, and vows, but be careful because it's serious.

Number two, let honesty be constantly on our lips, one sentence at a time.

Number three, let our integrity be the only credibility we need.

Wow.

Live our lives in such a way that people will believe what we say.

Our character is what makes our words credible.

Which is important to remember during election season.

Just thought I'd throw that in there.

Didn't get as big a laugh as I wanted it to.

It's our character that makes our words credible.

It's God's character that makes me trust him.

It's my character that makes others trust me.

Say it again?

I'd love to.

It's God's character that makes me trust him.

It's my character that makes others trust me.

People trust God because he follows through with what he says.

People trust me for the same reason.

So we have to ask ourselves the question: do people trust me?

Why or why not?

Yeah.

How might our lives, our families, our businesses, our churches be transformed if we actually kept our word?

If we followed through?

Think about that for a second.

Psalm 15 says, this is skipping around a little bit, but it's all in there.

It's a short little Psalm on the fear of the Lord.

Lord, who may dwell in your sanctuary?

In other words, who may live in your presence, right?

Who may live on your holy hill?

Here's who.

He whose walk is blameless and does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from his heart and has no slander on his tongue, the one who keeps his oath, even when it hurts.

He who does these things will never be shaken.

What a promise.

But we have a cultural problem, don't we?

Culture has changed.

Sorry, culture has challenged absolute truth.

Agreed?

My truth, your truth, kind of thing.

But truth has no degrees.

In other words, something's not kind of true, right?

Truth by very definition is pure, it's faultless, it's not tainted in any way.

It doesn't change, it doesn't waver, and this is not a popular message.

But truth, the purity of truth, the purity of God's truth, it can stand alone.

My word can stand alone if I'm speaking the truth.

It doesn't matter if I turn my back on it, it's still there, right?

Standing alone is truth.

It doesn't need anything else to complete it or even to make it intellectually palatable, right?

If we disagree with it, it's still true.

If we ignore it, it's still there.

True.

Ready to expose all, and what did Jesus say in John chapter 8?

John 8 · chapter mention

Ready to set us free.

The truth is what sets us free.

So truth doesn't change, it doesn't adjust, it doesn't adapt to cultural relevancy.

This example is, I'm going to speak very generically, about the continent in general of Africa.

I've traveled enough to a number of countries in Africa to see kind of a pattern.

As the Archbishop of the Anglican Church of Uganda told me one time, we are the most evangelized and the least transformed of all continents.

He's actually said to me, we're saved already.

Would someone please come disciple us?

And here's one of the reasons.

If you talk to or look at the stats, and in this one country I'm particular, I'm thinking about 70% of the population attends an evangelical Jesus-believing church every single Sunday and will look you in the eye and say, I have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as my own personal Lord and Savior.

The same stats for the same country are 70% of the men in the church beat their wives.

And so you talk to them and you go, dude, now that you've uh you don't call him dude, never mind.

Now that you've accepted Jesus, there's kind of a different family code here.

And maybe, you know, let's take a look in the word and talk about this thing of beating your wives.

Over and over and over we hear this kind of illustration.

Yeah, but it's okay because I'm an African, and African men, all African men beat their wives.

It's okay.

In other words, he's pulling the African card before he's pulling the Christian card.

I'm an African before I'm Christian, right?

Am I an American before I'm Jesus' follower?

To which kingdom do I belong?

To which kingdom, political or spiritual, do I first pledge my allegiance?

First.

I've actually heard people say I'm a Baptist before I'm a Christian.

I'm an Anglican before I'm a Christian.

I'm a charismatic before.

I mean, people people say these things.

We need to be careful, words are powerful.

Truth has always been true, it is true, it's true everywhere in every nation, every tongue, every tribe, every age, every culture.

It's eternal.

Public opinion, church rules, majority votes do not make something true.

Truth is eternal through the centuries, and it's enough.

Truth is enough.

It can withstand the most intense scrutiny.

So will we take the challenge for change?

Will we take the challenge?

Will we challenge the culture we live in by being people of truth, being people of honesty, people who keep their word, who follow through with what they say, people who are careful, careful, careful with what we say.

Can we challenge culture as parents and families and a church by being truth tellers?

So personally, I'm gonna give you a little bit of time here, just a little bit.

Luke guide me through this, okay?

Um, if if you want to work it any way or other.

Let's let's ponder this with Jesus for a second.

All right, Jesus, we invite you into this.

Your uh your name and your word are exalted above all things.

We want to be people who honor your name because you hear it all.

We want to be people who accurately, effectively, lovingly, reverently represent you and your kingdom with the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts, because you can't separate the two.

So, Jesus, we invite you into these questions, not just for challenge, but for change.

How much weight does your word carry?

You personally, how much weight does your word carry?

Similarly, how much weight does God's word carry in your life?

Do we say what we mean and mean what we say?

We can hear the words of Jesus this morning say, Son, be a man of your word.

Daughter, be a woman of your word.

Holy Spirit, will you show us where we have not been so we can repent and turn and change to accurately represent you, effectively, lovingly, reverently represent you?

Lord, may the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts align with the words of your mouth and the meditations of your heart.

And Lord, just as your character has proven your words and stands behind your words, may our character prove our words and stand behind our words.

Because we've imitated you so much, we emulate you.

We value what you value.

And you value the truth.

It's the only thing that's gonna set us free.

Lord, collectively, this morning we take the challenge to be changed.

Purify our hearts, oh God.

Purify our hearts.

May we want to tell the truth.

Where we don't want to, will you change our want to?

We give you permission to.

We serve a holy God who has called us out to be holy.

Raise the bar from rightness to righteousness.

Thank you for valuing us that so much that you do that, for calling us sons and daughters, for inviting us into your family, for moving us into your house, for giving us your name, and for writing our names in your will.

Thank you.

It's an honor to serve you, Jesus.

It's an honor to be called by your name.

It's an honor to bow my knee and align my character with yours.

It is an honor.

God, we're gonna make external changes.

We ask you to make the internal transformation possible by the blood of Jesus, the word of truth, and the power of the Spirit this morning.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

If you uh would like some more conviction, um I actually have a handout for you that is a self-evaluation going scripturally through all the different things that we say, and just kind of a thing that the ushers are gonna give you that you may leave on the seat or take home and spend some time with Jesus.

Your call, but um thanks, you guys.

This is this is a big deal to the Lord.

It's been an honor to be here.

Thank you.