The Voice in the Voyage Vol. 3 with Pastor Joshua Clay

Tonight is the the 3rd and final installment of the Voice in the

voyage. It's been my great honor.

I love you guys. Again, this is my home church

with you all and there's, there's nothing like being

amongst your family and being able to minister the word of God

and see growth and development. I've, I've grown as much as you

have in this process. The study that I've been able to

do has been fantastic and being able to come in here and share

the word is a it's a great give and take for all of us.

The Holy Ghost isn't just speaking only to you.

He's speaking through me and I get to partake and it's an

honor. Apostle Earl's doing the work of

an apostle. Presently he is with our Port

St. Joe family that he's let us know

on Sunday. He's doing some administrative

things with them, meeting with them.

Powerful. God's moving.

Just 'cause you don't see outside of this place doesn't

mean he's not doing impactful, powerful things across the

nation. I mean, Anchor Faith Church,

whether you are present for every area or not, every day is

igniting the city, impacting the nation and influencing the

world. Even in other time zones, while

you're asleep, there's other time zones that Anchor Faith

Church. People are praying even while

even while Sunday, Sunday evening may be going on, there's

people that have already paved the way in prayer for what we do

on Sunday hours before we've showed up.

Amen. This I'm telling you I'm.

Honored to be part of this. I love my church tonight.

As we get back into jump back into this series here again to

give a little bit of a recap. The key text that we have for

for this this whole month has been James chapter 3 verses 4:00

James 3 · chapter mention

and 5:00. James chapter 3 verse four and

James 3 · chapter mention

five. It says.

And look at ships also. Though they are so great and

driven by strong winds, they are still directed by a very small

rudder that whatever the inclination of the pilot

desires. So also the tongue is a small

part of the body, yet it boasts great things.

See how a great forest is set aflame by such a small fire.

So. Every living person that that

has a beating heart in this place today has a destiny from

God. Before you were born, God knew

that you would be born and said, I have a plan and a purpose and

an assignment for them to accomplish.

He he's, he's not haphazard, God's not reactionary to things.

He has a a response to any kind of failure, but he also has a

plan before that ever takes place.

So whenever you were born, regardless of the circumstances,

you don't have to tell me whether your dad was there or

not there, whether your mom wanted or didn't want you.

Either way, the Heavenly Father wants you and not only wants

you, but needs you. He needs your assignment in the

earth. And not only does he need you,

but the whole world needs you to step up and rise up and become

who you were born to be. We've said before that, you

know, graveyards are the richest place in the world because

buried under that soil is the treasure of books that were

never written, songs that were never sung, paintings that were

never painted, lives that never got to be impacted because those

people were buried too soon, too soon.

But let it not be said of us that we didn't run our race as

hard as we could, that we didn't lay aside the flesh and find our

destiny and then do that. So where we can say, like the

Apostle Paul said in the end of his days, he said, I've poured

out my life like a drink offering.

That means he left it all on the field.

Man, I don't want to, I don't want to show up and have, have

the king show up in my face and I'm well rested when he gets

here. I want to have given out and

said I've, I did, I laid my life down.

I did my assignment. I found my purpose.

I did it with my whole heart, regardless of what people

thought about it, regardless about the, the, the things that

came against me. I persevered and did what the

King assigned me. But that's what goes on in the

lives of believers is that we are set out on this path,

especially when you get born again, you are set out on a

course that God, he's got a, he's got a map for you.

He's got the compass, He's got the destination all the

waypoints laid out. But it's your responsibility to

get there. And the thing that guides you

along the path of your destiny is your mouth.

See, we talk about the voice and the voyage.

There's two voices happening. One is the voice of the king,

the captain declaring, here's where you should go.

The second voice is your mouth guiding the rudder.

Your whole life goes in the direction of your mouth.

In the first week, we. Talked about the power of the

word and hopefully that, you know, there doesn't need to be

much more said about that. Do we understand words are the

most valuable thing in the universe?

Words are what the Creator of Heaven and Earth, the Creator

King, decided to use not only to create, but also to

administrate, establish, and rule through in our lives in

this planet. Still, nothing's more valuable

than words. The second week we talked about

the authority of our confession, what happens when we confess?

And I love that this has been a great time for us to come in and

not only have the the spiritual revelation from the word of what

it is, but also the practical application of how to do these

things. Because it's one thing, come up

and say you should have a good confession.

And that sounds very Christian, Christianese, I'm aware.

Not everybody has grown up in church.

Not everybody has read the Bible more than 20 times.

Not everybody has done that. So when you say things like you,

you should be led by the spirit, brother.

And they're like, what are you talking about?

Sometimes it's good for us to kind of take a minute and break

it down and explain what we mean by these phrases.

Same thing. Watch your confession.

Somebody's like, I didn't say anything to a priest in a wooden

room with a That's not what we're talking about now, our

confession. Is what comes out of our mouth

God created us to be a speaking spirit which means when we speak

authority is released identity is revealed we permit things in

heaven and earth we we you know begin to establish our character

and reveal our character it's a powerful thing every time that

words begin to. Be used so this third.

And final installment here, we're going to talk about

conversation because a lot of times we talk about positive and

negative confession, decreeing something.

If you get a bad report, what do you say?

How do I speak out words of faith?

But I find even in the Bible, and we'll look at a couple

stories tonight, but people can derail their entire purpose in

this planet through conversations with other people.

Just as much as a declaration of faith in a moment of need is

powerful and can release his authority, so also is a

conversation response to somebody sitting in your home.

Now it's important to realize and and we'll this will kind of

set the stage for the night. The voice that you value is the

voice you will echo. The voice you value is the voice

that you will echo. And when we.

Said last week, the Greek word for confession literally means

to say the same thing. So every time you begin to

decree something, declare the word of God.

Speak something. If you value the word the most,

that should be what comes up out of you the most.

Now you don't have to be again. Weird.

Give me a weird Christian. You don't have to respond to

everybody in a verse. OK?

Sometimes we can have to. Hey, how was your golf game?

I was blessed and highly favored of the Lord brother, and the

Lord showed up and his creation is gorgeous.

Don't just tell me you shot A-100.

That's all I needed. You're not that good.

He's blessed and highly favored and not your golf game is not.

We don't. We can have conversate, be

conversational, but know that the principles of our

conversation is what we gain from the word.

Not just the poetry of our conversation, the principles of

our conversation, but the voice that you value the most is what

you'll echo, which I can tell a lot by talking to somebody.

Wow, it seems like you value your opinion.

It seems like we can really break it down that nobody's

saying like they just want to repeat what the devil says,

right? Nobody's like, oh, I only speak

what the devil says. Nobody's going to say that.

But a lot of times people will be like really opinionated

themselves and want to tell you their thoughts on everything.

And they end up drifting their conversation into an area that's

not what God thinks, but just what they think.

So where they either don't know what God thinks about this

subject. Or they don't really care

because the voice they value the most is the one that they have

curated themselves from listening to a bunch of

podcasts, from listening to a bunch of coworkers, from

listening to a bunch of political leaders.

Sometimes when you're talking to somebody, you're like, where did

you get that? You ain't smart enough to form

that sentence. You're repeating somebody else

that you believe and value their words, that that is not even

true. People do this conversationally

about each other. Do you hear so and so?

Do you hear what so and so did? Well, they didn't hear it from

so and so. So they heard it from somebody

else and they valued it enough to start echoing it and

repeating it. OK, This happened in the land

that we know of Israel a couple thousand years ago, 3000 years

ago. Whenever this scenario happened,

we can look at the. Let's look at I'm just going to

appear for the sake of time. I'm going to tell you the story.

OK, I'm just going to tell you the story.

You have an obligation. Go look it up.

The book of Numbers, in fact, start in Genesis.

What you should do this week if I'm going to give you a reading

assignment like Apostle Marcy. Read Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus,

Numbers, and Deuteronomy all. Five books of the She normally

gives a small assignment. Don't read this whole thing.

This is the full context of the Torah, the Pentatuch, the five

books that Moses wrote. But in the midst of Israel

establishing themselves and being drawn out of Egypt, they

went to go into the Promised Land that God had shown them.

The whole reason they came out of Egypt in Exodus was because

God was delivering them to a new land.

They understood this well. They knew they weren't just

coming out to wander. That wasn't the goal.

They know God has promised us a place.

God. Not just Moses, it was clear who

promised them God. The undefeated never lost a

battle, ruler of heaven and earth, worker of all great

miracles that they had recently just seen a bunch of great

miracles. That's the God that promised

them land. So they knew what they were

getting into. They go out into the and they're

like God's leading us into a promised land.

So then Moses says, listen, go spy out the land and see what's

in it. He didn't say, and you can go

look at it for yourself. He didn't say, hey, go see if

we. Can.

See the the conversation that he heard?

He echoed What the. Lord said go.

Go in and spy out the land and bring back a report of what's in

the land. They knew what's in the land

belongs to us because God has promised us that we're going to

take this new land. So he sends 12 spies, one from

each tribe. They go into the land.

They start down at the very bottom.

They work their way all the way up to Lebanon.

They travel. It takes them a month.

To journey and go through and when they came back Moses is

like report what was it but we know how human beings are right

like y'all ain't that much different than people that lived

3000 years ago These people didn't just because we read it

in the Bible and it. Skips ahead.

This story does. Like when I say a month, they

didn't just walk in like robots and silently for one month only

look around and come back and I will report they talking.

In fact, it's a bunch of dudes hanging out together camping.

There's conversation every day, every night, and we can tell

what that conversation was. I wasn't there.

None of y'all were there, but we all know what the conversation

was by what came out of their mouth when they came back to

report. And that should be important to

note because I'm not in every conversation with people when

they're talking in their homes and with their families and with

their friends. But you can tell what they talk

about whenever they start to report to you about their life.

We don't have to be present. Oh, you weren't there?

But I'm here now and I hear what you're saying.

And that thought came from somewhere.

So then we get 10 of the 12 spies.

Majority come back the majority and they go there's giants in

the land. Great.

Also, we already knew that the land, if I'm going to get like

real Bible nerd for a second, the land they entered into is

called Kireth Arba. Arba is the most famous giant of

that time. He had a son named Anak.

Anak had three sons. This is all in the Bible, and it

says that they sang folk tales of the three sons.

Who can stand against the sons of Anak.

We already knew that. Moses already knew that.

So when they came back, there's giants in the land, Moses, like,

yeah, OK, So what do we see? They said we're like

grasshoppers in their sight. OK, let's use our brains.

Let's just say they were like 12 feet tall.

They're not even like the 9 foot ones like Goliath was.

They're 12 feet tall. Grasshoppers.

For that to be a mathematical equation, to actually be

accurate, No. What's happened?

I'll tell you I wasn't there, but I'll tell you what happened.

Somebody saw the giants and in fear said we're like

grasshoppers. And everybody's like, oh, that's

good. We are.

That's poetic. Oh my gosh, we're like, that's,

that's our mantra. We're going to go back and

that's what we say. Now there's two people.

Then apparently those conversations went different for

those other two people. And I'm just going to say their

names were Joshua and Caleb. Now, listen, I got a brother.

He lives in Georgia. His name's Caleb.

And I'm not saying, but I am saying we trust what the Lord

says. But if you notice, because of

their conversations, Joshua and Caleb had to also suffer for 40

years in the wilderness. Conversation is what caused them

to postpone their assignment. They didn't come back and say,

let's, you know, make a covenant and shed blood so that we can

make in a decree that we will not go in, right?

No. All they did was came.

Back and gave a negative report. They came in and complained

about what God said to their leader.

We're like, we're like grasshoppers on the side.

Like what can we do? Their conversation charted a

different course than was assigned to them.

Think about it. They were assigned to go on from

one place on a map to another, and because of conversation, it

charted a different course that took them a much further route.

40 years. What should have been 10 days or

less took them 40. Years to get there because of

their mouths. And they obviously had

conversation amongst themselves because those ten were in

agreement. Just because you get together

with friends and you start talking and get in agreement

about something doesn't mean you're right.

Also, it doesn't mean you're picking the wrong sides.

In the end there's not, oh, I agree with this person and this

person. Let's pick sides and whose side

are you on? I'm only ever on one side, only

one. And that is what is the word

say? What is God declaring?

Moses wasn't on a Moses side. Moses just agreed with God.

Joshua and Caleb didn't say we just agree with Moses.

No, they said what did God say? We agree we can do it.

So just for fun extra, you know, Bible nerd things that that

region with the giants. The very first battle they get

in, not whenever they they leave that and they're going to have

to wander. The first battle they get in

with a giant is this guy named Aug who's mentioned 30 times Aug

of Bastion. How do I know that 'cause I read

it. I read the Amplified Bible all

the way through Aug of Bastion. Aug of Bastion it says in

parentheses and not in parentheses.

That guy was known to be more than 13 feet tall, had a bed of

iron 13 feet tall, and was the most legendary well known giant

in all the land and was a king of a territory.

The first guy Joshua goes and fights and kills is the worst

biggest giant and they had to still spend another 40 years

walking around. Isn't that like God?

He's like you're afraid. OK, let's go knock out the

biggest, baddest one and show you how ridiculous your whining

was. If you can get this guy, you can

get the rest, but you're going to have to wait 40 years.

So in that region is the region of Hebron.

Well, there's a big mountain where Joshua and Caleb went up

and they saw it, and that region is where the giants lived.

Turns out that's the same mountain that 40 years later

when Joshua and Caleb go back into the promised land after the

Battle of Jericho. And they go in there.

Caleb looks up at a mountain and says, I want that mountain.

You know what mountain? That was the one with the most

legendary giants of that region. The sons of Anak lived there.

So Caleb, at more than 80 years old, went in and accomplished

what everybody else could have had.

They just had the same conversation.

I'm telling you, you got Joshua and Caleb in there.

They're. Oh, yeah.

They're like Moses is yes man. They're God's yes man.

God said you can conquer. And they said we agree.

If you aren't God's yes man, you're missing it.

What do you God's no man? That's terrible.

God declares something or decrees something in your life

or asks you to do something. You go, no, what?

No, that's the problem is we don't have.

It's not about having allegiance just to a person.

I've got an allegiance to a message.

I've got an allegiance to a word from the king.

I've got an allegiance to the king.

I'm a King's man. I don't care if you all disagree

in the end, I'm going to go back to the word and say if the word

says it, I believe it. That settles it.

I'm going to declare it and speak it out of my mouth.

So if you're like, oh, our conversations don't really

matter, you know, it depends on who you're talking to.

That's not the criteria. Your motives are ever present no

matter who you're talking to. Your words that come out of your

mouth carry the same authority every time your mouth opens, no

matter who you're talking to. Oh, I got my one friend.

I can vent to them a little bit. Careful with your venting.

Careful with your venting that it doesn't wind up you and your

friends showing back up with somebody and saying, well,

here's what the Lord said. Look, look at how we look in

their eyes. Be careful.

What derailed the whole nation for 40 years was just them not

agreeing with the king. And they were in unity.

I mean, you look at the Tower of Babel.

These people were in unity with their conversation.

So then God goes in and confuses the words they're saying.

You don't think words matter? That's the one thing that was

keeping their ungodly stuff together in unity.

People like, we should have unity.

Then why aren't we saying and echoing what God is saying about

everything? I find it interesting.

People will come and they'll be like, oh, hey, what do you think

about this? And I say that and they're like,

oh, Pastor Chase just told me the same thing.

Well, it's not 'cause me and Pastor Chase got together and

texted each other, Hey, what did you respond to this person?

I want to make sure that we're saying the same thing.

It's because we both know the words and whenever we go into a

situation, we look at it. We're like, here's what the

word. Says And they're like, all those

people disagree with each other. No, we agree with the Word.

What else am I going to say? What do you want?

Oh, you want my opinion? That doesn't carry power.

My opinion can send you down a course that would be detrimental

for both of us. What you want from me is what

genuinely carries the authority and power of God, which is the

word of God. But how do you feel about it?

Who? Cares stop.

Stop looking at how you. Feel.

If you surround yourself by a bunch of people that feel like

you, maybe you're going to be stuck there feeling that way

forever. If your words chart of course.

You're on be careful who you surround your body, because if

you get around people whose words aren't on the same path as

you, you're going to go with them.

If God's assigned a destiny to you, if he's assigned A mandate

to you in a in a purpose and you're on going in a direction.

I don't have an allegiance just to my old friendships because

we've known each other a long time.

I don't have a religion, an allegiance to blood relatives.

Jesus even said himself, listen, who is my mother and who are my

brothers? Those who do the will of my

father, which really what he could be saying in the light of

what we're saying here. Those who are headed in the same

charted path as me, if every time you're getting around this

friend and everything they're saying is the opposite of what

God's calling you to do and they're always just constantly

telling you, oh, you shouldn't do that.

Here's what God has in my heart. No, no.

At some point, when do you say what we covered last week and

Jesus looked at Peter and goes, get thee behind me, Satan, you

set your mind on man's interests, but I need somebody

to set their mind on God's interests if they're going to

talk to me. If you always just got man's

interests, I'm sorry if I'm not calling you all the time, I know

who I can call. The Bible does say in a

multitude of counselors their safety.

It does not say in a multitude of opinions their safety.

It is not saying a multitude of friendships their safety.

It does not say in a multitude of words their safety.

I know who to go to that will actually give counsel.

Counsel is somebody that says, let's look at the word.

What does it say about? This.

Somebody goes well, you know, someone's my cousin.

You know they, they did the same thing.

I don't want to hear it. I don't hear about your cousin.

I'm not your cousin. I want to hear about what is the

word say. So our conversations are

important. Let's look at this here.

It says in Proverbs chapter 13, verse 20.

Proverbs 13:20

There's so much in Proverbs about our words, about your

mouth. In fact, of of many of the

subjects in the Bible, I've found that your conversation in

your words is one of the top #1 addressed things in the New

Testament. When Paul begins writing letters

to the churches and letters to the pastors, he begins to deal

with them always, at every point, at some point, what

they're saying out of their mouth.

He told Timothy in his letter to.

Timothy as a pastor, he said. Set an example in your

conversation. Set an example in your

conversation. Proverbs 1320 says he who walks

with wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools will

suffer harm. Now from the biblical standpoint

of what character and what wise would mean, I think we can

deduce it doesn't have to say those who always have their

conversations right. It doesn't have to say that word

for word, but a wise man guards the gate of his mouth.

If you're walking with people who are continually just saying

whatever's on their mind and not guarding their mouth, they're

not wise. In fact, there's this statement

that's, you know, for a long time, you know, growing up in

church, there was like, I wanted to have quotes, you know,

outside the Bible for some reason.

It was the dumbest thought, but I there was, I was like, I want

to quote presidents. That'll be cool.

Abraham Lincoln has this awesome quote.

He's like even a fool can seem wise if he keeps his mouth shut.

Turns out that's not Abraham Lincoln.

That's Proverbs. All the best ones come from the

Bible. You don't got to look for

somebody else, OK? They're all either just

rephrasing something or going somewhere else.

So again, a fool can seem wise if he keeps his mouth shut.

Why? Because it reveals who you are

and what type of person you are the moment you open your mouth.

And you can try to pull the wool over everybody's eyes and say,

say the right thing. But you know what?

There's always a harmony. Between what you think, what you

say, and what you do. The moment one of those. 3 gets

out of alignment. You're a wacko.

You're an absolute wacko. What you think, what you say,

what you do. See, you can try to trick people

with what you say and say something, but what I can tell

what you're thinking because what you're saying.

Doesn't seem to line up, and what you're doing definitely

doesn't line up. So one of these three doesn't

belong. Or somebody's always saying,

saying, saying something, yet how they act ain't it.

That's weird. That's what causes unbelievers

to look at Christians to go they're fake.

That's what causes unbelievers to look at believers and be

like, Oh yeah, you know, they're what is the word they use for

it? Hypocrites, hypocrites.

Somebody that says they believe something, says they live a

certain way, but all the evidence points to you don't

what you think, what you say and what you do should be in

harmony. And in fact, that's a

progression, what you think is out of the.

Abundance of the heart The mouth will speak also.

As a man thinks in his own heart, so is he.

So those 2GO together as you think on the inside, your mouth

is going to say that. Then from there your actions are

going to line up. You're charting the course for

your. Life through what you say in

your conversation. Here's another negative example.

We won't be all negative tonight, but it is a warning.

Because it's no good for us to just get up and be like, oh,

confession, declare the word. It's all good.

It's everything's fine. And not give you a stern warning

and say hey, but be careful because if your mouth carries

what we said last week, life and death, as a pastor, I'm not

going to stand up here and say, hey, I'm only going to tell you

about the positive side. Whenever there's a danger of

death, I encourage my children. But if they started running out

in in front of a car in the street, I wouldn't go.

You're good. You're a great kid.

I love you. I'd probably give a word of

warning. Hey, that'll hurt you come back.

Hey, you're in danger. So we can't cover the

conversation of our mouth and not to look at both sides of

what's happening. In Second Samuel, again, I'll

kind of paraphrase this passage again, but we'll look at Second

Samuel 1516. This is where Absalom, the son

of David A. Member of the royal household,

an avenger of his sister. We already know a lot about this

guy by the time this verse shows up.

But he decided that he was going to sit out there and he had a

better idea of how to lead than his leader.

So he sits outside the city gate and it tells us he's sitting

outside the city gate and what he would do.

Is that the people would come to him and he would say, listen,

come tell me your problems. Tell me what it is.

These people were coming to this the gate to talk to the king.

But he said you don't need to talk to the king.

Come talk to me. Let me hear what it is first to

make sure that's what you want to you.

Don't you want to embarrass yourself?

Let me hear it. And when they told him, he would

say, listen, if I was king, I would take care of that.

But I know you don't even have to go to the king.

I know he's not going to. He's not going to listen to

that. The King didn't even get a

chance. King didn't even know.

Because this guy's sitting outside the gate.

And what does it say? It says.

And in this manner Absalom dealt with all Israel who came to the

king for judgement, so that Absalom stole away the.

Hearts of the men of Israel, you're like, how could God let

that happen? Who did God anoint as king over

Israel? David.

No, Absalom is in the royal bloodline.

I mean Absalom had every chance. He could have been king later if

he would have just not aligned with David, but aligned with

what David aligned with right? The word.

Had he just aligned himself with the word, then he could have had

every right to become king in his own time at the right time.

But somewhere selfishness and selfish motivation rose up in

him that he wanted to get in between.

What is the leader saying and what is you tell me?

Oh OK, Well, if I was. King, I would do that different.

See if I was a supervisor, you know we wouldn't have this

problem. Listen, don't don't go to

management yet. We all going to get in trouble.

You tell me what the problem is 1st and I'll I'll help you.

Danger. Danger.

What's your complaint? Tell me your complaint first.

The complaint department. It seems like the complaint

department of any organization or relationship is a cesspool of

revolution and an absolute cesspool.

Of sin I'll just say that it's against the word of the king

again it's it's one thing to deal with things in reality and

we talked about that last week there's a reality of some things

that could be taking place but at some point people when they

shift from what is the reality of our situation that needs

changed into. Let me just talk about what

needs to be changed. Let me let me give this this

side point scripturally if there isn't.

An issue and there are you are having.

Issues because the. Children of Israel, they're

having issues, They're real issues.

That they're trying to bring to the king.

But if you're having issues with other people, the biblical

standard is you go to them if they are violating the word, not

if they're making you mad. I've had it both ways.

I've I've done things and I'm like, oh man, I, I need to stay

on the right path. Somebody's like, hey, you, maybe

you're drifting. Let me come bring me some

correction. And here's what the word says

about it. I'm like, man, thank you.

And we're good there. There's been other times where

people come to me. And say I don't like how you

said that. OK, Did I say it in love?

It didn't feel like love to me. Well, did I violate scripture

somewhere? Did what I said wrong was my

motive. I mean, my motive towards you

was right. No, it just made me mad.

Well, this isn't a biblical come to your brother thing.

It sounds like you got to offense yourself.

Go deal with that yourself. And we're in the first couple

months of 2026. Deal with your own offense stuff

so we don't have to do this every year.

But if there is a genuine biblical issue, if there is a

complaint of in the Kingdom that is like somebody's violating the

word, then go to that person directly.

But the goal is restoration. The goal is I want to see you do

right, let's do right together. That's always the goal.

Then if they don't receive that, if they're like, no, I don't.

I'll take it. Then you take it up.

You take it to the leaders of the church and meet with them.

The Bible says that in the New Testament, New Testament church

right now, our dispensation, what we're doing is you take it

there and the goal is. Restoration.

How can we do God's will together?

Still, let's do God's will. Then if they don't receive it,

you take them for the church and say they they're doing wrong

according to the word. They won't receive it in person.

They won't receive it from from the leadership, they won't

receive it at all. Here it is.

That's not the goal. The goal is not to embarrass

somebody or do that, but in the end, the result of that, the

goal is restoration. So in any of these things, the

goal would be bring them to leaders, bring go to them and

have restoration take place. And that conversation is

wholesome. That conversation breeds

righteousness and it breeds unity amongst ourselves.

There's been many of people. I mean, I'm not going to have

you raise your hand because that's awkward.

But if you've ever been corrected, you know, I've had

correction from a brother in Christ.

I've had correction from pastoral staff.

I've had, you know, correction happen.

And it was only life to me. I'm thankful for any time that I

was addressed and said, hey, you're getting off.

Of what God's best is, you need to get back to God's best.

I'm thankful for that. And the goal was always to

restore. But I've also had people talk

negative about me before, and you know what?

Their goal was not to. Restore.

Their goal was just to bring light to He's wrong.

Regardless of whether I was or not, when the Love chapter,

First Corinthians 13 tells us pretty clearly about how that

conversation should go, it's not so much about just what you're

saying. It's also the motive on which

you say it. Because it says pretty clearly,

love does not rejoice in unrighteousness.

But rejoices with and the amplified is elated with the

truth. So you can tell through people's

conversation. The way like Absalom here, every

time somebody brought him a problem, he was elated in the

problem. That problem was an opportunity

for him to have conversation. See, love does not rejoice in

the unrighteousness. Love comes and says what can we

do? How can we go?

Fix this problem, but unrighteousness says, oh tell me

more what else is wrong and they start getting excited.

Oh see, I told you how Israel was man.

I told you how this whole place is, they they need something

going on different and snatch the hearts away from the people

and the king didn't. Even have a chance.

But what did God do about it? Was God fine with it?

So you've got so good. Why did he let it happen?

Because God doesn't interfere in the the administration of man

over planet Earth until He's permitted David.

Had the right to say Absalom had the right to do that in planet

Earth as a human being. But we see that that played out,

that the course that he was on, he could have been king, He

could have done right, He could have done something.

But the track that he was on was derailed.

That finds himself stabbed in the heart with darts.

By his uncle Joab. How did we get here?

His movie would start with a you may see me here.

You know, you're wondering how did I get this way?

Then it would rewind and show us the whole thing that I just

described. But his end result was because

he violated the word. He dishonored the leader, that

God. Put in his life, it doesn't

matter if it was your dad, God, who anointed David that's.

Right. I mean, this plays out multiple

times in the Bible. We even mentioned last week that

Moses and his brother and sister, this is a fam in her

family problem. They show up and God brings them

to the tent of meeting and says you've been complaining about

Moses. That means God was in their

conversations, and their conversation wasn't just one of.

Leadership. It was because he had married an

Ethiopian woman for he had married an Ethiopian woman.

That's what it says. I just quoted it 2 times.

They mentioned it. They were they were peeved about

it. Why are you marrying an

Ethiopian? They didn't like it, so whenever

they were together, I wasn't there.

But I can tell you what they were talking about in their

conversation. It was that he married an

Ethiopian woman and it had to be mentioned more than once because

they mentioned it more than once in the Bible.

I. Wouldn't have done that.

I wouldn't have married an Ethiopian woman.

Why did he do it? We.

Prophesied just like him, right? But like, don't, don't we?

Aren't we anointed of God like he, you know, he's God, chose

him. But what's he doing?

But God heard every word. Moses wasn't sitting outside the

tent going No, God heard it. God calls Moses and them

together. Moses is just like, sure, hey

what's up bro? What's up, sis?

And God goes. Why were you not afraid to speak

against my servant Moses It. Was a shock to some of them.

He didn't say Why were you not afraid to attack my servant?

He said. Why were you not afraid to open

your mouth against the one I anointed?

Your conversation has found you in your.

Tent spewing heresy and treason against my Kingdom.

That's why we couldn't talk about your mouth and not discuss

gossip because gossip is a two way St. that both ends have

treason. That's where it begins.

That's where it ends every time. Conversation.

Let me read you the definition of the word gossip here.

This is fun from the Oxford Languages Dictionary.

It is casual or unconstrained conversation or reports about

other people, typically involving details that are not

confirmed as true. I'll read it again.

It says casual. Or unconstrained conversation.

Or reports about other people, typically involving details that

are not confirmed as true. See, we should be people of

truth. Again, if we're echoing what God

says, we can go back to John, right?

John 11 in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,

and the Word was God. God and the Word are synonymous.

They are the same. The Word is God.

Then later he says, what is truth?

Thy word is truth. So if we were to be people who

speak truth and speak truth alone, well then why would we

entertain things that we don't know to be true?

Or not true. Amen.

I mean, Jesus said I speak nothing of my own initiative,

but only what the Father tells me.

The Father is who? John 11 in the beginning was the

Word. The word was with God.

The word was God. He says I only speak what God's

word says. That's my motive.

That's what I'm doing. I don't speak of my own

initiative. That means Jesus wasn't walking

around giving his opinion, throwing it out.

There's there's some believers that it's like they're holding a

sack of seeds and it's just their opinions and they're just

sowing their opinions everywhere wondering why their

relationships are hindered. Wonder why they got why?

Why does it seem like everybody's frustrated at me?

What? What are you sowing?

If you're sowing truth, people can be mad at you because of

truth, and Jesus said I'll vindicate you there.

But if you're sowing your opinion and people get mad at

your opinion, hey, you're on your own.

I don't want to be out of here all alone.

I want to do things with God. We're just saying Hallelujah, I

am not alone. But you understand you can get

in a place where you ain't with him.

He's not leaving you alone, but you can get yourself out

somewhere. You left him think about Adam

and Eve, that God was with him, walking with him in the cool.

Of the day. And then the snake.

Pulled up a chair in their living room.

So let's talk. About what you've been doing.

Where you at? What are you doing for God?

Are you tending the garden? OK, You naming the animals?

Elephant. That's what you came up with.

OK, that's fine. What did God say about this

tree, though? We.

Weren't dealing with an elephant in the room, we're dealing with

a tree in the room, something that they knew God has

commissioned me and decreed to me what I should do with this

tree. He.

Said let's talk about this tree. What'd God say?

He said. God said don't eat from it, the

devil goes. What's going to happen?

What's going to happen? If you do, it's all right.

We'll die you. Won't die.

It'll be fine. You look at it.

Look what it could do for you. Look what it could do for you.

If you hungry, you could eat from this.

And in that little conversation. We begin to derail because what

we think and what we say and what we do should be governed by

the word. But in that moment, what Eve

thought, it says that she saw the tree was good for food and

desirable to make one wise. That's a thought.

And then she said, and then all of a sudden she ate.

And in this trifecta of a think, say and do, she derailed because

somebody said something that she believed more than the word.

Like why was the failure in the garden so bad?

Because her allegiance shifted from the king to the enemy.

Your conversation always reveals your allegiance.

Always. Amen.

And far be it from anybody at Anchor Faith Church to ever show

allegiance to something other than the word Amen.

Even in conversations with brothers and sisters.

You say you. Hear what they did to me.

My allegiance isn't me trying to pick sides with Kirk because,

you know, somebody over here was mad at Kirk.

I'm not trying to pick one of their sides.

My side is always, what does the word say about it?

Oh, you're just loyal to him. I'm not loyal to a man.

I'm loyal to the mandate. I'm not loyal to a person.

I'm loyal to a word. When gossip takes place, it

betrays trust when it is spoken and it betrays integrity when

it's received. It's a two way St.

Make no mistake, if you can't guard the conversations in your

home, you have no control over your home.

If you can't guard your conversations at coffee.

I didn't say anything, but did you hear everything with no

response? We talk about the power of words

and you. Set there silent, we talk about

the authority of a believer, the word of God that could rise up

in you and you. Hear treason of the Kingdom and

just listen and think the king is going good.

I'm. Good.

I'm glad. It's OK.

Who's going to speak for the King?

God's always. Looking for somebody who's going

to declare my word if the if God's word being spoken into the

earth permits his will to be done in the earth, he's always

looking for somebody who will speak my word over a situation.

You know, we can talk about how boldness.

Gets you to declare the word and we said maturity keeps you to

knows when to keep your mouth shut.

There are times to keep your mouth shut, but there's also.

But don't ever get those mixed up because God.

Forbid we actually say. Something when we shouldn't or

we shouldn't, and then we do. Wait, God.

Forbid that, we say. Something when we shouldn't say

something or we say silent when we should have been declaring

the word. There's, there's, there's a lot

of times somebody want to, you know, even if somebody's come to

me about my, my wife or my kids and oh, you know, try to sow

seeds of discord and oh, what are they doing?

Hey, shut, shut your mouth. You're not bringing that to me.

At times people have come to my about my friends, you know?

Oh, your friend, it seems like they, you know, they're always

doing this, you know, how can you, how can you always hang out

with them? Shut your mouth.

This is not a conversation for me.

I've found that over the years people don't come and bring me a

bunch of gossip. Maybe they scared I don't get a

bunch. Of phone calls, of people

saying, hey, let's, let's hang out.

Let's I want to tell you about what I think's wrong with you

and and all the people you hang out with.

They don't do that because I know my response is not going to

just be. What I think my response is

going to be the word. What does the word say about it?

So let's look at what the word says about this subject.

We're going to do like some rapid fire like Apostle Earl

does. I love it.

And he's like, we're going to do some rapid fire.

It doesn't mean I'm going to talk fast.

I'm going to try to talk slower. I'm I'm aware that I can speak

at, you know, 400 words a minute and Gus's up to 1000.

I'm aware there's some verses what we want to put up on the

screen and look at these. Psalm 1015.

What does God say about gossip and conversation?

Psalm 1015. Nope.

Yes. Psalm 1015 Whoever slanders his

neighbor, him I will destroy. Good Lord, we just jump right

here. Whoever slanders his neighbor, I

will destroy him. He will be destroyed.

That's what the Lord is saying. OK, let's look at another one.

James chapter 4, verse 11, James 411, coming out of the same

James 4:11

passage as our key text. It says do not speak against one

another, brethren, for he who speaks against his brother or

judges, his brother speaks against the law and judges the

law. And if you judge the law, you're

not a doer of the law, but a judge of it.

Now he's not saying don't judge. That's one of the most

misconstrued, understood things from the Christian walk and from

the biblical text. I'm like, don't judge.

I've never heard somebody look at me and go don't judge me.

That wasn't wrong. Because David had the opposite,

he said. God search my heart and all my

inward parts and see that there's any way in me that

displeases you. A righteous person once says

judge my behavior. When somebody goes don't judge

me, I say there's something in there that needs to be judged

then but also. You lying, you judge everybody.

We're all always judging everybody.

I feel like I don't. I'm holy.

No, you're not. You're judging what I'm saying

right now. You're making the determination

right now in your heart about what I'm saying.

When I stood. Up here, you judge.

Whether or not I had hair or not, everything we're doing, we

are taking in information and words that are being said and,

and pictures that paint words in our minds and we are turning

those over in our heads and making determinations about

them. That's what we are doing.

So don't judge my behavior. You asked me to turn a blind eye

to what you're doing. I'm not going to do that.

I'm not blind. What you've done is that is

you've violated the scripture. Don't judge me.

I can't pass your final judgement.

I'm not God. This is not a white throne.

This is just a pulpit. I'm not telling you whether or

not you're going to be in hell or not.

That's not what I'm I can't pass.

Cast a final judgement. Well, what I can judge is say,

hey, you were a jerk to the waitress and you should probably

apologize because you represent me.

We'll be sitting. At this table together and I

feel awkward because you just yelled at them.

Don't judge you, I am judging. Be nice.

Look at another passage, Ephesians chapter 4, verse 29.

Ephesians 4:29

Let no unwholesome. Word proceed from your mouth,

but only such a word as is good for edification according to the

need of the moment so that it will give grace to those who

hear in our conversations. They shouldn't just become this

muddy situation of hearing a bunch of negativity.

No, as Kingdom people, we bring solutions to problems from the

Word. So in the end, the goal is that

we would not let unwholesome speech come out of our mouth,

but that we would be able to edify in the moment and give

grace. What is grace?

It is not the big cover up, but grace is God's empowering

ability to bring change and life.

So whenever you speak to somebody, whether regardless of

what they've said to you, your response should bring grace and

empowerment for it to become right, become restored, become

whole. If you just sit there and agree

and go, yeah, that's all bad, you're selling yourself short.

God wants Kingdom people to show up and bring life in every

conversation they have, but that life is only found in the Word.

It's not in how you feel or what you've experienced.

We'll we'll go over 5 things that gossip does.

I want you to take some notes, write down these references.

I'm going to read them. They may not be on the screen

'cause I'm going to read them. This is our rapid fire.

Part of the rapid fire part. Number one thing that gossip

does is separates and breaks relationships.

Proverbs 1628 said a perverse person spreads strife and a

slanderer separates close friends.

A perverse person spreads strife, and a slanderer

separates close friends. Proverbs 17 nine says one who

conceals an offense seeks love, but one who repeats a matter

separates close friends. One who repeats a matter.

You can hear something that's a matter.

And then when you go, Oh, did you?

Hear what so and so said, have you?

Gone to so and so. Are you repeating something or

did you actually go to them with the goal of restoration?

If your hearts that that person would be restored, then you

would start immediately in the biblical process.

If they brought it to your ears, go to the person.

And I found when God's people are doing the God's people thing

and we're locking in love and doing the right stuff.

That's really the only that's the only one we got to do.

Go to your brother and normally they'll be like, here's the

word. I believe the word.

Let's get right and they get right and move on.

But he who repeats the matter? See if somebody's like, oh, you

know, hey, I went to our brother the other day.

I asked him to get right. He got right.

But you know what he did? Hey.

That ain't love. Why are you repeating it?

You spreading strife and now you've gotten this person having

to think about what your brother did, not trying to cover up.

You didn't cover up. You went to them and you dealt

with it and they got themselves right.

And in first John 19, they confessed their sin and God was

faithful and just the forgiveness of their sin and

cleanse them from the unrighteousness and now it's

made whole. Why are you talking about it

still? Slanderer, friend, Separator,

evil. Don't judge me, I'm.

Judging you. You did it.

You did the evil thing. You repeated a matter.

That was dealt with shame, shame, shame, shame.

Why do I feel shame? Because you.

Deserve it because you violated the word.

So now we got to go to you, brother, and say, hey, brother,

you violated the word. You repeated the matter.

You shouldn't have done. You should have guarded and

protected them. But let's restore you.

And then you bring them back into fellowship.

And you don't go out and tell somebody else what so and so did

about so and so. It's a vicious cycle.

You say it is. Yeah, I'm telling you.

Our local coffee shops get the brunt of it.

Come meet me for coffee. Careful.

I don't know. Maybe.

What do you want to talk about? Tell me that first.

Send me. Send me some bullet points.

I. Don't know, they'll just want to

have free unencumbered conversation with you about

people. And again, it's not an issue of

talking about people's lives. Listen, nothing brings me more

joy in life with my calling than people.

Also, nothing has brought me more sorrow in my life than

people. But when people are like, oh,

it's, you know, brilliant people.

I don't know what these quotes are.

Sometimes they come through the Facebook or something.

It's like brilliant people only talk about ideas and weak people

talk about people. OK, that's not true.

I love people, I want people made whole, I want people

restored. But what you say about the

people is what matters. If you're talking about people's

problems, OK then you you're weak.

But that's not scripture anyway. It's just a meme.

Just because it's letters put on a picture that's cool does not

mean it is truth. Just because five people shared

it to you does not make it more true.

Just because it has 20,000 likes does not make it biblical truth.

Oh my goodness. Gossip spreads.

Gossip spreads. The second thing it does it

spreads. It's addictive.

Listen to this Proverbs chapter 18 verse 8.

Proverbs 18:8

And This is why you got to be warned, because it is addictive.

If anything, if any concept in the Bible has MSG sprinkled all

over it, it's going to be gossip.

It says Proverbs 18-8, the words of a whisperer.

The words of a whisperer. Are like a dainty morsel and

they go down into the inward most parts of the belly or of

the body. They're like potato chips.

There's no nutritional value here.

You eat too much of it. It's it's not good for you, but.

Somebody's like, you want a chip, sure.

And when you eat the first one, what happens?

You can't stop. And then you ate the whole bag

and you're sitting there with an empty bag and shame.

But that's what the same thing gossip is whenever somebody.

Comes in and goes, hey, you want to know something?

Hey you got the option seal the. Bag.

Put it in the pantry. No, I don't.

Otherwise you go. What?

Is it? Hmm.

What else you know? And then you leave no one on the

inside. Something ain't right.

Then you got to start justifying.

Well, I guess, you know, we do care about these people.

And I do want to know about all the problems in our life.

And I guess we could do something.

Maybe at some point I'll pray for them.

And you ain't praying. You needed to pray before you

had. The conversations what you

needed to do third thing gossip does gossip sustains conflict

longer than it should. Gossip sustains conflict.

The Proverbs chapter 26 verse 20 says for a lack of wood, fire

Proverbs 26:20

goes out, and where there is no whisperer, strife quiets down.

See, something can be dealt. With by the Word, somebody can

be restored in their church and their family.

Somebody could have made a mistake but then be made right.

But then the. Whisperer walks around.

Yeah, but did you know what they did?

Can you believe that though? Really.

Hey, I heard they I heard they got it right.

They did, but Can you believe they had to get it right?

Shut your mouth, you ain't sitting in my living room saying

all that. What does God say about it?

They're saying they've been forgiven.

They did it. They've their sin is as far as

the East is from the West. Let's move on.

That's nasty. Strife only survives on

repetition and whispering and remembering.

OK #4 we already was that number three.

Yeah #4 Gossip reveals character Proverbs 11/13 One who goes

about as a slanderer reveal secrets, but one who is

trustworthy conceals a matter, one who goes.

About as a slanderer. Reveal secrets.

Hey, you want to know secret? I don't know, but probably not

from you. I've heard you talk before.

I don't want to know your secrets.

You got like a word secret. You got a mystery.

You want to reveal a revelation of what God's doing.

Are you about to tell me about? So and so I don't want to hear

that. Don't tell me your secrets,

especially if your breath stank. Don't become whispering at my

face with your stank breath and your stank conversation.

OK? The fifth thing that gossip

doves. Gossip is able to be stopped by

you Proverbs 17/9 again, he who we read this, but Proverbs 1791

who conceals an offense seeks love, but one who repeats a

matter separates close friends. It can stop with you.

You can say we won't go any further here.

We won't talk about that thing. And again you're like, what does

this have to do with confession? Everything.

Everything. Those are the conversations that

derail your purpose. Those are the conversations that

derail your relationships. Those who God's entrusted into

your life to oversee your soul. Those who's God's entrusted.

In your life to come alongside you as your contemporaries and

your friends and your colleagues, those people's

those, all of those things can be.

Ruined by you being untrustworthy, being evil in

your conversation. It matters.

So what can we do? Find a point we make tonight as

we can repent because of again, if our our life is governed by

what we think, what we say and what we do.

That's why Jesus's first words in ministry were repent.

That means change the way you think.

You cannot change your conversation.

You cannot change your confession and your decree

without first changing the way you think and what you think

about. There has to be a harmony

between the thoughts in your mind, the words of your mouth

and the things that you do. So look at these, these 4 verses

and then we'll close. Hey, you need it.

OK? You ain't showing up at Anchor

Bay Church, not getting a bunch of scripture.

What do you want me to get up here and just tell you stories?

I'm giving you the most valuable thing you're going to get all

week. So sorry, not sorry, Joshua.

Hey, turn there. 1/8 says this book of the law shall not depart

from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so

that you may be careful, careful to do according to what is

written in it. So what are we to meditate on?

God doesn't just say don't think bad stuff.

No, He tells you what to think. Think on the Word Psalm 1,

Psalms 1:2

verses 2 and 3. Psalm 1-2 and three.

It says, But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in the

law he meditates on it day and night, day and night.

I. Had a bad dream?

What were you thinking about before you went to bed?

Were you stressed? Because of work, were you

thinking about people's lives and situation?

Where you thinking about what somebody told you?

Or were you meditating on the word?

Because I'll tell you something the word says about your sleep.

It says that he will give his beloved sweet letter sweet rest.

If you don't have sweet rest, it's because maybe you're not

tapping into that promise of God.

I was. I was always stressed.

You ain't meditating on a word. The word ain't bringing you

stress. OK?

Second Corinthians 10/5. Second Corinthians 10/5.

It says taking. Every thought captive and

bringing it against the knowledge that is against the

knowledge of God and taking every thought captive and

bringing it into obedience with Christ.

So every thought that comes to you lining up with the word, let

your allegiance be shown in what you line your thoughts with.

You're not going to say God things and not be thinking God

things as well. Out of the abundance of your

heart, your mouth speaks and as you think in your heart, so

argue. So those two things tell me

what's in your mind and in your heart is what's coming out of

your life. So the last scripture we'll look

at tonight, we'll close with this one in Philippians chapter

Philippians 4:8

4, verse 8. Philippians 4 verse 8 says this

Philippians 4:8

finally, brothers and sisters. Now this is written to a church.

This is in our time. This is written to you and me.

Are we brothers and sisters? He says, now listen, brothers

and sisters, finally, whatever thing is true, whatever is

honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is

lovely, whatever is commendable, think about these things, Dwell

on these things. The first one it mentions

whatever is. True.

Remember what gossip does. Remember gossip is it's, it's

having conversations about things that aren't really even

verified as truth. Then I'm not even going to think

about it or talk to you about it.

Bring me facts. Bring me truth.

Is it honorable? Bring me honorable.

Bring me what's lovely. Give me a good report.

You don't have to always bring me negative.

You didn't text me back. You didn't text me, right?

I left you a voicemail and I didn't listen to it.

I know what you said because your character showed out

through your conversation. Was it pure?

Was it true? Was it lovely?

Was it wholesome? Was it a good report?

That's what I'm supposed. To be thinking about and

dwelling on. And when you dwell on the word

of God and you let the truth always manifest in your life and

your conversations, then you'll begin to just speak the truth

and you'll be known as a person of truth.

We have everything we need, everything to live victoriously.

We have everything we need to live with peace on the inside of

us. But if we.

Derail our mouth. If we think on the wrong things,

then we can find ourselves washed up on foreign shores.

If you bring this whole thing around and say there's a voice

in the voyage, your voice and his voice need to be both

declaring the same path. And again, this can only happen

if you're in the Kingdom. Otherwise you sail in circles.

The only way to get in the Kingdom is to confess with your

mouth. That's the first thing to make a

covenant with your mouth that Jesus is Lord.

He's supreme in authority. He's the ruler of your life.

He's the captain that guides your steps and your

conversations. That's Lordship.

If Jesus and his word aren't guiding your conversation, he's

not Lord. Don't judge me.

You don't know my relationship. I.

Hear your. Relationship.

Jesus ain't saying that. But on the flip side, us here at

this church, the majority of us, man, we're loving God.

We're moving forward. I can tell Jesus is your Lord

because you speaking truth, you're speaking life.

Whenever a trial comes, you're not falling all apart, you're

speaking the Word. Why?

Because that's the way God designed it.

We're to be believers that all come together, rally together

and have the same battle cry, which is what does the word say?

And that's what we repeat.