Your Words Are Shaping Your Future | Janet Brazee | World Outreach Church

Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Go ahead and

take a seat. Glory to God.

Good to see y'all this morning. We're

glad you chose to be in the house of the

Lord. As my daddy used to say, I'd

rather be in the house of the Lord than

the best hospital in town. Can anybody

say amen to that?

So, um I will begin by letting you know

uh Pastor Mark flew out Wednesday

morning. If you were here Wednesday

night, you you know this, but he flew

out Wednesday morning to um

St. Louis and he picked up a car and

drove a couple hours to Effingham,

Illinois. He's been part of a camp

meeting in Effingham along with Joey

Roberts and his dad, Ross, and some

other pastors and ministers since uh

Thursday Thursday, actually. So, uh it

ended he he did four sessions, four

services, and it ended yesterday at

noon. So, he called me and said, "I'm

headed back to St. Louis to catch my

flight, and then I'll be home. I should

be home by about 9:20." I said, "Great.

Just keep me posted."

Well,

the joys of travel.

People have no idea.

So, he called me from St. Louis, and he

said, "Well, we're not boarding yet." It

passed his departure time. Well, we're

still not boarding. They don't know when

we're going to board because there's

major

weather in Dallas.

Well, anyone that goes anywhere knows

the whole world goes through Dallas to

get anywhere.

And so, um

so he got delayed uh about 3 hours,

still sitting at his gate.

Finally called me and he said, "Well, um

they're getting ready to put us

They started boarding like two or three

times, and they'd say, 'Nope, go back

and sit down. We're We're The weather's

still bad.'"

So, they even shut the Dallas airport

down a couple times last night, which

you can only imagine

how many planes were backed up.

So, um finally, he texted me and he

says, "Well, we're on the runway in St.

Louis, and so this is progress. We're on

the plane, and we're on the we're ready

to Well, we're on Yeah, ready to take

off. So, I'm not sure. I think they sat

there for another hour.

So, he said, "I will stay in touch with

you once I get to Dallas." And I said,

"Okay, that's great." So,

I don't even know. He He got to Dallas.

I'm not even sure what time he got to

Dallas.

Um I went to bed around 10:00. Got up

once to check, and I had a text from

him, and all it said was, "I'll probably

be home around 3:00."

I thought, "3:00?"

Well, I Yeah. So, I went back to bed.

So, I figured, because he said, "I'll

come in, and I'll go sleep in the extra

bedroom upstairs so I don't wake you

up." I said, "Well, you don't have to do

that." He said, "Yeah, I'm going to do

that." I said, "Okay, whatever." So,

when I got up at 6:00, I figured he was

upstairs in the bedroom.

Asleep.

I just assumed. I mean, I didn't have

any other text, and so I'm thinking,

"Well, he's got to be here upstairs in

the bedroom asleep."

So, I'm being real quiet, you know, and

getting ready, and I go back and I pick

up my phone. He said, "Well, just landed

in Tulsa 6:30

this morning."

I said, so I picked up my phone, I

called him. I said, "What? I thought you

were asleep upstairs."

He said, "No, I got to Dallas." And he

said,

"Everything was delayed." I mean, like

hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and

hundreds. It's your greatest nightmare

for travel.

To get stuck in Dallas when there's

weather. He said the the weather just

kept coming. So, um yeah, they put him

that he they didn't even get him on that

flight that was supposed to arrive at

3:00. He didn't get on a flight until

5:00 something. But, um so, he's home.

He walked in uh about 7:00. And um

he never valet parks, either. Let me

just tell you, he never valet parks,

ever.

Greg usually takes him to the airport,

or I'll take him to the airport. And on

this particular trip, we sensed he just

needed a valet.

Thank God. And when he left on

Wednesday, he said, "I'll be back, you

know, Saturday, so I'll plan to preach

on Sunday." I said, "That's great." On

Thursday, I started getting a scratch.

Like, you better be ready.

And I thought, "No, I don't have to get

ready. He's preaching. He's coming home

Saturday night. He said he'll preach."

It got stronger and stronger.

And I thought, "Okay, mom, I know I know

the difference in

not hearing something and hearing

something." And I thought, "You know,

just to be on the safe side, I'm going

to get ready."

So, I got ready Thursday, Friday, and

Saturday. And I woke up this morning and

when I realized he wasn't here, I went,

"Yes! Thank you, Holy Ghost. He's our

helper. He helps us in every situation

and he shows us things to come." I just

figured I had a gut feeling something

was going to happen and he was not going

to get home when he thought he was going

to get home. So, he walks in this

morning at 7:00. He says, "I'm going to

go get cleaned up and go to church." I

said, "No, you're not.

No, you're not. No. You go upstairs or

you go to our room and you can sleep for

the next five or six hours." I said, he

said, "I feel like I've been on an

overseas trip." If you've never been on

an overseas trip, you know the feeling.

He

He went

20-something hours without sleep. So,

pastor is home. I hope he's not

watching. I hope he's sleeping, but you

never know. He does He's not very

obedient when it comes to things like

that.

>> [gasps]

>> So, but I'm just thankful because I had

a knowing on the inside, "You better be

ready." So, I'm ready.

So, are you ready to receive?

So, I um I got this gift card.

It's a Visa gift card.

Has $100 on it.

Has anyone ever gotten one of these as a

gift?

Has anyone never gotten one as a gift?

Raise your hands if you've never gotten

a gift card.

It's a gift card. It's a Visa gift card

is what it is. Maybe you don't even know

what this is.

It's a Visa gift card.

So, um

So, I stopped and picked this up because

I kept getting

um

about a gift cards, a gift card.

And if you anyone's ever gotten it,

which I got one, um you know, I've I've

gotten them in the past, but the first

one I ever got, I remember I took it to

the store

and I found some items that added up to

what I thought it would what was on the

card. I took it to the counter and um I

opened it up cuz the card is inside. I

opened it up and I tried scanning it. I

tried put it in in with the little deal

and it wasn't working. I thought, "What

is wrong with this card? It's supposed

to have 100 bucks on it." And couldn't

get it to work. So, then the lady behind

the counter, she says, "Do you need

help?" I said, "Yeah, I have this gift

card, but I can't get it to work." She

says, "Well, let me see it." So, she

takes it and she does whatever she does

and she goes, "Well," she looks at me,

she says, "Well, have you activated it?"

And I said, "Do what?"

She says, "Have you activated the card?"

And I said,

"No. And how do you do that?"

She said, "You look on the back." That

Oh, I hate directions.

She said, "Look on the back and it says

clearly says

it's in little tiny print. Oh, card

not valid until purchased and activated.

And I said, "So, how do I activate it?"

She says, "Go home with your card.

Call the 1-800 number that's on the back

and then you have to type in a PIN

number and that will activate it." I

wanted to go, "Can you do it for me?"

But, she didn't volunteer. So, I took it

home.

Left all my stuff that I was going to

get, went home, and I activated my card.

And then, I could access the money that

was on it. But, not And I There was 100

bucks on that card. But, I could not

access any amount of money that was on

my gift card until it was activated.

We have been given

a free gift card

from the head of the church.

And on that gift card is salvation.

It's a gift card full full of the

blessings of God that are contained in

that word salvation.

Jesus paid for it

on the cross.

He paid in full for our free gift card,

but it's free for us.

Free for us.

But, it has to be activated.

So, I uh

was thinking about this free gift card

of salvation.

And how it's full of blessings full of

blessings all In fact, pastor used to

preach this a lot and make this he made

this uh he found he ran across a

definition of salvation years ago.

And uh this is what he found. Salvation

is the sum total of all the blessings

bestowed on man by God in Christ through

the Holy Spirit.

I'll say that again. Is that not good?

Salvation is not just, you know, oh,

well, I'm saved. But, what does that

mean?

It's the sum total of all God's

blessings bestowed on man by God in

Christ through the Holy Spirit.

All those blessings have been made

available on a free gift card

called salvation.

What are some of those blessings? Well,

we've got eternal life. John 3:16 says

John 3:16

whoever believes in him shall not perish

but have eternal life. We've got

forgiveness of sins. John 1:9 says if we

John 1:9

confess our sins, he's faithful and just

to forgive us our sins. That's a

blessing that's on that card of

salvation. Divine healing. 1 Peter 2:24,

1 Peter 2:24

if we confess our sins, he's faithful

and just to forgive us our sins and

cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

That's a blessing. Divine healing. By

Jesus' stripes we were healed. That's a

blessing. God's presence. He says in

Hebrews, I will never leave you or

forsake you. That's a blessing on our

gift card called salvation. Wisdom.

He said God gives wisdom generously to

those who ask. It's on our gift card,

our salvation gift card. Strength. He

said they that wait upon the Lord shall

renew their strength. They shall mount

up with the wings as eagles. They shall

run and not be weary. They shall walk

and not faint. That's on our gift card

called salvation.

God's presence. Oops, did that one.

Direction. For those who trust him,

trust in the Lord with all your heart

and he will direct your paths. Direction

is part of the blessings on your gift

card.

Peace. Jesus said peace I leave with

you. My peace I give unto you.

Peace belongs to us. It's part of the

blessing of salvation.

Holy Spirit.

In Acts,

he said I'm giving you

equipping you with power,

but he will be a comforter. He'll be

your teacher.

He'll be your helper.

He's given us a helper. The Holy Spirit

is our helper. It's part of salvation

that's been given to us freely on a gift

card.

But how do we activate

and get access

to

the blessings on the gift card?

We don't do it by calling 1-800-Heaven,

wish you could sometimes, or typing in a

PIN number. Two steps.

The 1-800 and a PIN number, but that's

not how we access the blessings of

salvation. Romans 10:9 says if we

Romans 10:9

confess with our mouth

believe in our heart that God raised him

from the dead, we will be saved. We

access those blessings. We activate our

access. Again,

that $100 on that gift card, it was on

there.

But I couldn't act I couldn't access

that money until it was activated. We

activate our access to the blessings of

God through what we believe in our heart

and say with our mouth.

Jesus even taught in in teaching his

disciples about the power of faith. In

Mark 11, he said, "Have faith in God."

He says, "For verily I say unto you,

whosoever says to this mountain, 'Be

removed and be cast into the sea,' and

not doubt in his heart, but believes

that those things which he says shall

come to pass, he shall have whatever he

says."

Again, we see access

access to our free gift of salvation by

believing in our heart and saying with

our mouth. But did you notice that Jesus

put greater emphasis on the saying part

than he did on the believing part? I

would think just if you were to ask me,

"Well, yeah, most I mean, he's a he's

cares what we believe. We have to

believe." Yes, we have to believe, but

that's only one step

in the activation process. The other

step is to say it with our mouth. It's

easy to do the first step. You know, I

type can type in that 1-800 number, but

if I don't type in the PIN number, I am

not going to have access to what's on my

gift card.

It's not just a matter of what we

believe, it's a matter of what we

believe and what we are saying. So, I

when we sang this morning, I speak to I

speak Jesus. If they had no idea where

the direction I was going,

I didn't tell anyone, but I thought,

yes, Holy Ghost, you're trying to get

something across to us. What are we

saying?

What are we saying when nobody's around

or when everybody's around? What's

coming out of our mouth? Because Jesus

didn't say we would have what we

believe.

Well,

religious people can get really

disturbed by that.

I'm sorry. He said,

it's not what you believe, it's what you

say. It's the believing and the saying.

One step is not going to do it. You need

believing in your heart and saying with

your mouth.

I was born again when I was four.

Walked with God my whole life, but it

wasn't until I was 18 years old

did I hear any teaching on the

importance

of

what we say

and how what we say does matter.

And I started paying attention to what

was coming out of my mouth.

Obviously, I had to make some changes

because I realized, oh my lands, I'm not

I'm disagreeing with what God is saying

about me.

So, I did. I started paying attention

and you know, all through the years, I

have endeavored to pay attention

to what comes out of my mouth.

Pay attention to what's coming out of

your mouth.

Don't just open your mouth and let her

fly. Pay attention to what is you are

saying. Pay attention to what's coming

out of your mouth.

And realize that if there's an area, I

think one reason Jesus said believing

once saying it twice or three times

because he knew that there's an area

that we're going to get lax in.

It's not the believing.

But it's the believing and it's the what

comes out of our mouth.

What comes out of our mouth. So, a few

weeks ago

I was walking through the house

and um this phrase just rose up in my

heart.

And I thought, "Okay, I'm going to write

that down because that'll make a good

sermon sometime."

So, when I knew I was supposed to

prepare it's like now's the time.

The phrase I heard on the inside was if

we don't control our tongue

our tongue will control us.

If we don't If we don't control our

tongue

our our tongue

will control us.

>> [clears throat]

>> So, I went to the book of James because

I know that James did a lot of teaching

in chapter 3 on the tongue and I began

to read with just verse one and and he

uses the example of how a bit in a

horse's mouth can control a a horse. I

don't know anything about horses. I

think I've only been on a horse one

time.

One time and that was enough for me.

So, how many of y'all are horse riders?

You're you love to ride horseback. Okay,

then you you know is that true that the

bit in their tongue in their mouth can

help

guide them, control them. And so um the

flip side of that is if there's not a

bit in their mouth, they're going to be

out of control.

James, this is in the Bible in the book

of James chapter 3. Look it up. Then he

James 3 · chapter mention

also uses the example of how huge ship

can be turned

by a very small rudder.

Just think about that. A huge ship

huge ship, but there's only a little

rudder. But it will when operated, when

guided by the captain, it will turn the

whole ship.

And then he refers to the tongue

as a very small part of the body. Stop

and think about it. This tongue

is not very big.

I mean, it's not as big as your hand.

It's not as big as your neck. You got

this tongue.

You know, I've never been able to roll

my tongue.

Some people can I've heard it's genetic.

I don't know.

I don't know. I don't even know why I

said that.

>> [laughter]

>> These thoughts come.

>> [gasps]

[sighs]

>> Anyway, the tongue, it's not very I

can't even stick it out very far.

Okay, moving right along. I'm talking

James was talking about the tongue. The

tongue. And he said, this very small

part

in your mouth called the tongue. He

said, if it's if it's not contained, it

can set a large forest on fire with a

little flame, likening the tongue to

that little flame.

In other words, our tongue

can turn a peaceful situation

into chaos

in a moment. It can set the whole world

on fire just from reckless careless

words that start coming out that our

tongue is uttering.

But James goes on to say,

he says, with our tongue, we bless our

God.

With the same tongue, we curse the very

men and women he made in his image.

Curses and blessings out of the same

mouth, my friends, this can't go on.

James said that.

This problem with the tongue isn't just

a problem that was around during James'

day, but if you look at throughout

history look in the look throughout the

Bible, peoples

had trouble with their tongues.

That trouble has been going on since the

beginning.

Look at Adam and Eve.

Eve had a conversation with the Satan

himself in the form of a certain a

serpent and Satan lied to her and then

she went and repeated what he said to

her, the lie he told her, she went and

told Adam.

Caused Adam to sin. And that sin

separate brought separation from God,

but it all began with a conversation.

With words. Words.

The Israelites, think about the

Israelites. They were held in bondage in

Egypt it says for 400

years. God spoke to Moses and he said,

"Go." The Israelites have always been

God's people.

He told Moses, "This is This is in Bible

days." He says, "Go deliver my people.

Go get my people out." So, through a

series of supernatural events, Moses

went in, brought the children of Israel

out and their destination was the

promised land, but they had to go

through the wilderness to get to the

promised land, but they knew he knew

where they were going.

But they got

the Israelites got gripy.

And they started complaining. They were

complaining about the lack of water.

They were complaining about this manna

that they were being fed twice a day,

morning and night, from heaven. They

didn't like it. They wanted something

different. They were bored and tired of

eating the same thing every day.

Are you kidding me?

They've supernaturally been led out into

out of bondage into freedom and they're

complaining about the manna?

But they didn't stop there. Once you

start complaining about everything

it just overflows.

They began complaining then

excuse me. [clears throat]

They began complaining about their

leadership.

They began complaining about Moses

and Aaron.

I mean, why not? They've been

complaining about everything else. But

because of their griping,

they never entered the promised land.

Their tongue

robbed them of God's plan for their

lives.

That's heavy duty.

Their tongue. So, then the story

continues and it talks about how when

they couldn't find water and they were

griping cuz they didn't have anything to

drink, Moses went before God and he

said, "God, we need a miracle. The

people must have water." So, God spoke

to Moses and he said,

"See that rock?

Speak to it.

Speak to that rock and I'll cause water

to come forth."

And so, Moses was very angry with the

people. He was done with their

complaining. He was tired of hearing

murmurs and murmurs and more murmurs. He

was tired of it. And it says, "In his

angry anger" He was angry at the people.

He lost his temper.

Moses.

Moses. Remember, these people we're

talking about were human beings.

They're no different than you and me.

They experienced real life situations

and they responded in real life ways

that some of us

I'm sure have never lost our temper.

Moses lost his temper

and called them rebels.

And then, because he was so angry,

instead of doing what God said that

would have opened the door, he instead

of speaking to the rock, he took his

staff and he struck the rock twice.

And you know, I was uh

I was reading about that last night and

I thought, "Did the water still come

out?

This was all about water, supposedly.

And it said, yes, that God still brought

water out of the rock in spite of Moses'

disobedience and his anger and what he

did in in not speaking to it, but

striking it. God had mercy on the

people, and he still brought water. I

thought, that's our God.

His goodness, his mercy lasts forever.

But, you know what?

Later in that chapter, it says he was

unable to enter into the promised land

because of his disobedience.

When God tells us to do something, we

better not interpret it our way,

but we need to do it exactly how he

says. Then you got the story of Peter.

Peter boldly said, I will always be

faithful to you, Jesus, even if all the

others fall away. Jesus said, before the

rooster crows three times, you will deny

me.

Oh, no, no, no, no, no. Shortly after

that, that's exactly what happened. In

three separate situations, Peter denied

knowing Jesus, and he betrayed Jesus

through his words.

Through his words.

Then you come over to the New Testament,

and we read about Ananias and Sapphira.

Ananias and Sapphira were part of the

early church. Uh the apostles uh were

overseeing the the church, and the

believers had made a decision to sell

something that they had, to bring it in

so that it could be gathered and they

could have to give to the poor.

So, Ananias and Sapphira Sapphira

came, and they said something that was

not true.

They lied about the amount of money that

they received from the sale of their

property.

They lied.

And it says that Peter said to Ananias,

you have not lied to men,

but to God."

And then we all know the rest of the

story.

Ananias and Sapphira dropped dead

on the spot

for lying

to God.

It wasn't the fact that they didn't they

held back some of the money. It was the

fact that they said that's all that we

received. They lied about it to God.

God does not condone lying.

Lying is words being uttered that are

untrue.

Again,

what's coming out of your mouth? What's

coming out of your mouth? In fact,

Proverbs chapter 6 says, "There are six

Proverbs 6 · chapter mention

things the Lord hates. No, seven things

he detests. He hates and detests, number

one, haughty eyes or pride, arrogance,

looking down on others. He hates a lying

tongue." That's number two.

He This is in Proverbs 6. You can find

it. "A lying tongue," which is speaking

falsehood and deception.

Number three, he hates hands that shed

innocent blood,

violence against innocent people.

Number four, he hates a heart that

devises wicked schemes, planning evil or

harmful actions. Number five, he hates

feet that are quick to rush into evil,

that you get excited and eager to do

wrong.

He hates it.

Number six, he hates a false witness who

pours out lies, giving honest testimony

or spreading false accusations. He hates

that.

And number seven,

a person who stirs up conflict, creating

division, strife, and discord among

people.

Notice three out of the seven, three out

of the seven,

three out of the seven involve the words

of our mouth.

A lying tongue,

a false witness who tells lies,

and stirring up strife

through our words.

Awfully quiet in this Presbyterian

church.

I could at least worth many. Is many in

here?

Many, I'm not hearing you.

I need many.

We are talking about I know this isn't a

subject that makes you run around

the room.

But this is a subject that will cause

you to live long.

It's a subject that will cause you to be

able to access

access, activate your salvation in your

life. Well, I don't know why this isn't

working. What are you saying? Probably I

don't know why this isn't working.

You know, we say things and we don't

even realize what we're saying. That's

what I'm saying. We have to pay

attention to what's coming out of my

mouth. Why don't I ever get healed?

Excuse me.

Listen to what you're saying.

What are you saying out of your mouth?

Because when it comes out of your mouth,

you are activating, but you're

activating the wrong thing.

Proverbs 18:21 it says, "Death and life

Proverbs 18:21

are in the power of the tongue.

And those who love it will eat its

fruit."

I've kind of always wondered

I mean, I kind of knew what that meant.

Eat love it those who love it will eat

its own fruit. But I started doing kind

of a study on that verse. And this is

what the Good News Translation says,

"What you say

can preserve life

or destroy it.

So, you must accept the consequences

of your words.

Our words have consequences.

They don't just blurt out there and then

disappear to the air. No.

Our words are powerful. They're either

going to create life or they're going to

create death.

Death and life are in the power of the

tongue. Our words have power. Your words

have power. They can either bring peace

or they can cause pain.

And the real challenge is that once

those words are out, they cannot be

retracted.

Have you ever just blurted something out

and wish oh, I wish I hadn't said that.

All of us have done that.

All of us have done that. But I'm

telling you what, once those words are

out there, so often we're like, "Oh."

And we later regret

what we said.

It may make you feel better for a

second,

but in the long run, we are going to

have to accept the consequences

of our words.

Death and life are in the power

of our tongue.

Romans Psalms 34:12 says, "Does anyone"

Psalms 34:12

This is the New Living Translation.

"Does anyone

want to live a long life and a

prosperous life?"

I'll ask you. Does anyone want to live a

long live a long and prosperous life?

I do.

And he tells us the key. He said, "Then

then

keep your tongue

from speaking evil

and your lips from telling lies."

Isn't that amazing? It's in the word of

God. Look it up yourself.

But that when he says, "Keep your

tongue," there's an understood subject.

You keep your tongue.

It's not up to me to keep your tongue.

It's not up to your spouse to keep your

tongue. It's up to you to keep your

tongue from speaking evil and your lips

from telling lies. Turn away from evil

and do good. Search for peace and work

to maintain it. Each of us has to do

this for ourselves.

It's a choice. We choose whether to

control our tongue or to let our tongue

control us.

And sometimes

most of the time it's work to maintain

peace.

But the result is living a life that's

long

and prosperous.

Solomon, who wrote the book of Proverbs,

is known as the wisest man

who ever lived on Earth. How would you

like that reputation?

So, if that's true, which it is true,

then it would behoove us

to read things that he's written. He

wrote the book of Proverbs. And when you

start looking at the book of Proverbs,

he talked a lot

about our tongue

and the words of our mouth

because it's so important that we

control our tongue or our tongue will

control us.

Proverbs 13:3, he says, "Those who

Proverbs 13:3

control their tongue

will have a long life. Opening your

mouth can ruin everything."

Ouch.

Proverbs 15:1, "A soft answer turns away

Proverbs 15:1

wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger."

Meaning

it's important that we know when to

speak and when not to speak and how to

speak.

If we answer, and even if our answer

isn't necessarily harsh,

if it's if it's it's how we respond,

when, when not, and how. And if we

respond in the wrong way to an angry

person, it is not going to de-escalate

the situation. It's going to compound it

and make it worse. And that's what he

says right here, "A soft answer turns

away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up

anger."

Proverbs 21:23 says my Solomon says,

Proverbs 21:23

"Watch your tongue

and keep your mouth shut."

Can't get much blunter than that. And

you will stay out of trouble. Ever known

anyone that just seems to live in

trouble?

Everything they do, they find themselves

in trouble.

Tells us to watch our tongue

and keep our mouth shut.

This is coming from the wisest man that

ever lived, I remind you.

Sometimes

we need to bite our

tongue.

He says, "Watch your tongue and keep

your mouth shut." You cannot talk

without your mouth being open. So, when

he says, "Shut your mouth,"

my mom had never told me to shut my

mouth, but she did tell me to bite my

tongue

many times. And it was Anybody else's

mom ever tell you to shut bite your not

don't bite your tongue? Have you ever

heard that expression?

Okay.

That doesn't mean it literally.

Don't bite your tongue.

But if you do bite your tongue, you can

always believe God for healing.

Do whatever necessary.

Pray for healing later.

Proverbs 10:19 in the New The New Living

Proverbs 10:19

says, "Too much talk

leads

to sin.

Be sensible and keep your mouth closed."

many times do the scriptures tell us

keep your mouth closed? Keep your mouth

closed because I think he knew Solomon

knew that if we open our mouth, it's

only going to make matters worse.

Times There's a time to speak and

there's a time not to speak.

So, when we're keeping our mouth closed,

what are we doing? We are controlling

our tongue.

Proverbs 6:2 says, "We are snared by the

Proverbs 6:2

words of our mouth."

The enemy sets traps for us.

And if we aren't paying attention

to what's coming out of our mouth, we

can get caught in those traps through

our words.

>> Amen.

Careful.

Watching what you say. Proverbs 30 verse

Proverbs 30:32

32

says, "If you have been foolish and

exalting yourself,

or if you have devised evil,

put your hand on your

mouth."

Don't let it come out of your mouth.

It's basically what he's saying. Don't

let it come out of your mouth because

once that those words come out of your

mouth, they take a life of their own.

And they start destroying

and hurting and causing pain. So, what

happened?

Get it under control.

Basically, get it under control before

it controls you.

Jesus even taught about this. He said

that our words our words matter. Matthew

Matthew 12:37

12:37, words, you will be declared

innocent or by your words, you will be

declared guilty."

He's listening to our words. He's

listening to our words. Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy 30:19

30:19

says, "I have set before you life and

death, blessing and cursing.

So, right before us, we've got we've got

two choices here.

Life, death, blessing, cursing. And then

he goes on and he tells us what to

choose. It's not a hard decision. We

don't even have to make the decision.

Oh, what do I choose? Life or death?

Blessing or cursing? He says, "Choose

life." And how do we choose? We choose

with the words of our mouth. Are you

choosing life? Are you choosing

blessing? Every day we encounter

situations that we have to make a

choice. Every day.

Every day. You either get to choose life

or death, blessing or cursing. What are

we choosing?

The psalmist David made that choice by

taking control of his tongue and using

it

to give praise to God instead of griping

and complaining.

You look at Psalms 66, David said, "I

cried to him with my mouth

and high praise was on my tongue."

Psalms 119, he said, "My tongue will

sing of your word

for all your commandments are

righteousness."

Psalm 35:28 said, "Then my tongue

Psalms 35:28

shall tell of your righteousness

and of your praise all the day long."

If our tongue is giving him praise all

day long,

that doesn't leave time

for it to get out of control.

You know, Brother Hagin, we we were

blessed to spend quite a time bit of

time with him and he didn't talk a lot.

He was very quiet.

And um but when he did,

you listened.

But oftentimes, just driving in the car,

Mom and I would be in the backseat, Dad

Hagin and my husband would be driving

and and you'd hear Brother Hagin say,

"Praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord.

Love you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus."

Constantly.

That's what you heard coming out of his

mouth. Even when nothing was being said,

no conversation was going on, under his

breath, with his tongue, he was giving

praise

to God.

May we learn by what the scriptures say

to take our tongue, get it under

control, otherwise, it is going to try

to control us and that is not a great

and a good ending.

We have to take control

of the way

we're talking,

take control of the words that are

coming out of our mouth, and instead of

our tongue taking control of us, we'll

be able to maintain control of it. And

we can activate

our access.

We're talking about activating the

blessings of God. We can activate our

blessings

by believing in our heart

and saying with our mouth,

and then enjoy the blessings that's on

this free gift

called salvation.

Stand to your feet.

Hallelujah.

So, if you have never

received this free gift

of salvation,

it's free.

You don't have to pay for it,

but you do have to activate it.

And you activate it by activate it by

believing in your heart

that God raised Jesus from the dead and

that he did died for you. He took your

place. He took your sin.

He bore it on himself

so that we could have eternal life, just

like we read.

And if you've never accessed

salvation,

don't leave here today. If you're

watching online, maybe you've stumbled

up on this

service

current or later,

but you say, "I have never I have never

asked Jesus to be Lord of my life."

Make the choice. Make the choice. It's a

choice. Make the decision. Make the

decision

to invite him into your life.

Into your life.

It's a wonderful life.

It's a life that

he's promised us all those blessings.

But we just have to be able to access it

and activate what's been provided. So,

if you've never received Jesus, keep

your eyes open. He said that man that

that we need to confess him before man.

So, if you've never received Jesus and

you're here today or if you're watching

online, I'm going to ask you to do a

favor. Do me a favor and raise your hand

right where you're standing. Just raise

your hand.

Anyone at all under the sound of my

voice, you've never

ever received Jesus as your Lord or

maybe you did many many many maybe you

were sprinkled as a child

and you thought, "I'm good."

There's another step.

Receiving Jesus as your personal Lord

and Savior. Anyone at all.

Anyone at all.

Well, I'm going to lead you through a

prayer just in case.

It's about your heads. Father, I thank

you

for Jesus. We thank you for Jesus. We

thank you that Jesus

died

for us in our place

and and took our sin.

Then he didn't just stay in the grave,

but he he came back to life.

He's seated at your right hand. He's

alive.

He's alive and he lives in us now.

We thank you for the plan of salvation.

So, we believe it in our heart and we

say with our mouth that Jesus is my Lord

and Savior. Thank you, Jesus, for

providing for me salvation. I believe

I believe you died for me and I believe

you rose again and I thank you for it.

In Jesus

name.

And we all sin.

Amen. Amen. Simple as that.

Simple as that.

Activating your card of salvation is not

difficult, but it's important

that you do it.

Amen.