James 3

Touch your heart, Lord God, it's my desire to touch my life and set my heart aflame.

In your voice, each moment, I desire to see your hand of love, to see your each moment. Turn with me to James chapter 3, James chapter 3. You know, I talk a lot about James being kind of like a Romain. I'm kind of anxious. We'll probably get to heaven and he'll be this real mild individual. But I just see him as this, he's got such a burden, such a passion on his heart for the people

that they not get caught up in the Laodicean, the laxness, the apathy, and miss the blessing of God. And so James is a book of exhortation, but I want you to see the compassion on the heart of James as well. The, he's not just wanting to tell people what to do. He doesn't want anybody to be lost. And he knows how close he came. He knows how close it was for him.

He lived with Jesus and denied him and talked him down and sought to come and get him when he thought he was nuts. He and his mom came to get Jesus and take him home, probably bind him and gag him and get him out of there. And he knew how close he came to missing it, to losing. And so James is speaking not, not with a works-based emphasis, but with a compassionate heart that's burdened, that people not be deceived and miss out on the glorious grace and blessing that God has.

So as you read James, catch the urgency of his warning, but also catch the compassion of his heart, if you will. We're in chapter three. We just started chapter three last week, and we only covered the first couple of verses. But I want to look at verses one through 12 just to keep it all in context, if we could. So, not many of you should presume to be teachers, he says in verse one, my brothers,

because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. We all stumble in many ways, if anyone is never at fault in what he says. He's a perfect man. He's mature, and he's able to keep his whole body in check. When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds,

they're steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person. It sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.

All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man. No man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men who have been made in God's likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be.

Can both fresh water and salt water? My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water. James asks a question in chapter 1. What comes out of you when you're squeezed? What do you bleed when you're cut? When the trials enfold you, and they put that pressure on, and they just begin to crush, what comes out?

What does your life reflect at those particular times? James tells us to count it joy. In those crushing, squeezing times. Because God's doing a work. God's revealing to us the workings of our faith. Whether or not we're really walking by faith in the Lord, or we're trusting ourselves. We're just walking along according to our own desires. And when the trials are on, the pressures are on, the squeeze comes, the weakness comes out.

And we see the areas that need to be surrendered to the Lord. We see the areas that He's working in too. It's when those trials come that you really evidence the power of God working in your life. And you see to what extent He's doing that. So it's an exciting time. And James isn't being sarcastic when he says, count it all joy. He knows that God is establishing results, and He wants us to rejoice in that.

He's going to do His marvelous work. He's going to finish it. So just rejoice in that. Trust Him in the midst of it. In chapter 2, he shows us that usually those trials, when He squeezes, come in the midst of relationships with others. And so the workings of our faith are revealed when He squeezes us when we're in those relationships with one another. And what are those relationships with each other like?

Are we in a relationship? Are we selective in our relationships with other people? Are we selective in who we minister to and with? Or are we ministering impartially? Do we see the people that God brings across our path as His people? And He is wanting us to represent Jesus, to be Jesus to them, no matter who they are. So chapter 2 exhorts us to minister impartially, that there needs to be an impartial attitude of ministry in our lives.

And He ends chapter 2 showing us that, really, when we're squeezed, we're getting to see that we have one of three kinds of faith. We can have a dead faith that He mentions in the middle of chapter 2 as just really having knowledge. We just know these things. We don't really know the Lord. We know a lot of stuff. We know a lot of stuff about God. We may even quote a lot of verses and really never have stopped to think about what they mean.

When you memorize Scripture, let me challenge you, just kind of a parenthesis. When you read through the verse, there's several in the group that are in the Winfield Home Fellowship, and they're doing the Colossians. Colossians 2.7. And there's a lot of Scripture memory in that. And a lot of times we put the emphasis on memorizing the words, and we fail to stop and think about what the verse is saying.

I mean, we have a general idea, but what's the verse saying? Break those words down. Just sit with the Lord and spend some time asking Him what He means by that. Christ the sinner. You guys remember those and all of that. What's He saying? What's that word mean to me? So that when you finish memorizing the verse, it's more than just words that you've got clipped back in your...

in your mind someplace. It has to do with your relationship with Jesus. Because you see, dead faith knows the stuff. Dead faith may know where to flip in the Bible when I say, go to Exodus or go to Habakkuk. But all it knows is the stuff. There's been no transforming of the life. And James warns against dead faith. And he goes on to say there's actually even a demonic faith as well that goes beyond that.

It knows the stuff and gets a buzz. You know, seeks the... Oh, you know, it just made me cry. It is so good. It made me cry. And you kind of value... your relationship with the Lord on where you go and who you hear and if it makes you cry or if it makes you tingle. If you get an emotional buzz. And James says in chapter 2, verse 19, that the angels do that.

Or no, the demons do that. You believe that there's one God. Good, even the demons believe. And they shudder. They tremble. They have an emotional zap. They fear God. They still didn't obey Him. And there's a chance that as so-called Christians, we can have a demonic faith which does not save. You see, both the dead faith and the demonic faith damn you to hell.

There's going to be a lot of people, Jesus said, in hell who say, Lord, Lord, and who prophesy and who seemingly cast out demons in His name, who know the words but didn't know Him. And James warns against that. He says the only thing that's viable is a dynamic faith. It's a faith that transforms the life of the individual. It's evident in our lives if we are living in a dynamic faith

more than just a tingle and a buzz. And so he carries that thought on. You see, all of it is revealing the workings of faith. If we indeed have believing faith, saving faith, then that faith will evidently... ...evidence itself out in our lives, especially when we're squeezed. Not just on Sunday morning in church, but when we're squeezed in the midst of those relationships.

And he moves into chapter 3, carrying on that same thought, only he says it's going to reverberate through your speech. The workings of faith will evidence themselves when you're squeezed in your relationships with other people, and it will reverberate through your speech. It'll be evidenced by the things that you say, by the words that you speak. And so he starts off with a warning to teachers where that's concerned.

Why? Because it's real easy. If you get up... ...and seek to teach other people specifically about God, to end up teaching a dead faith or a demonic faith, and not a dynamic faith, and the things that you've said have done nothing but send people to hell. And the church is full of that today. People that go for a buzz, or people that go to gain some kind of social something or other,

and they're in no relationship with Jesus Christ, but they spend time in church, they spend time opening the word of God, it does nothing to transform their life, and they're on their way to hell. And so James warns those who would seek... ...to teach, to watch that. Now we come in chapter 3 to verse 2, the last half of verse 2 and into verses 3, and James begins to give us now, and the rest of these verses down through verse 12, six pictures of what the tongue is like.

Six different objects that describe the tongue and its power. Every, you know, everybody has a tremendous power, whether you know Christ or not. And that's the power of speech. It's the power of the tongue, an awesome power in the power of the tongue. And so James says, so James gives us six pictures here of the tongue, of objects related to the tongue that he wants us to catch the understanding of.

Now when he gives you lists, when God gives you lists in his word, take time to consider those, to meditate on them, and ask God what he means by these things, because he doesn't just give you a list to fill up pages. He doesn't just give us genealogies in Chronicles just to fill up pages. I mean, it seems like it, I know. There's reasons for every list, for everything that he mentions more than once, and for every list that he gives.

He gives us a list of six things, and I want you to see these grouped in pairs, because each pair has a specific focus and a specific purpose. The first two are the bit and the rudder. Look at verse three. He says, when we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. Or take ships, he says, as an example. Though they are so large and driven by strong winds,

they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. Two objects that represent the tongue, the bit and the rudder, both of these talk about, follow this, the power to direct. With those two objects, he's showing us the power of the tongue to direct, to direct our lives and to direct the lives of others. And he wants us to catch a picture of this.

So think with me now about the bit. What do we know about the bit? Now, I am not a horseman. I was born and raised in Colorado, and occasionally we'd go up to resort areas up around Estes Park, and we'd rent horses and ride through the mountains. Now, if you've ever done that before, the rental horse grew up there, you know? He knows the tricks. You could sit back and go to sleep,

and he'd go up the trail and go back to the barn. But we really thought we were riding, you know, horses. And I had a good time doing that, but I am not a horseman, and I've never been on a real horse, you know? But I do know that the bit sits on the horse's tongue, and it applies pressure to the tongue. It doesn't just pull back the cheeks and make him look funny.

It sits on the tongue, and the pressure applied to the tongue will direct him. It's pressure applied, and that's why we ride in a strategic place that will control the wild nature of the horse. And by using that bit, you bring that tremendous power under control, and the power of the horse becomes useful. You can use him as transportation. You can ride the horse,

or you can pull a buggy or whatever, and he becomes a vehicle of transportation. He can become... That power can be harnessed, and he can be a work horse, and he can pull a plow, and he can move a wagon load of stuff somewhere else. You can harness that power with the bit and make it useful. It's power under control. The object that James is showing us here

is the same thing with the tongue. Power directed to a specific place at a specific time brings power under control, brings this power of speech, brings this power of the tongue under control. There needs to be that power of God that directs this wild nature of the tongue, just like a bit does. Ever hear someone say, or maybe you've said it yourself, oh, my mouth got me in trouble again.

What happened that caused you to say that? You've probably said something in haste, you've been upset, and a quick temper, and you just, something's said, and you go, and somebody, especially if it's in front of your kids, and you go, I'm sorry, but my mouth got me in trouble again. Or maybe you've spread some gossip. Maybe there's something that's come your way, and you've said something, and somebody else has heard it, and they're hurt, and there's this thing going on now at the office or whatever, and you go, oh, my mouth got me in trouble again.

See, that's power that's been unleashed, and it needs to be brought under control. Now, follow this, because the Lord doesn't want to put a bit into your mouth. The Lord wants you to see that just as a bit controls the power of the horse, your tongue can be brought under control. He's showing the devastating power of it first, but then as we get down towards the end, He's gonna show us that it can be brought under control.

And that only happens as your heart is surrendered to the Lord. That only happens as your mind is stayed upon the Lord. Psalm 32, verses 8 and 9, David says, I will instruct you. He's speaking as the Lord is empowering here. The Lord is saying, I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you shall go. I will guide you with my eye. Do not be as the horse or as the mule,

which have no understanding, whose mouth must be held with bit and bridle, lest they come near you, lest they come and do damage to you. I don't know. In the parades, oftentimes like with Arkalala, they have the horses and I like watching the horses. I mean, they're cool to see those guys. But if you're sitting down on the street and the great big horses are right here,

you really hope they got them under control. Some of those high prancers that come through, they're really cool to watch, but you watch them, they're kind of pulling and to me, they're looking like, let go, let go, I wanna go. And I'm right there and I'm thinking, don't let go, don't let go. I know. Lest they can come and do some damage. So God's saying, I will instruct you.

He gives us His word. He gives us the spirit to apply that word to our hearts so that we don't have to have His bit placed in our minds. James says, or take a ship here as an example. Although they're so large and driven by strong winds, they're steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. Again, pressure or power applied in a specific place at a specific time

yields a good purpose, a power under control. Rudders are used to direct ships and the rudder must overcome a lot of powerful forces that would seek to pull it off in different directions. Powers of the winds, the winds will blow and seek to move a ship contrary to where the skipper wants it to go. The currents themselves will seek to pull a ship in the way of the current.

And if somebody, if the pilot, the captain, the skipper wants to make it go in a certain direction, he applies power to the rudder and guides it through those contrary forces. Now, so too with us. Again, the power of the word of God used by the spirit of God applied to the tongue will seek, will, overcome the forces that seek to direct your tongue. I don't know if you realize that we have those forces to overcome.

But there are certain circumstances in your life that seek to press your tongue into responding a certain way. Next time you get a bill in the mail that you weren't expecting, see which way your tongue goes. Oh, goody! Another bill. Or the next time you're driving down the street and you're on your way to an appointment and you hear the boom, and the tire goes flat

and you fall off the side. Listen to your mouth and see what your mouth says. I really needed this flat tire right now. Thank you very much. No, not usually. Unless you're spending time with the Lord. Unless you're constantly bringing to your remembrance the things that we've seen in Philippians before we came to James. That there is no inopportune time with God.

That every opportunity is an opportunity that the Lord has created for you. As you're spending time with the Lord and realizing that, then the instant that happens there is kind of an air of excitement. What are you doing, Lord? But apart from that, see, apart from applying pressure, which comes through the heart to the tongue, the power of God's Word, apart from doing that, we'll end up with the circumstances of the day and the attitudes of the world seeking to direct our tongue.

Another example in point is whatever the current movie, hit, or song of the day is will be on the mouths of the youth, will be on the tongues of the youth. Whatever the current gang slang or the current little quip, it's on the tongues of the people. And it's going to be real difficult, you see, to not let the circumstances of the day seek to direct your tongue. So it needs to have, just like a rudder has the strong hand of the pilot and the bit has the strong hand of the horseman to keep it in control.

We need the hand of the Lord in our lives to help guide our mouths, to help direct our tongues lest they hurt somebody like a horse out of control or like the Exxon Valdez that runs aground and destroys hundreds of millions even close to a million or so dollars worth of environment. Verse 5, James says here, Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body but it makes great boasts. Got to watch it. David says again in Psalm 141, verses 3 and 4, Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth.

Keep the door of my lips. Incline not my heart to any evil thing. James is warning us. So let me extend that warning to you that you influence people more than you know and you do it with your mouth. I mean you do it with your actions too and we've talked about that but your mouth influences a lot of people. Most of you may have somebody in your life that helped turn your life around

and you can remember them right now. You remember some things that they said that influenced you. Maybe it's a teacher. Maybe it's a friend. Maybe it's a parent. But you remember words that they spoke to you that helped turn your life around, that helped bring you to Christ, that helped bring you in the right direction. At the same time, there are those who years ago,

probably in elementary school, and we talked about this last time, kids, fellow peers that said things to you that caught that you can remember to this day and even as you sit here right now and remember the things that they said, you remember the feelings and the smells and the sights and the sounds of exactly what was going on that instant that they said that to you. Never underestimate the guidance and the direction that you can give by the words that you speak. And the Bible is filled with examples. Joseph, who was wrongfully cast into prison.

He loved the Lord and he continued to seek the Lord and God gave him wisdom to understand dreams and God raised him up to where he influenced Pharaoh and the things that he spoke as God gave him the interpretations were those things that would direct the course of the world for the next 14 years, plus 14 years we know him now. In the same way, Daniel, cast into prison as a youth, continued to seek the Lord, continued to pray, and the things that he shared and spoke influenced the guard who finally brought him before the king and then he influenced the king of Babylon and the king of Persia and the king of the Medes as well. And on through scriptures, Philip, we mentioned Philip a couple of weeks ago, called by God's spirit to go to Gaza,

a place that he hadn't been for a long time, didn't particularly probably want to go. In the midst of a revival that was going on, went down there, saw the caravan, joined with it, saw the eunuch, shared Christ with him through the book of Isaiah. And the eunuch goes back and for all intents and purposes, from what legend has, establishes the first Christian church in Ethiopia, just from the things that were shared in that brief encounter that he had with Philip. Never underestimate the guidance and the direction that you can give.

In April, April 21st, I think, April 21st in 1885, Edward Kimball went into a Boston shoe store, ended up talking to the shoe clerk, name was Dwight L. Moody, ended up leading him to the Lord, and the rest is history. Moody became one of the greatest evangelists ever. Never underestimate the influence and the direction that you can give with the power of the tongue that God has given you.

It has the power to direct, but secondly, it has the power to destroy. It has the power to destroy, and those are the next two examples that he gives us. In the example of fire, in the example of the animals, and for discussion purposes, I'm going to talk about them as being poisonous animals. We won't even get to them today, but let's look at fire. Let's consider the fire here.

He says down in the middle of verse 5, well, I'll start at verse 5, Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider. That's a remarkable word. I see already your words ahead of me. But he says consider. That means consider. It means think about. It means take some time to realize what I'm saying here. Consider what a great force,

is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person. It sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. So let's consider that. All those words I just read, that you kind of heard, maybe read before, you read them, you can understand what the words say,

but kind of, unless you stop and consider them, they're just kind of a mass of words almost. They just float in your, through your head, and out the other side. So let's consider what he just said. The tongue, like a fire, that sets a forest on fire, by a small spark. So let's consider some characteristics about fire. Okay? That's what he wants us to do. He's equating the tongue to a fire.

It starts as a small spark. So number one, one of the things that, the characteristics about fire, is it has the capacity to multiply quickly. Fire has the capacity to start small, but multiply quickly. He's equating this to the tongue. You can drive just south of town here, a little ways on 77, into, into Oklahoma. You just go past Chilocco, just right at Chilocco,

right there by the smoke shops. And you'll see burned ground, on the west side of the road. And it goes down quite a ways from the smoke shop, and actually kind of moves out into the field a little bit. Takes in a pretty good area. I asked if that was intentional, you know, because I'm, you know, besides not being a horseman, I am not a farmer. So I don't know when they burn off ground.

I know they burn ground off, and why they do it, but I don't know when it's, you know, I don't know when it's done. Maybe they're just burning off some weeds, or whatever. But no, they were welding some signs down at the smoke shop. Welding some poles, and some sparks flew from the welding, and caught the grass, and the grass just shot down the road, on fire.

Small spark, but it multiplies, and spreads, quickly. So too, the tongue. It's equaled here to, a large forest, a raging inferno, plowing through a forest. Proverbs chapter 16, verse 27, Solomon writes, An ungodly man digs up evil, and in his lips there is, as a burning fire. The next time you open that thing, remember that. Somebody said that the tongue is like a lion,

encouraged behind the teeth. It's only dangerous, when the cage is open. But keep that thing caged up a little more. Paul tells us, to speak those things, that are only good unto edifying, unto encouragement. Don't, don't say anymore, the things that are, that are harsh, and that are, that are lies, and that are corrupt. Put those things away. You and I have,

the power to do that now, as believers. That's said so much in scripture, that it must have, some powerful influence. Hold the New Testament alive. Keep a chain on this thing. Let's keep it under control. Because like a, like a fire, it starts small, but it can spread quickly. Another characteristic about fire is, the fire usually, usually, produces smoke, and covers the area,

where it's burning. Right? And there's even sections of road, as you go north, on a turnpike, where there's signs posted, that say, warning, you know, hazardous area, if they're burning the fields, zero visibility. So in other words, if they really are burning fields, off up there, watch it, because if the winds are right, it'll blow the smoke across the road, and you can't see it.

Clouds it up, you can't see anything, going through there. Fire, usually produces smoke, that clouds the area, where it's burning. When you and I, let go with something, that's ungodly, that's not un-to-edify, you have just, clouded. It's what we like to call, hypocrisy. Somebody that you've been real, short with, that you've been real, you just let one go,

and blasted them, you know? And then you come back, and you say, I'm sorry, and I want to tell you about the Lord. You know how much reception, you're going to get? You know how much your testimony, is really going to be received, by those that have heard that? It's not. It's a zero reception, because the smoke, has clouded Christ, has clouded the picture, of Christ.

Proverbs 14, 29 says, A patient man, has great understanding, but a quick-tempered man, displays folly. How much folly, how much foolishness, have we displayed, with our tongue, and then realized, that the opportunity, to really share, about the power of God, the love of Christ, where these people, really need to hear it, has just been blown, to pieces. You see, and that's, if we truly are believers, Satan knows, he can't get our soul, so he just wants, to screw us up, another way. He does it, is with our speech, with our mouth.

If he can just get us, to do that, if he can just get you, to fire one off, you know, shoot one low, in the presence of those, that you're working with. He's got you. Your testimony is shattered. Watch it. Another characteristic, of fire, is fire produces, extreme heat. Well duh. But think about this, fire produces, extreme heat, usually in areas, where the flames,

don't go. We were over, walking through, Steve and Deb's house, right after it burned, and there were areas, that blistered the walls, and blistered the cabinets. The flames never got there, but the heat did, and you see often, a fiery tongue, can inflict hurt, on others, that it never sees. I've shared before, about the neighbors, that we had, when we lived on B Street, and in the summer, and we'd raise the windows, and man, they'd really get into it.

Some horrendous fights. And it's at that point, they didn't even know, we existed, but we knew they did. And you just ache, and not only were you disgusted, because you couldn't, get any sleep, but you just kind of, you ached for them, and they had kids there, and what the kids were hearing, and the destruction, that was happening. You know parents, when we, and there are going to be times, as husbands and wives, that we engage in conflict, but we always need to remember, when we do that, the lives of the little ones, that are around us, that are hearing that.

Because like a heat, we're not directing anything, at them, but the heat is blistering, in the areas, that we can't ever see, and we need to be aware of that. A fourth characteristic of fire, is fire consumes, and destroys everything, in its path, for the most part. Combustible things. Consume, and destroy, everything in its path. The words, that you and I speak,

have the power, to destroy lives, to ruin reputation, to destroy character. Hitler wrote a book, before he came to power, called, Mein Kampf, which was really his plan, for the world. And it's been, statistically shown, that for every word, in that book, and if you've ever seen it, it's a thick book. For every word, in Mein Kampf, 125 lives were lost, during World War II.

For every word, that he wrote in that book. Our words, have the power, not only to direct, but to destroy, to consume, just like a fire, everything in its path. Verse six, James says, the tongue also is a fire, a world of evil, among the parts of the body. What did he just say? The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil, among the parts of the body. What does he mean,

it's a world of evil? The word for world, there in the Greek, is the word cosmos. And it doesn't mean the globe, it means the world system. It means the world attitude, again. In essence, he's saying the tongue, is filled with the attitude, of the world. You know, concentrated juice, concentrated orange juice, concentrated grape. It's supposed to be, a whole lot of the juice,

that's been concentrated, it's been pressed down, into this little thing. It's a lot of powerful juice, and you take it, and you put it in a pitcher, and you add water, and it expands, and fills that whole thing. But the juice itself, has been compressed, it's been concentrated, down in that little can. That's what our tongues are. That's what James is saying,

our tongue. It's a world of evil. It's evil, concentrated, down into this, little bitty area. So that every part, of our human nature, that is at enmity, with God, that is rebellious, against his will, comes out here. It's a world, of evil. No other body part, has the potential, for causing the disaster, that the tongue can cause. The long range, deep seeded disaster,

that the tongue can do. Sets the whole course, of his life on fire, it says. Corrupts the whole person. You realize, that the tongue, can defile us, and the tongue, can defile us, and the tongue, can defile us, and the tongue, can defile us, in the same way, that a fire does. Again, using Steve and Deb's house, I told Steve, when we first got together, after the fire,

I said, man, you'll do anything, for a sermon illustration. We were using it a lot, you know, for a sermon illustration. But they did save some dishes, and stuff out of the kitchen. And we went down, to the barn, where they had taken those in. Before you even got, to the barn, you could smell the smoke. And I don't know, if you've ever had anything, that's gone through a fire.

But you just flat can't, get the smokey smell, out of it. It just is there. but somehow when you're done it just you're still around it still smells like smoke and like smoke it's it's been defiled by the fire and the same thing with the tongue the tongue can defile our whole body so that actually we become known as there's loud mouth you know watch him boy he's a gossip or you know he's really got a bitey attitude a real bitey personality it's all by the tongue corrupts the whole person and and sets the whole course of his life on fire and then he says and it is itself set on fire by hell that's powerful your tongue is itself set on fire by hell the word for hell here is the word gehenna and it's only used 11 times in scripture 10 times

in the gospel by jesus himself and only once outside of the gospels and that's here in james the word gehenna the lord referred to it as a place of outer darkness a place where the worm never dies and the fire is never quenched a place where they'll be weeping and gnashing of teeth and yet people say i don't believe in hell i could just spiritualize there well tell me what you're talking about the world it's referring to well it's referring to our our lives here as being a hell on earth okay tell me the part about the outer darkness outer darkness there means darkness if you've ever been to cave of the winds or marvel cave or one of those places where you go and they shut

the lights off and zip that's what it's referring to that's what hell is going to be like you're not going to be partying with your friends you're not going to be drinking and doing dope and having fun with your friends you're going to be in outer darkness you can't see squat it's a place of perpetual burning it says where the fire is never quenched tell me where that is here it's a place where worm never dies where is that here it's a place where the fire is never quenched and there's weeping and gnashing of teeth perpetually in outer darkness where you can't see anything where you're just feeling like you're on fire where there's a the worm that devours that just

consumes like a maggot only you're never done being devoured tell me where that is here there's no place like that here it's a place created by god the bible says for the devil and his angels and god does not intend to send anyone there you choose to go there by refusing his grace by refusing his offer of salvation in his son jesus christ and james says that our tongues are set on fire by gehenna in israel in jerusalem right outside the south gate on the south side of the wall of the city of jerusalem is a valley there there are two valleys that come by jerusalem one on the south side is a valley of hinnom one that comes across the east side is is the valley of kidron the kidron valley with the kidron brook which is a brook i mean you

know i don't know how you picture you need to go to israel i mean if there's anything you can ever do in life go to israel if you want to go somewhere to have fun i don't know how you picture this

there's the big valley on tv you know barbara stanwick and miles and acres of valley it's a small little bitty valley the kidron brook i thought was at least as big as a walnut river i mean it's a puddle that goes down through the thing but the valley of hinnom is on the south side and it's where at jesus time they had the garbage dump they would take all the garbage in the trash and they take it out there and dump it and set it on fire it burned all the time whenever travelers vagrants and stuff would come through and they would die there and they had no family they didn't dig them graves you go to israel you'll find out that most of it's rock rock everywhere rock rock rock you don't dig holes in the ground over there so they take

the bodies and they take them out and flip them onto the onto the pile and they'd burn they'd burn up and that was perpetually burning the valley of hinnom and jesus i think when he spoke of gehenna often would probably use that as a visual illustration a place where the fire is never quenched and the worm never dies it's an awful place and james says our tongues are set on fire by that he means by that that our tongues can often be used by satan in a destructive way set on fire by hell power out of control like a fire destroying but like the horse and like the rudder that power under control is tremendous it's a tremendous plus fire under control cooks we cook our food with it feed

ourselves as a result of it we power things that run as a result of the fire it does purify it purifies gold and precious metals as the heat supplied to it it has a good positive purifying effect fire under control the same thing with your tongue power applied at the right place is a powerful powerful tool to encourage and to bless those around you your families those that you work with you have such a powerful opportunity to bless and one thing i want you to want to leave you with as we close is that god keeps track of that and not only the words that you speak but the words that you think malachi 316 malachi says then they that feared the lord spoke often to one another those that those that love the lord that fear him spoke often about

the lord and the lord hearkened and he heard it a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the lord and that thought upon his name you see what you think about you speak about and there's a book of remembrance there are several books when you go to revelation 20 and you see the great white throne the final throne of judgment for the unbelievers they're going to be called before him those that have never received accepted come to faith in jesus christ however you want to phrase it and they'll stand before christ at the great white throne and several books it says will be opened and also along with those are the book of life and of course we know that if your name's not in the book of life you end up in the

in ghana in the lake of fire but several other books are opened you ever thought about that what those books are one of the books is a book of remembrance where i think god has recorded the things that we have said and thought on a negative sense at the great white throne but i think in a positive sense because malachi 3 is positive when believers as believers we stand before the bema seat of christ to receive rewards for the things done in the flesh for his sake for his glory one of the books that will be opened is a book of remembrance and god's going to remember the times that we talked about the goodness of the lord that we shared about his grace that we talked about his love that those things were of encouragement spoken because of

his grace touching you you shared with others though he's going to remember those things you and i have long forgotten them but they're going to be opened and god's going to remember those things and not only what we said but it says and that thought upon his name because you see what you think about you speak about always the case what you think about you speak about you speak about remember when you were first in love those of us that remember that far back when we first met our husband or wife remember that's all you could think about i remember when i first met ann that's all i could think about i go to work and i couldn't wait to get off because we'd go spend time together we

and you know we did pretty racy stuff we'd sit in the stairwell and talk for hours so that's all i thought about and consequently that's all i spoke about guys at work had asked me how you're doing i'm doing fine and i can't wait to get off and see you know i know what ann did yesterday it was really neat she did this you know what she said the other day it's really this and finally you're just getting sick and tired of hearing that's all i would speak about when you're thinking about something it's what you speak about when christ is the object of our affection he will be the topic of our conversation set your affections on things above remember colossians not on things of the earth it's yeah great to catch the witty phrases and be able to

say the latest whatevers but how much more powerful and effective it is to speak from a first-hand relationship with the lord and he'll remember that that's power under control let's stand together we're gonna have the front of the stage open if you want to just come down and kneel and pray nobody will bug you we won't come over and ask if you if you'd like prayer but we'll have some guys available if you do want to pray with someone but if you just want to come and just spend some time before the lord we encourage that before you leave uh you're being sent back out into the world now and your gun is loaded and i just pray that god's hand will be upon it and not just so much that you have to think about what you say because you see if you're

again if you're in that fellowship with the lord what you say just as a result of that you don't have to think i gotta stop swearing when you're in fellowship with the lord he takes it away you don't have to think well i've got to stop you know uh passing on this stuff i got i'm people know that i you know best way to keep a secret is is not tell me it just happens when you're in that fellowship with the lord so maybe there's some areas where you realize that in your own heart that there's some areas of weakness there and you want to just spend a minute or two before you leave and lay that at his feet and let him just take it and not only move it out of the way but clear that smoke out so that you can see him again and that your desire

is to just spend time in his presence just at his table just fellowship with him father help us where that's concerned that's what you want us to see james isn't giving us a whole list of rules of do's and don'ts he's showing us the blessing of being in fellowship with you and he's showing us the consequences of not and and all we're doing is looking and seeing the consequences of not or the blessings of being there he doesn't want us fooling ourselves with vain ideas empty attitudes ending up with a dead faith or a demonic faith he wants he wants us to come into that fellowship with you that he realized that he almost missed out on totally so we want that too there is a harvest out there and your coming is soon lord jesus and we want to be

about your business we don't want to be sidetracked we want to help direct others into that relationship with you so forgive us lord where we've been used by the enemy forgive us where we've created smoke that's distracted from people seeing the goodness of christ forgive us where we've destroyed relationships and hurt feelings and said things in haste that we wish we could take back but don't let us languish you there draw us into your presence draw us into that wonderful fellowship with you our speech will reflect that and people will know that we've been with jesus we ask that in his precious name