1 00:00:05,120 --> 00:00:07,880 Good morning, North Life Church. It's good to see you this 2 00:00:07,880 --> 00:00:12,400 morning enjoying the nice balmy tropical weather that we have. 3 00:00:14,080 --> 00:00:15,600 Yesterday I was wearing long Johns. 4 00:00:15,600 --> 00:00:17,320 How many were wearing long Johns yesterday? 5 00:00:18,280 --> 00:00:21,640 It's cold enough now. I'm wearing my long Johns, my 6 00:00:21,640 --> 00:00:24,760 long Simon's, my long James, like all the apostles, all the 7 00:00:24,760 --> 00:00:27,480 long underwear. It's just cold. 8 00:00:27,480 --> 00:00:30,720 I did have an odd experience. I'm from Mount Pleasant, MI and 9 00:00:31,080 --> 00:00:33,840 the oddest thing happened yesterday as I traveled N up 10 00:00:33,840 --> 00:00:37,480 here, it got warmer. It was the weirdest thing it 11 00:00:37,480 --> 00:00:42,240 was, it was -8° here and it was -10° there. 12 00:00:42,240 --> 00:00:45,240 So it was like I felt like I, I took off my coat. 13 00:00:45,240 --> 00:00:47,840 I took off my sweater. It was, I was in my shorts and 14 00:00:47,840 --> 00:00:49,680 T-shirt. It was fantastic. 15 00:00:49,680 --> 00:00:52,920 I loved it. So it is good to be here this 16 00:00:52,920 --> 00:00:54,400 morning. My name is Pastor Kurt. 17 00:00:55,520 --> 00:00:58,080 It's it's a, it's a name that's not very common. 18 00:00:58,080 --> 00:01:00,080 And so I know that it's going to be very hard for most of you to 19 00:01:00,080 --> 00:01:03,280 remember my name. So to help you remember my name, 20 00:01:03,280 --> 00:01:08,000 just keep in mind I share a name with a very famous musician. 21 00:01:08,640 --> 00:01:11,360 So that should make it a little bit easier for you to understand 22 00:01:11,600 --> 00:01:14,600 my my name and remember it's, it's Kurt Cobain. 23 00:01:14,800 --> 00:01:16,880 Kurt Cobain. I shared a name with him. 24 00:01:17,000 --> 00:01:20,240 So that make it a little bit easier to remember that we love 25 00:01:20,240 --> 00:01:24,360 your pastors here so much. I remember it's a few years ago 26 00:01:24,360 --> 00:01:27,680 connected with Kurt at a, a pastor's retreat. 27 00:01:27,680 --> 00:01:30,440 And you know how Kurt is Pastor Kurt, He just, he's making 28 00:01:30,440 --> 00:01:32,880 friends with everyone and interacting with everyone, just 29 00:01:32,880 --> 00:01:35,200 the best friends with everyone after 5 minutes. 30 00:01:35,200 --> 00:01:38,520 And of course, we bonded over our, our, the, the obvious 31 00:01:38,520 --> 00:01:41,920 commonalities that we have our, our rugged good looks. 32 00:01:41,920 --> 00:01:46,200 So we bonded immediately and our wives became best friends. 33 00:01:46,200 --> 00:01:47,560 And so we get drug along with that. 34 00:01:47,560 --> 00:01:51,880 So I, I love this church, I love the pastors here as a few years 35 00:01:51,880 --> 00:01:55,600 ago I got to come up to a men's night and that's when I fell in 36 00:01:55,600 --> 00:01:58,480 love with this church. Just seeing the the men and how 37 00:01:58,480 --> 00:02:01,480 genuine they were and how much love they had for each other and 38 00:02:01,480 --> 00:02:03,120 for Jesus, it was really amazing. 39 00:02:03,120 --> 00:02:05,520 So when Kurt asked me to come up and speak this morning, I was 40 00:02:05,520 --> 00:02:07,760 pumped. I was excited to come back here. 41 00:02:07,760 --> 00:02:11,120 So as I said, my name is Pastor Kurt, a pastor a church called 42 00:02:11,120 --> 00:02:12,840 Victory down to Mount Pleasant, MI. 43 00:02:13,440 --> 00:02:15,320 I have a wife who is here on Wednesday. 44 00:02:15,320 --> 00:02:17,400 How many of you were here for the Wednesday night for, for my 45 00:02:17,400 --> 00:02:19,880 wife. So you've seen her drop dead 46 00:02:19,880 --> 00:02:22,240 gorgeous. She's amazing. 47 00:02:22,360 --> 00:02:25,960 I did really good. And I have two boys. 48 00:02:25,960 --> 00:02:29,480 One is 14, the other one's going to be 10 here in March. 49 00:02:29,840 --> 00:02:32,080 So I'm I was just as I was here this morning. 50 00:02:32,080 --> 00:02:34,200 I've noticed that you have a lot of young families and you have a 51 00:02:34,200 --> 00:02:37,320 lot of babies in this church. I got to say I have baby fever 52 00:02:37,320 --> 00:02:40,880 like crazy and, and our youngest being almost 10, that would be 53 00:02:40,880 --> 00:02:42,720 really smashing that reset button. 54 00:02:42,720 --> 00:02:46,880 So my wife is don't saying don't look at me, don't touch me. 55 00:02:47,040 --> 00:02:51,000 I don't even come near me. And so yeah, I, I think we're 56 00:02:51,000 --> 00:02:54,320 done. So yeah, I'm excited to be here 57 00:02:54,320 --> 00:02:57,240 this morning. We have been in a series at my 58 00:02:57,240 --> 00:03:01,880 church on the book of James. We are in week 19 of that series 59 00:03:01,880 --> 00:03:04,640 right now and we're almost through the 1st chapter of 60 00:03:04,640 --> 00:03:07,160 James. So it's been it's nice having 61 00:03:07,160 --> 00:03:09,760 the next five years of messages planned out that way. 62 00:03:09,760 --> 00:03:12,360 You know, we should be done with the book of James by the, you 63 00:03:12,360 --> 00:03:16,840 know, the, the year 2030. But this morning we're going to 64 00:03:16,840 --> 00:03:19,800 start in James chapter one, verse 26. 65 00:03:19,800 --> 00:03:21,240 So if you have your Bibles, you can turn with me. 66 00:03:21,240 --> 00:03:24,680 I'll read out of the ESV. Pastor Kurt was asking me what 67 00:03:24,680 --> 00:03:27,160 Bible translation that I use and I said, I use the ESV and he 68 00:03:27,160 --> 00:03:30,920 goes, ah, the translation Moses came down from the mountain with 69 00:03:31,280 --> 00:03:36,160 listen that that's accurate. So James chapter 1, verse 26, 70 00:03:36,160 --> 00:03:38,920 and I'm just going to give you a heads up, by the way, I was a 71 00:03:38,920 --> 00:03:41,800 youth pastor for 15 years. So if you struggle with humor, 72 00:03:41,800 --> 00:03:43,320 you're going to get nothing out of today. 73 00:03:43,320 --> 00:03:45,560 It's going to be a very hard service for you. 74 00:03:46,480 --> 00:03:49,640 So James chapter one, verse 26, it says this. 75 00:03:49,640 --> 00:03:53,480 If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue 76 00:03:53,960 --> 00:03:57,840 but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. 77 00:03:58,120 --> 00:04:00,680 And just for the context of that scripture, I do like to read 78 00:04:00,680 --> 00:04:02,520 verse 27, which is not up on the screen. 79 00:04:02,800 --> 00:04:05,960 It says religion that is pure and undefiled before God the 80 00:04:05,960 --> 00:04:09,760 Father is this to visit orphans and widows in their affliction 81 00:04:09,760 --> 00:04:13,160 and to keep one's one self unstained from the world. 82 00:04:13,920 --> 00:04:16,440 And so if you've ever read the book of James, has anyone read 83 00:04:16,440 --> 00:04:18,640 the book of James before? It's a it's a pretty easy read. 84 00:04:18,640 --> 00:04:21,720 It's 5 chapters. In preparation for this series, 85 00:04:21,720 --> 00:04:24,400 I was listening to the Book of James every single day. 86 00:04:25,160 --> 00:04:28,080 It's it's a fantastic book. The what I call the Book of 87 00:04:28,080 --> 00:04:32,360 James is spiritual sandpaper. If you do not, if, if you do not 88 00:04:32,360 --> 00:04:34,840 walk away feeling a little chafed after you read the Book 89 00:04:34,840 --> 00:04:37,400 of James, you read it wrong and you need to go back and read it 90 00:04:37,400 --> 00:04:40,200 again. Just there is so much good stuff 91 00:04:40,200 --> 00:04:43,840 that talks about how we're to live as believers, but it rubs 92 00:04:43,840 --> 00:04:46,680 against the green as far as how a lot of us tend to live. 93 00:04:47,080 --> 00:04:49,440 But in this Scripture in particular, this section of 94 00:04:49,440 --> 00:04:53,440 scripture follows James talking about but be doers of the word 95 00:04:53,680 --> 00:04:55,560 and not only hearers of the word. 96 00:04:55,560 --> 00:04:56,840 If you remember that scripture here. 97 00:04:57,160 --> 00:05:00,920 And if you go back further, he talks about the law of liberty. 98 00:05:01,160 --> 00:05:03,440 He says the one that looks into the law of liberty and 99 00:05:03,440 --> 00:05:06,000 perseveres. They will be blessed in their 100 00:05:06,000 --> 00:05:08,080 doing. And we're, we've heard those 101 00:05:08,080 --> 00:05:10,520 scriptures before. But if I was just to ask the 102 00:05:10,520 --> 00:05:12,360 room this morning, how many of you wanted to be blessed, 103 00:05:12,360 --> 00:05:14,360 there'd be a lot of hands that went up because I mean, who 104 00:05:14,360 --> 00:05:16,800 doesn't want to be blessed in, in, in their life today? 105 00:05:17,160 --> 00:05:20,480 And so James is what he's doing is he's building a foundation 106 00:05:20,480 --> 00:05:22,680 and a thought process here. He says what I want you to do is 107 00:05:22,680 --> 00:05:26,920 I want you to not just hear the word come in on a Sunday to the 108 00:05:26,920 --> 00:05:30,680 temple and here the scriptures being read and taught and 109 00:05:30,680 --> 00:05:32,640 exposited. I want you to not just be 110 00:05:32,640 --> 00:05:35,240 hearers of the Word, but I want you to internalize that and 111 00:05:35,240 --> 00:05:39,600 allow that to change your life. And then as you are hearing the 112 00:05:39,600 --> 00:05:43,680 word and doing the Word, then you look into the law of liberty 113 00:05:43,840 --> 00:05:45,760 and what you need to do is persevere and that word. 114 00:05:45,760 --> 00:05:50,480 Persevere means to abide and live by that in the law of 115 00:05:50,480 --> 00:05:52,200 liberty. If you ever studied out the law 116 00:05:52,200 --> 00:05:56,400 of liberty, it is to love God and love others. 117 00:05:57,320 --> 00:05:59,120 Love God and love your neighbor, right? 118 00:05:59,840 --> 00:06:01,720 If you remember, it says love the Lord your God with all of 119 00:06:01,720 --> 00:06:03,440 your heart, soul, mind and strength. 120 00:06:03,440 --> 00:06:07,000 I love how he words that because it leaves no room for anything 121 00:06:07,000 --> 00:06:09,680 else. It is love God with everything 122 00:06:09,680 --> 00:06:12,360 that you have. And then this is the part of the 123 00:06:12,360 --> 00:06:14,640 scripture that a lot of people want to skip over, especially in 124 00:06:14,640 --> 00:06:16,080 the day that we live in right now. 125 00:06:16,320 --> 00:06:19,400 Love your neighbor as yourself. And I'll just be honest, as I 126 00:06:19,400 --> 00:06:22,120 was preparing this message, it was really convicting for me. 127 00:06:22,680 --> 00:06:24,680 I, I think this message was mainly for me. 128 00:06:24,680 --> 00:06:27,600 And then you just get to hear me processing out loud. 129 00:06:27,960 --> 00:06:31,040 But as, as we're looking at the world that we live in today, 130 00:06:31,440 --> 00:06:34,760 this is a word that is in season for a lot of Christians. 131 00:06:35,080 --> 00:06:38,000 Love your neighbor as yourself. And that word neighbor, it 132 00:06:38,000 --> 00:06:40,840 doesn't translate as love other believers as yourself. 133 00:06:40,840 --> 00:06:44,640 Did you know that? Let's love your neighbor as 134 00:06:44,640 --> 00:06:46,320 yourself, those who are around you. 135 00:06:46,720 --> 00:06:49,200 I think this is something that the church really needs to come 136 00:06:49,200 --> 00:06:52,960 back to, especially as as we're seeing what is unfolding in in 137 00:06:52,960 --> 00:06:57,120 America right now, coming back to this law of liberty, love for 138 00:06:57,120 --> 00:07:00,200 God and love for neighbor is incredibly important. 139 00:07:00,720 --> 00:07:03,680 But what James is doing is he's intentionally building a 140 00:07:03,680 --> 00:07:07,080 foundation that he's going to build further thoughts off of. 141 00:07:07,080 --> 00:07:09,800 So he says be doers of the word, not just hearers. 142 00:07:09,920 --> 00:07:12,000 Look into the law of liberty and persevere. 143 00:07:12,520 --> 00:07:15,840 Love God and love your neighbor. This is the foundation for what 144 00:07:15,840 --> 00:07:18,080 he goes on to say and what we're going to talk about today about 145 00:07:18,080 --> 00:07:21,160 our practical faith. So he's talking about the 146 00:07:21,160 --> 00:07:26,080 internal matters of the heart 1st and then it is what our 147 00:07:26,080 --> 00:07:30,040 practical faith is built off of. So he says if anyone thinks he 148 00:07:30,040 --> 00:07:33,920 is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his 149 00:07:33,920 --> 00:07:36,880 heart, this person's religion is worthless. 150 00:07:36,880 --> 00:07:39,480 So before we dive into this, I think it'd be important for us 151 00:07:39,680 --> 00:07:44,320 to define what religion is because the word religion has 152 00:07:44,520 --> 00:07:47,440 taken on a lot of different meetings in the world that we 153 00:07:47,440 --> 00:07:49,640 live in today. So if I had a conversation with 154 00:07:49,640 --> 00:07:51,480 every single person in the room and I asked you, what is 155 00:07:51,480 --> 00:07:54,240 religion to you, Some of you would describe an experience 156 00:07:54,240 --> 00:07:56,120 like what we're having this morning with worship. 157 00:07:56,120 --> 00:07:57,920 And that was a beautiful time of worship. 158 00:07:58,320 --> 00:08:01,480 You are your church is so incredibly blessed with the team 159 00:08:01,480 --> 00:08:04,600 of worshippers that you have up front as I arrived this morning 160 00:08:04,600 --> 00:08:07,440 and I watched them in practice in their heart for God and for 161 00:08:07,440 --> 00:08:09,440 each other. That is a gift. 162 00:08:09,960 --> 00:08:12,160 You need to appreciate what you have here in this church. 163 00:08:12,360 --> 00:08:14,560 But you would describe something as far as that worship 164 00:08:14,560 --> 00:08:16,800 experience and then a preacher getting upfront. 165 00:08:16,960 --> 00:08:19,480 But then some of you might even describe something that's closer 166 00:08:19,480 --> 00:08:22,360 to stained glass. When I was younger, I was raised 167 00:08:22,360 --> 00:08:25,200 in the Catholic Church, and so it was stained glass and pews. 168 00:08:25,360 --> 00:08:28,720 And so we all have different explanations of what religion 169 00:08:28,720 --> 00:08:31,600 could mean to us. But the word religion is 170 00:08:31,600 --> 00:08:35,640 actually from the Latin root of religio, which means to bind or 171 00:08:35,640 --> 00:08:39,000 connect, which as a good pastor going back to the Greek or the 172 00:08:39,000 --> 00:08:41,799 Latin is necessary. So I spent 10s of minutes in 173 00:08:41,799 --> 00:08:44,159 deep study in this word, a religio. 174 00:08:45,440 --> 00:08:46,720 No one got that joke this morning. 175 00:08:46,720 --> 00:08:48,800 OK, just want to make sure. OK, we have one taker right back 176 00:08:48,800 --> 00:08:50,280 there. You're going to have to keep up. 177 00:08:50,280 --> 00:08:52,200 I speak fast. So if you listen slow, you're 178 00:08:52,200 --> 00:08:55,760 going to miss a lot. So the word religion is from the 179 00:08:55,760 --> 00:08:59,240 Latin word religio, which means to bind or to connect. 180 00:08:59,240 --> 00:09:01,360 That's the, the the foundation of this. 181 00:09:01,360 --> 00:09:04,680 So religion in the context of what James is talking about here 182 00:09:04,960 --> 00:09:08,640 is not the necessarily the format of your belief. 183 00:09:08,880 --> 00:09:10,040 That's not what he's talking about. 184 00:09:10,040 --> 00:09:13,040 Religion, which a lot of people would decide, describe religion 185 00:09:13,040 --> 00:09:15,960 as your belief. What he's talking about is your 186 00:09:15,960 --> 00:09:21,040 worship, your connection to God, worship that connects you with 187 00:09:21,040 --> 00:09:23,400 the will of God. More importantly, that's what 188 00:09:23,400 --> 00:09:25,480 he's talking about. It's that connection and that 189 00:09:25,480 --> 00:09:27,720 binding. He's not talking about just 190 00:09:27,720 --> 00:09:31,880 going through the motions. He's not just talking about 191 00:09:31,880 --> 00:09:36,200 coming in for the, the, the two hour message on a Sunday morning 192 00:09:36,480 --> 00:09:39,360 and then going home after that and nothing changes, right? 193 00:09:39,800 --> 00:09:42,440 He's not talking about that. He's talking about worship that 194 00:09:42,440 --> 00:09:45,920 has substance that is connecting you with the will of the Father 195 00:09:46,080 --> 00:09:49,080 and not just going through the motions as a lot of us can slide 196 00:09:49,080 --> 00:09:52,720 into that habit of doing. So he's talking about our, our 197 00:09:52,720 --> 00:09:55,920 system of faith, but more importantly, our genuine 198 00:09:56,080 --> 00:09:59,680 practice of our faith. So as I'm describing what I'm 199 00:09:59,680 --> 00:10:01,280 talking about today, I want you to keep that in mind. 200 00:10:01,440 --> 00:10:03,760 James here in this scripture is talking about the practice of 201 00:10:03,760 --> 00:10:04,840 your faith. And when I say the word 202 00:10:04,840 --> 00:10:08,120 practice, I'm using it in in like the medical term of a 203 00:10:08,120 --> 00:10:10,320 Doctor Who is practicing medicine, right? 204 00:10:11,040 --> 00:10:12,320 You are practicing that medicine. 205 00:10:12,320 --> 00:10:14,840 You're, you're continuously learning and growing, but you're 206 00:10:14,840 --> 00:10:19,320 living it out on a daily basis. Your practice of your faith, it 207 00:10:19,320 --> 00:10:21,880 needs to be genuine in this instance. 208 00:10:22,360 --> 00:10:25,520 So what James talks about here is he says if anyone thinks he 209 00:10:25,520 --> 00:10:30,000 is religious, has this system of worship, but does not bridle his 210 00:10:30,000 --> 00:10:34,240 tongue, but instead deceives his heart, your religion is 211 00:10:34,240 --> 00:10:37,200 worthless. Now I don't know about you, but 212 00:10:37,200 --> 00:10:40,920 if he's, if James is talking about my worship towards God, I 213 00:10:40,920 --> 00:10:44,840 don't want that to be worthless. I want that to have substance. 214 00:10:44,840 --> 00:10:47,360 I want that to have meaning. I want it to be something that 215 00:10:47,360 --> 00:10:51,120 is full of life and vibrant and not something that has an empty 216 00:10:51,120 --> 00:10:53,000 shell to where I'm just going through the motions. 217 00:10:54,120 --> 00:10:56,520 I mean, we, how many of you ever had don't, don't raise your hand 218 00:10:56,520 --> 00:10:58,480 because then I'll have to take you to confession. 219 00:10:58,680 --> 00:11:02,120 But if, if you, if you have ever had a Sunday morning where you 220 00:11:02,120 --> 00:11:04,160 come in and you have your, your hand raised and you're 221 00:11:04,160 --> 00:11:06,680 worshipping God and you're just in this beautiful connecting 222 00:11:06,680 --> 00:11:08,200 moment. And then you start thinking 223 00:11:08,200 --> 00:11:11,040 about the laundry that you have to do and about the chores that 224 00:11:11,040 --> 00:11:13,040 you have later on. And then suddenly you've gone 225 00:11:13,040 --> 00:11:15,000 through three songs. You don't remember any of them. 226 00:11:17,600 --> 00:11:21,640 See, we can get into this going with this, this autopilot, going 227 00:11:21,640 --> 00:11:23,920 through the motions and we we missed that connection. 228 00:11:23,920 --> 00:11:26,840 That'd be like me taking my wife out on a date. 229 00:11:27,320 --> 00:11:29,760 You know, we can go out for dinner, we can go out to a 230 00:11:29,760 --> 00:11:32,200 movie, we can go throw hatchets or something. 231 00:11:32,200 --> 00:11:33,640 I don't know. We have a great place called 232 00:11:33,640 --> 00:11:35,960 Valhalla and in in Mount Pleasant to where you can throw 233 00:11:35,960 --> 00:11:38,440 hatchets and get a lot of anger out in this this area. 234 00:11:38,720 --> 00:11:40,760 But we can go out and we can do these things. 235 00:11:40,760 --> 00:11:43,080 We can go through the motions, but unless we actually have 236 00:11:43,080 --> 00:11:46,840 connection, that happens. That date night had no meaning. 237 00:11:46,840 --> 00:11:48,080 It was worthless. This wasn't it. 238 00:11:48,480 --> 00:11:50,960 We had time together, but we didn't have time together. 239 00:11:51,680 --> 00:11:53,400 See, this is what James is talking about here. 240 00:11:53,400 --> 00:11:56,200 So, so as we're looking into this, how is our religion made 241 00:11:56,200 --> 00:11:58,120 worthless? I want to know how this happens. 242 00:11:58,440 --> 00:12:01,600 But as a pastor, I want to bookend this properly. 243 00:12:01,600 --> 00:12:04,880 Allow me to book in this properly so that I don't teach 244 00:12:04,880 --> 00:12:06,600 this. And then some of you send angry 245 00:12:06,600 --> 00:12:09,440 emails to Pastor Kurt later saying this dude was way off 246 00:12:10,720 --> 00:12:13,280 because Pastor Kurt would share your names with me and I'd have 247 00:12:13,320 --> 00:12:17,440 some conversations later. So with the bookend here, keep 248 00:12:17,440 --> 00:12:22,240 in mind in this verse, James was not saying that failing to 249 00:12:22,240 --> 00:12:25,640 control your tongue meant that your salvation was removed. 250 00:12:26,520 --> 00:12:28,800 Because I know that some people have read the scripture before. 251 00:12:28,800 --> 00:12:32,600 They say if anyone thinks he's religious, oh, that means I'm my 252 00:12:32,600 --> 00:12:35,000 my salvation, but doesn't control your tongue. 253 00:12:35,760 --> 00:12:39,240 But it said to seize your heart. This person's salvation is 254 00:12:39,240 --> 00:12:42,720 worthless. Oh no, because we all, if I were 255 00:12:42,720 --> 00:12:45,160 to ask you to just kind of reflect, just even in the past 256 00:12:45,160 --> 00:12:47,520 week or two, some of you would have to start questioning your 257 00:12:47,520 --> 00:12:49,600 salvation at that point, right, Especially if you've done home 258 00:12:49,600 --> 00:12:52,600 improvements, right. Just a few weeks ago. 259 00:12:52,600 --> 00:12:55,280 What what happened is my my wife, she had this plan. 260 00:12:55,280 --> 00:12:58,600 She wanted to put shiplap on this wall and I said the dumbest 261 00:12:58,600 --> 00:13:00,200 things a husband can say. I can do that. 262 00:13:02,360 --> 00:13:05,280 So my plan was we had these outlets that were there. 263 00:13:05,400 --> 00:13:07,640 It was. So any home improvement project 264 00:13:07,640 --> 00:13:10,440 already is going to stress your faith, But then when you add 265 00:13:10,440 --> 00:13:13,160 electric to it as well. Do I have any contractors worked 266 00:13:13,160 --> 00:13:18,320 with electric before? Electric work is from the pit of 267 00:13:18,320 --> 00:13:19,520 hell. That's all I have to say about 268 00:13:19,520 --> 00:13:21,360 that. So what I have to do is I have 269 00:13:21,360 --> 00:13:23,800 an outlet over here and an outlet over here and I'm 270 00:13:23,800 --> 00:13:26,440 thinking the dumbest thing that any guy can think with any home 271 00:13:26,440 --> 00:13:28,440 improvement project, this is going to be so easy. 272 00:13:28,680 --> 00:13:30,720 So what I'm going to do is I'm going to take a wire from this 273 00:13:30,720 --> 00:13:33,480 outlet and go up and then across the wall to where the TV is 274 00:13:33,480 --> 00:13:36,360 going to be mounted. And all I have to do, all I have 275 00:13:36,360 --> 00:13:37,880 to do, guys, right? You know what I'm talking about. 276 00:13:38,040 --> 00:13:41,600 The simplest thing, all I have to do is put some holes through 277 00:13:41,600 --> 00:13:44,120 the studs to get the wire run over to where I need it and put 278 00:13:44,120 --> 00:13:46,680 the outlet in. So I start cutting on into the 279 00:13:46,680 --> 00:13:49,120 drywall there and it's going along really good. 280 00:13:49,360 --> 00:13:53,040 And then it comes time to drill the holes into the studs and I 281 00:13:53,040 --> 00:13:55,320 start looking for the drill bit that I had. 282 00:13:55,320 --> 00:13:57,960 It was a paddle 1 inch paddle drill bit that I had placed on 283 00:13:57,960 --> 00:14:00,200 the garage floor, but I knew exactly where it was. 284 00:14:00,440 --> 00:14:02,600 But then my wife came in afterwards and organized the 285 00:14:02,600 --> 00:14:04,200 garage like why would you do that? 286 00:14:04,320 --> 00:14:06,760 I knew exactly where on the floor that drill bit was. 287 00:14:06,920 --> 00:14:12,120 Now I can't find it, so I had to run to Menards and go pick up a 288 00:14:12,200 --> 00:14:14,400 a paddle bit that I had already bought and now I had to buy 289 00:14:14,400 --> 00:14:15,800 another one. So I went and bought a paddle 290 00:14:15,800 --> 00:14:17,520 bit. And so I come back home and I go 291 00:14:17,520 --> 00:14:20,320 back to there and I start drilling through these these two 292 00:14:20,320 --> 00:14:22,000 by fours and it's going really well. 293 00:14:22,120 --> 00:14:24,680 And then I get to this one 2 by 4 and I start drilling through 294 00:14:24,920 --> 00:14:27,600 and it's, it's all the sawdust is coming out and then suddenly 295 00:14:27,600 --> 00:14:29,200 there's drywall dust coming out of it. 296 00:14:29,200 --> 00:14:31,920 And I felt like Moses in this moment where I struck the rock 297 00:14:31,920 --> 00:14:36,760 and water was pouring out. Drywall dust should not come 298 00:14:36,760 --> 00:14:40,280 from a 2 by 4. Come to find out there was exist 299 00:14:40,280 --> 00:14:42,000 there was an existing structure within this wall. 300 00:14:42,000 --> 00:14:45,200 There was a doorway that they covered with drywall and I was 301 00:14:45,200 --> 00:14:48,920 finding it. So I had two two by fours with a 302 00:14:48,920 --> 00:14:52,320 layer of drywall with another couple layers that 2 by fours 303 00:14:52,320 --> 00:14:55,280 and then it's a gap about that wide and then another 2 by 4. 304 00:14:55,480 --> 00:14:57,400 So then I I have the wrong drill bit. 305 00:14:57,800 --> 00:14:59,560 It's not long enough to get through these things. 306 00:14:59,760 --> 00:15:03,480 And so in this time, why am I why am I telling you all this in 307 00:15:03,480 --> 00:15:05,360 this time? I can guarantee you that my 308 00:15:05,360 --> 00:15:08,320 speech, I was not bridling my tongue. 309 00:15:08,560 --> 00:15:11,200 There are things that come out of the mouth of a godly man 310 00:15:11,360 --> 00:15:14,560 during a home project that should not come out of their 311 00:15:14,560 --> 00:15:15,200 mouth. Right. 312 00:15:16,200 --> 00:15:19,920 So, so with all of this, if I read this in the wrong context, 313 00:15:19,920 --> 00:15:23,040 James is not talking about your salvation in this moment. 314 00:15:23,200 --> 00:15:25,280 What I want you to understand, we say this at our church all 315 00:15:25,280 --> 00:15:28,720 the time. Sanctification is a process. 316 00:15:29,880 --> 00:15:32,360 Some of you need to understand that because grace comes along 317 00:15:32,360 --> 00:15:34,000 with that. Sanctification is a process. 318 00:15:34,000 --> 00:15:36,840 What is sanctification? Sanctification is the process of 319 00:15:36,840 --> 00:15:40,400 taking that step every day that brings you closer to holiness in 320 00:15:40,400 --> 00:15:42,360 Christ. But it's a process. 321 00:15:42,360 --> 00:15:45,680 This is something that will go on your entire life and if you 322 00:15:45,680 --> 00:15:49,200 ever stop, you're missing it. So James is not saying that if 323 00:15:49,200 --> 00:15:51,720 you fail to bridle your tongue that your salvation is removed 324 00:15:51,800 --> 00:15:54,720 because he could have said salvation, but instead he said 325 00:15:54,720 --> 00:15:57,800 religion, which if you look into this word religion, it's only 326 00:15:57,800 --> 00:15:59,840 used about three times in the New Testament. 327 00:16:00,040 --> 00:16:03,600 James knew the word that he was doing or that he was using in 328 00:16:03,600 --> 00:16:06,280 this context. So with that book, and can I 329 00:16:06,280 --> 00:16:08,440 bookend to bookend? Is that aloud? 330 00:16:09,560 --> 00:16:11,840 Is it a double bookend? Does that cancel out the first? 331 00:16:11,840 --> 00:16:13,240 I don't know. We'll talk about semantics 332 00:16:13,240 --> 00:16:15,600 later. I do believe that there are 333 00:16:15,600 --> 00:16:18,400 those in the church who have never truly repented. 334 00:16:18,960 --> 00:16:20,800 There are those who attend, they go through the motions, They 335 00:16:20,800 --> 00:16:24,000 have never truly repented. They do not truly follow Jesus. 336 00:16:24,000 --> 00:16:27,200 And so of course they have never produced fruit in keeping with 337 00:16:27,280 --> 00:16:30,000 with repentance. And so that's why their tongue, 338 00:16:30,120 --> 00:16:32,280 why their mouth, why their speech is running all over the 339 00:16:32,280 --> 00:16:34,800 place is because the sanctification process hasn't 340 00:16:34,800 --> 00:16:38,000 even started. There's a repentance that's we 341 00:16:38,000 --> 00:16:41,840 come to faith in Christ, we repent, sanctification begins. 342 00:16:42,560 --> 00:16:47,280 So in this verse, James is saying that the practice of your 343 00:16:47,280 --> 00:16:51,920 faith, your worship, at this point, if you cannot control how 344 00:16:51,920 --> 00:16:57,040 you talk, it's without use and it's without purpose. 345 00:16:57,440 --> 00:17:01,360 That's what he's talking about here, that your practice of your 346 00:17:01,360 --> 00:17:06,520 faith and your worship to God has no value if you cannot 347 00:17:06,520 --> 00:17:09,839 control your tongue. Because there are many who 348 00:17:09,839 --> 00:17:14,480 consider themselves Christians who rightly worship God, but 349 00:17:14,480 --> 00:17:17,200 they're continuously talk. They're turning from the royal 350 00:17:17,200 --> 00:17:20,040 law going back to the royal law. What is that? 351 00:17:20,040 --> 00:17:23,359 Love God with everything you have and love your neighbor as 352 00:17:23,359 --> 00:17:27,720 yourself. Matthew chapter 23, verses 23 353 00:17:27,720 --> 00:17:30,960 through 28 says this and this. I love this section because 354 00:17:30,960 --> 00:17:33,640 Jesus is really good at winning friends, influencing people. 355 00:17:34,120 --> 00:17:36,440 He says woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. 356 00:17:36,840 --> 00:17:39,440 If you're going to start writing a letter to someone, start it 357 00:17:39,440 --> 00:17:45,840 that way, you hypocrite. You tithe mint and dill and 358 00:17:45,840 --> 00:17:49,360 cumin, but you have neglected the weightier matters of the 359 00:17:49,360 --> 00:17:53,280 law, justice, mercy, and faithfulness. 360 00:17:53,720 --> 00:17:55,720 Jesus says you ought to have done these things. 361 00:17:55,880 --> 00:18:01,520 You are right to have tithed, but you neglected the others. 362 00:18:02,400 --> 00:18:06,960 You blind guides straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel. 363 00:18:07,840 --> 00:18:09,880 Now again, what I want you to do, I want to recommend you do 364 00:18:09,880 --> 00:18:11,320 this. If you work in customer service 365 00:18:11,320 --> 00:18:13,280 or you're working with other people and you get into an 366 00:18:13,280 --> 00:18:16,360 argument to where it gets a little heated, I want I want you 367 00:18:16,360 --> 00:18:18,920 to respond with this. You strain out a gnat and you 368 00:18:18,920 --> 00:18:22,600 swallow a camel. I think that would end a lot of 369 00:18:22,600 --> 00:18:25,760 arguments right there. I mean, that's something that 370 00:18:25,760 --> 00:18:27,040 you have to go home and pray about. 371 00:18:27,040 --> 00:18:29,040 Like how do you respond to something like that? 372 00:18:29,480 --> 00:18:33,120 I'm just saying, so he says, you blind guides, you strain out a 373 00:18:33,120 --> 00:18:35,880 gnat and you swallow a camel. He says, woe do you scribes and 374 00:18:35,880 --> 00:18:40,320 Pharisees hypocrites for you clean the outside of the cup and 375 00:18:40,320 --> 00:18:42,960 the plate. But inside they are full of 376 00:18:42,960 --> 00:18:45,560 greed and self indulgence, right? 377 00:18:45,560 --> 00:18:47,680 The, it's the inside of the cup that matters. 378 00:18:47,680 --> 00:18:49,840 If you pull a cup out of the dishwasher and there's something 379 00:18:49,840 --> 00:18:52,040 that's stuck to the outside, it's like you just kind of rub 380 00:18:52,040 --> 00:18:54,680 it off whatever, put it in the in the, in the, the cupboard 381 00:18:54,680 --> 00:18:55,840 there. But if there's something on the 382 00:18:55,840 --> 00:18:58,160 inside, usually what you want to do is you want to rinse that out 383 00:18:58,160 --> 00:19:00,320 and clean that out properly because it's the inside that 384 00:19:00,320 --> 00:19:02,240 matters. But they are cleaning the 385 00:19:02,240 --> 00:19:05,960 outside of the cup, but inside they're full of greed and self 386 00:19:05,960 --> 00:19:08,640 indulgence. He says you blind Pharisee first 387 00:19:08,640 --> 00:19:10,840 clean the inside of the cup and the plate. 388 00:19:10,960 --> 00:19:15,480 That the outside may be clean. God is or Jesus in his context, 389 00:19:15,760 --> 00:19:20,440 he is setting up priority in our lives and and what our focus 390 00:19:20,440 --> 00:19:22,400 should be. He says woe to you scribes and 391 00:19:22,400 --> 00:19:25,920 Pharisees, you hypocrites, for you are like whitewashed tombs 392 00:19:26,120 --> 00:19:29,560 which outwardly appear beautiful but within are full of dead 393 00:19:29,560 --> 00:19:31,880 people's bones in all uncleanness. 394 00:19:32,080 --> 00:19:34,800 I'm just going to say I would have loved to him in a family on 395 00:19:34,800 --> 00:19:38,640 the wall for this as he is. He is talking to the religious 396 00:19:38,640 --> 00:19:43,000 leaders of the day and he says you are like whitewashed tombs 397 00:19:43,240 --> 00:19:47,440 full of dead man's bones. You outwardly appear righteous 398 00:19:47,440 --> 00:19:51,120 to others, but within you were full of hypocrisy and 399 00:19:51,120 --> 00:19:54,120 lawlessness. You see the Pharisees that he 400 00:19:54,120 --> 00:19:56,840 was talking to, they were experts at cleaning the outside 401 00:19:56,840 --> 00:19:58,680 of the cup. They would dress a certain way. 402 00:19:58,680 --> 00:20:00,960 They would speak a certain way. They had the Christianese that 403 00:20:00,960 --> 00:20:04,120 they knew how to speak right, which all this morning I've been 404 00:20:04,120 --> 00:20:06,920 waiting for someone to wave a hanky and say glory Hallelujah. 405 00:20:06,920 --> 00:20:10,160 But no one has done that yet. Been waiting for it and you've 406 00:20:10,160 --> 00:20:13,240 been failing. But what's important here is 407 00:20:13,240 --> 00:20:15,040 that you see that they're experts at cleaning the outside 408 00:20:15,040 --> 00:20:17,600 of the cup. They were doing the right thing, 409 00:20:17,600 --> 00:20:21,360 saying the right things, but their hypocrisy was proving that 410 00:20:21,360 --> 00:20:25,520 their worship was empty. If you remember, he said, you're 411 00:20:25,520 --> 00:20:29,120 doing the right things, but you're neglecting the weightier 412 00:20:29,120 --> 00:20:32,320 matters of the law, which is justice and mercy and 413 00:20:32,320 --> 00:20:34,120 faithfulness. Those are issues of the heart. 414 00:20:35,640 --> 00:20:39,240 See the this internal corruption, this lack of genuine 415 00:20:39,240 --> 00:20:43,160 love that we saw on their part. You know, James, if he was in 416 00:20:43,160 --> 00:20:46,120 this moment, he would describe them as people who are deceiving 417 00:20:46,120 --> 00:20:49,160 their own hearts. But we see that this lack of 418 00:20:49,160 --> 00:20:54,320 genuine love, even in their life, it was manifesting through 419 00:20:54,320 --> 00:20:57,240 their speech in a way that they were justifying. 420 00:20:57,320 --> 00:20:58,880 And we do the same thing, don't we? 421 00:21:00,200 --> 00:21:02,600 This internal corruption that we have in our own life, this lack 422 00:21:02,600 --> 00:21:04,080 of genuine love. We're not looking into the law 423 00:21:04,080 --> 00:21:06,840 of liberty and, and we're speaking in ways that we should 424 00:21:06,840 --> 00:21:09,440 not. It's manifesting in our speech 425 00:21:09,640 --> 00:21:14,040 and then we proudly justify it. You know, when, when I'm down in 426 00:21:14,040 --> 00:21:17,200 Mount Pleasant, what I say is I say, OK, now what I'm going to 427 00:21:17,200 --> 00:21:18,720 do is I'm going to talk about something here. 428 00:21:18,920 --> 00:21:21,320 But I just want you to know it's no one in this church. 429 00:21:23,440 --> 00:21:27,440 It's for the hypocrites down the road, the next church down, for 430 00:21:27,440 --> 00:21:30,760 those dirty sinners over there. I specifically did not look up 431 00:21:30,760 --> 00:21:32,200 the names of any churches down the road. 432 00:21:32,200 --> 00:21:35,120 So I can't attack any of the local churches here because that 433 00:21:35,120 --> 00:21:36,760 just that'd be a bad luck for you guys. 434 00:21:38,680 --> 00:21:41,640 But when I say this, this is no one in this church has ever said 435 00:21:41,640 --> 00:21:44,280 anything along these lines. OK, I can I I just want to say 436 00:21:44,280 --> 00:21:48,280 that no one in this church has ever said this. 437 00:21:48,680 --> 00:21:54,080 I just say it how I see it. No one is in this church has 438 00:21:54,080 --> 00:22:00,120 ever said I have no filter or it just tumbles out. 439 00:22:01,440 --> 00:22:03,520 Anyone, anyone ever hear anyone say that? 440 00:22:04,040 --> 00:22:05,520 I don't know. I just kind of blacked out and 441 00:22:05,520 --> 00:22:07,840 words came out. That's demon possession. 442 00:22:08,960 --> 00:22:11,200 If you're blacking out and words are coming out, let's just get 443 00:22:11,200 --> 00:22:13,040 some oil and handle this thing right here. 444 00:22:15,840 --> 00:22:17,600 Or how about this one? No one in this church has ever 445 00:22:17,600 --> 00:22:20,080 said this before. Will you get what you get? 446 00:22:22,400 --> 00:22:23,000 Right? There's that. 447 00:22:23,000 --> 00:22:24,160 That one's been around for a while. 448 00:22:24,160 --> 00:22:27,920 You get what you get and you don't throw a fit, right? 449 00:22:27,920 --> 00:22:33,640 We have people that their heart is in such a condition that it 450 00:22:33,640 --> 00:22:36,520 is not looking into the law of liberty and persevering where 451 00:22:36,520 --> 00:22:40,040 there is mercy and justice and faithfulness and love for your 452 00:22:40,040 --> 00:22:44,560 neighbor. And so they pride themselves and 453 00:22:44,560 --> 00:22:49,120 they justify the way that they speak and they say things like, 454 00:22:49,280 --> 00:22:51,840 I have no filter. And you get what you get. 455 00:22:52,080 --> 00:22:54,680 Well, if you don't like it, then go somewhere else because I'm 456 00:22:54,680 --> 00:22:59,280 just going to say how it is. And of course, every single 457 00:22:59,280 --> 00:23:01,320 person in this room had knows someone like that. 458 00:23:01,680 --> 00:23:06,520 And I can guarantee you it's not you, Right people? 459 00:23:06,520 --> 00:23:07,760 This is the thing you need to understand. 460 00:23:08,040 --> 00:23:12,560 Christians are priding themselves on their lack of 461 00:23:12,560 --> 00:23:16,960 self-control. Christians say this, you get 462 00:23:16,960 --> 00:23:19,840 what you get. I have no filter. 463 00:23:21,240 --> 00:23:25,200 See, we forget that self-control is the fruit of someone who is 464 00:23:25,200 --> 00:23:29,400 walking according to the Spirit. If you're walking according to 465 00:23:29,400 --> 00:23:32,160 the Spirit, you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 466 00:23:32,760 --> 00:23:35,200 You forget that self-control is the fruit of the spirit. 467 00:23:35,200 --> 00:23:37,720 So when you say I have no filter, you're admitting to 468 00:23:37,720 --> 00:23:41,200 those around you, I don't walk according to the Spirit because 469 00:23:41,200 --> 00:23:43,200 the Spirit of God himself is your filter. 470 00:23:45,400 --> 00:23:47,840 When you say, well, I just tumbles out, you're saying 471 00:23:47,840 --> 00:23:51,080 you're, you're with pride. You're telling people that 472 00:23:51,080 --> 00:23:54,040 you're not walking according to the Spirit, that the fruit of 473 00:23:54,040 --> 00:23:56,120 the spirit is not an evidence in your life. 474 00:23:57,560 --> 00:24:02,000 That's what you're doing. We can't be doing that as 475 00:24:02,000 --> 00:24:05,920 Christians. See, I, I need to bookend this 476 00:24:05,920 --> 00:24:10,240 again because you can take this in the wrong direction. 477 00:24:10,280 --> 00:24:14,160 This heart that James is sharing does not cancel out right 478 00:24:14,160 --> 00:24:18,840 judgment of character. We're seeing a lot of this in 479 00:24:18,840 --> 00:24:21,200 the church right now. See, as a pastor, when I see 480 00:24:21,200 --> 00:24:23,400 what's going on in the church world and I see all the stuff 481 00:24:23,400 --> 00:24:26,040 that's coming out about these corrupt pastors and it's coming 482 00:24:26,040 --> 00:24:31,720 to light, there's the side of me that is deeply hurt and saddened 483 00:24:31,720 --> 00:24:33,200 by that. But then there's a side of me 484 00:24:33,200 --> 00:24:35,320 that is excited at the same time. 485 00:24:36,480 --> 00:24:39,240 I'm saddened and I'm hurt because the church is going 486 00:24:39,240 --> 00:24:41,760 through this, that these people that should not be in positions 487 00:24:41,760 --> 00:24:45,040 of leadership, those who have been impressed themselves, have 488 00:24:45,040 --> 00:24:47,720 been placed in positions of authority that should never have 489 00:24:47,720 --> 00:24:52,680 been placed there. But then I'm excited because God 490 00:24:52,680 --> 00:24:56,200 is removing those people. He's removing those who lacked 491 00:24:56,200 --> 00:24:59,800 the character in the fortitude to stand in the leadership 492 00:24:59,800 --> 00:25:02,000 position in the church. And I'm excited because God is 493 00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:04,760 getting his church ready to do the work that it's called to do. 494 00:25:06,160 --> 00:25:09,560 So what James is talking about, it does not, It doesn't preclude 495 00:25:09,560 --> 00:25:12,240 right judgement of character, but what it is doing is he's 496 00:25:12,240 --> 00:25:16,520 speaking to the heart of someone whose goal is to tear down 497 00:25:16,520 --> 00:25:21,280 others consistently, either for the purpose of joy just because 498 00:25:21,280 --> 00:25:24,560 they like tearing people down and they think it's fun or funny 499 00:25:26,200 --> 00:25:30,800 or which is more common in my my book is to glorify themselves. 500 00:25:31,960 --> 00:25:35,040 Does anyone know anyone like that to where you know someone 501 00:25:35,040 --> 00:25:37,120 who tears down everyone around them so that they can feel 502 00:25:37,120 --> 00:25:41,680 better about themselves? You know, I was talking, I was 503 00:25:41,680 --> 00:25:43,840 talking about my wife earlier and how beautiful she is. 504 00:25:45,160 --> 00:25:49,280 I really feel like that's the circumstance in my marriage that 505 00:25:49,280 --> 00:25:52,440 she married me so that she looks more beautiful by comparison. 506 00:25:53,920 --> 00:25:55,760 Because you know that girls do this. 507 00:25:55,760 --> 00:25:57,600 It's like there's the pretty one and then there's the one that 508 00:25:57,600 --> 00:25:58,640 makes the pretty one look better. 509 00:25:58,640 --> 00:26:00,880 And it's like, I'm, I'm the one that makes the pretty one look 510 00:26:00,880 --> 00:26:02,960 better because people look at us and they're like, oh, look, it's 511 00:26:02,960 --> 00:26:08,240 the Princess and the troll. So but you know, people that do 512 00:26:08,240 --> 00:26:11,600 this to where they have such a lack of confidence in themselves 513 00:26:11,600 --> 00:26:14,280 that what they have to do is they have to destroy everyone 514 00:26:14,280 --> 00:26:16,520 else because they don't know how to lift themselves up. 515 00:26:18,320 --> 00:26:22,120 We know people that were like that, but going back to 516 00:26:22,120 --> 00:26:27,480 believers, those who say that they're religious, we cannot 517 00:26:27,480 --> 00:26:31,160 excuse our lack of control, especially when it comes to our 518 00:26:31,160 --> 00:26:33,160 speech. Because we should be walking 519 00:26:33,160 --> 00:26:37,880 according to the fruits of the spirit, which is Lovejoy, peace, 520 00:26:38,200 --> 00:26:41,920 patience, kindness, goodness should be coming out of your 521 00:26:42,080 --> 00:26:45,360 your mouth. Faithfulness, gentle words 522 00:26:45,360 --> 00:26:46,480 should be coming out of your mouth. 523 00:26:46,480 --> 00:26:50,640 And important in this context is the self-control. 524 00:26:51,360 --> 00:26:54,040 That is what we should be walking according to Matthew 525 00:26:54,040 --> 00:26:55,240 Henry. If you've never read Matthew 526 00:26:55,240 --> 00:26:58,680 Henry before, he has a great commentary on, on the the Bible. 527 00:26:58,680 --> 00:27:02,800 And I love going to his, his resources because he just, he 528 00:27:02,800 --> 00:27:05,400 breaks down things so well. And this is how he broke down 529 00:27:05,400 --> 00:27:10,600 this section in James. He says the man who has a 530 00:27:10,600 --> 00:27:15,400 detracting tongue cannot have a truly humble or gracious heart. 531 00:27:16,480 --> 00:27:21,800 He who delights to injure his neighbor in vain pretends to 532 00:27:21,800 --> 00:27:23,800 love God. That's the part that really hit 533 00:27:23,800 --> 00:27:27,520 me. The person who delights to 534 00:27:27,520 --> 00:27:32,920 injure his neighbor in vain pretend to love God, because 535 00:27:32,920 --> 00:27:38,560 they don't. Therefore a reviling tongue will 536 00:27:38,560 --> 00:27:46,000 prove a man a hypocrite. There is no strength nor power 537 00:27:46,400 --> 00:27:49,280 in that religion. And he's talking about our 538 00:27:49,280 --> 00:27:51,640 worship. Remember our practical faith and 539 00:27:51,640 --> 00:27:53,200 how we walk that out on a daily basis. 540 00:27:53,200 --> 00:27:55,360 It's not just your beliefs. That's how you live that out. 541 00:27:55,920 --> 00:27:59,760 There's no strength or power in that religion which will not 542 00:27:59,760 --> 00:28:02,080 enable a man to bridle his tongue. 543 00:28:02,080 --> 00:28:05,480 And what what he is saying in this context is that anyone who 544 00:28:05,480 --> 00:28:09,080 says that they are religious, that they are worshipping God in 545 00:28:09,080 --> 00:28:13,040 the correct way, you are proving that your worship is without 546 00:28:13,040 --> 00:28:16,240 power and value if you cannot control how you speak. 547 00:28:19,080 --> 00:28:22,520 Like I was saying when I put this message together, this is 548 00:28:22,520 --> 00:28:27,280 super convicting because my personality contend towards the 549 00:28:27,280 --> 00:28:33,000 cynical and the critical really easily and I had to reflect man, 550 00:28:33,000 --> 00:28:36,600 how am I speaking about and to the people around me? 551 00:28:38,640 --> 00:28:42,240 James goes on and he talks about deceiving our hearts. 552 00:28:42,520 --> 00:28:45,320 If anyone thinks he is religious but does not control his tongue, 553 00:28:45,920 --> 00:28:50,640 but instead deceives his heart. This word deceive means to 554 00:28:50,640 --> 00:28:54,440 delude or mislead the mind. And we understand that the 555 00:28:54,440 --> 00:28:56,320 heart, when the Bible talks about the heart, it's talking 556 00:28:56,320 --> 00:28:58,320 about the core of your physical or spiritual self. 557 00:28:58,480 --> 00:29:00,440 In this context, it'd be the spiritual self. 558 00:29:00,600 --> 00:29:04,400 So James is saying that you were deluding your the mind of your 559 00:29:04,400 --> 00:29:06,880 spiritual self. And we know people that are like 560 00:29:06,880 --> 00:29:08,720 that, they mislead their own mind. 561 00:29:08,840 --> 00:29:11,720 We know people who are really good at rewriting the narrative 562 00:29:11,720 --> 00:29:14,760 so that they're either the victor or the victim, depending 563 00:29:14,760 --> 00:29:17,320 on what their their goal is in that that context. 564 00:29:18,560 --> 00:29:21,480 And we have a lot of people that do that as Christians that at 565 00:29:21,480 --> 00:29:24,560 the core of themselves, they're either willfully or in 566 00:29:24,560 --> 00:29:28,880 ignorance, overlooking that their worship is empty and those 567 00:29:28,880 --> 00:29:32,360 people have cleansed the outside of the bowl as Jesus was talking 568 00:29:32,360 --> 00:29:34,920 about, but inside it remains unclean. 569 00:29:35,800 --> 00:29:40,440 We see this in Matthew chapter 12 verses 3533 to 35. 570 00:29:41,240 --> 00:29:43,720 Jesus is saying here, he says either make the tree good and 571 00:29:43,720 --> 00:29:47,960 its fruit good or make the tree bad and its fruit bad for the 572 00:29:47,960 --> 00:29:52,160 tree is known by its fruit. And, and when I read this, I, I 573 00:29:52,160 --> 00:29:55,000 think about this apple tree that my dad has on his property. 574 00:29:55,000 --> 00:29:57,840 He's got some hunting blinds that sit around it so that when 575 00:29:57,840 --> 00:29:59,560 the apples start dropping down, it's awesome. 576 00:29:59,720 --> 00:30:05,680 It's legal for the DNR. So we, we go, we, we go out 577 00:30:05,680 --> 00:30:07,360 there. And I've never once considered 578 00:30:07,360 --> 00:30:11,040 that apple tree an orange tree. Why is that? 579 00:30:11,040 --> 00:30:12,760 Because I know the fruit of that tree. 580 00:30:15,400 --> 00:30:18,040 I know the fruit of that tree. So I know what kind of tree that 581 00:30:18,040 --> 00:30:20,200 is. And again, Jesus going on making 582 00:30:20,200 --> 00:30:23,800 friends, he goes on and says, you brood of Vipers, how can you 583 00:30:23,920 --> 00:30:29,680 speak good when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the 584 00:30:29,680 --> 00:30:31,840 heart, the mouth speaks. And there it is. 585 00:30:32,320 --> 00:30:34,280 We've heard that scripture so many times. 586 00:30:35,160 --> 00:30:36,640 Jesus is drilling down on this thing. 587 00:30:36,640 --> 00:30:41,440 He's saying it's a heart issue, for out of the abundance of the 588 00:30:41,440 --> 00:30:44,560 heart the mouth speaks. How can you speak good when you 589 00:30:44,560 --> 00:30:46,280 are evil? When the core of yourself is 590 00:30:46,280 --> 00:30:48,320 evil, how can you speak that? He goes on. 591 00:30:48,320 --> 00:30:51,520 He says the good person out of his good treasure, talking about 592 00:30:51,520 --> 00:30:56,160 the heart issues, brings forth good, and the evil person out of 593 00:30:56,160 --> 00:30:58,960 his evil treasure brings forth evil. 594 00:31:00,800 --> 00:31:03,120 Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. 595 00:31:03,120 --> 00:31:04,680 How? How are you speaking? 596 00:31:07,720 --> 00:31:10,520 What, what is being revealed in that moment? 597 00:31:12,480 --> 00:31:13,760 What is coming out of your heart? 598 00:31:15,080 --> 00:31:17,280 You know, one thing I want to, I want to hit on as well with this 599 00:31:17,280 --> 00:31:18,680 is most people don't think about this. 600 00:31:19,560 --> 00:31:21,880 Your heart can be filled by your own words. 601 00:31:22,640 --> 00:31:26,040 So your, your heart can be deeply impacted by the, the 602 00:31:26,040 --> 00:31:29,400 climate or the, the people that you spend time around. 603 00:31:29,680 --> 00:31:32,400 I actually, personally, I stepped away from Facebook. 604 00:31:32,840 --> 00:31:35,240 I removed it from my phone, don't even log in on the 605 00:31:35,240 --> 00:31:37,880 browser. I, I post things every so often, 606 00:31:37,880 --> 00:31:39,760 but I do not spend time on Facebook. 607 00:31:39,760 --> 00:31:43,120 And, and it was the, the, the most happy year that we've ever 608 00:31:43,120 --> 00:31:46,160 had politically. It was 2017 where everyone was 609 00:31:46,160 --> 00:31:48,760 just very happy, loving, considerate. 610 00:31:49,800 --> 00:31:53,960 And I realized how much hate and anger was being poured into my 611 00:31:53,960 --> 00:31:56,880 heart and the way that I realized it was by how much I 612 00:31:56,880 --> 00:32:01,000 was vocalizing that frustration. So I stepped away from that. 613 00:32:04,760 --> 00:32:07,000 But your heart can be filled by your own words. 614 00:32:07,280 --> 00:32:09,560 Have you ever heard the the concept of garbage in, garbage 615 00:32:09,560 --> 00:32:12,440 out? This comes into play here. 616 00:32:13,960 --> 00:32:18,200 Your words reflect your heart, but out of the abundance of the 617 00:32:18,200 --> 00:32:22,760 heart, the mouth speaks. So what happens is your your 618 00:32:22,760 --> 00:32:27,720 heart gets full of of frustration and anger and hate, 619 00:32:28,160 --> 00:32:30,760 which is so easy in the climate we live in right now. 620 00:32:31,920 --> 00:32:35,920 And then you start talking about it, but you don't talk about 621 00:32:35,920 --> 00:32:39,680 much of anything else. You just talk about everything 622 00:32:39,680 --> 00:32:43,920 that is wrong in our government, what is wrong in the world 623 00:32:43,920 --> 00:32:47,200 today? How annoying Gen. 624 00:32:47,200 --> 00:32:51,280 Z is us as millennials, we're just like the heat is finally 625 00:32:51,280 --> 00:32:52,480 off of us. Thank you, Gen. 626 00:32:52,480 --> 00:32:58,880 Z, but you're constantly vomiting all this stuff, but you 627 00:32:58,880 --> 00:33:01,360 don't realize your ears are hearing that and it's going 628 00:33:01,360 --> 00:33:04,560 right back into your heart. And then you get stuck in this 629 00:33:04,560 --> 00:33:08,800 cycle where you find yourself becoming more angry, more 630 00:33:08,800 --> 00:33:14,200 frustrated, more hateful, more resentful, and people start 631 00:33:14,200 --> 00:33:18,600 realizing that I'm more lonely and depressed than ever before. 632 00:33:19,280 --> 00:33:21,880 It's because you're feeding into the crazy cycle of your heart 633 00:33:21,880 --> 00:33:24,320 and I want to encourage you on this. 634 00:33:25,440 --> 00:33:29,040 Allow the Spirit of God to step in and break that negative 635 00:33:29,040 --> 00:33:32,360 cycle. I genuine genuinely believe this 636 00:33:32,360 --> 00:33:35,280 is the only true way to break the cycle is to allow the Spirit 637 00:33:35,280 --> 00:33:38,760 of God to convict you and to start speaking in your heart. 638 00:33:38,920 --> 00:33:40,920 How do you do that? It's replacement. 639 00:33:41,920 --> 00:33:45,400 Start filling your heart with the word rather than the world 640 00:33:47,560 --> 00:33:50,640 that breaks that cycle. I'm where's the hanky? 641 00:33:50,640 --> 00:33:52,360 I heard an Amen, but I saw no hanky. 642 00:33:53,240 --> 00:33:55,160 It doesn't count if there's no hanky. 643 00:33:58,360 --> 00:34:02,440 Let me say this, your words give the clearest indicator on 644 00:34:02,440 --> 00:34:04,840 whether you are walking according to the Spirit or if 645 00:34:04,840 --> 00:34:06,400 you're walking according to the world. 646 00:34:08,760 --> 00:34:14,800 If I were to ask you to take the last month of your life, how 647 00:34:14,800 --> 00:34:18,600 much time have you spent talking about the state of the country 648 00:34:19,480 --> 00:34:22,360 rather than speaking the word of God, which would have the 649 00:34:22,360 --> 00:34:24,360 greater amount of time from your lips? 650 00:34:26,639 --> 00:34:29,600 How much time have you been speaking frustration and anger 651 00:34:29,639 --> 00:34:36,159 rather than grace and mercy? Your words give the clearest 652 00:34:36,159 --> 00:34:39,080 indicator on whether you're walking according to the Spirit, 653 00:34:39,080 --> 00:34:42,159 which is life and peace, or if you're walking according to the 654 00:34:42,159 --> 00:34:44,040 world, which is the flesh, which is death. 655 00:34:45,120 --> 00:34:47,360 See, this goes back to what James was talking about. 656 00:34:47,360 --> 00:34:50,480 Do not be hearers only, but be doers of the word. 657 00:34:50,600 --> 00:34:55,199 And what he's talking about is also receive with meekness, the 658 00:34:55,480 --> 00:34:59,520 implanted word of God. The word implanted is actually 659 00:34:59,520 --> 00:35:01,880 translated as engrafted in some translations. 660 00:35:01,880 --> 00:35:04,240 And I really like that one because it gives that visual 661 00:35:04,400 --> 00:35:07,640 because if you take if you take a cutting from one plant and you 662 00:35:07,640 --> 00:35:11,320 graft it onto another one and it's successful, what happens 663 00:35:11,320 --> 00:35:18,160 with that graft? It grows and produces fruit, the 664 00:35:18,160 --> 00:35:19,800 fruit of your mouth. Look at that. 665 00:35:19,960 --> 00:35:23,120 Has the Word of God been successfully and grafted into 666 00:35:23,120 --> 00:35:25,400 your heart? You will see that and how you 667 00:35:25,400 --> 00:35:29,280 talk. It will be full of love and 668 00:35:29,280 --> 00:35:34,080 peace and mercy and justice and faithfulness rather than anger 669 00:35:34,240 --> 00:35:40,680 and frustration and hate. When it comes to our speech, the 670 00:35:40,680 --> 00:35:43,800 implanted word should change our own. 671 00:35:46,320 --> 00:35:49,480 If we are truly spending time in God's Word and it is affecting 672 00:35:49,480 --> 00:35:53,400 your heart and is changing who we are at our core, out of the 673 00:35:53,400 --> 00:35:55,200 abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. 674 00:35:55,200 --> 00:35:57,600 This is the greatest indicator of whether you're following that 675 00:35:57,600 --> 00:36:00,720 or not. So what I want to do for the 676 00:36:00,720 --> 00:36:03,480 next three hours of this message is I want to talk to you about 677 00:36:03,480 --> 00:36:08,280 practical steps. Kurt told me I had to 2:00 PM 678 00:36:08,280 --> 00:36:14,120 right? I, I, I don't want to spend this 679 00:36:14,120 --> 00:36:18,080 entire time telling you how terrible of a person you are 680 00:36:18,080 --> 00:36:19,320 without giving you some hope, right? 681 00:36:19,520 --> 00:36:23,400 So with this, there are things that we can do to start changing 682 00:36:23,400 --> 00:36:25,960 this cycle in our life, right? And we've been talking about 683 00:36:25,960 --> 00:36:28,680 this. This is #1 understand the power 684 00:36:28,680 --> 00:36:32,680 that you have in your speech in Proverbs 1831, it says death and 685 00:36:32,680 --> 00:36:35,640 life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it 686 00:36:35,640 --> 00:36:37,920 will eat its fruit. This is what we've been talking 687 00:36:37,920 --> 00:36:40,680 about all morning. The power of life and death are 688 00:36:40,680 --> 00:36:43,120 in the tongue. If I have that kind of power, I 689 00:36:43,120 --> 00:36:44,760 want to understand what to do with it. 690 00:36:45,480 --> 00:36:49,320 Am I speaking blessing into my life or am I speaking curses 691 00:36:49,320 --> 00:36:52,560 into my life? Am I speaking grace and blessing 692 00:36:52,560 --> 00:36:55,920 over those that are around me, or am I destroying them by the 693 00:36:55,920 --> 00:36:57,160 words that are coming out of my mouth? 694 00:36:57,760 --> 00:37:00,800 Understand that you have power and how you talk. 695 00:37:01,880 --> 00:37:04,120 Once we have that understanding, and hopefully you're walking 696 00:37:04,120 --> 00:37:05,920 away with that this morning, that there's a conviction in 697 00:37:05,920 --> 00:37:09,560 your heart, number 2 is that you seek God's wisdom. 698 00:37:10,480 --> 00:37:14,440 This is so incredibly important. Proverbs 19 verse 20 says listen 699 00:37:14,440 --> 00:37:19,240 to advice and accept instruction that you may gain wisdom in the 700 00:37:19,240 --> 00:37:21,920 future. This is what James is doing. 701 00:37:22,040 --> 00:37:26,600 He's providing advice and instruction saying look, you 702 00:37:26,600 --> 00:37:28,240 need to control this part of your life. 703 00:37:29,080 --> 00:37:34,040 When we seek the wisdom of God, the in in I believe is in 704 00:37:34,040 --> 00:37:36,760 Psalms. No, it was Proverbs that were 705 00:37:36,800 --> 00:37:39,320 the way they talked about this. It's in Proverbs where it says 706 00:37:39,480 --> 00:37:42,120 that the beginning of the fear of the Lord is seeking his 707 00:37:42,120 --> 00:37:48,040 wisdom. Seek God's wisdom #3 understand 708 00:37:48,040 --> 00:37:52,120 that this is a heart issue, not just a moral issue because we 709 00:37:52,120 --> 00:37:53,920 have a lot of people in the church. 710 00:37:53,920 --> 00:37:57,160 This has been going on for a long time to where we have these 711 00:37:57,160 --> 00:37:59,400 moral rules to. As long as you live to these 712 00:37:59,400 --> 00:38:01,800 moral standards, then you're a good Christian. 713 00:38:02,840 --> 00:38:05,680 But you don't really look to the heart issue of what's causing 714 00:38:05,880 --> 00:38:10,480 the issue in the 1st place. We have, we have acceptable 715 00:38:10,480 --> 00:38:12,520 behavior. We have unacceptable behavior. 716 00:38:13,560 --> 00:38:16,760 We have acceptable words. Glory, Hallelujah, Amen. 717 00:38:17,720 --> 00:38:21,600 Then we have unacceptable words that those are the naughty 718 00:38:21,600 --> 00:38:23,120 words, OK? Those are the ones that you 719 00:38:23,120 --> 00:38:27,040 usually get sent to your room for usually 4 letters. 720 00:38:30,720 --> 00:38:35,800 I have met people who talk like the rest of the world and 721 00:38:35,800 --> 00:38:37,600 they're using expletives. Any other word. 722 00:38:37,760 --> 00:38:41,280 They've done a a a word study on the F word before and they found 723 00:38:41,280 --> 00:38:45,160 that it is the most you, the most useful word in the the 724 00:38:45,160 --> 00:38:48,400 English language because it's a noun, it's a verb, it's an 725 00:38:48,400 --> 00:38:51,480 adjective. Like it has a lot of utility. 726 00:38:52,680 --> 00:38:55,040 I know people that speak that way because that was the culture 727 00:38:55,040 --> 00:38:57,160 and the environment that they grew up in, but they have more 728 00:38:57,160 --> 00:39:00,280 of a heart of Christ than they do with Christians who never 729 00:39:00,280 --> 00:39:05,120 speak that way but are full of uncleanness and empty worship. 730 00:39:06,920 --> 00:39:09,840 See, this is a heart issue, not a moral issue. 731 00:39:09,840 --> 00:39:12,560 Going back to Matthew 12, what we were talking about earlier, 732 00:39:12,880 --> 00:39:15,920 either make the tree good and its fruit good or make the tree 733 00:39:15,920 --> 00:39:19,120 bad and its fruit bad. The tree is known by its fruit. 734 00:39:19,400 --> 00:39:22,520 You can do all of the right things as a Christian but still 735 00:39:22,520 --> 00:39:26,360 bear bad fruit. Jesus dealt with this with the 736 00:39:26,360 --> 00:39:28,800 religious leaders. He said you will travel miles 737 00:39:28,800 --> 00:39:32,240 and miles for a single convert and you make them twice as much 738 00:39:32,280 --> 00:39:35,880 a son of Satan as yourself. Why? 739 00:39:35,880 --> 00:39:38,000 Because they were focusing on moral issues rather than heart 740 00:39:38,000 --> 00:39:42,000 issues. Proud of the abundance of the 741 00:39:42,000 --> 00:39:44,960 heart. And the mouth speaks #4 and we 742 00:39:44,960 --> 00:39:47,600 talked about this. But again, self-control is a 743 00:39:47,600 --> 00:39:48,920 fruit. It's not a desire. 744 00:39:49,400 --> 00:39:54,520 We have a lot of desires, right? I have a desire for wealth. 745 00:39:55,720 --> 00:39:59,800 What are you doing about it? How are you growing to make that 746 00:39:59,800 --> 00:40:02,680 happen? I have a desire for six pack 747 00:40:02,680 --> 00:40:05,720 abs. Mine, mine are just really 748 00:40:05,720 --> 00:40:09,280 insulated right now and I'm offended that some of you 749 00:40:09,280 --> 00:40:12,600 laughed so early in that joke. I have a desire for six pack abs 750 00:40:12,600 --> 00:40:14,400 and you laughed at that. So rude. 751 00:40:14,400 --> 00:40:15,920 We're just going to pray and end right now. 752 00:40:17,880 --> 00:40:21,920 In Galatians chapter 5 verses 16 and 17, it says, but I say walk 753 00:40:21,920 --> 00:40:24,920 by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desire of the flesh. 754 00:40:25,600 --> 00:40:28,160 See, we all have desires, but there's an action. 755 00:40:28,160 --> 00:40:30,880 Walk according to the Spirit. If you desire the fruit of the 756 00:40:30,880 --> 00:40:33,640 Spirit, then walk by the Spirit. There's something that you have 757 00:40:33,640 --> 00:40:36,160 to do for the desire of the flesh. 758 00:40:36,760 --> 00:40:39,360 They are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are 759 00:40:39,360 --> 00:40:42,840 against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other to keep 760 00:40:42,840 --> 00:40:44,920 you from doing the things you want to do. 761 00:40:46,320 --> 00:40:49,080 I can guarantee you that every single person here that has a 762 00:40:49,080 --> 00:40:54,400 heart of Christ has a desire to be that light in the darkness. 763 00:40:55,720 --> 00:40:58,520 But the desires of the flesh are opposed to those of the Spirit. 764 00:40:58,520 --> 00:41:01,320 And so Satan is going to do everything he can to keep you 765 00:41:01,320 --> 00:41:03,840 walking according to the flesh so that you cannot fulfill the 766 00:41:03,840 --> 00:41:07,960 purpose that God has for you. Which leads me to this last 767 00:41:07,960 --> 00:41:12,280 point #5 is rely on the Spirit so that you may build the 768 00:41:12,280 --> 00:41:17,400 Kingdom and not hinder it. Do you know for the past few 769 00:41:17,400 --> 00:41:19,680 decades, this has been the, the consistent thing that I have 770 00:41:19,680 --> 00:41:22,640 seen the people that don't come to church, their number one 771 00:41:22,640 --> 00:41:24,440 excuses. I don't want to go there because 772 00:41:24,440 --> 00:41:28,440 it's full of hypocrites. And they're not wrong a lot of 773 00:41:28,440 --> 00:41:31,920 times because we have a lot of people who are really good at 774 00:41:31,920 --> 00:41:34,720 the moral issues. But you come in and you do your 775 00:41:34,720 --> 00:41:37,680 Christianese, you do your worship on a Sunday morning. 776 00:41:37,960 --> 00:41:40,080 And then when you leave these doors and you're outside of 777 00:41:40,080 --> 00:41:44,040 these walls, you do not walk in one bit of love and grace and 778 00:41:44,040 --> 00:41:47,160 mercy towards those around you. And that comes out in how you 779 00:41:47,160 --> 00:41:51,360 talk. Ephesians chapter 4 verse 29 780 00:41:51,360 --> 00:41:55,000 says, let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but 781 00:41:55,000 --> 00:41:59,160 only such as is good for building up. 782 00:41:59,440 --> 00:42:02,520 What a great standard to measure your words against. 783 00:42:02,840 --> 00:42:05,280 Is this going to tear them down or is this going to build them 784 00:42:05,280 --> 00:42:11,440 up as fits the occasion that it may give grace to those who 785 00:42:11,440 --> 00:42:15,440 hear? So this is this is the 786 00:42:15,440 --> 00:42:17,680 culmination of everything that James is talking about. 787 00:42:17,720 --> 00:42:23,920 If we say that we have genuine faith and worship in God, but we 788 00:42:23,920 --> 00:42:29,600 do not control our tongue, our worship is empty and useless and 789 00:42:29,600 --> 00:42:32,040 we're actually hindering the work of the Kingdom rather than 790 00:42:32,040 --> 00:42:33,840 helping it, which that's why we're here. 791 00:42:34,800 --> 00:42:38,080 We're so grateful for what Jesus has done for us that we want to 792 00:42:38,080 --> 00:42:40,720 join in the work of building the Kingdom of God. 793 00:42:41,000 --> 00:42:43,400 And if I have to be uncomfortable and change some 794 00:42:43,400 --> 00:42:47,040 things and be honest with myself, then I'm going to put in 795 00:42:47,040 --> 00:42:51,480 every bit of effort and work to change my heart and allow the 796 00:42:51,480 --> 00:42:55,600 Spirit to do the work in me that is necessary so that when I'm 797 00:42:55,600 --> 00:43:00,000 out in the world, it is His light that is seen and not my 798 00:43:00,000 --> 00:43:03,440 flesh. As Paul talked about, follow me 799 00:43:03,520 --> 00:43:07,320 as I follow Christ. Lord, I just thank you for every 800 00:43:07,320 --> 00:43:10,440 single person that is here and for those who have your heart 801 00:43:10,440 --> 00:43:13,200 and your desire that seek to build the Kingdom. 802 00:43:13,200 --> 00:43:15,400 I thank you, Holy Spirit, and we invite you into this moment to 803 00:43:15,400 --> 00:43:18,600 bring conviction, to run out condemnation. 804 00:43:18,600 --> 00:43:21,040 Those who may be hearing this message and you think, man, I'm 805 00:43:21,040 --> 00:43:23,440 so far gone, why try? We thank you for your 806 00:43:23,440 --> 00:43:27,320 conviction, which draws US ever closer to Christ and his will 807 00:43:27,320 --> 00:43:31,120 for us that you will highlight the areas of our life and our 808 00:43:31,120 --> 00:43:34,480 speech, the things that are in our heart that are bearing evil 809 00:43:34,480 --> 00:43:37,600 fruit that you will reach in that you will prune our heart. 810 00:43:37,600 --> 00:43:39,880 You'll remove the things that need to be removed. 811 00:43:40,800 --> 00:43:43,200 You'll bring conviction in the places where we need conviction 812 00:43:43,360 --> 00:43:47,040 so that we can greater reflect your mercy in your grace and 813 00:43:47,040 --> 00:43:52,280 your glory in this world that our worship will be full of 814 00:43:52,280 --> 00:43:58,520 purpose and life and grace. We ask you for all of the Amen. 815 00:43:59,600 --> 00:44:01,160 Thank you so much for being here today. 816 00:44:01,160 --> 00:44:02,760 And I just want to point this out, by the way, I'm not 817 00:44:02,760 --> 00:44:06,080 bragging, but the time that I was given, I'm 4 minutes ahead 818 00:44:06,080 --> 00:44:08,120 of time. So Merry Christmas. 819 00:44:08,200 --> 00:44:08,720 You're welcome.