Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Lord, before I bring anything this morning, we just acknowledge you.
[00:00:05] We ask for your spirit to minister deeply this morning and to inspire my words.
[00:00:13] In Jesus name, amen. Amen. Right.
[00:00:20] Well, Mark, you've been away two weeks.
[00:00:23] We've had some adventures, right? We've had some adventures over the last couple of weeks. And I can't bring the concluding part of my series, my pastoral series this morning, without making a quick reference to my preach two weeks ago on singleness.
[00:00:41] Second group of the day. Hurrah double. Whoop. Now, I would like to say thank you, right? Because when we come and we bring a word and we prepare something to bring to you, we always trust that it will go out there and the Lord will use it, and he will use it for his own glory. And he knows we don't always get a lot of feedback.
[00:01:07] Wowzers, have I had some feedback. Thank you. Thank you so much. Feedback from couples who have said they've tweaked different things. Feedback from singles in different categories who've just said thank you.
[00:01:25] Let's keep this conversation rolling.
[00:01:28] Feedback from a group of students on the way out last week who said they'd been invited out to lunch from three separate people. Isn't that lovely? So thank you.
[00:01:39] Thank you for being open and mature enough as a church to really have this conversation. Thank you. Okay, today ends my series, my pastoral series. Mark's been having a series. Highly flammable. I've been running a pastoral series. This is week six, and we never really get to find out who's heard everything we've said. So I know you've just been standing up, but could you all stand up again? We're going to play a game of pastoral bingo. Everybody on their feet.
[00:02:13] Everyone who's standing at the moment has a chance to win a fun size mini Twix. Come on. And the way you can win this is that you're going to keep standing up. I'm going to name every one of the talks that I've done.
[00:02:31] And if you were there, stay standing up. So, for example, if you were here this morning for sticks and stones, stay standing up.
[00:02:39] Hooray.
[00:02:42] If you were here two weeks ago for singleness, please stay stood up.
[00:02:48] There is no shame if you sit down. Don't worry, that's fine. Stay standing up. If you were also here when I talked about the fear of death in the Bible and how we address the fear of death, a lot of people are down there. Okay? Stay standing up. If you were here for receiving a prophetic word, stay standing up. If you were also here for the good and faithful servant does rachel, we're married, right? I don't know if this counts. You can still have a Twix, darling.
[00:03:29] And please also stay stood up. If you were here for the shepherd heart of God. That was my first preach.
[00:03:39] Give me a wave if you left simon and Rachel, someone on the royal box. Yay. I lugo. Right, baggy. Round of applause for the guys. Well done.
[00:03:54] Simon. Could you be Drew's? Going to be my Twix distributor as we go. There we are.
[00:04:00] There we are. Keep one for myself. I know there was only six there. Okay.
[00:04:06] The series has all been born out of consistent themes that keep coming up as we have precious times together, having pastorals, and just as we all work as we walk together and we journey together.
[00:04:24] And although I would never be as insensitive enough to name names or to expose anybody's struggles, there's been a real desire that as different issues come up more and more regularly, it just seems wise for us to have a conversation about it as a church. And today is the end of that series. It's called sticks and stones.
[00:04:48] We're going to be speaking this morning about our tongues, and in particular about the life bringing, deeply, deeply and richly life bringing power of our tongues. That's where we're going this morning. If you have your Bibles, can we go, please, to James One.
[00:05:11] This is our starting point. But this topic is brilliant because it's just saturated through this whole thing. This isn't scripture pinching this morning.
[00:05:24] We're swimming in it. We're absolutely swimming in this consistent message.
[00:05:29] Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters.
[00:05:33] You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to get angry. Human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires, so get rid of all the filth and evil in our lives.
[00:05:49] Humbly accept the word God's planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls. If you claim to be religious but don't control your tongue, you are fooling yourself and your religion is worthless.
[00:06:09] Some things we're about to read this morning do have a little bit of a sting of the shepherd's crook about them, but that's not to condemn us.
[00:06:20] The sting of the shepherd's crook. If you find it and you feel it at any point this morning, it is to stir us towards the life bringing, God filled power your tongue can have. All right, that's where we're going.
[00:06:37] Now, for those of us who study this afternoon or through the week, I've just got a couple of other scriptures, as well as James One. Matthew twelve is fantastic. Jesus has this dialogue with the Pharisees about their tongues. Great. Dive into that.
[00:06:53] All of proverbs.
[00:06:56] Just read proverbs.
[00:06:59] It's wonderful. It's so rich. Here are a few Proverbs that I'd love to set the context with today.
[00:07:06] A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.
[00:07:13] The heart of the righteous weighs its answers, but the mouth of the wicked gushes evil vision and a half.
[00:07:25] The shepherd heart of God.
[00:07:28] The shepherd heart of God. Those who guard the mouths and their tongues keep themselves from calamity.
[00:07:35] Guard your tongue.
[00:07:39] And as the small unfolds in the next 15 or 20 minutes, we're going to find out how those who guard their mouths and their tongues also keep others from calamity and from hurt as well.
[00:07:53] Okay. Without a wood, a fire goes out. Without a gossip, a quarrel dies down.
[00:08:05] Okay, two more. Two more. We're going to come back to this quite a lot today. Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits. And this is the inspiration. Next one.
[00:08:18] The soothing tongue is a tree of life, but a perverse tongue crushes the spirit.
[00:08:31] So many more. Please go into proverbs. There's so many more. The tongue of the righteous is a fountain of life. That's another one. I love that.
[00:08:40] And the first thing we're going to look at together as a church is speaking life over ourselves.
[00:08:56] This is the first part of Call. Speaking life over ourselves. There are some who talk about us cursing ourselves. The stories maybe investigate hagar in the Bible. That's where some people get that idea from. I'm not talking in that context this morning. I'm talking in the context that Mark brought a few weeks ago of not letting the devil get a foothold in your life.
[00:09:20] Nothing. Zero tolerance. Off you go. See you later. No foothold. That's the context of this. Speaking life over ourselves.
[00:09:30] Got a couple of songs for you.
[00:09:35] Is the strap still really small?
[00:09:39] Look at that.
[00:09:44] It feels like it, right?
[00:09:48] If you know these songs, maybe you might want to join in. Here's the first one. This is a little bit older. You cool students. You mightn't heard this yet.
[00:09:59] Goes like this. I am a new creation.
[00:10:04] No more in condemnation here in the grace of God I stand a third. Get in.
[00:10:18] Wasn't that a banger straight out of the Bible? There's no condemnation in Christ Jesus. Those are in him. The old has passed, the new has come. I'll speak that with my mouth, speak it over myself. Here's another one which I forgot the chords to in the first service.
[00:10:36] I'm no longer slave to fear. Sing if you know it. I am a child of God.
[00:10:47] I'm no longer slave to fear.
[00:10:53] Love it. I am a child of God.
[00:10:59] If I am in the car driving to work, I can sing that wonderful scriptural based stuff over my life. Here's another song that I've sang, and some of you might have sang it as well. Feel free not to sing along with this. It starts off really positively. Here we go. You might recognize this. Some of you goes like this living easily, living free.
[00:11:33] Okay, so it sounds great, right? It even has this moment. It kind of feels like it's from the Bible. And it says, I'm going off to the promised land.
[00:11:46] I'm on a don't sing it.
[00:11:53] Really?
[00:11:57] I'm not on a highway. There no chance I'm on a highway at the other place.
[00:12:03] I've sang that though God redeems all things. You know, like, I played drums for for my job for ten years and that AC DC and other people got me into playing the drums in the first place. But God turned it around for his glory and I used it for him.
[00:12:20] But I ain't singing that rubbish. Absolute slop. No chance.
[00:12:28] I know where I'm going and it ain't there.
[00:12:31] So it here's the thing.
[00:12:36] Some of the things we speak over ourselves don't speak life, but don't speak life.
[00:12:45] And for all of us this morning, we're going to quickly look at some things pastorally that get my heart and I know get God's heart.
[00:12:57] And if there are things, the first thing we address this morning is things that we've spoken over ourselves. I've got some dear friends who have joined me on screen here. So are some of the things oh, wow.
[00:13:20] I understand the pain that leads people to say things like this. I understand the pain and God understands the pain.
[00:13:30] Please don't speak that with our mouth. Come on. Please don't. Please don't. We're going to break some of this stuff in a moment.
[00:13:37] Next one.
[00:13:40] Useless. Next one.
[00:13:44] I've heard this a few times. Some people have said this to me.
[00:13:48] Come on, come on.
[00:13:52] Today we get control over our mouths.
[00:13:57] I'll never have children. I'm a mistake. That's along the lines of some of the things that have been broken off these guys lives over the last few years.
[00:14:07] This is an interesting one in the context of us using our lips to pray for healing.
[00:14:13] I'll never get well.
[00:14:19] Ah.
[00:14:22] I'll never get over it. And the next one, I'll never be able to forgive them.
[00:14:30] Oh, come on, come on, come on, come on.
[00:14:38] Well, there's brilliant news.
[00:14:40] There's brilliant news that the mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life and that the word of God is full of stuff that counteracts all this stuff.
[00:14:54] Priscilla, I don't know if you can all read what Priscilla's holding. I'm not intelligent, I'm not beautiful. That stuff she believed she'd spoken over herself years ago. The word of God says that you are beautifully and wonderfully and fearfully made.
[00:15:10] We need to combat this stuff that we've spoken over ourselves. Wow.
[00:15:16] Here's mine.
[00:15:19] And I'm going to encourage all of us to stand in a moment and all right, we're going to start together in a moment and we're going to pray and we're going to break off some of this stuff.
[00:15:45] My best in God is behind me. I believe that for years.
[00:15:51] Church, would you stand? Would you stand and join me?
[00:15:57] In a moment, we're going to rip these up just as a symbol of us not believing this nonsense anymore and speaking God's word over ourselves.
[00:16:08] And Lord, my prayer as we stand this morning is that Holy Spirit, if you brought anything to mind into heart across this room that anyone has spoken over themselves, that is not of you and is not in line with your Word.
[00:16:33] Lord, we ask for your forgiveness.
[00:16:38] Father, we forgive ourselves and we ask, Holy Spirit, that from this moment you would really work inside us, Lord, that these absolute rubbish we've spoken over ourselves would be washed away as we walk from this place, a new creation and full of all of these things that we know your Word speaks over us.
[00:17:05] In Jesus name, amen. Amen.
[00:17:15] Amen.
[00:17:17] Amen.
[00:17:20] Well caught, sir.
[00:17:22] Thank you for being so vulnerable, guys. Thank you. That is absolutely stunning. And before we move to number two, there's a quick pause, a cellar moment, as we see in Psalms.
[00:17:38] Could we say this together? Church, set a guard over my mouth, Lord. Keep watch over the door of my lips.
[00:17:50] Great.
[00:17:52] Number two speaking life over others.
[00:17:59] There was a few groans there. I get it, I get it. Speaking life over others. Ephesians says this, ephesians four says this.
[00:18:10] Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.
[00:18:24] Don't let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouth.
[00:18:29] Proverbs the words of the reckless pierce like swords.
[00:18:37] But here's the inspiration the tongue of the wise brings healing.
[00:18:47] Everything that has been spoken and that I do hear commonly, sometimes in pastoral settings, is not rooted in the Word. It's not. And here are a few examples of things that have been spoken over other people.
[00:19:14] There's no way God could use you.
[00:19:21] It's because of your sin. Oh, this still pains me to read it. It's because of your sin that you're real.
[00:19:37] You're not invited.
[00:19:41] You it. I'm not saying people in this church have said this, by the way.
[00:19:46] I'm not saying this to condemn you. There's liberation today, not condemnation.
[00:19:54] A reminder that sometimes there are unweighed prophetic words that have been said over people when they come. Please make sure that what you are bringing to someone if you give someone prophetic word weighed up against this, weighed up against the resonance with the Holy Spirit before you bring it, please, please.
[00:20:24] You'll never find anyone that will marry you.
[00:20:28] These are all real, all of them.
[00:20:33] And this is where I would be so upset if my name was inserted into the first thing. People are hurt because people have kept that distance or people have avoided them or excluded them or whatever, because such and such said something about them.
[00:20:55] Gossip.
[00:20:59] Come on, come on.
[00:21:10] Those words, as Proverb told us about damaging like swords.
[00:21:26] Mark, can I just grab your mic?
[00:21:29] Brilliant.
[00:21:31] Cool.
[00:21:33] These are all things that these guys have broken off. These guys have broken off their lives, but things that they believed.
[00:21:44] You're a jack of all trades, but a master of none.
[00:21:50] You are fool.
[00:21:52] It's your fault I hit you.
[00:21:55] You are useless. No one likes you. You're an idiot, pathetic, a failure.
[00:22:05] You should stay where you are.
[00:22:22] There's mine that I took on board in certain situations. Des. You're a fake.
[00:22:32] I know this is vulnerable, right? I know this is vulnerable, but that's cool sometimes. That's healthy sometimes.
[00:22:42] Church, would you stand with me just for a moment?
[00:22:56] God.
[00:22:59] Holy Spirit, for those things that you've brought back to mind, whether they're surface level things, Holy Spirit, or whether they're deep, deep, deep things, lord, we ask that you would minister to those things again, just like earlier. That your word of truth, your scripture, just like it has for these guys on stage, would speak and would replace the lies that weren't from you in our lives, where tongues have spoken and caused hurt.
[00:23:37] Lord, we ask for the grace to forgive those people who've said it.
[00:23:43] Lord, give us grace to forgive.
[00:23:47] Would Your Scripture be vibrant and alive in our hearts and in our mouths, Lord, as we go from this place today to know that we've set these things aside, Lord, and we've got rid of them in Your precious name, Jesus. Amen.
[00:24:08] And symbolically for everyone.
[00:24:21] Brilliant.
[00:24:26] See if you can catch this one again.
[00:24:29] Oh, sorry. One out of two wasn't bad. Brilliant, guys. One more I've got one more quick thing to bring for you. Have a seat before we close.
[00:24:38] And this is something around our tongues that I wrestled with for a few weeks leading up to this. And I really feel like if I don't bring this this morning, I would be disobedient.
[00:24:54] There may be some people who disagree with me this morning, and that's fine, that's fine, but I need to prod you on this. And it's our tongues in the context of honoring, bringing glory to and worship to our God and our King, right?
[00:25:15] And here is a phrase that I've heard within church quite a lot recently in different conversations, and I would just love to expose it a bit this morning. And the phrase is oh, my God.
[00:25:32] I know that stings. I know that might sting a bit because some of you might be sitting there. I'm not saying that to condemn you. I'm saying that this morning I would love to nudge you and to ask the question of you.
[00:25:46] Does using that phrase flippantly and in conjunction with absolute nonsense, does that honor the Lord?
[00:26:01] Does it honor the Lord?
[00:26:05] That commandment of not taking out the name of the Lord in vain, not using his name emptily my Jesus is the treasure of my heart. He is my king. He is, my lord.
[00:26:21] I will not speak his name. He's my God.
[00:26:26] So for some of you this morning, I would love to just nudge you just a little bit and encourage you that if you do use that phrase, would you consider it? Would you mind just considering whether that brings glory to the Lord, maybe have a conversation with Him about it?
[00:26:47] And here's the other one. Some of you mightn't even said this word ever. It's the word hallelujah.
[00:26:56] It's a word in worship that has such a deep meaning and it's a deep expression that I can say. I can speak of his glory. I can boast of his greatness. I can say hallelujah.
[00:27:13] Hallelujah is not a vain rolling of the eyes.
[00:27:18] Hallelujah.
[00:27:20] It stopped raining.
[00:27:24] Hallelujah. Tesco's still open.
[00:27:30] Because again, just like the hope that we have in our tongues, hallelujah could just be a word that might become part of your worship vocabulary.
[00:27:44] A really special, deep addition to your worship vocabulary.
[00:27:51] Love it.
[00:27:55] So here's our reflection. Today as we end, here's our reflection, there's a few things I'd love us to say together.
[00:28:08] Would you stand with me, church, one more time? Just one more time.
[00:28:14] There are two scriptures I would love us to read.
[00:28:21] Let's read these together, starting with psalms. May my lips overflow with praise for you. Teach me your decrees.
[00:28:32] May my tongue sing of Your word, for your commands are righteous.
[00:28:40] I've slightly doctored Proverbs, but it means the same thing. It just puts us all together in the context of that Proverb.
[00:28:48] As we leave today, the words of the reckless pierce like swords, but the tongues have rediscovered that church bring healing to bring healing.
[00:29:06] Oh, so Lord, we do pray for those of us who, myself included, need to acknowledge where my tongue has not been used for your glory, Lord. We repent of it.
[00:29:27] We earnestly repent of it.
[00:29:33] Forgive us, Lord.
[00:29:35] Forgive us, Lord, where we've hurt and we've spoken things either over ourselves or over others that weren't of you.
[00:29:47] And Lord, in the words of that Proverb, as we leave, would the mouths and the tongues and the overflow of the heart from which the mouth speaks from all at Rediscover Church be a life bringing healing, fountain of life to everyone that we come into contact with?
[00:30:10] Lord, we really mean that the mouth of the righteous, the mouth of Rediscover Church is a fountain of life.
[00:30:20] May we leave with that in our hearts, Lord Jesus, in your name and to your glory. Amen. Amen. Thank you.
[00:30:35] Great.
[00:30:38] Now, as we have to coffee, just like I have prodded you a little bit the last few weeks, as well as Hi, how are you? How are you doing?
[00:30:48] Let's really get into the habit of saying, what was it about this morning God nudged you with?
[00:30:55] Is there anything you've got from this morning?
