Transcription downloaded from https://sermons.citygracechurch.com/sermons/70048/wisdom-and-speech/. Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions. Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt. [0:00] Well, hello, One Harbor. My name is Travis, one of the pastors here. It's so good to be with each of you today as we gather in these small groups. Hey, even though we're in small groups, this morning we're believing in a big God who can do big things. And so as we stand and prepare our hearts to sing and to worship, I just want to encourage you to make the most out of this gathering. Let's turn down the volume on our phones or even turn them off. [0:29] Let's turn up the volume on the TV so that we can sing with all of our hearts and sing passionately. Let's lean in and listen to what God may have for each of us during the sermon. Let's pray big prayers for one another this morning as we gather. I was reminded this week that God portions out his mercy each day, and it is so easy to fight tomorrow's battles with today's strength. And so I just want to encourage whatever you're going through, whatever you're overwhelmed by, whatever you're struggling with this morning. Let's remember that God is a God of today. He has not promised us tomorrow, but we do have today. And so I want to encourage you to lean in this morning. Let's pray. Jesus, we thank you that even though we are not promised tomorrow, you have given us yourself each and every day. And so right now in this moment, we have this opportunity to lean in, to listen to what you may have for each of us. And so we incline our hearts, Lord, to you this morning, and we make this moment about you, Jesus. In your name, amen. [1:32] Good morning, Lord. Good morning, Lord, Harvard. Let's sing before the throne of God above. Before the throne of God above, I have a strong and perfect plea. [1:51] Great high priest whose name is love, never lives in the need for me. My name is graven on his hands. [2:05] My name is written on his heart. And I know that while in him he stands, no tongue can be a steep heart. [2:19] No tongue can beat me, then steep heart. Sends and dips me to despair. [2:36] Tells me of the guilt within. But when I look and see him there. I'm leaning into my sin. [2:50] Because the sin is saved your time. My sinful soul is counted free. For God the just is satisfied. [3:05] To look on him and pardon me. To look on him and pardon me. Yeah. [3:21] Hold him there. There is a prayer. Perfect, spotless righteousness. Great, unchangeable I am. [3:35] King of glory and grace. One with himself I can't untied. My soul is purchased by his blood. [3:48] My life is hid with Christ on high. Christ my Savior and my God. Because the sin is saved your time. [4:02] My sinful soul is counted free. For God the just is satisfied. To look on him and pardon me. [4:17] To look on him and pardon me. He looks on him and pardon me. [4:31] He looks on him and pardon me. You know what I know. guitar solo guitar solo guitar solo guitar solo [6:35] What did he do? [6:49] guitar solo Reconcile the very ones who nailed him to my tree And pull that rugged cross my salvation Where your love poured out over me Now my soul cries out hallelujah Praise and honor Now my debt Now my debt is paid It is paid in full By the precious That my Jesus Now the curse of sin Has no hold on me [7:50] But the Son Sets free Oh, he's free Yeah Oh, he's free Now the curse of sin Has no hold on me When the Son stands free Oh, he's free indeed Oh, that rugged cross my salvation Where your love poured out over me Now my soul cries out hallelujah Praise and honor I'm in the Lord I'm in the Lord [8:52] Praise and Lord See the stone See the stone He's rolled away Behold the teaching Hallelujah Hallelujah God be praised He's risen He's risen from the grave Oh, that rugged cross my salvation Where your love poured out over me Now my soul cries out hallelujah Praise and honor Now my soul cries out hallelujah Praise and honor Praise and honor Praise and honor Yes, we sing [9:56] Oh, to you Praise and honor Oh, to you To you, Jesus We sing praise forever Glory and honor Power To you, Jesus We sing praise forever Honor To you, Jesus For the Lamb of God Who takes away The sins of the world Only you be worshiped Jesus Jesus, we want to praise you this morning We want to praise you this morning We want to thank you And upon you You bore the sin and the shame that we deserve So that we The guilty Can be free You Set us free And we thank you for that We want to praise you for your love This morning We thank you For that love [10:57] You set us free We praise you You Dear where he says to the Father, I do not ask for these only, meaning his disciples, but also for those who will believe in me through the word. [11:41] He's talking about us here. That they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. [11:56] The glory that you have given me, I have given to them, that they may be one, even as we are one. I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and love them, even as you love me. [12:15] This prayer is all about unity. So let's pray that today for our church. Let's pray that we would be unified, that we would be one team, undivided, arms linked together. [12:27] And for that to be true, we also need to pray against division. And it's not just politics that can divide us, mask versus no mask. It's race, maybe economics. [12:41] What is it for you? What is it that just rubs you the wrong way, that gets you fired up, that might make it hard for you to link arms with another? Let's pray against that divisiveness in our hearts and any divisiveness that could take root. [12:56] And then Jesus tells us in verse 23, why this unity is so important. He says, so that the world may know that you sent me and love them, even as you love me. [13:09] So guys, let's pray that through our unity, people would see just how much God loves them. We all need to know that, don't we? To be reminded of the depth of God's love, it changes things. [13:24] So let's pray that for ourselves. Let's pray that for others in our life, maybe people that you might be gathered with right now. Let's pray specifically by name that they would come to know just how much God loves them. [13:38] So let's take the next five minutes to pray into these things. Let's pray big, bold prayers. Let's pray. [14:14] Let's pray. [14:44] Let's pray. [15:14] Thank you. [15:44] Thank you. [16:14] Thank you. [16:44] Thank you. [17:14] Thank you. [17:44] Thank you. [18:14] Thank you. [18:44] Thank you. [19:14] Thank you. [19:44] Thank you. [20:14] Thank you. [20:44] Thank you. [21:14] Thank you. [21:44] Thank you. [22:14] Thank you. [22:44] Thank you. [23:14] Thank you. [23:44] Thank you. [24:14] Thank you. [24:44] Thank you. [25:14] Thank you. [25:44] Thank you. [26:14] Thank you. [26:44] Thank you. [27:14] What a load of junk. [27:43] Thank you. [28:13] Thank you. [28:43] Thank you. [29:13] Thank you. [29:44] Thank you. [30:13] Thank you. [30:43] Thank you. [31:13] Thank you. [31:43] Thank you. [32:13] Thank you. [32:43] Thank you. [33:13] Thank you. [33:43] Thank you. [34:13] Thank you. [34:43] Thank you. [35:13] Thank you. [35:43] Thank you. [36:13] Thank you. [36:43] Thank you. [37:13] Thank you. [37:43] Thank you. [38:13] Thank you. [38:43] Thank you. [39:13] Thank you. [40:13] Thank you. [40:43] Thank you. Thank you. [41:43] Thank you. [42:13] Thank you. Thank you. [43:13] Thank you. [43:43] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. [44:44] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. [45:16] Thank you. You know, thank you. all of us have been hurt but but through what jesus has done all of us have also been healed so what does that look like well remember our hearts and our mouths are connected in fact jesus says in matthew 15 8 he's talking about the disconnect between the heart and the mouth people who say that they follow him he says well they their mouth sounds right they honor me with their lips but their heart is far from me there's this weird separation that isn't true it isn't a reality so if that's if that's kind of where things go well then what if our hearts are with him what if our hearts are close to him well then that should lead to our mouths being reflecting that right it should make it should make the connection if our hearts are close to him our mouth should indicate that we're close to him and that means a few things for us i just want to just kind of walk these through with us as we as we look to close if jesus is our lord well that guys that means that we we don't get to say whatever we want and um i think this is where you know things often go i can say whatever i want because it's a free country and i'm extremely extremely proud to live in a country where we have the freedom of speech my job is directly related to this incredible freedom that we have but that freedom and all of our freedoms that we enjoy in this great nation that freedom is subject to something greater i just want to consider a couple of passages in galatians 5 13 it says for you are called to freedom brothers only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh i can say whatever i want because i'm free yeah scripture says you could but but you shouldn't now use your freedom to serve one another first peter to live as people who are free not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil i had to say it i just had to say it no you didn't no i didn't and the hypocrisy of christians who say they love jesus and use their mouths to tear other people down it's just not acceptable i mean i don't know if it can get any clearer than this back to that james passage we've been referencing he says with our tongue we we bless our lord and father and we pray big prayers we sing big songs we say hallelujah and with that same tongue we curse people who are made in the likeness of god there's people you and i disagree with but they're made in the likeness of god there's people that we vehemently oppose but they're made in the likeness of god that's true about every human being on this planet so we're going to use our mouth to bless god and use our mouth to curse people made in the image of god from the same mouth come blessing and cursing i love how james says it's my brothers and sisters these things ought not to be so does the spring pour forth the same opening both fresh and salt water can a fig tree my brothers can bear olives or grapefruits produce figs neither can a salt pond yield fresh water if jesus is our lord we don't get to say whatever we want if jesus is our lord kind of carrying on there we don't get to just blast people who offend us i mean jesus modeled this for us i've already talked about that but then titus after a just epic description of what jesus has done for us says this in titus chapter 3 verse 2 speak evil of no one avoid quarreling be gentle and show perfect courtesy toward all people all people speak evil of no one avoid quarreling that there would be basically [49:23] nothing left minus pictures of people's food and their gardens and their cats on social media if we just follow that that verse i just feel so good when i say it though and it just needs to be said and someone needs to hear it i i know exactly what that feels like believe me i know what that feels like you just want to roast them and you know what the bible um would encourage you not to bottle that up the bible would just point you to the right person to to take that to you wouldn't be facebook it would be in prayer to this god in heaven who knows everything knows how rotten that person is he knows how rotten you and me are and he's not in heaven like hell yeah you make some good points i'm gonna it's gonna be like sodom and gomar over there at their house now he he cares about you and me he wants to hear the things that are just weighing us down and burning us up but then he also he he'll always do what's right and psalm 109 is an epic example of this just go read that it's almost uncomfortable you know how how the psalmist prays that god would just strike down his enemies but then he knows god's not gonna go do that god's gonna do what's right god's always gonna do what's right and so if you're feeling like i just gotta tell someone great go find yourself somewhere quiet and just you let it all out to this god in heaven who cares about you and how you feel but he's gonna do what's right lastly if jesus is lord man this is awesome we could we should use our words to build up and heal like jesus has done for us ephesians 4 29 just a couple of verses let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths but only such as is good for building up as fits the occasion that it what may give grace let your words be the kinds of words to give grace to those who hear jesus who said father forgive them us we sound like jesus because we give grace to people who hear us colossians 4 quickly let your speech always be gracious it's just so many verses like this and that's within your power and mind to shower people around us with grace and i wonder i wonder how often that's happening for me and you what would it look like for you if you really started doing that i'm suggesting to you that maybe for some of us it would look like repenting to some people who we can think of right now oh my gosh shouldn't have done that and again you don't say and i wouldn't have said that if you weren't such a jerk no you just i'm really sorry because man what god has done for me means i shouldn't be the kind of person who says things like that i just shouldn't have said it i'm sorry that will bring healing that might heal relationships i might heal a marriage someone listening right now might heal a brokenness between you and a sibling or a neighbor a co-worker it also might mean you want to go have a look at your social media might be some things and probably shouldn't have said that it's all right it's okay if you're watching this and you're not yet a follower of jesus i really hope this has helped you um consider how to use your words better more than that i hope it's helped you consider your heart and to realize like like me and like everyone else watching this we're just powerless to change that but there is a god who wants to change it who can change it and he invites you to come to him i pray that that's what would happen to you that you would come to this god who wants to speak gracious life-giving words over you and wants to heal you and change you if you're already a follower of jesus man probably probably a lot to think about with this one and um me too me too but before we kind of just go try to fix all that let's just honor this jesus together i think that means us taking communion together and coming around this the bread and the cup and honoring the one who suffered for us [53:29] who spoke forgiveness over us and then asking him to change us it's a great posture a great moment to take that psalm 19 verse 14 and just pray god change the meditation of my heart change my mouth make it pleasing to you use me to be someone who brings healing not not cursing who brings grace to those around me if you guys um are going to give today i know not everyone can but for those of you who are i just wanted to say thank you so much um just doing amazing as a church in this and it's allowing us to to continue on being a blessing we're seeing almost on a daily basis um opportunities to help people who are you know coming out of substance abuse addiction or who've lost their jobs or it's just been incredible so thank you guys so much we love you guys um we're gonna we're gonna take some time now to reflect around communion and then we're gonna worship together and the end there's gonna be some some things that we can do to respond god bless you you are good you are good there's nothing good in me you are love you are love display for all to see you are light you are light you are light you are light when the darkness closes in you are hope you are hope you have covered all my seed once you come over us you are peace you are peace you are peace when my fear is crippling you are true you are true you are in my wandering you are joy you are joy you are the reason that i sing you are life you are life in you death is lost in steam you are love you are love you are love you are love you are love you are love you are love you are love you are love you are love you are love you are love you are love you are love you are love you are love you are love you are love you are love you are love you are love you are love you are love you are love you are love you are love you are love you are love you are love you are love you are love you are love you are love you are love you are love you are love you are love you are love you are love you are love you are love you are love you are love you are love you are love you are love you are love you are love you are love you are love you are love you are love you are love you are love you are love you are love you are love you are love you are love you are love you are love you are love you are love you are love you are love you are love you are love you are love you are love you are love you are love you are love you are love you are [56:00] Sing, you are more. [56:30] Yeah. And no, I'm running to your arms. I'm running to your arms. [56:42] The retees of your love will always be enough. Nothing compares to your embrace. [56:53] Light of the world forever. Sing my heart. [57:03] My heart will sing no other name. Jesus, Jesus. [57:17] My heart will sing no other name. Jesus, Jesus. [57:29] My heart will sing no other name. Jesus, Jesus. [57:39] My heart will sing no other name. Jesus, Jesus. [57:54] And no, I'm running to your arms. I'm running to your arms. The retees of your love will always be enough. [58:07] Nothing compares to your embrace. Light of the world. Sing, I'm running. And no, I'm running to your arms. [58:21] I'm running to your arms. The retees of your love will always be enough. Nothing compares to your embrace. [58:36] Light of the world forever. You're the light of the world. [58:51] Jesus, we praise you this morning. We thank you for the opportunity to come back together and to sing how good you are. To remind our hearts that you are the matchless king who reigns forever and ever. [59:05] Amen. Guys, it was so good to be with you. This morning, as always, we want to remind each other that we have six days now, between now and next Sunday, to make disciples and to push back darkness all for the sake of the gospel. [59:20] We love you a terrific week. You're welcome. [59:42]