SPEAKER_02 0:44

Matthew chapter 12 is where we will begin this morning for my assignment. The last time I was with you, I had the privilege of talking to you about how to put the word to work in your life with an emphasis in our last lesson on how to govern the tongue. And I want to pick up from that, so I just want to go over some of those points that we made in our previous lesson so that we can all get back on the same page because you've had some time with Pastor in between the last time I had the opportunity to minister to you. So I know he's been dealing with some uh elements as well along these lines. Uh but when we talk about our redemption, and we talk about being made a new creature in Christ Jesus, one of the most important things for us to understand is that now we're spiritual. Before we got saved, we had a soul, we lived in this body, but our spiritual condition was spiritually dead. We were not alive unto God. And so there wasn't the same ability, there wasn't the same authority, there wasn't the same processes in the heart for the word to be able to function the way that it can function in you now. Because you're born again, you're a new creature, this new believer has been equipped with, let's look at it like an engine. So the engine in your car, you can put fuel in that car, and that fuel goes through a process in the engine that changes it from liquid fuel to a power supply. Correct? Your heart is like an engine that receives the fuel of God's word, and it comes in off the written page through the eyes, through the ears, but it enters into the heart and it goes through a process of combustion, spiritual combustion, where the forces of God are now available to you. You now have available to you, faith comes by hearing. Faith is one of those things. You have patience, you have peace, you have you have uh the love of God available. Those are forces. Well, the word of God produces faith in you. The word of God is a container. God uses his words as containers to transport, to transport his will into the situation or his power into the situation. So he said in Psalm 105, I sent my word and I healed them and delivered them. How did he heal and deliver them? He put the healing power, the delivering power in his word, and he transported it to their location so that it's available to them. It's tangible in the spirit realm. It's tangible. You can, but every word of God is full of power. And so we looked at God's word from Hebrews chapter 4. It says, every word of God is full of power, it's energizing, it's operative. Hallelujah. So every word of God works. God doesn't have a word that won't work. Now there's some types of ground where it doesn't work. The parable of the sower, Jesus explained, but every word of God had the power. It was just in the ground. It was what the ground did with the word that determined whether the ground brought forth 30, 60, 100, or whether it was wayside soil, it was stolen. The thorny ground, it was choked out. The stony ground, it didn't have enough room for the roots to grow. So, but every word of God in those situations, in those grounds, it was capable of producing, because God doesn't own an empty word. If it came out of his mouth, there's power in it. It's a working word. So we talked about Matthew chapter 12, and we uh looked at this requirement. Jesus said in Matthew chapter 12, let me say this one thing before we move to chapter 12. I don't want to miss this point. We looked last time at the first mention of the use of words in the book of Genesis. And we talked about the fact that when you're studying the Bible, the law of first mention is a rule that people teaching or learning the Bible operate by to say the first time it's mentioned in the Word of God will set the precedent for how that's the main way it should be interpreted. That's the main way it should stand in explanation of how it is. So using that idea of the the first time we see words mentioned, the use of words, how words are used, mentioned in the Bible is Genesis chapter 1. And God said. And he we looked through all the times, and God said, and and God called. So he said and he called. He said, and every time he said, something came into existence that wasn't in existence before, and every time he called, he set it in order. So we saw that the first mention, the first use of words was to create a desired result. Transporting his will, what he wanted. He wanted light, and how did he get light? He said, light be. Now, King James, I think is is a um if we'll if we take King James where it just says, Let there be light, that sounds so poetic, doesn't it? Doesn't that sound dramatic? Like like you're a Shakespeare play actor or actress, and you're saying, Let there be light. You know, so dramatic. But in the Hebrew, the original language, God said, light be. So he gave a direct order. Light be. Heavens be, firmament, be. Man, be in our image and in our likeness. So he that's what he wanted. That's what he wanted. So Isaiah 55, he says, My word will not return to me empty or void. It will accomplish what I send it to do. It will accomplish my will. So God, when he wants something to change, when he wants something to be a certain way, he says it. He uses his words to transport his will, and in every word is the power to produce it. That's why faith is not hard. Faith isn't hard. Why? Because the faith for anything you need is in the word that promises that thing. You can't have Bible faith without the Bible, right? We know that. So we're not talking about I'm gonna use my faith to win the lottery. It ain't happening. No, not gonna happen. Why? There's no faith for you to win the lottery. But there is faith for God to bless the work of your hands. There is faith for you to give and it shall be given unto you to sow your seed and reap a harvest. There's if I give, it's given unto me. If it I have faith for what I can find in the Word. So the Word is the source of our faith. And if I need to increase in faith in a certain area, for instance, you know, when Pastor teaches, we have healing school here every Tuesday at 10:30. And pastor's been teaching healing for decades now in healing school. And so he says, if you have been diagnosed with something, healing needs to be your job. You need to give your attention to it like you would a profession. You need to make it your focus. Why? Because what we're saying is not my focus to try to get something I don't have yet, but my focus to sow the seed in the ground of my heart and to give my focus to the receiving of what is mine already and build my strength for that. And so he says, you've got to give your attention to it. You've got to make it a priority. It's got to have your thoughts. Glory to God. Why? Because you're trying to reach into a provision that's yours in your salvation and bring it into manifestation, into the from the legal side, into the vital side. You know, Pastor Caldwell always taught there's the legal side to redemption, and it's everything that belongs to you. And then the vital side, you might look at areas of your life and say, I can see it in the word, but I don't see it in my life. I can see it belongs to me, but I don't see it working for me. How do I get it from belonging to me to working for me? Faith draws hold of that, and so we are gonna have to interact with the word of God. We're gonna have to interact with the scriptures and meditate on those scriptures, not just read them once or twice, not just quote them from my head, but put them in my eyes, put them in my mouth, let them be let them be going in my ears. To do that, I'm gonna have to be reading it out loud. I'm gonna have to be speaking it out loud because the word of God is voice activated. And so that hearing requires speaking. In the parable of the sower, how did it get sowed? The sower went and sowed the word. How did the sower sow the word with the speaking of it? And it says the ground heard it. So your ground needs to hear the words of God. Your ground needs to have that deposit of the word of God. And so the hearing requires that somebody is speaking it. And it can be you speaking the word to yourself. Glory to God. It can be you listening to a sermon where it's being preached to you. It can be you reading it off the page, but it needs to be in your eyes, in your ears. It needs to be it. That's how we get it into our hearts in abundance. Okay, let's go on to Matthew chapter 12. So we saw that the first mention of use of the words of God was to create his desired result. So that should be our primary use for words. Before God communicated, before he used his words to set things in order, he first and foremost used his words to establish his desired result in that situation. That should be your primary use of words, not communication. We're gonna use it for communication, but that's not the most important thing my words are for, for me to communicate my heart or my express my feelings or to share details with somebody. And I go to the Word of God and get the desired result, and I bring it over here and I frame my world. We understand through faith that our worlds are framed. So your world needs to be framed. Your finances need to be framed. The reason God took his words and framed how he wanted the rotation of the earth, how he wanted molecules to work, where he wanted light to function, the speed. When God said light be, it hasn't slowed down, not one iota. It's still moving at the same speed as the moment it's because in his words was enough detail for light to know how fast it needed to move. Glory to God. So our words for our lives, the primary use of our words needs to be: I'm setting the desired result. I'm setting the course. I'm directing my life. I'm putting my life in order with the framing of God's word around my marriage. I'm framing God's word around my finances. I'm framing God's word. Because when God started talking, there was no framework. There was no order. He was putting it in order. And your life will get out of order without your word setting it back in place. Because there's a curse out there. And that curse wants to take the flow of your life into its flow. And that's why your words have to establish no, not in my house. That heavy feeling is not going to be over my family. That financial struggle is not going to be in my life this month or next month or the month after that. We are the house that the Lord has blessed. This is a family that operates under the peace that passes all understanding. It guards our heart. The peace guards our mind. Glory to God. And so you have the ability to take the will of God, align yourself with it, and establish it. Glory to God. Now, Matthew chapter 12. Let's look at verse 36 and 37. And I'll pull the amplified up, if you will, on the screen. I'm going to read King James and then we'll look over at the amplified. But I say unto you that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. Every idle word. Verse 37, for by your words you shall be justified, and by your words you shall be condemned. The definition for the word justified from the Greek dictionary is deemed right. By your words you'll be found or deemed right. The definition for the word condemned means to pronounce or pass a verdict. To pronounce a verdict. So by your words you'll be acquitted, pronounced right, or a verdict against you, a judgment against you. By your word. So he says every word, every idle word that men shall speak. The amplified. Let's go ahead and read the amplified. But I tell you on the day of judgment, men will have to give account for every idle, inoperative, non-working word they speak. Now we have a detail that will help us make whatever necessary adjustments so that when we're giving an account, when we are wanting to be deemed right, hallelujah. So we're not talking about heaven or hell when we're talking about acquitted or or or justified. Verse 37 in the amplified says, by your words you will be justified and acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned and sentenced. So this isn't necessarily talking about heaven or hell, although if someone denies Christ, it's on record. And when they say, But God, I was, I didn't do this and I didn't do that, and you ought to let me into heaven because you know I never killed anybody, and and and yeah, I wasn't a perfect person, but but the but on record, if that person has said, I don't want to make Jesus my Lord, I don't want to serve him, I don't, I don't believe that. I don't believe in God. Well then they're gonna that that's on record, right? But this is not limited to that, because I believe there will be some people that that will say that will make heaven, and and they will say, I don't know why, God, you never met my needs. I don't know why I didn't have anything financially. I don't know why I struggled all my life financially. You know, I I I I I I tried to work hard and I tried to do this, but then God's gonna be able to play back the words that they said. And they get up in the morning, they turn on Clint Black, and he says, Too much month at the end of the money. I know y'all ain't listening to any Kent Black right here, right? Too much mother, and they say, Oh, that's a dollar, a day late and a dollar short, that's me. You know, uh uh can't get over for going under. It's on record. They've said it. Their words are condemning them, their words have stopped the word of God from working in their life. And so he says every idle, inoperative word. Inoperative, non-working words. So words are evidence. Words are evidence that stand in heaven's court. Words are evidence that stand on record for us. Your words, every word you've ever spoken, those words don't go away. Words are releasing, you are you are a speaking spirit. When God created Adam and He breathed into him and He made him, the one translation says, a speaking spirit. When he breathed the breath of life into Adam, he became capable of bringing forth power with his words. A speaking spirit. So angels don't have the same capacity that you have because they don't have the same heart engine. And so Satan tried to use words to call things that be not as though they were, and he said, I will exalt my throne above God's throne, I will make my throne higher than his throne, I will be like the Most High God. What was he doing? Why was he saying that? He was trying to do like God and call what he wanted, and God said, No, no, uh-uh, that's not happening. Why? Because angels don't have the power to choose words. They don't have the legal ability or right to choose words, to use their words to establish their will, to establish a direction. Hallelujah. No other creature, no other animal, no other created being has the ability that God, what? You're his family. We are his family. We're in his image and in his likeness. Angels are not. And that's what Hebrews chapter 1 and chapter 2 is identifying, because there was in the early church a little bit of deception. Going on, where people were putting angels in a higher place of exaltation and uh emphasizing angels. And he said, To what angel did God ever say, sit at my right hand? To what and so the emphasis there is the authority that God has given man, and that's why Jesus came as a man to redeem us legally in a body, legally birthed in through the womb, which is the legal entry door into the planet. Jesus legally entered, and he entered operating the authority that God had given to the first Adam, and that first Adam had submitted to Satan. And Jesus begins to command wind and waves, and they obey him. Why? Because his words operate with the power that God designed for the original Adam. Jesus, the last Adam, not the second, the last. We don't need a third or a fourth or a fifth. Jesus has completed and established the redemption for us. Hallelujah. And he is the firstborn among the many, brethren. And we are equipped with speaking spirits that when our words come forth out of our mouth, they continue. Science has proven that those words are released and they just keep going. They just continue going. The frequency that is released in your faith-filled words has the ability to dissolve tumors. Jesus spoke to a fever and the fever obeyed him. Hallelujah. Why? Because our words carry the power of God, the will of God into that situation. Glory to God. You know, when my children were teenagers, I said, you're going to get to drive my car. But there's rules with my car. And we had a family van at the time. I said, you're not going to put the whole draw, the whole uh debate team in my car. Right? You're not going to get all the football players in the car. Right? Because you don't, that's the no. This is how many people you can have in the car at the time. This is where you can go. This is when you need to be back in. There are rules with it. This is, you need to follow, of course, the speed limit and other things, but I had rules above the natural driving rules that the road had. So I had rules. Why? Because I'm going to give you the ability. But with the ability, there's a responsibility. And if you are not responsible, you're not able. As your your your co-pastor, I'm asking you to consider removing the phrase, I'm just saying. You're never just saying. What that does is that takes lightly. That that brings an emphasis off of the value of my words. I'm just saying, like it's not that big of a deal. I'm just saying this. But I'm never just saying, if I open my mouth, things are changing. If I that that needs to be the attitude that you have. When God talks about Isaiah 55, 10 and 11, my words shall not return. Do you realize that He expects you to have that same attitude about your words? My words. Do you have enough confidence? Have you disciplined your mouth to the point and and and and purposefully chosen what's coming out of your mouth to the point that you know my words will not return to me empty? That's not just God who wants to, He wants you to think that way. He wants you to think that when my words go out of my mouth, they're not void, empty, worthless words. But my words are intentional. My words are targeted. My words are working, operative, energized words. Why? Because I've got God's word in my heart. I'm not just speaking out of my head. I'm speaking out of my heart. It's out of the heart. So here we're in Matthew. Let's look at Matthew 15 and verse 11. Matthew 15, 11. And Jesus again is telling us how things work in the realm of the Spirit. He says, not that which goes into the mouth defiles a man, but that which comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man. And that was a different way of thinking for them, wasn't it? That put them in a different mindset because they were more focused on what people were eating or not eating, if they were partaking of certain foods or foods that he says, nope, let me tell you what is the real issue. Not that which goes into the mouth, but that which comes out of the mouth. And then in verse 18, he specifies more clearly the why. He says in verse 18, those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth. Oh now. Now we're back to our engine. We're back to the fact that we've got a spiritual processing plant right here inside our heart, our spirit, and that when I put the word in and I speak words out, my words now have the power of that promise in my words. Glory to God. He said, Your mouth is bringing forth what's in your heart. Your mouth is directly connected as a supply line to the heart. What's in the heart has an exit. That's why faith comes by hearing, but then there needs to be some release. Jesus explained in Mark chapter 11. If anyone would say to the mountain, be thou removed, not think it. If anyone thinks to the mountain, no, it's got to be said, but there has to be all the components of not doubting in the heart, but believing that the things you say come to pass. Believing that my words don't return to me empty. Why? Because I'm working my words. I don't use my words to express things I don't mean. I don't use my words to exaggerate. I don't use my words to make jokes that require me to deceive my heart. Why? Because I need my words to work. I'm going to be responsible for what I say. And so Jesus said, those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart, and they defile the man. So notice words can direct, or words can defile. We have some choices to make, don't we? Let's go back to Proverbs 4. Proverbs chapter 4. I use this text so much from Proverbs chapter 4. Verse 20 through 23 is a constant part of my teaching tools. And just in case you don't know how to attend, he gets specific, doesn't he? He says, Incline your ear. Don't let it depart from your eyes. So I'm employing my ears, I'm employing my eyes. And then the objective is to get it in the heart and not just get it there once, but keep it there to keep a supply, to maintain a level. And so that means there's going to be constant hearing and constant input in my eyes of the word. I'm going to be giving constant attention if I want constant provision or a constant level of the word in my heart. And then he says, For they, these words, are life unto those that find. And the word find means not just to discover one time like you. Oh, look what I found. But it means to maintain possession of. So I find it and I'm not letting it go. I've still got the hold on it. I'm still holding it. I still have it. And so your tongue, your tongue is a spiritual hand. When Proverbs, I think it's chapter 18, says, death and life are in the power of the tongue. The word power is the Hebrew word for hand. Death and life are in the hand of the tongue. So your spirit has a hand, and it's your tongue. So if you want to hold possession of something, keep it in your mouth. Keep saying it. I have that. I have wisdom. I have the wisdom. Why? Because God gives me wisdom liberally. I'm holding it right here with the hand of my tongue. So he says, Life to those who have it in their possession, not to those who knew that one time back in the day. I heard that verse. I heard that verse last year. Or even I read it last week. Well, that doesn't mean I still have possession of it today. Is it in my mouth? Today. And so he says, the possession of the word, they are life to those who have them in their possession. And health to all their flesh. Keep your heart with all diligence. For out of your heart, out of it are the forces, the flows, the issues of life. So now again, that's a responsibility. Keep it. And not just protect it from the bad. That's part of keeping it. But also maintaining the fullness of the word in it. Because if the heart's empty, you hadn't kept it. Right? He says, keep it. What's the objective here? Attending to the words till there's a fullness in the heart. Keep your heart full, you could say. Keep your heart with all diligence. If there's no word in it, I don't have anything to draw out of. When Jesus was in Matthew 12 talking about out of the abundance of the heart, the man speaks. And a good man out of the good treasure, I've got the responsibility to put the treasure in. I can't pull something out I haven't put in. I can't go to the bank and withdraw money I've never deposited. And for there to be a deposit for me to draw on, a spiritual deposit of health, I've got to first plant the seed of health into my the promises, the scriptures of health. I've got to plant the scriptures of prosperity into my heart if I want to draw it out. Out of the good treasure of the heart, you can draw out of it. And that's why God put the kingdom in you. The kingdom of God is in you. The kingdom ground is in you. You take the kingdom seed, put it in kingdom ground, and get the kingdom results. But there is that responsibility of keeping. So he says, keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life, but he's not through. Now, I again I use that part of the text so often. But I want us to look at this next verse because he's been talking about the word in the eyes, the word in the ears, getting the word. The purpose of it is to have it in your heart, keep it in your heart, and now he is identifying for us one of the most important things about keeping your heart. Put away from you a froward mouth. As I said last time, I have never in my life used the word froward outside of this verse. Except I'm reading this verse, this King James Version, use the word froward. I've never said, oh, that that little dog of mine just got froward with me today. No, I've never used that word outside. So we're going to look at the definition again because I I want to I want to see this key element, this key component to keeping and guarding my heart. He says, put away from you a froward, a crooked, deceiving mouth. Now this word, deceiving either by mischief or rebellion, is the definition. Deceiving by mischief could be, oh, look at that cute little dog, and it's a big great dame. Right? And you're not doing anything that is hurtful necessarily to someone or sinning against someone, but you're using your words in a way to say something you really don't mean, and it will bite you, it'll backfire on you. And so he says, if you want to keep your heart, keep your mouth. Put away from you a mouth that uses crooked, deceiving speech. Another definition is the word distorted, to twist something out of its normal shape or condition. So exaggeration. Another definition of froward means to misrepresent. To change so much as to create a wrong impression or alter the meaning of. So a froward, crooked, deceiving, misrepresenting speech. It's better to say what you mean. If someone says, hey, are you going to make it back for Pastor Calwell tonight? And you don't know if you're going to be here, if you're going to be able, if something you know you haven't made that plan yet, don't say, Yeah, yeah, I think I'll be here. But in your heart, you know you're not planning on it. Right? You don't want to deceive. But I don't want them to think I don't want to come. I don't want them. No, say what you mean. I'm going to do my best. I have some other things that I've got to accomplish, but I'm going to do my best. And if you're going to do your best, then it's good to say, right? But if you already know that you've got other arrangements or whatever, don't use your words in a way that doesn't explicitly, specifically express what you mean. Why? Because we're trying to guard our heart. And if I use my words irresponsibly, it causes a negative effect of what God wants to do. Okay, so it says a froward mouth, right? Put away from you a froward mouth. The word mouth in the Hebrew language is also translated word. So a froward crooked word. And then he says, perverse lips. He says, put perverse lips far from you. And again, the word perverse means deviation, turning away from a course or a standard. And the word lips is also translated as language. So it's not just the physical mouth. He's talking about the words you speak, the language you use. I'm never just saying. I'm going to use my words accurately. I'm going to say what I mean. Why? Because I want my words to be power containers that carry my power to the situation so that when I speak, when I hold my checkbook up, and I still have one, y'all. I know I use my debit card most, but I still have a checkbook and I'll talk to it. I'll talk to my wallet. Oh, yes, I will. Wallet, you listening to me. Bank account, you listening to me. You are abundant and flowing and increasing. I am always going over. Why? Because God spoke to things. And He wants us to. Jesus spoke. We've got to speak to it. And so I want when I open my mouth and I speak increase to it, I want my increase to come out of my heart and to go into that situation and produce the desired result. So I've got to pay uh pay attention to the words that I speak, and I've got to put a bridle in my mouth. So James chapter one talks about this discipline. Let's look at verse twenty six. James one and twenty-six. Oh, that person's just religious. And what we're saying is they're following a tradition, but not necessarily spiritual. But this scripture is talking about someone who is appearing to be spiritual. If any among you seem to be spiritual, but does not bridle their tongue, but deceives their own heart, their religion or their spiritualness, their spirituality is in vain. Because we are spiritual, which means our words have power. Our words are working words. If I appear to be spiritual, but I haven't put the bridle over my tongue. A bridle is not something that we have as much interaction with as in the day when this was written. Unless you grew up around a horse or or you interacted with livestock and you had to put a brid. I had a pony when I was a little girl. I had a horse when I was a teenager. And so I remember trying to get the bridle in that horse's mouth. I remember going out to catch the horse. Listen, I had the meanest Shetland pony I've ever seen. This Shetland pony, and and I guess it's just Shetland ponies, they have a tendency to be ornery. And my grandfather, he could go out and he could catch that pony. And when I got old enough, he said, No, Michelle, I'm busy today. I'm not available. You're gonna have to go catch it yourself if you want to ride it. I was there at my grandparents for the whole summer. I actually lived with them for a couple of years after my while my grand my parents were divorcing. And so I I remember when I got old enough trying to go out and catch that pony. Now my granddaddy made it look so easy. Of course, he was never riding it, so she wasn't ever going to give him a hard time about the getting caught. But after I rode her all day one day, she had in her mind she wasn't gonna let that happen again. So I went out the next day. I Ridden her all day long. I kept her tied up by the barn. You know, she had food, she had water and everything. But but I I all day long that that day, I had I was on that pony's back. I I could get on bare back and just ride her. And so the next day I go out there and I do the same thing. I've got the feed bucket, I've got a little bit of corn in there, and I'm shaking it. I've got the halter behind my back, and I'm I followed her and she took off. She uh I chased that Shetland pony off both fields, the far the far field. And I came back in tears. And it wasn't sad, it was frustration. I was so mad at that pony, she wouldn't let me catch her. She'd get her head in there just enough to eat the corn. And then as soon as I was ready to put that halter around her neck, she took off running. But if I ever could get the bridle in her mouth, she was mine. If I got so far as to get that bridle in her mouth, I could control her the rest of the day. But until then, she could do what she wanted to do. And so the bridle is a three-inch piece of metal that fits in the mouth, but horses, as strong as they are, as thick muscular as their body is, ooh, they are tender in the mouth. And if you put pressure on the mouth, you've got them to answer, they will answer to you. You've got their attention, right? And so if I could ever get the bit in her mouth, if I could get her caught and get the bridle on her, she was mine. But until then, she was gonna have her head, she was gonna go her way. And so he says, a person who is spiritual, let's let's take it out of the negative connotation, let's move it over. If any of you want to be spiritual, you've got to bridle your tongue so you don't deceive your heart. An unbridled tongue deceives the heart. An unbridled, unrestrained tongue will deceive the heart. The NIV says, if you do not keep a tight rein on the tongue. The CSB translation says without controlling the tongue. The Kenneth E. Weeks translation says, not holding in check his tongue with bit and bridle. If you're not holding your tongue in check, with bit and bridle, and so what what would we consider the bit and the bridle to be? God's word. We take God's word, and if if it's not what God's word says, I'm not saying it. I'm not putting it in my mouth. I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna give voice to that. Why? I'm gonna take the word of God. If I want to change what I'm saying, I'm gonna start saying what God said. If I hear myself saying something and it's it and I'm like, oh wait, I I shouldn't be saying that. Remember, I I told you about um when I would want to go out to dinner after church, and at the time all of our kids were little, and they uh I had a family member who had one child, and I had like all four of them. And and so she would come over and she would say, Hey, we're going out to dinner. Do you want to go out to eat with us? We're gonna go to uh CGI Fridays or we're gonna go to Chili's or whatever. You know, for her to take her and her husband and her child versus what it would cost for me to take all my kids, and they were hungry. They they they didn't want the kids' menu anymore, right? And so I was like, uh I and I I would always I was just learning faith. I was just learning how to control my words and discipline my words, and she would say, Do you want to go out to eat? We're going out to eat. And I would say, I don't have enough money for us to go all out to eat there. And she didn't want to go where I could afford, you know, the McDonald's value mill. And so uh at the where I was at the time with our budget. And so I heard myself every time it came out of my mouth, I wanted to kick myself for saying it. I'm like, I don't have enough money. We no, we're not gonna go. We don't, and come on and go. We don't have a uh no, it's just not in our budget. And so I I heard myself saying it over and over. We don't have enough money, we don't have enough money, we don't have enough money until I said, Lord, help me. I don't want to answer that way. I don't want to be in this position where I have to say I don't have enough money because I believe you meet all my needs. I believe that you are my source and my supply. I believe that I'm blessed going in, I'm blessed coming out, and that I've got uh enriched in every good thing. And the Lord said, put the crock pot full of a pot roast and tell her I've already got dinner in the crock pot. And then I didn't have to say I don't have the money. I could say, you know what, we've already got dinner. We got a pot roast waiting for us at home. I've got a meatloaf in the oven at home, I've got chili in the crock pot at home. I'm I'm sorry, we've already got something, you know, we've already uh maybe next time. And so uh when when we could plan it, right? And plan them the finances and put it back, and that's what we started doing. We would start planning to go out to eat and budgeting for it and and using wisdom instead of just saying I don't have the money. And so what was I doing? I was having to bridle my tongue. My situation was being established in not enough money every time I said I didn't have enough money. And then then my little one had questions every day, all day, every day. She would just barrage me with questions. Mommy, why?

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Mommy, why is the sky blue? Mommy, why are the clouds white? Mommy, why, mommy, why?

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And just I don't know, I don't know, I don't know. It just was easier for a minute to say, I don't know, I don't know, until one day the Holy Spirit, I'm like, Lord, I'm trying to figure this out. How do I do this? And I could hear my words. I don't know. I don't know, I don't know, I don't know. And I was establishing. Let the weak say. What is the weak supposed to say? I am what let the redeemed of the Lord say so. Why? Because your words are establishing. He says, you're overcomers by what? The blood of the Lamb and what? The word. So the way to apply the blood is with your words, right? So the blood has justified you. The blood has set you in a condition where your words work. So you're an overcomer by the blood, yes, but if you don't open your mouth and resist the enemy, he won't flee. He he won't flee without any resistance. So the resistance is the shield of faith. The shield of faith. The faith is a shield, it will go out and protect. And so my words release that shield. My words are establishing a force field of protection, of resistance against the curse, the lack, the sickness. Hallelujah. There's a man who back when the swine flu was going through California, and Brother Hagin was in a meeting out there, and he said people were staying away from the meeting, you know, because they were getting the flu. And he said the the uh deacon came up to the pastor and said, Oh, this swine flu, everybody's got the swine flu. Oh, uh, talking about it, and we're not gonna have a good meeting, and said something to Brother Brother Hagin, said, I'll never get it. Oh, brother, don't let the devil hear you say that. He said, He's the exact one I want him to hear me say it. And I tell you what, when they started talking COVID, Pastor started talking back. He said, I'm never gonna have it, I'm never gonna have it, and he's never had it. Why? Because he's established a force field. You've got to speak it, you've got to say, No, no, this is the house that the Lord has blessed. We will not lack, but we will be in abundance. This is, these are the hands that God has blessed. Amen. This is the body that the stripes paid for my healing. I take healing. Hallelujah. I think it was Sister Jeannie who said to Brother Caps. She heard Brother Caps he was coughing or sneezing or something, and and he said, Uh, I take healing. And she said, I thought you were already healed. He said, I'm storing it up. I'm storing it up. Glory to God. So your words are setting the course. So we've got to have a bridle. We've got to control the tongue, keep a tight rein on the tongue. Job thirty-eight, verse two. This is interesting. Job thirty-eight verse two. Elihu and and all of Job's comforters, and they've sat around and talked about why this and why that, and how come this and how come that, and and God, you know, he's the one that sent this, and he's the one that did that. And God answers out of the whirlwind, and notice what he says: Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? If you don't know, don't talk about what you don't know. Don't give voice to the things, to the questions that you don't have answers to. Keith Moore was in uh this time that he was a student, he was also working there in the the healing school, and he said he had uh dinner with some of the other students there at his uh or or some of the other people there from Rhema, and he said uh they got into a discussion about something that none of them knew the answer to. A theological discussion, and and well, so and so says this, and so-and-so thinks it's this, and so-and-so thinks this ought to be the truth about it. And he said, but none of us had the answer, none of us knew what the scripture said about it. And he said, When they all went home and I was getting quiet and laying down to go to sleep, the Lord said, You're farther away from the truth now than you were before you started that conversation. Why? Because words without knowledge, what do they do? Darken. So if you're dealing with a situation and confusion is trying to work, and the enemy's trying to muddy the water with all why is this happening? Why isn't it going this way? Why didn't this happen? Why, what, what, what, where do we open the what? What all of those questions? Stop those questions and go back to something you know. I know that I'm redeemed. I know that the blood of Jesus has redeemed me from the curse of the law. Just let's start right there. Don't have to go through all of these. Why did that, who opened the door, what happened here? If there's a door open, the Holy Spirit will show you. But you spending needed time, you need to be resisting. And what happens is some people waste the first two weeks with the questions and there's no shields up. Why is this happening? I don't understand. Where did I open the door? What is it? Get the shields up, and God will tell me if I open the door somewhere I need to shut. Let me get the shields up. Let me go back to what I know. Let me go back and enforce the victory that I know is mine. I am not the sick trying to get healed. I am the healed of the Lord because by his stripes I was healed. And so if there's something trespassing in my body, I'm going to resist it. But I'm not the sick trying to get something. I'm not the struggling trying to get prosperity. I am the one who is in covenant with Almighty God. He has opened to me his good treasure, his blessing, the blessing of the Lord maketh rich and adds no sorrow in its accumulation. Hallelujah. I'm going to establish that. Because if the enemy can get the question in your mouth, he's got it working. He's got the confusion working. Why? Why? And so, husbands and wives, guard your conversation about the difficult things. I'm not saying not to talk about it, but talk, make sure that even if your emotions are tempted to move up into your mouth, that you don't let your emotions have the microphone. Y'all remember I used to call Pastor on the phone. He was working at Blue Cross Blue Shield at the time, and I was babysitting kids, and and I I would be at home and I would be making a list of all of the bills that we had to pay and how much each of them were. And I was I was making my list, and we've got to pay this, and the electric bill is up because it's summer, and we've been running the air conditioner, and we got this, and we spent this much on groceries and this much. And you know what? I kept coming up with Clint Black songs and my end of my list. I had too much month at the end of my money. And I would call Pastor, and he would be at work at Blue Cross Blue Shield. I would call him and I would say, Honey, we got to pay this and we got to pay this, and then we're only gonna get this much on your check, and I've only got this many baby consent and kids this week because they went on vacation and and I'm just stressing out and I'm telling him about my list, and he said, Woman, quit making the list. Stop with the list, quit making the list. Because the list was tormenting me. And I my emotions were all in it. There was no faith in it. I was I by the time I got to the end of my list, I was in fear. And it didn't change till I started opening up the scripture and getting the word of God and saying, and the first time that I said, the first time that I said, I'm blessed going in, I'm blessed coming out, I'm blessed in the field, I'm blessed in my basket, I'm blessed in my storehouse. I thought, I'm lying. I'm lying, Lord. I'm lying. I'm not blessed. You can see through my sandwich meat. It is transparent. You can hold my Carl Bunning ham 69 cents a packet up to it. And I didn't give anybody more than one slice. Pastor, he's working hard. I won't give him two. But the kids, y'all get one slice. I'm like, Lord, I'm lying, I'm lying. But I had to keep calling it. I had to keep sowing the seed. I had to keep putting the word in because it's the word that changes the situation. It's the word that works. It's not your faith employs it, but all you're doing is believing and speaking. The word's doing the heavy lifting. All you have to do is believe it and speak it. Believe it and speak it. Speak it and believe it. Believe it and speak it. Speak it and believe it. Believe it and speak it. If you'll do that, the word will do the hard part. The word moves the mountains. You don't have to move the mountain. You just have to believe it and speak it. The word causes the increase to come. You don't have to make the increase come. You just have to believe it and speak it. The word causes the healing to be received. You don't have to make your body get healed. You just have to lay hold and sow the seed. I've never, I've never seen my grandparents had two gardens. They had the garden right by their house that was bigger than their house, and then they had another garden across the way on the other side of the pig pen, and it had the potatoes and the onions and stuff in it. But I never saw my grandmother out there making that corn come up. She just planted the seed and went out there and reaped it when it got done. She went out there, oh yeah, we put a little bit of bean bug dust on the green beans. We went out there and we we, you know, kept kept the orderly growth so that it wasn't overgrown with weeds and stuff like that, and the bugs didn't get on it. But she didn't do anything about making it grow. The seed did all the growing on its own. She just put it in the ground and reap the harvest. Put it in the ground and reap the harvest. And that's what you've got to do with the word. Put the word in the ground of your heart. It's not hard. It's not hard. But darkened counsel is the result of words without knowledge. If you don't know, go back and talk about what you do know. So in chapter 40, Job chapter 40, look at Job's response in verses four and five. Behold, Job answered the Lord in verse 3 and said, verse 4, Behold, I am vile. What shall I answer you? I will lay my hand upon my mouth. I will lay my hand upon my mouth. Once I have spoken, but I will not answer. Yea, twice, but I will proceed no further. It's like, I said it wrong the first time, I'm not doing that again. I I open my mouth when I shouldn't open my mouth. I'm not doing that again. I'm going to put a bridle. I'm going to put my hand over my mouth. I'm going to say, mmm. And I have bitten my tongue to keep myself from saying what I felt like saying. Because I knew better. If I say it, I might feel better for a moment. But then it's going to take me extra effort to go back and rebuild and reestablish what my words have broken down. So I'd learned I'd rather just bite my tongue, even if I have to literally go, no, no, no, I'm not going to say that. And I'm going to go back to saying what God said about my situation. Amen. So he put his hand over his mouth. Glory to God. James chapter 3. And I'm going to close right here. James chapter 3. I believe I've helped you today. I believe the Holy Spirit has helped us. James chapter 3, beginning in verse 2. For in many things we offend all, and that word means to stumble or cause to stumble. In many things we stumble. If any man offend or stumble not in word, the same as a perfect. And the word perfect means developed, mature. The same as a developed man, a mature man, someone who is well developed and able also to bridle the whole body. Your words, if you will become disciplined in your words, you can bridle your whole body. That means your blood pressure will obey you. That means your ligaments will obey you. That means as you increase in age and you tell your body that you're fit, you're strong, your eyes are not dim. Glory to God. As you can, you can your body will obey you. Glory to God. And so, of course, that would include any bad habits that you want to quit. You can control it if you can get control of your mouth. If any offend not in word, the same is a mature man. The Wees translation actually uses this is a spiritually mature man able to hold in check his entire body. Able to hold in check even his entire body. Glory to God. I think we need to be having that control, don't we? How does it come? I've got to be able to not stumble in my words. That I've disciplined and I've practiced control over my words to the point that they are that I am mature and I'm developed. If any man appears to be spiritual but doesn't have A bridle on his tongue, he's deceiving his heart. He says, If it so it's possible, isn't it? If any is a perfect man, perfect meaning well developed, mature, someone who has gained skill in that area. Behold, we put bits in the horses' mouths. Why? So that they will obey us. And we turn their whole body. So the purpose of the bit in the mouth is that we have control and we have the direction. We have the directional control if we have the bit in the mouth. So no matter what you're facing, no matter what your situation is, if you've got the word of God in your mouth, you've got the power to turn it. You've got the power to set the course, the direction that you want this situation to go. And that it's again framing our worlds. We've got to take that step of framing our world and establishing this is how my marriage is going. This is how my finances are going. This is how my health is going. As I increase in age, I don't have to decrease in strength. I don't have to decrease in mobility. Glory to God. So you've got to protect that image and do it with your mouth. Then verse 4 says, the ships. Behold, the ships. So both verses start with the word, look at this. Look, look closely. Behold the ships, which though they be so great, so big, and they are driven by fierce winds, yet are they turned with a small helm or a rudder. So you can have this big ship out, and it's in a storm that is driving it towards dangerous territory, towards the rocks, towards the cliffs. The storm is driving it, but the storm isn't in the control of the direction if you've got the helm. If you can control the rudder, you can control through the storm. Despite the storm, if you can keep your mouth, even in the difficult situations, if you can keep your mouth with the word of God in control of what's coming out of your heart into the situation, you can direct the ship and not the wind. The wind is only directing if your mouth is shut. Or if you're speaking in line with the storm. If you're agreeing with what the storm is saying, then there's there's no there's no pressure to move against the water, to move against the way that it's steering you. But if you begin to speak the word of God even in that storm, even though it's uh you think, what is my words gonna change this situation? Well, I'm sure that person inside the the ship holding on to that steering wheel of the ship, saying, How are we gonna do this against this huge storm, this hurricane storm? Hallelujah. The pressure of that against the water, that rudder against the water. He said, even though it's driven, it can still be turned. It can still be turned. And he said, even so the tongue is a little member. The bit is a three-inch piece of metal. The realm, the the the rudder, the helm of the the ship is very small in comparison to the size of the ship. It's a it's a small instrument, but also powerful. I think when we look at verse five, the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. And then he says again, behold, behold how great a matter a little fire kindles. Have you ever started a fire? You pull out your matches and you strike that match, and it's a little tiny flame, but then you put it on the wood, and it turns into a full fire. The words that you're speaking, that little tiny flame that you're speaking to that situation, and you're speaking to that situation, they're igniting the power of God in that fuel, in that fire, in that situation to produce God's will. I've never looked at a fire and said, Whoa, what great kindling we have. Do you see my kindling? Do you see how I just stuck those matches out there? No, I'm impressed with the fire. I'm enjoying the fire. And most of the time people will come and they'll say, Wow, what a peaceful home you have. I've been kindling this. Right? Or they'll see a finished result of your health and they'll say, Well, praise God, you ought to have seen my kindling. You ought to seen me speaking the word to this situation. Why? Because I've been taking my match and I've been lighting this fire. I've been, how great a matter, how great a fire is started by that kindling. If you'll just stay with it every day, up striking your matches of healing, striking your matches of financial integrity, financial stability over your life, striking your matches over the fact that you are with long life, God will satisfy you and show you his salvation. Your protection. Just strike the match, put it on the wood of your fire. Praise God. Praise God. Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for how you provide for us light, how your Holy Spirit reveals things, Lord, that we can put to work in our life. And Lord, I just ask that each of these today who have received this understanding, Father, that they would employ every truth that has landed in them. Father, that it would be something that is a daily interaction of taking their words and filling their words with your word. And Lord, let the abundant heart bring forth good. And I thank you for it in Jesus' name. Praise God. Did you get something out of that today? I believe you did. I believe you did. Again tonight.