Words Can Be More Powerful Than Guns - James 3 Sermon

This episode explores the profound impact of words, likening them to weapons that can uplift or destroy. The discussion draws on historical examples and biblical wisdom to remind listeners of the responsibility that accompanies speech. 

• Introduction of the new time for Christian Warrior Talk 
• Praise report regarding a calf born on the farm 
• Discussion of the power of words and their historical implications 
• Insights from the Book of James on the untamable tongue 
• Practical steps for evaluating communication habits 
• Encouragement to engage in constructive criticism over gossip 
• Closing reflection on the responsibility of speech in fostering a positive community

Christian Warrior Talk is Sponsored by Trident Shield, your trusted ally in violence preparedness. Trident Shield helps safeguard your loved ones with expert training and consulting. Trident Shield, defending faith through empowered preparedness because together, we save lives."

Chapters

• 0:00 Church Announcements and Farm Update
• 7:30 The Power of Words and Wisdom
• 25:45 The Power of Words and Wisdom
• 44:20 The Power of Prayer and Protection

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:39

Welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome. Happy Lord's Day to you. Take two we are having a monsoon here. We've had power outages, things have gone crazy, wires crossed. It appears that our sound is working now. So welcome to Christian Warrior Church, a home church, community ministry and farm that forges Christian Warriors for today's challenges. Announcements they're short and brief, but we've got a big one.

Speaker 1: 1:06

Christian Warrior Talk is now on Wednesdays at 9 pm. I know everyone loved it on Fridays and I'm sorry I am just doing so much travel for work right now I can't do that. Most people want to do the trainings that I do on Thursday or Friday before the weekend, and I don't see that changing. So we're going to be like every other church in America and do a Wednesday night fellowship kind of thing, which will be Christian Warrior Talk on Wednesday nights at nine, and then we'll do our Sunday service as is. So please bear with me. I know I get lots of complaints from everybody that I'm changing things and doing that. Give me grace, okay, I'm doing all the work solo, okay? So if you want to come help, volunteer and then complain, by all means once you start volunteering you can complain. Until then, all right, thank you. Praise report.

Speaker 1: 2:01

Mocha gave birth to a baby bull who is gorgeous and he's out there if you want to go see him, If you guys want to go see him. He's huge. But Lauren was, of course, God. Like I said last week when I was talking about training up shield maidens lauren is my shield maiden and I'll tell you you couldn't write this any better to make it harder for her. So mocha went into labor as I was leave, walking out the door to go to my plane, of which I had no fudge time, okay. So lauren had to deliver the baby and the baby got stuck. So, luckily, I had bought some chains that you wrap around their legs and it gives you a handle to pull on, because they're really slimy when they come out. And Lauren had chains and our neighbor Dexter, who has come through for us so many times, came down and they had to work it to pull them out. But if she wasn't there, that calf would be dead and god knows with the mom. So praise the lord that happened during the day and that lauren was there to witness it.

Speaker 1: 3:13

Praise the lord for making lauren as strong as he did. She was a hero to that cow that day into this family, into this farm and she's out there in the rain doing that. You know, it's like something out of yellowstone, except instead of me being cool, lauren got to be cool. So which is usually the case, right, lauren's way cooler than I ever am. So she was out there, one foot on one butt cheek, one foot on the other, pulling as hard as she could, and out came that that little stinker and he's very vocal. He came out very vocal, but he has become a snuggle bug and you go out there and he just wants to snuggle on you and he's awesome and we're not sure what we're doing. I'm leaving that up to Lauren to decide, because I would keep everyone that ever comes here. So, anyways, we have named him because of that, which is a big faux pas in my world. I always name everything and it drives me nuts that he doesn't have a name. We don't know his future yet, but that is to be married to my wife.

Speaker 1: 4:19

Her family is known as the great indecisives. Ordering food with them in their parents' house takeout is a nightmare. It's a four-hour debate with a lot of stress and the loss of just ordered dinner. So never mind buying a dishwasher. That could take six months of research. So be here with me and for all.

Speaker 1: 4:43

Lauren is one of the superheroes of this family, in my opinion, and the glue that holds us together. So that's one small flaw to deal with. I can deal with that, all right. So let's get an opening. He's being sold, oh, he's being sold, okay, okay. So here's calf 1052. And I mean that's why I can't spend too much time out there with him, because I dig him, I dig him, but we might keep. So again, I hate to get into too much farm talk, but I know a lot of you guys out there are into this and getting ready to walk this out and all that stuff.

Speaker 1: 5:25

Our black Angus calf, or black Angus mama Karen is due within this week. I think she's going to have 100% black Angus. If that's a bull, we will keep it, because we want to take a 100% black Angus bull and use that to sire all of our other Jersey mixes, jersey Holstein mixes, jersey Angus mixes and because there's no shared blood between almost all of our entire herd if it comes from that. So that's the smart move. We'll see if we're given another bowl. I miss a bowl Because if you guys don't know like, unless you bottle feed cows.

Speaker 1: 6:15

They don't like. Everyone's like oh you must abuse your cows because they're skittish. God made them that way. They're herd animals and unless you do the bottle, if you do a bottle feeding, you become mama and it's different. But if you let them go be raised by their parents, they are completely different. They don't. You know, they might be hand shy until it's apple season and then when you get apples and you're out there, they'll do whatever. But the bulls always come up. They always come up. They want a head rub, neck rub, chin rub, and it's very cool and I miss my, my, my, my bull Wally.

Speaker 1: 6:56

He was a good bull so, but he's, in a way, better place and a bigger farm, way more Highlander, highland cows, and you know. So I miss him. He was a good guy, a little loud, though. A little loud Sounded like we had like 40 donkeys out back, because that's what highlands sound like. They sound like hee-hawing or what out there, and it's just for a cool animal to sound that uncool. I don't get it, you know, whereas our black angus sounded like a red dragon roaring out there, you know, just just just pretty interesting. So let's go to prayer. We got a lot to unpack today in a very short section, and so let's get to work.

Speaker 1: 7:30

Dear Heavenly Father, lord, we thank you. We're so grateful for all of our blessings, known and unknown, and all of our protections, known and unknown. Lord, just the fact that we woke up this morning, and the trillions upon trillions of cells that had to function perfectly for us to be here. We thank you for them. We thank you, despite the aches and pains that are growing day by day as we age, that so many things don't hurt and that it can always be worse hurt and that it can always be worse. Well, we know, as we were taught, you know earlier in James, that suffering and trials produce endurance and strength and faith. It's easy to praise you when everything's great, but can we praise you when things hurt? That is the true test of faith.

Speaker 1: 8:31

Lord, we thank you for your common grace, the grace that you show to every living thing, this universe, the sun, the moon, the stars, nature, that you gave us, everything from the mountains to the seas and everything in between, all the animals, all the plants, all the critters. Lord, your design is magnificent and we thank you for it. Lord, we thank you for all the people that you've made in your image in our lives. Help us to always treasure the moments and to make new moments, to have an impact on each other's lives in a positive way and to build each other up. Lord, for those who are not with us, help us to remember the good days. Help us to forgive the slights and the wrongs. So, lord, we thank you for the sunrises and the sunsets. We thank you for the sound of children's laughter, birds singing in the morning. We thank you for the smell of fresh morning, rain, the flowers, good food, cooking. We thank you for the taste of good food and drink. Lord, may everything we do today and always glorify you and only you, serve you and only you, and may we proclaim you with every breath of our lungs and serve you with every beat of our heart. In Jesus' name, we pray Amen.

Speaker 1: 10:06

Now again, if you are starting on your journey as a Christian and you don't know how to pray, there is a manual on how to pray in Matthew 6, 19 through 13. And it's where the disciples ask Jesus how he should pray, and it goes like this Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors, and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

Speaker 1: 10:47

Now Paul Washer, who has had a massive influence on me and where I go when I need to get my course corrected, nobody humbles me like Paul Washer. You know, said that you know he deals with a lot of very life and death issues. He does a lot of ministries and a lot of mission work behind enemy lines, like in China, in Afghanistan and places where Christians are found. They're killed, south America, all that. They were killed South America, all that. And he said the only thing that keeps him going is this prayer and he's like God, you know, you know, you know, you know, and because of this I can go to sleep now because it's all on your hands. That's a hard prayer to pray, to believe it, but I believe with all my heart that he does because he trusts the Lord with everything he has and he's a mighty man of God who has been doing it for a long time and he has walked that out and he has settled that with God. In fact he died, I think, twice to a heart attack and they brought him back.

Speaker 1: 12:11

You know, and this is a guy who is not your pulpit Christian he is, but this guy is like the SEAL team, pastor of Christians. Like he's been done missionary work. He's gotten malaria countless times, he's been held hostage, all kinds of crazy things and doing high-risk missionary work around the world. And if you haven't seen him, he's way better than I am, check him out. He's in Radford, virginia. It's like two hours for us, two hours, two and a half hours to us to get there, but he's so humble you don't know when he's preaching. He doesn't put himself on the church. It's a small church in Radford which is a college town, and whether he's there or not you don't know. You show up and maybe he's there, but he is the most behind-the-scenes guy you'll ever see, because he's humble and he knows that Jesus is the true star of the show and the hero of this story.

Speaker 1: 13:08

Without further ado, I'm going to get into our sermon now and I call this sermon A Weapon More Powerful Than a Gun. We can look to history and see, with Adolf Hitler's rhetoric and the Holocaust, that wars often begin with words long before bullets ever fly. Adolf Hitler didn't initially pick up a gun. He seized a microphone and used the power of propaganda, sustained hateful, deceptive speech. Through the fiery speeches he dehumanized the Jewish people, blamed them for Germany's woes and unleashed hatred on a massive scale. By 1945, some estimate over 6 million people, jews and others, deemed undesirable those would be the handicapped or the less than perfect were murdered in the Holocaust and evil rooted in propaganda. The Holocaust didn't start with bullets. It started with words of deception and division.

Speaker 1: 14:13

The Bible reminds us in Proverbs 18.21,. The death and life are the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit. The great Charles Spurgeon, the pastor's pastor, said the bonfire of gossip is often kindled by a single spark of idle speech. We must understand, as we apply this to our lives, that words can justify sin or champion truth. I wish to contrast this with firearms. A firearm can save or destroy. The tongue is no different. Before speaking, ask am I loading my words with life or death? We can all reflect on a time when someone's words shaped our view, positively or negatively, about another person. How are we doing that? How have your own words built up or torn down someone else. In James 3, scripture warns us that the tongue is like a fire uncontrolled, it can burn down relationships, reputations and even entire communities. Let's go to James 3 now and hear God's word. I'll be reading out of the Legacy Standard Bible. This Bible was gifted to me by a non-profit. It's beautiful. I really thank you and I'm going to read it now.

Speaker 1: 15:44

Do not many of you become teachers, my brothers, knowing that we will receive a stricter judgment, for we all stumble in many ways. If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the entire body as well. Now, if we put the bits into horses' mouths so that they will obey us, we direct their entire body as well. Look at the ships also. Though they are so great and driven by strong winds, they are still directed by a very small rudder wherever the inclination of the pilot wills. So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things. Behold how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire, and the tongue is a fire the very world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body and sets a fire to the course of our existence and is set on fire by hell, for every kind of beast and birds, of reptiles and creatures of the sea is tamed and has been tamed by mankind. But no one can tame the tongue.

Speaker 1: 17:00

It is a restless evil and full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father and with it we curse men who have been made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come the blessing and cursing, my brothers. These things ought not to be so. Does the fountain pour forth from the same opening fresh and bitter water? Can a fig tree, my brothers, produce olives? Or vine produce figs? Nor can salt water produce fresh Wisdom from above.

Speaker 1: 17:37

Who among you is wise and understanding, let him show by his good conduct his works in gentleness of wisdom. But if you have bitterness, jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. The wisdom is not coming down from above but from earthly, natural. Demonic, but is earthly natural and demonic, for where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder in every evil practice. But the wisdom from above is pure, then peaceable, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruits, without doubting, without hypocrisy, and the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. It's the word of God. So let's get into.

Speaker 1: 18:38

So, as we can see, james connects speech with spiritual maturity. Just as a small spark can engulf a forest, one word can ignite wars or nurture peace. And he concludes with a call to wisdom from above which is peaceable, gentle and full of mercy, the antidote to the reckless tongue. The tongue is a firearm. Let's think about it First. The warnings in James 3, 1 through 2. Let not many of you become teachers, my brothers, knowing that we will receive stricter judgment. Think about this.

Speaker 1: 19:15

A careless firearm instructor can send novices into combat or into life unprepared, endangering lives. A careless Christian teacher can spread false doctrine and encourage destructive speech, harming souls. In Proverbs 10.19, where there is many words, transgression is unavoidable, but he who holds back his lips has insight. To quote again the great church forefather John Chrysostom. I looked it up the teacher's place is a dangerous one, for his words will either save or condemn both himself and those who hear him. This is the burden that I have to make sure that I do my homework, for if I lead you astray, not only do I lead myself to doom, but you also. But you fathers, mothers, you guys are also leaders and teachers in your own house. We can't escape the responsibility of being leaders. You just have a smaller impact, so you have to be right as well. Spiritual leadership is akin to handling a loaded firearm it must be wielded with reverence and responsibility. False teachers are like unscrupulous arms dealers or trainers distributing faulty or dangerous weapons or bad tactics to the unsuspecting. How do we ensure our words and influence are used to disciple rather than destroy? That's what we have to think about when we speak.

Speaker 1: 21:04

I am a chief offender in this, as again, overcoming our family curses, generational curses, where wounding started generations and generations and generations ago, and negative speak is washed over you your entire life, as a kid until you're adult and you go on your own. But still, even there, it's not their fault your parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, great-great-great-grandparents. It started somewhere, that sin started somewhere, somewhere who wasn't reading the Bible and who didn't understand the warning that James gave 2,000 years ago and that the Bible, thousands of years prior, in Proverbs and the Old Testament, warned about. These wounds happen and they always get worse until someone breaks the shackles of generational sin and that person is going to be in conflict every day as they fight their very nature, as they have been discipled by the world, until they reach spiritual maturity, and the negativity is not the initial reaction. Instead, we have to be disciplined Like a firearm finger off the trigger. Only shoot. Put your finger on the trigger when you're willing to destroy what's in front of you and what you're aiming at. We'll get into that more.

Speaker 1: 22:46

The power of the tongue James 3 through 6. The text is a small part of the body, yet it boasts of great things. The tongue is a fire. A single negligent discharge can be fatal, just as a single word can ruin reputations, relationships, futures. We see this now.

Speaker 1: 23:12

I think of and I am so merciful not to be growing up in the age of social media. And if we lose power, I'm sorry we get a monsoon going on outside with wind and everything else. I can hear it whipping by and we've already lost power once and I'm sorry we get a monsoon going on outside with wind and everything else. I can hear it whipping by and we've already lost power once and I'm sorry, but I'm so thankful not to grow up in the social media era, where you can put one thing online, make one mistake, and that's what everyone knows you by, forever. I think, of all the millions of things I have said over my life that I would not stand on today, that I will be embarrassed of today, the blackest things that I've said, as I was an atheist and an agent for the enemy, the devil himself out there trying to crush Christians with my logic and science. The world has become even more unforgiving now with digital trace, and anything you say online is now permanent.

Speaker 1: 24:21

How much more do we need to be disciplined? How much more do we need to be disciplined? This is the equivalent of having a belt fed machine gun that is guaranteed to run away. Do you know what that runaway machine gun is? Once a machine gun, belt fed weapon gets hot so hot it can just start firing on its own. So you're firing it so much that now it's not the firing pin that causes it to detonate, but the heat within the weapon. And the only way to do that is to break the belt off to make sure that the bullets run out and there's no more bullets to shoot. Once a bullet leaves a barrel, there's no getting it back.

Speaker 1: 25:05

The same is true of spoken words. The Bible reminds us in Proverbs 13.3,. He who guards his mouth keeps his soul, but he who opens wide his lips comes to ruin. We're almost some of us in particular are built vocal. We open our mouth too much and we say things that need not be said. Sometimes it's a good thing and we're building people up and that's, you know, a great thing, but if we're just spitting venom and poison, it's not a good thing. Again.

Speaker 1: 25:45

The great AW Tozer said never underestimate the power of a single careless word. I want you to hear this. It can drive a soul to hell or lift it towards heaven. How many of us have buried people and driven them to hell with what we said, including ourselves? We're going to look to history, not so recent anymore, but more recent than some of the things we're going to talk about. The Cuban Missile Crisis was nearly sparked into a nuclear war by heated, careless rhetoric from world leaders. There's a term from World War II loose-legged sink ships is more than a World War II slogan. It's a spiritual warning.

Speaker 1: 26:28

Think about what you're about to say in ways that light or darkness that you're about to say. If it's light, let it flow. If it's darkness, do not. How do we apply this to our lives. Understand that gossip is verbal friendly fire. It is blue on blue, which in the military, means you are shooting your own troops. Gossip against another Christian is friendly fire. It weakens the body of Christ from within. Guard your tongue as diligently as a soldier guards his loaded rifle. When you're thinking about this, when you're talking about this sermon, I want you to think later on. As you're thinking about this, when you're talking about this sermon, I want you to think later on, as you're discussing amongst yourselves when have you witnessed words used as weapons and how can we prevent friendly fire?

Speaker 1: 27:49

We must discern the difference between gossip and constructive criticism. Constructive criticism is the light of hoping to make correction and it's done in truth and open rather than undermining and deceptive. And in the shadows you can say hard words. I'm never going to tell you not to say hard words. I'm never going to. We are called to confront lies and we are called to speak truth, and we are called to speak truth.

Speaker 1: 28:20

When someone tells you that they identify as a unicorn dragonfly, you can tell them that they're not. That is not what James is talking about here. You ought to tell them they are made in God's image and they are either a son or a daughter of the living God. Whatever God chose them to be. Coddling, that is in coddling their dysphoria, their mental condition is not kind. It is one of the biggest forms of wickedness. That's just one example. Families, if you're going to go to someone Just one example, families, if you're going to go to someone, make sure that you discuss something no-transcript and say, hey, I spoke to blank about blank and I was wondering about this, or can we talk about this? But I didn't want you to think I was talking behind your back, I wasn't gossiping, I was seeking counsel.

Speaker 1: 29:39

The untamable tongue. James warms us about the untamable tongue in verses 7 through 12. With it we bless our lord, the father, and we curse men, my brothers. These things not be. Trigger discipline is the number one safety rule of firearms. Number two don't point it at something you don't want. But trigger is keeping your finger off the trigger unless you're ready to shoot. Never point at what you're not willing to destroy. That's muzzle discipline. Trigger discipline is don't put your finger on the trigger unless you're going to be ready to pull the trigger on what you are getting ready to shoot. An undisciplined shooter poses a threat to both friend and foe. Likewise, an undisciplined tongue harms all around.

Speaker 1: 30:34

The Bible reminds us in Proverbs 17, 27 through 28,. The Bible reminds us in Proverbs 17, 27 through 28, he who holds back his words has knowledge. Even an ignorant fool, when he keeps silent, is considered wise. St Augustine said if you do not control your tongue, you are not religious, but merely an actor playing a role. You're phony. You're fake. You're pretending to be a Christian. You're playing the Christian. You're not a role. You're phony. You're fake. You're pretending to be a Christian. You're playing the Christian. You're not a Christian.

Speaker 1: 31:05

We saw this in the Salem witch trials. We saw mass hysteria and death, fueled by accusations and gossip. Reckless words were like stray bullets striking innocents without cause. A Christian warrior must be consistent. Blessing God on Sunday and cursing others on Monday is rank hypocrisy. It cannot be tolerated. Sometimes, the best safety is silence. Sometimes, the best safety is not pulling the trigger. I don't want people to think, though, that they have to be silent. Again, we are to confront injustice. We are to speak out when there is a lie.

Speaker 1: 31:52

If you're at a family dinner table on a holiday and someone says an untruth at the table like well, you pick one. You can't let it go unchallenged. We'll just say you know, I'm so glad that you know, the Rainbow Coalition of whatever agrees that there's 128 genders. And no one says anything at the table. You do not have to get up and scream no, but this is what I recommend. How you would have to deal with that. You'd have to say I just want to say I don't agree with that. If you want to talk about it on the side, I just don't want that to go unchallenged. To unchallenge, that means you agree with it. You are giving assent to that truth. So when you hear those things, you don't have to debate it at the table. You can just say listen, I just want to say that I in no way agree with that. We can talk about it privately some other time. Let's have a great Thanksgiving, easter, whatever, and you can pick your political topic.

Speaker 1: 33:03

If it is a lie, do not let it go unchallenged. That is what we said last week. With every person you didn't feed every help, you're guilty of that murder. If they died, it's the same thing with every lie. You might as well set it yourself if you didn't challenge it, because by being silent you agreed to it. You signaled you agreed to it.

Speaker 1: 33:30

So how do we train ourselves to resist the urge to fire off angry and hateful words? We need wisdom that James talked about True wisdom versus earthly wisdom. In 13 through 18 he said who among you is wise and understanding, let him show by his good conduct his works in the gentleness of wisdom. Earthly wisdom is like a gun with no training, it's like a gun in the hands of a toddler. Is there anything more terrifying than a loaded gun in the hands of a toddler? They don't know. It's not a toy, they point it at anything. Or the hands of a firearm in an untrained, emotional, wicked person led by pride and anger. That's the road rage shootings that you hear about on the news, whereas godly wisdom is akin to a sniper's precision. It is calm, patient, under command, his command and hitting the exact target of what Truth?

Speaker 1: 34:46

What we say has to be true. If it's not true, it's from the devil and you're just talking to gain status or talking to seem, for whatever reason. If it's not true, the words you're saying are wicked, even if the intent was pure. The Bible reminds us in Proverbs 9.10, the fear of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. The great Martin Luther said the wisdom of the world teaches man to love himself, while the wisdom of God teaches man to die to himself.

Speaker 1: 35:29

We can look back at the French Revolution, which was fueled by fiery, erratic jealousy and ambition, leading to chaos and bloodshed. The countless, the guillotine, the beheadings ran day and night. Without true wisdom, passion can become a loaded weapon in the hands of a fool. Are we reckless speakers acting on impulse or trained warriors speaking from godly discernment? Actors acting on impulse or train warriors speaking from godly discernment? James 3.17-18 describes wisdom that is pure, peaceable, gentle and perfect Offset the perfect offset to destructive speech. What practical steps can we take to seek and apply God's wisdom? Before we speak Again, pausing to think about what you're about to say, and we'll get into that.

Speaker 1: 36:31

The worst tragedies, some of them from the wrong use of the tongue. The biggest of all the fall of man, genesis 3. The first lie introduced sin and death into creation. Did God truly say the betrayal of Christ? Matthew 26-27. False witnesses and the mob's chant to crucify him condemned the sinless Lamb of God. The Holocaust 1933-1945. Propaganda turned a nation against its own neighbors, leading to genocide. The Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, rash words and threats nearly ignited nuclear war. The Rwanda Genocide in 1994, hate speech on radio broadcast unleashed ethnic violence, killing over 800,000 people in just 100 days.

Speaker 1: 37:30

Proverbs 21, 23,. He who guards his mouth and his tongue guards his soul from troubles and the warrior's charge. Training verbal firearm discipline. Step one evaluate your speech Challenge. Take a 24-hour verbal trigger discipline.

Speaker 1: 37:55

Speak only when necessary and when you speak, weigh what you're about to say. Think about what you're going to say. Light or darkness. Is what I'm about to say to help this person or is it going to hurt this person? Am I saying this, which is often a selfish indulgence of yourself? To complain about them and attack them to make yourself feel better about an imagined slight, instead of taking it to them and correcting it? Instead, what do you do? You attack them or you say things that are not building up and that are negative and burning down, indulging your own pride, your own wounding and your own sin. Submit your tongue to the Spirit. Pray. Set a guard, o Yahweh, over my mouth. Keep watch over the door of my lips.

Speaker 1: 39:04

Psalm 141.3. Like a soldier checks in with his commander, check in with God before you speak. God, do you want me to say this seek wisdom from above. Memorize James 3.17 and Proverbs 3.13-18, anchoring yourself in the qualities of heavenly wisdom. Each morning, ask God to train your tongue the way a warrior trains his firearm steady, precise and under the king's command. So now we know that words are weapons Steady, precise and under the king's command. So now we know the words are weapons, will you use them to spread life and truth or will you let them unleash chaos?

Speaker 1: 39:54

Christian warriors, your greatest victory might be holding your fire when anger rages or speaking truth when temptation calls you to lie. That might be your greatest battle of all. Stand as a sober reminder that faith, wisdom and discipline must shape our speech if we are to stand firm as warriors for Christ. Memorize this verse. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy, good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. Again another words of great saint augustine the measure of your speech is the measure of your faith. Guard it well. What you say shows exactly how much faith you have. So let's do a brief closing prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the gift of words by which we can praise your name and share your truth. Train our tongues like warriors trains with his weapon. Grant us discipline, wisdom from above and the courage to speak life, not death. In Jesus' holy name we pray, amen.

Speaker 1: 41:18

So we do the Lord's Supper here every Sunday. Go ahead and pass it out. I've got mine all set Again, this is for baptized believers. We must do this right. With this, we are playing with a satchel charge of C4 in our own laps. So before you cap into this, which is what you would do with a blasting cap, remember this. Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and the blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup, for anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself. So let's go ahead, bow our heads, reflect on your past week. Since we've done this, let's first remember Jesus in his glory, humbled to be born as a babe, helpless babe, lived a sinless life, served as a willing lamb, spotless lamb, to sacrifice to pay for all of our sin. No one took his life. He laid it down willingly and then rose from the grave three days later and ascended to the right hand of the Father.

Speaker 1: 43:01

Now look at yourself. Replay in your mind the words that you have spoken. Take time to hear yourself. Imagine being the camera on a wall or a microphone in your house. What would you hear yourself saying? Never mind. What would you hear yourself thinking? Repent of those wicked words. Repent of the sin that you have said, for all the gossip, all the tearing down, all the selfish indulgence to make yourself feel better by tearing someone else apart. But also remember the times where you did speak the truth and you did serve God and you said what was hard, even at great cost to yourself. God sees that as well. Now, if you have any other sin that you have to bring before the Lord to lay down at his feet, do a no to lay down at his feet. Do and know.

Speaker 1: 44:20

Now, as they were eating, jesus took bread and, after blessing it, broke it and gave it to the disciples and said Take, eat, this is my body. Go ahead and eat. And he took a cup and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them saying Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many, for the given sentence. Go ahead and drink. Heavenly Father, lord, we thank you. We thank you for your protections. We thank you for your word, and just as your word is so powerful, so are ours. Help us to treat and respect our mouth like a loaded firearm, knowing that we can kill or protect and save every word we say. Help us to submit our tongue to you and only you. Help us to pour love on one another, even if it is tough love.

Speaker 1: 45:24

Lord, I pray that you would protect, bless and protect this congregation, this fellowship here and online, that you would protect our troops overseas, our first responders at home and our veterans of yesteryear. I pray that you would protect this world overseas, our first responders at home and our veterans of yesteryear. I pray that you would protect this world from going into World War III. I pray that you would protect Donald Trump and his administration and our leaders and help them to do your righteous work and to thwart any attacks of the enemy. I pray for Elon Musk and all the work that they are doing, uncovering the true roots of the wickedness that has been running our government for probably 50 years. Lord, help them to bring to light the truth.

Speaker 1: 46:16

And lastly, lord, I pray for my beloved America. I pray that she would humble herself, turn from her sin, hit her knees, seek your face, and that you would heal her so that we can once again be one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Now I call this fellowship to attention to put on the full armor of God, strap on the shield of faith, to pick up the sword of the Spirit and to boldly march forward in the shield ball, locking shields to the left and right, with your fellow Christians as we march forward to take ground for your kingdom, for your glory forever. In Jesus' name. We pray. Amen, go ahead and rise. May the Lord bless you and keep you. No-transcript.