WEBVTT 00:01.516 --> 00:04.856 Welcome to the Valley Baptist Church sermon podcast. 00:04.856 --> 00:08.316 We're so glad you're here, and we hope this message inspires you, 00:08.316 --> 00:12.476 builds your faith, and moves you toward a deep relationship with God. 00:12.476 --> 00:15.536 Today, you'll find great insight into the Bible 00:15.536 --> 00:18.276 and learn how you can apply it straight to your life. 00:18.276 --> 00:20.956 So welcome and enjoy the message. 00:20.956 --> 00:24.996 If you have your Bibles, I want to welcome you and those joining us at Olive Drive 00:24.996 --> 00:29.156 to open your Bibles to Ecclesiastes chapter 10. 00:29.427 --> 00:35.967 We're going to continue our series of messages through the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes. 00:35.967 --> 00:42.867 Now, Ecclesiastes was written by a man by the name of Solomon. 00:42.867 --> 00:49.027 And Solomon was the wisest man who had ever lived. 00:49.027 --> 00:55.527 And one of the things that he's going to address in this passage is how to be wise in our words 00:55.527 --> 00:57.371 and in our work. 00:57.372 --> 01:01.512 Now our words, what we say, our works and what we do 01:01.512 --> 01:05.172 are very powerful within our life. 01:05.172 --> 01:08.292 And if we can learn to follow the Lord 01:08.292 --> 01:13.032 and to surrender to the Lord our words and our work, 01:13.032 --> 01:15.372 then I think that we would have a new relationship 01:15.372 --> 01:16.652 with the Lord. 01:16.652 --> 01:19.072 We would have a new relationship with ourselves, 01:19.072 --> 01:21.392 with our family and with God. 01:21.638 --> 01:27.518 others. But the first thing that you need to understand and that I need to understand 01:27.518 --> 01:35.578 is that it all begins in your heart. And so look what he says in chapter 10 and verse 2. 01:36.758 --> 01:45.898 He says, a wise man's heart is at his right hand, but a fool's heart is at his left. 01:47.407 --> 01:52.407 Solomon says that wisdom and foolishness begins in the heart 01:53.727 --> 01:57.287 and kind of works its way out. 01:57.287 --> 01:59.867 And so here's the big idea of the passage 01:59.867 --> 02:01.747 that we're going to look at today. 02:01.747 --> 02:06.527 Your words and your work make visible 02:06.527 --> 02:09.587 what is invisible inside of you. 02:10.373 --> 02:13.973 Now, where do our words come from? 02:13.973 --> 02:17.173 What motivates our work? 02:17.173 --> 02:21.213 Well, Solomon says it is your heart. 02:21.213 --> 02:23.513 Now, when the Bible speaks about your heart, 02:23.513 --> 02:28.093 it's not talking about an organ beating in your chest. 02:28.093 --> 02:31.933 It's talking about the control center of a person. 02:31.933 --> 02:34.973 It's talking about what you love, what you desire, 02:34.973 --> 02:38.273 and what you think about. 02:38.268 --> 02:44.728 And so if we want to change our words and we want to change our work, we have to change 02:44.728 --> 02:47.828 our heart first. 02:47.828 --> 02:55.448 Now the problem with that is that you and I can't change our heart on our own. 02:55.448 --> 03:03.048 We need the work of the Holy Spirit to change our heart because our hearts can become hard. 03:03.243 --> 03:05.143 Our hearts can become broken. 03:05.143 --> 03:08.383 Our hearts can be divided. 03:08.383 --> 03:10.683 And what we need is for the Holy Spirit 03:10.683 --> 03:14.303 to renew in us a new heart 03:14.303 --> 03:19.003 so that we can have a heart that has the right type of words 03:19.003 --> 03:22.143 and the right type of work. 03:22.143 --> 03:25.903 Look what he says in verses 11 and 12. 03:27.138 --> 03:30.238 He says, a serpent may bite when it is not charmed. 03:30.318 --> 03:32.778 The babbler is no different. 03:33.338 --> 03:40.758 The words of a wise man's mouth are gracious, but the lips of a fool shall swallow him up. 03:41.378 --> 03:50.598 Now, I think the idea here is that once a snake has bitten you, it doesn't do any good to charm it after that. 03:51.387 --> 03:53.627 The damage has already been done. 03:53.627 --> 03:57.167 The venom has already been applied. 03:58.027 --> 04:02.087 And harmful words have a way of sticking in you. 04:02.087 --> 04:03.787 They have a way of sticking with you. 04:03.787 --> 04:05.487 They have a way of staying in you 04:05.487 --> 04:09.047 and they're hard to get out of you. 04:09.047 --> 04:13.287 And so if your eyes say something harmful to someone else, 04:13.287 --> 04:16.867 it's very hard to take those words back, isn't it? 04:17.645 --> 04:21.585 And so Solomon is saying use helpful words, 04:21.585 --> 04:26.585 not hurtful or harmful words. 04:26.605 --> 04:33.045 Now our words are meant to help and to heal, not to harm. 04:33.743 --> 04:38.463 Sometimes just listening to someone and talking to them 04:38.463 --> 04:41.543 can be like a medicine to their soul. 04:41.543 --> 04:45.323 And when you genuinely want what is absolutely best 04:45.323 --> 04:49.263 for someone else, your words become helpful 04:49.263 --> 04:53.143 and your words become gracious. 04:53.143 --> 04:56.923 A wise heart is a gracious heart. 04:56.923 --> 05:01.223 And a gracious heart produces gracious words. 05:01.925 --> 05:07.445 Now being gracious doesn't mean that we shout grace and we whisper repentance. 05:08.485 --> 05:16.445 What it means is that we speak the truth in love, that we love people enough to rejoice 05:16.445 --> 05:17.945 in the truth. 05:17.945 --> 05:23.805 So we need to be full of grace, but we also need to be full of truth. 05:24.588 --> 05:29.588 Now most of us gravitate to one extreme or the other. 05:29.588 --> 05:33.348 Some of us are truth people. 05:33.348 --> 05:35.828 You stand on the word of God. 05:35.828 --> 05:38.768 You don't compromise the truth, 05:38.768 --> 05:42.788 but maybe you struggle to have grace toward others. 05:43.640 --> 05:48.540 I want to remind you or share with you some words that my wife once shared with me. 05:49.260 --> 05:51.100 Grace is truth. 05:51.940 --> 05:53.680 Forgiveness is truth. 05:54.080 --> 05:56.700 Mercy and compassion is truth. 05:56.700 --> 06:02.440 If you want to be committed to the truth, make sure you're committed to the whole truth. 06:02.720 --> 06:04.060 And grace is a part of that. 06:05.060 --> 06:11.400 Now, some of us are so full of grace that maybe you struggle to ever hold anyone accountable. 06:12.597 --> 06:15.657 You struggle to ever say that anything is a sin. 06:16.037 --> 06:22.917 You struggle to talk about repentance within your life or within the life of other people. 06:24.038 --> 06:33.278 In John 1.14, it says that Jesus is described as being full of grace and truth. 06:33.278 --> 06:38.418 Jesus is not 50% grace and 50% truth. 06:38.418 --> 06:42.258 He's not partially graceful and partially truthful. 06:42.258 --> 06:48.178 He is a 100% truth and 100% grace. 06:48.170 --> 06:56.510 And so we need to become better at using our words to bring life to other people, to build 06:56.510 --> 07:04.630 them up and to be gracious to them, not to harm them or to hurt them. 07:04.630 --> 07:08.330 See Solomon says, unkind words not only wound others. 07:08.437 --> 07:10.377 they also wound us. 07:10.377 --> 07:13.817 He says the fool's words swallow him up. 07:13.817 --> 07:17.537 And so while he's hurting other people with his words, 07:17.537 --> 07:22.537 he also is hurting himself because it hardens our heart 07:23.377 --> 07:28.377 towards other people when we use unkind words. 07:28.717 --> 07:30.857 Look what he says in verse 13. 07:32.230 --> 07:40.330 He says the words of his mouth begin with foolishness, and the end of his talk is raving madness. 07:41.410 --> 07:44.670 He says the fool is not living in reality. 07:44.970 --> 07:52.050 They're living out the lies that they're telling themselves, and they're living out a lie within their life. 07:52.050 --> 07:57.030 And so Solomon is saying use true words, not false words. 07:58.130 --> 07:59.990 Now, why do we lie? 08:00.648 --> 08:02.128 And why do we distort the truth? 08:03.248 --> 08:08.028 Well, studies have shown that there are two reasons, main reasons, that people lie. 08:08.728 --> 08:12.548 We lie to make ourselves look better than we actually are, 08:13.208 --> 08:18.808 and we lie to make ourselves not look as bad as we actually are. 08:19.987 --> 08:28.467 Now the Bible says that people lie because we think that it's going to work out in the short term for us. 08:28.467 --> 08:34.607 But the Bible says you want to speak the truth because you want to be on the side of reality. 08:35.687 --> 08:39.787 Why? Because reality always wins in the long run. 08:40.777 --> 08:45.197 And so lying is trying to fix things in the short term 08:45.197 --> 08:47.837 instead of thinking about the long term. 08:47.837 --> 08:51.337 And in the Bible, wisdom is always more concerned 08:51.337 --> 08:54.837 about the long term than it is the short term 08:54.837 --> 08:56.957 of doing what is good and best 08:56.957 --> 08:59.477 over the longest period of time. 09:00.537 --> 09:05.437 You see the truth is forever, but a lie is for a moment. 09:06.224 --> 09:13.504 And so we are to tell the truth and to trust God that in the long run, it will be better for you 09:13.504 --> 09:20.884 and it will be better for everyone in your life if you are truthful. When we are deceptive, 09:20.984 --> 09:28.124 we're being like the devil. When we are truthful, we're being like Jesus. Look what he says in verse 09:28.124 --> 09:30.337 14. 09:30.338 --> 09:33.858 He says, a fool also multiplies words. 09:34.558 --> 09:36.398 No man knows what is to be done. 09:36.718 --> 09:40.538 Who can tell him what will be after him? 09:41.418 --> 09:46.998 You know, the Bible says in the multitude of sin, or multitude of words, sin is not lacking. 09:47.738 --> 09:51.978 And so Solomon says, use few words, not many words. 09:52.878 --> 09:59.618 Now, a major value in Scripture that is also one of the fruit of the Spirit is self-control. 10:00.629 --> 10:05.529 And you and I cannot exercise self-control on our own. 10:05.529 --> 10:14.169 We need the work of the Holy Spirit within our life to overcome the flesh and the sin that we are tempted to do. 10:14.469 --> 10:17.069 And that is certainly true with our words, isn't it? 10:18.280 --> 10:26.160 We need self-control because we have desires and attitudes that we're not supposed to be engaging in. 10:26.460 --> 10:29.940 And so we need to exercise self-control in our life. 10:30.240 --> 10:33.260 We need to exercise self-control in our dating. 10:34.140 --> 10:37.140 We need to exercise self-control in our eating. 10:37.640 --> 10:45.840 The Bible says, and this passage talks about, we need to exercise self-control with our words and also with our work. 10:47.204 --> 10:53.904 Now a foolish person just says everything that they think because they don't have a filter. 10:55.051 --> 11:00.771 Andrew said a few weeks ago that some people never have an unspoken thought, you know, 11:01.091 --> 11:06.271 that the fool is always saying something first and thinking second. 11:06.411 --> 11:10.271 And I certainly have been guilty of that within my life. 11:10.271 --> 11:17.071 But Solomon says a wise person doesn't say everything they feel or everything that they think. 11:18.351 --> 11:21.231 Because everything that we feel may not be real. 11:22.557 --> 11:28.937 And everything we think may not be helpful to say or useful to say. 11:29.277 --> 11:36.777 And so when it comes to words, Solomon says, sometimes less is more. 11:37.457 --> 11:40.037 Look what he says in verse 15. 11:40.597 --> 11:49.077 He says, the labor of fools wearies them, for they do not even know how to go to the city. 11:49.912 --> 11:58.232 He says the fool thinks they know everything, but they often have trouble doing simple things within their life. 11:58.552 --> 12:04.672 A fool's heart knows how to say a lot, but doesn't know how to do a lot. 12:05.555 --> 12:11.535 You see, what we see in the Bible is that while words are incredibly powerful within our life, 12:12.015 --> 12:17.675 words sometimes are limited and words are also sometimes inadequate. 12:17.675 --> 12:25.115 And I think the idea here is that Solomon is saying words are no substitute for action within our life. 12:26.195 --> 12:32.255 Now, the Bible says that words are important, but there are some people who all they ever do is merely talk. 12:33.938 --> 12:37.758 Some people have words but no substance. 12:37.758 --> 12:41.058 They have words but no action. 12:41.958 --> 12:46.418 This is one of Jesus' greatest critiques of the Pharisees. 12:46.418 --> 12:51.958 He says, do what they say, but don't do what they do. 12:52.720 --> 12:58.820 Jesus often got upset with hypocrisy, and I think that we need to address the hypocrisy 12:58.820 --> 13:03.800 that we have within our own life, because all of us say more than we do. 13:04.160 --> 13:10.720 All of us believe more than we live, and so we need to allow the Holy Spirit to transform 13:10.720 --> 13:18.320 our heart so that what we say we believe is also applied to our heart and lived out within 13:18.320 --> 13:19.620 our life. 13:20.986 --> 13:27.606 See, after being a Christian for a while, it's really easy to say the right things. 13:27.966 --> 13:30.726 You kind of learn Christianese, you might say. 13:30.906 --> 13:32.566 You learn how to say the right things. 13:32.566 --> 13:38.526 You talk about struggling with sin when what you're really doing is just giving in to sin. 13:40.186 --> 13:44.546 You talk about praying about things when you're really not. 13:44.646 --> 13:46.246 You're just thinking about them. 13:47.530 --> 13:55.990 We can get really good at giving the right answers instead of the real answers. 13:55.990 --> 14:03.410 Words are incredibly and unbelievably powerful within our life, but they also are limited 14:03.410 --> 14:06.830 because they are no substitute for action. 14:06.830 --> 14:11.350 Look what he says in verse 16. 14:12.742 --> 14:17.502 He says, woe to you, O land, when your king is a child and your princes feast in the morning. 14:18.282 --> 14:28.622 Blessed are you, O land, when your king is the son of nobles and your princes feast at the proper time for strength and not for drunkenness. 14:29.622 --> 14:36.282 Wisdom helps you to properly balance priorities within your life. 14:37.244 --> 14:42.264 And so much of living a wise life is being able to balance competing priorities. 14:42.424 --> 14:51.064 And I think what Solomon is saying is that a properly ordered balance between hard work and leisure benefits everyone. 14:51.944 --> 14:57.324 It benefits you because you have a sense of purpose and a sense of meaning. 14:57.324 --> 15:03.424 And you are living out love and expressing love through your work for other people. 15:04.160 --> 15:11.260 It benefits other people because work by very definition is doing that which benefits others. 15:12.560 --> 15:18.720 You see, Solomon makes it very clear that God wants us to be industrious in life. 15:19.900 --> 15:24.400 A Christian ought to be the most diligent, the most responsible, the most thorough, 15:24.400 --> 15:26.820 and the most dependable worker in the workplace. 15:28.190 --> 15:31.310 Hard work is not separate from your faith. 15:31.630 --> 15:34.490 It is evidence of your faith. 15:34.770 --> 15:35.930 And in the Bible, it says, 15:36.350 --> 15:40.210 whatever you do, do it with all your might, 15:40.330 --> 15:44.350 as unto the Lord and not as unto men. 15:45.370 --> 15:48.230 Solomon says we need to work when it's time to work. 15:49.090 --> 15:51.030 But then he also says we need to rest, 15:51.030 --> 15:54.150 enjoy the fruit of our labor when the work is over. 15:55.130 --> 15:57.030 You know, if all you ever do is work, 15:57.873 --> 16:00.413 then you're not living out God's plan and purpose for your life. 16:01.213 --> 16:04.033 If all you ever do is leisure and rest, 16:04.153 --> 16:06.973 then you're not living out God's purpose in your life. 16:07.153 --> 16:10.013 We need to work and work hard. 16:10.433 --> 16:12.053 But then we need to play hard. 16:12.773 --> 16:17.673 We need to enjoy the gifts and the fruit of the labor that God has given us. 16:17.833 --> 16:19.793 If you remember in Genesis, 16:20.840 --> 16:24.980 God worked for six days and on the seventh day he rested. 16:25.240 --> 16:28.340 And in the Ten Commandments, he gives that as an example. 16:28.700 --> 16:31.360 Now, God didn't rest because he was weary, 16:32.240 --> 16:35.980 although you and I need to rest sometimes because we're weary. 16:36.320 --> 16:39.940 We need to rest to renew our strength, Solomon says. 16:40.420 --> 16:43.020 But he rested a rest of enjoyment. 16:43.600 --> 16:47.020 He was enjoying the fruit of his labor. 16:47.900 --> 16:49.360 And you and I need to do that as well. 16:50.641 --> 16:55.641 In the Old Testament, one day of the week was a day of rest. 16:56.981 --> 17:00.341 There were seven feasts in the Jewish calendar 17:00.341 --> 17:01.821 and some of them were for a whole week 17:01.821 --> 17:05.001 where God's people would take time away from work 17:05.001 --> 17:08.401 and they would worship and they would rest 17:08.401 --> 17:11.641 and they would feast at times. 17:11.641 --> 17:13.841 Every seven year was the Sabbath year. 17:14.553 --> 17:17.553 Every 70 years was the year of Jubilee. 17:17.553 --> 17:22.553 God knew that his people needed to live a balanced life. 17:23.473 --> 17:25.733 Look what he says in verse 18. 17:27.093 --> 17:30.513 He says, because of laziness, the building decays 17:30.513 --> 17:34.673 and through idleness of hands, the house leaks. 17:34.673 --> 17:38.093 A feast is made for laughter and wine makes merry, 17:38.093 --> 17:41.113 but money answers everything. 17:42.110 --> 17:46.550 Now Solomon says two things about laziness. 17:46.550 --> 17:49.850 First he says, in the words of Pastor Brian, 17:49.850 --> 17:53.150 laziness now equals problems later. 17:54.150 --> 17:55.150 Right? 17:55.150 --> 17:58.070 If present you is being lazy, 17:58.070 --> 18:01.050 future you is gonna have some problems. 18:01.050 --> 18:03.470 Things are gonna start falling apart. 18:03.470 --> 18:05.930 Things that needed to get done are gonna get done 18:05.930 --> 18:08.750 and your life starts to fall apart. 18:09.211 --> 18:14.211 Ladies, I want to encourage you not to marry a lazy man. 18:16.591 --> 18:18.671 You're going to have problems. 18:18.671 --> 18:21.751 Now, he may be the best looking dude around. 18:21.751 --> 18:26.751 He may be charming with his words and with his speech, 18:26.771 --> 18:31.771 but if he is lazy and he doesn't know how to work hard, 18:32.271 --> 18:34.091 then someday you're going to wake up 18:34.091 --> 18:37.031 and realize you married a man who lives for himself. 18:38.692 --> 18:41.132 and you're gonna have a hard time respecting him 18:41.132 --> 18:46.632 and your marriage is going to be in trouble your household is going to begin 18:46.632 --> 18:47.411 to 18:47.412 --> 18:51.512 leak there's gonna be problems things will start falling 18:51.512 --> 18:53.212 apart 18:53.212 --> 18:56.632 now proverbs says four things 18:56.632 --> 18:57.531 about 18:57.532 --> 18:59.212 a lazy man 18:59.212 --> 19:02.292 it says he can't get started in the morning 19:02.401 --> 19:04.321 He seldom finishes everything. 19:04.541 --> 19:09.921 He always has excuses for his inactivity, and he's always in trouble because he's irresponsible. 19:10.781 --> 19:14.301 Now, that's not a list that you want for a potential mate, is it? 19:14.941 --> 19:18.281 You want a man who's going to work hard. 19:18.281 --> 19:23.801 And of course, the ladies, you want to be industrious as well. 19:25.064 --> 19:30.064 So the first thing Solomon says about laziness is that lazy now equals problems later. 19:30.444 --> 19:34.744 The second thing that he says is that money can't make up for laziness. 19:36.084 --> 19:40.044 The fool says, you know, money is the answer for everything. 19:40.204 --> 19:42.944 Well, eventually, if you're not productive, guess what? 19:43.024 --> 19:44.844 The money runs out, doesn't it? 19:45.904 --> 19:48.704 But even if the money doesn't run out, 19:49.465 --> 19:52.725 Laziness has a way of corrupting your heart. 19:52.965 --> 19:56.345 It means that there's foolishness, there's something wrong in your heart. 19:57.505 --> 20:03.685 There are many young people who are struggling with a sense of purpose and self-respect 20:03.685 --> 20:11.425 because they live with the idleness of brain rot instead of the industriousness of hard work. 20:12.905 --> 20:21.385 Now, when you don't have any work to do, what happens is that you fall into the laziness of complaining, don't you? 20:23.205 --> 20:28.405 Complaining is talking about what needs to be done instead of doing what needs to be done. 20:29.678 --> 20:32.878 And we all are guilty of that. 20:32.878 --> 20:35.418 We need to, instead of complaining 20:35.418 --> 20:37.118 about what needs to be done, 20:37.118 --> 20:39.618 we need to do what needs to be done. 20:39.618 --> 20:42.418 You know, one of the hardest things about anything, 20:42.418 --> 20:43.958 and this is particularly true about work, 20:43.958 --> 20:46.058 is getting started, isn't it? 20:46.058 --> 20:48.638 Once you get going, it gets a little bit easier 20:48.638 --> 20:50.058 to keep going. 20:50.058 --> 20:54.478 And so, we need to stop complaining in laziness, 20:54.478 --> 20:58.438 and we need to start working hard and diligently. 20:59.024 --> 21:03.104 Look what he says in verse number 20. 21:03.104 --> 21:08.444 He says, "'Do not curse the king, even in your thought. 21:08.444 --> 21:12.744 Do not curse the rich, even in your bedroom. 21:12.744 --> 21:19.764 For a bird of the air may carry your voice, and a bird in flight may tell the matter.'" 21:19.764 --> 21:24.784 He says, don't curse anyone in your thoughts or with your words. 21:24.784 --> 21:28.204 Well, what does it mean to curse someone? 21:28.403 --> 21:31.043 Does it mean you put a hex on them? 21:31.043 --> 21:34.283 Does it mean that you cuss them out in your mind 21:34.283 --> 21:35.443 or with your words? 21:35.443 --> 21:37.103 No, that's not what it means at all. 21:37.103 --> 21:39.003 I started wondering about this question. 21:39.003 --> 21:42.863 What is Solomon telling us not to do in our thoughts 21:42.863 --> 21:44.503 and in our words? 21:44.503 --> 21:47.563 Well, the Hebrew word here means to think 21:47.563 --> 21:51.623 or to speak of someone as if they have little worth. 21:52.843 --> 21:55.363 It means to belittle them in your thoughts 21:55.363 --> 21:56.563 or with your words. 21:57.175 --> 22:00.335 It means to be critical of them. 22:01.375 --> 22:06.095 Now, if you have something critical to say about someone else, 22:06.095 --> 22:07.815 I want to encourage you to go talk to them. 22:08.695 --> 22:12.715 The Bible says that we are to speak the truth in love. 22:13.544 --> 22:21.484 And there's some people in my life who have loved me enough to confront me and to give me some constructive criticism. 22:21.784 --> 22:29.404 And that's when I knew they really loved me because they loved me enough to go through the discomfort of confronting me with the truth. 22:30.624 --> 22:33.464 And so if you have something critical to say, say it. 22:34.284 --> 22:38.284 Go to them, confront them, but speak the truth in love, but also be gracious. 22:39.953 --> 22:45.813 As you speak to them, speak to them as one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread. 22:47.125 --> 22:48.525 Speak to them with humility. 22:49.465 --> 22:52.005 Speak to them with a sense of grace 22:52.005 --> 22:54.965 and make sure that your words build them up 22:54.965 --> 22:58.245 instead of tearing them down. 22:59.145 --> 23:01.765 And so if you have something critical to say of someone else, 23:02.265 --> 23:06.625 then I want to encourage you to go and talk to them about it. 23:06.625 --> 23:09.305 But in this passage, God says, 23:09.705 --> 23:11.105 don't rehearse it in your mind. 23:12.445 --> 23:16.605 Don't rehearse it with your words. 23:17.382 --> 23:20.122 Now, there are two reasons that he gives for this. 23:20.442 --> 23:24.342 The first reason is that words spread easily, don't they? 23:25.122 --> 23:28.762 James says our words are like a wildfire. 23:28.762 --> 23:33.282 It starts with a little spark, but then it burns a whole forest. 23:33.602 --> 23:39.662 Often we say something and they end up doing way more damage than we intended or that we wanted to 23:39.662 --> 23:43.222 because words are so powerful that they spread easily. 23:44.542 --> 23:46.862 Have you ever heard the saying, a little birdie told me? 23:48.112 --> 23:51.472 Well, Solomon was saying that thousands of years ago. 23:51.472 --> 23:54.052 He said, don't think it in your mind, 23:54.052 --> 23:55.432 don't say it in your bedroom 23:55.432 --> 23:57.432 when you think no one else can hear. 23:57.432 --> 24:00.092 He says, because a little bird may hear it 24:00.092 --> 24:02.392 and may take it on to someone else. 24:02.392 --> 24:04.312 Words spread easily. 24:04.312 --> 24:06.552 But the second reason, he says, 24:06.552 --> 24:10.112 is that it corrupts your heart. 24:11.352 --> 24:15.372 Now, it's interesting that he says here, don't gossip. 24:16.867 --> 24:19.147 And boy, sometimes that's hard. 24:19.147 --> 24:24.887 You have something critical that you could say about someone else 24:24.887 --> 24:28.147 and saying it's not a part of solving 24:28.147 --> 24:29.547 the problem for that person. 24:29.547 --> 24:32.167 But you're like, I got to hold my tongue 24:32.167 --> 24:33.407 because it's not helpful. 24:33.407 --> 24:34.326 It's not useful. 24:34.327 --> 24:35.126 It's not good. 24:35.127 --> 24:40.507 I don't want to be critical in spreading gossip. 24:40.507 --> 24:42.827 But it's interesting that he says don't gossip. 24:42.827 --> 24:45.427 But before that, he says don't even think about it. 24:47.765 --> 24:52.105 He says before you even deal with the issue of gossip, 24:52.105 --> 24:54.885 he says first you gotta deal with the issue 24:54.885 --> 24:57.065 of your thoughts and your heart. 24:58.165 --> 25:01.025 And so I think what he's saying is that your words 25:01.025 --> 25:04.625 reveal the posture of your heart. 25:05.805 --> 25:09.605 We gotta be careful that a heart is one of love 25:09.605 --> 25:13.005 and blessing, not one of criticism. 25:14.866 --> 25:18.306 As a young pastor in my 20s, 25:19.366 --> 25:22.926 there were a few times in one of my sermons 25:22.926 --> 25:27.926 that I was talking about a wrong theology, 25:28.506 --> 25:33.506 and I named a pastor that had that wrong theology 25:34.026 --> 25:35.126 or that wrong teaching. 25:36.406 --> 25:40.066 And after that, I had three people in my church 25:40.066 --> 25:41.746 over a two-week period of time 25:43.026 --> 25:44.446 set up an appointment with me. 25:45.393 --> 25:49.253 And when someone sets a point, you never know what they want to talk about or what's going on. 25:49.853 --> 26:00.153 But when we got together, they wanted to spend an hour or two talking about what some other Christian somewhere else said, something that was wrong. 26:01.693 --> 26:03.613 And I thought, what is going on here? 26:04.613 --> 26:12.133 I mean, these teachers and these Christians live hundreds, some of them even thousands of miles away from here. 26:12.213 --> 26:13.813 They have nothing to do with our church. 26:14.173 --> 26:18.733 They have nothing to do with what we're teaching or what we believe or how we're living. 26:19.033 --> 26:22.153 They have nothing to do with any of those things. 26:22.180 --> 26:26.720 things and I thought what is going on and I remember thinking in the last two weeks I've 26:26.720 --> 26:30.520 had three people who want to meet with me to talk about what's wrong with other Christians 26:30.520 --> 26:34.740 and I've had no one want to meet with me to talk about what's right with Jesus 26:34.740 --> 26:42.100 and as I begin to pray about that the Holy Spirit convicted my heart 26:42.100 --> 26:51.300 and I realized that I created this problem with my criticism of other Christians 26:53.433 --> 27:00.513 I had become judge, jury, and executioner from the pulpit. 27:00.513 --> 27:10.753 I had inadvertently created a posture of the heart and a culture that was one of criticism 27:10.753 --> 27:16.493 rather than that was one of love and grace. 27:16.493 --> 27:21.393 You see, critical thoughts and critical words are like a poison to your soul. 27:22.188 --> 27:24.048 They rob us of our peace. 27:24.048 --> 27:29.048 They rob us of our love and they rob us of our joy. 27:30.128 --> 27:33.068 And so I wanna give you a point of application 27:33.068 --> 27:35.868 and really it's a point of application 27:35.868 --> 27:38.348 that Jesus gives in the Sermon on the Mount. 27:38.348 --> 27:42.008 And that is look for opportunities to bless others 27:42.008 --> 27:47.008 in your thoughts and with your words. 27:47.148 --> 27:50.108 Now this word curse means to think 27:50.108 --> 27:51.508 or to speak ill of someone. 27:52.394 --> 27:57.394 but the word bless means to think or to speak good of someone. 27:59.054 --> 28:00.854 And Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, 28:00.854 --> 28:04.914 if your enemy curses you, he says, bless them. 28:06.114 --> 28:10.634 If they wrongfully persecute you, he says, pray for them. 28:10.634 --> 28:15.634 If they treat you wrongly, he says, do good to them. 28:18.634 --> 28:21.114 There was a guy 28:21.115 --> 28:24.975 that caused a lot of problems in my life and 28:24.975 --> 28:27.695 I had some resentment 28:27.695 --> 28:29.175 towards him and 28:29.401 --> 28:35.641 I thought that I had forgiven him and I'd given that to the Lord and I think I did at some level, 28:35.641 --> 28:41.801 but you know there's deeper and deeper levels of forgiveness that we can have within our heart and 28:41.801 --> 28:48.981 within our life. And the reason I know I hadn't fully forgiven him is that whenever I would think 28:48.981 --> 28:54.801 about him, I would start thinking about what he had done wrong. Well, he did this wrong and 28:55.186 --> 28:59.086 He did that wrong, and he shouldn't have done this, and he shouldn't have done that. 28:59.146 --> 29:04.246 And sometimes I had these imaginary conversations with him that I was trying to persuade him 29:04.246 --> 29:08.466 how that he was wrong in the way that he had acted. 29:08.646 --> 29:11.046 And by the way, I didn't do everything right either. 29:12.706 --> 29:15.686 But I had these thoughts. 29:16.486 --> 29:20.446 But you know, every time that I had those thoughts that were critical towards him, 29:20.686 --> 29:23.166 I had this yucky feeling in my spirit. 29:27.186 --> 29:29.619 Just yucky. 29:29.620 --> 29:31.130 It was poisoning my heart. 29:34.230 --> 29:35.469 And so I begin to pray, God, would you take this out of my heart? 29:35.470 --> 29:36.629 I don't want this. 29:36.630 --> 29:38.849 I don't want this feeling. 29:38.850 --> 29:40.989 I don't want this animosity. 29:40.990 --> 29:42.569 I don't want this divided heart. 29:42.570 --> 29:43.889 I don't want this conflicted heart. 29:43.890 --> 29:48.529 I don't want any of this thing. 29:48.530 --> 29:58.530 I just want love and peace and joy in my heart towards this guy. 30:00.350 --> 30:01.606 And so I made the decision that every time that I thought of him, instead of criticizing him in my mind, I was going to thank God for him. 30:05.946 --> 30:07.246 And I was going to pray for God's richest blessings within his life. 30:08.326 --> 30:10.106 And here's what happened. 30:14.066 --> 30:15.386 My thoughts changed and my heart changed. 30:21.006 --> 30:25.925 My thoughts towards him changed and my feelings followed. 30:25.926 --> 30:30.805 You see in the Bible, not only do your words and your thoughts 30:30.806 --> 30:38.139 reveal your heart, but the Bible also teaches that they can steer 30:38.140 --> 30:45.759 your heart. James says that our words are like a small rudder of a great ship, that they have the 30:45.760 --> 30:47.080 power to change our heart and to change the course of our spirit and of our life. 30:56.520 --> 30:58.492 And I wonder if maybe there are some of you that when you think about other people, 31:05.632 --> 31:15.632 When you think about that person that hurt you, or that person that hurt someone you love, 31:16.432 --> 31:17.572 or that person who wronged you, I wonder if you start getting that yucky feeling in your spirit as well. 31:24.772 --> 31:26.521 By the way, I want you to know that God deeply cares for your hurt. 31:30.401 --> 31:35.080 God hurts for you. 31:35.081 --> 31:38.140 God has a heart of compassion for the pain 31:38.141 --> 31:42.800 that you have experienced within your life, 31:42.801 --> 31:46.040 and He alone understands it fully. 31:46.041 --> 31:47.780 No one else may understand, but God understands, 31:47.781 --> 31:52.380 and maybe no one else cares, 31:52.381 --> 31:53.681 but I can tell you God deeply cares for you. 31:55.001 --> 31:56.508 But you know, I believe 32:00.908 --> 32:03.108 that if you get that yucky feeling, I believe God wants to take that away. 32:09.268 --> 32:11.387 And not only that, but I believe that if you know the Lord 32:11.388 --> 32:20.147 and you have the Holy Spirit within your life, 32:20.148 --> 32:21.728 there's at least a good part of you that wants to get rid of that yucky feeling as well. 32:23.668 --> 32:24.790 And so I want to encourage you this morning. 32:27.590 --> 32:32.589 that you would pray and you would say, 32:32.590 --> 32:38.349 God, would you change my thoughts 32:38.350 --> 32:39.830 from thoughts of criticism to thoughts of blessing? 32:44.830 --> 32:46.550 Would you change my thoughts from thoughts of ill will 32:49.610 --> 32:51.290 to thoughts of goodwill? 32:54.110 --> 32:55.520 In John chapter one, 33:00.600 --> 33:01.900 It says that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. 33:04.860 --> 33:10.516 Jesus is the Word of God. 33:10.517 --> 33:13.196 And Jesus reveals to us the heart of God 33:13.197 --> 33:18.196 because Jesus came from the heart of God. 33:18.197 --> 33:23.616 Jesus came to bring us life from death. 33:23.617 --> 33:27.876 Jesus fulfills every word that God said that he would do 33:27.877 --> 33:30.196 because Jesus fulfills every word of God. 33:30.197 --> 33:31.379 He's the fulfillment of the word of God. 33:40.539 --> 33:41.619 Jesus is the truth and speaks the truth even sometimes when it hurts in order to heal us and transform us. 33:46.259 --> 33:51.378 Jesus always brings the right word in the right way at the right time. 33:51.379 --> 33:56.138 The Bible says in the fullness of time, Jesus came. 33:56.139 --> 33:57.586 Not only is Jesus the word of God, he does the work of God. 34:02.866 --> 34:10.025 Jesus' work on the cross brings us salvation and it brings us rest. 34:10.026 --> 34:11.426 It makes us right with God and it gives us peace and joy and goodness and the fruit of the Spirit. 34:16.186 --> 34:17.286 And when we realize that the Word became flesh, 34:19.106 --> 34:22.365 that He died for our sin, 34:22.366 --> 34:25.685 that He rose from the dead, 34:25.686 --> 34:29.058 then the Bible says we gain. 34:36.938 --> 34:44.417 Not only does he give us hope and purpose and freedom and peace and love in this life, 34:44.418 --> 34:45.498 but he gives us eternal life because we will forever be with him. 34:51.638 --> 34:55.177 I want to encourage you this morning to allow the word of God to penetrate your heart 34:55.178 --> 35:01.460 and to come into your life. 35:01.461 --> 35:04.380 Allow Jesus to be the Savior and the Lord of your soul, 35:04.381 --> 35:10.360 because when Jesus comes into your heart, 35:10.361 --> 35:11.801 he begins to change your heart from the inside out. 35:19.041 --> 35:20.847 Let's bow together as we ask the Lord to move in our hearts this morning. 35:24.727 --> 35:27.506 Here in a few moments, we're going to have a time of invitation. 35:27.507 --> 35:33.386 There's going to be prayer partners here at the front. 35:33.387 --> 35:36.226 There's going to be people that want to pray with you and pray for you and pray over you. 35:36.227 --> 35:37.267 I want to encourage you to come this morning. 35:40.627 --> 35:43.486 Allow God to have his word penetrate your heart. 35:43.487 --> 35:45.227 Have his word transform your heart and your life. 35:49.907 --> 35:51.526 I want to encourage you to come and say, I want to give my life to Jesus. 35:53.546 --> 35:56.065 He reveals to us the heart of God. 35:56.066 --> 35:58.245 It's a heart of love and it's a heart of grace. 35:58.246 --> 36:00.266 And it's a heart of truth. 36:05.786 --> 36:09.226 And sometimes the gospel has some hard words to say, but hard words produce soft hearts. 36:11.146 --> 36:12.383 The Bible says that you're a sinner. 36:15.323 --> 36:20.782 And that your sin, my sin, separate us from God. 36:20.783 --> 36:25.182 But Jesus came to die on the cross, to pay for our sin, and rise from the dead 36:25.183 --> 36:26.383 so that we could have forgiveness of sins and we could forever be with God. 36:29.063 --> 36:32.242 I want to encourage you to give your life to Christ this morning. 36:32.243 --> 36:32.842 Maybe you want to follow the Lord in Believer's Baptism and say, 36:32.843 --> 36:35.152 God. 36:35.153 --> 36:41.312 I want to go public with my faith. 36:41.313 --> 36:44.112 I want everybody to know that I believe in Jesus, that I'm his disciple, that he is mine and I am his. 36:44.113 --> 36:45.612 You can come forward and say, I'd like to be baptized. 36:45.613 --> 36:47.073 We'll set up a time to do that. 36:51.873 --> 36:58.812 Maybe God is leading you to join this church, to be a part of this spiritual family, 36:58.813 --> 37:03.192 a place where the word of God is read, where it's expounded upon, where it's taught, and where it's applied, 37:03.193 --> 37:04.763 and by God's grace, hopefully lived. 37:07.643 --> 37:10.643 within our lives and together. 37:13.943 --> 37:16.722 Would you come and say, I wanna follow Jesus 37:16.723 --> 37:19.342 with a band of brothers and sisters. 37:19.343 --> 37:21.002 I finally wanna follow Jesus with others 37:21.003 --> 37:25.342 and no church is perfect. 37:25.343 --> 37:26.202 And if it were, I'd mess it up if I became a part of it. 37:26.203 --> 37:28.473 And so would you. 37:30.113 --> 37:34.892 But God wants us to follow Him together. 37:34.893 --> 37:36.173 We can learn so much from each other, different spiritual gifts. 37:38.113 --> 37:39.653 God's working in each other's lives. 37:41.153 --> 37:43.993 Maybe God's calling you to come. 37:46.013 --> 37:52.992 But I want to encourage you to come and pray. 37:52.993 --> 37:55.490 I want to encourage you to pray right where you are, that God would work in your life. 37:59.830 --> 38:01.470 God has been so good to me this week as I studied this passage. 38:09.170 --> 38:11.370 As he convicted me that I need to be more gracious with my words. 38:17.350 --> 38:22.169 I need to be more loving and build others up more with my words. 38:22.170 --> 38:24.093 Maybe God is speaking to your heart today. 38:28.873 --> 38:29.953 There's some words you wish you could take back, but you know, you can't take them back. 38:31.173 --> 38:32.813 But you can ask for forgiveness. 38:35.633 --> 38:39.732 You can not only ask for forgiveness, but you can repent. 38:39.733 --> 38:46.372 You know, the Bible, when it talks about repentance, it means to turn, but it also means to replace. 38:46.373 --> 38:47.513 You could replace those hurtful words, those harmful words, with true words. 38:49.373 --> 38:49.592 Words of love and words of grace. 38:49.593 --> 38:51.346 Yes. 38:52.506 --> 38:54.665 I want to encourage you to come. 38:54.666 --> 38:56.385 Have someone pray for you. 38:56.386 --> 38:57.785 Have someone pray over you. 38:57.786 --> 38:58.985 You can pray at these steps. 38:58.986 --> 39:05.185 You can pray where you are. 39:05.186 --> 39:06.346 But this is a time where the Holy Spirit of God works and speaks to our heart. 39:07.526 --> 39:09.425 Do not quench him. 39:09.426 --> 39:13.245 Do not push him away. 39:13.246 --> 39:15.726 But allow him to have his way and his will in you. 39:19.386 --> 39:20.759 Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. 39:23.359 --> 39:25.139 May it change our hearts and transform our lives. 39:29.659 --> 39:32.638 Lord, help us not just to say the right things, 39:32.639 --> 39:33.719 but to say real things. 39:36.179 --> 39:37.499 Help us not just to be talk, 39:40.859 --> 39:41.939 but help us to be action. 39:44.019 --> 39:47.058 Not just to know what's right, 39:47.059 --> 39:49.598 but to live it out and apply it to our life. 39:54.298 --> 39:56.577 Lord, I pray that if there's anyone here that needs to be saved, 39:56.578 --> 39:57.678 that today, Lord, they'd give their life to Jesus. 40:01.898 --> 40:03.498 That they would see your glory and grace in the gospel of Jesus Christ. 40:06.218 --> 40:07.938 They would be desperate to know Jesus today. 40:15.058 --> 40:17.797 Lord, I pray for those of us that know Jesus, Lord, that you would give us a new heart, 40:17.798 --> 40:18.809 new words and new work. 40:23.229 --> 40:28.008 Lord, help us to wake up every day excited to spread your love and grace. 40:28.009 --> 40:33.768 Help us to wake up every day to do the work that you're doing, 40:33.769 --> 40:35.009 to join you and in love benefit the people around us. 40:41.649 --> 40:46.068 Lord, I pray that we would not live out of a hard heart, 40:46.069 --> 40:47.311 that we would not live out of a divided heart. 40:50.791 --> 40:51.911 God, we would live out of your heart. 40:59.191 --> 41:00.691 Help us, God, to be a people after your own heart. 41:02.031 --> 41:04.850 God, we need you. 41:04.851 --> 41:05.931 We are desperate for you today. 41:07.111 --> 41:09.590 Would you move in us? 41:09.591 --> 41:10.591 Would you speak to us? 41:13.091 --> 41:15.750 Would you change us? 41:15.751 --> 41:17.095 In Christ's name we pray. 41:17.395 --> 41:38.797 Amen. 41:41.917 --> 41:44.536 reach out to us by texting podcast to 88988. 41:44.537 --> 41:47.476 That's podcast to 88988 41:47.477 --> 41:51.216 or connect with us on one of our social media platforms. 41:51.217 --> 41:53.236 You can also visit our website, valleybaptist.org 41:53.237 --> 41:55.596 to find even more great resources. 41:55.597 --> 41:57.136 No matter where you are in your journey, 41:57.137 --> 41:58.556 know that we love you. 41:58.557 --> 42:01.556 We're praying for you 42:01.557 --> 42:11.557 and we can't wait to see what God will do in your life.