James 3

Well, today is sermon number three in the book of James, and what a wonderful study this has been over the past two weeks. Two weeks ago, Pastor Pacer introduced us to James in chapter number one, and James is a very interesting, unique book in the New Testament. It is estimated that the book of James was written somewhere between 44 and 48 AD. It is very likely the first New Testament book that was written. James wrote to the 12 tribes of Israel that had been scattered due to persecution, and he's writing to them about one very specific area. He's not really writing a message of the gospel. He's not writing to unbelievers that they might come to Christ. James is writing to believers that they may grow in their faith, that they may grow in their walk in the Lord Jesus Christ. James really comes down to one word, and that's the word maturity. James is interested in believers growing up, of no longer being baby Christians. How many know that believers in the church need to grow up? We need some mature believers in the church. We got too many crying up, bottle fed, still being diaper changed believers in the church. Come on now. It's time for us to grow up. Somebody say amen to that. The world needs to see some mature, grown up believers, some men and women of God, amen? And James is writing to them that they might grow up, and in James chapter one, he talks to them about enduring hardship. How many of you really love trouble in your life? I didn't expect, we got one person who really loves trouble. We're praying for you right now. Most of us don't like trouble. We try to avoid trouble, but James says something very interesting in verse number two, chapter number one. He said, consider it pure joy.

Everybody say pure joy. Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing. It is the will of God that we grow up, become mature in the Lord Jesus Christ. And then in chapter number two, as Pastor Marquel shared with us so wonderfully last week, it is God's will that we live our faith out every day. It's not enough for you to just say, I have faith, but I'm doing nothing. We need our deeds to be joined to our faith. James said this. He said, you show me your faith without works, well, I'm going to show you my faith by what I'm doing. And what James is really saying to each and every one of us, if you can't see in your life, if you cannot see in your life the demonstration of a changed life, if your life is not different today than it was the day you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you need to take a good look at your faith. Because Jesus doesn't just come into us, he comes in and transforms us. We become new creations in Jesus Christ, and it should show up in our lives every day. Amen? We should take our faith to work. We should take our faith to school. We should take our faith to the marketplace. Our faith should be seen in our lives each and every day. And now today we're going to look at chapter number three, where James deals with two very specific issues. Number one, the power, how many of you know the tongue is a powerful little thing? James says it's such a small part of the body, but it can wreak havoc in the entire body. Not only can it wreak havoc in your body, it can wreak havoc in the bodies of others, in the lives of others, in your entire community. So he talks about the power of the tongue, and then additionally he talks about a need

for wisdom. If there's ever been a time that there was a need for wisdom, it's today. You know, when we talk about wisdom, and we're going to get there in a few moments, don't confuse wisdom with knowledge. There's a whole lot of knowledge in the world, but there's a real void of wisdom in the world today. We need wisdom that comes from above. But before James introduces us to the power of the tongue, in James chapter three, verse number one, there's a very, very interesting transition. from chapter 2 to chapter 3. Verse number 1 says, "...who will be judged more strictly." Isn't that something? He goes, Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know we who teach will be judged more strictly. I want to tell you something. I've had the honor and the privilege of being in the ministry for a long time. Almost 50 years now I've been active in the ministry, and I counted an honor and a privilege to stand before God's people and preach and teach the Word of God. But I want you to know something that I've been aware of for a long, long time, and I know our pastor, Pastor Pacer, is very aware of this. When we stand before God's people, we're not only going to be judged by what you think, but more importantly than that, we're going to be judged by what God thinks. We're going to have to give an account to God whether we spoke the Word of God, whether we spoke the truth,

whether we led people off the path, or we led them down the path of righteousness. Now, I'm well aware that even right now I'm being judged. Some of you are sitting out there and going, How come he wore that suit today? Well, I couldn't do like Pastor Mark Well did and cut all my hair off. I don't have that much to cut off. So, you know, I thought I'd just wear a suit today. Some of you are going, Well, you know, it's kind of starting out slow. I hope he gets this train going. I recognize that every time a teacher or a preacher stands up, you're being judged, and I respect that. But that's not really my concern. My concern is what God thinks about it. I heard a podcast about two weeks ago of a very well-known older pastor who had been in the ministry for many, many years, and he was asked this question, What do you consider your greatest accomplishment in all of your years of ministry? And he paused and thought about it for a second, and then his answer really surprised me a little bit. He said, My greatest accomplishment is all the people that I talked out of going into the ministry. And then the interviewer said, Well, what do you mean by that? And he said, I've known so many people down through the years that had gifts, but they didn't have character.

They had gifts, but they didn't have integrity. I want to tell you something. If you're going to be a man of God and stand before God's people and teach the Word of God and preach the Word of God, you need consistency in your life. You need character in your life. I'm so glad that I can stand before you today and say the pastor of this church, Pastor Pacer, is a man of integrity. He's a man of character. He's a man of consistency. Amen. We are blessed to have him as our pastor. He goes on to say, Not many of you should do that because you're not really qualified to do that. You know, we have a saying that we've used in the church for many, many years. I'm not sure we've used it correctly, and I want to explain why. We've said something like this. God doesn't call the qualified. He qualifies the called. That sounds really, really good. But God calls the qualified. God calls men and women of character. He calls men and women of integrity. He calls men and women of stability in their lives because they are going to impact and influence others. Then James transitions into verse number two,

and he starts talking about the power of the tongue. Verse number two through verse 12. We all stumble in many ways. Let's just stop right there. We all, everybody say all. You know what the definition of all is? Totally inclusive, non-exclusive. We are all in all. We all stumble in many ways. Do you know what we have really been good at in the church? Of viewing our stumbles less than somebody else's stumble. Now, I didn't stumble the way they did. I'm not like that. You know, James already addressed this in chapter number one. He said, you know, the word teaches, do not commit adultery, do not murder. He said, but if you didn't murder, but you committed adultery, you're guilty of it all. He said, if you didn't, if you committed adultery, you didn't murder or you murdered and did commit adultery, you're still guilty of it all. Let me tell you. I'll tell you something, we have been so terribly good. And I say, I mean terribly, in a wrong way. We have been so terribly good at looking down on others who failed in ways we didn't. We have been so terribly bad at judging certain sins so much worse than other sins. God says there's sin. We have all stumbled in many ways. Then he says this, anyone who is never at fault in what they say, anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect and keep their whole body in check.

When we put bits into the mouth of horses to make them obey us, we turn the whole animal. Or take a ship as an example, although they are large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boast. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue is also a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body, it corrupts the whole body. Sets the whole course of one's life on fire and is itself set on fire by hell. All kind of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil full of deadly poisons. With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father and with it we curse human beings who have been made in God's likeness. Out of the same mouth comes praise and cursings. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. What should not be? Out of the same mouth comes praising and cursing. Can both fresh water and salt water come from the same spring? My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salty spring produce fresh water. So James opens up chapter 2, he says, we all stumble, but maybe more than any other area with the tongue. How many of you, will you be honest enough to say your mouth has gotten you in trouble at some time in the past? That's right. Have you ever, I have, have you ever been guilty of opening your mouth before you engaged your brain? How many of you have written checks with your mouth that your body couldn't cash? Come on now. It's probably like 35 years ago one Sunday morning I'm driving to church.

My practice back then is I like to get to church really early on Sunday mornings before anybody else got there so that I could just have some more quiet time with the Lord and prayer and going over the message and just getting my mind focused on what I felt like God wanted to do that day. This particular Sunday morning I'm driving to church, I lived about a mile and a half from the church, it wasn't a long drive, I had to go down this hill into the community of Carnegie, Pennsylvania. Going down the hill there was a red light, I'm going down the hill, I've got my Bible on the seat beside me, I've got my sermon notes tucked in my Bible, you know, I'm ready to be God's man of faith and power for the hour. All of a sudden a big truck cuts right in front of me, I mean I've got a green light, he cut right in front of me, I've got to slam my brakes on, my holy Bible goes flying, my sermon notes fly out, I look up, this guy's got his head stuck out the window screaming at me. While being God's man, I started screaming back. Now he was using words that I didn't use, I might have used the King James word for donkey, I'm just being honest, I think I did. I mean, we're having it, it's happening, finally he drove off, now maybe it's more of a man thing than a woman thing, when he drove off there was just this slight moment that my flesh said, you told him, come on man, help me out here, there was this quick moment where my flesh went, you told him. I hadn't driven 50 feet and man I was overcome by so much shame. I felt like an absolute failure. I could barely drive that last half mile to the church. I had to pull over. I'm weeping. I said, oh God, forgive me. What an incredible, horrible testimony. And this is embarrassing. I mean, I remember sitting there on the side of the road and I started praying for him.

I said, oh God, do something in his life. If you draw him to church today, please send him to the Baptist church. I did. I prayed that prayer. I finally got to church. Thank goodness nobody was there. I went in my office and closed the door. I ended up on my knees on the carpet saying, Lord, the problem's not just with my mouth. There's some problem in my heart. As Matthew says, from the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. I had to pray this prayer, oh God, search me. Cleanse me, Lord. Whatever it is in there that brought that out. You know, somebody said one time, you don't know what's in the bucket until somebody kicks a bucket. There was something in there that shouldn't be in there. And I thank God for his cleansing, redeeming power. James uses six illustrations, six examples of the tongue. And I'm going to try to go through these real, real quickly. First of all, he talks about the bit in the rudder in verses three and four. The bit in the horse's mouth that you can lead and guide that horse. My wife's sister, Tina, when she was about fourteen years old, she really wanted to be a barrel racer. So she had a horse and she's practicing, practicing, practicing. She probably didn't weigh a hundred pounds. And the horse she was riding was twelve hundred, maybe fourteen hundred or more pounds. And that little hundred pound girl could completely control that horse because of the bit in its mouth. She held the reins that were attached to the bit that controlled the horse. Do you know what our problem is?

We have our hands on the reins of the bit of our mouth. And we need the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ on the reins that go to the bit of our mouth. It is only by the power of the Lord Jesus Christ. James said, no man can control the tongue. You don't have enough willpower. You don't have enough tenacity. You don't have it in yourself. It takes the Holy Spirit to change your mouth. We need to surrender our mouths to the Lord Jesus Christ. In the same way, a great ship is controlled by a small rudder. What does that rudder do? That rudder determines the direction. What we see about the bit in the rudder is there's power to direct. The tongue has power to direct, either in a negative course or a positive course. Can I tell you today, your words have power. Proverbs says the power of death and life are in the tongue. When we open our mouths, we're either speaking death into somebody's life or we're speaking life into them. May God help us to be speakers of life into the lives of others on a regular basis. There's an enormous power that God has given us to speak with our mouths. Do you know when our mouths are surrendered to God, God could use us in ways that are so transformative, not only to one person, but to generations? On April 21, 1855, a man by the name of Edward Kimball walked into a Boston shoe store. There was a young clerk working in that store. His name was D.L. Moody. Edward Kimball shared with him the gospel of Jesus Christ. D.L. Moody, a young man, accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior and became the greatest evangelist of the 19th century, impacted lives all over the country because one man had his mouth directed by the Lord and spoke life into him. That's the power to direct that we have in the tongue.

The tongue also has the power to destroy. Verses 5 through 8 talk about a fire and a wild beast. Fire is wonderful. Do we have any campers in the house today? How many of you love to camp? You know, we have a lot of campers here in this area. Sherry and I, we don't camp a whole lot, but we have a fire pit at our house and we love on a cool evening to build a fire in the fire pit and sit out there. Fire brings comfort. It brings heat. It brings relaxation. Fire can be a wonderful thing, but fire out of control is incredibly destructive. Fire out of control. can just become a whirlwind of destruction. I read just this past week, October the 8th, 1871, a small fire broke out in O'Leary's barn in Chicago. Just a small fire in the barn. And when that fire was finally quenched, 17,500 buildings were destroyed and 300 people lost their lives. Right here in our own community 10 years ago, November 2016, two young boys playing with fire. Whether intentionally or unintentionally, they started a small fire. And when that fire was finally put out, over 18,000 acres of land were destroyed. Fourteen people lost their lives. Two billion dollars in property damage because little fire became a great destructive fire. That's the power of the tongue.

Do you know a negative, critical, judgmental word spoken in a life group can start a little fire? That fire can begin to grow and completely get out of control. I've talked to many pastors down through the years whose churches have been torn apart. And I've asked them, how do you think it happened? And they said, I'm really not sure. The best I know, it just started with one conversation. It just started with a critical, judgmental word. Just started with a little negativity put out there. And it began to spread. James says the tongue is like a fire, a destructive fire. And he went on to say that that has power to destroy like a wild beast. You know, about a year and a half ago, I preached a sermon on Sunday morning about shake off the snakes. The Apostle Paul in the book of Acts. And ever since then, Don Stevenson has named me the snake pastor. I don't appreciate that, Don. I'm just going to make it clear right now. I hate snakes. I want nothing to do with snakes. And I'm going to tell you right now, if somebody told me that we're going to release a dozen or so venomous snakes in the sanctuary on Sunday morning, I'd be going to church somewhere else. I'm just telling you right now. Who in their right mind would go somewhere where poisonous snakes are crawling around in the pews? Who would allow that?

But we allow poisonous words. We allow deadly words. James is saying like a wild animal, a wild beast, a poisonous creature, and a fire, the tongue is destructive. And then in verses 9 through 12, he said there's power to delight. He uses the example of a fountain and a tree. There's nothing much better when you're thirsty than a good cool drink of water. Water refreshes. Water revives. Water renews. Our bodies are made up of almost 60% water, the average person. Do you know the average person can only go about four days without water? That's how essential water is. Water is absolutely necessary. Water is a wonderful, wonderful thing. But water like fire, out of control, can be incredibly destructive. About 60 miles east of where I lived in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was a small community called Johnstown. Johnstown was just a little community. I've driven through it dozens of times. There's a small stream that runs right through the middle of Johnstown. On most days, you could walk across that stream. You wouldn't even call it a river, just a little stream. But on May 31st, 1889, the South Fork Dam failed. Two million tons of water were released into Johnstown, Pennsylvania.

Two thousand people perished in the Johnstown Flood. Why? Because water was out of control. A tongue out of control creates destruction, evil, and terrible consequences. Verses 9-12, there's a little warning that James inserts. It's a warning on duplicity. He says, out of the same mouth comes bitter and sweet water. Out of the same mouth comes salty and fresh water. Out of the same mouth comes praise and cursing. And then he makes this very strong statement. This should not be. This should not be. I want to tell you something, God wants to develop consistency in our speech. God wants to develop consistency in what comes out of our mouth. I believe that the church is really, really good at putting on fronts. How many of you know, the movie industry has the Academy Awards. The church ought to have something because we got some actors in the house. We really do. I mean, I'm not talking to you. I'm talking to somebody you know. I know you know somebody like this. They are fighting all the way to church, yada, yada, yada. They're using bad words. They're calling each other stuff. Then they get in the parking lot. They walk in. They see the pastor. And the pastor goes, how are you? And they go, blessed and highly favored. Are you phony baloney? James says, this should not be.

May God so change our hearts that what comes out is consistent, that we're praising God, that we're encouraging others, that we're building people up, that we're speaking life into people's lives. And then James transitions again and he goes into two kinds of wisdom in verses 13-18. Who is wise and understanding among you, let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such wisdom does not come down from heaven, but it is earthly, unspiritual, and demonic. Did you hear that? It does not come down from heaven. It is earthly, unspiritual, and demonic. That's strong right there. For where you have envy, selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure, then peace loving, then considerate, then submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness. What James is talking about here is not knowledge. He's talking about wisdom. We live in a world where there's a lot of knowledge. I've read some statistics about how rapidly knowledge is increasing. In the first of the 19th century, it took like 50 years for knowledge to double. And then it only took like 22 years for knowledge to double again. I'm told that knowledge now, because of the technology that's available to us, is doubling every couple of years. We don't lack knowledge. We know plenty stuff. What we lack is wisdom. The reason that we are in the situation we're in in our country, in our world, is because decisions are being based on knowledge and not wisdom.

We need wisdom from God. There's a tremendous difference in knowledge and wisdom. There's a tremendous difference in carnal knowledge, earthly knowledge, fleshly knowledge, demonic knowledge and godly knowledge. We need to realize that there are two origins of wisdom. Two origins of wisdom. Wisdom from above and wisdom from below. The contrast in those two origins, man's wisdom is earthly, unspiritual, devilish. The enemy is constantly attacking us. Paul the Apostle, writing to the church at Ephesus in Ephesus chapter 2, said that we really have three enemies, the world, the flesh and the devil. I think James is lining up with those three right there, the world, the flesh and the devil. Worldly, ungodly, demonic wisdom coming from below and not from above. And I happen to believe that godly wisdom is not something you learn in a book. Well there's one book you learn it in. There's one book. It's not something you... You learn at a seminary, I've been to a lot of seminaries, I've been to conferences for years and I'm grateful for them, but you don't get an impartation of wisdom from those, you get an impartation of wisdom from God. God divinely imparts wisdom into the heart of mankind. Let me tell you how it has worked in my life down through the years. As a pastor, you're called on pretty regularly to do counseling. A lot of pastors have, you know, Bible study degrees and have done preparation and have done courses and spend a lot of time in the word, but that doesn't necessarily qualify you for some counseling sessions. I mean, if I begin to describe to you some of the counseling sessions I've been in, you would absolutely not believe it. And there have been more times than I could count that I've been sitting across the desk from an individual or from a couple. I'm sitting there listening to them and I'm having an internal talk with God. I'm trying to listen to them, but I'm talking to the Lord and I'm saying something like this, I don't have a clue what to say to these people.

I don't have the first idea of how to give them direction in this situation. Lord, I need you now. And then I would open my mouth and stuff would start coming out of my mouth, and I'm sitting there going, that's really good, I need to write that down. It didn't come from here, it came from here. It was wisdom that was divinely imparted. That's what we need in our lives. You need to have your spirit open every day for God to impart wisdom unto you, for God to give you insight and understanding. The origin is from God. The contrast of operation between godly and worldly wisdom is the evidence of false wisdom. James lays it out. False wisdom is evidenced by envy, strife, boasting, and deceit. Do you know where you see those things? That's not godly wisdom. Envy, strife, boasting, and deceit. But the evidence of godly wisdom is purity. Everybody say purity. Do you know what purity means? It means untarnished. Do you know no matter what your life has been in the past, you can start living a life of purity right now? A life totally devoted to God right now? A life that is honoring unto God right now? First of all, there will be purity, peace, gentleness, and clarity. James 1.17 says this, Every good and perfect gift comes down from above. James 1.15 says to us, It says, If you need wisdom, just ask God, and He'll give it to you.

Can I say this today? If you're going through some stuff in your family, you're going through some stuff in your home, and we all do. We are right now. You're going through some stuff. You don't need to try to figure it out in your mind. You need God to give you wisdom of how to handle that situation. And if you need it, ask for it, and God will give it unto us. Then lastly, there's a contrast of outcome with worldly wisdom and godly wisdom. Worldly wisdom produces trouble, jealousy, competition, discord, and evil practices. James said it even stronger than that. He said, every evil practice. Do you know worldly wisdom will take you to a place you never imagined you would go? Can I say this? And I'm not trying to climb up on a soapbox here this morning, but if you're allowing the world to set the agenda for your life, if you're allowing those forces that are contrary to God's Word, that are contrary to the will of God to set the course of your life and make decisions in your life, you're going to end up in a place you never imagined you would be. Because that's what worldly wisdom does. But let me tell you what godly wisdom does. Godly wisdom produces a blessed, pure, peace-loving person who is considerate, submissive, full of mercy, impartial, and sincere. Those are some qualities right there that I want. Those are some qualities right there that God has for us. A person who is pure, peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy, impartial, and sincere. How do we get that? We already looked at it.

James 1.15. If any man lacks wisdom, let him ask of God. And he will give it to... You all, there's that word all again. He will give it to you all, not holding back. If you need godly wisdom in your life today, ask Him for it. Proverbs 3, 5, and 6, I love this passage. Trust in the Lord with all of your heart. Lean not on your own understanding and all of your ways. Submit to Him and He will make your path straight. Where do we find godly wisdom? I think we find it in three places. First of all, we find it in Jesus. Colossians 2, 3 says, and all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are in Christ Jesus. That's where you find it. We find it in His word. 2 Timothy 3, 15, the scriptures are able to make us wise unto salvation. And we find it by asking, as James said in 1, 15. But I want to say this to you this morning. If you're watching from the correctional facility, you're watching online, or you're right here with us in the sanctuary today, the very first step to receiving wisdom is to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. You can't figure this out without Jesus. You can't get your life right without Jesus. You can't turn everything around without Jesus. Jesus is the first step. You know, back in the 70s, there was a Christian singer, Andre Crouch, and he had this song, Jesus is the answer. Jesus is the answer. That's still truth today.

If you're here today, or you're listening online, watching online, and have never accepted Jesus, make that decision today. Surrender your heart to Him. Let Him begin to hold the reins on the bit in your mouth so that your words can be life-giving. Let Him begin to impart wisdom. Not just information, impartation of wisdom from above. Today, let's set our hearts to grow up. How many of you are ready to grow up and be mature in Jesus Christ? Amen. Would you stand with me, please? I'm going to ask the prayer team to come. I'm going to lead us in a prayer, and if you're here today, you need God to control your speech. You need God to give you wisdom. You need to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior. I'm going to ask you to step out and come and let one of these prayer team members pray with you today. Heavenly Father, I thank You for Your Word. I thank You, Lord God, for the truth of Your Word. I thank You, Lord, that You have called us to use our mouths for Your glory, that You have called us, Lord, that You might give us wisdom from above to produce maturity in our lives. May the Holy Spirit speak to hearts here today. In Jesus' name, amen. I don't want anything but You I don't want anything but You You're more than every dream come true All of the things I thought I wanted So I'll come close to knowing You Now that I'm Yours and You are mine I'll spend forever in the pleasure I found looking in Your eyes Give me Jesus Give me Jesus You can have all this world You can have all this world More than silver, more than gold You are the treasure that I hold

Now that I've tasted of Your goodness Nothing else will satisfy Give me Jesus, give me Jesus You can have all this world You can have all this world Give me Jesus, give me Jesus You can have all this world You can have all this world Give me Jesus, give me Jesus You can have all this world I don't want anyone else I don't need anything else You are my one day You are my one day I don't want anyone else I don't need anything else You are my one day You are my one day I don't want anyone else I don't need anything else You are my one day You are my one day I don't want anyone else I don't need anything else You are my one day You are my one day Give me Jesus Give me Jesus You can have all this world You can have all this world Give me Jesus Give me Jesus You can have all this world You can have all this world I don't want anyone else I don't need anything else You are my one day You are my one day I don't want anyone else I don't need anything else You are my one day You are my one day You are my one day You are my one day Give me Jesus ♪ Jesus, give me Jesus ♪ ♪ You can have all this world ♪ ♪ You can have all this world ♪ ♪ Oh, give me Jesus, give me Jesus ♪ ♪ You can have all this world, you can have all this world ♪ ♪ Give me Jesus, give me Jesus ♪ ♪ You can have all this world, you can have all this world ♪

♪ You can have all this world, you can have all this world ♪ ♪ Give me Jesus, give me Jesus, you can have all this world ♪ ♪ Jesus, give me Jesus, you can have all this world, you can have all this world ♪ Sing it to him. ♪ Give me Jesus, give me Jesus, you can have all this world ♪ ♪ You can have all this world, you can have all this world ♪ ♪ You can have all this world, you can have all this world, you can have all this world ♪ What a sweet sound, a surrender. We thank you, Lord, so much for today. We thank you for the word of God that was preached. We thank you, Lord, that your word is full of truth, Lord, and it is life to us. And so I pray, Father God, that you would just continue to speak to hearts today, that we would open our eyes and open our hearts to you to receive, and that you would just speak to us, Lord, let your spirit speak, and let it reveal anything in us that doesn't look like you. Search our hearts, O God, and may we continue to get into the word this week, Lord, and may you continue to speak, Lord, and continue to refine, and continue to grow us, God, because we want to be mature in Christ. We want to reflect you, and we just thank you, Lord, that you discipline your children because you love us, because you don't want us to stay where we're at. You want us to continue to move forward and walk in freedom. Thank you for that.