Godly Speech - Part 2: The Bad Stuff

Yesterday we talked about a few things that are present in Godly speech. Let's dig a little closer into what bad speech is and how we can avoid it.

#1 - Lying (...and covering it up)
Like a madman who throws firebrands, arrows, and death, 
Is the man who deceives his neighbor, And says, “I was only joking!”
Proverbs 26


Everybody knows - THOU SHALT NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS - and sometimes the King James  English leads us to believe that God's just not ok with cases of perjury. Almost like we have to break an oath on a Bible to be really lying. The truth is that if your motives are deceitful, if you're telling anything other than what accurately happened, you're bearing false witness.

This is really hard, I know. Right now I'm watching everything I say to try to remove all exaggeration from my speech. This means if there's a pile up on the side of the road and I think there are three cars but I say "4 or 5" to make a better story, I'm in sin. If I'm mad at someone for frequently being a few minutes behind and I say, "You're always late" when in truth they have been on time twice, I'm in sin.

#2 - Gossip (...but arguing that it's the truth)
A perverse man sows strife, 
And a whisperer separates the best of friends.
Proverbs 16

Every time that I can remember catching someone gossipping their answer to me is, "but it's true!" I believe gossip is a separate sin than lying. Sometimes they go together, especially lying by exaggeration, but more often than not there's a grain of truth to gossip. Gossip is talking negatively about someone when they are not there. Gossip is telling secrets that shouldn't be told (Proverbs 11:13).

#3 - Crude language (...but not as bad as it could be)
Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, 
which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.
Ephesians 5

Crudeness is a symbol of coolness because coolness has become equal to a relaxed view of God's standard. People who use crude language forget that God is present everywhere. If they were aware of His presence their speech would become a lot cleaner. Proverbs says, "The tongue of the righteous is choice silver." And I think it's because the righteous know God.

David was aware of God's presence and His attitude was, "Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer."

When your thumb catches the door do you need profanity to come out of your mouth? Or are you doing it because it feels good to say? And while you're arguing about which words are worse than other words, which words are ok and which are not, you're letting the worldly culture decide what God likes and what He doesn't.

Foul language is like a spot on a formerly spotless lamb. You can't be spotless if you have a spot, no matter how faded or greyed-out the spot is.  (Don't worry, God is good at getting out stains)

Just a thought, the verse above gives a substitute for fowl language. Is it possible to give sincere thanks when sudden pain or sadness occurs?


So in closing, I'd like to address a likely response. To those saying I'm dwelling too much on the letter of the law instead of the spirit, I say don't throw out the law because it's not convenient or inspiring. To those saying that we're under grace instead of the law, a new covenant instead of the old, I say that the standard increased the moment Jesus said it did. It's now not only the actions of our hands and lips, but the condition of our heart that matters. I love how the English Standard Version translates Matthew 5:19.

Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.


Whoever relaxes the commandments. Are you like me, with a tendency to justify your sin? Remember that God calls you to be holy, just like He is holy.

Godly Speech - Part 1: The Good Stuff

Speech is very important to God. If you read in Proverbs, you'll find out very quickly what kind of talk is pleasing to him.  These are all verses just from the 16th chapter of proverbs:

Righteous lips are the delight of kings,
And they love him who speaks what is right.


The heart of the wise teaches his mouth,
And adds learning to his lips.


Pleasant words are like a honeycomb,
Sweetness to the soul and health to the bones. 


An ungodly man digs up evil, 
And it is on his lips like a burning fire. 


A perverse man sows strife, 
And a whisperer separates the best of friends.

Today I want to talk about the good speech that's supposed to come from our mouths. Tomorrow I will talk about the bad speech.

#1 - Encouragement (...even when things don't meet your standards)
Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, 
as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.
Ephesians 4

It's not a blessing when you discourage people. If someone has a dream or a calling, don't take it upon yourself to be the practical, level-headed one. You should come along side them as their full of faith friend!

God's default attitude is not pessimism. It's not apathy or dismissal. We don't surprise Him when we succeed, He was rooting for us all along! So when you're talking with people You need to have the same posture. You need to be encouraging the dreams of the people around you. God said those who delight themselves in Him will be given the desires of their heart! God will fulfill the desires He has given.

#2 - Joy (...in every circumstance)
A happy heart makes the face cheerful, 
but heartache crushes the spirit.
Proverbs 15 

I know you have ten excuses for why you're in a bad mood today and it's just a phase and you'll get over it once that problem at work gets solved or your visiting family goes back home, but have you thought that maybe the enemy has figured out how to deprive you of strength to stand? You lose your joy whenever something stressful comes up, you think the devil doesn't notice? The Bible says the joy of the Lord is our strength. It's our energy to get up and walk out of valleys instead of just staying there moping. 


The worst part is when you've been de-joyed you get frustrated that people want to talk about how good God is. Don't fall for this trick! You've got to believe that when you put on joy you'll gain the strength to fight.

This is in the speech post because the Bible says out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. Most of the time negativity is simply a lack of joy.

#3 - Praise (...all the time)

I will bless the LORD at all times; 
His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
My soul shall make its boast in the LORD; 
The humble shall hear of it and be glad. 
Oh, magnify the LORD with me, 
And let us exalt His name together. 
Psalms 34

I heard someone say that God doesn't get any glory for something He's done for you unless you tell someone about it. We sing all the time, "I give You glory" but the truth is God's glory is in who He is and what He's done.

We talk all the time about what our favorite sports team or actor did. The when the Olympics arrive we'll all be talking about the amazing things the athletes are accomplishing. We can very easily spend more time praising people in the news than we do praising God.

Jesus said that if He is lifted up He will draw all men unto Himself. This was a picture of the cross, but I also believe that it was a spiritual picture of our strategy for reaching the lost and drawing Christians closer to Jesus. When we talk about Jesus and lift His Name and reputation up, He gets inside their hearts and tugs them towards Him. The Bible says we overcome by the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony. The blood has been shed, now we need to tell somebody about what God has done!

4 Ways To Be Fearless

Fear has two meanings.

The first one we usually think of is an insecurity. A worry about something or someone. This fear has to do with not knowing what the future holds and expecting, at least in part, that things are going to turn out disastrously.

The second type of fear is the fear that we are to have towards God. "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell." Remember that we can't throw out this part of the Bible just because we want a God who doesn't care if we sin. This is not the fear I want to talk about today, but I feel it's fitting to address this before moving on.

The first type of fear is the type that Christians are commanded in scripture not to have.

Deuteronomy 31 - Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the LORD your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you. 

1 Chronicles 28 - Be strong and courageous, and do the work. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the LORD God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you until all your work is finished.


Psalm 27 - The LORD is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid?


Isaiah 41 - For I am the LORD, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.




Notice that every time God tells us not to fear, there's a reason. There's a promise. These are the types of promises God has for us:

Joshua 1 - Wherever you set foot, you will be on land I have given you ... No one will be able to stand against you as long as you live. For I will be with you as I was with Moses. I will not fail you or abandon you.

Jeremiah 29 - For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.

Matthew 11 - Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

Philippians 4 - And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.

Romans 8 - No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.


When we're walking in fear we're choosing not to remember and trust in the promises of God. Worry means we're not trusting in God. Let me put it this way, If we hold onto our fear, we're deciding that God either can't take care of us, or is choosing not to.

Jesus said, "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 


Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 


Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? 


And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 


If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 


So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them."


Satan wants us to focus on our past failures and project them as fears. This usually sounds like this: "I can't do that because my vocal range is too small. This one time I was singing in front of people and my voice cracked at the high note in the song. I'm not the right person for the job." 

Knowing the promises of God for you would drive out fear like this, "Yes, I can do that. I've made mistakes in the past but I know that God is for me and that I can do all things because Jesus is giving me strength. Regardless of if I sound perfect or not God will use me to reach out to people, and God deserves my best in this opportunity."

Notice that the past mistakes had no power over the person who was confident in God. When we talk about our mistakes instead of what God did through us we're giving the devil praise for distracting ourselves from our calling.

You're not called to sing well. The calling is to sing well so that God can be glorified.

Singing is just one example. This applies to everything. Wether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God. (1st Corinthians 10:31)


So how do you combat a spirit of fear?

2 Timothy 1:7 - God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind

1) Recognize that the fear you have is not from God. You don't deserve to be fearful. You can't impress God with how big your problem is. You can't convince Him to let you fear. That spirit of fear is rooted in Satan's plan. You need to get it out of your life!

2) Take hold of the power that God has given to you. You have the grace of the Holy Spirit that enables you to boldly (meaning without fear) accomplish everything that God has for you. You can stare the enemy in the face because you were given the power to stand firm. Read Ephesians 6 for a full description of this power to stand.

3) Walk in love. Perfect love casts out all fear. A soft answer turns away wrath. Love your enemies and pray for those you spitefully use you. Responding with love and generosity in a situation where there's anger or lack can turn your fear into joy.

4) Use your sound mind. Don't be irrational. The sensible thing to do when the enemy of your soul is grossly outnumbered and out gunned, has already been defeated by the power of the cross, and is just shouting lies at you is to ignore the lies, and focus on the God that has already provided for all of the needs of your spirit, soul, and body. God has been faithful and He will continue to be faithful. Don't be irrational and think you have to fix everything yourself.

5 Ways To Tell If You Are A Burden To Be Lifted Or A Burden Lifter.

Are you lifting people up or are they lifting you up?

I realize that this is a more complex issue than the question implies, but as a trend, are you the influencer or the influencee?

There are a few of my friends that seem like every second thing they say is a complaint about the way things are. Their opportunities, the weather, their parents, their clothes, their health. Everything that's not "amazing" ends up ruining their day.

There are a few of my friends that encourage me immensely by their constant good attitude. Everything that's going well they are thankful for, and the things that don't go well don't matter at all because they're standing on a rock so firm they'll never be shaken.

Ephesians 5:20 says that we are to give thanks "always for all things" which means we're supposed to somehow give thanks for things we don't like.

I don't see any thing in the Bible that gives us a license to complain no matter how bad our situation is. In Job when God heard complaining He gave Job chapters and chapters of rebuke. Jesus said in His sermon on the mount, "Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven."

If you're constantly down in the dumps over something wether it be small or large, you're not living according to how the Bible says we ought to live. And what will happen is you'll be the weight that your friends have to lift off of the ground every day, instead of being a lifter for someone else.

How do you know what category you're in? How do you know if you're a pro or a con? Here are a few tips:

 - Can you point to 5 people in your life that you encourage on a regular basis? Or 5 people that you can't wait to complain to?

 - Check out your last 10-20 facebook statuses. Were they "Valentines Day Sucks" or "I hate all this snow"?

 - When you talk with someone, what's the first subject you discuss? Is it how busy or tired you are from this, that and the other thing? Or is it filled with thankfulness and joy?

 - Do you use scripture in an encouraging way or just to prove your point?

 - Is your conversation me-centered or you-centered?

As a parting thought, James 1 says "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials." So the point that you are the most joyous, should be the point that you feel the most tried. That's a tall order.

6 Excuses Given When Saying No To Discipleship

I've been dwelling on excuses that people give lately (me included.) There's a lot of them, especially when it comes to living righteously with obedience to everything God calls them to.


Excuses:

 - I don't want to be legalistic/religious.

 - God's standard is too high for anyone to meet.

 - I'm not called to be a missionary or full-time ministry.

 - Doesn't feel right to say you aren't supposed to do that.

 - I see great spiritual leaders doing those types of things all the time.

 - I haven't had the same opportunities

Reality:

 - Avoiding legalism should never be an excuse for a poor devotion life. If you're worried that it will turn into "going through the motions" don't get rid of the motions, put some fire behind them! The devil would love to label every act of righteousness as religioes legalism so that Christians never reach their spiritual potential.

 - God's righteous standard is too high. Get over it. It's not an excuse to sin. It's a call to live more righteously than what we're living now. The Psalmist asked God, "Search my heart, see if there be any wicked way in me." He was constantly in self evaluation mode, or more accurately, holy-spirit evaluation mode.

 - There is no second call for those who are supposed to live a "normal life." God's call for everyone, preacher, youth pastor, missionary, mechanic, plumber, teacher or waiter is to pray constantly, memorize and live out scripture, and worship God with abandon.

 - There's a way that seems right to a man and the end thereof is death. Don't trust your feelings. Trust every word in the Bible. I'm sure the pharisees int he Bible had a feeling that the messiah would come in thunder and lightning and save them from their roman oppressors. The messiah that actually came came went against every nerve in their bodies and that's why they got rid of Him.

 - Jesus says that there will be people who get to the judgement who have done great miracles such as healing people and casting out demons, and still won't make it into heaven. Don't get caught up in following people who have spiritual gifts. Follow people who are exhibiting fruit that was grown in the secret place of private devotion.

 - In the Parable of the Talents, the Lord gave three men talents, one he gave 10, another 5, and a third he gave 1. They each didn't have a separate standard by which they were judged, they were all called to fervent stewardship with what they were given. To simply give God back the things He's given you will not be enough come judgement day. You have to have ardent devotion to multiply what he's given. Don't be standing in front of the returning master of the house with a handful of seeds, get out there and grow some fruit!

5 Tips For A Better Prayer Life

TIP #1 The Secret Place

Jesus' very first teaching on prayer was the power and the primacy of the secret place. "But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you." Matthew 6:6

If you're feeling disconnected with God, feeling that God is distant, let me share a secret with you: God is already in the secret place! Jesus says this again in verse 18.

And He gives us the key to being with the Father: Close the door. Once the door is closed, you can know with confidence that you are in the presence of God, regardless of how you feel.

TIP #2 Listen

Matthew 13:9 says, "He who has an ear to hear, let him hear!"

Know that you can have ears to hear, but choose not to hear God speaking! God has spoken to His people in a lot of ways in the Bible. Psalms 81:7 says that he answers us in "the secret place of thunder." Other times he answers us almost silently with a still, small voice.

God's words are the words that change things. When he speaks things happen. He created the universe with His words. Know that things don't change when we talk to Him, they change when He speaks to us.

Bob Sorge says in his book on prayer, "I strongly advocate a prayer life that is comprised mostly of silence." Don't feel like you are failing at praying when you don't have anything to say! Listen to God and wait for Him to speak to you!

TIP #3 Be Violent 

Matthew 11:12 says "the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force." 

Your prayer life isn't always going to be "now I lay me down to sleep." You're called to do spiritual warfare with your prayers!

"For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places." Ephesians 6:12

I see four separate enemies that we are supposed to wrestle with. I've heard people say before that we aren't supposed to pay attention to the devil and we're just supposed to let God take care of us, and that's partly true. But we have been given spiritual armor for a reason! Stuff is going to hit us! God didn't give us the armor just so that we're in cool shiny clothes! Without this armor, we're going to take some damage.

Also, we've been given a sword of our own. The Psalms are full of descriptions of God raining down his arrows on the enemy, and striking them down with lightning and thunder, but we're called to strike down the works of the enemy in our prayer life as well! We're supposed to use the word of God to come against the things that the devil is doing in our lives and in the lives of the people we know.

Violently pursue your secret time with God, cutting through distractions and all else that keeps you from spending time in the presence of God. Don't let anything stop you from giving all you have to God! When you become a threat to the plans of the enemy, he will come after you. Use that as a sign that what you're doing is working!

TIP #4 Intercession  

Hebrews 13:18-19 says "Pray for us; for we are confident that we have a good conscience, in all things desiring to live honorably. But I especially urge you to do this, that I may be restored to you the sooner."

Prayer can speed up the work of God's kingdom in the earth. At the beginning or end of nearly all of Pauls letters He either asks for prayer or lets the church know that he is praying for them. He knew there was power in the prayer for others.

Jesus said "Ask and you shall receive." This isn't meant to be a black check for whatever we want, it's supposed to be about making God's will happen.

"Prayer is not getting man's will done in heaven, but getting God's will done on earth. It is not overcoming God's reluctance but laying hold of God's willingness." - Richard C. Trench

God is ready and willing to answer our prayers, He's just waiting for us to come to Him and invite His will and reign into our lives and into the lives of others.

TIP #5 Time 

Realize that being faithful with prayer will take a lot of your time.

2nd Corinthians 9:6, "He who sows sparingly will reap sparingly. He who sows bountifully will reap bountifully."  

If you give your minute of two of "spare time" to God, you will reap a spare time's worth of benefit. Now, this benefit is much greater than if you weren't spending any time in prayer, but it's still sowing sparingly.

If you give lots of your valuable time to God, time that you are thinking clearly, large uninterrupted chunks, than you will reap a blessing that you haven't even dreamed of.

Make spending time with God an important appointment, worth canceling other things for. Are you willing to give God your goofing-off-online hour or your veg-on-the-couch hour? If you build a vital relationship with God, He will uphold you. Trust that no amount of work that you do can compare to the amount of work God will do as a result of seeking Him.

Worship Wednesday: Setlists

This year I worked hard to pick out new, fresh music for our WorshipArts worship teams. Sometimes it's a struggle to get great songs for each and every student, but, I think we've picked out music that is not only music that they can pour their hearts into, but also challenges them musically and spiritually to take that next step.

Here's our setlists for Spring 2012!

Relentless Happy Day There’s No One Like Our God Fire Fall Down Forever Reign Burning Ones I Surrender	The Banner Christ In Me Heaven On Earth The Anthem You Are Good Take Me In You Could Never Be Praised Enough
ReVolution Nothing is Impossible You Won’t Relent Rooftops With Everything No One Like You Create In Me A Clean Heart	Genesis Great I Am Freedom You Are Holy One Thing Remains Awaken Me Here In Your Presence

If you want to take a listen, here's GrooveShark playlists for each set. Two of the songs are missing, but I can't find them on GrooveShark at all. 

The Banner Worship Playlist

Relentless Worship Playlist

ReVolution Worship Playlist

Genesis Ministry Team Playlist