Today, I’ll continuing the series that we started few weeks ago on Proverbs and so basically term three every year. Uh we always spend time looking at a book of the Bible. Uh and so usually what we do is we look at it in what’s called an expository way. So what that means is we go through it chapter by chapter verse by verse and but this year, we’re looking at Proverbs but we’re not going through it that way. We’re going through it more topically because Proverbs is actually a cluster of why and there’s all these topics interspersed.
So, the way we’re looking at Proverbs is we’re going through we’ve picked a number of topics that are key themes throughout Proverbs and we’re looking at those topics and so that’s what we’ll be doing today. Proverbs is one of the great books of the Bible in terms of it’s probably the most practical book of the Bible. Who knows a Christian life is more than just knowledge and scripture memorization and that sort of thing but it’s also about how do we practically live this life that god has for us. You know, the Bible tells us that we are created in god’s image. God is our creator.
He’s our maker. That’s one of the great things about becoming a Christian. You actually find the purpose for why you’re here. Yeah. It’s interesting right now in society.
So many people are purposeless. They’re lacking identity. That’s a major issue right now. But when you get to know your maker, when you get to know the one who created you and why he created you. Ephesians 210, we are God’s workmanship.
Created in Christ Jesus to do good works. God’s got a plan for your life and he has got he is able to help us to live this life that we have right now. And Proverbs is one of the great books in the Bible to help us practically live this life right here, right now. And so I want to talk to you about a topic that is very very, you know, is is right through Proverbs and spoken about a lot. And basically, I want to read to you from Proverbs chapter eight.
Proverbs chapter eight verse thirteen. Proverbs 8 13 And it says this the fear of the Lord is to hate evil. Pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverse mouth I hate. Let’s pray. Father I thank you for your word.
I ask and pray that you’d speak to us today. In Jesus name. Amen. Amen. He says that the perverse mouth I hate.
What does that mean? God actually cares how we do. How we talk. You know, you might have heard the odd saying, talk is cheap. Actions mean more than words. Well, not according to scripture.
Actions are important but so are words. Yeah. The way we use our mouth is vitally important to god. Proverbs eighteen verse twenty to twenty-one says this, a man’s stomach shall be satisfied from the fruit of his mouth. From the produce of his lips, he shall be filled.
Death and life are in the power of the tongue and those who love it will lead its fruit. Death and life are in the power of the tongue. How we use our words. How we use our tongue is incredibly important to God. And one of the major themes if wisdom is probably the number one theme.
Wisdom, knowledge, and understanding. If that’s probably the number one theme in Proverbs. I reckon the number two theme all throughout Proverbs is our speech. How we use our mouth. And so today I want to talk to you about our tongue.
Wanna talk to you about what Proverbs indicates about our tongue. And so basically want to talk to you about four things about our tongue that we can find from book of Proverbs. The first thing about our tongue is this. Our tongue is a rudder. It’s a rudder.
Our tongue can actually steer the direction of our life. Proverbs 1821, I just read it before. Death and life are in the power of the tongue. So, what outcome do you want? Do you want death? It’s in your tongue. Do you want life? It’s in your tongue as well.
Proverbs twelve six says this, the words of the wicked align wait for blood. But the mouth the upright will deliver them. Deliverance is actually in our mouth. The direction of our life can actually be determined by the way that we speak. In the book of James, James chapter three, it actually has an entire chapter talking about the tongue.
And in verses three to five of chapter of book of James, it says, indeed we put bits in horses mouths that they may obey us. And we turn their whole body. Look also at ships, although they are so large, it are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires. Even so the tongue little member and it boasts great things. Here it says it very plainly.
Our tongue is like a rudder. What’s the job of a rudder? The rod the rudder determines the course and the destiny of the ship. A few weeks ago I was up at the Torres Strait and I’d never been there before and and actually was had the opportunity. It was a bit of a bucket list thing to to go to the tip of Australia. Cape York.
It was so funny. I I didn’t even know it was nearby. I I’d flown into a town called Bamaga and I didn’t even really know where Bamaga was and and then the past of this to me goes, you want to go to the tip? And I thought, man, not a lot to do here, is there? You know, people go into the tip hanging, why would I want to go to the tip? And he said, oh, well, do you want to go to the and he goes, no, the tip of Australia. I said, what? Cape York Peninsula. He goes, yeah.
I said, well, how how far away is it? He goes, 30K. I said, 30K. So, of course, I want to go there and so, it was great. I I was up there on some of my work with our movement and and then also too, we we had bought for the Torres Straits for the Torres Strait region. So, each part of Queensland is separating to regions for our movement and so I went up there and and and we had bought a boat for that region so that the regional leader can go and visit these other churches and it was incredible.
I, you know, we hopped in the boat. We’re out there for eight hours and we went to these remote islands and one, I was really taken aback by actually. I went to this place where a pastor on an island of 200 people was building a church with his bare hands basically and it was absolutely incredible. The it was the the facility was like state of the art. Uh he just needed a little bit more and more money to finish it and so we might put that forward a little bit later on because I think we could do that and and it was incredible and so and so we went out there and then on the way back the the guy was skippering the boat.
Um he said to me, he goes, look, we better get back pretty quick because it’s going to be low tide. I said, okay, great. He goes, no, no, you don’t understand. He says, when it’s low tide, it gets to the point that the reef starts getting exposed. and so, we, you know, we went just in a straight line.
He said we’re not going to be able to do that on the way back. And so it was really interesting on the way back there was all this reef and we had to navigate it and we had to turn and and I remember there was one. I couldn’t see a gap between the reef and and he knew where it was. Obviously it was a local and and so we steered this way and then we had to duck back this way in order to get through it and and if we didn’t you know we would have scraped the boat on the reef and I remember thinking to myself glad we got a rudder. Cuz the rudder is a thing that directs the course.
Yeah. Yeah. Of the boat. Our tongue’s a rudder. Yeah.
Yeah. It directs the course of our life. Yeah. Yeah. Which is why as Christians, we don’t just use our tongue to commentate on what is.
That’s right. Yeah. We use our our words to determine the direction in which we want to go. That’s good. You know, some people say, well, I only speak what’s real.
I only you know how it is. Well, can I tell you as Christians, we don’t only speak how it is. We speak how it’s going to be. We prophesy and we start declaring. Being a realist all the time means you’re a person lacking faith.
We are not called to be commentators on how things are. We’re supposed to use our words to declare how things are going to be. Cuz our tongue is a rudder. That’s why the Bible says, let the weak say, oh you know, I need some help. Really struggling? Can someone give me a lift? You know, life is really bad.
No, let the weak say, I am strong. That’s right. Now, you’re not really strong. That’s just hype but the Bible says, let the weak say, I am strong. Bible says, let the poor say, I’ll do better when interest rates change.
No. Yes. So I suppose say I am rich. Why? Cuz we throw our words out there and then our life starts marrying out with our words. That’s how God created the earth, right? First day of creation.
He says, let there be light and there was. The Bible says that there was chaos. Absolute chaos but he didn’t address the chaos. He spoke the light into being. I can imagine, you know, there’s times when I’m at home and I walk into one of my son’s rooms.
And it’s chaos. Like, you can’t the floor. There’s just food that’s been there for ages. You know, oh there’s that plate I was looking for and all these sorts of things. All three, the place is chaos, right? And the Bible says that when at the in the beginning, the earth was chaos but god doesn’t say, oh, look at that mess.
Who’s going to come and clean it up? He didn’t even bother. He said, let there be light and there was. He spoken into being. See, I think he created on the first day and then on the fourth day, he created the greater the lesser lights. What are the graces greater than the lesser lights? The sun, moon, and the stars.
So watch this. He created light on the first day. But didn’t create the sun till the fourth day. Now that can’t happen. That’s not possible.
But it doesn’t matter if it can’t happen. When God says something it’s going to come to pass. Cuz he uses his words to create. Don’t just commentate on how things are. Start speaking to it.
That’s why God gives you a promises from the word of God. That’s why God gives you a prophecy. And to what are we supposed to do? We’re supposed to start declaring what’s be. We’re not supposed to be just commentators on everything that’s going on in the world, commentating about it. The world can do that.
God has called us to be a prophetic people and not just commentate on what’s going on but to start speaking live. You choose death or life. Where is it? It’s not out there. It’s in our tongue. We’re supposed to speak it into being.
There have been times where God has told me to say things and I’ve said them and immediately afterwards, I felt foolish. I thought that is not possible. I cannot see how that is going to come to pass. But the amount of times that later on, circumstances start marrying up to the things that were spoken. That’s what God has called us to be.
Amen. Our tongue is a rudder. Has god given you a prophecy? Has god spoken to your heart and your circumstances aren’t matching up to it? Don’t just commentate on your present circumstances start declaring the things that God has said. Cuz our tongue is a rudder. Death and life are in the power of the tongue.
And those who love it will eat its fruit. Even Jesus did this. Bible says that Jesus said speak to the mountain and let it be moved. He doesn’t say speak about the mountain. Oh you know we do a lot better if this mountain wasn’t here.
If this mountain wasn’t here we’d be able to progress. But oh gee there’s a mountain. He doesn’t say speak about the mountain. He says speak of the mountain and then it was shall be removed. I love it when Jesus was actually asked to raise Lazarus from the dead.
Uh Mary and Martha, Lazarus’ sisters called for Jesus to come to see them and the Bible says that he actually delayed and he actually made sure in some ways, he actually made sure that Lazarus had died. Yeah. And so, he gets to head to the tomb and they say to him and he says and they said, oh, Allah is my lord. Uh if you had a beanie, you wouldn’t have died and why did Jesus say Jesus said, he’s not dead. He’s just sleeping.
No, Jesus. he’s dead. He’s completely dead. In fact, he’s dead so long that when he says to them, open up the tomb, they said, no lord, he stinketh. Yeah.
That’s in the King James Bible. He started rotting. He was dead. But Jesus didn’t say, oh, he’s dead. He says, no, no, he’s just sleeping.
What’s he doing? He’s sending his words out in front of him. Yeah. Yeah. And he called Lazarus forth and Lazarus came back to life. Our tongue is a rudder.
Second thing about our tongue is this, our tongue is a diffuser. It’s a diffuser. Our tongue affects the atmosphere around us. Went to a hotel recently and when we went in, I smelled perfume Smelt it everywhere. It’s unbelievable.
Every room, I could smell the perfume and it wasn’t like someone was wearing perfect. And I couldn’t see it. And I couldn’t see where it was coming from. But I I could smell the perfume. So clearly, they must have had some diffusers there.
Mm. They were. Sending out the perfume. I couldn’t find them without. I got a shock a few years ago, right? Um because I went to this bathroom and this was in the days just when they started putting those diffusers in there.
Where they start, you know, putting out the you know, the and that sort of thing and before that, you know, you gotta use the can. Uh and I walked into this toilet and then all of a sudden and I’m you know, doing what you do in the toilet, right? And then I heard this and I thought there’s a snake in here. Like, I couldn’t be like I didn’t realize that there’s a diffuser there on a timer. Affecting the atmosphere That’s what our works do. They affect the atmosphere.
Yeah. That’s right. So true. They affect the atmosphere, Win? Yeah, yeah, I know. They actually affect the people around us.
Our words are a diffuser. Proverbs fifteen one to 2. A soft answer turns away wrath. But a harsh word stirs up anger. Yeah.
The result is determined by the way that we talk. Proverbs 16 28. A perverse man sows strife. And a whisperer separates the best of friends. Have you ever been in a situation like that? Maybe you’ve been in a workplace or some kind of group and and all of a sudden is you you can sense it’s a toxic atmosphere? And it generally only comes down to one or two people.
Little things, little comments, diffusing. Proverbs 2620 to 21. Where there is no wood the fire goes out. But where there is no tail bearer strife ceases. So with the tail bearer the way someone talks.
Then there’s strife. We can affect atmospheres by the way that we speak. Yeah. What that means is too, we need to be careful about who we listen to. Yeah.
Yeah. Have you ever spent time with someone? And then afterwards you thought this I was doing great. Yeah. Then I talked to them. And what had happened? They were saving.
I like doing that. And it diffuses. Psalm one verse one, blessed is the man who doesn’t walk in the council of the wicked. Be careful who you listen to. Yeah.
Cuz what’s on them? I can see this happening. once what happened is this. Someone in our church going to say something negative in the forehead. Everyone’s going to go In fact, let’s do that. That would be really cool.
I give you permission now that there’s no Covid. Don’t have to worry about masks. Amen. Sometimes, people, maybe this has happened to you. I’m I’m sure it probably has happened to everyone at some point.
Someone who said something to you or about you. Yeah. And so I can’t, I’m being labelled. Have you ever had had that happen? Someone said something and now I’m stuck because I walked into this atmosphere. Someone did said something.
I wanted to watch the documentary recently and it was about, do you remember the old TV show Gladiators? And it was about the Gladiator Show and basically, it was all these muscle bound people, very fit people, competing in games against regular people and that sort of thing. They had fun names. You know, I remember the guy called Vulcan. He was the famous one and and so, they were talking about and basically, it talked about how especially in the American show, everyone was super dysfunctional. They were really dysfunctional and and they were talking to one of the guys who was one of the originators of the Gladiators, one of the initial, you know, Gladiators and he talked about and his life ended up being quite a mess and he talked and he said that he went to counselling and realized that when he was younger, he was when he was 90 of age, his mom and dad split up.
And his mum was Japanese and they were in Japan. But when his mom and dad split up, he went with his dad, he left his mum in Japan, hopped on a plane, and moved to the US. So you can imagine how traumatising that would be. He gets on the plane, he said goodbye to his mom, and he starts weeping on the plane. He’s sitting next to another man on the plane and the man next to him tries to comfort him and he says, don’t worry about it, mate.
It’s okay come on. Get yourself going. Big boys don’t cry. And then all of a sudden big boys don’t cry. Big boys don’t cry.
So he does that on the weights. Nothing wrong with but the motivation. Big boys put on a brave front and conducted himself a certain way until he realized that his life was on a bad foundation. And it damaged him because of what someone else had actually said to him. Maybe that’s happened with you.
Someone has said something to you. You’ll only ever be like this. You’ll never amount to that. And it’s some someone said it to you and it’s like I can’t get rid of it. I got good news for you today friends.
God can deliver from that. He can set you free from all the labels that other people have put on it. Few years ago I did a message here at church on the prayer of Jabez. And basically in one chronicles there’s a thing called the genealogy. So, they start listing off different generational lines of people and and in the middle of it, in one Chronicles four, 10 and eleven, sorry, eight to 11.
Uh it talks about this guy named Jabez. Jabez just kind of interrupts the genealogies and says this prayer which became quite famous and you know, lord, pray the bless me indeed. enlarge my territory, that your hand would be with me, that you would keep me from harm, that I may not cause pain. And the Bible said in God granted what he requested. And so if you want to know God’s will for your life, that’s a good thing to pray for.
All those things God’s got for you, okay? But notice this, he says at the end, that I may not cause pain. Thinking about that and thinking, what is Jabez got anger issues? Like, he’s just walking around saying, Lord, stop me. I want to smash him. Yeah. Don’t talk to me the wrong way people.
I’m going to hurt them. Lord I don’t don’t let me cause pain. But then when you realise that his name Jabez in the Hebrew means He was called pain by his mum. Every day of his life, pain. Why’d you, how’d you get your name? Cuz she bore him in pain.
She called him a pain. His whole life, pain, pain, can imagine the school. You’re a pain. You’re a pain. You’re a pain.
You’re a pain. That’s all you ever do. You’re causing all this pain. That’s who you are. Could you imagine him, you know, being a kid’s church and he’s with his sisters and his mom comes to pick him up.
Hi, I’m here to pick up my kids. Faith hope, grace, and pain. Pain, your mum’s here. Pain. We’ve got some other pains down the back.
Different spelling though pains. You’re a pain. It’s all ever going to be. And he had that prophesied over his life. Wasn’t his fault but every day.
Yeah. To one day he’d had enough and he says, Lord, bless me indeed. Yeah. Enlarge my territory, that your hand would be with me, that you’ll keep me from evil, and I’m not going to cause pain. I’m not going to do what everyone else has declared over my life.
And for some people here, I believe this morning that for some of you, there’s freedom here. Yeah. Cuz you have been labelled by some things. You’ve been labelled by some things that you used to be, but you’re not anymore, and some people can’t handle the new you, and I want to let you know that we serve a God who can deliver you from all those things. But that’s why it’s important for us to be good diffusers wherever we go.
That’s why some of you God has actually put you in a toxic environment. And you think yourself why am I even here? You’re there because you’re the diffuser. Yeah. You’re there because in spite of the atmosphere you’re there to sweeten it up. Yeah.
Wherever you go. And one of the ways we do that is with our tongue. Third thing about our tongue is our tongue is a consumer. It’s a consumer. We eat what we say.
That’s what the scripture says. Proverbs thirteen verse to. A man shall eat well by the fruit of his mouth. But the soul of the unfaithful feeds on violence. Proverbs 1214.
A man will be satisfied with good by the fruit of his mouth. And the recompense of a man’s hands will be rendered to him. Proverbs 1514. The heart of him who has understanding seeks knowledge. But the mouth of fools feeds on foolishness.
Proverbs 18 eight. The words of a tail bearer are like tasty trifles. And they go down into the inmost body. Proverbs 1820 to 21. A man’s stomach shall be satisfied from the fruit of his mouth.
From the produce of his lips, he shall be satisfied. Proverbs 26 2two, the whale, the words of a tail bearer like tasty trifles, they go down into the inmost body. Did you see that? We actually eat what we say. So, not only do we affect others around us, we actually affect ourselves as well. Yeah.
Yeah. That’s why gotta sometimes speak to ourself. That’s why sometimes we have to use positive words to help us feel better on the inside. There are times in scripture where we actually see this. Psalm a hundred and three, King David says, bless the lord, oh my soul.
Come on. Bless him. Come on. Don’t feel like it. Yeah.
Not up to it today but come on. Get going. Bless the lord oh my soul. All that is within me will bless his holy name. There are times we have to speak to ourselves.
The Bible says about David. He would go and encourage himself in the Lord. I’ve got noone to encourage me. Well, you can encourage yourself? Yeah. Start speaking words of life.
Start speaking words of positivity. You know, you can’t feel good speaking negative words. Honestly, think about it. Oh, that’s stupid. That’s ridiculous.
That’s hopeless. You don’t feel any better? But you start speaking words of life. You’ll be amazed. What happens? I know if I told you before about one well-known preacher that I knew when he was downcast, used to drive around his car, speaking excellent words. Wonderful.
Tremendous. Fantastic. Great. It starts making you feel better. And in the same way we need to speak words of life.
Speak words of positivity. The reality is this as Aussies and as Queenslanders you really notice this when you go to America that we can actually downplay things and be a little bit negative. And we think we’re being humble but we’re not being humble. We’re being liars. Yeah.
Cuz if you speak something down you’re lying just as bad as speaking something up too much. It’s actually lies. You know that’s why some phrases you’ve heard me say before. Phrases I don’t really like. The phrases called like not too bad.
How you doing, mate? Oh, yeah. Not too bad. Are you bad? You’re just not too bad. Remember one time one of the boys in my youth group when I was youth pastor, I said, how you going mate? He goes, oh yeah, not too bad. I said, oh, not too bad.
You’re bad. You’re just not too bad. So, what happened? Someone died last night. He slept on the street. He’s starving and he said, oh now that I think about it, I’m doing pretty good.
Yeah. And in the same way, if we speak words of positivity, did you notice that? As soon as I started saying that, his continent shifted. Yeah. We just start speaking words of life. That’s why as believers, we need to be the most positive people on the planet.
Yeah. We should not be the biggest chicken littles running around saying the sky is falling. We should be the most positive people. We should not be bothered by all the bad news. We got twenty-four-hour news cycle.
They are looking for bad news all the time. There’s always something that can kill you. There’s always something that can take you out. There’s always some kind of disaster. But my Bible tell me.
I’m not going to magnify that. I’m going to magnify the Lord. We’re supposed to be people of hope. Yeah. People of faith.
People of victory. And it manifests in our mouth. Amen. We eat what we say. Oh that’s just hype.
It’s not hype. It’s the truth. It’s Bible. We’re supposed to be positive speaking people. And the last thing about our tongue.
Is our tongue is an indicator. It’s an indicator. It’s an indicator of what happening in our heart. What is in our heart manifests in our mouth? You’ll notice you drive a car, you got a dashboard. And on the dashboard, you got all these things which are like little indicators of what’s happening elsewhere.
So, if you’re running low on on fuel, it will actually tell you on the dashboard. Now, I’ve got a confession to make today. Uh about and this kind of probably reinforces some thoughts about my manliness but I I I you know I’ve driven other cars and hired cars before and it was always kind of a little bit of a moment, a little bit of a panic, you know, when you gotta fill the car for the first time and you don’t know which side the petrol cap is. Uh and so, you know, I’d pull up and oh, it’s on the wrong side. It’s on the left.
Pull up. It’s on the right. Did that for 49 years, right? Uh and then last year, I was with a mate in a high car and I said, oh, I gotta fill up the car and I thought, oh, I don’t know what side the petrol cap is. I better hop out, go have a look around. Guys, what you doing that for? I don’t know how excited it is.
I just got the car and he says, better to show you on the dashboard. I said, what do you mean? And he said, you know, where they’ve got the little petrol bowser, wherever the little, there’s a little arrow pointing which I I said, I never knew that. Put your hand up if you never knew that either. Yeah, praise the lord. Yeah, I use this a lot.
You’ve just come to church with a life lesson today. You know what I’m saying? I had no idea about that. And some of you thought I knew it, Nancy Boy. Anyway, so, but our tongue is an indicator of what’s going on in our heart. I’ll read you some scriptures.
Proverbs six verse twelve. A worthless person, a wicked man, walks with a perverse mouth. Yeah. Why do they have a perverse mouth? Cuz they’re actually got a perverse heart. Proverbs 1011, the mouth of the righteous is a well of life Yeah.
Righteousness, well of life. Proverbs 10 31. The mouth of the righteous brings forth wisdom. So what’s in our heart actually comes out in our mouth. Our tongue is an indicator.
I mentioned to you before about James chapter three. James chapter three is the longest continuous passage in scripture. Talking about our tongue. And when you first study it you think that he’s actually telling them to control their mouths. But when you study it you realise he’s not telling them to control their mouths.
He’s trying to show them by his talk using their mouths as an example. Of what’s going on in their heart. And so he’s basically telling them that you know because he says the tongue is a world of deadly poison you know. Who can control it? No man’s been able to control the tongue. So basically he’s saying your tongue is telling me what’s that going on in your heart? You know sometimes people say oh you know you can’t judge my heart.
We kind of can. Right. Yeah. But what’s coming out of the mouth? Yeah. What’s coming out of the mouth indicates what’s actually going on in the heart.
Matthew fifteen 18, Jesus says, but those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart. Back to Proverbs. Proverbs four twenty-three. Guard your heart with all diligence. For out from it, flow the issues of life.
So, our mouth is an indicator of what’s going on in your heart. Have you ever had a time? I’ve had this happen many times where I start bubbling and blurting things that I never intended. And you try and stop yourself and just say shut up. Shut up. And you and you and it’s like all because of what’s happening on the inside.
It’s kind of like bubbles over. It’s like kind of like you know when you get a bowl of rice I mean you’re cooking some rice and you know there comes a point where it starts if you you keep it on the boil you know because we had an incident like the other day. One of my sons was boiling rice and went to his bedroom. And then and then I saw and I yelled out to him mate get back out of here because this thing is bubbling over. Have you ever had that happen? Something’s going on in your life, in your heart, and wherever you go you you just you can put your hand on your mouth and it just keep seeping through and it’s just like what’s happening in there just is coming out.
And so really what that means is this it’s an indicator of something going on in our heart. Yeah. That’s why sometimes and the other thing I’ve notices this too. I can’t control it. It feels like you can’t fix it.
In my own strength But the thing I’ve learned is this. Even though I can’t the Lord can. That’s why David says in Psalm fifty-one, create in me a clean heart, oh God. And renew a right spirit in me. It’s actually God can actually help us remove things from our heart and that will naturally change our mouth.
Yeah. Because of what’s going on in our heart. And so I know myself this little Mab is a catch myself or I say things and I sit back and reflect and think where was that coming from? What was that all about? That was complete overreaction. Have you ever had a conversation with someone and you’ve said something like this and the response was like He said, what do I say? What do I do? Oh, they were triggered. He didn’t do anything Something else is going on there.
Yeah. And like a Jack in the Box, he can try and keep it down. But at some point, it comes out. If that ever happens to you, what I do is this, I try and reflect. And say, Lord, what’s happening in my heart? Can you take this thing out of me? Cuz I know some going on because something’s coming out of my mouth that I don’t actually like.
You know, lived in Mackay for a number of years and there’s a a weed there called sensitive weed. Now, we call it a we used to call it a weed. Um Japan apparently have it as like an exotic plant but I don’t know if you know anything about sensitive weight but there’s all these prickles in it. So, it’s really annoying and it’s called sensitive weed because when you touch the leaves, the leaves kind of close. You know, so it’s called sensitive weed and and and they can spread out on your lawn.
But interestingly enough, all that weed comes from one root. One taproot Yeah. Now, what I found in Mackay at the time is that people wouldn’t necessarily poison it because when they would poison it, it would leave blotches on their lawn but being a tropical climate, what they would do is wait till it rained and then when it rained, it would soften the ground and then, you know, everyone had like needle-nose pliers and then what they would do is that when it was raining, you go around wherever they’re sensitive weed, you put the needle nose pliers in and you pull out the root and it’s this long route connected to all this. All this stuff. All this fruit connected to one root.
But the ground was too hard to get at until you had something sharp and until you had some moisture. When something like that happened it when we were living in Ipswich Trish was in the yard doing stuff and she says Ben can you come out here? Give me a hand and and there was this I could I only noticed it when I got closer. There was this there was this like green leafy weed in lawn. And she started pulling the edges of it and the weed was like that big. But you could feel a and it all connected to one to one root.
So, Trish was trying to pull it out, couldn’t do it. I said, oh, it’s alright. I’ll I’ll pull it out and put my hand down. I’m like, couldn’t budget. So I put two hands.
I couldn’t budget. So then I got like a little shovel. Started digging around it. Still wouldn’t go. Got some got the hose.
Started watering it. Loosen up. Eventually got it out. Felt like Excalibur. You know get the sword out of the stone and like was that that long? Like the route? And you don’t want it to break off because if it breaks off it’s just going to come back later.
Yeah. So you want to get the whole thing. Pull the whole thing out and all this weed was connected to one route. Could not do it without that sharp edge. Could not do it without that water.
Maybe today as I’ve been sharing the Holy Spirit’s been illuminating to you there’s something. You can tell. You’re catching yourself. There’s something. I can’t put my finger on it but there’s something in my heart and it’s manifesting in my mouth and in your own strength you haven’t been able to deal with it.
In your own strength you haven’t been able to get at it. But can I tell you that is the word of God which is sharper than any two-edged sword. That has been declared to and as the presence of god is here, the water, the rain of the Holy Spirit. I believe that today, god is going to allow some people to have some things that were in their heart be uprooted and remove so that you will be free to continue on in all that God has for you. And so tonight I believe tonight today.
Today tonight. I believe that two groups of people Number one. Those people that have had things spoken over them. That you’re trying to break free from. And also those people that know there’s something going on because they can see it’s coming out of their mouth.
I want to pray for you today and the team do, the care team, prayer team. We want to pray and believe that as we pray for you, whatever that is, it will either be broken off or uprooted out of your heart. But before we do that, the Bible says, if we believe in our heart and confess with our mouth, then, we’ll be saved. So, what that means is this, salvation, a relationship with god. Forgiveness for our sins are all through Jesus Christ.
It’s why he died on the cross for us. He took the punishment for our sin that we might be forgiven and there is availability of salvation. And all we have to do is this, believe in our heart and confess with our mouth. And if you’re here today and you don’t have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ, it’s literally only one prayer away. The power is in your mouth.
So, what I want to do is this, before we open up the altar and pray for people, I want to give people opportunity if there’s anyone here who wants to respond and give their life to Christ, we want to pray for you first. So, I want to invite everyone just close their eyes and bow their heads for a moment and if you’re in this place and you haven’t given your life to Christ but you want to, with every eye closed and every head bowed, if that is you right where you are above your hand and say that’s me this morning. I want to give my life to Christ. I want to relationship with god. I believe in my heart.
I want to confess with my mouth. If that is you right where you are, slip up your hand. I don’t always do a salvation altar call. Sometimes I forget. But all through my message today, I’ve been feeling very very strongly.
There’s somebody here that needs to respond. I don’t know everybody in this room. I know many of you already have a relationship with the Lord. But there may be some of you in this place that do not. And you know that the lord is speaking to you right now.
That you you know that you need that relationship with him. Maybe you walked away from him and you want to return to him. Well, wherever it is, if that is you, right where you are, just slip up your hand. There’s nobody looking at you. Every eye is closed So, if that is you right where you are, step up your hand and say, that’s me this morning.
I want to give my life to Christ. I want to have a relationship with god. Right now that I believe that there is one or two people that are feeling that right now and so if that is you, I just want to encourage you. Don’t want to embarrass you. The Bible says, today is the day of salvation.
The gospel needs to be responded to. More than just chewed about and gone back to thought about thought about and needs to be responded to and so you are here and you want to give your life to Christ. We won’t embarrass you but if that is you right where you are, just slip up your hand and say that’s me today. I know I need to respond. I want to give my life to Christ.
If that is you right where you are, slip up your hand and we’re going to pray for you right now. Father, in Jesus name, we pray for all those who don’t know you in this place. I thank you lord that your word is falling on good soil today and I pray lord god that it would bear great fruit. I thank you for that father and I praise you for Lord in Jesus name. Amen.
for anything. So please but we’ll see you tonight for worship in the Round. Thanks everyone.
