Petitioning God

Petitioning God

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The vision God gives us may inspire us to:

* Go farther than we’ve gone before

* Do more than we’ve done before

* Get more than we’ve gotten before

In order to get us up and out of our comfort zone, at times we are blessed with what could be described as:

* A Holy Frustration

Content on the one hand and yet wanting more on the other.

There will always be reasons why we should not attempt greater things for the glory of God.

The children of Israel found this to be so as did Gideon, Ester, Moses, Jeremiah, Peter, Paul, The Young Rich Ruler and even Jesus Himself.

In these trying moments we must remember the inspired words of the Apostle Paul who said:

Acts 20:24 "But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. (NKJV)

This scripture was given by inspiration and is useful for teaching ourselves, correcting ourselves and instructing ourselves as to how we also ought to live.

2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.

Today we are looking at the subject of: Petitioning God.

The Apostle Paul gave us a glimpse of his prayer life.

There are basically 5 prayers of the Apostle Paul recorded in the scriptures. These give us insight in how we ought to petition God.

When I say ‘petition God’, I am referring to simply bringing our desires, hopes, requests to Him and offering them to Him for His consideration.

One of the prayers of Paul which I would like to refer to this morning is found in the book of Ephesians Chapter Three

Ephesians 3 (NKJV)

14 ¶ For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

15 from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,

16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man,

17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love,

18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—

19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,

21 to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Verse 15 refers to the whole family of God:

* You know, people like to talk about their family.

* Have you ever seen one of those bumper stickers, “Ask me about my Grandchildren.”

* I like to talk about my family, too.

Let me tell you about our immediate family. Children we’ve birthed together.

The true birth of the vision God gave to GTCOTR came about on the last Sunday in August, 1988. With no disrespect to former things, I have calculated the birth of this church to coincide with the birth of the current vision.

The vision of GTCOTR was 16 years old this past August.

* During these 5 years we established our missions

The vision of YOCC was 11 years old last July.

* During these 2 years we did India/Africa/Russia

The vision of TNC was 9 years old this past August.

* In these 4 years we did RU100%SURE & IIFBC/CCCC

The vision of NLCOTR is 5 years old today.

* In these two years we did Water Wells & a New Building

The vision of Rock Church Southeast is 3 years old this month.

* During this year we re-focused on our local church.

The vision of Conroe COTR will be 2 years old next month.

* During this year we birthed Church Online

The vision of Bridge City COTR will be 1 year old next month.

* During this year the whole world could hear our whisper.

We just had a new vision born, Cowboy COTR, last night.

* We break ground next month on another new building.

Sour Lake COTR will officially have its vision birth on March 20.

* You are all invited, it will be at 7pm in Sour Lake.

The Pt Arthur Vietnamese COTR vision will be born this Summer.

* This coming fall we will dream again the dreams of God.

We also have a few close cousins in our area:

* Father’s House in Fannett

* God’s House, a Messianic Jewish Congregation in Beaumont

* Counseling School, Clinic, Health Services, Water Wells …

Pastors often ask me how we do it.

I know the real question they have is, ‘Why do we do it’?

It’s A Kingdom Expansion Thing. “Thy Kingdom come” … not my kingdom come.

Now back to Ephesians 3 and the art of petitioning God.

Paul prays that his followers, his family in Christ, be spiritually strengthened, full of faith, rooted in love, able to comprehend the love of God and be filled with the fullness of God.

That’s a pretty good prayer … a pretty tall order for God to fill.

Why could Paul feel comfortable petitioning God with such a grand request? Because he knew God was able!

Ephesians 3:20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.

There is no question God is able.

* There is a question however, whether God will grant our petition or re-direct us in light of His greater purpose and will.

* Just because we know God is able does not give us license to presume He will.

There is a great difference between Petition and Presumption.

It is not presumption when we know the will of God.

It is presumption to assume we know God’s will before He makes it plain.

Our prime example of this comes from Jesus Himself as He petitioned God in the Garden of Gethsemane.

He did not presume that what was best for His moment, what seemed right and reasonable to Him and His friends or what He wanted was the will of His Father, God.

Matthew 26:39 He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, "O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will."

Jesus prayed and petitioned God not once, but three times before God made it plain that He had other plans.

Later Jesus reaffirmed that God was able when He told Peter that God could send more than 78,000 angels to deliver Him if necessary. Matthew 26:53

It is not a question of “Is God able?”

It is a question of, “What is His plan?”

What seems like a surprise to us is often a plan to God.

* Ask Jacob or Rachael and Leah

* Ask Judah and Tamar

* Ask Joseph in the O.T. or Joseph in the N.T.

* Ask Paul and Silas or the jailer of Acts 16.

We must be careful what we commit God to - because just like you,

* God may not pay for something which He did nor order.

In conclusion:

* Petition God with your greatest desires

* Petition Him again and again.

* Don’t presume to commit God based on your desire.

* Accept the answer when you know it comes from God.

How do I know if the answer comes from God?

* That’s what the Apostle Paul was praying about in Eph. 3.

It’s not difficult to walk in faith after God has made His will plain.

It is difficult however, to get people to believe the next time, after we have presumed to speak for God before we knew His plan.

Almost

This is the story of:

Almost

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Key Scripture: Acts 26:28 Then Agrippa said to Paul, "You almost persuade me to become a Christian."

Turn to the book of Romans Chapter 14

You know:

“I almost didn’t make it here today.”

I. In the winter of 1904 a baby girl was born in Cass County, Texas.

A. There was no sign of life and so, as was the custom, they laid her out at home and the family came to pay their respects. The ground was so frozen that they knew they could not bury her right away. While one aunt who was a Pentecostal preacher was passing back and forth by the child, praying, she thought she saw the baby’s eye move a little. With this she picked the girl up, coddled her and found her to be alive and well.

* This little girl was almost dead and buried

B. The girl grew up and was courted by a young man in her community. He wanted to get married but she would not consent. In frustration he joined the Navy toward the end of WWI. Ready to be shipped out, he received first a letter from the girl saying she had changed her mind and then an offer from the Navy to participate in a reduction of forces and return home. What a miracle.

* They were almost not married

C. Her first two pregnancies resulted in one son being still born and the other died at birth from what they always suspected was a broken neck caused by an attending rural physician. This would be enough to make anyone not want to try again.

* She was almost childless

D. The couple overcame and went on to have one more son and later three daughters. At the age of 18 the oldest daughter secretly got married to a man her family did not approve of. Six weeks later her father forbid her to see this man ever again. Her reply, “I have to see him. I am married to him.” This nearly broke the family apart.

* This mother who had already suffered so much now was almost separated from her eldest daughter, but God intervened and restored the relationship.

II. The daughter had married an alcoholic son of a depression ridden farming family. She had two children in the first three years of their marriage.

A. Pregnant with her third child in 1951, the doctors advised her to abort the pregnancy. Due to complications, the pain of carrying this child to full term would most likely have drive this woman into madness. She refused and endured a very difficult pregnancy. Her mental state in question, ‘crazy’ was the term used then, she delivered a daughter and was then left alone not expected to recover from the childbirth. Her testimony is that she saw two angels wrestling over whether to take her or leave her on earth. She spoke to them and told them she was ready to go but would prefer to stay and raise her three children. One angel then told her that she would stay. For years she told no one of this because she didn’t want to be labeled ‘crazy’ once again.

* This woman was almost taken to heaven prematurely

B. Against all medical advice she got pregnant again in 1954 and began a similarly difficult pregnancy. Strong drugs kept the pain down and even though she was not supposed to have more children, she did - she had a son.

* This little boy was almost never born

C. When her son was born he, like her, was addicted to the strong drugs she had been taking. The baby cried uncontrollably and would each time lose his breath, unable to regain it to the point of turning blue and falling limp. With no other known means to treat this she was instructed by her doctor to immediately put this newborn baby down when he began crying and walk out of the room and close the door and do not go back into the room until long after the crying stopped. Although it was hard, she complied testifying that it was one of the hardest things she had ever been forced to do. After six months the uncontrollable crying stopped. Until then:

* This little baby boy almost didn’t make it

D. That little baby boy was me … As I told you in the beginning …

* I almost didn’t make it here today!

II. On Top Of All Of That

A. In about 1960 I was standing in the back seat of a 1955 Buick when my inebriated dad failed to see a red light in Houston and hit a stopped car. I went flying forward, headed for the windshield when I grabbed my dad’s neck, forcing his head to hit the steering wheel, stopping me from exiting the car. It knocked a hole completely through my dad’s lower lip.

* I almost didn’t make it here today.

B. In the summer of 1965 I left the White Squirrel Café in Maud, Texas where I was visiting my cousins and ran, without looking, into the pathway of an oncoming car traveling full speed down US Highway 67. A hand from out of nowhere stopped me right in my tracks. I can still feel that hand on my chest when I think about it. At the same time something pushed the car in a semi-circle around me while both the driver of the car and me, as our eyes met, seemed to stop in time and gaze at one another. I have never forgotten that moment - it‘s like frozen time in my mind. It reminds me:

* I almost didn’t make it here today.

C. I grew up driving on the dirt roads of Bowie County in Northeast Texas. Why my dad allowed me to drive I have no idea. Well, yes I do. My dad was an alcoholic and I was his young chauffeur who would drive him to the different boot-legers in search of more whiskey. I grew up a self taught and pretty wild driver. My tenth grade year I had five wrecks in only one week, a couple more in my eleventh grade year and then that summer, rushing home already too late, trying to get Brenda home before anyone noticed what time it was, I was driving between 75 and 80 mph down a dirt road and missed a curve, hit a tree and flipped my family’s only car. My dad had just purchased it that week and had no insurance on it. Not only did it total the car, but that tree, still standing today, bears scars where I scrapped the bark off of it over twelve feet high. Brenda and I were cut up a little and my knee aches some when I stand or exercise too long. We walked three miles that night to reach the first house and get some help. I’m telling you …

* I almost didn’t make it here today.

D. After joining the military I got into fast motorcycles. One day, attempting to impress the other idiots I hung out with, I decided to jump my Kawasaki street bike over a levy which runs beside the Red River in Bossier City, Louisiana. Because it weighed so much I calculated that I would need to be going about sixty to make it up the levy and make the jump impressive. I miscalculated. Do you know how far you can jump a heavy bike at 60 mph? I was going so fast the momentum carried me not only over the jump but the bike wouldn’t come down. I landed my front tire in the first lane of the four lane Shreveport-Barksdale Highway, in the middle of fast moving after lunch traffic. My bike wasn’t the only think that got skinned up that day. I tell you …

* I almost didn’t make it here today.

E. It was on a drunken attempt to blindly run across that same highway a few months later, hoping to get home and act like I was asleep before my wife got off work, that an oncoming car honked, swerved and nearly hit me. It turned out to be my wife.

* I almost didn’t make it here today.

F. Time fails me to tell you about the spinal meningitis, a gas stove blowing up with me, being hung in a tree and ejected from a car, my leap off of a building with a parachute, the bombs in Nicaragua, the mishaps in airplanes, the dangers faced on foreign soil, almost getting eaten by wild Hyenas in Kenya, passing out in a restaurant and being told by the emergency room doctors that they couldn’t keep my heart beating and expected me to die at any minute. Really -

* I almost didn’t make it here today.

H. On top of that I was in a race for my life barely beating out those other millions and millions of sperm attempting to get there first and win the race, dooming me to never having been born.

* I almost didn’t make it here today.

I. My goodness … I’ve caught on fire three times and once I skied off of a 50 foot cliff and landed on my back in the middle of a road in New Mexico. Not to mention that this past year several people from the church were at my house and they tell me that my 2 year old stallion reared his head back, knocked me out, bucked me off, stepped in my back, kicked me in the head and tore my pants off of me. I don’t believe them because I still have no memory of even getting on a horse that day. I said all that to say this:

* I really almost didn’t make it here today.

III. It’s True

* I almost didn’t make it here today - when many others, seemingly much more qualified and certainly a lot more sane and with more reasons to stay around than me didn’t make it here today.

* Know it or not … you almost didn’t make it here today either.

IV. Almost --- what a concept.

V. Why Did We Make It Here Today?

A. Don’t you think it’s worth some consideration?

B. Romans 14

7 For none of us lives to himself, and no man dies to himself.

8 For if we live, we live unto the Lord; and if we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s.

C. Jeremiah 1

4 ¶ The LORD gave me a message. He said,

5 "I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as a spokesman to the world."

D. Jeremiah 29

11 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.

12 In those days when you pray, I will listen.

13 If you look for me in earnest, you will find me when you seek me.

VI. Why? Why did we make it here today?

A. Because God Has A Plan For Your Life

B. If You Will Earnestly Seek Him And You Will Find It

Why are you here?

God knows.

Ask Him!

The Book Of James - Part Four

The Book Of James - Part Four

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Introduction: Short recap from previous weeks on who James is and from what perspective he wrote. James is a book of basic instructions for the Christian life.

I. Instructions From Chapter One

A. Remain joyful and patient in the trials of life

* If you don’t know how … ask God for wisdom

* Ask in faith

B. Believe that God is good

* Don’t let the world convince you otherwise.

II. Instructions From Chapter Two (NIV)

A. Show no favoritism to the rich or well dressed.

1 ¶ My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don’t show favoritism.

* Remember, James is giving instructions to the Christian

9 But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as law-breakers.

B. Do not insult the poor (KJV: Do not despise the poor)

6 But you have insulted the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court?

7 Are they not the ones who are slandering the noble name of him to whom you belong?

* When we get to heaven the roles may be greatly reversed.

5 Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?

C. Keep the royal law

8 ¶ If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, "Love your neighbor as yourself," you are doing right.

* The law of a King - King Jesus!

13 because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment!

D. Show your faith through works

14 ¶ What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him?

* “I wish you well, be warmed and filled” --- what good is it?

17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

* The demons believe & tremble but Abraham offered up Isaac

24 You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.

* Rahab was considered to be right with God by what she did

26 As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

III. Instructions From Chapter Three

A. Leaders will be judged more strictly

1 ¶ Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.

B. The tongue cannot be tamed

8 but no man can tame the tongue.

Luke 6:45 The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.

12 My brothers, can a fig-tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.

Matthew 12

33 "Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit.

34 You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.

35 The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him.

36 But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken.

37 For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned."

C. Be a peacemaker

James 3:18 Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness.

Revelation or Deception

Revelation or Deception

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In Acts 17, the Apostle Paul and his partner, Silas, were in Thessalonica teaching both Jews and Greeks about Jesus.

This upset the towns people who ganged up and started a riot.

That night Paul and Silas were slipped out of the city under the cover of darkness and traveled on to the near city of Berea.

Acts 17 NIV

10 ¶ As soon as it was night, the brothers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue.

11 Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.

12 Many of the Jews believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men.

13 When the Jews in Thessalonica learned that Paul was preaching the word of God at Berea, they went there too, agitating the crowds and stirring them up.

14 The brothers immediately sent Paul to the coast, but Silas and Timothy stayed at Berea.

Our Key Scripture: Acts 17:11 Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.

Here begins a pattern for the serious minded convert who eagerly embraces the marvelous message of Jesus, but does not want to be deceived.

How do we as listeners determine if something new we are hearing is Revelation or Deception?

2 Peter 2:1 ¶ But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves.

How can we beware of false teachers and false prophets who secretly introduce destructive teachings and ultimately destroy peoples’ lives?

The bible gives us a fair test for these things.

When dealing with spiritual matters, it is very important that we be eager for and open to new revelation while we at the same time guard against deception.

Deception, by the way, does not have to come from a false teacher. It can come from our own thoughts which may be demonically, carnally or soulishly inspired.

Deception can also come from ignorance.

Hosea 4:6 ¶ My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge.

The bible is full of people who were challenged to believe things which were seemingly impossible, impractical or unimaginable.

Any list of bible characters who were challenged to embrace new concepts and un-before seen ideas would not be complete without including at the top of that list, the Apostle John.

John, the son of Thunder as Mark recalls him, had a most unusual experience. As a result, he wrote what is for the Christian a most difficult to understand and yet the most spiritual and inspiring prophetic message the Church has today … which is:

The Book of Revelation.

The book of Revelation is an Apocalyptic book.

We get the word Apocalypse from the Greek word which is translated Revelation: Revelation or Apocalypse

Means: to lay bear, uncover, make naked or disclose the truth

Revelation is:

Uncovering truth we haven’t known before

Hearing truth we haven’t heard before

Seeing truth we haven’t seen before

Understanding truth we haven’t understood before

Believing truth we haven’t believed before

Embracing truth we haven’t embraced before

But how do we know that it’s truth?

How do we know it’s revelation and not deception?

Let’s look at the book of Revelation, Chapter One, and see if John can help us with this question.

Revelation 1 KJV

1 ¶ The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:

2 Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.

3 ¶ Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

If we continued reading it would get pretty spooky really quick

Almost unbelievable, certainly unimaginable and not very practical

It challenges the mind to make sense of it all

And yet John said that he bore witness to these things

He mentions three things which he bears record of:

The Word of God (The Father, Word & Spirit - 1 John 5)

The Testimony of Jesus (the spirit of prophecy, Rev 10:19)

Personal Revelation (The things Jesus had shown to John Gal 1)

In all of the word of God these three things continue to resurface over and over and over again as simple tests in one form or another which we use to determine --- revelation or deception.

1 Timothy 4:1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils.

This is one way we identify false teachers, false prophets, destructive teachers with secret agendas, hidden motives, demonically inspired.

We ask ourselves Three Basic Questions when hearing the impossible, impracticable or unimaginable.

#1. Does it line up with the Word of God

#2. Does it line up with the Spirit of God

#3. Does it line up with the truth we already know in Christ

If so, we have a sound and solid reason to embrace it as truth.

If not, some adjustment may be necessary before we can embrace it.

Every single individual is or will be challenged to believe in something they cannot see, something they have not heard before, something they can’t touch and something many others don’t know yet.

This is the challenge to have faith in Jesus and a spiritual approach to Christianity.

We cannot accomplish the will or work of God without more Revelation. Let’s just do our best to make sure what we believe and teach others is the truth.

2 Corinthians 12:1b I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord.

The Book Of James - Part Three

The Book Of James - Part Three

Gtcotr/ws020905

Tonight we pick up with a subject of which the Apostle and Presiding Pastor of the First Christian Church in Jerusalem spoke strongly about.

This subject simply put is:

The Difference Between Our Words and God’s Words

James 1 NLT

19 ¶ My dear brothers and sisters, be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry.

20 Your anger can never make things right in God’s sight.

21 So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the message God has planted in your hearts, for it is strong enough to save your souls.

22 And remember, it is a message to obey, not just to listen to. If you don’t obey, you are only fooling yourself.

23 For if you just listen and don’t obey, it is like looking at your face in a mirror but doing nothing to improve your appearance.

24 You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like.

25 But if you keep looking steadily into God’s perfect law—the law that sets you free—and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.

26 If you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are just fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless.

27 Pure and lasting religion in the sight of God our Father means that we must care for orphans and widows in their troubles, and refuse to let the world corrupt us.

I. Be --- Become

A. Quick to listen

1. Seek to understand before seeking to be understood

2. Unless we know everything, we are a candidate to learn something

3. When I was a child my father used to say to me, “If you would take some of that cotton out of your ears and put it into your mouth you would learn more.”

B. Slow to speak

1. Proverbs 17:28 Even fools are thought to be wise when they keep silent; when they keep their mouths shut, they seem intelligent.

2. You have perhaps heard it said that “It is better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool than to open it and be proved one.”

C. Slow to get angry

1. V.2 Your anger can never make things right in God’s sight.

2. Decisions made in anger are seldom profitable to anyone.

II. Humbly Accept The Message (verse 21 So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the message God has planted in your hearts, for it is strong enough to save your souls.)

A. What Message?

1. That God is good

2. V.18 In his goodness he chose to make us his own children by giving us his true word. And we, out of all creation, became his choice possession.

> God is not tempting us or enticing us with evil

> Wait patiently on God and don’t entertain second thoughts about God, His goodness nor His word

B. God’s Word is strong enough to save your soul

1. Save in verse 21

> Greek: sozo

> Definition: to save, keep safe and sound, to rescue from danger or destruction, from injury or peril, to save a suffering one (from perishing), i.e. one suffering from disease, to make well, heal, restore to health

2. Greek Verb Form

* Tense-Aorist Voice-Active Mood - Infinitive

> Existent at this point without regard to inceptive or cumulative points.

> The subject is the doer or performer of the action

> Basically same as infinitive in English, the verb with ’to’ prefixed. (used as well to reflect purpose or result.)

C. v. 22 And remember, it is a message to obey, not just to listen to. If you don’t obey, you are only fooling yourself.

III. Our Words Can Harm Us

v.26 If you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are just fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless.

A. Proverbs 18:21 ¶ Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.

B. Proverbs 6:2 You are snared by the words of your mouth; You are taken by the words of your mouth.

C. Numbers 14:28 "Say to them, ‘As I live,’ says the LORD, ‘just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will do to you

IV. Keep Yourself Unspotted From The World (KJV)

* v.27 … refuse to let the world corrupt us. NLT

> the old familiar Romans 12 message: don’t be conformed …

Next week: “Being religious can harm you.”

(Having a form of Godliness but living in denial of the scriptures)

Faith without works

Religion with respect of persons