Tonight I want you to open your
Bibles to the book of Colossians, the fourth chapter. I want to
say a few things tonight about a subject I've been thinking
a great deal about because I have a personal need in this area. I do an awful lot of talking, a lot of talking. Sometimes you
think, well, I'm just going to quit talking. Just going to quit. Just shut it all off. But you
can't do that. But what Paul says in Colossians
4 verse 6, let your speech, he didn't say stop speaking,
but he said let your speech be always, always with grace. seasoned with salt, that you
may know how you ought to answer every man." Now, some people
say, well, I don't talk much, I don't sin much. Well, let's
see what David said about that over in Psalm 39. That's not
the answer. I've been sitting up here thinking
about that. I suppose a major source of sin
is the tongue. We're going to see that in a
moment, but that's not the answer. You know, if you withhold a kind
remark, you've sinned. The man that talks a lot usually
has more opportunity to get into trouble. But the man who doesn't
speak and doesn't talk and doesn't greet people, he sins also. He's withholding good. To know
to do good and do it not, that's sin. It's like a fellow says,
well, I've just been growing so many weeds, I'll quit planting
corn. I guarantee you the man that
grows the most corn is going to grow the most weeds. A fellow
that just grows one stalk of corn won't have too many weeds.
He won't have much corn either. See what I'm trying to say? So in Psalm 39, this is what
David ran into. He said, I said, I'll take heed
to my ways that are sin not with my tongue. I'll keep my mouth
with a bridle while the wicked before me. I was dumb with silence. I just quit speaking, quit talking,
quit having anything to do with anybody. Just shut it all off. I was dumb with silence. I held
my peace even from good. Even from good. And my sorrow
was stirred. trouble. My heart was hot within
me while I was musing with fire, musing the fire burn. Then spake
I with my tongue, Lord, make me to know mine end and the measure
of my days, what it is that I may know how frail I am, what little
time I have. Behold, I was made my days as
a hand breath, and mine ages as nothing before thee. Verily
every man to his best state is altogether vanity, whether whatever
he is. But that's not the answer. But here in Colossians 4, he
says, let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt.
And I want to begin this message over in the book of James. I
want you to turn to the book of James, and this is where I'm
going to start this word about speech and seasoned with grace. conversation and so forth, prayer,
preaching, and everyday speech. In the book of James, it says
in verse 2, chapter 3, James 3, verse 2, for in many things
we offend all, that is, in many things, in many ways, all of
us offend and we give offense. None of us are without fault.
No one's without fault. In many things we are thin, but
if any man are thin not in word, if a fellow can learn to control
his tongue, the same is a mature man, the man that can control
his tongue, not cut it off, not stop it entirely, but control
it, are thin not in word. If a man can learn when to speak
and when not to speak, if he can learn what to say and what
not to say. And also if he can learn how
to say it, it's not just what we say, it's how we say it. We
can learn how to speak, what to speak, when to speak, and
how to speak. The same is a mature man and
able to bridle his whole body, learn how to speak for the glory
of God and the good of the church. That man's a blessing to everybody.
Now read the next verse. And down in verse 5, the first
line says, the tongue is a little member. Now, this is what he's
talking about. The tongue is a small member, but it can produce
amazing, amazing results, astounding, sometimes marvelous results,
also disastrous results, disastrous, traumatic results. And he gives
three illustrations here. He says, Behold, we put bits
in horses' mouths, that they may obey us, and we turn about
their whole body. A horse is a big, strong, wild
animal, self-willed animal. But by just putting a little
bit, about so long, about the size of a nail, in that horse's
mouth, we can turn that huge animal any way we want him to
go. That bit is so tiny compared to the size of that horse. And
what he's talking about is the tongue, as far as our body's
concerned, is a little member. It's a very small member. Very
small member. But oh, what amazing, astounding
results come forth from the tongue. And then he says the ship, verse
4, Behold the ships, though they be so great. And some of you
have been aboard ships. I've been aboard an aircraft
carrier. That's just a floating city. It's a huge thing. You can't imagine how big they
are. You can't imagine how big they are. Such a huge thing they
are. And they're driven of fierce
winds. He's talking about back when
ships had sails, you know. We think about the great motors
in these things. The engine room is almost as
big as this auditorium, some of those big ships. And yet,
they are turned about with a very small helm. In other words, a
little rudder. A little rudder can turn that
entire ship just wherever the pilot wishes it to go, wherever
the captain wants that ship to go. Talking about the tongue
here, now the tongue is such a, you could take all the meat
and all the tongues here tonight and you couldn't fill a good
freezer, you know. They're so small compared to the size of
our bodies, the size of our organizations, the size of the church, the size
of a family, a home, all these things. In verse 5 he says, "...even
so the tongue is a little member, and it boasteth great things.
Behold, how great a matter a little fire can kindle." He speaks there,
I like to think about a match. You just strike a match here
and it's such a tiny, tiny little blaze. It seems so insignificant,
but it can burn down a whole forest. destroy a whole forest,
it can destroy a city, a fire out of control can destroy a
home, it can destroy a city, it can destroy an entire forest,
just one match, one blade. And this is what James is saying,
he says the tongue comparatively is such a tiny little organ,
little membrane. And how devastating, how absolutely
devastating it can be. And not only do we think about
devastating, but how good it can be. The tongue, well-ordered,
can preach the gospel. That's the way men are saved,
by hearing a tongue preach the gospel. That's the way whole
families and cities are affected and influenced by the preacher.
Think what Spurgeon's tongue did. You just think what Spurgeon's
tongue, how God used that man's tongue. Luther's tongue. Did you read the article on Luther
in the paper, Knight-Fullast? Was it last night, Doris, that
it was in the paper, Knight-Fullast? It was either last night or Knight-Fullast,
an article by a secular writer on Luther that's astounding.
He talked about this nation owes its existence and liberty to
Martin Luther. It was one of the best articles,
right on the bottom of your editorial page in the Ashton Daily Independent,
I believe it was. But think what his tongue did.
So often when we, and here's what we do, we get to preaching
about the tongue and everybody says, well, I'm going to quit
talking. I'm just going to quit talking because every time I
open my mouth I say something wrong. Well, what we want to
learn to do is not quit using our tongue, but use them in the
right way because the tongue, here's what I'm saying, the tongue
well-ordered, seasoned with grace, speaking for a A heart of grace
and a heart of love can, the tongue can preach the gospel,
the tongue can speak comfort. There are a lot of times when
people need to hear a word of comfort, they need to hear a
word of encouragement, they need to be greeted, they need to be
spoken to and greeted, they need their spirits lifted, they need
to be encouraged, a word of And that's the reason I'm saying
when we say you talk about being a man of few words, you may be
withholding a lot of joy from somebody just being a man of
few words, so-called. That's no virtue in that. No
virtue in that, because you're not sharing the blessings of
God. So the tongue, what if Luther
had been a man of no words? What if Spurgeon had been a man
of no words? What if our Lord had not spoken? And just go on
talking that way. And so a tongue well-ordered,
so I'm not going to take, I'm going to try to get a balance
here tonight. The tongue well-ordered can preach the gospel, it can
speak comfort, it can bring happiness, it can intercede to God, it can
build friendships, it can unite people, it can bring encouragement. There are a lot of things a tongue
can do if it's well-ordered. What I want us to do, what he
is saying here, not what David did, so I'm just going to quit
talking. But I want us to do what Paul said do, let our speech
be seasoned with grace. I know the tongue moved by envy
and hate and jealousy and ambition and pride and all these things
can destroy. I know it can hurt, I know it
can turn men to error. It's called here a fire. Verse
6 of James chapter 3, listen, and the tongue is a fire. A fire. Why was the tongue, why
is he called a tongue a fire? Well, one man suggests three
reasons. He said, the tongue is called
a fire from the heat of it. It's an instrument of wrath that
sets passions to boiling, temper and passions to boiling. Anger,
how you get red in the face and your veins stand out and you
start perspiring and start talking too fast, and it sets passions
to boiling. That's the heat of the tongue.
Then secondly, it's called a fire from the danger of it. Nothing
in its path is safe. Boy, when the tongue starts burning,
when it starts moving, nothing is safe. It can turn a happy
situation into a barren wilderness. That's what we're talking about
the tongue being. A fire is because everything
can be blooming and green and happy and all. When a tongue
gets through, it's nothing but a desert of sand and nothing
but cactus. and a barren wilderness. And
then the tongue is called a fire from the duration of it. It's
hard to stop. It's hard to stop. A fire out
of control is hard to stop. So our words, they live on and
on and on and on, especially the bad ones, especially the
things we said that we shouldn't have said. They just live on
and on, the duration of it. It just keeps on going. And then
he says down here in verse 7, he said, every beast, this is
interesting, he says every kind of beast, that's lions and tigers
and elephants, and of birds, every kind of birds, and of snakes,
serpents, And even dolphins and whales in the sea is tamed and
has been tamed of mankind. And you know that's true. We're
amazed. Television has brought into our
homes some amazing things to see. Elephants and fish obeying
men. Fish obeying men. And all kinds... James says everything but the
tongue, verse 8, the tongue can no man tame. It cannot be tamed
by men. Well, can the tongue be tame?
Yes, it can be. It can be. This is the thing
that we must never come to this kind of conclusion, that when
the Scripture says that the tongue can no man tame, then there's
no solution. God can tame it. Grace can tame
it. You see what grace containment?
No, no man can contain. You say, I'm just, my tongue's
just that way, it's an unruly evil, it's full of deadly poison.
Well, it can be, grace can contain the tongue. But it takes two
things. It takes a work of grace, an
initial work of grace. Because you see, grace controls
the corrupt nature that uses the tongue as an outlet. The
tongue is not the nature, it's the outlet. And so grace tames
the nature and the heart, controls the nature, and that way the
tongue is controlled. That's what grace does. The tongue
no man can tame, but God can tame it, and the grace of God
can tame it, because the grace of God controls that corrupt
nature, puts it under wraps, subdues it, and the corrupt nature
is what uses the tongue as an outlet. So that's done. And secondly,
grace, here's another thing grace does. Grace quenches those flames
of hate and envy and jealousy that motivate the tongue. When
those flames are put down, then the tongue is not used to express
those feelings. And then thirdly, grace implants
a new nature, a new nature which influences the tongue to speak
its message. And what's the message of the
new nature? The message of the new nature
is love, kindness, and truth. You see that? So the tongue can
be tamed. It can't be tamed by us, it can't
be tamed by our old evil nature, but it can be tamed by the grace
of God. And the way the grace of God
tames the tongue is subduing the old nature, quenching the
flames of hate and envy and jealousy, and implanting a new nature which
speaks, causes the tongue to speak in love and kindness and
truth. In verse 9, then the Apostle
James presents a riddle. He says in verse 9, "...therewith,"
that is, with the tongue, "...bless we God, even the Father, we sing,
Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of hosts, O worship the King, my
Jesus, I love Thee, with the tongue, bless we God, and with
the tongue curse we men, which are made after the image or similitude
of God." You mean out of the same mouth, he said, proceeds
blessings and cursing, my brethren? These things ought not so to
be. This ought not be the case. And it will not be the case.
Why, you may as well, he said, verse 11, expect a fountain to
send forth at the same hole, the same drinking place, sweet
water and bitter water. You wouldn't expect that at all.
You wouldn't expect to walk up to a fountain and out of the
same hole come forth sweet water and then bitter water and then
sweet water and bitter water. He said that's not possible.
And then he said in the next verse, neither do you expect
a fig tree, my brethren, to bear olive berries. And you wouldn't
expect a vine, that is a grapevine, to bear figs. So can no fountain
yield both salt water and fresh water. And what he's saying is
the impossibility of a man of grace and a man of God using
the same tongue to bless God in an acceptable way, motivated
by the Holy Spirit, and turn right around and curse people.
It just can't be done. All right, now turn to our text.
But the work has to be done on the fountain, and this is a work
of grace, and this is what I'm talking about this evening from
Colossians 4. This is a work of grace. The
fountain is the heart, and the work of grace must be performed
upon the heart. If the heart, the more the heart
is filled with grace, the more the tongue is going to speak
grace. That's all there is to it. The more my heart is filled
with love for God, the more I'm going to speak about His glory
and for His glory. The more my heart is filled with
love for Christ, the more I'm going to magnify and exalt Christ.
And the more I love people in here, the more gracious I'm going
to be concerning them with my tongue. Now that's just so. And
the reason I know that's so is that that we talk so kindly and
considerately of our mothers. Everyone wants to love our mothers.
There's just something about a mother that just, your heart
beats for them, you love them, you embrace them with your affections
and your soul, you just care so much for your mother and your
father, but just something about, we talk about mother's love and
so forth, but I've never heard anybody here speak unkindly of
his mother. Never have. I just never have. That's because we do love them,
don't we? We do love our mothers and our
fathers. We speak kindly of our fathers.
We speak kindly of our children because we, even with a natural
love, we love our children and our wives and husbands. We speak
respectfully of them. We only speak disrespectfully
when we don't love somebody. We only speak unkindly when we
don't love them. So what I'm saying is, if we
really love the Lord, We're going to speak often of Him, and we're
going to glorify Him. We're going to speak of Him.
That's just so. If we love each other, we're going to speak kindly
to and of one another. That's just so. There's no question
about it. The fountain, this is what it's
saying. A fountain yields the same kind of water. It's either
bitter or sweet. It can't be both. And a fig tree
bears figs. It does not bear olive berries.
And a vine bears grapes. It doesn't bear figs. You don't
expect it to. And a heart of grace and a fountain
of grace and a person that is an object of God's grace is going
to speak graciously. That's just so. That's just so. It can be tamed, but it has to
be tamed by grace. All right, here, now, if the
heart is filled with grace, the tongue's going to be seasoned
with grace. So this is, this, I set a watch upon my lips, I
take precaution to my tongue, that's not the whole battle.
Here's where the battle's fought, and here's where it has to be
done. And you make all kind of resolutions, you can write all
kind of facts down, you can say, I'm not going to say this anymore,
do this, etc., etc., etc., it won't work. Here's where the
work's done. This is not the problem. This is not the problem. The
tongue is not the problem. The tongue is nothing but the
instrument of the heart. Out of the abundance of the heart,
the mouth speaketh. As a man thinketh, so is he.
That's all there is to it. All there is to it. That's just
like saying because a man walks paths of iniquity, break his
leg, put him in a wheelchair, and he'll walk the paths of iniquity
no more. Oh, yes, he will in his mind. And so, you see, this
is where I can say, well, I'm just not going to speak anymore.
Well, that's not the answer. It's getting the heart right
with God and the heart right with myself and the heart right
with me. All right, now let's look at chapter 4. I've gone
too long on this introduction, but I want to point out three
things here. There's prayer, three areas of
speech mentioned in these verses. Colossians 4. Now, verse 1 goes
with the other chapter. Master is given to your servants,
that which is just and equal, knowing that you have a master
in heaven. Now, that's a chapter division there that's unfortunate.
Verse 1 goes with the chapter above it. It's talking about
employers and employees. It's saying for the employer,
if you work somebody, give them fair wages, remembering that
you've got a master in heaven. That's what that's about. All
right. Now here, prayer. Three things
are mentioned about prayer. Continuing prayer, watching prayer
with thanksgiving. Now that's, we're talking about
the tongue here, the speech. Continuing prayer. That's the
first thing about speaking to God. Continuing prayer. Number
one, this does not indicate long drawn-out prayer. And we don't
have any problem with that. I appreciate the way our men
pray and the way you pray. and the way prayer is conducted
in our services and in the homes and around the table and other
places. But this is not talking about praying for hours on end. And this is not talking about
praying all the time. That's an impossibility. What
he's saying here, continuing in prayer, is continue in an
attitude of prayer. You know, someone said this one
time, When I talk to God about men, when I talk to God frequently
about men, it better equips me to talk to men about God. And
then another thing along this line, when I talk to God frequently
about someone and pray for them, it's not very often that I'll
say anything detrimental about them if I'm praying to God for
them. You see what I'm saying? If you pray for somebody, it's
very hard to be too critical concerning that person. So continuing
prayer means to pray frequently. It means to continue in an attitude
of prayer. It means to pray about all things.
Don't be reluctant to pray about everything. I really mean that. Don't be reluctant to pray about
the simplest of things. I won't bother to enumerate,
but I mean the simplest of things. And it means to persevere in
prayer. And then, however, don't neglect
a dedicated personal prayer time. There are times for the closed
door. There are times when you need to get totally alone and
spend some time with the Lord in prayer. Yeah, I think, I really
believe that today's religionists is misusing and misunderstanding
this thing of prayer. And I don't claim to have a corner
on it at all, and I'm not satisfied with my own prayer life, but
I believe I know more about it than most of them. I look through
the Bible, and this is a profitable study. Go through the Word and
study the prayers of men of God. Study David's prayer, and Hannah's
prayer, and Solomon's prayer, Paul's prayers and our Lord's,
there's 20 prayers of our Lord, I think, in the four gospels
study his prayer. You'll find that something about
prayer, you'll find that these people prayed, I'm sure they
lived in a spirit of prayer and an attitude of prayer and prayed
frequently, but as far as their times of calling on God, there
was a sincerity of soul and there was a There was a rehearsal of
the attributes of God and the glory of God. There was a dedication
and there was a, as this verse says, a watching, a watching,
that's being alert and sincere in prayer. It's not this cold,
formal, careless, ritualistic, wordy prayer. When we pray, we
need to have sincere, undivided, communion with God, watching.
It's like a man standing watch. We're out in a field in battle
and the men are going to get some sleep. And they tell one
man to stand watch. Now you stand watch four to six
and another man stand watch six to eight. That man standing watch
is going to be especially alert. He's on watch. And that's what
this is saying here, continue in prayer and watch in the same. That's where the sincerity and
a dedication, a dedication, that's in opposition to indifference
and careless, sleepy type of going through some kind of ritual
and don't even really know what I said. Continue in prayer. Have your time of devotion and
that can't be ritualistic either. But there are times when you
need to deliberately, and I need deliberately to go in and close
the door and on my face before God alone to lift my heart to
Him in prayer in a watchfulness and an alertness and a sincerity
and a summarizing of all my needs and all my problems and sins
and just have a talk with the Lord. I don't like that song,
have a little talk with Jesus. That's not watchfulness in prayer,
but there are times when you, like Ed Stevens now, today he
came by and spent 45 minutes or so with me and we had a nice
talk. We hadn't talked in two or three
weeks, had we, prior to this time, but we had a good talk.
But now we don't do that every day, but once in a while, and
I'm saying, I don't know how to advise people about prayer,
but I'm saying this, this is what I understand about prayer.
There's a continuing in prayer, there's a persevering in prayer,
there's a frequency of prayer, there's a prayer about all things,
but there's a time to have a talk with the Lord. Does that make
sense? There's a time, I mean, serious
business. There's a time of calling on
God, calling on God. A time when David prayed that
prayer about the temple, Solomon prayed that prayer about the
temple, our Lord even that prayer In John 17, that was a special
time, a special time. So I don't know whether I can
help you with that or not. But anyway, in this thing of prayer, continuing
prayer and watch in prayer, an alertness, a sincerity, an awareness,
an awakeness in opposition to this cold, formal... Actually, I would advise as far
as this ritualistic prayer, just cut it out. I really would. I'd just flat cut it out. Let's
have a little word of prayer and that sort of thing. I'd just
cut it out. And I'd find more time for this calling on God. And then the third thing about
prayer, he says, continue, watch, and do it with thanksgiving.
Now listen to this. We have mercies we know about
and mercies we don't know about. How shall we expect God's future
grace if we're not thankful for past and present grace? Now let's
turn to two scriptures, Philippians 4. Philippians chapter 4, verse
6. Philippians 4, 6. Listen to this.
Rejoice, or rather be careful for nothing, Philippians 4, 6,
but in everything by prayer, in everything by prayer and supplication
with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. I hope I haven't been offensive
in this. when I'm talking about prayer, but this is saying it
right here, be careful for nothing but in everything, frequently,
in an attitude of prayer, even the least little thing, pray
about it, in everything by prayer and supplication, but always
with thanksgiving. With thanksgiving, let your requests
be made known to God. Then turn, if you will, to 1
Thessalonians chapter 5. 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 18. In everything give thanks. First Thessalonians 5.18, in
everything give thanks. So here in this matter of prayer,
summing it up, that one verse there, verse 2, continue, that's
a frequency, persevering, that's living in an attitude of prayer,
in communion with God, praying about everything, everything. Secondly, with a watchfulness,
with a sincerity, with an alertness. If we call on God, let's give
our attention to calling on God. And then thirdly, let's do it
with thanksgiving and praise for all His mercies. All right,
the next two verses has to do with preaching. Has to do with
preaching. This is more talking about speech
now. In verse 3, with all praying also for us, those who preach
the Word and teach the Word, Three things. Number one, pray
that God would open unto us a door of utterance. A door of utterance. Pray for doors to be opened.
There are two words that preachers use a lot, and I write in letters
a lot, and people have asked me what I mean. One word we use
is liberty. Did you have any liberty? I had
a lot of liberty. And the second word is, we need
an open door. An open door. And here's what
those two things mean. Paul's talking about one of them
right here, that God would open an effectual door. Let's turn
to some scripture. First of all, in 1 Corinthians
16. In other words, that God, in
1 Corinthians 16, that God would give us a place to pray. Well, you say there are plenty
of places to preach. I know, but this is a place that he has
designated, a place where he's going to send his message and
someone has an ear to hear it. In 1 Corinthians 16, he says,
"...for a great door, an effectual door, is opened unto us, and
there are many adversaries." There's a difference in just
having a place to preach and being sent of God to a place
to preach. There's a difference. Let me
show you another verse, 2 Corinthians, just over a page, chapter 2,
verse 12. Furthermore, when I came to Troas
to preach Christ's gospel, and a door was opened unto me of
the Lord. You see the difference? God opened
the door. We can indiscriminately, and
we're supposed to, like my television just preaches the gospel everywhere.
But what we're praying about here and what we're talking to
God about is for God to open a door for us to go in with a
definite message sent by Him to a definite people. And then
secondly, he said in verse 3, with all praying for us that
God would open unto us a door of utterance to speak the mystery
of Christ. Now then, here's what the second
thing we pray about. in our preaching is this, that
God would give us an effectual door, and then that God would
open the door of men's hearts to understand a mystery. The gospel is a mystery. Let
me show you something here. Turn to Matthew 13. The average
person thinks this. He thinks that when you stand
up and preach, that everybody out there knows what you're talking
about. that everybody out there understands
what you're talking about. They don't. They really don't.
They really don't. In Matthew 13, verse 10, And
the disciples came and said to him, Why do you speak to them
in parables? Matthew 13, 10, And he answered
and said to them, Because it's given to you, it's given to you
to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God. To them it's
not given. For whosoever hath to him shall be given, and he
shall have more abundance. But whosoever hath not from him
shall be taken away that he hath. Therefore I speak to them in
parables, because they seeing do not see, and hearing they
do not hear, neither do they understand." I wish I had time
to give you tonight a rundown on all the times that the Gospels
called a mystery in the Word of God. Let me just read a few
of them. 1 Corinthians 2. 1 Corinthians
2, verse 7, listen, if you don't want to turn, just listen. But
we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom
of God, which God ordained before the world. Listen, in 1 Corinthians
15, he said, Behold, I show you a mystery, we shall not all sleep.
In Ephesians 1, 9, listen to this. Paul says in Ephesians
1, verse 9, "...having made known unto us
the mystery of His will." Then he talks about the mystery of
the Gentiles, the mystery of the Church, and then the mystery
of godliness in 1 Timothy 3, verse 16. God was manifest in
the flesh. All right, let's go back to the
text. In verse 3, "...pray for us that
God would open the door of utterance." Secondly, to speak the mystery
of Christ understandably, that men may understand it. And then
he said in verse 4, that I may make it manifest as I ought to
speak. In other words, pray that my
lips will be opened to speak as I ought to speak, that God
would give me the words to speak, the power to speak, the wisdom
to speak, and the patience to rest in His Word and in His Spirit. All right, the last verse, verse
6. Now, we talked about prayer.
We talked about preaching. Now, for a moment, let's talk
about everyday speech. And let your speech be always
seasoned, always with grace. Let your speech be always with
grace, seasoned with salt. Someone said grace, the grace
of God is to our everyday speech what salt is to me. It makes
it palatable, makes it acceptable. Without the grace of God, it's
just not fit to eat. Now, what we are to speak about,
if our speech is seasoned with grace, we'll speak about the
grace of God in redemption. We'll speak about the grace of
God. You and I need to spend more
time talking about the things of the Lord. And then secondly,
This season, our speech season with grace, is speaking in keeping
with grace. Let's be sure that what we say
is in keeping with the grace of God. Someone said one time,
I quoted it not long ago, here's a man who talks about the sovereignty
of God, and then when you hear him under pressure, or hear him
in other situations, he acts like God's not sovereign at all.
Here's a person who talks about resting in Christ, and then when
they meet with a crisis, there's no rest at all. See what I'm
saying? Let our speech not only be talking
about the things of the Lord, but let our speech be always
in keeping with faith in the grace of the Lord. And then thirdly,
it is to speak graciously, graciously. I had in the bulletin one time,
not so awful long ago, And this is so difficult, but it's still
good and it's true. There are three doors through
which we ought to let every word pass before it's presented to
the public. If we're going to say something,
number one, is it true? If that's decided, number two,
is it kind? Well, if that's decided, number
three, is it necessary? Is it true? Is it kind? Is it
necessary? Now turn to Psalm 19, and let
me close with this verse of Scripture over here. Psalm 19, verse 14. Let this be the prayer of our
heart. I hope that I didn't mean to
talk so much about prayer while I go, and I hope that the things
I had to say were understood and were not get the tape and
listen again or talk to me about them. I'm not discouraging public
prayer. I'm not discouraging you spending
as much time as you want to in prayer. In these things, I'm
simply saying that That prayer ought to be not only with thanksgiving
and an attitude of prayer, but a certain amount of watchfulness
and sincerity. It's talking with God. It's talking
with God. It needs to be a time of dedication
and a time of sincerity and a time of devotion and a time of spiritual
awareness and understanding. Or Psalm 19, verse 14. Let the words of my mouth and
the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord,
my strength and my redeemer.