Mind your P’s and Q’s
THE BIBLE SPEAKS ABOUT.
THE POWER OF THE TONGUE
THE POISON OF THE TONGUE
THE PROBLEM OF THE TONGUE
THE PRODUCE (FRUIT) OF THE TONGUE
FROM THE FRUIT OF THE TONGUE, WE SAW THAT THE PROBLEM OF THE TONGUE IS THE HEART
THE PRESCRIPTION FOR THE HEART
THE PRESCRIPTION FOR THE HEART.
Luke 6:45.
A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.
(RECAP)
THE PROBLEM OF THE HEART.
SO, MANKIND HAS A HEART PROBLEM & THAT IS THE PROBLEM OF THE TONGUE.
(RECAP) THE PROBLEM OF THE HEART.
Luke 15:8-9.(Isaiah 29:13) Jesus says:
These people come near to me with their mouth and honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.
WE SAW THAT A DISTANT,OR IMPURE HEART CANNOT OFFER ACCEPTABLE WORSHIP OR PRAYERS.
(God is not looking for just lip service.)
(RECAP) THE PROBLEM OF THE HEART.
Psalm 24:3-5.
Who may ascend the hill of the Lord?
And who may stand in His holy place?
He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
who has not lifted up his heart to falsehood
and has not sworn deceitfully.
Where there is insincerity, dishonesty and deception, true worship is not possible. I have met too many professing Christians who love to participate in emotionally charged worship but are dishonest and lack integrity in their dealings with others.
We may be truly said to worship God, though we lack perfection; but we cannot be said to worship Him if we lack sincerity.
Stephen Charnock . (an English Puritan Presbyterian clergyman)
Proverbs 4:23-25.
Above all else, guard your heart,
for everything you do flows from it.
Keep your mouth free of perversity;
keep corrupt talk far from your lips.
Let your eyes look straight ahead;
fix your gaze directly before you.
THE HEART IS THE SOURCE OF ALL WE DO .
.
YOU MAY THINK:WELL AT LEAST I’M NOT A MURDERER OR A THIEF OR AN ADULTERER, BUT THAT DOES NOT MEAN THAT YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE CONCERNED(JUST THINKING THOUGHTS OF LUST AND HATE, MAKE YOU GUILTY).
Matthew 15:19-20.
For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what defile a person;
Matthew 5:22.
But I tell you, everyone who is angry with his brother or
sister will be subject to judgment. Whoever insults his
brother or sister will be subject to the court.
Whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be subject to hellfire.
1 John 3:15-17.
Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life.
TO CHANGE THE WORDS OF THE TONGUE:
OUR HEART MUST BE
PURIFIED
PROTECTED AND
PREPARED
We will look at how we can solve this problem
THE NEW COVENANT PROMISE. Ezekial 11:19-21.
And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. But as for those whose heart goes after their detestable things and their abominations, I will bring their deeds upon their own heads, declares the Lord God.
WE NEED TO HAVE A PURIFIED HEART? (ARE YOU BORN AGAIN)
2 Corinthians 2:5.
Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves.
Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?
HOW DO YOU TEST & EXAMINE
YOURSELF? ….
DO YOU HAVE A PURIFIED HEART?
(ARE YOU BORN AGAIN)
Our speech (FRUIT) reveals what’s in our heart.
Matthew 12:34.
The mouth is the overflow of the heart.
What flows from your heart?
IF THE ANSWER IS BAD THINGS,
THEN THERE IS A REMEDY
DO YOU HAVE A PURIFIED HEART?
PURIFIES US
PROTECTS US
PREPARES US
THE PRESCRIPTION FOR THE HEART.
WE MUST FIRST BELIEVE IN OUR HEARTS, AND THEN CONFESS WITH OUR MOUTHS
Romans 10:8-10.
The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart, that is, the message concerning faith that we proclaim: If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.
REPEATING A PRAYER DOES’NT SAVE YOU,”YOU MUST BELIEVE IN YOUR HEART(A WORK OF GOD) AND JUST LIKE PETER YOU MUST CONFESS WITH YOUR MOUTH
THE WORK OF GOD IN OUR HEARTS IS THE PRIORITY.
DO YOU HAVE A PURIFIED HEART?
PURIFIES US. (JOHN15:3)
PROTECTS US FROM OUR OWN SINFUL NATURE. (PS119:11)
PROTECTS US FROM SATAN. (MATT 4)
PREPARES US FOR A PURPOSE. (2TIM3:14-17)
WE ARE PREPARED TO PRAY, PRAISE AND TO PREACH, NOT JUST TO PARK IN A PEW
PREACHING IS NOT JUST WHAT WE PROFESS AND PROCLAIM, BUT ALSO WHAT WE PRACTICE
THE PRESCRIPTION FOR THE HEART.
GOD’S WORD
John 15:3.
You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.
John13:8-10.
No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.”
Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”
“Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!”
Jesus answered, “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean,
though not every one of you. For he knew who was
going to betray him, and that was why he said not
everyone was clean.
.
EVEN AS BELIEVERS, WE NEED THE CLEANSING OF THE WORD
When we come to Christ for salvation, He condescends to wash our sins away, and we can be sure that His forgiveness is permanent and complete (2 Corinthia 5:21). But, just as a bathed person needed to wash his feet periodically, we need cleansing from the effects of living in the flesh in a sin-cursed world. This is sanctification, done by the power of the Holy Spirit who lives within us, through the “washing of water by the Word” (Ephesians 5:26), given to equip us for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16–17).
EVEN AS BELIEVERS,WE NEED THE CLEANSING OF THE WORD
Ephesians 5:25.
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.
EVEN AS BELIEVERS, WE NEED THE CLEANSING OF THE WORD
Colossians 3:1-10.
Set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things...
Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.....
But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.
Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.
DON’T JUST READ THE SCRIPT, APPLY IT.
STARVE(THE FLESH) YOUR OLD SELF
John 17: 17.
Sanctify them through thy truth; thy word is truth.
Not just by knowing the truth but obeying it.
1 Peter 1:22.
Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart.
Proverbs 3:3-4.
Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.
Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man.
Mark12:30.(AMP)
And you shall love the LORD your GOD with all your heart and with all your soul (life) and with all your mind (thought, understanding)and with all your strength.
How much effort do you put into your relationship with the LORD?
As most of you know I had a struggle with depression after my stroke and I have found the solution to it in the WORD OF GOD.
BUT YOU HAVE TO BE HUNGRY.
And what I share now is for god's glory and has nothing to do with me,
THE LORD can give us a hunger and then HE can satisfy that hunger.
Matthew 5:6.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be filled.
By GOD’S GRACE,I have been able to get up at 1am and 2am in the morning and do ministry preparation and fill my mind with GOD’SWORD and
GOD’S WORD PURIFIES PROTECTS AND PREPARES
Joshua 1:1-9.
After the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua, son of Nun, Moses 'aide: Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them, to the Israelites. I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates, all the Hittite country, to the Mediterranean Sea in the west. No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land, I swore to their ancestors to give them.
Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous.
PSALM 1:1-3.
Blessed is the one who does not walk
in step with the wicked or stand in the
way that sinners take or sit in the company
of mockers,
but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.
BLESSED IS THE MAN WHO
DOESN'T WATCH TV
(Ken Paynter paraphrase)
Psalm 1:1-3.
That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither, whatever they do prospers.
GOD WORKS IN US BUT WE MUST WORK OUT
Philippians 2:12-13. (both to will and to act)
Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfil his good purpose.
AW Towzer: we don’t need a change of menu, we need a change of appetite.
Psalms 37:3-4.
Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Believe it or not, your body has a finely tuned appestat – that part of your brain that tells you when you’re full and when to stop eating. The problem is that for many, it’s been hijacked by all the processed foods that we’re eating these days. For those of us predisposed to obesity, the key is figuring how to get our appetites working the way they were meant to. the same is also true in overcoming the power of sin in our lives. God created us, beginning with Adam and Eve, with a desire in our hearts to be close to Him. An appetite for Him, if you will.
(But that appetite has been hijacked and misdirected ever since sin entered the world – famously, or infamously I should say, through Adam and Eve when they ate the fruit of that one tree in the garden that was forbidden to them).
Philippians 2:13
Yes, it is God who is working in you. He helps you want to do what pleases him, and he gives you the power to do it.
Draw closer to Him and you’ll discover that God is at work in you. He helps you do what pleases him. In other words, He’s in the business of changing your appetite from sin to Him. And … he gives you the power to do it.
2 Corinthians 7:8-11.
Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it. Though I did regret it, I see that my letter hurt you, but only for a little while, yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us.....
See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done.
Mark 4:3-9.
A farmer went out to sow his seed.
As he was scattering the seed,
some fell along the path,
and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times. Then Jesus said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.
WE NEED TO HAVE.
A PURIFIED HEART.
A PROTECTED HEART.
A PREPARED HEART.PREPARED (FOR THE WORD) AND PREPARED (BY THE WORD)
Hard.
Stony.
Thorny.
Good.
WHAT IS YOUR HEART LIKE?
We are responsible for our Heart condition
Matthew 13:18-23.
Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away.
WE NEED A PREPARED HEART HAVE YOU COUNTED THE COST?
YOU NEED TO GET RID OF THE ROCKS?
Luke 14:25-33.
Large crowds were travelling with Jesus and turning to them he said: If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish. Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace.
In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciple
WE NEED A PREPARED HEART JESUS SAID COUNT THE COST.
DO YOU Give GOD FIRST PLACE IN YOUR LIFE,
(IS HE YOUR NO 1 PRIORITY?)
1 Peter 3:15.
But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord.
Matthew 22:37.
JESUS replied: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all you
soul and with all your mind.
WHAT DO YOU FILL YOUR HEART AND MIND WITH?
Jeremiah 29:13.
And you shall seek me, and you shall find me when you search for me with
all your heart.
WHAT DO YOU DO WITH ALL YOUR EFFORT OR STRENGTH?
GOD WANTS 100%
WE NEED A PREPARED HEART.
WE NEED TO BE PREPARED FOR THE PLANTING OF GOD’S WORD (FOCUSSED ON THE LORD AS OUR PRIORITY)
OUR HEARTS NEED TO BE GOOD SOIL (CLEARED OF ROCKS AND THORNS)
PLOUGHED BY PRAYER AND LEVELED BY GOD’S WORD
WE NEED A PREPARED HEART.
GOOD SEED ON GOOD GROUND BRINGS A GOOD HARVEST
GOD’S WORD IS GOOD SEED, BUT WE ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CONDITION OF THE SOIL (OUR HEART)
Matthew 13:18-23.
The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful.
HAVE YOU DONE SOME WEEDING?
1 Peter 5:7.
Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
Jeremiah 4:3-4.
(This is what the Lord says to the people of Judah and to Jerusalem: Break up your unploughed ground and do not sow among thorns.
Circumcise (dedicate, sanctify) yourselves to the Lord And remove the foreskin [sins] of your heart, Men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, Or else My wrath will go forth like fire [consuming all that gets in its way] And burn and there will be no one to quench it, Because of the evil of your acts.”
Deuteronomy 10:16.
And the LORD your god will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the LORD your god with all your heart.
OVER THE COURSE OF TIME AS FIELDS ARE LEFT DORMANT, THEY WILL DEVELOP A HARD CRUST THAT WILL NEED TO BE BROKEN UP TO RECEIVE NEW SEED FOR PRODUCTIVE GROWTH.
WE NEED TO DO SOME WEEDING AND PLOUGHING.
Hebrews 6:5-12.
Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God.
But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned. Even though we speak like this, dear friends, we are convinced of better things in your case, the things that have to do with salvation….
We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end,
so that what you hope for may be fully realized.
We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who
through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.
Mark 4:18-19.
And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.
HAVE YOU GOT RID OF YOUR WRONG DESIRES?
There is a reason why con artists send out emails and SMS's telling you that you have won a lottery that you never entered and that someone with your surname died leaving an unclaimed inheritance{people are snared by the lure of quick and easy money there is a solution to your money problem (work hard).
Proverbs 13:11.
Money that comes easily disappears quickly, but money that is gathered little by little will grow.
The seed on the rocky ground represents people who respond with initial enthusiasm, but the word of God does not sink in deep. When persecution or hard times (represented by the sun) come along they give up at once. These People cannot commit to the Christian lifestyle.
DO YOU COME HAVING COUNTED THE COST?, AND HAVING MADE THE DECISION TO TAKE UP YOUR CROSS AND FOLLOW THE LORD?
DO YOU COME HAVING LAID ASIDE YOUR CARES AND FALSE HOPES?
DO YOU COME WITH A HEART PREPARED TO HEAR GOD’S WORD ON A SUNDAY?
HAVE YOU GOT RID OF THE ROCKS AND THORNS (CARESAND FALSE HOPES)?
HAVE YOU DONE SOME PLOUGHING (PRAYING)?
Jeremiah 4:3.
Break up your fallow ground! Do not waste your seed among the thorns.
Hosea 10:12.
Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up your fallow ground, for it is the time to seek the Lord, that he may come and rain righteousness .
WE NEED A PREPARED HEART.
HAVE YOUYOU DONE SOME PLOUGHING?
In these scriptures by Jeremiah and Hosea, GOD calls Israel to break up their fallow ground. He was not talking about their dormant fields but their hearts. They had abandoned GOD and turned to idol worship.
Hosea spoke of the thorns and the thistles growing on the altar (Hosea 10:8).
When a Christian falls away and turns to the ways of the world, their hearts turn fallow and harden, and the thorns and weeds of sin take over.
HAVE YOU DONE SOME PLOUGHING?
Jeremiah 17:9.
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
However, God knows our hearts and if we submit to his Plough, He will reveal the things that need to be dealt with.
WE NEED A PREPARED HEART.
WE NEED TO BE PLOUGHED FOR THE PLANTING OF GOD’S WORD;
IT IS LESS PAINFUL TO DO THE PLOUGHING OURSELVES
History has shown that sin and the cares of this world are dealt a blow by persecution, sickness and war.
Often the result is that people become acutely aware of their mortality, and so in what seems to be terrible and hopeless situations, God can soften hearts bringing about revival and true repentance.
Only those whose hearts have been prepared, weeds taken out, rocks removed, etc will bear fruit.
God loves us too much to allow us to remain hard hearted and so he does some ploughing. We hear the truth and do not respond because we are comfortable,
and the only way GOD can get our attention is to turn the ground over.
This involves the plough cutting deep into our hearts and the upheaval of our comfort zone.
So, war and death and sickness and loss of income etc become agents for good, resulting in ground that is broken and ready to receive the seed of GOD’S word.
The levelling of ploughed fields prevents the top fertile soil from being carried away by strong winds or washed away by rainwater.
it also helps in the uniform distribution of water in the fields during irrigation.
The levelling of ploughed fields helps in preventing the loss of moisture.
We need to have straight paths, level ground if we want to be good ground.
Hebrews 12:11-13.
No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. Make level paths for your feet, so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.
GOD USES DISCIPLINE TO LEVEL THE SOIL
Deuteronomy 8:1-3.
(IT TOOK HARDSHIP TO LEARN THIS VITAL LESSON)
Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land the Lord promised on oath to your ancestors.
Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands.
He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.
Proverbs 17:3.
The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, but the Lord tests the heart.
Matthew 5:8.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
The Greek word for “pure” in
Matthew 5:8 is katharos.
It means to be “clean, blameless, unstained from guilt.” Interestingly, the word can refer specifically to that which is purified by fire or by pruning.
1 Samuel 13:14. (Samuel said to King Saul)
But now your kingdom will not endure; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him ruler of his people, because you have not kept the Lord’s command.
How can a man with a heart after God commit adultery with another man’s wife and then arrange that man’s murder to cover his sin?
(DAVID’S COMFORTABLE LIFE AS KING CHANGED HIM)
DAVID, ONLY REALISED HIS SIN WHEN
GOD SENT NATHAN THE PROPHET TO SPEAK TO HIM.
2 Samuel 2:12.
Then David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the LORD." Nathan replied, "The LORD has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. But because by doing this you have made the enemies of the LORD show utter contempt, the son born to you will die.
GOD USED ADVERSITY TO BRING DAVID TO HIS KNEES
FURTHER ADVERSITY WAS STILL TO COME.
2 Samuel 12:11.
This is what the Lord says, ‘I am going to bring disaster on you from your own family: I will take your wives and give them to another before your very eyes, and he will sleep with them in broad daylight.
Psalm 66:18.
If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will
not hear me.
Hope inspires us to purify our hearts.
1 John 3:3.
And everyone who this hopes in him purifies
himself as he is pure.
Faith enables us to purify our hearts.
Acts 15: 9.
Having purified their hearts by faith.
James 4:8-10.
Come near to God and he will come near to you.
Wash your hands, you sinners,
and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
Grieve, mourn and wail.
Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom.
Humble yourselves before the Lord,
and he will lift you up.
So, Paul told the Corinthians that godly sorrow leads to repentance and salvation (2 Corinthians 7:10).
In the first four beatitudes, Jesus declared the process of a sinner's repentance.
Blessed are the poor in spirit
(recognizing your spiritual bankruptcy).
Blessed are those who mourn
(grieving over our sinful state).
Blessed are the meek
(a gentle and humble heart).
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness
(yearning to be right with GOD and live a godly life).
The rest of the beatitudes reflect the change in our
hearts.
Psalm 51:10-12.
Create in me a pure heart, O God,
DAVID REPENTED.
DAVID ALLOWED HIS HEART TO
BECOME DEFILED
HAVE YOU ALLOWED YOUR HEART
TO BE DEFILED?
LIKE DAVID YOU CAN ASK THE LORD
TO CREATE A CLEAN HEART, IN YOU!
Hosea 14:2.
Take words with you and return to the LORD. Say to him: “Forgive all our sins and receive us graciously, that we may offer the fruit of our lips.