How to Manage your Mouth - Pastor Kenneth Woolf

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New Life COTR
Sunday January 27, 2008

FIRST THINGS FIRST
“How to Manage your Mouth”

INTRODUCTION: We love to talk. There are talk shows on every channel. Everybody always has something to say.
The Average American has 30 conversations a day.
In one year your conversations will fill 66 books of 800 pages a book.
If you’re a man you speak on the average 20,000 words a day and if you’re a woman you speak 30,000.
Like the guy who was asked, “Do you resent that your wife always has the last word?” He replied, “No, I’m just glad when she finally gets to it.”
Some of us have the natural ability to say the wrong thing at the wrong time.
Our mouths get us into a lot of trouble. In your Bible the book of James talks more about the tongue than any other book in the New Testament. Every chapter in James says something about managing your mouth.
James 3:2- “We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check.”
James says that if you control your mouth your perfect. Not sinless. But the word “perfect in the Greek literally means “Mature, Healthy.”
When you go to the doctor and say I’m not feeling well, the first thing the doctor says is, “stick out your tongue.”
Your tongue reveals what’s going on inside of you, both physically and spiritually.
James tells us that we’ve got to get our tongues under control.

TRANSITION: Why must I watch what I say?

I. MY TONGUE DIRECTS WHERE I GO

My tongue has tremendous influence and control over my life.
Where are you headed in life? Where do you want to be ten years from now? Look at your conversation. What do you talk about the most?
James 3:3,4- “When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go.”
A 95 pound jockey can control a 2,000 or 3,000 pound horse by a bit in the horses mouth.
THAT’S THE POWER OF YOUR TONGUE.
Your tongue controls the direction of your life wherever you want to go!
Our tongue is like a rudder that steers a ship. It directs the way we go.
FIRST THINGS FIRST, MY TONGUE DIRECTS WHERE I GO!
TRANSITION: Why must I watch what I say?

II. MY TONGUE CAN DESTROY WHATEVER I HAVE

Imagine a beautiful forest with tall beautiful trees everywhere. Now imagine it in one minute up in smoke, completely destroyed with a little tiny match. It only takes a spark to get a fire going.
In 1983 in Australia, one fire overnight destroyed 600 miles of land, villages and livestock. ALL FROM A SINGLE MATCH.
James says your tongue can do that.
James 3:5-8- Turn and read
A careless camper can destroy a national forest overnight. A careless word can destroy a life overnight.
Gossip is like fire. It spreads quickly and it wrecks havoc.
I wonder how many people because of a careless word have ruined a marriage, a career, or their reputation, or the reputation of another or their church, or a friendship.
MY TONGUE NOT ONLY HAS THE POWER TO DIRECT MY LIFE BUT IT ALSO HAS THE POWER TO DESTROY WHAT I HAVE IF I DON’T LEARN TO CONTROL IT.
Fire and words under control can bring tremendous warmth and light, but fire and words out of control can be devastating. It can destroy miles and miles of homes and lands and peoples.
Proverbs 21:23(Good News)- “If you want to stay out of trouble be careful what you say.”
Proverbs 18:20 (Good News)- “You have to live with the consequences of everything you say.”
Your tongue is like poison the Bible says. You can assassinate somebody with your words. Assassinate their character. The tongue is a deadly weapon.
TRANSITION: Why must I watch what I say? My tongue directs my life. My tongue can destroy what I have.

III. MY TONGUE DISPLAYS WHO I AM

It reveals my real character. It tells what’s really on the inside of me.
James 3:9-12- Turn and Read
The highest use of your mouth is praising God! Then we get in the car and argue about where we’re going to eat lunch.
Isn’t it amazing how quickly our attitude can change? We’re like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
We speak lovingly in one breath and then lash out in the next!
WHAT COMES OUT OF THE WELL IS WHAT’S ON THE INSIDE OF IT.
Matthew 12:34- “….For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.”
Matthew 15:18- “But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these things make a man unclean.”

THE PROBLEM: THE HEART!
THE SOLUTION:
1. Get a New Heart
Ezekiel 18:31- “Rid yourself of all the offenses you have committed and get a new heart and a new spirit.”
Painting the outside of the pump doesn’t make any difference if there’s poison in the well!
2Corinthians 5:17- “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. The old has passed away. Behold all things have become new.”
Pray like David in Psalm 51 “Create in me a clean heart, O God.”
2. Ask God for help every Day
You need supernatural power to control your tongue. You can’t do it on your own.
Psalm 141:3- “Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips.”
Psalm 19:14- “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.”
Sidlow Baxter: “The proof that God’s Spirit is in your life is not that you speak in an unknown tongue but you control the tongue you do know.”
Get a new heart. Ask God for help every Day.
3. Think before you speak
James 1:19- “My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.”

CONCLUSION: What does your tongue say about you? What does it reveal about you? If we played back a tape of your conversations you’ve had this last week what would we learn about you?
What direction is your tongue leading you? Our tongues control the direction of our lives.
Maybe you need to ask for forgiveness from some you’ve said the wrong things to. Maybe you need to apologize to your wife or your husband.
FIRST THINGS FIRST: MANAGE YOUR MOUTH.
1. Get a new heart.
2. Ask God for help every day.
3. Think before you speak.