The Mouth Speaks

The Mouth Speaks

Love for the wounded and struggling begins the healing process in their lives. Many of you are very good at loving these folks. Keep it up. Love will change their world, and yours as well.

I say this often because I want you all to believe and embrace it. We are in a new season of ministry. The word is anointed and His presence is preparing our hearts to receive.

We find this admonition in Proverbs 18 from the Message.“20 Words satisfy the mind as much as fruit does the stomach; good talk is as gratifying as a good harvest. 21 Words kill, words give life;they’re either poison or fruit—you choose.”

Fasten your seat belts, James 3 is titled, The Tongue is a fire.”

James 3:1-10

1 Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment. 2 For we all stumble in many ways. If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body as well.

3 Now if we put the bits into the horses’ mouths so that they will obey us, we direct their entire body as well.

4 Look at the ships also, though they are so great and are driven by strong winds, are still directed by a very small rudder wherever the inclination of the pilot desires.

5 So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things. See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire!

6 And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell.

7 For every species of beasts and birds, of reptiles and creatures of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by the human race.

8 But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison.

9 With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God;

10 from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way.

David shared this prayer.

Psalms 17:1-3

1 Hear a just cause, O Lord, give heed to my cry;
Give ear to my prayer, which is not from deceitful lips.
2 Let my judgment come forth from Your presence;
Let Your eyes look with equity.
3 You have tried my heart; You have visited me by night; You have tested me and You find nothing; I have purposed that my mouth will not transgress.

Matthew 12:33-37

33 “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit.

34 You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart.

35 The good man brings out of his good treasure what is good; and the evil man brings out of his evil treasure what is evil.

36 But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment.

37 For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

Jesus shared a powerful definition of character. What is in our heart comes out of our mouth. What we say is important. Our words can mend, or they can break. Build up or tear down. Encourage of discourage. Positive or negative.

James 1:19

This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger;

Amplified Understand this, my beloved brothers and sisters. Let everyone be quick to hear [be a careful, thoughtful listener], slow to speak [a speaker of carefully chosen words and], slow to anger [patient, reflective, forgiving];

Our words are very important. What we say can change a person’s life. Create value in a person’s life. Create hunger for God and build their faith to follow Christ.

What you say can activate the promises of God.

Matthew 17:19-20

19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not drive it out?”

20 And He *said to them, “Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.

Message

“Because you’re not yet taking God seriously,” said Jesus. “The simple truth is that if you had a mere kernel of faith, a poppy seed, say, you would tell this mountain, ‘Move!’ and it would move. There is nothing you wouldn’t be able to tackle.”It is time to take Him seriously!!

To sum it up God has positioned us to see the victory, hear the sound of abundance of rain, and speak the promise of God with authority.

Ears to Hear

Ears to Hear

God has been so good to ALC over the years and we have yet to even see all the great things He will accomplish, as we remain faithful to Him.

My love for people and their Godly purpose is what drives me. I don’t always know an individual’s purpose. What I do know is that we all have one. I can also say with some level of authority that your purpose evolves as you walk in it. The Apostle Paul said it best. Philippians 3:13, (Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead,)

Our Christian life evolves as we leave our past and move forward in Christ. Many people fear this next reality. (Always truthful)The more we know, the more accountable we are to God, to walk in our purpose.

Matthew 5:16

Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

“Let people see, what you have seen.” Revelation

In Matthew 13 the disciples asked Jesus why He taught in parables.

Matthew 13:13-16

13 Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.

14 In their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says, ‘You will keep on hearing, but will not understand; You will keep on seeing, but will not perceive;

15 For the heart of this people has become dull,
With their ears they scarcely hear, And they have closed their eyes, Otherwise they would see with their eyes, Hear with their ears, And understand with their heart and return, And I would heal them .’

16 But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear.

Ears come from a Greek word used metaphorically, “The faculty of perceiving with the mind, the faculty of understanding and knowing.” The word hear means, “to give ear to teaching, or a teacher. To comprehend or understand.” It’s not hearing the sound, it is hearing the revelation. There are two kinds of people who can’t hear. Hear meaning comprehending and understanding. “1^St, those who are not ready to comprehend and understand. 2^Nd, those who already think they know everything.”

1 Corinthians 2:6-9

6 Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away;

7 but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory;

8 the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory;

9 but just as it is written, “Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, And which have not entered the heart of man, All that God has prepared for those who love Him.”

Amplified

but just as it is written [in Scripture], “Things which the eye has not seen and the ear has not heard, And which have not entered the heart of man, All that God has prepared for those who love Him [who hold Him in affectionate reverence, who obey Him, and who gratefully recognize the benefits that He has bestowed].”

I don’t believe that Peter and John fully understood The mission of Jesus until they were filled with the Spirit in the upper room. Peter addressed a great crowd with the story of Jesus and 3000 souls were saved. You know the story of the lame beggar and Peter’s second sermon which brought 5000 to Christ. After his arrest and release by the Jews, and their threats, Peter said this.

Acts 4:19-20

19 But Peter and John answered and said to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge;

(20 for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.”)

Your revelation, and it’s purpose.

John 5:24

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.”

Amplified

“I assure you and most solemnly say to you, the person who hears My word [the one who heeds My message], and believes and trusts in Him who sent Me, has (possesses now) eternal life [that is, eternal life actually begins—the believer is transformed], and does not come into judgment and condemnation, but has passed [over] from death into life.”

Do you hear these awesome promises?

Colossians 2:8-15

8 See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.

9 For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form,

10 and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority;

11 and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ;

12 having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.

13 When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions,

14 having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.

15 When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him.

Colossians 2:14-15 Amplified

14 having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of legal demands [which were in force] against us and which were hostile to us. And this certificate He has set aside and completely removed by nailing it to the cross.

15 When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities [those supernatural forces of evil operating against us], He made a public example of them [exhibiting them as captives in His triumphal procession], having triumphed over them through the cross.

Jesus was nailed to the cross so you would not have to see what the enemy showed you, and you would not have to hear what the enemy told you.

The cross and the resurrection changed the narrative. If you can see Jesus, and hear His words of life. You can do and be anything you can believe.

Eyes Wide Open

Eyes Wide Open

I have said for the last couple of weeks that I have felt a shift in the Spirit. That is a good thing. It usually means some prayers are being answered, and purpose is going to another level.

When we pray. When we hear and embrace His word. When we thirst for more, things will not stay the same.

Isaiah 55:1, “Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters; And you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk Without money and without cost.” John 6:35, “Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.”

What an amazing opportunity that the church has today. As the church finds itself in repentance for it’s arrogance and neglect, God is changing things. As the church moves forward in His love and grace, God is changing things. What an awesome season of His power we are in. I hear this practically every day in prayer, “KEEP MOVING FORWARD.

Not long ago I came across an article that I found very interesting. It was referring to gates, and how we each have three. Gates are points of entrance or exit. The article pointed out our three gates. Eyes, Ears, and mouth. To me the eyes and ears are entrances. The mouth is an exit. This will be something of a series, but not necessarily consecutive. Over the course of the next few weeks I will be talking about eyes, ears, and the mouth. “And boy this is going to be fun!!!”

Let me begin with the eyes today and lay a foundation with a couple of scriptures.

Hebrews 12:2

fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Ephesians 1:18 Amplified

And I pray that the eyes of your heart, the very center and core of your being may be enlightened, flooded with light by the Holy Spirit, so that you will know and cherish the hope, the divine guarantee, the confident expectation to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints (God’s people),

In Hebrews the word for eyes is translated from a Greek word which means, “turn from other things and fix on something else.” Almost like repentance

In Ephesians the eyes of your heart is used metaphorically to mean, “eyes of the mind, the faculty of knowing”

There is a very important distinction of what we see and what we understand.

We must understand how important the gate we open with our eyes is. In fact the very first temptation of man,

and the subsequent failure thereof had to do with the eye.

Genesis 3:4-6

4 The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die!

5 For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.

It looked good, was a delight to see, had great results. Ring any bells? “Only problem, God said don’t do it”

Matthew 6:22-23

22 “The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light.

23 But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

Matthew 6:22-23 Message

22“Your eyes are windows into your body. If you open your eyes wide in wonder and belief, your body fills up with light.

23 If you live squinty-eyed in greed and distrust, your body is a dank cellar. If you pull the blinds on your windows, what a dark life you will have!

Remember Simeon?

Luke 2:29-32

29 “Now Lord, You are releasing Your bond-servant to depart in peace, According to Your word;
30 For my eyes have seen Your salvation,
31 Which You have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
32 A Light of revelation to the Gentiles, And the glory of Your people Israel.”

From the Greek, “eyes means turn from to something else, seen means discover, and turn attention to, and light is used metaphorically to mean the revelation of God to the Gentiles.”

1 Peter 1:3-9

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

4 to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,

5 who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

6 In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials,

7 so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ;

8 and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory,

9 obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls.

1 Peter 1:8-9 Message

8 You never saw him, yet you love him. You still don’t see him, yet you trust him—with laughter and singing.

9 Because you kept on believing, you’ll get what you’re looking forward to: total salvation.

What about in between? Being born again, and the death in Christ that will eventually come to us all. These passages in 1^st Peter listed many of the promises of God as we continue in our faith in Jesus. What do you see when you read and hear all the wonderful love and promises of the Father?

In one of Isaiah’s Messianic prophecies he said this.

Isaiah 52:15

Thus He will sprinkle many nations, Kings will shut their mouths on account of Him; For what had not been told them they will see, And what they had not heard they will understand.

Isaiah 64:4

For from days of old they have not heard or perceived by ear, Nor has the eye seen a God besides You, Who acts in behalf of the one who waits for Him.

Departed, And Nobody Cares

Departed, And Nobody Cares

I am so in love with the church. Beyond these walls, and all over the world people are praying. Nothing can stop the progression of the church as long as people pray.

The world may change. People may embrace many different cultural ideas. Religion is splintered into hundreds, even thousands of different theological platforms.

Yet God has not changed. “James 1:17 says, Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.”

Hebrews 13:8 says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”

So culture may change, the world may change. Right and wrong has been redefined over and over again. We don’t answer to culture, we don’t answer to religion. Right and wrong is clearly defined. Christians must do two things to change our world, and move forward in Christ. “Love God with all you heart, and love your neighbor as yourself.”

As I begin I want to lay a foundation to build on. The Bible clearly tells us that the Messiah would come from the house of David. His seed would bear our Lord.

1 Chronicles 17:11-15

11 When your days are fulfilled that you must go to be with your fathers, that I will set up one of your descendants after you, who will be of your sons; and I will establish his kingdom.

12 He shall build for Me a house, and I will establish his throne forever.

13 I will be his father and he shall be My son; and I will not take My lovingkindness away from him, as I took it from him who was before you.

14 But I will settle him in My house and in My kingdom forever, and his throne shall be established forever.”’”

15 According to all these words and according to all this vision, so Nathan spoke to David.

Confirmed by the Angel visiting Mary.

Luke 1:32-33

32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David;

33 and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.”

I love when the old and the new connect. What an amazing God that positioned individuals over thousands of years to keep the Messianic message real.

For the past few weeks I have been listening to the new and reading the old. While reading in the OT I came across a sentence that hit me like a ton of bricks.

In 2nd Chronicles 21 there is a very sad story. It begins this way.

2 Chronicles 21:1-3

1 Then Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David, and Jehoram his son became king in his place.

2 He had brothers, the sons of Jehoshaphat: Azariah, Jehiel, Zechariah, Azaryahu, Michael and Shephatiah. All these were the sons of Jehoshaphat king of Israel.

3 Their father gave them many gifts of silver, gold and precious things, with fortified cities in Judah, but he gave the kingdom to Jehoram because he was the firstborn.

Jehoram had it made. (Lineage, name means Jehovah is exalted. Financial prosperity and safe cites to dwell in as a king. Covenant)

He started with all he needed to succeed.

2 Chronicles 21:4-7

4 Now when Jehoram had taken over the kingdom of his father and made himself secure, he killed all his brothers with the sword, and some of the rulers of Israel also.

5 Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem.

6 He walked in the way of the kings of Israel, just as the house of Ahab did (for Ahab’s daughter was his wife), and he did evil in the sight of the Lord.

7 Yet the Lord was not willing to destroy the house of David because of the covenant which He had made with David, and since He had promised to give a lamp to him and his sons forever.

God moved Elijah to write Jehoram a letter acknowledging his wickedness. It ended like this.

2 Chronicles 21:14-15

14 behold, the Lord is going to strike your people, your sons, your wives and all your possessions with a great calamity;

15 and you will suffer severe sickness, a disease of your bowels, until your bowels come out because of the sickness, day by day.’”

This story is so sad. His end is near.

2 Chronicles 21:16-17

16 Then the Lord stirred up against Jehoram the spirit of the Philistines and the Arabs who bordered the Ethiopians;

17 and they came against Judah and invaded it, and carried away all the possessions found in the king’s house together with his sons and his wives, so that no son was left to him except Jehoahaz, the youngest of his sons.

2 Chronicles 21:18-20

18 So after all this the Lord smote him in his bowels with an incurable sickness.

19 Now it came about in the course of time, at the end of two years, that his bowels came out because of his sickness and he died in great pain. And his people made no fire for him like the fire for his fathers.

20 He was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years; and he departed with no one’s regret, and they buried him in the city of David, but not in the tombs of the kings.

Verse 20 AMPC

departed without being wanted. GNT Nobody was sorry when he died. TLB died unmourned. MSG There were no tears shed when he died—it was good riddance.

Now here was a man with everything.

He had financial security. Safe cities, a Godly covenant with his heritage in the house of David. A destiny with God’s favor. A name that honored God. (nobody cared when he died.)

How could someone have so much to begin with, and end with nothing? He wasted his gifts and his talents. He did not walk in the purpose of God.

What about your gifts, your talents. Your purpose. Jesus fulfilled His purpose to redeem all of us. Have you accepted the gift of Salvation. What is your gift, and what are you doing with it? Preach, People with little to begin with. The woman at the well was a mess. Mary Magdelene possessed with devils. Woman who washed His feet with tears and dried them with her hair. Gideon, Jehoshaphat. On and on through the Bible there were people who had very little to start with. Still they used what they had and changed the world they lived in for the better. We remember them today. Nobody remembers Jehoram.

What about your gift? (People won’t remember how you start. They will remember how you finish.)