King of the Motor Mouths

King of the Motor-Mouths

Illustration: Car stink. No amount of deodorizer could ever cover that.

James 3:1-12

Illustrations:

• James 3:3,
• James 3:4, (Illustration, the Bizmark. March 21, 1941, British torpedoes jammed the ships rudder and left it unable to escape.)
• James 3:5, (The Maui Fire started 6:30am on August 8 by just a severed power line. A single spark created countless damage.)
• James 3:6, This is the only use of “Gehenna” in the Epistles. His point is that evil words do not come from God, but are part of our fallen nature and used by the forces of darkness to carry out the agenda of wickedness.
• James 3:7-8, The tongue is a terrible filter.
• James 3:8, (Illustration, Japan has a fish called Fugu Fish. If not prepared correctly it can kill you. You don’t want that near your mouth. Yet James says our words can be like poison.)
• James 3:9-12, James concludes by saying the problem with our words is the source. Our words come up from our inner being.

Illustration, Drivers Education movies. Terrifying! Why did they show those to us? To teach us that when you drive, you are in control of something very powerful that can do great destruction.

Two Simple Encouragements

1. I want my words to (James 3:9)

• I hope you love talking about the Lord!
• Cursing Never Blesses God. (James 3:10), Colossians 3:8, Matthew 12:36
• Jude 9. Isn’t it interesting when he was fighting the Devil
• Isaiah 6:1-7, the one thing that convicted Isaiah when he saw the Lord was that he was a man of “unclean” lips and he dwelt among a people of unclean speech.

2. I want my words to be (James 3:9-10)

• You cannot bless people you hate. Matthew 12:34.
• Bless others with Godly Perspective: Wisdom. Not just nice encouraging words. Not just good advice. Wisdom is helping others see from a Godly, Biblical perspective. It’s not your opinion, wisdom is helping others see what God is doing.
• Set a time to bless your kids.

Question: Do I have any damage to repair?