Thank you for taking the time to read the Weekend Sermon. I am glad to be able to post the sermon, and I thank the Lord for another opportunity to do so. I hope that everyone is having a good day.
The weather where I live is crazy. We had storms, rain and now it is snowing. I hope the weather straightens up soon. Just to the north of where I live, there is terrible flooding. I hope that you will all pray that the water will recede and that the people in the flood areas will be able to get the aid that they need to recover.
In prayer this week, please remember the people in New Zealand who are still recovering. Pray that the Lord will be with them.
Please continue to pray for the people in Congo who are sick because of the Ebola virus. Pray that they will recover, and pray that the virus will stop spreading.
Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi are devastated as a result of a storm. Many are homeless, and diseases like cholera are starting to become a problem. Pray that aid and help will reach the people.
Continue to pray for peace in the troubled areas of the world. Pray that peace will come to Syria, Afghanistan, Yemen and Somalia.
For our prayer focus countries this week, let us pray for those who live in Cambodia and Jordan. Pray that many will come to know the love of Jesus.
Today, I would like us to focus our attention on the words of Jesus that are found in Matthew 12:33-37. I would particularly like us to focus on verses 36 and 37 which state, "But I tell you that every careless world that people speak, they will give an accounting for it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned."
I believe that this passage goes well with what we studied last week. In fact, in the beginning of this section, Jesus once again speaks about the fact that the words that people speak come from the heart. If a person has a heart that is filled with grace and love, their words will be words that encourage and lift others up. They will be words that bring honor to the Lord. On the other hand, if a person has a heart that is filled with hate and sin, that person's words will be destructive, and that person's speech will tear others down and bring dishonor to God and the things of God.
In this passage, Jesus gives the example of a tree. A tree if it is good will bring forth good fruit. If the tree it bad, the fruit that it produces will be poor as well. I know that this is true from my own experience.
When I was younger, I use to help my parents with the small orchard that they had in the field on the side of our house. For many years, the peach trees had magnificent peaches. They were delicious. However, the peaches gradually started to become of poor quality. No one was sure why, but the truth finally came out.
We noticed that sap was coming out of some small holes in the base of the tree trunks. The peach trees had peach bore and the trees were doomed. As the trees were dying inside, the fruit was becoming worse and worse until there was no more.
In the book of James, James said that if a person has a religion that is pure and true, one of the characteristics of that person will be that he is able to keep control of his tongue. Our speech reveals what is truly in our heart.
I've posted here on the blog in the past about the power of words. We can improve someone else's life with what we say, or we can cause great pain in the hearts of others.
When I was a young boy, I was sick almost all of the time as I was born with an immune system problem. All these years later I can still remember the nasty things that the people at the Christian school I went to said to me because I was sick. All these years later they can still come into my mind and make me feel bad.
In our passage today, Jesus says that we will have to give an account of what we have said on the day of judgment. This makes me reflect on how my words affect other people.
I hope that everyone who reads the sermon this week will join with me in paying particular attention that the words that we say. Let each of us pledge to speak words of kindness, love and goodness to others. Let us encourage others. Let us honor the Lord Jesus with what we say.
Let us not bring others down with discouraging words. Let us not call other people with whom we may disagree terrible and vile names. Let us not engage in speech that would bring dishonor to the Lord Jesus.
The only way that we can speak words that heal and help is if our hearts are right with the Lord. This starts with knowing Jesus as Lord. However, that is just the beginning. We must let the Lord Jesus have control of every part of our being. We must let Him live His life through us.
When we meditate upon the love of Jesus and commune with Him in prayer, we will draw closer to the Lord. When we read and study the words of Jesus, we will be able to see how He interacted with others. This will allow us to be imitators of the Lord Jesus. We will be able to speak the words that He would speak. We will be able to speak the words of love that flow out of a heart filled with the love of Jesus.
In the days and weeks to come, I would challenge all of us to do one thing. Let us each ask ourselves if Jesus would say what we are about to say. This requires that we stop and think before we speak. It forces us to analyze our lives in comparison to what the Lord expects. If the words that we are thinking about speaking don't align with what we believe Jesus would say, we should not speak. If they do align with what Jesus would say, then we should speak them as a help and an encouragement to others.
I hope that all of us will do better and better each day in watching over the words that we speak so that we will not be hurtful to others. Our words have the power to hurt, and our words have the power to help and heal. Let us speak the words that Jesus would have us say.
Next week, I plan to post the sermon on Friday. I will post the verses on Monday, and I hope to have a review on Wednesday. I may post another poem. May God bless you all. Amen.
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