Did you happen to notice in that clip (http://www.wingclips.com/movie-clips/stepmom/want-me-to-hate-her)-when Susan Sarandons character said those hateful words to Julia Roberts character at the end-how that cut like a knife? Did you see her bow her head and just kind of hold her chest? We have all been on the giving and receiving end of hurtful words. There have been words spoken to you that have wounded you, and you feel the effects of those words years later, words spoken in hate, words spoken in anger, words spoken that were lies, and theyve cut to your soul. We have all contributed as well. Weve all said words that were wrong. Weve all gossiped, slandered, and said mean-spirited things. This morning, James is going to tell us what we already know, and thats the tongue is a weapon. It can be used for good; it can be used to build up, or it can be used to tear down. It can be used to bless, or it can be used to curse. It can be used to help, or it can be used to destroy. It can help channel our lives in a positive direction or in a negative direction. Lets open our Bibles up to James 3 (page 1197), and lets see what he has to say. Were going to read it together, and then were going to look at an example from Scripture of somebody thats very familiar to us, a name thats very familiar to us in a chapter in his life when the words coming out of his mouth and the direction of his mouth did not honor God. James 3, Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. That verse is for me, and its not a fun verse, but lets move on to talk about you. 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. Two weeks ago, we were teasing you saying, You can play hooky in two weeks because were going to talk about taming the tongue and since that is not a problem for any of you, just play hooky that week, but you showed up anyway because you knew I spoke in jest. He says we all stumble in many ways. Some of us gossip. Some of us say hate-filled, mean-spirited words. Some of us might say deceitful words, slanderous words, but all of us stumble in many ways with our tongue; and he says if you dont, youre perfect. I know some of you, and I know youre not perfect. I trust that those of you who I dont know, youre not perfect either; so we are definitely in the right place this morning. He says if you can control your tongue, you can control your whole body. (Verse 3), …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. Likewise the tongue…makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. Anybody here ever said a word, a phrase, and it caught fire, spread, and it did destruction? Let me see your hands. Something you said just began to spread and take on a life of its own. You found out it was a whole lot easier to start a fire than to put one out. He said, Thats what the tongue can do. It can start a fire that can spread and do damage. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. We think of hell. You need to understand hell was also a literal place. It was the place called Gahanna. It was a garbage dump that burned outside Jerusalem 24/7. It was a source of everything unclean and putrid. It was where people brought their refuge and their garbage. He makes a comparison. He said the tongue can be like that. It can be like this garbage dumb. It can be like Gahanna; it can be this place that is unclean, this place of filth. He said sometimes our tongues can be like that. (Verse 7), All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With our tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in Gods likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water. James says though this is the way it is, its not the way it should be. You think if something is inevitable and we all succumb to it-we just throw in the towel and say, Its just the way it is. Thats the way life is. Im just going to give up. Some people do that with sin, and it becomes their excuse. Well, you know, we all sin. We all have shortcomings, so this is mine. We all stumble in many ways with our tongue, so we might as well just accept that. This is my weakness. This is my vice. James says thats not the way it should be. If you name the name of Christ, then what comes out of your mouth should be consistent with whose name you claim. Now, notice in this Passage that James talks a lot about the problems, but he doesnt talk a lot about the solution, right? Have you noticed that? He paints a pretty negative portrait of what the tongue can do. By the way, everything negative can also be a positive. As the tongue can tear down, it can lift up. As it can speak words that are corrupt, it can speak words that edify. As it can speak curses, so it can speak blessings. As it can speak despair and fear, it can speak faith and hope. So many words that were spoken positively have changed the courses of nations and churches, so the tongue can be used for good as well as for evil, but James is focusing on the evil side right now. Hes not helping us with the solution. Hes not saying, Well, heres the cure, so thats where were going to spend our time. Were going to spend our time this morning talking about the cure. Is it just changing our words? Is it that easy? Just exercise more willpower; if youve been gossiping, stop it. If youve said hateful things, stop it. If youve said deceitful things, stop it. Is that all it is, a matter of just stopping it? No. Jesus tells us its much deeper than that. If we do that, all we are doing is treating the symptoms and not the cause; so you want to treat the root cause, and what is the root cause of what comes out of our mouths when its bad, when its negative? What is the root cause? Jesus tells us. Some of you are pointing-you know what Im talking about. Luke 6:45 (page 1021), Jesus is speaking. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart, his mouth speaks. What comes out of our mouths is a reflection of what is in our hearts. We have all heard people on the television-maybe a political figure or some sort of celebrity-say something, and they put their foot in their mouths. They say something bad, and then they come on and retract it, Thats not what I really meant. It was misinterpreted. Sometimes you listen to the quote again, and youll say, Yeah, thats really what you meant. Thats really what you said when you were angry because out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks; so if we really want to change our words, what must we change? We must change our hearts. Weve already established that we cannot change our hearts, havent we? You can change your outward appearance. You can change your hair; you can put on new clothes; you can get a makeover or whatever it is, but you cant change your heart. You cant do that. You need outside intervention to change your heart. Yet, even though God is the one who changes our hearts, we have part to play. The part we have to play is called the CAT Principle. Anybody like cats here today? Any cat lovers? Two of you? Wow (congregation laughing). You are not going to babysit my cat. The CAT Principle is this: when were having a negative day, and things coming out of our mouths are negative, that has a synergistic effect, doesnt it? In other words, something bad happens, and we have a belief that we enter into that this is a bad day. Therefore, everything negative that happens to us feeds into that core belief that this is going to be a bad day. Then we start to say negative things about our day. Why me? Why does this always happen to me? I guess this is just the kind of day Im going to have. Then it just continues to cycle like that, right? The more negativity that comes out of our mouths, the more bad things that happen; it just seems like a downward spiral. Some people have taken the faith and confession movement and just thrown it out of the church. They say, Oh, you know, those name it, claim it people, those blab it, grab it people, they say if you just confess, youll have it, and we just discard it; but you know there is power with confession. Did you know that confession is part of your salvation? Its a very important part of your salvation? What does Roman 10:8-10 say? Lets go ahead and look at that (page 1121 of pew Bibles). What does it say? The Word is near you. It is in your mouth. It is in your heart. That is the Word of faith we are proclaiming. If you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with the heart that you believe and are justified. It is with the mouth that you confess and are saved, so our confession-our words-solidify that promise; so we see that synergistic effect in our words to the positive or the negative. I was having one of those days-it started off with a phone call. It was an investment company that wed been trying to get money from for a long time. Its our money. They keep delaying sending it. I had the conversation, Could you please send it to us from direct deposit? I need this. Tuition is coming. We were supposed to have this a while ago. Well, were going to need paperwork, Sir, for a direct deposit. Well, Ive already received direct deposits from you, so therefore you must have my information. Otherwise, I could not get direct deposit. It wasnt registering with the lady on the phone; so then I went to another phone call, and that was not a good phone call. Right away, Im thinking, Oh, one of those days, ha? We go out to eat at one of my favorite restaurants, Red Robin, and I plug them in hopes that Ill get free food. It was Brenda, Brett and me. Then we were going to have a nice lunch, and then he and I were going to go play golf. I cant even say I play golf. Im there, but I am terrible. There is another word for when I play besides golf-butchery or something; but were getting ready to go, I get in the car, and the car doesnt start. I was like, Great! This is great! This car has always started. Now, today, on this day when were supposed to go out, now it doesnt start. What a day! I call AAA. They said theyd be there in ten hours. We went in the restaurant, and they said, What are you still doing here? I said, The car wont start. Its one of those days! Its just my luck today! Then all of the sudden, it was like, Wait a second! What are you doing? What are you going to preach about this weekend-this very thing? Here you are doing that! The more I spoke negatively, the crummier my attitude became. It seemed like every bad thing that happened, I attributed it to, Oh, its just one of those days! Why me? This is the way its supposed to be! I began to think, Man, you better start practicing what you preach. I said, I have to practice some CAT here! CAT is confession, adoration, and thanksgiving. It starts with confession. I began to confess to God my bad attitude, Lord, my attitude stinks today! This weekend, Im going to get up in front of our church, and Im going to preach on the words coming out of our mouths; and look whats coming out of mine! I prayed a prayer of confession. Then I began to practice adoration and thanksgiving. I began to think about the blessings of God, my blessings, the things Ive received, and give Him thanks for those things. I began to think, Here I am, and Im upset because my car wont start, but you know what? I have a car. There are a lot of people who dont have cars that would like to have cars. Whats more I broke down in a safe place. Im not on the interstate somewhere. Im not at a busy intersection. Im in the restaurant in my hometown parking lot. Im safe. Number three, help is on the way. Somebody is either going to come and start my car or take it to where it can get served. Help is on the way. Im not stranded somewhere in the middle of the desert or out at night with nobody around. Help is on the way. Fourthly, its a beautiful day. Theres sunshine. Theres a breeze, and theres even a tree right here. Theres shade. There are a lot worse things that can happen to you than to sit under the shade of a tree on a sunny day for a little while. I began to think, Well, you know, there are some phone calls I need to make too. There are some people I have not talked to in a while. I got out my Blueberry and started to talk, make those phone calls. The next thing you know, the day didnt seem so bad. The workers got there from AAA. There were a couple of nice guys. They had smiles on their faces; they were happy and in a good mood. They jumped the car, and the next thing you know, we were on our way to the golf course. What a change. My circumstances hadnt changed, but my perspective had changed because I began to practice CAT-confession, adoration, thanksgiving. I began to think about what I have, not what I dont have. The next thing you know, the words that came out of my mouth were positive words. See, in a synergistic event, I started to believe, Well, maybe this day isnt doomed. Maybe its just my bad attitude. Some of you are saying, Well, you know, its easy when your car doesnt start, so thats not a big deal, but Ive gone through catastrophe in my life. Ive gone through crisis. Will this work when theres crisis, when something major happens? Lets turn in our Bibles to the Book of 1 Samuel 27. David, at this point in his life, is on the run. David is a young man. [The story of] David and Goliath is responsible for how he rose to prominence. He was anointed as a child to be king by Samuel. Now hes a young man, and he loves his country. He loves his people, but King Saul is jealous of him, and King Saul wants him dead. Saul is the most powerful man in the world. King Saul is relentless in his attacks. Twice God has delivered Saul into Davids hands, but David chose not to take his life. He said, I will not raise my hand against the Lords anointing, so David did not take Sauls life. David continued to be on the run. Sometimes when attacks are relentless, you and I know that we enter into periods of discouragement-when it just seems like life keeps giving you blow after blow, it just seems to never let up. Its relentless. You get discouraged. When we get discouraged, we begin to get negative. We began to think negatively, and negative things begin coming out of our mouths. This is where David is, in this period. Look at Verse 1 of Chapter 27 (page 290 of pew Bibles), But David thought to himself, One of these days I will be destroyed by the hand of Saul… Was that true? If thats true, then God is a liar because God promised David that he would be king through the Prophet Samuel. How are you going to be king if youre dead? God had already shown His miraculous hand of protection on David. David had forgotten the promise. Sometimes when attacks are relentless, we forget the promise; and thats what happened to David. He became discouraged, and he forgot the promise. He began to speak the opposite of the promise, Saul is going to destroy me. In other words, God will not keep His promise. I will not be king. Saul is going to kill me. The best thing I can do is to escape to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will give up searching for me anywhere in Israel, and I will slip out of his hand. Remember who the Philistines are? Goliath was a Philistine. The Philistines are the enemy of Israel. So now he is in such a negative state of mind that he thinks the only solution is to go and camp with the enemy. Friends, when we are in that discouraged, negative state, thats when we compromise. Thats when we sleep with the enemy. Thats when we become comfortable with sin. Thats when we go places we shouldnt go and partner with people we shouldnt partner with-when we get in that state of mind. Thats the state of mind David finds himself in. He finds himself in the camp of the enemy. Now in order to receive David, David has to do a good acting job. David has to convince the king, whose name is Achish, Im on your side. Im one of you now. I no longer want to live in Israel, which is not the case. He just simply wants to escape Saul, so he has to convince the king that hes on their side. In order to do that, hes going to lie to him; so more negative words and untruths are going to come out of his mouth. Now Achish gives David and his men-there are about 600 of them-a city named Ziklag. Ziklag is in the southern territory, and there David will be able to operate and carry on his activities and anonymity. Saul will not look for him because hes in another country, another jurisdiction; so he will be able to live out his days in peace and quiet until Saul dies. Then hes going to return home; thats his plan. So they live in the city of Ziklag, and for over a year, everything is going well until one day it all crumbles apart. Look at Verse 10, When Achish asked, Where did you go raiding today? Isnt that an interesting question-[it wasnt him saying], What did you do today? I guess when youre a future king, its like, Where did you go raid today? Who did you pillage today? David would say, Against the Negev of Judah. Judah is his home country. Its a southern kingdom, but we know from this story thats now where he went. He fought against the Amalekites, and he raided from the Amalekites, but he tells the king, Oh, I went against my own people. I raided villages of Judah. Then what David did was despicable. Because he didnt want any survivors to tell what he had done-he didnt want his lie to be found out-he has those people killed off. Its despicable. They were unprovoked attacks. God did not tell David to do this. David did it of his own accord, unprovoked. He doesnt want anybody to get back to Achish the truth, that he didnt go to Judah at all. He went to the Amalekites, so he killed off all witnesses. Dead men dont talk. David now is lying to King Achish. His words and his actions are putting his life in a downward spiral, and things are going to go from bad to worse. Achish believes him, and in Chapter 28:1 (page 291), it says, In those days the Philistines gathered their forces to fight against Israel. His own country, his own people-the people that he will one day rule! Achish said to David, You must understand that you and your men will accompany me in the army. Youre going to fight against your own people. Then David said, Then you will see for yourself what your servant can do. Now, what will David do? Will he fight against Israel? We dont know, but Achish replied, Very well, I will make you my bodyguard for life. Youre going to be my bodyguard. Youre going to serve in the place of trust. Its the bodyguards job of the king to do the dirty work; so if they were to conquer Israel, they would execute King Saul. Guess who would do it? David would. So the very thing he has tried to avoid-raising his hand against King Saul-because of his lying and because of his compromise, he is now in a position where potentially he might have to kill the king; but it doesnt happen because one, they get ready to go to battle, the other Philistines see David and his men. They say, What are those Hebrews doing here? We dont trust them. As soon as we come to the battle, theyre going to turn on us! Theyre not going to be on our side! The king said, Oh, no. Hes a good guy! Hes on our side. You dont know him like I know him. The generals say, Were not going to go to battle while David is in our ranks. The king goes to David and says, Listen, youre my friend. I trust you. I know youre one of us, but the men wont go to battle with you here, so you and your men need to go back to Ziklag, so thats what they do. They camp out, and the next day they head back to Ziklag. As they approach their village, they smell smoke-not just a little bit of smoke like from a campfire, but smoke like something has been burned down, smoke like there is a serious fire. As they get closer to the village, they realize the smoke and the sound of fire is coming from their village. Its coming from Ziklag, so they begin to run. When they enter into the clearing, they look at their city; and everything has been ransacked and pillaged. The houses are ruble and charred. Their wives, their sons, their daughters, their livestock, and their possessions are all gone. Nothing of value has been left behind. Now, would this qualify as a bad day? Those of you who thought the car not starting didnt qualify, does this qualify? Could this be a bad day? Look at 1 Samuel 30:3, When David and his men came to Ziklag, they found it destroyed by fire and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive. So David and his men wept aloud until they had no strength left to weep. Have you ever been there, been where you had no strength left to weep? Have you had a Ziklag experience in your life? Im sure you have. I am sure you have been in that place of despair, that place of ruin where it seems like life will never be the same again, where it seems like hopes and dreams have been dashed. If there were ever a time to get negative, its right here in Ziklag, right? If there ever was a time for David to curse God, if there was ever a time for David to curse himself and say, I brought this on myself, because he did, the country were going to find out in this story who came and invaded was the Amalekites, the same people that he had raided unprovoked, without cause. They now came and raided his village and plundered his city. It came back to roost. They are devastated. Matters are going to get worse. Verse 6 says, David was greatly distressed because the men were talking about stoning him; each one was bitter in spirit because of his sons and daughters. Youd think it couldnt get any worse. Your wives are gone. Your children are gone. Your friends wives and children are gone. Your possessions are gone; your homes have been destroyed, and now your colleagues-your friends, the men you go to battle with-want to take your life as well. They blame you for the calamity and the riot. If there were ever a time for David to become negative, this is it; but what happens in this lowest of the lows. What does he do? Look at the end of the verse, But David found strength in the Lord his God. When David finally reached that bottom there in Ziklag, he began to turn things around. Though were not privileged to read his prayer or his words, all we have is this summary phrase, we know what he did because we know Davids pattern. In the Book of Psalms, we can read what David does. What would David do when he was discouraged, sad, defeated, and at a low point? He would practice CAT. He would confess, he would begin to adore God, and he would offer thanks. Isnt that what he did? Every time! So after David spends time with God, he looks up. Instead of wanting to take his life, instead of saying, Yeah, youre right. Kill me! I dont deserve to live! Or, God, how could You let this happen? You must hate me! Instead, David speaks to God and says, Lets go get our families back. God is with us. Lets go and restore what has been taken. That, friends, is what God wants to do in your Ziklag experience. He doesnt want you to stay in there crying and weeping. He wants you to raise your head and say, Im going to pursue my calling. Im going to pursue my dream. Im going to pursue what God has called me to do. Im going to take back what has been taken from me. When youve had those experiences with God, it changes you. His circumstances had not changed one iota. His family was still missing. His village was still plundered; yet his perspective had changed. He recognized that God was still there, and God was with him; and he began to pursue what had been taken. I bet you it was something like what the Psalmist did in Psalm 42. Why dont you turn to Psalm 42 with me? The Psalmist here has experienced a loss. We dont know exactly what has happened, but the Psalmist has gone through a Ziklag experience. Were going to see in this Psalm some negative words that they had spoken. Theyre going to remind themselves of the words they used to speak. Were going to see how through confession, adoration, and thanksgiving, the Psalmists hope begins to change. The synergy and the positive direction begin to change. Renewed hope or renewed optimism about the future is going to take hold. Verse 1 (page 556), As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? My tears have been my food day and night, while men say to me all day long, Where is your God? This is Ziklag. This is a time of weeping. This is a time when you question, Where is God? If God were here, if God loved us, how could this happen? Youre tempted to get negative. He said, These things I remember as I pour out my soul: how I used to go with the multitude, leading the procession to the house of God, with shouts of joy and thanksgiving among the festive throng. He remembered happy times. People were weeping that day. David and his men were weeping because they remembered their wives. They remembered their children. They remembered their happy times as a family-sharing a meal, playing a game, and laughing together. Now thats gone, so they would weep. He remembers those happy times in his life. Then he asks a question. He says, Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God. He begins to remember who God is and what He has done. My soul is downcast within me; therefore I will remember you from the land of the Jordan, the heights of Hermon-from Mount Mizar. These are places of no significance to anybody else but the Psalmist-nothing significant theologically or Biblically happened in these locations. He is simply remembering places where he experienced the presence of God-at that mountain, in that valley, in that place. You might say, In that garden, by that stream, during that storm, some physical place where you remembered the presence of God. Hes recalling that. Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me. He begins to be enveloped by the presence of God. By day the Lord directs His love, at night His song is with me-a prayer to the God of my life. I will say to God my Rock… Now he begins to speak words of affirmation and hope because he recalls what he used to say. Heres what he used to say, Why have you forgotten me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy? Why do all these bad things happen to me? My bones suffer mortal agony as my foes taunt me, saying to me all day long, Where is your God? Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God. He begins to acknowledge who his help is. He begins to adore the living God. His optimism arises in his spirit. He beings to look with new hope to the future. Friends, I want to pray for you who are in those Ziklag experiences right now. I want to pray that youll not stay there, youll not live there, youll not put up a tent there in the ruins and begin to speak negatively and believe negatively. Youll begin to confess the promises of God. What happens as I confess the promises of God? God changes my heart. As He changes my heart, then He changes my words, and its circular. The more He changes my words, the more I speak His promises and His blessings. The more He changes my heart through His Spirit and through His Word, it begins to change my attitude. It begins to change my perspective. As we go to prayer, Id like every head bowed, every eye closed. How many of you right now would say, Pastor, Ive been going through some Ziklag experiences in my life, and Id like prayer today? Ive been negative. Let me see your hands. Ive been negative and I want to turn that around. All over this place (Pastor is looking out into the congregation). Father, I want to pray first of all for those hands that have been raised this morning. They are being honest, and they are saying, Ive been negative. Ive spoke negatively. I have let my tongue chart the course of my life rather than Your promise. Davids circumstances were because he became discouraged. As he became discouraged, he found comfort in the enemy. He left his home; he forsook the promise. Lord, some of those hands are people that are discouraged today. Lord, sometimes in discouragement, we forget who we belong to. We forget the promise. Remind them today of whose they are and whom they serve. Lord, cause their eyes to be lifted off the smoking ruins, to pursue the dreams and the callings You have for them, to know there is no higher calling in their lives than loving and serving the living God. At the lowest of the low points for David, he remembered whom he belonged to. He encouraged himself in the Lord his God. My prayer for them is that they too would be encouraged today. They began to tame their tongue. We tame our tongue by confessing sin, by confessing Your Word, by praise, worship, adoring You, and by giving thanks. In those ways, we tame our tongues. We bring it in subjection, in alignment, with the Word of God. I pray that You would change our perspective. Give us hearts of faith; as You change our hearts, You will change our words. We will speak words of hope and life-even in desperate situations because we have a God who is greater than any situation that we face. In Jesus name, we pray, Amen.