Beacon Sunday Service: July 14th, 2024

I'll say uh good morning, church. And uh you know, it was uh as I was coming down Alvarado, it was really blocked, and so we were giving it a couple of minutes for people to get through and down here. Um I have uh a couple of pictures from last Sunday. So if you look at the screen, uh here's the uh group shot that we had at the picnic area. I had such a great time. Uh I'll give you just a second to look at some of those pictures there, and then uh just some of the uh the pictures as we were doing the service, a great time of eating and fellowship on top of that, and then uh game time uh this was the water blown uh for the team that lost, and uh and then there was uh of course the the time when we um Howard put the name uh the thing that they had to guess on the screen.

I would have never gotten this one, uh, but it was a pretty good it was about a genie and you can't I'm not giving you the whole video you know the fellowship uh if you had a chance if you had a chance this past week um to get and see the devotional, I'd put that video clip on there as well, and just to see the love that you have for one another, uh, and just to say, you know, keep it up. And so I'm gonna ask you to stand and let's greet each other, and we greet each other with that new testament saying grace and peace for the Lord Jesus Christ. You get God's grace, and that gives you his peace. So I'm gonna ask you to stand and let's greet each other with grace and peace.

All right, good morning, everyone, and welcome to the beacon. Again, so glad to have you here. If we could all just rise this morning for our call to worship this morning, uh we're gonna confess together Psalm chapter 96, verses 1 to 4. And so I'll read the first couple verses and then you guys will respond with the second uh two verses. Um essentially these verses are just talking about uh how greatly the Lord is to be praised, um, how he is supposed to be feared above all else, uh, and that we're just supposed to come before him to worship him. So let us all rise uh together and uh begin with this call. It says this let us sing to the Lord a new song. Sing to the Lord all the earth. Let us sing to the Lord and bless his name.

Let us tell of his salvation from day to day, and together, let us declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples, for great is the Lord and greatly to be praised. He is to be feared above all gods. Amen. And let us put him at the forefront of our minds today in everything that we do. May we praise him because he is worthy of our worship. Let's sing together this morning.

What wonders of wonders? What love is this? That Christ would die for me.

Oh foolish pride, be crucified. The work is finished. All my boast is in Jesus.

In what the cross has done.

Praise is now return. Rise up my soul and bless the Lord. Who else is worthy? All my boast is in Jesus. All my hope is his love. And I will glory forever in what the cross has done. Oh, praise the one. Oh, praise the one for blessed. Him alone my sour. And I will boast in nothing less than the love of Christ my Lord. Praise the one.

Praise one blessed him alone.

And I will boast in less than the love of Christ my Lord. I boast. I boast not in riches or strength or mind, but in the grace of God.

That I may know and all may see his power with me. All my boast is in Jesus. All my hope is his love. And I will glory forever in what the cross has done. Now I stand. Now I stand in his freedom. Ransom clean in his eye. And I cannot be ashamed for my boast is Jesus Christ. My post is Jesus Christ. Forever. My post is Jesus Christ.

Turn your eyes and turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in his wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strange lead in the light of his glory and grace. Turn your eyes and turn your eyes to the hill side. Justice and mercy embrace.

Behold you, our Savior ever true. Oh Jesus, we turn our eyes to you. Turn your eyes and turn your eyes to the and see Christ the lion away. What a glorious done. Fear of death is gone, for we carry his life in our way.

Behold you, our Savior ever true. Oh Jesus, we turn our eyes to you. Turn our eyes turn your eyes to the head. Our King will return for his own amen. Every knee will bow, every tongue will shout. All glory to Jesus alone. Jesus, to you we lived our eyes, Jesus, our glory and our price. Behold you, our Savior ever true. Oh Jesus, we turn our eyes to you, Jesus, to you we lift our eyes, Jesus, our glory and our price.

We adore you, behold you, our Savior ever true. Oh Jesus, we turn our eyes to you. Oh Jesus, we turn our eyes to you. May we continue to just turn our eyes upon Jesus. This morning we will confess our faith using a catechism for Christian growth. And in this question and answer, we'll confess whether God looks at our acts of worship, or the heart that's behind those acts. And so here's the question. As we relate to God, does God primarily regard our religious acts or the heart behind our worship? And together, God is righteously angry when we honor him with our lips. While our hearts are hearts far from him. Yes, that's what God desires from us is that our hearts are tuned to him.

And so as we continue to worship him this morning, let us do so. Worship him with our whole hearts. And just in this next song, um, we're gonna confess our sins after the song, but in the song also we are gonna confess as well. And I just want to read something that our worship team has been going over, and it just talks about why we need to confess our sins, and uh in this book, uh what happens when we worship, which I recommend to you guys, but um he quotes Martin Luther, and in it, Martin Luther has a phrase that says, Simul Justice et pecator, and what that means is that you're simultaneously justified and sinful. This is what we experience this side of heaven.

To neglect confession is to risk thinking we are sinless saints who have no need of God after all. So, yes, even if we are already Christians, we continue to be confessors as well. We are always becoming Christians again every day. Repentance and faith are always renewed daily, confession of and sorrow over, and turning from sin must all be part of the regular makeup of our lives. Let them therefore be part of the regular makeup of our worship as well. And so we come before the Lord uh this morning to corporately confess to him that we are sinners, and so uh may we do so in song and then in response today as we go into our confession of sin for what we have done and left on we fall on your cow less more of sins that are known and we call on your name so we and pride for closing our eyes for scorning our very neighbor in thower and zene, we fail to our king, how deeply we need, Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy what you have done for what you have done your life love, you perfectly live praise you tempt and try you fixed your eyes, you finish the word God on a tree a king among bees, you bred for a world retrafe to the end of merciful friend how pure and forever faithful sing of his mercy have mercy Christ have mercy Lord have mercy Lord have mercy Christ have mercy Lord have mercy Lord have mercy Christ have mercy Lord have mercy Lord have mercy Christ have mercy Lord have mercy for hearts that are hope hearts that are cold for seizing control for scorning our maker in thou word and deed we failed you are king how deeply we need a savor have mercy Christ have mercy Lord have mercy Lord have mercy Christ have mercy Lord have mercy Lord have mercy Christ have mercy Lord have mercy Lord have mercy Christ mercy Lord have mercy Lord have mercy Christy Lord have mercy honest Lord have mercy Christ have mercy Lord have mercy good morning church today's confession of sin is an in-depth reminder of everything Christ's death and shedding of blood covered on our behalf so together our Lord and Savior we have lived in open rebellion against your gracious rule, Lord Jesus, may we find redemption in your passion, the remission of our guilt in your condemnation, the cancellation of our curse in your cross, the satisfaction for our sins in your sacrifice, our purification in your blood, reconciliation to God in your descent to death, immortality in your resurrection, our inheritance in your ascension, and our hope in your second coming.

We believe, help us in our unbelief. Amen. Amen. Let us now take you may be seated. Let us now take a time of private confession of sin to our Lord and Savior.

The Lord is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in truth, to all or He hears our cry and saves us. Because of Christ's death and resurrection, our sins have been cast into the depths of the sea. Amen. Today's prayer request is an important one for our church. As you know, our pastoral search has been a long ongoing process, and we have an opportunity now. The Lord has provided somebody who wants to serve in our ministry. If you are a member of our church, you have the ability to vote on this pastor, this brother. Let's pray for conviction, for confidence in today's meeting and voting process, and that as you as a member are voting, that you see how the Lord is working in our ministry, what His will for our ministry is through this pastor, and that you have peace in your decision as we go through this voting process today.

So let's let's pray.

Father, we thank you for just answering our prayers for the past year and and months, Father. Um Lord, we have been looking for a pastor, we've been praying for one, and we have a brother that you have molded and and shaped for our ministry. We pray, Father, for our meeting today, our members' meeting, that as we go through our discussion and we vote on this brother, we pray, Father, that our church would be blessed, that a decision would be clear, convictions, and confidence, Father, in what we decide as a ministry, would allow us to glorify you and live our lives and lead our ministry according to your will. We pray, Father, for peace in our decision making today. We ask for you to bless our service.

Lift up Pastor Madison and fill them with the Holy Spirit as he brings the word today. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Children, you're dismissed for Sunday school. You're gonna be going with teacher Stephen and teacher Abraham. Have a good Sunday school. As they go, I'm gonna go over a few announcements. So today we have uh it's not a town hall, it's gonna actually be a specific members' meeting today. So if you are a member of the church, uh please uh join us for that meeting. It's mandatory. Uh lunch will be provided. If you are just a non-member, please join us for lunch. Feel free to eat. Uh, but afterwards, when we have our meeting, uh, we're gonna ask you to step outside of the sanctuary.

Um there's uh another announcement regarding children's ministry. If you are signed up uh to be a helper for children's ministry, so an assistant teacher, and you cannot make it, you are obligated. Uh, there's a list in the back to find a replacement. Please don't just uh blindly cancel and and you know, not show up and have us scramble the day of. But please find a replacement for yourself if you know ahead of time if you're not gonna be able to make it. Uh and lastly, uh offering options are a zel Vemo Cash and check. I'm gonna welcome Pastor Madison now. Hey, on the screen you can uh see some pictures, and I put uh the kind of the topic there on taming the tongue uh because in James chapter three, uh that's where he's going in these uh 11 verses.

But to give you some background, let me take you first to 2 Timothy 3, because this lays the foundation on why we do what we do and why every church should do what they do. It says this all scripture is inspired by God. So we we start there. The reason I have the Bible is God decided he wanted to convey to us his thoughts, his heart, and his desire for our lives. It's not it's not that man all of a sudden said, Wow, I just had a I had an experience with God. I think I'll write about it. No, I didn't that's not how the Bible came about. God said, I need to communicate with man and I need to communicate with him a way that he can trust what is said, and that it can be there for years to come until I come back.

So he says, it's profitable for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and for training in righteousness. So that he's gonna tell you why he gives the Bible. So that the man of God or woman of God, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. So the reason I have God's word is so that I can become mature, so that I can be complete the way God wants me to be. Mature believers, then, as we look at the book of James, chapter one, he says, Mature believers have endurance in the midst of trouble. So when things go bad, I have God's word to turn to, and if I'm maturing in the Lord, then I'm gonna grow in what he says here. Consider it great joy, my brothers, whenever you experience various trials, knowing that that the testing of your faith produces endurance, maturity.

And so as we open up James chapter one, he's saying, if you're mature, you're gonna have some endurance, and endurance must do its complete work so that you may be what? Mature and complete. So that's what God is, He's allowing difficulties in my life so that I can become mature, and I can become complete what he wants. And listen to me, that takes a lifetime. You know, you've seen it with your kids. You've seen little kids, and it's it's not you teach them the first time, and all of a sudden they're mature. It's okay, they learned uh they don't always just say what they think. When my daughter was a little gal, we we had a we had a guy in our church that just wanted to pick her up and hug her, and she was a little cutie, and he was this big guy about six, four, and deep voice, and she would just she would see this, he looked like Goliath, and as he would come, and then this big deep voice, and so she'd always run from him.

His wife, when she got sick, our daughter just wanted to hold her hand, go over there, and he couldn't figure out why does she? She's gonna hold my wife's hand, it had nothing to do with me. But later on, he had his car broken down and I wasn't available. He called our home. My wife takes our two kids, goes out to help pick him up and help him out there.

And he goes, hoy, dean. And you know what kids do when they're needing to grow up and needing to have maturity? He says, Hoy, Dean. And she looks at him, and she's probably a three or four-year-old, and she looks at him and she says, Your breath stinks. And my wife goes, what? And we say, we don't say things like you know, you don't come right out and see, because you're teaching them, it takes time to do what? Mature. And so God allows me to have trials so I can trust him for more. So I can become mature and complete. So mature believers have endurance in the midst of trouble. That's James chapter one. In James chapter two, they practice what they preach. Mature believers, don't say one thing and do something else.

James says it this way be doers of the word and not what? Hearers only. Don't just hear it. Hear it and do it. Practice what you preach. Speak and act, James chapter 2, verse 12 says, speak and act as those who will be judged. So mature believers, speak and act, understanding God's gonna hold us accountable. Or in James 2 18, but someone will say, You have faith, and I have works. Show me your faith without works, and I will show you faith. I will show you faith from my works. You're gonna know I have faith because my works will follow what God says to do. So I'll show you my faith from my works. So mature believers, James chapter one, have endurance and trouble. They practice what they preach, and in chapter three, they have power over the tongue.

I've already said, little kids, I give you an example of what our daughter said to this old uh godly man. And by the way, when she said that to him, he just roared with laughter with this deep, ho ho ho. Did you hear what she said? You know, and so it wasn't he didn't take offense. It was a godly man that realized, hey, kids are gonna be kids. So let's uh read James 3. Not many should become leaders or teachers, my brothers, knowing that we will receive a stricter judgment. So any time somebody gets up here to preach or teach, or anytime somebody's going to teach in our church setting, God says, hey, be cautious, because you're gonna be held more accountable. For we all stumble in many ways.

If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he's a mature man who is able also to control his whole body. Catch that area. If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a mature man. What did we say? Maturity. You have patience and trials. Remember those three things in James chapter one, then James chapter two. We practice what we preach. James chapter three. We can we have control over what? Our tongue. If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a mature man who is also able to control his whole body. He's a mature man. Now, when we put bits in the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we also guide the whole animal. And consider ships, though they're though very large and driven by fierce winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs.

So too. Though the tongue is a small part of the body, it boasts great things. Consider how large a forest a small fire ignites. And the tongue is a fire. The tongue, a world of unrighteousness is placed among the parts of our bodies. It pollutes the whole body, sets the course of life on fire, and is set on fire by hell. Every sea creature, reptile, bird, or animal is tamed and has been tamed by man. But no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. We praise our Lord and Father with it, and we curse men who are made in God's likeness with it. Praising and cursing come out of the same mouth. My brothers, these things should not be this way. Does a spring pour out sweet and bitter water from the same opening?

Can a fig tree produce olives, my brother? Or a grape vine produce figs? Neither can salt can a salt water spring yield fresh water. Here's the entire 12 verses. Here's the focus of the twelve verses. What's he gonna talk about? The tongue, the tongue, the tongue, the tongue, the mouth. In one case, it's the tongue of the horse. We put bits in the horse's mouths. So he says, What? The tongue is what? Powerful. I want you to catch that. This is what he's saying in this passage. Your tongue is powerful. You can destroy people with it. You can encourage people with it. You can share the gospel with it. Your tongue is powerful.

James gives us four pictures of the tongue and how it can be used. It's a picture of control. Here are four pictures. I want you to kind of just glance at them. Each one of them is going to be a picture of kind of what James gives in this passage. The first one is right here. Let me just draw this horse up, okay? A horse weighs at a minimum a maturity, depending on the horse and the breed. 750 pounds. On average, a thousand to 1,200 pounds. Years ago, I spoke at a conference in Michigan.

It was, well, it was a high school conference. I was traveling for Moody Bible Institute at the time. And so I was to speak at this high school camp for a week. It was 147 acres. And one church owned that 147 acres. And so there was a larger church, and they had a ton of high schoolers at the camp. They had their own horses. And they had a person on staff so that the kids could go horseback riding and everything. During the week, the person in charge of the horses said to me, hey, I you want to go horseback riding? Now, here's how much I knew about horseback riding. Nothing. You know, and but I'd always, you know, hey, that's something I'd like to do. Yeah, I yeah, I think I'd like to do that.

Now, this person that was in charge of the horses happened to be probably a 22-year-old young gal. And I was 23 at the time. And she's asking me to go horseback riding, and I sure let's go. And I get on the horse, and I and I'm asking her to adjust the stirrups so that I can lift myself off the saddle a little bit and not just be jarred to death when the horse is going thum. And she said, I've got the stirrups as high as they can get. And I'm still sitting on the side. I couldn't, I couldn't raise up at all, you know, to try to try to ease that, just hammering me. We start to go riding. What does a young guy do when a young gal is there? Man, he's got to be strong. He's gotta, and you can be dying, and what are you gonna say?

Nothing. She says, How you doing? And I said, Oh, fine. I'm I'm just being rattled to pieces up and down. And I'm thinking, okay, we're gonna, our horses are just gonna walk out to the field and into the woods and back. My horse is right behind her horse, and she gives her horse a kick and it takes off like a bullet. And my horse says, Oh, it's time for fun. And I'm just bouncing up and down, bouncing up and down, and I'm thinking, oh Lord, I need to get back to the barn. I need to get off this horse. She gets to the end of the field, and we go down a ravine, and so I'm going down like this. And then of course you hit the bottom, and when the horse hits the bottom, it goes boom and back up, and I'm like this.

I'm thinking, I'm dying here, Lord. I what am I gonna do? I get to the top of the ravine. She says, How you doing?

Does it pay to lie? You know, guys, I'm fine. You know, as we get back towards the barn, you know, she had given the horses some oats. You ever heard when a horse is feeling its oats? Oats, well, you just rile at that horse a little bit, and now they want to go back to the barn. Horses love to go back to the barn. You're gonna get off their back, they're gonna get more water, they're gonna get some more food, and so when they want to go back to the barn, what does the horse do? Boom, that horse is taken off, flow speed, and I'm just re I'm just going, oh Lord, what am I gonna do? We get back to the barn, I think, oh good. And in the barn area is a corral with jumps, you know, the the bars are raised at a given height, and her horse goes, and over the bar, and my horse go, oh my goodness, and up and over and I'm I said, okay, I I think I've had enough.

I I said, I don't dare to go any higher, and I got off in the horse. I would say to you, horses can be dangerous, and our tongues can be dangerous. I mean, think of how in our church now in Palmdale, we have we have a rancher, uh, who is very good friends of mine, and this rancher has a ranch three hours from our church. His ranch has three thousand acres, plenty of horses. He's always wanting me to go up there, and I have gone up many times. One time I take my son Titus that you met last week, and he's riding the horse. Well, he's riding the horse.

They're walking the horse, and he's pretty jazzed because he's sitting on a horse and it's moving. Then they said, and his wife said, Hey, we would would you like to ride? And my mind in the Rolodex goes back to the time when I was 23 and beaten to death on that horse. And I thought, sure, let's let's do it, you know. And I said, Can you adjust the stirrups? You know, so they're higher, so I can get off that that I learned that day, the best way, the the best people to ride horses end up bow-legged, so that you your legs can kind of bend around the horse, but he fixed the stirrups so I could stand up off the saddle, and the horse goes, and I'm I'm on the horse, and it's taken off, and it's and I'm trying to lift myself off the saddle again so that I don't get really beaten to death.

But every time the horse goes back down, what do my legs do? I'm on top of the horse standing as much as I can. And every time it goes up, I go up, and when it goes down, my ankles kick it right in the side. What does that tell a horse?

That horse is just, and I'm riding up and down, and so I'm pulling on the bit, which is saying, stop, and I'm kicking it in the side, which is saying go. And so I'm pulling and kicking and pulling and kicking. Listen to me. God gives you this picture of this tongue. And what does he say? See, while I was riding that horse, I felt like I was riding this horse. You know, I'm thinking, man, that horse is going, and I'm what am I gonna do? Look at. Here's the picture that God gives of our tongue, and he says, Behold, we put what? We put bits in the horse's mouth to do what? To control them. And what does he say? Look, your tongue can get out of control.

And I want, I want this very small bit to control the whole twelve hundred pounds of horse. Do you know how much your tongue weighs? It weighs about two ounces. Do you know how much your body weighs? Only you know that. But two ounces can control your whole body and really do wonderful things for God or destructive things on other people. And so here's what he says. Verse three. Now when we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we also guide the whole body. We put bits in to make them obey us.

We need to ask God to control our tongues. And that's where we go a lifetime with kids. You can't talk that way. Go apologize. And what do we do? We're trying to teach them. Look, this tongue, mature people do what? Control their tongue. Oh, but can I remind you what scripture says in this passage? The tongue can no man tame. Did you catch that? We've learned how to tame dolphins. We've learned how to tame lions and tigers. We've learned how to tame elephants. We've learned how to tame dogs or whatever. We've learned how to tame and train birds. You get a parrot and a parrot will talk away if you work with it.

But the tongue can no man tame. And what I'm wanting to warn you about is this tongue can be used to control things. Tongue is powerful. And there are four pictures that he's going to give us. The first picture is control. Just a small bit can be like a tongue.

The second picture is a picture of direction. The first picture he gives us in this passage is a picture of control. That bit is like that tongue. Let's just control things. Picture of direction. Which one? On the screen? You have four pictures. This is the one that I want you to see that he uses in the text. It's a picture of this giant sailboat. Ship. Do you know how much a ship weighs? You'd think a sailboat would really tend to be light because you need the wind to blow it across the water. Sailboats weigh more than almost any boat out there, because in the bottom, in the ballast, they just put lead in the ballast. And so in the ballast alone, you might have twelve thousand pounds to sixteen thousand pounds.

Do you know how much a car weighs? Two thousand to three thousand pounds, depending on how big or how small the car is. So let's say three thousand pounds, and the ballast on this weighs twelve thousand. So three thousand, let's say three thousand pounds on a car, you'd have four cars in the bottom of that boat. Why do you have so much weight there? Because when you raise the sail up forty five feet in the air, and the wind starts to blow on it, it's gonna tip that thing right over unless there's a ton of weight in the ballast. Let me show it to you this way. I'm gonna slide that boat up. In the middle is the heel, and it will keep it more balanced from tipping over. It's long, but in the back of the boat is this.

Look at it. This is the rudder. The rudder weighs about one hundred pounds. What does the ship weigh? Well, just in the ballast alone, you have twelve thousand to sixteen thousand pounds, plus the boat itself. So you're up at about twenty thousand pounds. How much does that rudder weigh? A hundred pounds. Nothing compared to the ship. But it gives direction to that ship. Just a small little thing gives direction to that ship where it turns. And here's what the text says. And consider ships. Though very large and driven by fierce winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs.

And that's how your tongue is.

And sometimes those kind words, and people say, I want that person around. And sometimes that hurtful word. Do you realize that kids can be destroyed by your words as parents? You'll remember what, you know, a school teacher. If they say, what on earth? This is terrible. And you begin to think you can't do anything right. Or they say something like, oh, you're doing so well in science. Have you ever thought about being a doctor? And all of a sudden that kid goes away thinking, wow, they think I can, they think I can do that. And they're encouraged by it. Let me uh go back here and say tongue is powerful, isn't it? And here are the pictures. One's a picture of control. We put bits in the horses' mouths, you know, and that becomes just like this tongue.

Just that small old thing. Your tongue's a small little thing, too. And it's a picture of control. It's a picture of direction. It's a picture of destruction. So what's the picture? Well, I guess both of the, I guess the other two we could also either be either one. So let me give you the one that he uses in the text and highlight it on the screen this way. Okay. It's fire. And it becomes a picture of destruction. Here's what the text says. So too, though the tongue is a small part of the body, it boasts great things. Consider how large a forest a small fire ignites. And the tongue is a what? It's a fire. The tongue, a world of unrighteousness, is placed among the parts of our bodies.

It pollutes the whole body. Sets the course of life on fire, and is set on fire by hell. And what do we know about hell? It's called the Lake of Fire. And your tongue can be used like fire to destroy your wife or your husband or your kids. So let me let me give you this illustration first so that you can see let me get away from the fire for a second. Okay? Let me just speak to guys for a second. And single guys, you can learn from this too, okay. When we talk about the tongue, I wish I had two things up here. I wish I had uh a big rock.

You know, something look at my hands. Something this big, you know, that weighs 50 to 75 pounds. And then I wished I had just a little little pebble, just a little stone. And what's interesting is when I say things to my wife at times, I think. And if I had that pebble, I'd reach over here and take it. And when I say something to my wife, I feel like I'm going. I let that pebble hit the floor, bink, you know. I'm making a statement, but it's just not, it's not a big deal. It's just, you know, I just made a small statement and I let it bink at the floor. And guys, what I want you to hear and see, single guys, too, is if I had that seventy-five-pound boulder, what my wife receives is not the pebble.

And if I could let a 75-pound boulder go and hit the floor right now, that's how your wife receives some of the words that you say.

Amen. Let's see. One, two, three. Because women know that. You know what's interesting is they did smile, knowing what I said can be true. And we have no idea what we said was so hurtful. But what is it here? The tongue is a fire. Let me show you this picture. This is Surrey Gardens Music Hall. And this is a picture that was sketched out back in 1856 when Charles Haddon Spurgeon was preaching at this garden. Let me have these words come on the screen. At the age of 22, Charles Spurgeon almost quit the ministry.

He and his wife, Susanna, had been married less than one year. Their sons, Charles and Thomas, were infants. Eleven months after they were married. They had twins. After three years in the big city, Spurgeon's ministry had solicited the envy of opponents, admiration from evangelicals, criticism from the press. Susanna often hid the morning newspaper to prevent Charles from reading its headlines. The evening of October 19th commenced a season of unusual suffering for Spurgeon. His popularity had forced the rental of Surrey Garden Music Hall to hold the 12,000 people congregated inside. 10,000 eager listeners stood outside the building, scrambling to hear his sermon. The event constituted one of the largest crowds gathered to hear a preacher.

Did you hear that? How old was Spurgeon at the time? Twenty two.

Can you imagine? Here's a guy that God's power was on his life. Twelve thousand people were gathered. You know, if I were to compare that to, let's say, Dr. John MacArthur. When he was twenty two, he was still in college. He had to go to seminary yet. He would eventually go to the church that he pastors today, and they run 10 to 15,000 people today, but he's been there 50 years. Didn't start out that way. Do you know something? John MacArthur's, do you know who's I want to tell you? Do you know who his secretary was? When he started at the church in Vanderana City area, his secretary. Her husband was the former senior pastor of the church. He's gone.

And now she's John MacArthur's secretary. Their church had such turmoil in the early years. Their church was Arminian in theology. Pastor MacArthur came in teaching people that God is sovereign. God is in control. God chooses. God can do whatever he wants. And there were people that didn't like that. People would write notes after notes after notes. And you know who would see them? His secretary. And so on Monday, she'd come in, she'd get these notes and the offering plates, and they were going right at him. And she said, this guy's a young guy. He's a young pastor. He needs to mature. In the trash. All the negative comments. Because she was just this godly woman who had been a pastor's wife and understood.

I need to protect this young guy. Because words can what? Destroy. Susanna, Spurgeon, his wife, did the same thing. She hid the newspaper. But on this occasion, 12,000 people are there to hear him preach. Let me put on the screen. A few minutes after 6 o'clock. The sermon's going to get underway and stuff. Someone in the audience shouted, fire! The galleries are giving way. The place is falling. Pandemonium ensued as the balcony collapsed because everybody in the balcony ran over to one side to get down the stairway, and all the weight of those people all at once collapsed the balcony. Those trying to get into the building, the 10,000 people that were outside the building that wanted to hear a sermon, they're blocking the door.

Those trying to get into the building blocked the exit, and those fighting to escape. Spurgeon attempted to quell the commotion, but to no avail. Let me highlight it here. Just to set the record straight, there wasn't a fire. However, seven people were killed in the chaos, and many people were injured. And look at the screen. Here's what I want you to see. The tongue is what? A fire. What does God's word say? The tongue is a fire. It can destroy. Because look at on the screen. Okay, it's a fire. The tongue is powerful. And there are four pictures, remember? And the picture. One is control. We put bits in the horse's mouths. One is a picture of direction, that rudder on that ship.

One is a picture of destruction. It's fire. It can destroy. And one is a picture of death. Here's what I use for that. I can't imagine someone wanting to kiss a cobra. I have to think. I know that people really do this. But if I were going to do something like that, I'd take a snake like that that's dead, that's been mounted, and I put it on the table or something, and it couldn't move anyway, and I'd bend down and say, see, I can kiss that thing, you know, but I wouldn't I don't want anything to do with snakes. Do you? Here's what the text look at this. You know. If you're going to be around snakes, when I started the church in Palmdale, a family started coming to our church.

Their son loved snakes.

He ended up in the Air Force. He graduated from the Air Force Academy, homeschooled and everything else. But he loves snakes as a little kid. I go over to their house to visit with the parents and Peter. Peter Bongan is his name. And Peter's playing with a rosy boa. And he's really enjoying it. But I don't know that. And he's right behind me. And he's going to want to drop it in my lap. Well, about the only kind of a good snake to me. The only good snake is a dead snake. And he's right behind me with this. And his dad goes.

No. And I look behind, and here's this snake. And I'm thinking, and he said, Yeah, the only thing you have to do is, you know, like with snakes, before you really handle them a lot, you make sure they're well fed. So that they don't think that you're going to be food. The second thing that Peter told me is you after you feed them, you put the little mice in, you feed them. Then you wash your hands thoroughly. So they don't smell like mice or rats. Because they think your hand is, oh, more food. What happens? Let me put on the screen here. Every sea creature, reptile, bird, or animal is tamed. It has been tamed by man.

But no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of what? Deadly poison. Did you see that picture? Your tongue. Do you want to destroy your kids? That's why it warns us as dads. Fathers, don't provoke your children to wrath. Don't discourage them that way. He goes in Ephesians. Our words can be deadly.

They'll stick with your kids the rest of their lives. Let's be giving words. Well, Psalm 140 says it this way. Rescue me, Lord, from evil men. Keep me safe from violent men who plan evil in their hearts. They stir up wars against wars all day long. They make their tongues as sharp as a snake's bite. God's word is warning you about that. This is quoted again in Romans chapter 3. You know Romans 3 10, as it is written, there is no one righteous, not even one. There's no one who understands. There is no one who seeks God. All have turned away. All alike have become useless. There is no one who does what is good, not even one. Their throat is an open grave. They deceive with their tongues. Vipers of venom is under their lips.

Look, he's just warning us. These are the pictures. Let's use our words. Yeah, the control. It's like a bit in the horse's mouth. Let's use our words to really bring control to people. Matthew 15 is what Howard had us look at in verse 8 earlier. Verses 17 and 18. Don't you realize that whatever goes into a mouth passes into the stomach and is eliminated? But what comes out of the mouth comes from the heart defiles a man? So mature Christians control their what? Tongues.

Or using it for destruction. Or to wound, kill some great possibilities that your kids have. That your husband has.

Yet we don't even use the one tongue we have to sing your praise or to bring you glory. While your heads are bowed. Can you say, Lord, help me to use my tongue for your glory this week? With my wife, with my husband, with our kids, with my neighbor, or the people that I see for we pray this in Christ's name? Amen. Let's all rise and respond and worship. What a great reminder. Just the great power that the tongue has. May we now in one voice just sing to the Lord and worship him.

And just be reminded throughout this week to speak. Wise with the things that we speak. Just have words that would be full of grace. Let's sing together now.

It is my story, my father's plan.

Now and forever my life I stand in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

All else I count as laws for them where justice and mercy save me on the cross.

In what I can bring. No more I carry the weight of sin. For he has brought me from death to life.

The NC to still speaks.

I too rise.

In this gospel. And in this gospel, the church is one. We do not walk alone. We have his spirit as we press on to lead us safely. And winning glory still I will see of this soul story that rescued me. Praise to my Savior, the King of life. I said in the gospel of Jesus Christ. And winning glory still I will see. Of this soul story that rescued me. Praise to my Savior, the King of life. I stand in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Praise to my Savior. I stand in the gospel of Jesus Christ. I stand in the gospel of Jesus Christ. I was uh worshiping and singing, and I'm I'm I'm standing in the gospel of Jesus Christ, and Howard looks at me like, okay, you can pray now. Because I just was caught up in worship. Thank you for that. Let's pray together. Oh Father, thank you for your music that you give to us and for your word that never fails and is a light to our path, a lamp there for us. We're praying that we'll follow in that way. Now, Father, would you bless as we have uh meeting of members and calling uh perhaps of the next pastor?

Would you guide in that time? And then, Father, as we close our time in prayer, we want to pray for our country, and you know the effects of someone attempting to shoot our former president. We're praying, Father, for our president today, and whoever becomes the president in the election this fall. Would you turn our country to seek your face?

Amen. God bless.