For those who couldn’t make it to the November lounge church here are the notes from the message that was given on the night.
If I’m really serious about making the world a better place I must start with me. To make a difference I must be different. – Rick Warren.
The most powerful weapon we will ever use is our tongues. No other weapon in man kinds arsenal has the ability to encourage and build us up as quickly as it can decimate and destroy. One thoughtless, angry carnal moment can cause years of hurt and torment. One ill thought outburst can de rail a persons vision and purpose. The devil loves it when we tear each other down because when we do, we are doing the devils job for him. All the devil has to do is sit back and watch the lies and the filth take root in that persons life.
Proverbs 18:14 NLT
The human spirit can endure a sick body,
but who can bear a crushed spirit?
We leave a carnal foot print on the lives of those around us when we respond in the flesh with words or actions that tear down and destroy. A carnal foot print left to sit and fester begins to make deep roots in a persons life. They destroy a persons ability to dream and what they are left with is the devil whispering the words you spoke in there ear. Every time that person try’s to stand up the devil taps them on the shoulder and repeats the words YOU spoke. The tiniest snide or condescending comment made at the wrong time can be the final nail in the coffin for someone who has been hurting and struggling for a long time. The comment often means nothing to the person speaking it. As a matter of fact that person often walks away having no knowledge of the damage they have just unleashed in that persons life. Think about it this way. When someone is already hurting an arrogant or rude comment coming from someone they usually trust and love only adds to the hurt they are already experiencing. Everyone has a breaking point and if we as believers are not guarding our tongues when we speak into the lives of those around us we can end up being the catalyst for someone’s breakdown.
These hurtful words and actions originate initially as thoughts that we develop as we observe people and situations. We see something that annoys us and if your heart isn’t aligned with the Holy Spirit at that particular moment our first carnal instinct is to start placing bullets in our clip ensuring that we are ready to fire. The annoying behavior continues so we slide the clip into the gun ( the gun representing yourtongue ) and depending on your mood you either fire off a few shots or you really ignore God and unload an entire clip on someone.
There are three main areas in our lives where we need to reduce our carnal foot print.
- In our thoughts
Have you ever said something hurtful to someone and then in your regret asked yourself the questions “where did that come from?” “What is wrong with me?” Well the answer is simple. It came from you, and more specifically it came from your unguarded thoughts. If we can learn to catch ourselves when we start to think something about someone that we shouldn’t be thinking. We can often stop ourselves from ever letting those thoughts get to the next stage. This is why it is so important to continually guard our hearts. If your heart is wrapped in Gods love and Gods grace you’ll find yourself doing more encouraging withyour words then using them to degrade and tear down. More often then not the people we tend to lash out at the most are those closest to us. What really bothers me about this is that most of the time we lash out at people for doing the stupid things we already know they are prone to doing. We are so quick to lose patience and tell the person how stupid they are. If we could just for a second stop and remember how much patience God has with us. If we could just for a second stop and think about how much grace God has extended to us through all the stupid, insensitive and hurtful things we do to Him. Not one of us in this room deserves the grace that is allotted to us. But he gives it anyway. Not one of us in this room deserves the unconditional love that God gives to us, but He gives it anyway. Not one of us in this room deserves the forgiveness that God gives us, but He gives it anyway. This is why it is so vital to guard our hearts and watch what we allow ourselves to think. Our thoughts are just as powerful as our words. We often let unclean thoughts linger because we think no one will know. If these thoughts are left to linger long enough they start to become words and they start to change the way we interact which leads us to start relying on our carnal nature rather then our Godly nature .. which leads me to the next point.
- In our words
Our words can speak life as quickly as they can speak death but a word of encouragement can be like that first breath of oxygen to someone who has just been saved from drowning. If our heart reveals what’s really inside us then our words reveal who we really are. That’s not to say that a momentary irrational outburst defines us as a whole but it is certainly a warning sign that we are not guarding our hearts. The Bible address’s the issue of guarding our hearts in two key verses.
The most direct and obvious verse is found in Proverbs 4:23 “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life” It doesn’t get any more real then that does it. If your heart is with God than God will determine the course of your life. He will guide your steps, He will prosper you and He will let His glory shine through you.
The second key verse is found in Phillipians 4:6-7 “Don’t worry about anything; instead pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience Gods peace which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.”
One of the biggest stumbling blocks of our faith is trust. We get to a point where certain aspects of our lives gets to much and we hand God the wheel and for an hour or two we feel at peace because the thing we have been struggling with is in Gods hands where it should be. Then we get to thinking .. and stressing and analyzing and when we’re done analyzing we analyze it some more. Before you know it you’ve got the wheel again and your back in control because you know, you were doing so well before. (sarcasm)
Our carnal fleshly nature is hard wired to always want more .. it’s never satisfied, its never content and it is the ultimate pessimist, its glass is always half empty. Our Godly nature is patient, loving and kind, it never judges, it never worries and its glass isn’t just half full .. its over flowing. This is the nature we need to grab onto in our daily faith walk. It is Gods nature within us that guards our hearts and as we learn to walk more and more in Gods grace we will find our selves transformed by the nature of Christ. The more we focus on our Godly nature we will begin to see the warning signs earlier and earlier when our flesh tries to rise up. The result is you get closer and closer to God and you say a lot less stupid and hurtful things because Gods nature becomes your nature.
- In our actions
A famous quote that gets tossed around quite a bit is “actions speak louder then words” We usually attribute this quote to positive actions but it has the same meaning when it comes to our negative actions. You are a representative for Christ. Everything you do is on show. But every now and then we forget this and we let our carnal nature get the better of us. We are often very aware when we are about to respond to a situation in the flesh and we are just as aware when we put try to put God on the shelf in order to respond in the flesh. But you can’t put God on the shelf. Who do we think we are when we try to put God on the shelf? Are we really that arrogant to think that God will not be with us in our moments of stupidity and selfishness? God is right there with us shaking his head at us like he normally does when we walk in the flesh and not in the Spirit. God is not a book you can put on the shelf, He is always with you even when you think He’s not.
If I respond in the flesh, if someone pushes the right buttons at the wrong time guess what. Your gonna get me .. the arrogant, quick to act, quick to speak, quick to lash out but last to stop and think or take into consideration the other persons feelings Pete Graham. But what God wants is for me to be obedient to His word and if I do feel the need to open my mouth.. the words that will proceed from it will come from Him and NOT me. This is why I firmly believe Paul was being dead serious when he said we should walk in the Spirit at all times! In times of stress my actions will speak the loudest. If my actions reflect my Godly nature then my actions give glory to God. If my actions reflect my carnal nature I’m still identified as a Christian, just not a very good one. I also make myself look like a hypocrite and even though I am only acting on my own many will rate my actions as a representative for all Christians. So it turns out that our carnal moments have a bigger impact then we thought. Our carnal actions leave a carnalfootprint that can often turn a person off of ever wanting to know anything about God. So back pops up the issue of guarding our hearts .. because if we guard our hearts our thoughts, our words and our actions all become the thoughts, words and actions of Christ and the result is we reduce the carnal footprint we leave on the world.
Proverbs 18:20 NLT
Wise words satisfy like a good meal;
the right words bring satisfaction.
