build other people up…

ephesians 4.29 (tev), do not use harmful words, but only helpful words, the kind that build up and provide what is needed, so that what you say will do good to those who hear you.  watch what you say.

when you talk you don’t just say things to build yourself up.  you say things to build other people up.  if it doesn’t build somebody up, don’t say it.  even if it’s the truth, if it doesn’t build up, just don’t say it.  that’s a mark of maturity.

a mature person manages his mouth.  it doesn’t matter how long you have been a CHRISTian, if you can’t manage your mouth, you’ve missed the point.

james 1.26 (niv), if anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless.

if i’ve memorized a hundred thousand verses and been through every bible study in the book and go to church and never miss a service but if i’m a gossip, my religion is worthless.  if i spread rumors, it’s worthless.  if i’m always saying things that are not always accurate or exaggerate or speak impulsively, it’s worthless.  the test of maturity is to manage your mouth so that no corrupt communiation, no negative talk comes out of your mouth.

speak the truth in love means the right attitude, the right timing, the right place, the right location, the right motive.  the bible is very practical.  it doesn’t matter how much you know about the bible, if your attitude isn’t like CHRIST’s you’re missing the point.

just a thought from the front porch…

master your mouth…

a mature person can master his mouth.  do you master your mouth?

james 3.2 (niv), we all stumble in many ways. (this is an understatement.  nobody’s perfect)  if anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check."

the first thing a doctor will say when you go for a check up is ”stick out your tongue.”  he uses your tongue to check your health.  GOD does that spiritually too.

in world war 11 there was a saying, “loose lips, sinks ships.”  loose lips destroy lives.  they hurt! 

definition of gossip: hearing something you like about somebody you don’t.  it is a mouth to mouth recitation.

self control comes from tongue control.  we get ourselves into so much trouble at what we say and what we think and what we speak and james 3 gives us several illustrations.  he says our tongue is like a rudder, a bit in a horse’s mouth, a spark, a snake, a spring. 

he says, you put a little bit in a horses mouth and that little bit can control the direction of the horse.  a little rudder on a boat can control the direction of the boat.  your tongue, which, by size is very insignificant, controls your life. 

what you say directs your life, what you say can destroy your life.  it can delight people’s lives; it can discourage people’s lives.  your tongue is powerful for good or for evil.

have you ever heard someone say, “i just say what’s on my mind.”  they’re proud of it.  being frank, up front, they say what’s on their mind…  maybe there’s not a whole lot on their mind.  maybe what’s on their mind shouldn’t be said.  the bible says that’s not frankness, that’s immaturity.  a lot of people just need a dose of tactfulness.

just a thought from the front porch…

after you receive the dream…

receiving the dream is a key.  then look what happened to joseph once he received the dream. 

genesis 41.41-43 (niv), pharaoh said to joseph, “i hereby put you in charge of the whole land of egypt,” and pharaoh took his signet ring from his finger and put it on joseph’s finger.  and he dressed him in robes of fine linen he puts a gold chain around his neck.  he had him ride in a chariot as his second-in-command and men shouted before him, “make way!” and he put him in charge of the whole land of egypt. 

he’s got the dream!  it’s like he won the lottery.  this is it.  he hit the jackpot.

once you’ve achieved the dream, reached that pinnacle of success, then what happens?  many of us feel like, “that’s it!  i’ve got the dream.  i sit back by the pool and enjoy the dream!”  those of you who have reached your dream know this to be true: once you reach your dream, that’s when the work really begins.  big dreams, GOD-given dreams, are hard work. 

you’ve got a dream of a great marriage and you pray for it for years and finally GOD brings the right person into your life, then the pinnacle of success – the wedding, the gown, the orchestra, the harps…  you come down the aisle and the work is over, right?  no, the work just began.

you’ve got a great dream of having kids in your life.  there’s the nine months of waiting and the delivery room, the labor – the pinnacle of success, the baby comes out and starts to cry.  now you can sit back by the pool and enjoy the child, right?  that’s when the work really begins!

you’ve got a dream for a great ministry, a life-changing ministry?  a dream for a great church?  and then GOD does it.  does that mean you just get to sit back and relax and enjoy the beauty of the building?  no.  that’s when the work really begins. 

one of the key qualities in joseph’s life wasn’t just that he had dreams or waited for dreams or that he received dreams.  one of the key qualities in his life is that he knew how to manage the dream. 

one key quality is that dream managers develop discipline.  joseph gathered grain for seven years.  he’s a model of discipline.  he worked when he wasn’t pressured to work, that’s discipline.  all of us know how to work against a deadline.  but he had seven years to gather grain.  why not kick back for two years before he started gathering?  there was no real pressure.  no one knew if the famine was coming for sure.  even though he wasn’t pressured, he worked.

he collected grain consistently over those seven years.  he didn’t collect a little then wait a while.  he worked out a daily way to do it.  he continued to gather grain even though it looked like he had too much at one point.  he gathered so much grain they couldn’t even count it anymore but he kept gathering because GOD had told him to do that.  he’s a model of the discipline that it takes to manage a dream.

just a thought from the front porch…