Roar - Part B

God can handle your gnarly prayers. So be honest and get it out.

And I look at it like this. Honest prayer is better than dishonest piety. Oh Lord, I pray that you just bless them.

Okay, if that's how you feel and that's what you mean, then do that. Now, God is able to sift through the rubble of even the gnarliest prayer and pick out the gems. Your life are in the power of the tongue.

So how do you wield your tongue? Today on Connect with Skip Heitzig, Skip shares more helpful guidance on using your words for good. Now we want to tell you about a resource that will nourish your faith as you grow in God's truth. Is there such a thing as absolute truth?

I want you to just think about that question. We want to help you get started in answering that question with two brand new booklets by Pastor Skip, Why Truth Matters and God and Suicide. You see, the Bible makes truth claims. And some of those claims are, well, pretty absolute.

But how can you know it's really true? These resources will help you better understand the nature of truth so you can pursue God's truth in your life. And there are way to thank you for your gift of $35 or more today to help expand this Bible teaching outreach.

Get your copies when you give online securely at connectwithskip.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888. Okay, we're in Psalms 140 and 141 as Skip Heitzig starts today's study. The second category is mentioned in our Psalm, not sharp words, but spiteful words.

Go down to verse nine, Psalm 140. As for the head of those who surround me, now notice this phrase, let the evil of their lips cover them. Here the word evil or evil of their lips is malicious or spiteful or threatening words. That's how it's generally seen or translated.

However, the Hebrew word Amal for evil, literally means troublesome, filled with anxiety, laborious, toilsome or having a wearing effect. There are some words you get exposed to and they have a wearing, toilsome effect. Think of the vulgarity and profanity. That just, you hear it so often, it just, I hope it wears on you.

It grates at you. In fact, it's everywhere, so much so that everybody says, oh well that's just normal nowadays. I don't think there's any form of media entertainment where vulgarity isn't the norm anymore. And virtually every workplace in America it has become the norm. A Time Magazine article states profanity on broadcast television has risen 70, seven zero percent in the last five years. Now if that isn't shocking to you, this should be, because this is the purpose of the article that I'm quoting. Time Magazine said this, children exposed to swear words on television will become more physically aggressive.

The aggressive speech, usually accompanied by aggression seen on the screen, will translate, according to the experts quoted in this Time Magazine article, into physically aggressive behavior. Now when I was a boy, and if I ever said a bad word, my mom had a solution for it. I hear it, that's right, she would take a bar of soap, take me over to the sink and shove that bar of soap into my mouth, let me taste it, and then she'd wash it out with soap.

And I thought, what's the purpose of that? She said, you know, I've got to clean up your speech, I'm going to wash your mouth out with soap. I never will forget that. To this day, if I'm in the shower and I taste a little bit of soap, my mind goes back to those traumatic experiences of my childhood.

Here's what's ironic. What I was having my mouth washed out for back then is what's on prime time today. In 1946, I know that goes back a ways, but just follow me here. In 1946, a movie came out, still is played every single Christmas. It's a Christmas classic with Jimmy Stewart.

What's the name of it? It's A Wonderful Life. It's a great film, right? It's a feel-good movie. And in this movie, Jimmy Stewart is the actor. You have to be really old to even laugh at that. Because everybody else is going, I don't get it.

Who is this Jimmy Stewart guy? Okay, so in this movie, 1946, It's A Wonderful Life, the original screenplay, when the movie was produced, there were certain words in the movie that had to be deleted because they said people can't listen to these words. It is not appropriate. It is unacceptable for the viewing audience to have these words in entertainment. I want you to know what those words were that were deleted. These words, jerk, jerk, deleted from the movie, inappropriate for audiences, lousy, deleted, dang, taken out, impotent, removed, and garlic eaters, taken away from the film. Garlic eaters is offensive to me.

Censored, we've come a long way. Spiteful words. Look at a third category in our Psalms. Slanderous words. Go down to verse 11 of Psalm 140. Verse 11, let not a slanderer be established in the earth, David prays. A slanderer is a tale bearer. It describes somebody who roams around looking for a person to tell something to. I have a tale to tell. Will you listen?

Here's the description. I am more deadly than the screaming shell of a cannon. I win without killing. I tear down homes. I break hearts, wreck lives. I travel on the wings of the wind. No innocence is strong enough to intimidate me.

No purity is pure enough to daunt me. I have no regard for truth, no respect for justice, no mercy for the defenseless. My victims are as numerous as the sands of the sea and often as innocent. I never forget and I seldom forgive. My name is gossip.

Solomon wrote in Proverbs 18, the words of a gossip are like choice morsels. Now just picture that. You sit down to a nice meal. Your stomach is churning because you're hungry. You've smelled the food. Now you take your first bite and when you take it you go, mmm.

Why? Because it's a choice morsel. And there are folks who when they hear gossip, it's like, mmm.

Yeah, tell me a little bit more. And there are some who feel that way in telling those kinds of things. Which shows us the problem of gossip. It's not just in the telling of it, it's in the hearing of it. There wouldn't be so many open mouths if there weren't so many open ears who go, mmm.

Tasty morsels to receive it. Now have you ever experienced this? Somebody you know, you haven't seen maybe for a couple of weeks, then you see them again. Suddenly they appear to you to be very different. They're kind of cold towards you. Their attitude towards you is like aloof and cold and standoffish.

And it's as if the winds of the relationship has shifted and you wonder, what's up? I can almost guarantee you they've heard something. They've been listening to someone say something that causes that response whenever they see you. So, let me suggest that before you entertain the hearing of a bad report about somebody else, that you ask five questions. Question number one, ask the person this, why are you giving me this information? Why are you telling this to me? I can almost guarantee they're telling you that because they feel, they believe you will be a sympathetic ear.

That you will go, mmm, tasty morsel. They don't think you're going to confront them and say, hey, wait a minute, let me challenge you on this. They think you're a sympathetic ear. So ask them, why are you telling me this? Question number two, where did you get your information?

Ask them that. Where did you get your, identify your sources. Well, these are really credible sources, but they don't want to be named.

Then don't tell me. If you can't identify your sources, don't bring it up. Third question to ask, have you gone directly to those involved? How few people do this, but how biblical that is to do.

Matthew 18, you go directly to the person. Question number four, have you personally checked out all the facts? Because you know the thing about facts is facts are often offset by another set of facts. And you might have bits of the truth, but do you have all, are you sure you have all the facts here? The Bible says a fool answers a matter before he hears it.

And the fifth question to ask is my favorite question of all. Can I quote you on this? Oh, no, no, no, I don't want to be involved. I'm sorry, you are involved. You just got involved and you got me involved in it. Can I quote, but I'll ask them, can I have your permission, can I quote you on this?

If they're responsible and mature, they will say, yes, you can. So some words are hurtful. Here's the second guideline. Some words are hurtful, but other words are helpful.

And let's consider those. Let's consider helpful words. David includes some helpful tips on using words. Colossians chapter four, Paul writes, let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt. In other words, filled with truth, but also filled with love, grace, and salt. I believe the children of the king should use language of the court. And if we are God's children, there's helpful speech.

And here's three kinds. Number one, prayer, real prayer. I mean, we won't go through it again, but Psalm 140 and 141 are essentially all a prayer. But it's real prayer.

Look at verse one of Psalm 140. Deliver me, O Lord, from evil men. That's a prayer. Preserve me from violent men who plan evil things in their hearts that continually gather together for war. This is a real prayer.

It only makes sense that if you are going to open your mouth 700 times a day, that at least some of those times ought to be directed upwards. Some of that speech ought to be directed to God in a real prayer. Speaking about real prayer, go down to verse nine again.

Listen to this. This is in a psalm. This is in the Bible. Come on, this is scripture.

Look at this. As for the head of those who surround me, let the evil of their lips cover them. Let burning coals fall on them. Let them be cast into the fire, into deep pits that they rise not up again. That was a prayer in the Bible you just read. Why do we gloss over that? Hence it's called an imprecatory psalm.

So here's what I'm getting at. I'm not saying pray gnarly prayers on everybody. But I am saying pray honest prayers. And that's how he honestly felt and he was unafraid to pour out those honest feelings before God. It doesn't mean God will answer that. God's more responsible than that. God can handle your gnarly prayers. So be honest and get it out.

And I look at it like this. Honest prayer is better than dishonest piety. Oh Lord, I pray that you just bless them.

Okay, if that's how you feel and that's what you mean, then do that. Now, God is able to sift through the rubble of even the gnarliest prayer and pick out the gems. He is still sovereign, but he can handle it. Real prayer. Now part of real prayer is praise. You'll notice down in verse 13, he says, Surely the righteous shall give thanks to your name, the upright shall dwell in your presence. In the next psalm, Psalm 141 verse 2, Let my prayer be set before you as incense, the lifting of my hands as the evening sacrifice. This now is the highest use of the tongue. Praise to God.

So here's the deal. When you feel the urge to use sharp words, replace it with praise. Instead of sharp words, use sanctified words. When you feel the urge to take God's name in vain, rather than that, make God's name of value. So when you do that, when you replace that urge to say something bad with something filled with praise, what you are doing is retraining your mind. What Paul calls, in Romans chapter 12, the renewing of your mind.

You're setting up new habits, new tendencies. In Ephesians 5, Paul writes, Be filled with the Spirit, speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord.

That's the reprogramming process. So real prayer is helpful. Real prayer. Number two, regular petition is helpful. If you have an issue, and in this case, David's issue was his tongue, pray about that.

Regularly. Look at verse three. It's a great prayer.

Great prayer. Verse three of Psalm 141. Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth. Keep watch over the door of my lips. Do not incline my heart to any evil thing to practice wicked works with men who work iniquity. And do not let me eat of their delicacies.

Don't let me go mmm when I hear bad reports. What a great prayer that we should pray on a regular basis. Isn't it funny?

It takes two years for a person to learn how to talk and for the rest of his life to learn how to keep his mouth shut. And David is praying this, Lord, help me with this area of my life. And the picture is pretty cool. It's of a guard, a sentry.

And a sentry, a guard, was somebody who had a weapon at a gate and he would monitor people coming in and going out. So picture a guard at the gate of your mouth and when a bad word wants to come out, that guard goes, no, you don't. You're not coming out. That's not going to help. That's going to be destructive. Think about that first and send me something constructive and I'll let that out.

Wouldn't that be great? Why would he pray that? Because speaking without thinking is like shooting without aiming.

It'll cause destruction and it won't be very helpful at all. James, in chapter three of his book, said no man can tame the tongue. What does that infer? Who's the only one that can tame it? God can tame it.

He's the only one. That's the inference of the verse. No man can tame the tongue.

If that's true and only God can do it, then ask God to help you think before you speak. Now let me take that word think and give it to you visually in an acronym, T-H-I-N-K. Before you say something, ask T. Is it true? Before I say it, is this true? H, is this helpful? I, is this inspiring? N, is it necessary? And K, is it kind? Is it true? Is it helpful? Will it be inspiring?

Is it really necessary and is it kind? If you ran your speech through that grid, you would make more friends and keep more friends than you do. The basic truth is that a closed mouth gathers no feet. I'm just waiting for that to fall on some of you to get that.

Closed mouth gathers no feet. Real prayer, regular petition. Third form of helpful speech, righteous rebuke. Look at verse five of Psalm 141. Let the righteous strike me, it shall be a kindness.

Let him rebuke me, it shall be as excellent oil. Let not my head refuse it, for still my prayers against the deeds of the wicked. This is the ability to express love through tactful criticism, to warn a person. Solomon wrote in Proverbs 27, that open rebuke is better than love carefully concealed.

Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. Now who wrote these two Psalms that we're reading? David, thank you. David wrote these two Psalms. David would know about confrontation, would he not? For who was it that confronted him with his own sin, but the prophet Nathan? Who when David was in his palace and he had committed adultery he was just sort of doing his own thing. Nathan came to him and said, you know there was a man who owned a lot of sheep and he took a poor man's single sheep and killed it and ate it. David got so infuriated he said, that man must surely die and the prophet said, you're that man, David.

You're the guy that did that. And he confronted David with his own sin. This is righteous rebuke. Oscar Wilde said, a true friend always stabs you in the front. You've had enough people stab you in the back. A true friend will go right to your face. And that's what accountability is.

It's the rubbing together of two personalities that should bring a real accountability. So your words can either be a balm or a balm. They can be a B-A-L-M, soft soothing ointment, balm, or a B-O-M-B, balm. Are your words a balm or a balm? Do your words encourage and build up and add worship to God and inspire?

Or do you discourage and gossip and shock people and criticize? Some words are hurtful. Other words are helpful. Finally, all words are consequential. That is, they're the consequence of something else.

They stem from and originate from something else. I want you to see what it is. Look at Psalm 140, verse 2. He speaks of violent evil men, notice, who plan evil things in their hearts.

Ah. Now we're getting to the root of the problem. More than the tongue, the problem is the heart. Jesus said from the abundance of the heart, the mouth will speak. The problem with polluted water is it comes from a polluted well. A man that has stinky cheese on his upper lip goes everywhere, thinks the whole world smells bad.

Probably in the world, it's his lip. He takes the problem with him wherever he goes. So when my mom washed my mouth out with soap, it didn't cure the problem. Only that day, it cured the problem. But the next day, in subsequent days, the problem came back because the problem wasn't in the mouth as much as it was in the heart. It's interesting, when you go to a doctor, sometimes a doctor will say, stick out your tongue.

Why? Why my tongue? Because he can tell an awful lot by looking at the texture and color, thickness, et cetera, of your tongue. The tongue is like an outward gauge to what's going on, perhaps, in some cases, inside the body. Words are like an outward gauge to tell what's going on inside of you. So a person who spews profanity says a lot about him. If a person has to say damn and hell all the time, he may simply be describing his condition and his destination. From the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. It's very revealing.

And by the way, whatever is inside eventually will come out. Job had some friends that came to give him counsel. One was named Elihu, who had been watching and listening to the other guy spout off. And finally he said these words, for I am full of words. The spirit within me compels me. Indeed, my belly is like wine that has no vent.

It is ready to burst like new wineskins. I will speak that I may find relief. I must open my lips. I got to say this.

I got to say this. Eventually you will say it. An angry person who holds a grudge eventually will express those feelings. A lustful person will eventually express with crude remarks what's going on inside the heart.

A genuinely loving person will express those feelings also. The old saying in the computer world, garbage in, garbage out. In other words, the quality of the data that is put in determines the quality of the results that comes from the data. Garbage in, garbage out.

So it's time to input the computer visually and audibly with the right data. And Paul offers this advice as he closes the book of Philippians. Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right. Think about things that are pure and lovely and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. If you do that, you will bless far more than you will bite.

You will bring balm far more than bringing a balm into the conversation and into the relationship. That wraps up Skip Heitzig's message from the series playlist. Now we want to share about a special opportunity you have to take your knowledge of the Bible to a deeper level. Are you looking to pursue biblical studies beyond church and personal Bible study? Take your learning and your life's purpose to the next level with Calvary College.

Registration for the 2021 spring term is open now. And the curriculum features both online classes and on-site classes at Calvary Church Albuquerque. Classes include biblical studies like Spiritual Foundations and the History and Authenticity of the Bible, plus classes in key books of the Bible like Daniel, Romans, and Revelation with video content from world-renowned biblical scholar Skip Heitzig. Calvary College partners with Veritas International University and Calvary Chapel University so you can earn an accredited undergraduate or graduate degree or simply increase your knowledge in biblical studies.

The deadline to get your application in for the 2021 semester is December 4th. Find out more and apply today at calvaryabq.college. That's calvaryabq.college. The Bible calls Jesus your Good Shepherd because he protects you, provides for you, and leads you along his good path through scripture. That's why we share these teachings to help you and other listeners learn to follow the voice of your Good Shepherd. And we invite you to help reach more people with these messages through your gift today. Give now when you call 800-922-1888.

Again, that's 800-922-1888. Or visit connectwithskip.com slash donate. Connectwithskip.com slash donate. Thank you. Tune in tomorrow as Skip Heitzig shares how you can energize your spiritual life with genuine praise.

So be sure to join us. Make a connection. Make a connection at the foot of the crossing. Cast all burdens on his word. Make a connection. Connection. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.