Today on Fellowship in the Word, Pastor Bill Gebhardt challenges you to become a fully functioning follower of Jesus Christ. I said love drives out fear. So if I'm allowing the love of God to control me, I don't speak fearful words to make other people afraid. I don't speak pessimistic words. I say it over and over again, but there's no reason for you to be pessimistic. Not in any way.
One is, I've said it again, read the end of the book, you win. You see, what are you pessimistic about? The worst thing that could happen to you, can't happen to you. Thank you for joining us today on this edition of Fellowship in the Word with Pastor Bill Gebhardt. Fellowship in the Word is the radio ministry of Fellowship Bible Church located in Metairie, Louisiana. Let's join Pastor Bill Gebhardt now as once again he shows us how God's word meets our world. Turn with me to 2 Corinthians, chapter 5. And I'm going to start in verse 14.
Paul's going to put this together in an interesting way. He says, for the love of Christ controls us. Now, he could have added, the love of Christ should control us. And if the love of Christ is controlling us, it controls our behaviors, it controls our attitudes, and in this case, it also controls our speech.
It controls the way you and I speak. The love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died. And he died for all so that they who might live no longer live for themselves, but for him who died and rose again on their behalf. He says, that's what we do. Once I am a born again Christian, once I put my trust and faith in Christ and his finished work, my job description, if you're going to make it as short as possible, is to reflect his glory.
And so is yours. Your job is to simply reflect the glory of Christ. So then he says in verse 17, therefore, if anyone he said is in Christ, he's a new creature. The old things passed away. Behold, new things have come. You see, I can't go back to the default and say, but you have to understand that's just always the way I've been. I mean, I've always been pessimistic. I've always been negative. I've always been vulgar. You know, I've always been cynical. I've always been sarcastic. That's just the way I was.
Fine. But the word of God said it's time to stop. You see, you're a new creature in Christ.
You're to reflect someone else. So notice what he says in the next verse. He says, Now all these things are from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. You see, how how do I get into this relationship with God? How can I now reflect my Lord in my speech, my behavior, my attitudes?
He says, You've been reconciled. You've been reconciled to God. God did it in Christ. That's how a sinful creature and a holy God come together. The reconciling work of Jesus Christ, he says.
But that's not only what happened to us. He says he gave us the ministry of reconciliation. That means you and I are to be part of reconciling people to God. If you think about that for a moment. That's the most important thing we do. I've said this over all the years, but you do realize that every single thing that you experience as a Christian, you will do much, much better in heaven.
Everything. I mean, worship in heaven will will beat this. I mean, you see everything in heaven, fellowship in heaven beats this, everything in heaven beats this. But you know what you can't do in heaven? You can't reconcile lost people to God.
You just can't. That's why he calls it the Great Commission. He said, that's why you have to reflect in your behaviors and in your attitudes, in your words, my glory. He said, that's our ministry.
He repeats it. Then he says in verse 19, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the word world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them. And he has committed to us the word of reconciliation. You see, that's the word of reconciliation.
That's what we're committed to. Peter said we're to give an account for the hope that's in us. Jesus said, go and make disciples. You see, we are to be witnesses for Christ.
Luke writes in the Book of Acts. That's what we do. And by the way, you have to speak these words. Your behavior is important.
Your attitudes are great and all that's important. But somehow you have to speak the ministry of reconciliation. You have to talk to people about who Jesus Christ is and what he has done for them. And then he says this. Therefore, his conclusion. We are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us.
We beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. Wow. We are ambassadors.
Just imagine for a moment that somebody you knew. Gave you a call and said, hey, let's have lunch and you have lunch with them and you find us out. I've just been appointed. Ambassador. To the islands of Fiji.
For the United States. What would you think? What? I'm an ambassador. Wow. You'd be impressed, wouldn't you? Now, I have nothing against Fiji.
It seems like a nice place. OK. But it doesn't compare to this. It doesn't compare to who you are. You're an ambassador of Jesus Christ. So you don't just represent the United States.
Hey, that sounds important, but it pales in comparison. You are an ambassador to Jesus Christ. Now, understand what an ambassador should be doing. An ambassador represents his government, his country. He reflects.
You see, he reflects their values, their words. For example, imagine that I was an ambassador. And I have a meeting with the head of a country and I say I'm the newly appointed ambassador.
And he said, that's good. There's a lot of important issues between your country and mine. And here are my questions. I want to deal first with the question of political stability. And I want to deal with the question of our economy. And what does your government say? And I say to him, I don't really care what the government says. I'm going to tell you what I think. I'm just going to and I just start telling you what I thought. What you would say is you're a very poor ambassador.
That's not your job. You see, notice what Paul said. He said that we are ambassadors for Christ as though God were making an appeal through us. You see, it's as though God is speaking right through us, because all that I'm doing is I'm just reflecting. You see, I'm just reflecting his glory in this idea of being an ambassador. The question would be, then, how do we do better than we're doing? How do I use my words and my speech in a way that would be really, in a sense, make me an outstanding ambassador for Christ?
Well, I'm sure there are many ways. I have three I thought of that I think are important. The first one is found in Psalm 141, Psalm 141. And verse three. This is David speaking, and he says this. Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth.
Keep watch over the door of my lips. The first thing we need to do, pray about it. Now, this is a prayer. The first thing we need to do is to pray about it.
Let me ask you something. When's the last time you prayed this prayer? I think for some of us, we've never prayed this prayer ever. Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth. Keep watch over the door of my lips. This means a lot to David. It's not just O Lord, it's Yahweh. O covenant God, the reason I have a relationship with you. Set a guard over my mouth.
By the way, and here's something I know you all know. You should have prayed this prayer. How many times have you thought or said, Oh, me and my big mouth. Or someone else said it to you. You see, how many times have you said something and thought, I can't believe I said that.
I just can't believe I went there that fast. You see, he says start out by praying about it. Lord, guard my mouth. The reason I have to guard my mouth is I have a default. You see, I have a default in my flesh and I have a long habit of using that default. And so consequently, under certain circumstances, the words just come out. You see, the words really come out.
See, all of us struggle in different particular areas. I probably wouldn't have, I don't necessarily very often have outbursts of anger. See, that's probably not who I am.
I usually and very rarely would, I think, maybe others tell me different, but I don't really brag a lot. But sarcasm is right here. It comes out just like that. You give me an opportunity to be sarcastic and give you a jab with it.
I'll do it in a second. That's my flesh. You see, that's my flesh. Cynicism, sarcasm, pessimism, judgmental, critical words, those are our flesh.
And that's why we pray that way. Lord, guard my mouth. You see, guard it. Because I know on my own, I'm going to say things that aren't going to reflect your glory at all.
I will become a very uncooperative mirror. Secondly, is found in Proverbs chapter 15. Proverbs 15. This time, verse 28. Here, Solomon writes this, The heart of the righteous ponders how to answer, but the mouth of the wicked pours out evil things. First step, pray about it. Second step, think before you speak.
You see, he said a righteous man ponders the answer. He thinks first. How many times do you wish you had done that?
How many times did you have a level, in a one to ten issue, a level two conflict with your spouse? And then something gets said. And immediately, you decide to quickly respond with not well-conceived words. And what happens immediately? Immediately, the conflict begins to escalate.
And when the conflict escalates, what do you think? Oh, I wish I would have stopped and thought before I said that. You see, he knows that that's the way humans are. Our words have tremendous influence on other people, of whether they are, in a sense, enjoying, bathing in, being comforted by, encouraged, or whether they feel attacked, put down, maligned on the basis of what we speak.
The first step is to pray about it. The second one is to think before we speak. And the third one is found in Romans chapter 5. Romans in the New Testament chapter 5. Paul talking to us of the benefits of being saved. And the whole idea that why we can endure tribulation, and that turns into perseverance.
And perseverance, he says, will give us proven character, and proving character will give us hope, even in the most difficult circumstances. But then he says in verse 5, And hope does not disappoint, and then these words, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. You know, so often we think that, one thing I got when the Spirit of God came to indwell me when I became a believer in Jesus Christ, I have the power of God in my life now, and that's true.
But it's interesting that Paul doesn't allude to the power of God, when he talks about how we move from tribulation to proven character to hope. He said, no, it's not so much the power of God you have in your life. He said, you have the love of God.
You have the love of God poured out in your heart. Now remember, we said from the first week going to James says that your heart is connected directly to your tongue, and that your tongue reveals your spiritual maturity. And so if the love of God has been poured out in your heart through the presence of the Holy Spirit, it certainly should be evident in the way you speak.
Now let's look at the way we should speak. Go with me now to 1 Corinthians 13. 1 Corinthians 13, a very famous chapter. Almost never, by the way, read in the setting that it should be.
It's almost always detached from that setting. This is the wedding thing. You hear it at almost every wedding, and it's good for a wedding. I'm not denying it's not good for a wedding, but Paul's not really thinking of weddings. He's thinking of how paramount love is over everything. He's thinking that love is so much greater than the spiritual gifts that the Corinthians have decided are more important than anything else. In fact, they evidence their spiritual gifts, and they do it in such a way that it's unloving.
They're antagonistic to each other. And Paul says that nothing you do is as important as loving. Jesus said this, I give you a new commandment. He said in John that you love one another.
So that's where he picks this up. And he says in verse 4, he says, Love is patient and love is kind. It is not jealous. Love does not brag and is not arrogant. Love does not act unbecomingly. Love does not seek its own. It is not provoked.
It does not take into account a wrong suffered. It does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things. And he says love never fails. Now remember, you've had this love. This is agape.
You've had this love poured out in your heart in the presence of the Spirit. In fact, if you look at that list, by the way, that list reveals the heart of Jesus. That list, I could personify it and say that list is the character of Jesus Christ.
Then we read it that way. Jesus Christ is patient. Jesus Christ is kind. Jesus Christ is not jealous. Jesus Christ's love does not brag and is not arrogant. Jesus Christ does not act unbecomingly. Jesus Christ does not seek his own. Jesus Christ is not provoked. Jesus Christ does not take into account a wrong suffered.
Jesus Christ does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but Jesus Christ rejoices in the truth. Jesus Christ bears all things. Jesus Christ believes all things. Jesus Christ hopes all things. Jesus Christ endures all things. Jesus Christ never fails.
You see, that's the Son. Now remember, this is what we reflect. This is what we're to reflect. This should come from our heart. We should pray about it. We should think before we speak. And we should let our words reflect the Lord we love. That's what should come out of our mouth.
Notice that our tongue is connected to our heart. The kind of way we should speak, we should be patient. Our words should have patience in them. We should be kind.
Paul says to the Ephesians, let no unkind word come from your mouth. We should not brag. We should not be arrogant. We should not seek our own. We should not be provoked. We shouldn't take into account a wrong suffered. We should not rejoice in unrighteousness when we see failure and sin around us and rejoice when other people do that. He said we should rejoice in the truth. See, that's the way we should be. That's the language. That's the way in which we should speak.
That's who we should be. You see, John said love drives out fear. So if I'm allowing the love of God to control me, I don't speak fearful words to make other people afraid. I don't speak pessimistic words. I say it over and over again, but there's no reason for you to be pessimistic, not in any way. One is, I've said it again, read the end of the book, you win. You see, what are you pessimistic about? The worst thing that could happen to you can't happen to you.
It says it right in the book. What are you pessimistic about? You see, the whole idea of it is that we should reflect these kinds of words. This should be the language that we have. Pray to God to guard your speech. Actually think before you speak.
Let your words reflect your love for Christ and His love for you. You see, G.R. Tweed wasn't saved by the mirror. It played a very small part. He was saved by the sun. You see, you take the sun away and the mirror is meaningless. It can't do anything for you. It can only reflect.
It doesn't initiate. You see, that's why it's such a beautiful illustration of you and me. It's a privilege to be a mirror in God's hands. Have you ever thought about it that you're in His backpack and that whenever He really needs you, He just pulls you out and starts to use you? You see, He just starts to use you. He sends the message. It might not be dot, dot, dot, dash, dash, dash, dot, dot, dot.
But it might be. This is how I give an account for the hope that's in me. This is why I have joy and peace and hope no matter what is going on out there. This may explain to you how you, with all the frustrations in your life, can be reconciled to a holy God. You see, you may speak right through me and allow me to reflect His glory.
G.R. Tweed's mirror was used to save him. May God use us as mirrors to save so many who need to know our Savior. Let's pray. Father, I fear that we underestimate the power of our words. And yet all of us know that people who have ministered to us deeply, meaningfully, life-changing ways, did so because of what they said to us in the context in which they said it. We know that when we became a born-again Christian, that we put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ and His finished work.
It was because somebody spoke the words of the Gospel to us. And because of their words given to us, reflecting your love for us, we were born again into the family of God. Father, may we understand and leave this place realizing how important the words are, how important our speech is, that we have an opportunity to reflect your love for people. We have an opportunity to offer people hope that cannot be diminished. Father, I pray that we take advantage of this in all of our relationships, from those closest to us to complete strangers, that we understand that through the tongue we have the power to save.
We know that we are completely dependent on you, that our tongue is not tamable in and of itself without your help. But we know that through Jesus Christ and His presence in our lives, we, like the Apostle Paul, can do all things. May we be steadfast in deciding to allow you to control our speech in the days ahead, for your glory and for our good and for the good of so many others.
In Christ's name, amen. You've been listening to Pastor Bill Gebhardt on the Radio Ministry of Fellowship in the Word. If you ever miss one of our broadcasts, or maybe you would just like to listen to the message one more time, remember that you can go to a great website called oneplace.com. That's oneplace.com, and you can listen to Fellowship in the Word online.
At that website you will find not only today's broadcast, but also many of our previous audio programs as well. At Fellowship in the Word, we are thankful for those who financially support our ministry and make this broadcast possible. We ask all of our listeners to prayerfully consider how you might help this radio ministry continue its broadcast on this radio station by supporting us monthly or with just a one-time gift. Support for our ministry can be sent to Fellowship in the Word, 4600 Clearview Parkway, Metairie, Louisiana, 7006. If you would be interested in hearing today's message in its original format, that is as a sermon that Pastor Bill delivered during a Sunday morning service at Fellowship Bible Church, then you should visit our website, fbcnola.org.
That's fbcnola.org. At our website you will find hundreds of Pastor Bill's sermons. You can browse through our sermon archives to find the sermon series you are looking for, or you can search by title. Once you find the message you are looking for, you can listen online, or if you prefer, you can download the sermon and listen at your own convenience. And remember, you can do all of this absolutely free of charge. Once again, our website is fbcnola.org. For Pastor Bill Gebhardt, I'm Jason Gebhardt, thanking you for listening to Fellowship in the Word. .
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