This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

I want to welcome you to day two of our look through James chapter three in
daily drive time devotions. We're going to be looking at verses two to six
today. These are verses about how faith impacts the way that we talk.

And James starts very honestly with this subject. He says in James chapter three
verse two, "We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he
says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check.

" Because none of us is perfect, we realize that all of us struggle with things
that we say at times. That's what James is saying here at the very beginning.
We're all in the same wavelength with this one.

We are all in the same struggle, same boat with this one. We all struggle with
saying the wrong things sometimes. I've always laughed at that old tombstone
that's supposed to be somewhere in England.

I don't know if it's true or not, but it makes me smile. Here's what the
tombstone says on it. "Beneath this stone, a lump of clay lies Arabella Young,
who on the 24th of May began to hold her tongue.

" I don't know if you think that's funny, but I do because many times the only
time I can begin to not say the wrong thing is when I'm in heaven with the Lord,
when I've died. And maybe you know somebody like that. Maybe you feel oftentimes
like you are a person like that.

There's got to be a better way than death to begin to control my tongue. The
question James is asking us here is how can I carry my faith from the bottom of
my heart to the tip of my tongue? If what we teach in church is to become more
than just talk, what we teach in church from the Bible has to begin to affect
the way that I talk.

Because words, words can build up or they can tear down. They can encourage or
they can discourage. They can bring a bright smile or they can bring unstoppable
tears.

Our words can lift up the glory of God or they can drag down the spirit of man.
And James has some striking things to say about how our words can become more
beautiful, but they're honest things that he has to say. In fact, the way I'd
like to look at these verses the next few days about the way that we speak is by
starting with his pictures.

James presents three powerful pictures of the tongue, the way that we speak. He
talks about our tongue being a rudder, a fire, and a spring. And these next few
days, like a spring of water, we're going to take a look at that, how that
impacts our daily lives.

First of all, he says, "Your tongue is like a rudder. " James chapter three
verses three to five, he says, "When we put bits into the mouths of horses to
make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal or take ships as an example.
Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a
very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go.

Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. "
What he's saying here is what you say directs what you'll do. What we say ends
up running our lives.

Have you noticed that? Have you ever thought you'd do something and you said,
"Hey, what about this? " Only to think later, "What did I get myself into?

Why did I say that? " All of a sudden, what you said has begun to direct what
you're doing in life. What we say or don't say determines our relationships, it
decides our commitments, and it opens or closes our opportunities in life.

That's the power of our words. That's why the Bible stresses the importance of
saying with our mouth what we believe in our heart. James, as he talks about the
tongue, our mouth here, he says, "Don't let size fool you.

It's a small bit in a horse's mouth, but it can direct the horse. It's a small
rudder in a ship, huge ship, small rudder, and yet they hold the power of
control. " Now, sometimes when it comes to a mouth, we say he has a big mouth,
she has a big mouth, but the truth of the matter is our tongue is a very small
thing compared to the rest of our life, but it makes great boasts, and that can
control our life, control where we're headed.

It can get us into a lot of trouble, but can also build some wonderful
opportunities into our life. We just need to realize our tongue directs what we
say. The first principle behind this, your tongue is a rudder, is words have
tremendous power to direct.

Never treat words as followers. Always treat them as leaders. You better watch
what you say, because what you say shows where you're going in life, where
you're going to be next.

First, just say it, and then you begin to do it. So evaluate yourself on this.
Have you been treating your words as leaders in your life, treating them as
seriously as you should?

Sometimes we just begin to say things, not realizing how important our words
are. How today, in a new and fresh way, could you recognize, "My words really
are a rudder for my life, so I want to say the kinds of words that lead my life
in a direction that's honoring to God. " You see, if they are a rudder, that
means they can be led in a good direction through what I say.

My words are a rudder, I need to realize that. That's a positive thought. James
follows that up with a more, well, let's just be honest, it's a more negative
thought about the tongue.

He says, "Your tongue is a rudder, but also your tongue is a fire. " And he's
not talking about a good kind of fire here. The last part of verse five through
verse six, he says, "Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small
spark.

The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It
corrupts the whole person. It sets the whole course of his life on fire, and it
itself is set on fire by hell.

" Now, those are not exactly positive verses about the tongue. He's telling us
here that words not only have the power of direction, they also have the power
of destruction. Set on fire by hell.

He's not blaming Satan, by the way, there for our words. He's being clear about
the source of the evil things that we can say. I know some look at this and they
think, "James sounds so negative.

" Remember, the book of James, we talked about this the first week of our study,
is what I would call the Proverbs of the New Testament. Proverbs and James are
both wisdom books. And it's interesting that Proverbs, just like James, has a
lot of strong warnings about the destructive power of the tongue, of our words.

Now, it also has a lot to say about how we can encourage and build each other up
with our words. And the truth is, understanding both of those things goes
together. You can tear down and destroy with your words.

Why is James so harsh here? Why does he go after this so strongly under the
inspiration of the Spirit? Because God knows us.

God knows how easy it is for me, and probably for you too, to think about how
rude others are with their words, but I totally miss out on how my words are
impacting other people's lives. In my thoughts, maybe I wasn't quite as harsh as
I use my words. In my thoughts, maybe I wasn't quite as condemning as my words
ended up sounding.

So my words are more destructive than my thoughts. But all other people have is
my words. So I need to realize that words have the power to destroy.

"A world of evil among the parts of the body," James says. What is that talking
about? A world of evil means that all of the evil in the world can be contained
in our words.

That's the power of words. That old phrase, "Sticks and stones can break my
bones, but words can never hurt me," baloney, ridiculous. There's no truth to
that at all.

Words have incredibly destructive power. Words are like a brick. I can use a
brick to smash a window, or I can use a brick to build a building.

And James is saying, if you're going to use your words in the right way, you
have to realize the destructive power of words along with realizing the
directing power of words. Proverbs 18-21 says, "Death and life are in the power
of the tongue. " They have the power to destroy.

Somebody once figured out that for every word written by Hitler in his Nazi
philosophy in the book Mein Kampf, that 125 lives were lost in World War II for
every single word written in that short book. You see, words do have power, and
they have power to destroy, but they also have power to build up. So the first
major principle is words have tremendous power to direct.

The second major principle is our words, our tongues, are like wild animals or
wildfires. Don't turn your back on them. Don't pretend that they can't be
destructive because they can, and it can happen like a small spark in a second,
and all of a sudden it's destroyed something you've worked a long time to build
up.

And what does that mean I need to do? That means I need to ask for God's wisdom
and strength with the way that I speak. I don't know about you, but I need to do
that right now.

Let's talk to him. And just say, "Jesus Christ, when I realize what a powerful
thing words are, I realize how deeply I need you to direct my words, to direct
what I say. " Instead of just relying on myself, I want to rely on you in this
area.

I want my faith to be a part of my conversations. I want my faith to be a part
of my words. Lord, forgive me for sometimes acting as if my words are not that
important.

Thank you for helping me to realize how important they really are. And so I pray
today, I can only do this one day at a time, I pray today that I would use words
that build up instead of tearing down. And I pray that if I use a word that
tears down and I recognize it, I'd ask forgiveness and then add to that a word
that builds up.

I ask this, Jesus, in your name, Amen. Well, join us tomorrow. We're going to
continue to talk together about the power of our words.