Speech

Seasoned Speech

Colossians 4:6

"Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man."

There is nothing worse than looking at a plate of food that looks delicious, then biting into it only to find that the cook didn't season the food. Seasoning food brings out it's taste. Seasoning food makes the meal enjoyable. Food without seasoning is bland and can be very distasteful, and at times bitter.

God commands us to be sure to season our speech. You are marked by the words you speak. Your speech can actually cause others to take what you say in a wrong way. This is why you must be careful with how you talk. Let me remind you that you represent Christ everywhere you go. If you don't talk right, you could hurt the cause of Christ. If you don't add seasoning to your speech, you could hurt people for many years. God says to season your speech with salt. God used salt for an illustration because of the many uses it has. When you consider this, that means your speech should do for others what salt can do for you. Let me show you some things with which your speech should be filled.

First, season your speech with grace. In other words, don't be so sharp with your speech. Learn how to answer people in a graceful manner that will not hurt them. I am not saying that you should lie to people, for lying should never be a part of any Christian's speech, but I am saying to learn how to answer in such a manner that leaves people with their dignity. You don't always have to speak your whole mind about a situation or a person. When you answer people, answer people with dignity.

Second, answer with flavor. Salt gives flavor to food. In other words, learn to lighten up your speech by laughing and enjoying life. There is something about being around people who know how to add the right words that lighten up a heavy conversation. Don't be so serious all the time. I do believe you should take life seriously, but some people are so stoic in their speech that it has no flavor. Learn how to add flavor to every conversation.

Third, let your speech be with healing. Salt help heal wounds. God is teaching that your words should be healing words and not hurtful words. Gossip is not filled with healing words. Rather, use your speech to encourage others. Use your speech to help heal hurting and broken hearts.

Finally, let your speech be pure. Salt is used as a purifier. God wants His children to speak in a pure manner. Avoid dirty jokes. There are too many Christians who justify dirty jokes, and God does not want that to be a part of any Christian's vocabulary. Be sure that your speech is not filled with dirty words. Take the dirty words out of your vocabulary. Likewise, be sure that you don't talk in a suggestive manner about physical intimacy. There is no place in the Christian's vocabulary to talk like the world. Your speech should be pure, for you represent Jesus Christ.

Ask God every day to help you talk in a manner that would be glorifying to Him. Ask the Holy Spirit to guide every conversation. Remember that others are watching you, and you don't want your speech to sully your opportunity to be a witness for Jesus Christ. Simply put, only talk in a manner that you would talk if Jesus was physically present in every conversation. If you learn to talk right, then you will have a better chance of witnessing to others.

Removed

So Soon Removed

Galatians 1:6

"I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:"

I heard someone say one time that no work has stayed true to the fundamentals for more than ten years after the one who built it into a great ministry stepped down or passed away. I don't know if that statistic is true, but I have watched several great works in my lifetime go liberal. You would think that because of the teachings of these great men that they would continue to stand for truth, but rarely do they.

The Apostle Paul marveled at how quickly the Christians in Galatia left what was taught them. Can you imagine, these people heard the great Apostle Paul teach them in person, yet they quickly strayed from truth once he was gone. This reminds me of the children of Israel who in forty days strayed from truth when Moses was on the top of Mount Sinai receiving the ten commandments from God. What this tells me is that the greatest of people can quickly stray if they don't keep their priorities straight. It doesn't matter whose work you have been under, if you don't keep your priorities right, you could become like the Christians in Galatia who quickly strayed from truth. Let me give you some observations on why people are so soon removed from truth.

First, the Word of God is the final authority. You will notice that the people in the verse above went to another gospel. In other words, they left the true Gospel which was the Word of God for another authority. Everyone must keep the Word of God as their final authority. Personalities must never be the final authority, for at best they are still sinners. The Word of God never changes, and that is why you must stay true to God's Word and not to personalities or even institutions.

Second, troubles cause perversion from truth. Verse 7 says, "...there be some that trouble you,..." If you are not careful, troubled times will cause you to take your eyes off truth and place it on something else. When churches are without a pastor, they must be careful about allowing their troubled time to cause them to leave truth. The Devil knows what he is doing when he sends you through troubled times, this is why you must be extra careful during these times not to pervert truth.

Third, perversion leads to change. When you take your eyes off truth, you are bound to change who you are and what you do. Most of the time change happens to try and stop the troubled times; however, just because times are tough does not mean that you should allow them to change what you are supposed to do. You don't follow truth because it makes things easier, you follow truth because it is the right thing to do.

Fourth, change is offered by someone you know. Verse 8 says, "But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed." Notice, they allowed someone who preached to change what they believe. People don't listen to preachers they don't know. You listen to preachers you know and enjoy. Christian, just because you know someone doesn't mean that what they say is always true. Everything that anyone says should be backed up by the Word of God if it is to be true.

Whenever anyone tries to change God's Word for whatever reason, we ought to be loyal to truth. God's Word should be your final authority on what you base every decision. Be careful about being so soon removed from truth. Don't be guilty of one day looking back and wondering how you were so soon removed. Stay focused on the Word of God and you will have a better chance of never allowing any person to change what you believe.

A Break

Give Absalom a Break

2 Samuel 13:39

"And the soul of king David longed to go forth unto Absalom: for he was comforted concerning Amnon, seeing he was dead."

In our attempt to defend our heroes, we often make villains out of people who reacted in a wrong way. Yes, their reaction may have been wrong, but their reaction was caused by what someone else did. If we are not careful, we will destroy a person all because we are trying to defend our heroes.

Absalom is one of those people whom everyone seems to pile on. What Absalom did to his father is defenseless. What he did was absolutely wrong! However, if you read the whole story, you will see that Absalom responded the way he did because David did not deal with sin like he should.

Absalom's rebellion happened because his sister was raped by his half-brother, Amnon. Amnon's sin was not just a sin of uncontrolled passion, but his sin was thought out to exactly how he would defile his own sister. His sin was evil! When David heard what happened, he did not deal with the sin; however, it was Absalom's sister who was raped. Absalom expected his father to deal with this in a proper manner only to see him let Amnon get away with his sin. David's inaction of dealing with sin in a proper manner led to bitterness in the heart of Absalom. That bitterness led to Absalom turning on his own father and eventually he lost his life in the whole thing. All of this would have never happened if David had dealt with the sin like he should have. I believe we ought to give Absalom a break and lay much of the blame on David. Though Absalom was responsible for his own actions, it was initially David's inaction that caused the whole mess.

Leaders must be careful about letting sin go unpunished. As I travel, I frequently preach in conferences with other men of God. This allows me to hear other men of God preach, which I always enjoy. One of the common themes I hear coming from the mouths of preachers is the sinfulness of disloyalty to their pastor. Truthfully, I am one hundred percent behind what they say; however, I never hear a preacher mention that many times disloyalty is caused because of how a leader dealt with sin. When people see sin go unpunished, many times it will drive them to disloyalty. Unpunished sin will cause many to become frustrated with leadership. They often know that if they were to do the same thing, they would not get away with that wrong, which will eventually lead to bitterness. Their bitterness often comes out in the form of disloyalty. Though disloyalty is a sin, we must remember that the leader who doesn't properly deal with sin is the initial cause of the wrong.

When someone does wrong, they must be punished. It doesn't matter whether or not they are related to you or are a part of your church staff, their sin must be dealt with in a proper way. Sweeping it under the carpet is as wrong as the sin itself. God never sweeps sin under the carpet. God always punishes sin. If, as a leader, you can't deal properly with sin even when it is someone close to you, then you need to give that authority to a person who will deal with it in a proper way. Just like a judge must recuse themselves from a case because of personal ties, if you must recuse yourself from dealing with a sin because of heart ties, then do it so that unpunished sin won't lead to disloyalty.

Finally, if you have a leader who swept sin under the carpet, be careful that you don't allow it to make you disloyal. The leader's sin does not give you a right to sin. You must simply continue doing what you are supposed to do and let God deal with it. God always deals with it and will make sure that it is dealt with in a proper way. Don't become an Absalom because of a leader's improper action. Ask God to help you keep the right attitude so that you don't do something you will regret for the rest of your life.

Not Divided

Not Divided

2 Samuel 1:23

"Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in their death they were not divided: they were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions."

It is interesting that the verse above says that Saul and Jonathan were not divided. If I recall correctly, there were times when the Scriptures clearly show that Saul and Jonathan were not on the same page. You will recall when Jonathan and his armor bearer fought the Philistines, that Jonathan ate some honey against Saul's commandment. Jonathan plainly told the people that his father made a mistake commanding the troops not to eat anything. Then there was the relationship between Jonathan and David. Saul clearly had a problem with Jonathan being so close to David. They disagreed so much so that one time Saul threw a javelin at Jonathan because he was so angry over the situation.

So, what does it mean that they were not divided? It means that they didn't let their disagreements divide them from their purpose. Sure, Saul and Jonathan had disagreements, but they did not let their disagreements keep them from working together for the purpose they both agreed upon.

I think of Paul and Barnabas who could have learned this truth from Saul and Jonathan. Paul and Barnabas both agreed upon their purpose, but they let a disagreement over John Mark divide them. A team that was so strong together was separated over a disagreement. One could only imagine what could have been accomplished if they would not have allowed their preferential disagreement to divide them from their purpose.

The key to every relationship is to not allow your disagreements to divide you from your purpose. In every relationship there will be disagreements because no two people will agree on everything; but, you must not allow your disagreements to divide you over your purpose of what you are trying to accomplish. If you will learn in your relationships to set aside your preferential disagreements for your purpose, then you can accomplish great things together.

Marital relationships must be careful not to allow preferential disagreements to divide their marriage. Let's be honest with each other, you are not going to always agree with your spouse, but you can still stay happily married. You must be careful that you don't let your preferential disagreements divide your marriage and cause a divorce.

In work or business relationships there are going to be preferential disagreements. If you want a business partnership to work, then both sides of the partnership are going to have set aside the preferential disagreements for the cause of succeeding in business. Certainly you will disagree with how some things need to be done, but you can't let that distract you from your original purpose of why you went into business with each other.

Likewise, we must be careful about allowing preferential disagreements to divide us in Christianity. I am not talking about compromise, but I am talking about allowing methods and personalities to divide us from the purpose of getting the Gospel out to a world. In our independent, fundamental Baptist world we are so easily divided over preferential disagreements that we are splintered. Let's be careful not to fight over preferential disagreements. Let's not let these disagreements divide us from the purpose of our cause.

Always remember that everyone will not always do things like you do them, but don't let that divide you from each other. Disagreements are a part of every relationship, but division does not have to come because of them. Learn to set aside your preferential disagreements and work together on that with which you do agree. This is how relationships last a lifetime.

A Youth Leading

A Youth Leading Men

1 Samuel 18:5

"And David went out whithersoever Saul sent him, and behaved himself wisely: and Saul set him over the men of war, and he was accepted in the sight of all the people, and also in the sight of Saul's servants."

You rarely find a youth who is mature enough to be in any leadership position, much less leading men into war. The verse above says that David was"set...over the men of war." You must understand that David just killed Goliath. That feat may seem to be something that is worthy of promotion, but David was only seventeen years of age when he defeated Goliath. So, here is a young man who was given position to lead men into war at the young age of seventeen.

The amazing thing about this position that was given to David was that the men accepted his role as their leader. You often see young people given position at a young age, but rarely do you find that these young people are accepted by those whom they lead, especially those who are much older than they. I often see in the ministry pastors give their children a position in their ministry, but the people are not accepting of this leadership role. Though they won't tell the pastor their feeling, it can be seen in how they truly follow that person. We find in this story that there were two things that caused David to be accepted in this leadership role.

First, he earned the right to lead by killing Goliath. A person needs to earn the right to be given position. Position should never be inherited; it should be earned. The men of Israel accepted David's leadership role because he accomplished something. If a person doesn't have something that they have accomplished, then they should not be given a leadership role. Accomplishment is like a college degree to a position. Accomplishment validates that a person deserves the right to hold that position. If they have never accomplished anything, then they should never be given a leadership role.

Furthermore, the degree of the accomplishment should determine the degree of the leadership role. David didn't just kill anyone, he killed someone that nobody else could kill or even tried to kill. If a person wants a high ranking leadership role, then they need to accomplish something that nobody else has ever done.

Second, David behaved himself in a wise manner. Though he was a youth, he didn't act like a youth. I have watched people hold leadership roles who didn't behave themselves as was becoming to their position. If a person doesn't behave themselves rightly before they have position, then you can be guaranteed that they won't behave themselves wisely after they acquire a leadership role. Leadership is not a right, it is something earned. You partly earn that role by doing right in front of people and when they are not looking.

Finally, David did not look for a role of leadership. People who want leadership roles don't deserve it. The best way for you to acquire a leadership role is to do right because it is right to do. Don't seek to be a leader, just do what you are supposed to do. You will find that when you do what you are supposed to do and accomplish things that others are not able to accomplish that leadership roles will find you.

Hills

Helpful Hills

Psalm 121:1

"I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help."

The Psalmist said that he would get his help from the hills. Hills are often a place of refreshment. They are often hard to climb, but once you are at the top you can find the refreshment that you need. When I look in the Scriptures, I find there are several hills that every Christian needs to climb.

First, there is the hill of Golgotha. Golgotha is the place where our sins were paid. The first hill we need to climb is Golgotha, and you climb this hill by accepting Christ as your personal Saviour. The Word of God is of no value to you without the hill of Golgotha. Have you experienced this hill in your life? Has there been a time when you accepted Jesus Christ as your Saviour. This hill is helpful because it is the hill that allows us to skip Hell so that we can go to Heaven.

The second hill that you need in your life is the hill of Mt. Sinai. This is the place where Moses received the first five books of the Bible. In other words, you get your help everyday by spending time in the Word of God. This hill is what will give you your spiritual nourishment for the day. This hill is where you find the answers for your life. Without this hill you will become spiritually undernourished. Christian, you must visit this hill everyday of your life so that you can let God's Word guide you throughout your day.

The third hill that you need in your life is the hill of Mt. Carmel. This is the place where Elijah prayed fire down from Heaven to consume the altar. This is the hill where the four hundred prophets of Baal were killed. Every Christian needs the power of God. You don't get this power from man, but you get it from God. You will never be the Christian God intends for you to be without having His power on your life. How do you get this power? Elijah saw it through prayer. You must spend time daily in prayer if you want the help of God's power on your life.

The fourth hill that you need in your life is the hill of Mt. Moriah. This is the place where Abraham took Isaac to give him as a sacrifice to God. In other words, every Christian needs a time in their life when they will be willing to sacrifice everything they have for the cause of Christ. There must come a time when there is nothing in your life that God cannot have. Have you experienced this hill yet? This is the hill when God becomes number one in your life. When God becomes the One Whom you seek first, then you will see God's blessings in a great way. Christian, you must visit the Mt. Moriah of your life and be willing to give God anything He wants if you want God to use you.

The last hill that you need in your life is the hill of Transfiguration. This is the hill where Jesus was transfigured into His glorified body in front of the three disciples. You need the hill in your life where God changes you into His image. It is on this hill where God begins the great works through your life. Though you will still live in your body of flesh, you need God to transfigure you into His image so that this world can see Christ through you.

Have you visited these hills? It is at these hills where you get your help for the Christian life. Instead of lifting your eyes to the world and man to get your help, lift your eyes to these hills to get your help. These hills are where you will find the help you need to live the Christian life on a daily basis.