Blessing & Cursing • Why Your Words Matter

Automated transcript, lightly edited for readability. Scripture appears as spoken; the video is the authoritative teaching.

Welcome Home

Do you ever find yourself searching for something bigger than you? For a community to be a part of? A place founded on truth and love. A place to worship the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, and the Son of God. Welcome to Founded in Truth, where we're more than just a fellowship. We're a family. So welcome home.

A Commanded Time of Rest

Guys, we made it to Shabbat. It's like a reset every week. It's like the goal you're reaching for—a commanded time of rest—and you can let your guard down because you're around like-minded believers and family. This morning, we're going to have a very special guest speaker. Y'all have heard from Pastor Pete, Pete the Great. Pete has a better half. And this particular speaker has, because of their social media presence as an influencer, actually captivated many people to come and visit Found in Truth or explore Torah observance. It's been a powerful influence for the kingdom. And this is a long overdue opportunity for this person to be here to share. Please help me welcome our sister, Ashley Wilson. This iPad's heavy. All right, we'll make it work from down here because it's not going to stay up. Oh, can we? Wonderful. A little bit sturdier. Thank you, sir. A little bit more would be great. Thank you. Perfect. Thank you, Dan. All right. We good? Sound good? Awesome.

Jeff Apthorpe asked me this morning if I wanted to use the headset or if I was more comfortable with the mic and I was like, "No, I want the headset." Then I can talk with both of my hands. Jason, thank you for your welcome. You only embarrassed me just a little bit. Appreciate that.

Opening Prayer

Let's open in prayer today. Father God, thank you for your Sabbath. Thank you for this fellowship. Thank you for this body of believers who desires to follow after you, to build your kingdom, Father, to bring heaven here to earth. Lord, I pray that your Holy Spirit give me words to speak today. Do not allow me to speak anything that is not of you. Father, if there is someone here today who needs this word, I pray that you would give them ears to hear, a heart to understand, and feet swift to obey. In Yeshua's name, amen.

Eight Children and a Calling

Well, Jason introduced me. I'm Ashley. Peter and I have eight children. We will be welcoming our ninth baby early next spring. Bless the Lord. I've been on our Torah portion rotation here at FIT for many years now, but this is the first time that I've had the privilege and the honor of standing here to speak and to teach, to bring the message to the congregation. And I am humbled, and I recognize the weight of responsibility that it is to stand before you and bring you the Word of God. I pray that the message that Holy Spirit has helped me prepare for you today is edifying and encouraging, and as convicting to you as it was to me when the Holy Spirit opened my eyes to my sin.

The Small Piece of Metal

Let's start off with a question. Has anyone here ever ridden a horse? Show of hands. All right, yeah. Oh, wow, lots of you. I don't know why—we're in the South. I should have expected that. It's been many years, but I used to ride a little Western horse, so I'm familiar with the tack or the gear that you use when you're horseback riding. You have your saddle pad that goes on first and then your saddle and then the cinch—a vital piece of tack that keeps the saddle on the horse, which keeps you on the horse. Then you have your bridle, which is your headstall, and the reins that you hold in your hands, and those reins are attached to a bit.

And the bit is a piece of metal that goes in the horse's mouth all the way back, behind their teeth, and it is used to control the direction of this massive beast upon whose back you are sitting. This small piece of metal allows you to control which way your animal goes. A little to the right, a little to the left. If you release the pressure, the horse will move forward unhindered. Quick pressure and then a release tells your horse to stop. If you keep pressure on the bit, then the horse goes backwards. They put it in reverse. A nearly 1,000-pound creature can be controlled by a 50-pound child if they know how to properly use the reins and the bit in the horse's mouth.

A Matter of the Tongue

Open your Bibles with me to James 3. We're going to read verses 1 through 12. We've got that up on the screen for you as well. Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, since you know that we will receive a stricter judgment, for we all stumble in many ways. If someone does not stumble in speech, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body as well. And if we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we guide their whole body as well. See also the ships, though they are so large and driven by strong winds, they're steered by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs.

So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. See how so small a fire sets ablaze so great a forest, and the tongue is a fire. The tongue is a world of evil placed among our body parts. It pollutes the whole body and sets on fire the course of life, and is set on fire by Gehenna. For every species of beasts and birds, reptiles and sea creatures is tamed and has been tamed by mankind. But no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil full of deadly poison. With it, we bless our Adonai and Father. And with it we curse people who are made in the image of God. From the same mouth comes blessing and cursing.

My brothers and sisters, these things should not be. A spring doesn't pour out fresh and bitter water from the same opening, does it? My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree produce olives or a vine produce figs? Neither can salt water produce fresh water. With it, with our tongue, we bless our Adonai and Father. And with it, we curse people who are made in the image of God. From the same mouth comes blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, these things should not be. Have you ever heard the expression, you kiss your mama with that mouth? It's usually said to somebody if they say something ugly or rude.

My working title for this message was actually, you bless the Lord with that mouth. Brothers and sisters, it should not be this way.

A Really Important Message

I want to share with you today my testimony of the Holy Spirit's conviction in my life about my speech. And I think that this is a really important message for believers because I've come to see that our speech—specifically the words we speak to and about other people—is one of the biggest stumbling blocks that we place in front of the unbelieving world around us.

The Spring of 2021

In the spring of 2021, I was leading our ladies group through Priscilla Shirer's study on the armor of God. We were in the section about the breastplate of righteousness. And Holy Spirit brought the hammer of conviction down squarely upon my head. I even have in the notes on this particular section the word OUCH written in all caps, underlined multiple times. Allow me to share with you what caused this recognition of my sin. Ephesians . I typically use the TLV, the Tree of Life version, sometimes the CSB. It says this: "Let no harmful word come out of your mouth, but only what is beneficial for building up others according to the need, so that it gives grace to those who hear it."

The CSB says, "No foul language should come from your mouth." And I actually really like the way that the Message paraphrases this as well: "Watch the way you talk. Let nothing foul or dirty come out of your mouth. Say only what helps. Each word a gift." And then to drive home the point, we moved on to Ephesians 5:3-5. "But sexual immorality and any impurity or greed, don't even let these be mentioned among you, as is proper for Kedeshim or saints. Obscene, coarse, and stupid talk are also out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. Know for certain that no immoral, indecent, or greedy person who's really an idol worshiper at heart has any inheritance in the kingdom of Messiah and of God."

I cannot express to you just how horrified I was to find that obscene, foolish, crude speech was listed among the sins of sexual immorality, greed, and idolatry. I was horrified, and I was guilty, and I knew it.

A Double-Minded Approach

I'm going to tell you something about myself that most of you won't know: I used to pride myself on my ability to know when and where it was appropriate to use foul language in front of close friends, family, or like a sailor. I could and would and did make remarks and jokes that would make said sailor blush. But I wouldn't swear in a church setting. I wouldn't swear or speak crudely around people I was just getting to know, or even around people who I knew didn't use that kind of language. I was being very considerate as to not make them uncomfortable, right? Wrong. I was double-minded. This was not the same thing as using my phone voice when speaking to someone in customer service, or being a little bit more formal when meeting someone new.

This was being two completely different people in order to make others believe that I was more righteous than I actually was. And so when Holy Spirit convicted me of my double-mindedness, of my sin, I determined that I was no longer going to use foul language. And I was successful for a time. We're going to circle back to that. Because this message isn't actually about using swear words, although I firmly believe that examining our speech in this way is a worthy pursuit for those who are followers of King Yeshua.

Blessing and Cursing from the Same Mouth

But blessing and cursing from the same mouth. This should not be so. You see, my need to understand my speech, the power of the words that I spoke, what God had to say about it, it led me to a deeper understanding of how he was speaking to and about other people, about human beings created in the image of our awesome God. And it was humbling. Let's turn to Matthew -40. I know that we are all very familiar with this section. "But the Pharisees, when they heard that Yeshua had silenced the Sadducees, gathered together in one place and testing him, one of them, a lawyer, asked, 'Teacher, what is the greatest commandment in the Torah?'

And he said to him, You shall love Adonai your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The entire Torah and the prophets hang on these two commandments. Love God, love others. That's it. Everything we do hangs on these two things. Everything we do and everything we say. If the words coming from our mouths are not loving, then we are not loving. I hope to prove that to you today. If we're cursing, mocking, sarcastic, unloving in our speech, we have an idea of the condition of our heart.

The condition of our heart tells us how well we are loving God and loving others. You see, I had the outward expression of a believer in Yeshua in a lot of ways. And don't be mistaken, I love the Lord. But I was doing and saying the right things in front of most people. But my speech was not a reflection of God's love for his creation.

The Overflow of the Heart

Yeshua tells us in Luke chapter 6 verse 45 that out of the good treasure of a man's heart, the good man brings forth good. And out of evil, the evil man brings forth evil. For from the overflow of the heart, his mouth speaks. If you're walking down the street and you're carrying an open cup of coffee and someone bumps into you and your coffee spills on the ground, why did it spill? You didn't spill coffee because you got bumped into. You spilled coffee because there was coffee in your cup. You would have spilled tea if there had been tea in your cup. If you're walking down the street and someone bumps into you and your coffee spills and you respond with, "Hey, watch where you're going, moron!"

What's in your heart? If instead you respond with, "Oh, that's okay, accidents happen, have a blessed day," what's in your heart? Because from the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks. Remember Yeshua's words from the Sermon on the Mount. And I was just telling Miss Angie this morning that a lot of us probably identify ourselves perhaps as a Torah observant or Torah pursuant Christian or follower of Messiah or something to that effect. And I was telling Miss Angie this morning that that's actually no longer how I identify my faith because I don't believe it's enough. I now call myself a Sermon on the Mount follower of King Yeshua because what does Yeshua do in the Sermon on the Mount?

He takes the Torah, he takes those commands and he brings them to their fullness. He shows us the heart behind them. In Matthew 5, he says, "You have heard it said that you shall not murder. But I tell you, whoever is angry with his brother is subject to judgment. Whoever insults his brother or sister will be subject to the court. Whoever says, 'You fool!' will be subject to hellfire." Have you ever insulted anybody? Called another driver an idiot? Made a sarcastic remark at somebody else's expense? Guilty as charged. What's in your heart is what comes out of your mouth. If what is in your heart is hateful and mocking, then what comes out of your mouth will also be so.

The Curses We Speak

I think that a lot of us read these words and we think, "I don't hate people, so this is not a sin that I'm guilty of." And we don't notice that it says that our anger leads to insults. I believe that those insults are the curses that James says should not be spoken from the same lips that speak blessing to our Heavenly Father.

One of my favorite Bible teachers, her name is Felicia Mason Hymer, I quote her all the time. She says this: "You cannot love that which you mock." Let that sink in, meditate on that, think about that for just a moment. You cannot love that which you mock. Psalm chapter 1, verse 1 says, "Happy is the one who has not walked in the advice of the wicked, nor stood in the way of sinners, nor sat in the seat of mockers." Like the letter to the Ephesians where crude speech is grouped with sexual immorality and idolaters, here in the first of the Psalms, mockers are grouped with the wicked, the sinners. God takes our speech very, very seriously. And so should we.

Death and Life in the Power of the Tongue

But why? Why exactly are the words we speak so powerful and so important? Because Proverbs says this: "Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit." Life and death. Not only for the one speaking the words, but even though that's what the proverb, I believe, is directly saying, you'll eat the fruit of what you speak. Whatever a man sows, he reaps, right? If you speak gossip, slander, mockery, insults, you will reap that fruit. If you speak blessings and kindness, grace, mercy, the love of your king, you will reap that fruit. But life and death—it's not just your own that are in the power of your tongue and in your speech. James says that the tongue is like fire, and fire has the ability to destroy, to damage, to harm. It also has the ability to provide warmth and safety and comfort and to light the way. You can speak death and curses, or you can speak life and blessings.

Practical Examples: The Reckless Driver

I have some practical examples for you. I love a very good practical application. Let's say you're cruising down the freeway. You're going 65 in a 60. You might be speeding a little bit, but you're going with the flow of traffic. You're being safe. And out of nowhere, this driver whips up behind you. It feels like they're six inches from the tail of your car, and they're whipping in and out of traffic and going 85, and you were startled, probably scared you, and caused your heart rate to increase. These are physiological responses to a fear stimulus, normal for human beings. But there's a couple of different ways you can choose to respond. Option number one: "What a moron! That idiot is going to get somebody killed! I hope he gets in a single car accident before he can hurt anybody." And you probably sprinkled some colorful words in there too, right?

Option number two: "Oh Lord, that was scary. Oh man, I really hope that they get to where they're going safely. Lord, whatever is on that person's heart and mind, bring them your peace, and thank you for your protection over them and the drivers in their path." In the moment, option one is what feels better to say. Option two is what is going to bring you the most peace. And it allows you to be a domino of prayer in that person's life. Thank you, Katie Price, for that wonderful metaphor.

Speaking Blessing or Curse in Politics

Here's another example. It's a good one. Let's say you live in the United States of America and our current sitting president is someone whose policies you disagree with strongly. I'm going to go there because Matthew, Pastor Matt, has gone there. So I feel like it's okay for me to go here, Let's say that somehow this seemingly innocent, innocuous phrase becomes a very popular one with people who oppose our current president. You have two options. Option number one, you can slap a hashtag Let's Go Brandon sticker on your car. You can post it on Facebook. You can shout it to your friends. You can curse our president.

Option number two, you can pray for him. You can pray for his wisdom. You can pray for his salvation. You can pray that the Father use him, you can bless him. I know some of you have chosen option one. Just because you aren't actually saying the foul curse behind this phrase does not mean that you are not cursing him all the same. The Lord knows the thoughts and intentions of the heart, and it's ludicrous to think that you are somehow keeping that hidden from him. Repent, pray for this man that you have been cursing, because the reckless driver on the freeway, the president of the United States, the friend who hurt you deeply, who wounded you, the family member who is manipulative, celebrity that everybody loves to make fun of—every single one of these people is created in the image of God.

They are so loved by him that he took on flesh and died on a Roman cross so that they would have the opportunity to be brought into relationship with him. You don't have to be in relationship with any of these people. You don't have to. But you do have to love them. You are commanded, you are required by your king to love them. And you cannot love that which you mock. Insulting someone, calling them a fool, holding anger in your heart against them, that makes you a murderer—Yeshua's words, not mine. Makes you a breaker of God's commands. Because you hold the power of life and death in your tongue. And when you speak of God's good creation as though it is not what he has called it, you are speaking death.

Now this does not mean that we cannot pray for God to move, that we cannot pray for God's justice. Seek justice, but remember to love mercy and walk humbly with your God. The justice is not yours, it is his. I have one more object lesson I'm gonna share, and I'm gonna throw my husband bodily under the bus. I have his permission. Last week, we were standing around with our oldest son, Riley, discussing a sitcom, a TV show that was popular in the '90s, and we were talking about whether or not it was actually funny.

Sarcasm is Contempt Disguised as Humor

Now, Riley mentioned that a lot of younger people don't think it's funny at all. And Peter said something to the effect of, "If you weren't alive when the show was made, you don't get to have an opinion." And I said, "Peter, that's not fair or true." Peter's response to me was, "I was being sarcastic." Whoo, buddy! That'll do it! If there's something that I have grown to very, very strongly dislike as I have gotten older and, dare I say, wiser, it is sarcasm. The rest of the conversation went like this. Peter, sarcasm is just contempt disguised as humor. Well, somebody should have told Jesus that because he was sarcastic.

So my response was this. Peter, Jesus, Yeshua, was God come to earth in human flesh, and he could see into men's hearts and know them. And unless you can do the same and then choose to climb up on that cross and die for them anyway, you should probably err on the side of caution. Leave any perceived sarcasm to your king. Just, that's not for you. Don't sit in the seat of mockers and scoffers. Don't speak death with the powerful tongue that God has entrusted you with. The flip side of all of this is that you also hold the power of life in your tongue. Imagine that. Imagine the people that you come into contact with leaving every conversation with you feeling the love of their Savior, feeling comforted, feeling the power of life because you've spoken life to them. Imagine all of the mighty ways that God can use someone fully submitted to his will, even in the area of their speech.

Speaking Life: The Power of Your Tongue

As the letter to the Ephesians said, "Let what comes from your mouth be beneficial for the building up of others according to their need, so that it gives grace to those who hear it." The Proverbs have such wonderful examples of what it means to speak life. I could probably read chapters, but I've picked out six or so verses, six or so proverbs that I'm going to share about the power of the tongue. Proverbs 15:1, "A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger." This is not just for the person who hears what you're saying, by the way. This is for the speaker. When your words are gentle, it turns away your own wrath.

It calms you down. But when you give vent to those harsh words, it stirs up your anger. This is spoken from experience and neuroscience. When you let yourself "Buh!" it actually makes you angrier. Something to think about. Proverbs 15:4: "A healing tongue is a tree of life, but a deceitful one crushes the spirit." What makes a tongue healing? Proverbs : "Reckless speech is like the thrusts of a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing." Proverbs , "Pleasant words are honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones." Proverbs , "The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life, but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence."

A gentle answer turns away wrath. The tongue of the wise brings healing. The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life. Miss Heather Duncan gave an incredible message a couple weeks back, and if you have yet to hear it, please go back and listen. But in it, she spoke about bringing what the room needs. Ephesians says that the word that comes from your mouth should be beneficial for building others up according to their need. There is not one person in this world who needs your harsh words or reckless speech. There is a world full of people who need words of life, words of healing, words of wisdom, the word of your testimony of the goodness of God and of the good news of King Yeshua.

Bring those words. Bring them to yourself.

Speak Life to Everyone

Start speaking words of life and truth over who you are. Any moms in the room or watching online, any of you ever call yourself a hot mess mom? No ma'am, you are not a hot mess. Anybody ever call themselves a failure, stupid, identify yourself by your past or your struggles or your mental health diagnosis? No, not anymore. You are not these things. You are redeemed. And you walk in the resurrection power of the Holy Spirit. Speak that over yourself. Bring words of life to your children. They are not brats. They aren't terrible twos. They are not annoying preteens or obnoxious teenagers. They are image bearers of God in need of their Savior.

Remember Proverbs 15:1 when you speak to your children, "A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger." We would also do well to remember Romans 2:4 says that the Lord's kindness draws us to repentance. Emulate these things with your children and watch your entire relationship change. Watch their countenance be lifted, not just your children, but with anyone truly. Speak life to your spouse and about your spouse. Thank them, encourage them, exhort them in the Lord. Pray with them and pray for them and speak well of them to others. There's a tendency when we gather in groups of the same gender to get into like gripe fests about our kids and our spouses.

Don't do that. It is one thing to share your struggles with a wise and trusted friend. It's another entirely to gossip and complain about the family that God has entrusted to you. From the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks. To your coworkers and your friends and the strangers in the store, ask Holy Spirit to give you what they need, the words that they need to hear. Anything we ask according to his will, he is faithful to give. So ask.

We Should Not Be Stumbling Blocks

Back at the beginning of this message, I stated that I believed that the speech of professing Christians is one of the biggest stumbling blocks we place in front of an unbelieving world. And if you have spent any amount of time on social media, you know exactly what I'm talking about because you've either witnessed it or you've done it yourself. As Jason mentioned, I am a content creator on YouTube. I've been doing it for just over seven years. And over those seven years, I have received more than a few cruel and hateful comments and messages. I've seen the vitriol spewed at my fellow creators. And it pains me to say that so many of these awful things are said by people with Bible verses and followers of Jesus in their profile.

I have watched as believers go on the attack, partaking in mockery and insults as a way of proving just how right they are and how wrong everyone else is. And I have personally received comments and messages from unbelievers who want nothing to do with God or with our Savior because the people who claim to follow him are so full of hatred. Then Yeshua said to his disciples that stumbling blocks are bound to come, but woe to the one by whom they come. It would be better for him to have a millstone put around his neck and be hurled into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to stumble. That's in Luke chapter 17, verses one through two.

I don't want my words to be a stumbling block to anyone. God forbid that my children see hypocrisy in the lifting of my hands and of my voice in praise and worship today of my king on Saturday morning, and then hearing cursing and hatred spewed from my mouth on Saturday afternoon. God forbid that my need to be right and to make sure everybody knows I'm right be greater than my need to be righteous. God forbid I give the world cause to hate me, not because of the gospel, but because of the false gospel that I am preaching by my words of death. Blessing and cursing from the same mouth. Brothers and sisters, it should not be this way. It should not be this way.

The Journey to Surrender My Tongue

When I was convicted of my sin and using foul language, I mentioned before that I was able to stop for a time. And I want to explain what I mean by that. Back in James 3, verse 8 reads, "But no human being can tame the tongue." No human being can tame the tongue. For a time, I stopped using foul language through sheer willpower. But willpower fades. I was battling 25 plus years of habit, and like all flesh, I was far too weak on my own. I had forgotten the most important step in halting my sin, and so I slowly slipped back into my old ways. It was frustrating, but I couldn't seem to stop. In the fall of 2021, Christy was leading us through Priscilla Shirer's study on Elijah, and conviction came again.

The Holy Spirit is so sweet and so kind and so patient with us. In the course of the study, Colossians 3.17 was put forward: "And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Yeshua, giving thanks to God the Father through him." In word or deed. And in reading that scripture, my eye was drawn in my Bible to where I had previously underlined Colossians 3.8: "But now, set them all aside. Anger, rage, malice, slander, and foul language out of your mouth." My note in the study said, "Okay, I hear you." And then a few pages later, this question was posed: "Where would you say your life gives silent assent to habits or practices that you know are out of line with absolute devotion to God?"

My answer? My language and speech. Specifically when I'm irritated or angry. My speech and words failed to recognize God's ultimate authority in my life. I was heartbroken. Holy Spirit had shown me my sin months before, and I had recognized it then. I confessed it to the women in the group. That's what we're supposed to do, right? Confess our sins to one another. But I forgot the most important step. How or why? I can only think it is because I had failed to recognize God's ultimate authority in my life. And I had failed to recognize that my language, my speech, wasn't just a sin against the people who heard it.

It was a sin against God. And I had forgotten to confess my sin to my Heavenly Father. I had forgotten the all-important step of repentance. I had not given the Holy Spirit permission. I had not given Holy Spirit the reins to control the bit, to have the power over my tongue. The day after that particular Bible study meeting, I was praying in the shower. Do that a lot. I have eight kids. It's one of the only places that I get uninterrupted quiet time. And I confessed my sin to my Father in heaven, and I asked him to take the words from me. Take them. I didn't want them anymore. I wanted nothing to do with foul speech.

I wanted to speak life. I wanted to speak only the words that he had for me to speak. And can I tell you something? He did it. He did it. He took the words from me and the change was instant. I didn't have to white knuckle it. I didn't have to stop myself mid-sentence. They were just gone. Hallelujah.

He Did It

Now in the interest of full transparency, in the nearly year that has followed, there have been times where those old habits, where those words have bubbled up, where my flesh has tried to take back over. And it's always happened when I have been neglecting my relationship with my king. Prayer and time in his word and worship. If you're a gardener, you know that if you neglect your garden, even for a very short time, those weeds will come in and choke out your good fruit like that. It does not take long. And if we neglect the tending of our relationship with our king, the flesh will come back and attempt to choke out the good fruit being born in us. I'm actually thankful for this. It's become like a check engine light, if you will, a signal to me, a reminder, a sign that I am neglecting the thing that is most important in my life, that I am attempting to keep control rather than being in submission to God and giving the reins to Holy Spirit.

A Peculiar People

Mockery, insults, and slander, and crude speech. These are common and accepted in our culture. But we're not meant to look like the culture around us. We are meant to be a reflection of King Yeshua. We are meant to walk with him in bringing heaven to earth. We're meant to be a peculiar people. You know what that means? We're supposed to be a little weird. When everyone around us is choosing gossip, when everyone around us is choosing to speak unkindly of their spouse or of their children, to curse people created in the image of God. We can choose to be different. You shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, and mind, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself. If you're not loving your neighbor, are you loving God? Loving our neighbor takes on many forms, some of them very practical, but I am fully convinced that speaking words of life and blessing is one of the most practical and powerful ways we can love people. I told you earlier that I would prove to you that being unloving with our speech meant that we were unloving. I pray that I've done that well today.

Every Careless Word

But I want to close today with this scripture. One last reminder of how important our words are to our God. Matthew chapter 12, verse 36 says this. That I tell you on the day of judgment, men will give account for every careless word they speak. Every careless word. We will stand before our King and be held accountable for them because our words hold the power of life and death. Blessing and cursing. Be a blessing. And if Holy Spirit is whispering today, if you are feeling the prick of conscience or the hammer of conviction, confess, repent, give him the reins, ask him to bridle your tongue as only he is able to.

Because he is faithful and he knows we'll do it, whatever you ask according to his will. Father God, thank you. Thank you for your Holy Spirit who brings conviction. Thank you for Holy Spirit who is our helper. Father, help us to hand over the reins to you, Lord, that you would be in control of our tongue, Father, that we would steer our ship well. Lord, that we would love others as you have loved us and as you have called us to love them. Father, help us to be lights in this world. Let our tongues of fire be for healing and for comfort and for lighting the way. Father, for showing the way. King Yeshua, in his precious and holy name we pray.

Amen. Thank you.

Blessing and Peace

Shema Yisra'el Adonai Eloheinu Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one. Blessed is his name, the name of his glorious kingdom for all eternity. May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up his countenance towards you and give you peace. Shabbat Shalom. Thank you, Lord. Let's give him praise. Thank you, Lord. We pray this message has blessed and encouraged you and your relationship with God. And we hope that it has made the Bible more beautiful and more powerful in its impact in your life. Founded in Truth Fellowship exists to build a community that bears the image of God and lives the redeemed life only Yeshua gives.

If this message has blessed you, or if you see God working in and through this ministry, we invite you to prayerfully consider partnering with us so that the message of Yeshua and the truth of God's word continues to reach all nations. If you would like to take part in this mission, then you can do so at foundinthetruth.com slash give, or you can scan the QR code on the screen. These offerings go toward providing resources for both our local fellowship as well as our online ministry, but also our many outreach ministries, including our foster care and adoption ministry, local charity outreach ministry, our international online children's ministry, and any future ministries that the Lord would allow us to walk through and walk in to impact the world around us with His love and blessing and the bold proclamation of the gospel of King Yeshua. We thank you for your continued support and we look forward to seeing you next time. Shalom.