Living In A Bleeped Out World Series

“Living in A Bleeped Out World”

James 3:9-10; Ephesians 4:29

Introduction: About 2 months ago I went fishing and put my porta-boat in the garage. The next day something began to stink! I found the culprit a ½ a shrimp that was decomposed. The word Paul uses in Eph. 4:29 NKJ uses the word “corrupt”.

“sapros”

The NIV uses the term “unwholesome”

describes something “ foul, rotten!”—

Vine describes it as --‘corrupt, rotten, primary of vegetable and animal substances, expresses what is of poor quality, putrid,

Would you put the rotten shrimp in your mouth?

1. Our speech is what one of the traits that makes us a unique and wonderful creation!

The gift of language and the ability to express ourselves!

How parents delight when their child can say momma or dada or pappy!

WORDS ARE HUGE!

Jesus said---"For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned."

[Matt. 12:37]

The Bible says a lot about words.

It was with words God spoke creation into existence [Gen. 1:3],

with words God revealed His will to man [Ex. 20:1],

and with words Christ revealed the truths of eternal life making salvation available to mankind [John 6:63, John 6:68].

So much so that the Lord Jesus Christ is referred to as the "Word" [John 1:1].

----------Words can comfort when we're feeling sad, inspire us to take action, acknowledge us for a job well done, humiliate us, make us laugh, stimulate our thoughts, educate us, a high compliment is, "She keeps her word."

-------But words have also created fights, divorces, murders, and wars. To "exchange words" has always expressed aggression and conflict. However, ------Our words are so much more powerful than we realize. We take our words for granted, because we say so many in a day.

------How are you using your words? Are you aware of what you say to others? Or do words just fall out of your mouth?

--WORDS ARE USED TO PRAY! It is with words man can communicate back to God with prayer.

--WORDS ARE USED TO LEAD SOMEONE TO CHRIST!

IS CURSING A BIG DEAL_--DOES GOD HAVE A LOT OF OTHERS TO BE CONCERNED ?

AS a Child of God it is another step away from God! Another bridge crossed away from innocence and purity.

WHAT IS CURSING? MORE THAN PRONOUNCEING A CURSE!

A LIST OF GOOD AND BAD WORDS?

THE WORD STUPID!

“ cursing needs to be expanded to not only include culturally or socially unacceptable words, but any word that is used to demean another individual or express extreme dissatisfaction with a particular situation, especially when that dissatisfaction is directed toward God. Christians are often guilty of substituting more culturally acceptable words in place of unacceptable words to describe their dissatisfaction with a situation, or even in reference to an individual. These are called euphemisms and cannot be considered justified alternatives.”

PROPOSITION: WHY DO SOME CHRISTIANS STILL CURSE, CUSS, USE PROFANITY, WHAT MESSAGE ARE WE SENDING?

What does wholesome language say to the world?

I. TO ADD POWER TO OUR SPEECH!

We do not feel people will take us serious!

We believe that cursing adds power and authority to our thoughts!

Ill: Savannah is working in the rec. center at UTB part time and she laughs about the guys coming to work out! The groan and yell as the try to get one more rep! They believe that shout or yell will give them the little extra to get those weights up. Does it help?

I don’t know, but I know people often curse because they believe it adds power to their speech!

IDENTIFIED WITH THE GOOD OR BAD GUYS: Many believe that if they do not swear it puts them in the good camp! And they do not want to be in the good camp!

They want people to see them as tough, rugged, extreme and rebellious!

Ill: Marine Drill Instructors would insert a bunch of colorful adjectives to describe the noun in order to make sure you knew they meant business.

Ill: Recently my daughter’s professor at UTB was dropping F bombs in class so everyone would know he was the tough exMarine, Vietnam Vet, who was cynical and did not care what society thought of him. CURSING MAKES HIM FEEL POWERFUL AND FREE!

And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. Just say a simple, 'Yes, I will,' or 'No, I won't.' Anything beyond this is from the evil one. Matthew 5:36-37

Your character should say enough about who and what you are!

Ill: Watergate ---Richard Nixon’s greatest fear was that his mother would hear his profanity. He knew that when she heard his language it would also thrown his character into question.

It needs to be understood that cursing can also include any verbal expression of a word that may not necessarily be considered a traditional curse word.