"You'd Better Watch Your Mouth!"

The book of proverbs is a Christian library and drug store all rolled into one. It’s a book of wisdom, as well as a book of remedy. There is something in this book to instruct or heal anyone who suffers any type of spiritual malady.

God here – through Solomon – has condescended (or stooped down) from His heavenly throne to become our spiritual ombudsman on the affairs of life. These inspired words and instructions are plain, sharp and to the point.

Besides the threat of God’s judgments, we are warned against the evil of idleness, laziness, drunkenness, debauchery, injustice and verbal abuse. That last evil I mentioned is the one we’re focusing on today because there is a need for each of us to understand that what comes out of our mouths carries great power.

Someone might say, “Well Pastor... they’re just words.” But brothers and sisters, I’ve come to tell you that: words can bring life to a dead situation, or words can bring death, destruction, or a whole lot of trouble if misused!

For instance:

– Cold words freeze people...

- Warm words loose people...

– Hot words scorch people...

- Cool words calm people...

– Bitter words bite people...

- Kind words sooth people...

– Positive words bring positive results, while negative words bring negative results! I tell ya... there is power, there is great power within our words!

...And I believe that the devil recognizes the power that’s in our mouths and so many times he convinces us to say the wrong words . . . so as to derail this Gospel train we’re riding on.

They tell me that it doesn’t take much to derail a train. Just a kink, or a break in the tracks, or something that has ‘intentionally’,or maybe ‘unintentionally’ been placed on the tracks. . . can cause a train to jump its rails and cause a lot of destruction, or maybe even death.

Now I don’t like to give the satan credit, but the boy’s a genius! He knows that in order to cause a train wreck in the body of Christ all he really has to do is to get one Christian to talk about another Christian (or someone who’s thinking about becoming a Christian). And if can succeed in doing that, he’ll succeed in getting that Christian to leave the church and go back out into the world.

Think about it ... it’s not people in the world who cause some of us to leave the church, it’s folk right in the church who many times don’t realize that they’re on hell’s payroll, nor do they realize that one day eternal damnation will be their retirement benefit! That’s why I stopped by to tell you today “You’d Better Watch Your Mouth!”

When I was a child that’s what the old folk used to say us when said something we had no business saying. “Boy.... or Girl.... You’d Better Watch Your Mouth!” Sometimes they acted before they said it and some of us found ourselves picking our lips up from off the floor!

Well... I’m not suggesting that you slap anybody (that’s neither a Godly, or a healthy thing to do) but sometimes, brothers and sisters, I think that some of us need to slap ourselves – because we often say things we really have no business saying!

As believers– we must understand that we’re living in a time, where the enemy is going to and fro, seeking whom he may devour! The devil is busy!

He’s not taking a coffee break, and he’s not on vacation! And he devil recognizes that if he’s going to bring down, as many Christians as possible, he has to work over-time! Not only is he working over-time, he’s working triple time! Matter of fact, while you’re on your job, in church, or even sleeping at night, the devil is plotting up something to get you! That’s why before you go to work; to church, or to bed, you need to pray over yourself. Pray and ask God to season your words.

Somebody said, “Much prayer, much power, little prayer, little power, no prayer, no power!” When I think of seasoning, I think of salt. Salt is flavorful. Salt preserves. Know this: God has called us to be the salt of the earth. In other words, God has called us out of the darkness into the marvelous light to be good ‘seasoning’in a‘tasteless’ world.And God wants us to “preserve.”

Watch this: You can’t preserve nobody when you gossip about them! You’ve got to be careful that you don’t say the wrong things in the wrong way, and cause a person to turn totally away from God and miss out on their salvation – because if they miss it because of you, their blood is on your hands!