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This program is made possible by the giving of the God called partners of Renner Ministries. Get ready for a teaching that feeds your spirit and your mind, where the Word is the anchor in uncertain times. And doctrine doesn't bend to culture. We keep it simple, but dive deep, revealing a truth that strengthens us, a love that emboldens, and a mission that touches the world. Let's join Rick Renner. Welcome to today's program. My name is Rick Renner and my friends, I want to say thank you that you have made time to be with me today and let me come right into your space. I know that your time is very valuable and I want to make sure we use this time wisely. So we're going to dive right into the Word. But I want to remind you that I'm teaching a new series which is called what Jesus said about getting a grip on your mouth. We all need to know that. And this five part series which comes in all kinds of formats, also comes with a study guide so you can read all the material while you are seeing or hearing the series. I really want this material to get down deep inside you so that you'll know how to get a grip on your mouth. And I want to tell you about Joyce Meyer's book called Power Words. The subtitle says what yout say can change your life. And that is what we're seeing in this series. What you say has the power to change your life and that's why Joyce's book is called Power Words. It is such a great book. It'll tell you what you should say, it'll tell you what you should not say. It is so practical. And by the way, Joyce is one of our dearest friends. But anyway, if you want to know more about all these resources, just go online or give us a call right now. And I really sincerely tell you that we want to pray for you. If you'll call that number, we're waiting to take your call. We love to receive your call and to pray for you. And we believe praying for you is one of our God given responsibilities. And so if you'll reach out to us or if you wish, you can send an email. And when we hear from you, we're gonna pray and, and Jesus is really going to do something wonderful in your life. You know Proverbs 10:21 says, the lips of the righteous feed many. That's my verse. I know God has called me to feed the word of God to people all over the world. And this program is really reaching the ends of the Earth and our partners help us to do that. A partner is anyone who financially gives regularly to our ministry. And when you become a partner with our ministry, we want to send you a gift. My book called Life in the Combat Zone, which I give to everyone who becomes a partner with our ministry. But if you're not a partner yet, would you please pray about becoming a part of our partner family? And you can also do that by going online or by giving us a call. But reach for your Bible we always use the Bible in this program. We believe in the Bible and we believe the Bible is the answer for all problems. And today we're going to see about how to get a grip on your mouth. But today's teaching is called think before you open your mouth. Well, that will already save you a world of trouble. But I want to go back to these verses that I have referred to in the two previous programs from Proverbs. Proverbs 18:7 says, A fool's mouth is his ruin, and his lips are snare to his soul. When you just spout off and say something, my friends, it's a snare to your soul. You get yourself in trouble. Proverbs 18:21 says, Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof. It means you need to be careful about what you say because what you say is going to become your reality. You're going to end up eating it. So rather than speaking a bunch of negative death permeated words, you need to think about what you're speaking. Are you speaking death filled words or life filled words? Because what comes out of your mouth is what you're going to end up eating in your life. Proverbs 21:23 says, Whoso keeps his mouth and his tongue keeps his soul from troubles. And that is the truth. If you'll just zip your lips and not spout off too fast, you can save yourself from a lot of trouble. Most people get in trouble because they speak too quickly. Or how about Proverbs 29:20. It says, do you see a man that is hasty in his words, just spouting off, piping off, saying whatever comes through his mind. He has no filter. There is more hope for a fool than for him. These are really powerful verses about getting a grip on your mouth and I'm trying to help you. I'm trying to help you. Now in James 1:9 we find what I believe is great help. James says, wherefore my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak Slow to wrath. Now, you might say now, brother Rick, you've already covered this in the two previous programs. Well, I'm going to cover it again today. You need to hear it and hear it and hear it. I'm going to cover it very quickly, but I want you to really get says let every man. Every man in Greek means every man. It is all inclusive. So you can put your name right there. Let every man. Just put your name there, whatever your name is. If it's James, if it's John, if it's Betty, that's your name. Let every man be swift to hear the word swift. The Greek word tacus, as I've told you, it describes a runner who's running as fast as he can. He is so committed to reach the finish line first that he's putting all distractions out of his mind so he can really focus on what is in front of him. And by using this word swiftly, the Greek word takous, it means that when somebody is communicating to you, you're really not going to hear them unless you make a commitment to hear. You've got to put everything out of your mind, all the distractions, and really focus on what is being said. The word hear, a form of the Greek word akua. It's where we get the word acoustics. But it doesn't just mean to hear. It means comprehending what is being communicated to you. And as I told you in the two previous episodes, if somebody is speaking to you and you don't get what they are saying and ask for clarification. Just today I received an email that made no sense to me. But rather than pretend that I understood it, I said, you know what, can you please restate that I do not understand what you just said to me. So they re clarified, they restated it and finally I got it. Well, you know what it means. There's going to be no confusion because I asked for clarification. I wanted to really understand what was being communicated. And it's a great mistake just to act like you understand understand when you don't. You need to be swift to hear that word. Swift means put all distractions out of your mind. And if you're thinking about somebody, what you're going to say when that person stops talking, or if you're thinking about something else and not really listening, then you're not going to hear what's being communicated. You're not going to comprehend it. You've got to put all distractions aside. You've got to really focus on what's being said you've got to really hear until you finally comprehend what is being communicated to you. And then James says, be slow to speak, slow to wrath. The word slow is used twice in this verse, and in both cases it is the Greek word bradus. And bradus is a word which refers to somebody that is dull, sluggish, slow, or somebody who has some kind of a mental or speech handicap. They just can't seem to think as fast or to speak as fast. They're dull, they're slow, they're sluggish. And James says, when it comes to you speaking, and the word speak is the word, it's a form of the word lila, which means to chatter, to talk, to communicate before you quickly respond. And you just want to chatter and chatter and chatter and really speak your mind about what somebody just said. It's better to slow down, slow down. You need to be slow when it comes to responding. And in fact, the Book of Proverbs says that you need to study to answer. I love that verse because I found myself in so many positions in life when I needed to really think about what I was going to say. I needed to study to answer. How do I want to answer that? And it's alright for you to say, would you please give me a few minutes to think about how I want to answer that question? Would you please give me some time? Let's have a timeout so I can really think about how I should respond to what you've just said. Rather than spout off and get yourself into trouble, zip your lips and think before you speak. But he goes on to say, be slow to wrath. The word slow again means to be slow, sluggish, dull, to have a handicap when it comes to wrath. The word wrath, the Greek word orge, which really describes something that's all twisted or bent out of shape. If you find you're getting all twisted and bent out of shape over something that is not a great time for you to speak, that is a time for you to put a lid on it, because you're probably going to say something twisted and bent out of shape. And in fact, the riv of James 1:19 could be interpreted like this. And this is from the Renner interpreted version. You can find this very interpretation in my volume of the Riv, the Renter interpretive version of James and Jude. But here it is. But understand, my dearly beloved brothers, that every one of you needs to swiftly run to hear, attend to and comprehend what's being communicated. You need to zip your lips, put a lid on your mouth and learn to slow down in expressing your opinions. You also need to intentionally put on the brakes to stop blowing your cool so easily. Now that's a verse for me, and that's a verse for you. Take it to heart. But hey, let's go further in James. Since we're in James, let's go over to chapter five, verse 12. And actually, when you come to James 12:5, James is quoting Jesus, who was his half brother, his elder brother. The reason I call him half brother is because James father was Joseph, but Jesus father was God. They had the same mother, but they didn't have the same father. But in James 5:12, James quotes Jesus and he says that above all things, my brethren swear not. Neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath, but let your yea be yea, and your nay, nay, lest you fall into condemnation. The word fall is a form of the Greek word pipto, ay yai. It means I fall. However, in the New Testament it often denotes a tragic falling or some type of failure. It denotes a downward plummet, or one who falls into a terrible predicament, or one who falls into a worse state than he was in before. It pictures someone who falls into some kind of failure and nearly always denotes a falling with tragic consequences. That's what this word fall means. The word into is actually the Greek word hupo. It means under. It doesn't mean into. A better translation would be under. He tragically falls under condemnation. And listen to the word condemnation in Greek. This is it. In Greek the word condemnation is pronounced crisis. It's where we get the English word crisis. And it denotes a legal decision made by a legal court, a court degree, or a legal procedure at the court, or a verdict delivered by the court that results in judgment and condemnation. This verse states that we are going to be judged by the oaths or words we speak. And for those who easily make oaths and that they cannot keep it will lead to the greatest crisis imaginable as their personal character is called into question. Or they're dragged into court when evidence is presented that they failed to keep their promise or their oath. This is such a damning moment that the word crisis in Greek is where we get the English word crisis. And as in a crisis situation, this word also describes what one that is being judged by others. That's a crisis. It can depict a self inflicted judgment. It pictures one who makes matters worse and creates a worse crisis. It speaks of self inflicted troubles that could have been avoided entirely by never swearing or rashly making an oath. And the riv of James 5:12 interprets it like this, hold on. But my dearest and most cherished brothers, it is of paramount importance that first, foremost and above all else, you do not engage in swearing an oath of any kind, neither by heaven nor by the earth and all that's related to it, nor by any other kind of oath. Instead of making all these kinds of oaths, you need to make it your aim to simply let your yes be yes and your no be no, so that you will not tragically fall underneath a weight of judgment that has the ability to produce a serious crisis in your life. That's powerful and that is helpful. But let's go back to what Jesus said about making oaths and speaking recklessly and rashly. But we've got to go back to Leviticus 5, 4, 5, because this really gives us the foundation for what Jesus is going to say. And Leviticus 5, 4, 5 says, or if anyone utters with his lips our rash oath, he speaks rashly. He speaks recklessly to do evil or to do good. There are oaths to do good. You make a promise to do something, but you don't really think about it before you make the promise. Or you say, I swear I'm going to get after that person. I'm going to get that person. So you're swearing to do good, or you're swearing to do evil, or any other sort of rash oath that people swear, and it's hidden from him, and he comes to know it and realizes his guilt in any of these things. Verse 5. And it shall be when he is guilty in one of those things, that he shall confess that he has sinned in that thing. Which means if you make a promise impetuously before you've really thought about it, and then the moment comes when it's time for you to pay to do what you said you'd do and you don't want to do it. Now you're going to back up. You're going to have to apologize. It would have been better for you to zip your lips and to think before you speak. Now you've put yourself into a position where you've got to break your promise. That's embarrassing. You need to apologize. All of it could have been avoided if you had been thinking before you spoke. Now we're going to go back to Matthew 5. 33 to what Jesus said about getting a grip on your mouth. And in Matthew 5:33, we're building on what we started yesterday. Jesus said, again, you've heard that hath been said of them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths. Again, the word not the Greek word uk, it is the strongest form of know or not in the Greek language, which means Jesus is speaking categorically, emphatically, you shall not forswear. And the word forswear. The Greek word epi, orcheo, a form of the word EPI and orkos compounded. The word EPI is used as an intensifier. The word orkos describes offense or a limitation, which means when you make an oath or you forswear, you're doing something that's going to fence you in, it's going to limit you, it's going to lock you into a position, which means when you rationally make an oath or make a commitment or a promise, you're locking yourself in. So you better be sure it's what you really want to do, because an oath is that serious. And that's why Jesus says emphatically, categorically, do not do it. But he says, if you do it, you shall perform unto the Lord thine oaths. And the word perform is the Greek word, or a form of the Greek word apo, didymi. The word apo means back. The word didym means I give you. Compound it together means you gotta pay, you got to pay back. You got to do what you said you would do your oaths unto the Lord. And the word oath is the word orkos, which again describes something that is a boundary. It binds you in. It locks you in. It fences you in. And thus Jesus says in this verse that making such oath should be completely avoided. And in fact, in verse 34, Jesus continues and said, but I say unto you, swear not at all. Neither by heaven, for it is God's throne. The word swear here is the word um, nuo, and it's a little different. It means to promise with an oath or to take an oath or to swear by an oath. It pictures a rash or threatening oath, or one who is swearing that he is going to take matters into his own hands. Now, this doesn't mean that you can't make any kind of oath at all. But really, it's talking about rash oaths, reckless oaths, and According to Matthew 5:37, when you rashly and recklessly make a promise or an oath, this comes from the evil one. And Jesus says not to do it, not at all. The Greek word holos, which means altogether at all, entirely holy, don't do it altogether, avoid this neither by heaven. And the word neither is a conjunction in the Greek language, which in this case means either, neither, nor not even. It means never ever. And in fact it should be taken to mean, this is something you should not do. Don't ever do this, neither by heaven. And the reason it says by heaven is because the Jews in the times of Jesus were known to make their promises and their oaths by heaven. They would say, I swear by heaven. I promise by heaven. Jesus says, do not do that. And they would also say, I swear by God's throne. I swear by God's throne. Well, you better think before you swear by God's throne, because it's God's throne, it is his throne, that is his seat alone. He is the only one who has a right to make a declaration from his throne, to make a promise from his throne. And Jesus says, don't even swear by the throne of God. And then he adds in verse 35, nor by the earth. And the word nor again means never ever. Don't ever do this. The word earth, the Greek word gay describes the physical planet and everything that is in it. Nor by the earth, for it is his footstool. Footstool. And the word footstool here is the Greek word hupopodion. The word hupo means under. The word podion is from the word pous, which describes feet. When we compound the two words together, it is a footstool where one who is seated places his feet to rest. A footstool used by a conquering king, or of the place where a king has placed his feet on the neck of the conquered, picturing total dominion. You are usurping God's position if you swear by the earth, which is his footstool. And then in Matthew 5:35, Jesus adds, neither by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king. And here the word neither. Again, the Greek word mete, which means don't do this. Avoid this altogether. Simply don't ever do this. Don't even swear by Jerusalem, because it is the city of the great king. And the word city here is the Greek word polos, which describes a city or a municipality or the center of activity that is God's place to rule. It is his center of activity. Therefore you shall not swear even by Jerusalem. It is the city of the great king. It is not yours to swear by. And here we find that if you're swearing by heaven, or swearing by God, or swearing by God's throne, or by the earth or by Jerusalem, all of these things are completely out of order. And in fact Jesus says put a lid on it, zip your lips, swear not at all. My friends, this instruction from Jesus about getting a grip on your mouth is really important, but we're out of time. But I'll be back in just a moment and I'm going to pray for you. Someone asked the question Rick, how do you read the Bible? Well, I read the Bible every morning. In fact, I have a rule that if I don't read the Bible first, then I don't eat. That is how important it is for me to read the Word of God. But when I open my Bible, I'm praying the words of Psalm 119, verse 18 which says open thou mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things. The Holy Spirit is the Revealer and He is the only one that can open the treasures of the Word of God to me. So when I open my Bible to begin to read, I ask the Holy Spirit to open my eyes to show me wondrous things. I love to read the Book of Psalms. Then I move to Proverbs, then I move to Ecclesiastes, then I move to the Gospels and read the Epistles. And by the way, if you need a Bible reading plan, reach out to us and we'll put provide one for you. But my friends, the Holy Spirit is a great revealer. So when you read your Bible, you need to pray the words of Psalm 119, verse 18 which says open my eyes that I may behold wondrous things.