The Untamable Tongue

Our new series, My Big Fat Mouth. Can y'all say that with me? My Big Fat Mouth. Let's say that again. My Big Fat Mouth.

Now, why am I asking you to say that? Why are we doing this like we're back in elementary school? Because it's not your husband's big fat mouth. It's not your wife's big fat mouth. It's not your boyfriend's big fat mouth.

It's not even your mother-in-law's big fat mouth. It's not your boss's big fat mouth even. It's your big fat mouth. It's my big fat mouth. And this series is to look at our big fat mouths.

To kind of look at ourselves and investigate. And before you start nudging your wife or nudging your husband or your best friend or whatever. Saying, oh yeah, that's you. We need to stop and consider my big fat mouth. Now, have you ever, men particularly, have you ever asked a woman when she's expecting, only to learn that she's not?

Have you ever? No? Okay. I think a man, at least men, women think about these things a little more than men. I mean, we've at least all done it once in our lives.

How many of you have asked your, saw a woman and says, your daughter's really pretty, only to learn that it's her sister? You know, or your granddaughter's really sweet, only to learn that it is their daughter. I mean, and when the words are out there, they're just out there, right? I mean, we can't take them back. And they're just out there.

What do I do? And we have this thing called a pause button. We have a pause button. But we want the other button, the rewind button. We wish we had a rewind button, right?

So we can rewind back. But we can't. We can't pause. We can't rewind, but we can pause. But I want to give you the idea for this series.

The big idea, just kind of go ahead and put it out there. And there's this statement. If you're a Christian or you're not, you've probably heard this. And it's quick to listen and slow to speak. Quick to listen and slow to speak.

Can we say that together? Quick to listen and slow to speak. And I want to do something else here also. I want you, if you're in your seats, you know, if you can take your, you know, get your fists going here. And you kind of keep just pulling back.

And I want you to do this. I want you to go quick. And I want you to open up your. I know this is all elementary school stuff, and Leon, why are you doing this, but there's something to this, okay, I want you to, quick to listen, and slow to speak, so ball it up, come on, come on, quick to listen, and slow to speak, now why am I doing that, because what happens is we have a tendency, when we're in conflict, when we're talking to somebody, when things start escalating, we have a tendency to ball our fists up, we have a tendency to ball our minds up, to cut our eyes off, to cut our hearts off, and not consider what the other person, because why do we do that, because for the same reason that the person on the other side of the argument wants, they want to be listened, they want to be heard, and they want to be understood, we all want to be heard, and we want to be understood, after all, I can't really hear you, unless you hear me, I can't understand what you're saying, unless you understand me, and you have to say something, will you just at least let me know that you understand what I'm saying, and that's why we need to come back to that term, quick to listen, and slow to speak, imagine if we could be people that were quick to listen, rather than trying to get our point across, if we could be quick to listen, and slow, slow to speak, imagine if both sides of the party could do that, so this idea of quick to listen, slow to speak, doesn't come from me, it doesn't come from pop culture, it actually comes from a man named James in the Bible, James, the brother of Jesus, and let me just say this, if you're kicking around the tires for Christianity, I get it, you know, maybe you had some bad examples of Christians, and you haven't been into church for a while, and you're just not there, I'm not here to judge you, I'm not here to tell you you're wrong, or anything, because I get it, I've been there, I've understand, I've seen it myself, but let me just say this, if you want to consider Christianity, if you've ever wanted to consider, ever wanted to consider Christianity, this is the person you need to look to, you need to look to James, the brother of Jesus, because here's the deal, he didn't believe Jesus until after the story of Jesus, and he thought that Jesus was crazy, he thought his brother was crazy, but there he was, he was at the cross, he was beside his mother, and he watched his... is His brother died on the cross and just days later he was having breakfast on the beach with him.

If that isn't convincing enough, what is? He didn't change just because of some idea or some kind of philosophy or some kind of interesting movement. He saw it. He actually witnessed his brother alive after he had died. He saw it.

And if there's any reason you should consider Christianity, James, the brother of Jesus, is the way to go. And if you look at church history, we see that James was a leader in the church. He was the guy that was on stage. He was the guy that if you came into church, if you're in Jerusalem, you came to church, he was the one teaching, he was the one shaking hands, he was the one doing all the stuff, you know, that normal pastors do. He was a leader in the church.

He emerged as a leader in the post-resurrection church. And he was executed in A.D. 62. So he was executed.

And it's really intriguing the story around his death. So the governor at the time, Festus, had passed away. The Roman governor, Festus, had passed away. And there was a high priest named Ananus. And Ananus wanted to take advantage of the situation.

He wanted to take it because he didn't like the idea that James was teaching or speaking or sharing this thing about Jesus, the Son of God. So he takes him at this point in time, puts him on trial, puts him before the Sanhedrin, and they execute him by stoning. But at that time, after that happened, they put a new governor in place. And the new governor learned about this illegal action that the high priest had taken. And he was taken down from his post because of an illegal execution.

But not before James was taken away. James was martyred. Now, talk about bad things happening to good people. Talk about bad things happening to good people because James was a really good man. In fact, he had the title, James the Just.

James the Just. And he left us with this letter. This one letter that, whether you're a Christian or whether you're not, this is a great place to start because it's so practical. And it has so much stuff in it. And he makes this statement in chapter 1, verse 2.

19, my dear brothers and sisters, and I love how he says that. He doesn't, you know, in that day, women were treated as property. Did you know that? And here he is. He's including, this is the great thing about Christianity.

It raised the dignity of women. And it says, dear brothers and sisters, we are together in this. Let me share this with you. Take note of this. Everyone should be quick to listen and slow to speak.

Quick to listen, which is what we all want anyway, right? We want just to be listened to. Why don't we be the people that are quick to listen? Because that's all the other person in the other side of the party wants. And then slow to speak.

And the idea is to be late. Don't be early in your speaking. Be late. Listen. Be curious.

Ask questions. Give them an opportunity, because all anybody ever wants is to be listened to anyway. So quick to listen, slow to speak. And words are powerful, guys. Words are powerful.

Your words are powerful. And they've shaped lives. They've shaped my life. They've shaped your life. Our lives have been shaped by words that have been spoken to us, over us, and about us.

Words spoken to us, spoken over us, and spoken to us. About us. And they've shaped our childhood experiences. They've shaped our marriages. They've shaped our most intimate relationships, and our social environments, our business environments, our work environments.

They've shaped, they've even shaped the way that we feel about each other. The way, they've had an impact on how we think about ourselves, and what we see when we look in the mirror. And people with no confidence, and people with no confidence, and people with no confidence gain confidence just by a single word spoken to them. And people with incredible confidence lose it because of words that are spoken to them. Words are powerful.

And words aren't equally weighted. Did you know that? Words aren't equally weighted. It takes a lot of positive words to overcome one negative word. We rarely forget hurtful words, right?

But the positive words that have spoken to us in our life, we often forget. I mean, you can go back to that time where your father, your mother, or some mentor in your life, your son, never forget. You know, they kind of give you that encouraging moment. Never forget, never forget. Never forget this, but we can't remember what the never forget was.

But the hurt, the thing that somebody said in childhood, somebody said somewhere, we cannot forget. Words aren't equally weighted. Nor are words equally, or the sources are equally weighted. The sources aren't equally weighted. As a leader, as a pastor, my words weigh 150 pounds.

So, when I talk to somebody, or I'm going to talk to somebody, or I'm going to correct somebody, I have to make sure my words, and in fact, sometimes, Christina, who you just met, my assistant, it's better for her to talk to somebody than me, because my words are so heavily weighted. And mothers, your words are 500 pounds. Your words are 500 pounds when you speak to your kids. And I don't know why this is. I don't understand why this is.

But fathers, your words weigh the most. Your words weigh the most. I can't tell you how many conversations that I've had with people where I'm encouraging them, I'm like, you're doing it, you're doing a great job, you're blessed, you got this gift, you're doing, and says, you know, thank you, pastor, thank you, I appreciate that. But I wish my dad, but I wish my dad would have said that to me. I wish my dad would say those words to me.

I wish my father, your words weigh the most. And the recovery time isn't even equal. The recovery time, you can be hurt immediately, but recovery could take a long, long time. It's a long process, and no amount of words to the contrary can create immediate healing and recovery. I mean, we could say, I'm sorry.

I'm sorry. I said I'm sorry. I said I'm sorry. So why aren't we back to what I said before I said that thing that I said, right? Why aren't we back to what I said before I said what I said?

We think that it just draws it even. Well, I said I'm sorry, but if I were to slam your fingers in the door of a car, and it's mingled and hurt and whatever, and I say, I'm sorry, you're still hurting, right? You're still, it doesn't revert having to go to the hospital to get your hand checked on, because the implication is, why aren't you fine? Why isn't it okay? I've corrected it, but they weigh the weight of those words.

They're so powerful. They're so strong. It's not a quick fix. The more words, and more words don't make it better. Because we think we just add more words because words aren't equally weighted.

Words aren't equally weighted. Quick to listen and slow to speak. We need to be quick to listen and slow to speak. Because our words are the most powerful thing that we have. They're the most powerful, and our mouth has more destruction or more powerful.

It has endless ability to destroy, and it has unlimited ability to build up. And that's the point of this series. And I want to take us to James, the brother of Jesus. As I stated earlier, this is a fascinating story because it's James. It's Jesus' half-brother.

I mean, who would even be? And here he is. He's given his heart and his life and his everything to Jesus. And he has this very, very practical stuff to share with us. And he has a lot to say about the power of words.

And our greatest relational regrets might have been avoided if we could just take heed and listen to the words of James as we go into this series. And he's very practical, and it's a great start. So let's go to James chapter 3, beginning with verse 2, and I'm just going to walk us through these verses. And then I'm going to give you perhaps a few application points to help us with these untamable tongue issues, okay? It says in verse 2, and by the way, if you have the Bible app, you can go on the Bible app, and all the verses will be there.

You can go to YouVersion Bible app, go to events, find Salt Church, and you will find all of this there if you're following your notes. And it says, we all stumble in many ways. We all stumble in many ways, don't we? I mean, that's true, right, for all of us. Right there, everybody says, amen, I've stumbled.

Even if you're not a believer, you understand that we all stumble. We all make mistakes. We all have regrets. And it's true for everybody. And it says this, anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, right?

Able to keep their whole bodies in check. So what he's saying here, gain control over your mouth, you can actually gain control over your whole body. That's how powerful our words are. And James, could you give us some evidence of this? Yeah, sure.

James is like, okay, let me show you a few examples. Let's take horses, for instance. When we put bits into the mouth. Horses. When we put bits into the mouth of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal.

Now, I'm not sure if you understand horses, if you had any, but in James' day, this was a very common thing. And growing up, I kind of understand this. I put the bit in a horse's mouth a few times because my father owned a few horses when we were younger, and I used to ride horses a little bit here and there. And in that little bit that you put in the mouth, and it doesn't matter how big you are, it doesn't matter what size person you are, you can be 10 years old, you can be 5 years old, they know how to ride a horse. But you get on that horse, that massive creature, one of the largest animals that we have, that is domesticated, and you can put on a saddle, you can put on a bridle, you can put on a bit, and you can make that animal turn.

You can make it do. So he uses that as example. And to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. We can just do a little nudge, do a little here and a little there, and we can turn it. And he says, is that not enough of an example?

Let me give you another example. And he uses another common day idea, a ship. Let me just show you ships. Or take ships for example, or as an example. Although they are large and driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder.

A very small rudder, wherever the pilot wants it to go. So you're talking about, and I got a graphic up here of a ship in that day. Obviously, we don't have a real picture because there weren't photographs in that day, right? But you have these ships, these massive ships on sea that carried about roughly 200 people and had all kinds of weight on it for traveling and luggage and taking commodities to different places. And here we have a small rudder.

He talks about a small rudder. Small part, big influence. Small part, big influence. Like a rudder. Like a rudder.

Like a rudder. Like a rudder. It's significantly proportionately, but has extraordinary power to determine direction and destination. Direction and destination. Small, small things.

Big influence. Small part, big influence. And then he goes on to say, likewise the tongue. Likewise the tongue. Now think about a tongue in relation to the rest of the body, okay?

It's a very, very small part of our body. It's roughly about four inches, give or take, you know? And it's invisible for the most part. We don't see our tongues. It's there.

We don't see it. But we don't see our tongues. And a fun fact about tongues, we have eight muscles in our tongues and they never get tired. Surprised? I'm not.

They never get tired. And James' point is like the bridle in a horse's mouth or a rudder on a ship, the tongue has extraordinary influence and power. Has extraordinary influence and power. And is a small part of the body but it makes great boasts. So small.

But it can change the direction of our lives. And he says, consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. Think about it. Think about it for a minute. I had a cigarette lighter.

I left it in my bag this morning. I was going to use it as an example. But think about that. Think about a lighter of a grill and that little spark that you make on a grill. Or the massive forest fires start with just simple sparks.

If you see the graphic up here, you have forest fires that just ruin. They have the ability and imagine the damage to thousands of acres and millions of dollars of homes and properties. And something so, so, so, so small can create tremendous damage. And there's no logical correlation to that. And the tongue also is a fire.

A world of evil among parts of the body. Your tongue has the potential for endless evil is what James is saying. It has the potential for endless evil. Every kind of evil can be initiated by the mouth. It also has the potential for endless good.

And we'll talk a bit more about that next week. But think about it this way. Murder can be initiated because of one argument for small argument. Divorce can be initiated by what you say. And a war can be started just by one word.

The tongue is like a fire. And we are born with this pilot light on all the time. We have this spark inside of us that's ready to light at any time. And he goes on to say it corrupts the whole body. It corrupts the entire body.

Your mouth can get your entire body in trouble. And we all have that story, don't we? About our mouths getting... Like getting us in real trouble, right? I mean, you don't put a child's mouth in timeout, right?

You put the child in timeout. You don't put a teenager, you don't ground a teenager's mouth, right? You ground the teenager. You don't divorce a spouse's mouth, do you? You divorce the spouse.

You don't, if you're a business owner, you don't fire the employee's mouth, right? You fire the employee, and on and on and on. A school principal doesn't expel a mouth, right? It expels the student, right? So our mouths have the potential to corrupt our whole body, and it sets the whole course of one's life on fire.

And as our words go, our lives go, right? Our lives go. You have the potential to burn down your life, your friendships, the most intimate relationships you have, the marriages you have, the career you have, and even your future. You can destroy your future with your words. And when confronted, what do we do?

We defend ourselves. First thing we do is we add more words. We defend ourselves with more words. I'm just being honest. I'm just being straightforward with you.

I was mad. I'm sorry. I was mad. You know, we go back to that sorry thing. I'm sorry.

I was mad. I was drunk. I didn't know what I was doing. I was this or that. I mean, we defend ourselves with more words.

I didn't mean to. But here's the deal, and you guys are smart people. You know this, but if you start a fire accidentally, you're still responsible for the fire that you started. If you start a fire accidentally, you are still responsible for the fire you started. And then he goes on to say this, and this is tremendous right here, and it is itself set on fire by hell.

What does he mean? He's not talking about a place. He's talking about the source, the substance of which this comes from, which this spark comes from. It comes from hell. It's something bigger.

It's something greater. Our battle is not against flesh and blood, but the powers and principalities are a source that this actually comes from, an evil source. And then James isn't done. He goes on and on and on. He says all kinds of animals.

He talks about animals, birds, reptiles, sea creatures are being tamed by and have been tamed by mankind. So he's talking. He's not talking about domesticated creatures and our dogs. He's talking about animals in general. The entire animal kingdom has been brought under control, and animals are not threatening to the human race.

Yeah, sure, we'll have a snake bite here, we'll have a dog bite there, or things will happen if you're in places. But really what it comes down to, we have never had a moment in history where we are threatened by the animal kingdom. They are subdued. But he says, but no human being can tame the tongue. We can tame, we can subdue animals in the world, but we cannot tame the tongue.

We are not capable of taming the tongue. Your tongue is untamable, and it must always be guarded. So be quick to listen, quick to listen, and slow, slow, slow to speak. And James illustrates just how unpredictable it is. Here's what he says in verse 9.

With the tongue we praise our Father and our Lord, our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings. We do it anything of the same, right? But he who has been made in God's likeness. So we come to church, and we praise God, and we raise our hands, and we're hallelujah, praise the Lord. And with the same breath we go home, or we go out to eat afterwards, and we can curse people.

We can talk about people. We can slander people. We can rub people through the mud. We can do those things. So we slander people.

And out of the same mouth comes praise and cursing. So this wasn't anything new for today, right? James was dealing with it in his church. He was dealing with it among the Christians in that time. So he says, my brothers and sisters, this should not be.

And then he goes on to say, can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? And the audience is like, no. That doesn't make sense. And the tongue is a miraculous thing, and it doesn't make sense. It's like a magic trick.

And then he goes, my dear brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives? No. Can a grapevine bear figs? No. It doesn't make sense.

Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water. So it's so unnatural. It doesn't make sense. There's something uniquely and terribly and disturbingly wrong with our mouths. And that's what James is getting at here.

And what happens next is a shocker. Here, you ready for it? The end. He stops. He moves on to the next subject.

He just stops there. So he finishes with no suggestion, no helpful application, and no hope. So what's his point? Why did he stop there? Why did he just shut off there?

Because James understood this. There is no once and for all solution to our mouths. There is no once and all solution. It's a constant thing. We never arrive.

There is no one and done with our mouths. It doesn't matter our age. It doesn't matter our maturity level. It doesn't matter how many verses we've learned in the Bible. It doesn't matter how many times you've gotten up here and speak and preached and shared and what ministry position you're in.

It doesn't matter who you are or where you're at or what. We all have this little thing in our mouth called a tongue that we have to control. And it's untameable. And can we tame it is the question. Because we can't gather up all the tongues in the world and lock them away, right?

We can't send them all out to a desert island somewhere, right? We can't put them in a cage and say they can go over here. We can't do that, you know? So we have to learn how to control our tongues. So what do we do?

What do we do with something so untameable? Something so unpredictable? Something so dangerous? Well, James didn't go into that. And I could easily say, well, I don't know, you know?

I'll come back next week. I bless you. Let's talk about our mouth a little more next week. But I want to give you three things real quick to help you understand. And James' point is to make you understand the gravity of this.

And that's why he stopped there. He really, really pushed our buttons here today. You know, James' words really kind of makes us think a little bit. Because we can't, our tongues can't be controlled. They can only be guarded.

They can't be tamed. They can only be guarded. So how do we do that? And I'll open this up for next week as I'll share this. I'll share these real quick and we'll dig into these a little more next week.

But first of all, we need to remember. We need to remember how powerful our words are. We need to call to memory that we can weld words, and words are the most powerful weapons that we have. We need to remember that, because you have extraordinary superhero powers with your tongue. Did you know that?

It's a powerful object. Remember that. And when you are angry, and when you are frustrated, and when you're starting to build up tension, you need to remember. You need to pause. Hit that pause button.

You know, just pause just for a second, and think, and remember how these tongues operate. And your mouth entered this world with a pilot light on, okay? A spark. And it has the potential for unlimited evil, but it also has the potential for unlimited good. So, we need the ability to start controlling, not necessarily controlling, but putting up guards, because it has so much devastating factors.

Our tongues. Remember. And then surrender. You need to surrender this formidable weapon that you have to your Father who is in heaven. And you know how you can do that?

And if you don't, you know, what I do, and you can do this, you can practice it this week, you can learn how to pray to your Heavenly Father, just like we did during the worship moment this week. Just hold out your hands and just lift your hearts to your Heavenly Father. We call Him our Heavenly Father because He is truly a good Father, and He wants us to call Him that. And He says, I submit myself to you. I need your help, Lord.

I need your help to surrender my mouth. And surrender, I need you to help guard my mouth. So, Lord, I surrender my mouth. I surrender my eyes. I surrender my eyes, my ears, my heart.

And most importantly, I surrender my mouth to you. Surrender my mouth to you. Because no matter how old you get, how mature you are, how much Scripture you know, this is always going to be an issue with all of us. You'll never be able to conquer. And James understood this.

He understood this well. That's why he was so serious about it. We cannot tame the mouth. It can only be guarded. It can only be managed.

So, we surrender it to God. Again, and the more influence... The more influence I have, the more potential I have for evil, and I know that very well, and James knew that very well, so we surrender it to him, and here's a simple prayer, if you want to just say this prayer for the next few days or weeks or whatever to come, if you feel like this is something that you need to have guarded, you can say this, Heavenly Father, remind me to be quick to listen and slow to speak, quick to listen and slow to speak. And then finally, and in conclusion, when you mess up, not if you mess up, when you mess up, because we're all going to mess up, we all mess up from time to time, immediately confess. Immediately confess.

Take ownership. Don't explain or excuse. Own the fires that you've started. Own them, the scorching sarcasm that you use all the time. You know, there's no place for sarcasm.

There's no place for sarcasm in your families. There's no place for sarcasm. We may all chuckle at it, but somewhere along the way, somebody's getting hurt. Somebody is getting hurt. So, confess.

Own it. Remember, surrender, and confess. And let me just leave you with this. Dads, remember, and I don't know why this is, but your words are the heaviest. And they can go either way.

They can be used for good, or they can be used for things that aren't good, for evil. Kids. And we're all kids, right? We all have mothers and fathers and grown kids. Use your words carefully with your parents.

Speak kindly to your parents. Respect them. And because your words mean a lot to them. And ladies, we men, we try to be tough and on the outside and stuff, but our egos are very fragile. So, watch your words with men and respect them and use your words well and choose your words well.

And let me just lean in on the men here for a minute. Men, honor women with your words. Honor women with your words. Women in your life. Women in your work.

Those that you are in contact frequently. And decide. Decide. I'm going to honor women in the presence of women. And even when there are no women around.

Honor women with your words. And last thing, for those of you who've come from homes where you've been scorched your whole life, where you've heard words your whole life, and they've affected you, here's what you need to do. Don't repeat the cycle. Don't repeat the cycle. Don't carry it over to the next generation.

Don't carry it over to the next person. Don't carry it on. Don't repeat the cycle. Break it. Break the cycle.

Break it. Because your mouth cannot be tamed. It can only be guarded by God's grace and thoughtfulness. It can be controlled. Quick to listen.

Slow to speak. Quick to listen. Quick, quick, quick to listen. Slow, slow, slow before I open this thing, right? Slow to speak.

Ask questions. Give people opportunities because, honestly, that's all they want to hear. That's all you want anyway, right? Quick to listen. Quick to listen.

Slow to speak. And let me just leave you with this last thought as we go our separate ways. Did you know our Heavenly Father was quick to listen and slow to speak? Did you know that Jesus was quick to listen and slow to speak? I want you to think about this just for a minute, just for a second.

Jesus came into the world as a child. He grew in stature and in wisdom and was silent. For 30 years, he was silent. He was silent. And then he spoke.

He spoke. And when he spoke, he shared this glorious news that you needed to know, that I needed to know. He was quick to listen, but he was slow to speak. And when it was time and it was ready, it was available to us. And he shared this story about a Heavenly Father who loves us so much that he's willing to give us life.

and I know my friend and I kind of get you thankful for, but I in my life. To, for us. That, that he's willing to give, that like the, the son of man will have to give his life for. And nobody got it. Nobody got it because this man who had been silent for 30 years and then all of a sudden speaking, he said, they said he spoke with such wisdom and authority like no other person had ever spoke before.

And they began to listen to him and he began to share with them. And then he ended up going to a cross. And on that cross, he was quick to listen. And slow to speak. When they accused him, when they falsely accused him of, of the things that he did, he didn't speak.

He didn't speak. He just kept silent because he knew what he was going to do. But, but, but, and then he went to the grave. He went, he went to the cross. And there on the cross, he died.

He died. And the father turned his head for a second. Father, God, why have you forsaken me? Why have you forsaken me? And he dies.

But that wasn't it. That wasn't the end. Because three days later, and he would speak truth. He would prove, he would prove who he was. That he conquered grave and death.

And he gave you an opportunity to know the father through his grace and love. And so with all heads bowed and all eyes closed, if there is one person here, maybe you're here today. And I don't know what brought you to church. I don't know. Maybe you're still considering.

But there's something really, really grabbing your heart right now. And I call that, we call that the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God. He's been pursuing you from the very beginning of time. Did you know that?

When you were born, he pursued you. He was pursuing you already. He was setting up this moment for you to be here today. And he wants a relationship with you. He wants to know you as a good and perfect heavenly father.

Because he already gave it all for you. So today, if you want to believe in him, believe in him, you can give your life to him. You can have, you can have, you can know God. You can know God today. Okay.

So if you just pray this with me, he says, he who believes in the name of the Lord, who confesses and will be saved. If you'll just pray that with me today. Father, I believe that you are the son of God, that you died on the cross. And Father, I know that You gave Your only Son so that I could be reckoned with You, because I was so far from You. But I know that I can be close to You today, so I give my life and I give my heart to You.

In Jesus' name we pray.