hey welcome to the Vive Church podcast I am so glad that you found us I trust that what God brings into your life today through this word is going to bless you expand you and grow you as a result I pray that God equips you I pray that God mobilizes you after hearing this word enjoy you ready for the word of God today grab your bible out let's turn to our series scripture in Romans Romans chapter 12 let me go there myself just want to check in on Chris our are you good back up there Chris yeah we've hidden him got some secret beats coming through Romans chapter 12 I want to go to verse 14 it says bless those who persecute you bless do not curse them Rejoice with those who Rejoice weep with those who weep live in harmony with one another do not be Hoy but associate with the lowly never be wise in your own sight repay no one evil for evil but give thought give thought to do what is Honorable in the sight of all week one of this series we came around a sermon called what do you think the week after that preached a sermon called it's the thought that counts I want to kind of stay in that theme and preach to you a sermon today I've entitled I think so I think so and if you're ready for the word of God I need you knowing to prepare your hearts I need to wake up your neighbor so would you turn to your favorite neighbor and just give give them a little shake and say happy birthday would you do that real quick just give a little Shake say happy birthday and then I want you to find your seat but do not get comfortable amen thank you worship team appreciate you quick question before we get into the sermon is anyone like me convinced that your phone is listening to you like anybody anybody sold on that like convinced because of the Striking coincidence that you may be saying something or talking about something and then before you know it that very thing appears in some kind of feed from your phone am I the only one or does anybody know what I'm talking about give me some I'm just trying to get some partic yeah right and it's funny because anytime I talk to one of my friends who work at Apple their response every time I bring this up is they say no but they're shaking their head like we're in a Cold War era or something you know what I mean it's like no we wouldn't do that it's happening like the other day I was literally just talking to somebody about this crazy idea I had because I love steak and so I was like hey you know it would be economic if I just buy a cow and and like I raise the cow and then we get the cow butchered and we have like a Year's worth of steak for like a tenth of the price of what I'm paying for State these days in in the shopping center and before I knew it on my feed came up an opportunity to go in eight on a cow I'm like how did that happen that is so Random so I thought we could do a little social experiment would you grab your phones out real quick I want you to just open your phone I don't know if it has to be open I don't know if it's listening in sleep mode but let's give it the best Advantage possible okay uh let's open our phones and and on the counter three we're going to say Chicken Coop all right ready three two one chicken C now we'll see now we'll wait we'll see if next week if this week you get chicken coop ads flowing through your feed you know was so random that it had to be listening amen could it be that what we speak or even what we repeat paves the path that we walk in life H is our language following or is our language leading in a way it should be no surprise since we know that in Proverbs it reveals that we have both life and death in the tongue I mean Jesus himself he revealed in Matthew chapter 16 that whatever we bind on Earth will be bound in heaven that whatever we loose on Earth will always be also be loosed in heaven that we have that power power and that Authority and that the words that we use and the words that we speak hold power this is essentially why the tongue needs to be tamed because you'll find as James reveals that the Untamed tongue has the power to set your whole world on fire it's also why Paul when coming around the notion of character with the Romans here in our series scripture cannot dismiss the weight of our words he says bless those who persecute you bless bless and do not curse them now the cool factor with this verse is the real the realization that we actually have the power to bless and a curse like if you get that Revelation all of a sudden your words matter your words mean something to know that this isn't just you know you're not just cussing somebody out on the free weight that what you're saying actually holds weight to it that that that your words hold weight that your words hold power and that you're meant to use your words to bless and not to curse the problem is it's not that everyone else that you're cursing it's often yourself that you're cursing and everyone else that you're blessing I'll never lose weight I'll never get a job all these things that we speak over our lives and wonder why we can't break through the cycle and the habits that we're stuck in because we're living under the curse that we project over ourselves it's not just a revelation that that this is possible that there is weight I mean Jesus proved this himself in fact when he cursed the Fig Tree and to the astonishment of the disciples what he said actually happened the very next day in Mark 11 you can find that however what's most notable about this instruction from the Apostle Paul is that he doesn't say simply to bless those who bless you back but on the contrary to bless those who persecute you this is Elite level Christian character folks to not just bless in Return of blessing or bless those who have been a blessing but to literally put blessing on those who persecute you now I know it sounds crazy but it's biblical I know it sounds impossible because you have some people that have been persecuting you how many people would say you have a at least a mild understanding of persecution through your life that you've been some way persecuted and to picture that person and to speak blessing over them this is like Elite level character that the Apostle is trying to develop that instead of repaying evil with evil which is apparently easy and also desirable he says to give thought to what is Honorable in other words he says think about it like think about it in the context of character being who you truly are in all situations you you can't just measure your character in unique situations it's your your character is measured as a consistency through all situations when you have that understanding in your mind that you only measure your character in the worst of situations CU you can bless anybody who blesses you but can you be a person who blesses when the world's against you and this is the framework for measuring character character much like Integrity is not calculated when Everyone's Watching but what you do when no one's watching it's not just picking up trash so that someone says wow that's what a remarkable person but even when no one's in the parking lot do you return the cart to the I that's the one that gets me I'm telling you that's the one that gets me cuz I'm going a rush all the time and i' I've literally sat in my car and I've gone I've had to drive back get out it would have been so much more convenient if I just returned it in the first place but that's that's it's consistent when no one's watching when no one knows I've even Justified my my laziness by saying I'm providing someone with a job I've literally done that I'm like I've literally talked myself into it like no no I'm I'm I'm creating employment but think about it think about it think about it think about it think about it think about it in the your character as a revealer of who you truly are that produces what you do in all situations because what I do comes from who I am so my response to those who persecute me isn't merely a reaction but actually a deeper reflection of my identity because for me to bless someone who persecutes me means I need to be strong you with me for me for me to be able to be in a stable position when someone's persecuting me for me to bless them means I need to be pretty solid and so it's a reflection of deeper identity in fact if we think about it from a moment I wonder if Paul's instruction is not just to watch your mouth but to watch your heart maybe I'm suggesting this because when we read the Beatitudes Jesus makes a dynamic connection between the heart and mouth the way a tree produces fruit I'll show you in Luke chapter 6 verse 43 it says for No Good Tree Bears Bad fruit nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit for each tree is known by its own fruit for figs are not gathered from Thorn bushes nor grapes picked from a Bramble Bush verse 45 the good person out of the good Treasure of his heart produces good and the evil person out of the evil treasure produces evil for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks out of the abundance of his heart his mouth speaks so so the idea of watching your mouth is actually to check your heart to check your heart check your heart uh growing up my Pentecostal mom used to love this scripture she would often say hey out of the heart the mouth speaks it was like one of her go-to you know I grew up with three brothers and so as you know being Three Brothers I grew up in warfare that's what I grew up I grew up in a Warfare Zone and um we're all very similar aged and so it was a fight from the day we were born we would that's why I tell K I eat so quickly because if I didn't eat quickly my food would literally be taken off my plate like it was Bounty for a Marauder and I literally had to like have one arm so now even today we'll go out to a restaurant and I'm like into it and it's like a subconscious thing and Kira's like still yet to start and I'm like we I'm done you know when she's not looking taking her play but but but but growing up we we lived in a in a in a Warfare mentality with me and my brothers and so sometimes we got real good at names we got real good cuz cuz you know any I and in my house please please hear this correctly ladies we if we'd love to call my brother a girl I just get you're such a girl and and and being a girl is not a bad thing except if you're a brother all right and and my mom would say Adam out of the out of the heart the mouth speaks and I said Mom I truly believe in my heart he is a girl I truly believe it but but I'm telling you this because it's it's literally a reflection our words are a reflection of what's Happening inside so in many ways the very words you use are what reveal your real character this should honestly be a high priority for every believer to discover who you really are this should be like a really high priority to find out who you really are in fact let me ask it this way what if character isn't just developed it's also discovered we all have character development we go through character development I want to develop what if what if it's not just developed what if it's also discovered in fact the Bible doesn't really use the word character development the Bible uses the word character discovery that in other words the way God created me to be who God called me to be is what I've got to go on the Journey of discovering you want me to show you with some scripture all right here we go in Colossians chapter 3 write this down verse one let me read it to you it says since you have been raised to new life with Christ set your sights on the realities of heaven where Christ sits in the place of honor at God's right hand think about the things of Heaven not the things of Earth for you died to this life and your real life is hidden with Christ in God your real life the real you your real character is hidden with Christ in God check it out it goes on to say so put to death the sinful Earthly things lurking within you listen to the language having nothing to do with sexual immorality impurity lust and evil desires don't be greedy for a greedy person as an idolator worshiping the things of this world verse six because of these sins the anger of God is coming you used to do these things when your life was still part of the world but now is the time to get rid of anger rage malicious behavior and slander and dirty language check out verse 9 don't lie to each other if you have stripped off your old sinful nature and all its Wicked Deeds verse 9 is particularly interesting to me because after lumping like together some pretty heavy hitting sins anger rage malicious behavior slander dirty language the Apostle dedicates a whole new sentence specifically mentioning lying like I would have thought to save time just put lying in the midst of malicious behavior throw throw lying right before dirty language throw but but to actually make a specific statement about lying should emphasize to us that this has a particular toxin in our life after saying put these things away a special mention and do not lie to each other could it be that lying is possibly more dangerous than we realize and possibly what's preventing you from discovering who you really are in Christ even though you got the word of God that's revealing who Christ is is calling you higher that the very thing preventing you could be lying Li you ever met someone who who believes their own lies this is actually the worst kind of lying because you're not just lying to others you're lying to yourself may maybe I could just talk about lies for a moment because most probably this is going to be the biggest Blocker in your character Discovery or development for starters give you some info Satan is referred to as the father of Lies as a deceiver deception was the first tool in the garden that created division between Adam and Eve causing sin to enter into the world so lying is a tool that the enemy uses lying was also a tool used by the devil in the New Testament with ananas and saf in an attempt to disrupt the momentum of the early church you see lying is the language of the devil lying is a language of Hell lying is a language it's a it's a it's a linguistic it's a form of language that achieves a purpose of deception it will achieve the purpose of hiding it will achieve the purpose of Destruction the Bible makes it very clear you see this in John 8:44 that Jesus having a blunt conversation with some religious Jewish leaders he highlights that lying is actually colloquial for the devil it's like his native tongue it says this for you are the children of your father the devil that's pretty hard-hitting and you love to do evil things he does he was a murderer from the beginning he has always hated the truth because there is no truth in him and when he lies it is consistent with his character for he is a liar and the father of Lies Jesus didn't want you to get mistaken there the devil's a liar the devil's a liar and so anything in the language of Lies is the language of the devil now the subtle plan of the enemy is actually to Corner you in such a way that your shame or your confusion will force you to lie that's that's the whole point of bringing shame into your life is to get you to go on a pathway in life where where what you do is you find yourself in such a way that you can't help but to act the way the devil has cored you to act to get lies to work through confusion to work through shame in fact if he can't if he can't have you promote lies he'll certainly attempt to have you participate in them this we see this so blatantly in our society even with with gender ideology you know you had someone in your workplace you know force you to use pronouns have you heard that it's like these these are my pronouns you have to use my my pronouns that have nothing to do with their biology but they have to use their pronouns well that's got nothing to do with them discovering their true identity and everything about you playing into their game and playing along with a lie now this is dangerous because as a as an agent of Christ I'm a truth teller because God cannot lie there's only truth in God and I'm made in the image of Christ so truth needs to be in me and if I go along with a lie as a truth agent I'm now reinforcing the prison that they're going to be stuck in by that lie so it's not just about being nice you know I've had people tell me hey what Pastor why do you get so upset about gender ideologies and why do you go on about people's pronouns why can't we just be Christian and be nice no no let me remind you there's that that nice is not the goal kind is kind is the goal kind tells the truth nice will wave as someone goes all the way to hell that's what nice will do don't want to don't want to get in your way go God bless you but kind is like hey you're going the wrong way there's destruction there I know this is inconvenient for me to say something I know that I would much rather shut my mouth and just go along with the flow but I can't help it I'm kind so I have to tell you that is a lie it's not the truth it will bring only destruction into your life the truth is very inconvenient but because of peer pressure or societal pressure the enemy will force you to participate in something that goes against your strong character that because i' I've got a character I've discovered in Christ and yet I've got this conflict because my work but Pastor my workplace forces me wow I thought they I thought they paid you they didn't own you I thought you were doing them a service you weren't under their control I I I think I think some people need to flip their idea of what a workplace is you have the skills you bring the profit you bring the solutions they're lucky to have you who am I talking to who am I talking to here what is your character and your identity so low that you're just lucky to have a job are you actually the gift to that workplace and because you're there like an agent of God that place is going to prosper that place is going to be benefit that place is going to be profitable because I'm here you're welcome let's go I'm an agent of Truth and because I'm here you could Prosper but I ain't going to cow to a world of Lies just to suit your sensitivities I'm kind I'm too kind for that I'm too kind I got too much character for that how do you measure the level of your character is by what you succumb to what I what what what what what what can I be bought at oh D this is too heavy it's way too heavy ke I don't want this it's way too heavy you know it's like but my salary is in Jeopardy okay that was your price that was your that was your price I'll get canceled that was your price there I don't even know why this is not even in my notes I just feel I feel the spirit I feel the spirit of Silence beckoning me to go even further and push anyway what were we talking about lies lies lies it's dangerous it's agent of truth that's what I was trying to say as an agent of Truth I've got to I've got to uphold the truth even if it means persecution but I can still bless even if I'm persecuted you see well the devil is a liar God is the source of Truth and this is what numbers 23 reveals if you if you want to read this in your own time numbers 23 will reveal that he cannot lie it's impossible for God to lie you know we used to get this this was one of the tricks in Bible College when they say is there nothing God is there anything God can't do and be like no he can do anything and then they' say can you lie and you be like all right he can't lie that's the only thing he can't do and then they'd bring out a scripture what about with a calloused heart okay it says he can't do anything with a callous okay there's some things God can't do which actually puts a lot of onus on us that is as much as God would want to move him my my life I got to make sure my heart's soft as much as I want to build character I can't lie because God does not lie he is FS truth Jesus revealed this in John chapter 8 he says I am the way I am the truth and I am the life he doesn't say I am a way I am a truth he makes it very clear I am the truth that's because there is no such thing as my truth can only be the truth and as a Believer I am an agent of truth I don't know what the golf clapping is today I don't know if I'm stirring up sensitivities I don't know if you've been listening to Media so much that you believe in my truth that truth could be variable how can truth be variable there is the truth and his name is Jesus and he has given us truth so that we can reflect the truth let me give you a scripture John 8:31 which says Jesus said to the people who believed in him you are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free a lie can never set you free a lie will only ever lock you up a lie is not a key a lie is a prison the truth is the key the truth brings Freedom the truth unlocks the truth illuminates the truth is a light unto my situation where in darkness I was bound up locked up by lies but because of Truth it'll set you free this is why we use this scripture in legal settings the truth shall set you free because even in a legal system they know that the truth is what's going to unlock and release and bring freedom so when I lie I you guys are back already all right it's your fault you distracted me on the whole thing so when I lie I actually forfeit my key to freedom because I have truth in me truth is a key for Freedom when I lie I forfeit my my my key that I have to bring freedom into people's lives God said I'll give you the keys the kingdom I'll give you the keys the whatever you bind on Earth Bound in heaven what you loose on Earth loosed in heaven but when I lie I forfeit my keys that are meant to bring freedom to people that's what binding and loosing is I mean I meant to bind some things I meant to bind the devil I meant to bind slavery to bind some things but I meant to lose some things as well but when I lie I lose my keys when I when I lie when I have lies the language of Lies you'll never be able to build character where while lies live in your life now there's there's there's lying to yourself can I just take a couple more minutes I want I want to make sure we get this through there's lying to yourself but what if all lying is about self I mean think about the nature of Lies the reason we lie is to to get ourselves out of something to hide our vulnerabilities to make ourselves seem more impressive or to cover up our doubt so it's interesting that Paul says in verse 16 of Romans 12 live in harmony with one another do not be hauy but associate with the lowly never be wise in your own sight don't think selfishly don't don't think you're so much better than it that's going to lead to a projection that you have to uphold before you know you're going have to lie talking about being humble verse 17 repay no one evil for evil but I love this give thought to to do what is Honorable in the sight of all couple weeks back I revealed that in Paul's presentation of Romans 8 he was aiming to reveal just how much we've been brainwashed by sin and require a complete cognitive makeover for us to come into Christ God's trying to transform our thinking and trying to rewire our brain and the connections that we make to things in the world have new thought patterns this explains why Paul really says never be wise in your own sight by because lying is essentially inherently selfish but secondly he says to give thought which means to think did you know you act according to your thoughts I mean this is what we've been trying to reiterate over this series that your behavior comes from your beliefs Proverbs 2 3 you know this says as a man thinks so is he this means that your thoughts toward yourself if they're if they're not confident then they're not congruent with what Jesus says about you in that state your best identity that you can draw is the I think so is God good I think so can God break through I think so I mean I've read the word and and I think so I think so am I am I good I think so am I honest I think so am I integrous I think so the problem is that because of Lies doubt lives in our life and gives a platform for the enemy to manipulate lying is a revealer that I actually don't think so highly of myself self what if what if we were to restructure the sentence of I think so instead of making it a question what if God wants to establish it as a statement it is it then instead of there being uncertainty because my words don't match up with my intentions or I haven't created the pattern of actually being real from my heart that instead of a think so as a question what if I was to think as Paul says is so then determine who I am what if I was to get my thinking right you want to get your language right it starts with your thinking you want to stop lying it starts with your thinking lying is a byproduct of how you think and if I think less of myself I can only expect lies to come out and fill the Gap the void between where I'm meant to be and who I'm actually acting at but if I actually start to think and align my thoughts with what Christ thinks then won't just think so I will think so I will be who God's called me to be it's not just to think so as a question it'll be I think so I'm going to do what is right I think so I'm going to be who God's called me to be I think so I'm not going to let lies direct my course and pave my path I think and I think and I think I think about who God's called me to be I think about who I'm going to be in all situations I think about what Mark I want to leave on the life I think about having Integrity in all situations I think I don't just mindlessly speak and let my speak determine the path that I walk I'm going to arrest my language think first and Let My Words follow my thoughts to think I think so I am I think I think I Ponder I explore I meditate I I I think about the things that God has called me to be and I live up to that level I don't just mindlessly speak and regret and let lies take my freedom I think and as a result of my thought I'mma do what's Honorable in the sight of all uh I think it's what Paul says give it some thought give thought to doing what's honor give thought why because I can do you know anybody can lie anybody can lie but it requires some thought to tell the truth to say I'm going to model My Life of Christ I know this may be hard I know it may be vulnerable I know it may be revealing cuz some of us have pedal a life so long you don't even know what the truth is I speak to men and and and the conversation I'll have with men say sometimes they they'll admit I don't know why I lie I don't even need to lie but I'll just lie like the situation doesn't even require a lie but they so used to lying that they go to lying it's like an accent now to their language to embellish to to make themselves feel more important to hide whatever it is but you'll never find true character while you have the language of Lies you need to commit to saying God I want to lay down my lying I want to let go of lying I want I want my tongue to not have lies on my lips I want to have the truth of God's word in my heart and out of my mouth [Music]