Live Simply Love Generously Care Deeply Speak Kindly and Leave the Rest to GOD

Yesterday I concluded this sermon series...
I don't have my sermon notes with me right now and I have some time for blogging...so, here's some words from memory...

The LORD keeps bringing us back to the subject of SPEAKING KINDLY...
As a matter of fact my very first sermon as pastor of RRAG was entitled...BE AN EXAMPLE FOR THE BELIEVERS IN SPEECH...based on 1 Tim 4:12...I was doing a sermon series entitled OUR MISSION...
I talked about the incredible importance of the greek word for speech: LOGOS...this is the very origin of all creation...IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD...
Do our kind words carry JESUS to the world?

PROVERBS 18: 20&21...A man's moral self shall be filled with the fruit of his mouth; and with the consequence of his words he must be satisfied (whether good or evil). Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and they who indulge in it shall eat the fruit of it (for death or life)...

I used two illustrations for the power of the tongue...
One...Aesop's fable of the four bulls: because they listened to the lies of the lion they didn't stick TOGETHER and became dinner...
Two...The Snail: a scientist looked at a snails tongue under a miscroscope and found thousands of teeth, this little creature can saw through leaves ect. with comparative ease...
I pray the Holy Spirit open our spiritual eyes to the snail-like toothy tool (the human tongue) sawing through hearts with comparative ease...

It takes children 2 years to learn to speak and adults 50 years to learn to shut up...
Some of us haven't learned after 50 years...
Ask Holly, I haven't learned after 30 years...I hate it when I preach at myself!

Before we speak we should stop & T.H.I.N.K.
T: is what I'm about to say TRUE
H: is it HELPFUL
I: is what is protruding from my face INCONSISTENT with the life of Christ
N: is it even NECESSARY
K: and most importantly...is it KIND

Because the very origin of the spoken word is CHRIST...I shared a few thoughts that EMPOWER us to bring Christ to others...this is the MAIN THING:
1. People LISTEN to those who treat them as FRIENDS
2. Serving gets people's attention, simple acts of kindness
You may want to read Steve Sjogren's book: Conspiracy of Kindness.
3. As we serve, we change the world's perception of Christianity
The Christian has the reputation of being judgmental, uptight...we must change this for that is the Pharisee, not JESUS
4. Doing precedes telling!
5. Focus on planting, not harvesting
God is the only true evangelist! We are not gathering scalps...look for God moments to show Love so the heart may be open to the sharing of the gospel...America has become a hostile environment to the faith so it takes TIME (showing before telling)...