James 3 & 4 - wk1

"Taming the Tongue"

Pierce Vanderslice

Words are one of the most powerful ways we communicate with those around us.  We use words to express our thoughts and our ideas.  We use them to express our emotions … our joy, our sadness, and our fear.  Encouraging words can be life-giving.  Words spoken in anger can destroy a life.
 
You can probably recall some words spoken to you that altered the course of your life.  “You’ll never amount to anything.”  “I don’t love you anymore.”  “I’m sorry, you have cancer.”  Or maybe those words were more like this:  “You can do this – I’ve got your back.”  “I believe in you.”  “You did a great job.”  “You are important to me.”  Our words, both positive and negative, are powerful and lasting.
 
This Sunday we are starting a new sermon series from the book of James.  James is Jesus’ little brother and the leader of the church in Jerusalem, and he has a lot to say about the power of our words.  One study suggests that we speak about 20,000 words every day.  I hope you will join me Sunday as James tells us how we can make those 20,000 words count.