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[0:00] We think we deserve happiness. Yes, but it's actually we have to work at it, don't we? It's really a choice. It's not a right. It's not an entitlement to be happy.

[0:15] But we all want to be happy, don't we? But again, can I back up a little bit? I did want to appreciate the pastors.

[0:25] Dear God, this was not easy. I had all these index cards and I woke up and horrified. I thought, Lord, I'll just drop them all out here. So I found my husband's notes on the pig of happiness and I did look at those.

[0:42] He's got some chicken scratch, but I did have my own too, and plus the index cards. But I always tell my husband, don't talk about yourself.

[0:52] But here I am, ditto, I'm doing it. But we are definitely people that want to be happy. We want to find joy, find happiness, and we have to choose joy.

[1:06] So my thoughts today is I want each one of us to be happy and find joy. Amen. So, again, I, you know, as we saw in the film, we all have times when we let our tongue get loose on us, don't we?

[1:31] And we say things we don't really want to say. And we do things we really don't want to do. We all a hot mess at times. Yeah, we really are.

[1:44] So what I want to do is just encourage you in the Word of God. So we're going to have times where we feel like that we're going to be tested.

[1:56] And we are tested. You know, because we have our character. I'm not following my notes at all, guys. But we do.

[2:08] We have our character that we want to uphold. In fact, I better follow my notes. Jesus. Jesus. Every morning when we wake up, we have 24 brand new hours to live.

[2:26] Is that not something? Every morning we get a new 24 hours. So we want to try to please God as best as our ability.

[2:37] Is that not right? So what we do is we wake up and we prepare for the day. We want to look to Him, look to Christ, and look to our Savior to give us direction.

[2:52] And we ask Him to keep our hearts and keep our minds and guard our minds. And then what you do at work, you know, is fairly, you get away with, you know, just putting on a cassette if you want to, if you will.

[3:07] I pray you don't. But then at night, when you come back home, you know, you're yourself. You let down your guards and you sometimes say words that you wish you'd never said.

[3:22] And so at night, that's when Psalms 17 and 3. Y'all want to look at that? Let's look at that. Let's look at that. Let's look at that. Let's look at that.

[3:34] Let's look at that.

[3:46] Psalm 17 and 3. Thou have proven my heart. Thou have visited me in the night.

[3:58] Nothing. Thou have tried me and shall find nothing. I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress. So again, during the day we may transgress.

[4:15] You know, our tongue is the smallest member of our body, yet it can do the most damage. It can destroy. It can heal. It can be loose.

[4:26] Too many words. You know, talk too much. Be a me monster. You know, me. Everything's about me. Be a bragger.

[4:41] Be bossy. Just this week, Aaron took me to the airport. And I'm bossing him around. I'm like, what about some car lengths in between these guys?

[4:52] And he said, Mom, you see that button right over there? I said, yes. Yes, I see it. He said, that's the eject button. He said, if you need to, you know, if I don't want you to say something, I can just eject you right out of there.

[5:06] We both laughed. It was funny. I couldn't help but share that. But I wish I could be more polished like you, Chris. And so anyway, I'm not too polished today because, like I said, I got a little horrified.

[5:23] I saw these index cards. I could just see myself dropping all of them. And so I scrambled around, pulled some more notes, and I am very confused. But I'm going to try my best to give you some word out of them.

[5:38] Okay. So John 1 is 17. Y'all want to look at that scripture? For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.

[6:02] Thank God for grace and truth, right? We got to have that. And they worked together, both of them. Coincide together.

[6:15] But because I say that, because we all offend. We all offend in word. And, you know, that's scripture as well.

[6:26] So what we want to do is try not to offend as much, you know. Try to walk in love. Is that not right? I had a little poor grandmother.

[6:38] She didn't have anything to leave me. But I found this little sign. It was a little sign. It was a little sign. And it said, walk in love. And I held on to that.

[6:50] And I thought, that's more precious than riches in gold. Yes, it is. Praise God. So, again, you know, we are just a hot mess.

[7:03] We mess up. We say things. People, you know, braggy, braggers, talkers. But we got to know when to shut up. We got to know when to hold our tongue.

[7:17] You know, let people give their opinions. Let people give their answers. But you don't always have to join in and give your story. You know, a guy might catch their, you know, he always wants to meet one up on you.

[7:32] You know what I mean? I always want to one up and have a greater story. Like you caught one fish, he caught three. You got one tooth pulled, he got three tooth.

[7:43] I mean, that's not what I had in my notes. But anyway. Great God. All right. So, Proverbs 12 and 6 says, A fool's wrath is presently known, but a prudent, a wise, covereth his shame.

[8:04] He overlooks an insult. How many of us can overlook an insult? Can you raise your hand? Okay. Mature people in here. I see some perfect people.

[8:17] I love that. I want to be perfect too, but whatever. A fool is quick-tempered, but a wise stay calm when insulted.

[8:34] Yes, they do. Job, his final words was, My lips will not say anything wicked, and my tongue will not lie. You know, I spoke of lying.

[8:51] They say that's very common. My tongue will not lie. So, regardless of how great or small, all the same, you can distort the truth.

[9:08] You can add to it. You can exaggerate. But God wants inwardly what's outwardly. And he wants the truth in the inward parts, in the outward parts.

[9:22] It means a great deal for us. To tell the truth. Don't exaggerate. Tell it just like it is. Just like it happened. You know, it's to benefit you if it sounds a little sensationalized.

[9:36] You know? So, God forbid we could just work on that. Work on this little tongue of ours. The smallest member that caused a great deal of stress. It causes the ships to turn around.

[9:48] That small little, whatever it is. And, you know, it's just important that we work on our mouths. Hold our tongues. Just shut up. Like I said, when you need to shut up, shut up.

[9:59] Or make yourself shut up. Psalms 51 and 6. Let's look at that, please. Behold, Psalms 51 and 6.

[10:25] Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts. And in the hidden parts, thou shalt make me to know wisdom. Man, oh man. That's some powerful scripture right there.

[10:37] Make me to know wisdom. The beginning of fear is wisdom of God. That's what the word says. The beginning of fear is the wisdom of God. We fear God.

[10:49] I fear God. I don't know what the future holds. But I do know who holds my hand. Our ways are not his ways.

[11:04] His ways are mysterious. We don't know why things, some get healed and some don't get healed. But eventually, if you trust in Christ, he's provided an eternal life.

[11:18] Oh, yes, he has. So, moving on. So, I'm going to get a little serious again, go back to the lies.

[11:33] Revelations 21 and 8. All liars shall have their part in lake, which burns with fire and brimstone.

[11:43] Some people, again, I'm scrambled this morning. Some people, their lying is so good they can't tell the truth from the life, from the real deal.

[12:00] They fib, they fabricate, just to make it happen for them, whatever's convenient for them, you know. So, I'm bidding you, and I really think that we should utmost want to respect the dignity of Christ and what he would want us to do.

[12:22] And just try with all your heart to not fabricate or, you know, tell lies. God's advice, a good advice, is Proverbs 75 and 5.

[12:42] Y'all want to look at that, please? Proverbs 75 and 5. See my Bible somewhere.

[13:06] Y'all sure are serious this morning. Is it me? I don't mean to put a damper on anything. 75 and 5.

[13:19] Lift not up your horn on high. Speak not with a stiff neck. Wow. Don't be the one that toots your own horn. Is that not right?

[13:29] That goes back to the braggers, guys. So, I mean, yeah, yeah, yeah. We just got to speak truth, right? It all goes back to truth.

[13:42] Truth. God is all truth. He is the all truth. All truth. So, call it integrity.

[13:53] Call it honesty. Lord wants truth outwardly and inwardly. Regardless of how great or small, all is the same, distorting the truth and the lie.

[14:03] So, I'm going to move right on. Sorry, guys.

[14:16] Getting back to... It's okay, darling. It's okay. My daughter, she has her master's.

[14:31] She said, Mom, you want me to proofread your notes? You want me to write them? I said, I'll be okay. This morning when I woke up, I had all this. Man, I got the fear of God in me.

[14:44] Here I am. So, here it is, Lord. Take me, Lord. Okay. Okay. Oh, Lord Jesus.

[14:57] Will y'all pray with me right now? I love y'all. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[15:09] I really want to do good for the Lord. And I guess I'm just a little tired. It's been a long week. Just got in from Colorado. And I really did look at the word while I was there.

[15:24] And I thought he'd help me this morning. Lord, you're going to help me, right? Right. Building others up or tearing others down.

[15:35] Is that what we do? Do we do that, guys? Let me hear you. Thank you. We edify or we destroy. And you know what?

[15:47] Jesus had something to say about this. And let's look at it. He said in Luke 6 and 45. Let's look at that. Oh, man, this is really good.

[15:59] If Jesus said it, I'll take it to the bank. Yeah. Yep. Luke 6 and 45.

[16:16] Okay. A good man out of the good treasure. This is Jesus speaking. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good.

[16:31] And an evil, an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil. For the abundance of the heart, his mouth speaks.

[16:42] So you usually can understand people. Not that you want to be judgmental. But God wants us to be able to judge others.

[16:53] Because we've got to know how to acknowledge and direct our families. And we don't want to direct them towards a fool. And you know, it's just normal. But if you are judgmental, you're not without sin.

[17:06] I don't really advocate being a judge. I mean, God is the final judge. He's the final judge. So we want to become more like Christ, don't we?

[17:23] You know, at the point that we can try to be like Christ.

[17:36] And then sometimes we get lukewarm. And I know that's not what Christ wants. He wants us to be fervent in prayer. And lots of times when we try our best and we fail, we feel like copping out or just cooling down on our faith.

[17:54] And that's not what we should do, right? We should not cool down on our faith. We shouldn't be half-hearted. Jesus.

[18:08] Jesus. So, I want to give you a challenge. It's a test. And it's in my notes.

[18:20] But we're, God only knows. But I can tell you what I did right, or at least from my memory, if it serves me correctly. So, examine my heart, God.

[18:34] Is that not our test? Examine our heart. And find with me a clean spirit. You know, to the pure, all things are pure.

[18:47] But our hearts sometimes just don't get it. You know, your mind don't. Unfortunately, our heart and our mind, God really don't make it that clear.

[18:57] You know, we are body. We're just cold. And that's our thinking process. And we, that doesn't get saved. I hate to bust your bubble, but your mind does not get saved.

[19:11] And that's where we renew it daily. It don't seem fair. Two to one. Your body, your spirit, and your soul.

[19:22] Two against one. You know, you're, so I just, I'm not complaining. Thank you, Lord, for salvation. Thank you, Lord.

[19:34] Hi, yeah, yeah. So, again, let's go back to the, now that I found my nose. Let's go back to the guys that you meet, the girls you meet that's boasting all the time.

[19:46] And, Pastor Steve would say, you think, they think you could buy them for a nickel and what you, what the, guard my lips, Lord.

[20:04] You think, they think you could buy them for a nickel and sell them for what they're worth. They would be rich. You know, because they're bragging and boasting. And you know what?

[20:16] This reminds me of what I read earlier, because I can't find it, surely. David, he said, I boast not in chariots and horses, but the name of the Lord I'll serve, you know.

[20:31] So, people today aren't different. We still boast. We boast about our finances. We boast about our cars. We boast about our money. We boast about everything, you know, our transportation, like I said, cars.

[20:44] But it's important that we try to hold our tongue and not do that. I mean, how ugly is that to always talk about yourself? Nobody in here does that.

[20:56] It just must be my conviction. I don't know. Is it just me? Okay. Okay. Okay. I don't like to boast. Examine us, O Lord.

[21:09] Examine us if we're angry, rude, lewd, and immoral. You know, that's what, again, we need to be kind and try not to be that.

[21:19] You know, that's where we're taking the test. Because your reputation is what others think of you. But your character is what you really are.

[21:32] I mean, you can put up a good side. Like I said earlier, I'd kind of jump the gun on all that. But it's what you really are that the Lord sees. Amen. So your words reveal your character.

[21:46] How awesome is that? You can actually see in the heart of a man by the words that proceed outwardly. Yes, yes, yes, yes.

[22:00] You build character, guys, when you're dealing with others. How many times do you not want to deal with people? Because it's cutting the sharp edges off of you.

[22:13] And they say, you know, when you see something, this is not in my notes. When you see something in others, it's because it's a mirror looking back at you. It's true.

[22:26] I believe that. So, again, we want to be a fruit inspector and we want to judge everybody. Hallelujah. And again, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.

[22:53] And the abundance is the overflow. It's the overflow. I see my sister and brother-in-law back there. Y'all surprised me today. I'm very not polished today, but do I have to be?

[23:07] Thank you. Thank you. Just a hot mess. Thank you. I'm not going to keep y'all very long. Maybe a little early.

[23:19] Pastor Caleb, you got anything prepared? Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Praise God.

[23:33] Jesus said a man brings good things out of the good treasure of his heart. And I believe that. I believe that out of the good treasure of our heart.

[23:46] And that's the secret places. The secret. Treasure. If you've got a treasure, don't you usually like to keep it secret? Yeah. Yeah. So, I believe that we should just allow God's work to go in and just to filter out.

[24:07] Clean within me a clean heart, Lord. Make within me a clean heart. I believe that. I see Pastor Landon. You're always so great and polished.

[24:18] I love that. And next time I will be. Praise God. But at the point where we get a pop test, we can see deep into the recess of our hearts.

[24:33] When things aren't going well, that's when things come along for our raw emotions. You know, to flare up on you. And how do you respond? How do you respond when something's rubbed you the wrong way?

[24:48] And what declares your heart's condition? Does the word influence you? Or are you selfish and untamed and unfocused? And that's where it's just raw.

[25:01] It's just rough and raw. Your conditioning of your heart can be ugly. You can have an ugly spirit. Has anybody ever been told they have an ugly spirit? That can hurt to the bone.

[25:15] We don't want an ugly spirit, do we? I'm going to seek the face of God. I just want him to be pleased with all of us. Yes. So when our, again, when somebody insults us, our insults, so when our character is assaulted or anything like that, let us rise above it like an eagle, spread our wings above the storm and rise above.

[25:46] Let the winds of the Holy Ghost just carry us up a little higher. Set free. I believe this for us. I believe that we can do that. We can just rise above the storm when people are insulting us or when things aren't going our way.

[26:04] We can just rise above with the Holy Ghost, the winds of the Spirit. We'll mount up our wings as an eagle. Is that not right? So thank you.

[26:16] Thank you. I want to get in your business. You know, Proverbs 12 and 16. Y'all want to look at that? Since I got just a little bit of time, I'm kind of rushing through.

[26:30] That's just who I am. I need to slow down. Proverbs 12 and 16. A fool's wrath is presently known, but a wise man cover his shame.

[26:50] And I think we already rushed through that, but honestly, love covers a multitude of sins. So really what we should do is, you know, I really want to do research on that.

[27:04] Does that mean that we let people get away with stuff? Have y'all thought about that? I'm going to look that up. Hey, Pastor Kent, not a time to ask you right now, but I wondered about that.

[27:20] You know, the word of God is for reproof and direction. And I think that's our job.

[27:38] Praise God. Let people know that God loves them, but he don't love their sin. But, you know, sometimes you just got to calm down and recognize a quick-tempered fool.

[28:00] Sounds ugly, doesn't it? Fool. That's what the Bible calls it. They got to simmer. Just tell them, simmer your bimmer. So I named several things for our pop test, you know, because we are going to be examined by God.

[28:23] Hopefully not by each other. You know, not to a point that you, because you have a beam, has a beam in somebody else's eye, you have a beam in your eye, you know, a speck in their eye or something like that.

[28:39] So, Jesus. So, watch this. Isaiah 57 and 19. Look at that. I create the fruit of thy lips.

[29:07] I create the fruit of the lips. Peace, peace to him that is far away, that is far off, and to him that is near, saith the Lord. And I will heal him.

[29:21] So, who does the creating? God does. God creates. He gives us the fruit of our lips.

[29:34] You want to be happy? You want to be happy? Do y'all want to be happy? Thank you. God gives us the fruit of our lips.

[29:46] The seed of our lips. Hallelujah. And really, you know what the Bible says the fruit of our lips is? It's a praise.

[29:56] A sacrifice of praise. How can you be sad if you have a praise to God? How can you be sad when you lift up a praise?

[30:07] Yes. Ooh. Ooh, ooh, ooh. That really just gets me to cold chill in there. It really does. The fruit of our lips is the seed.

[30:21] The Lord, Isaiah 51 and 16, he sees words as seeds. And he, let's look at that. We got time, don't we? Yes, we do.

[30:31] Isaiah 51 and 16. And I have put my words in thy mouth.

[30:43] I have covered thee in the shadow of my hand, that I may plant the heavens and lay the foundation of the earth, and saying to Zion, Thou art my people.

[30:56] Thou art my people. So he's put the words in our hearts because he wants to plant the heavens.

[31:08] He wants to plant the heavens. And I have put my words in thy mouth that I may plant the heavens and the foundations of the earth. And God created all things.

[31:20] But I think that's really what he wants from us. He wants us to praise him so he can, if he created heaven and earth and he made majestic mountains.

[31:32] You know, I just came from Colorado and they were 12,000 miles up high. The trees quit growing at 11,000 miles high.

[31:43] And the elevation is majestic. Here, I think our highest is only 4,000. So God created these mountains. He created our tongue.

[31:53] He created all things. He creates. He can show us. He can make something in existence. He can do all things, guys.

[32:06] I just probably sound a little small, and I can't express it. But he made everything. He made it. He made our all in all.

[32:16] There's several scriptures to see words as our seeds. Let's look at that. I think we've got time. Isaiah 51 and 16 to see our words as seeds because we want to be comforting.

[32:34] We want to be pleasing in the sight of the Lord. Isaiah 51 and 16. And I have put my words in thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the shadow of my hand, that I may plant the heavens and lay the foundations of the earth and say unto Zion, Thou are my people.

[32:53] Hallelujah. I just really reemphasized that, didn't I? Isaiah 50 and 4. Isaiah 50 and 4.

[33:05] The Lord hath given me the tongue of the learned that I may know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary. Let me say it again.

[33:15] The Lord hath given me the tongue of the learned that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary. He waketh morning by morning. He waketh my ear to hear as the learned.

[33:28] The learned, I think that's meaning learning of the Lord, learning of his words, right? The Lord hath opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back.

[33:43] Hallelujah. I'm going to move on to another scripture. Hebrews 4 and 12. Hallelujah. I can hear a church mouse in here today.

[34:02] Hebrews 4. Did I just say that? My sister, oh, she was out here. Hebrews 4 and 12.

[34:14] Hebrews 4. For the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, pierced even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and the joints and the marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

[34:35] That's powerful. He knows what you're thinking. Wow. You know, I think the new technology today, they're going to start trying to figure out a way to read into the hearts and the minds.

[34:48] You're shaking your hand. Is that not the truth? Wow. I think that gives us even more cause to clear up our minds. You know, I don't know if it'll be in our lifetime, but dear God, you know, let him mold you and make you as you need to be, right?

[35:04] Yeah. Yeah. Hallelujah. I have one more scripture. I think pride is a big deal, and I probably failed the test because I didn't let my daughter proofread my lesson, and being that she's got a master's in here, I'm bragging.

[35:27] No, I'm not. But honestly, I feel like we need to get it together, and pride is what God hates. I'm being totally transparent with y'all.

[35:40] I thought I could handle this with these little index cards. Jesus. Pastor, smile at me. I'm all alone.

[35:53] Excuse me. Thank you. I need the love. I do need it. Thank you.

[36:05] Wow. Hallelujah. I'm not going to keep you very long, so. I don't know.

[36:22] I'm sorry. Yeah. Hallelujah. Okay. Thank you. I'll go there. I've already read it, guys.

[36:34] You want me to read it again? Read it again. Okay. Hebrews 4 and 12. For the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and the joints and the marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

[36:54] We took that one the second time. That's all right. You did? Good. I do too. I do that kind of thing. So again, let's talk about when the storms of life come and the Holy Ghost helps us to mount up our wings and rise up above the storm.

[37:14] Set free. Can we do that? Can we rise above the storm? Can we make it happen? Can we make it happen? I believe we can with God's help.

[37:26] I think we can. And you do face storms in life. Wow, do you ever. I don't think there's anything more powerful of a storm than the death of a loved one.

[37:51] That's heavy. I don't know what else to say about that except just lean on the Lord. Acknowledge the Lord in all thy ways. And he'll direct your pathway because you don't know what your pathway will be.

[38:06] Many of y'all's lost loved ones in here. And you have to do like David. You wash your face and you get up and you say, he can't return to me, but I can go to him.

[38:23] Thank you for being here. You're rescuing me. Praise God. Praise God. So set free. Are we going to release ourself? Are we going to release the wings of the Holy Spirit and let him comfort us and protect us and guide us and lead us?

[38:43] We're going to be a gathering of the eagles. Okay, set free. We're going to be a gathering. You guys, go ahead. Go. Go. Just do it. Go ahead. I just want to speak the name of Jesus.

[38:57]  I just want to speak the name of Jesus.