[0:00] Our God and Father, you have given us your word, but sometimes we're not very good at hearing it, and so we ask that this morning that you will so work in our hearts that we may hear your word as you by your Holy Spirit speak it to each one of us, we ask in Jesus' name.
[0:26] Amen. Now, if any of the boys and girls want to come up and sit on the carpet in the front, you're most welcome to do so.
[0:40] It would be a delight to have you, and I hope you will. Just sit back there a little ways so that you can still see, all three of you. And anybody else who wants to come up and sit here can too, but it would be nice to have you, because I can sort of tell if you're listening, and I'm not sure about the others.
[1:03] And, oh, good for you. Thank you very much for coming up. It's very nice to have you. Thank you. Thank you. Yes.
[1:14] I saw somebody who had an alligator with him. I hope he'll keep it on a leash during the whole of this service. He will. Okay. Well, that's good to know.
[1:26] And, boys and girls, I've got some roses here. And just while I'm talking to you, I want you very quietly to pass the rose from one to another.
[1:43] And when you pass the rose from one to another, this is what I want you to do. I want you to take hold of just one petal and pull it out and keep it.
[1:59] Will you do that? You keep this all the time. This belongs to you. So I'm going to give you a rose to do that. And then I'm going to pass the rest of the roses to everybody else in the congregation so each of you can have a petal, too.
[2:12] Because you'll know when this sermon is over, because then you will have the petal. Okay. Okay. This doesn't work. Okay. Okay.
[2:44] Yeah. The verse that I want you to look at this morning is Ephesians 4, verse 29.
[3:15] And it says, Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for edifying, as fits the occasion, that it may impart grace to those who hear.
[3:37] Now, boys and girls, help me with this, but what comes out of your mouth when you talk? Words. Words. Now, if you want to just use your imagination for a moment, supposing instead of words coming out of your mouth, by the way, once they've come out, can you get them back in again?
[4:01] No, they're gone, aren't they? They just take off and they keep going and you can't call them back. Okay, now supposing that the words that you speak were in fact insects, you know, that they flew with little pairs of wings and they flew out of your mouth.
[4:17] When you opened your mouth, insects flew out. Have you ever done that? I know a friend of mine who opened his mouth and an insect flew in, but I've never had anybody who spoke and insects flew out like words, you know, with wings of their own and they went wherever they went.
[4:33] And some people, when they speak, the words that come out of their mouth are sort of like mosquitoes. They buzz. Do you know how it is, mosquitoes sound? I'd like a vote.
[4:46] Do mosquitoes buzz? What's your hand up? Well, nine out of ten people agree that mosquitoes buzz. So, you want, well, I'll introduce you to a mosquito afterwards.
[4:58] But what they do is that they can wake you up when you're asleep at night. That's what the mosquitoes can do. And in due course, they will sting you. And sometimes they can hurt you very badly.
[5:10] When we were in Kenya, they had mosquitoes over there that will kill you if you don't take the right medicine. So, mosquitoes are like, some of our words are like mosquitoes.
[5:21] And some of our words are like hornets. Do you know what hornets do? Don't you know what hornets do? Or wasps. Or bees.
[5:33] What do they do? They sting, don't they? And you don't even know they're there until suddenly, wow, they've stung. And sometimes when we speak words, they sting.
[5:47] And they can be very hurtful, too. And some of the words that come out of our mouth are like flies. Do you know what flies do? They trample all over everything and make it smelly and dirty.
[6:00] And some, oh, thank you very much. Thank you very much. I'll put that right here. There. Okay. Did you all get a pedal?
[6:13] You didn't? Well, we'll pass it again to make sure that everybody gets that. Some of our words are like flies.
[6:30] And they crawl all over everything and make it dirty. And some of our words are like beetles. A beetle's kind of big, isn't he? And he makes a lot of noise. And he's very heavy.
[6:41] And you hardly think he can fly at all. But sometimes they're very beautiful beetles. And then some of our words are like butterflies. You know, and they fly in the air.
[6:55] And they sort of dance in the sunlight. And they're beautiful. So our words are like that. Some like mosquitoes. And some like hornets. And some like flies. And some like beetles.
[7:06] And some like butterflies. Well, people are peculiar because they talk. Now, there are other animals that talk.
[7:17] Do you know any animals that talk? Mark. Parrots. And they try and talk like us, don't they? Yeah, you have to sort of teach them.
[7:29] Yeah, they don't come by it naturally. And what about any other animals you know of that talk? Even to each other? Like what does one cow say to another? Moo.
[7:40] Let's hear that again. Moo. That's very good. Thank you. And does anybody know what one whale says to another whale?
[7:53] The whale song. Yeah, that's right. I don't know if any of you have ever heard it. But it's kind of high pitched. Does anybody know what an eagle says to another eagle? Can any of you whistle very loud and very high?
[8:10] Let's hear you whistle as hard as you can. That's good, isn't it? Well, eagles whistle and it's very high. They sound like a little tiny bird like that.
[8:22] In fact, they're great big huge birds. Well, and chickens talk to each other. Do you know what chickens say to each other? Yeah. Chook, chook, chook, chook, they say. That's what I'm told they say.
[8:34] Well, people have words too. And the thing that makes people the very interesting creatures that they are is that they know how to talk.
[8:48] They know how to talk to one another. But sometimes people get past the stage where they can talk to one another. And so they don't use words anymore. Do you know what they use? It's very sad.
[9:00] But the Mohawk Indians and the Quebec Provincial Police are talking to each other, but they think the only language the other people understand is guns. Bang, bang.
[9:12] That's the only thing you're smart enough to understand. And that's how I'm going to talk to you. Bang, bang. Now, that's not a very good way of talking, is it? We can say something better than that.
[9:22] So they're going to have to learn to talk to each other again. And I hope they don't talk too much with guns. Then sometimes if you go to the store and you go up to the storekeeper and you say, I would like to talk to you heart to heart.
[9:39] And the storekeeper says, well, I haven't got very much time. What is it that you want? Well, I have a dog at home and my dog is hungry and I haven't got any food for him. And I'd like you to give me some food for my dog.
[9:50] And what will the storekeeper say? He'll say, sure. You must know a nice storekeeper. The storekeeper will say, if you want food for your dog, I want money for the food.
[10:06] Because the only language that I speak is money. And so you've got to give me money. If you want medicine or if you want food or if you want furniture or whatever you want, you've got to be able to speak with money.
[10:19] You've got to have it in your pocket. And money talks. And to some people, money is the only language they know. Now Jesus wanted us to learn a new kind of language, which wasn't just words and it wasn't money and it wasn't guns, but it was a way for people to talk to each other so that they would speak from one person's heart right to another person's heart.
[10:45] So that when the words came out of your mouth, they were saying what was in your heart. And when your words went into somebody else's ear, it went right into their heart.
[10:57] So it went from your heart through your mouth to their ear to their heart. And Jesus wanted to teach us to talk like that. Do you know what the very center of the word heart says?
[11:09] H-E-A-R. What's that? Ear is right at the center of heart because that's how you're to hear in your heart what people are saying to you.
[11:27] So we have to learn to talk from one person's heart to another. And Jesus wants to teach us the language that can do that.
[11:39] Now, if you look at that congregation behind you, you can take a quick look over your shoulder at them. It's very hard for them to talk to each other. They may all speak English, but some of them are old and they don't know how to speak to young people and some of them are young and they don't know how to speak to old people and some of them are ladies and they don't know quite how to talk to men and some of them are men and they don't know how to talk to ladies.
[12:00] And some of them are different than others and they don't know how to talk to people that are different. So that learning to speak from one heart to the other is something that Jesus says is very important.
[12:12] Now, what he says about it is this. He says, if you want to talk to God, God is very good at hearing. God is so good at hearing that if you simply sigh in your heart, God will hear that.
[12:30] We're told that when our lips can't put the thing in words, that God can hear our hearts talking. That's wonderful, isn't it?
[12:42] And he wants to talk. He wants us to talk. But then he wants us to be careful when we talk. And this is what it says in Ephesians 4.29, that no evil comes out of your mouth.
[12:55] Do you know what evil means in this? It means something like... rottenness. Can you imagine speaking rotten words? Have you ever bitten into a rotten apple?
[13:09] And it tastes awful? Yeah, you want to... Well, Jesus says, we don't want any rotten words coming out of your mouth. But he says that...
[13:20] We want different kind of words. We want words that build up. So that what words are to do is to build people up. Now, I have some things over here that I want to build up for you to show you.
[13:34] And that block goes on top of that block.
[13:47] And that block goes on top of that block. And that block there. And this block here. Goodness.
[13:58] And that block goes on top of that block. And that block goes on top of that block like that. And then there's this block down here. And I guess all these blocks have to go on top of this one.
[14:11] And that's all. It can work. And we've got a very fancy block, which is this one here. And it goes on the top. All those blocks.
[14:23] Now, what St. Paul is telling us is that you and I are sort of like blocks. And we have to be built together. But what would happen if I pushed this?
[14:36] It would tumble down, wouldn't it? So these blocks have to be put together so that they hold together. And do you know what it is that holds people together? It's love.
[14:47] And so these words that Paul wants us to speak are words that build us up and hold us together. The people who teach us these words, we're told in Ephesians, are people who are like apostles and prophets and evangelists and pastors and teachers.
[15:15] Can you say all those words with me? They're very hard words, but it would be good for you to say them. Try it. Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers.
[15:30] They're all people who speak words. Not rotten words, but words that build us up. And so we have to listen to them in order to be built up.
[15:42] And those words have to be from love to love so that it ties us together so that we don't tumble over and come apart. And that's why they teach us.
[15:54] Now, what I'm going to do is ask a Kuswa to come up and teach you a little song about how people are put together, are built together like blocks, and how they need to be bound together by love.
[16:07] So a Kuswa is going to teach this to us and you'll find the song in your bulletin that you have, only if you can't read it, you can learn it from a Kuswa.
[16:18] Amen. For the sake of the children, we'll go through the words first. Now the words are, build us together, Lord, build us together.
[16:31] Say that after me. Build us together, Lord, build us together. Very good. Again. With cords that cannot be broken.
[16:46] With cords that cannot be broken. Again. Build us together, Lord, build us together. With cords that cannot be broken.
[16:58] Build us together, Lord, build us together. Build us together with love. Build us together, Lord, build us together.
[17:10] Build us together with love. Very good. Good. Good. Can you all hold hands now?
[17:28] We're going to build ourselves together with love. Practice. Hold some of those hands. Hold hands. Good.
[17:39] Children. Build us together, Lord, Build us together with cords that cannot be broken.
[17:51] Build us together, Lord, Build us together. Build us together with love.
[18:02] Build us together, Lord, Build us together with cords that cannot be broken.
[18:13] Build us together, Lord, Build us together, Build us together with love.
[18:23] And the verses go, Build us together, Lord, Build us together, Lord, Build us together, Lord, Build us together with love.
[19:08] We are the family of God. We are the family of God. We are God's children's divine.
[19:19] We are God's chosen desire. We are the glorious new one. Build us together, Lord, Build us together, Lord, Build us together with cords that cannot be broken.
[19:52] Build us together, Lord, Build us together, Lord, Build us together with cords that cannot be broken.
[20:04] Build us together, Lord, Build us together, Build us together with love. Very good.
[20:15] Thank you for singing that, boys and girls. And that is terribly important, because unless the Lord is building us together, one with another, then we're wasting our time.
[20:30] And we really need, because there's lots of things in our world that tend to tear us apart. They tear us down like this. And in Ephesians 4, you can learn all about what those things are that tear us apart.
[20:43] And so I'd like you to look at the words that tear us apart, as well as the ones that build us together. In chapter 4 and verse 31, it tells you what the words are that tear us apart.
[21:02] They're not words which convey love from our hearts to other people. They're bitter words. And do you know what bitter words are? Bitter words taste like vinegar.
[21:15] Do you know what that's like? And then there are wrathful words. And do you know what wrathful words are? When you speak wrathful words, you watch your face turn purple.
[21:27] And you can go to your parents and do something really bad, and you will hear wrathful words, and you can watch them turn purple. Have you ever done that? Well, I'm glad you haven't done it.
[21:38] And then there are angry words. And some of you are really good at angry words. Do you know how you say angry words? You don't say anything at all.
[21:49] You just turn your mouth down like this, look at the ground, and sulk like that. Those are how you say angry words. And by saying nothing at all.
[22:02] And then there are slanderous words. And those are the words that you say behind people's back. You ever see that happen? Yeah, slanderous words. And then there are clamorous words.
[22:15] And those are words where people are shouting and screaming like they did at the Lord Jesus when Pilate said, what do you want to do with Jesus, who is called the Christ?
[22:26] And they all began speaking clamorous words at the top of their voices. And they said about Jesus, crucify him, crucify him.
[22:37] Those were clamorous words. And then the last kind of words that tear us apart and pull us down so that there's nothing left. And you know, and that can happen to countries as well.
[22:48] We can be torn apart so there's nothing left because of bitter, wrathful, angry, slanderous, clamorous, and malicious words. And malicious words are the ones you whisper when you're trying to hurt somebody else.
[23:04] You use malicious words. And those are the words that tear us apart. So you see why it's so important that we be bound together. One last thing I want to tell you is sometimes words aren't enough.
[23:18] Do you remember there was a song where a lady was very much loved by a man and he said, I love you, I love you, I love you. And she sang back to him and said, don't talk of love, show me.
[23:33] And so he was stuck. He had to show her that he loved her. And he wasn't allowed to use words. Well, sometimes there are things that you can't talk about and you just have to show them.
[23:43] And the last part of the scripture text that we're looking at today, which comes in Ephesians chapter 5, is how God showed us his love for us.
[23:55] And if you were to look at the beginning, you would see that Jesus, of whom it says many times in scripture, during his trial and during his crucifixion, he opened not his mouth.
[24:09] He didn't say anything. And he hung silent, almost silently upon the cross for three hours.
[24:19] And he didn't say anything. And nobody knew what it meant. And nobody understood. But this was God's great act of love for us.
[24:31] And it says that Christ loved us and gave himself up for us. So that God spoke to us without words in giving his son to die on the cross.
[24:45] And when God speaks his heart to our hearts, that's the message he wants us to hear. He wants us to hear the message he gave by allowing his son to die in deep silence on the cross.
[25:01] And then it says to us, boys and girls, this is especially for you. It says we are to imitate God as his beloved children.
[25:12] Do your parents love you? I'm sure they do. But if your parents are wise, they will take you aside one day and say to you, I want you to know I love you very, very much and with all my heart that there is someone who loves you even more.
[25:31] And that is your heavenly father. And if you know that I love you, you might try to be like me. And if you know that he loves you, God, your heavenly father, then you will try to be like him.
[25:45] You will be imitators of him. So that people will see in you, not just hear from you, but see in you the love which God has for you.
[25:58] And then finally it says about Jesus' beautiful love gift. Do you know what he says about that gift? The sacrifice? He says it about you and me too.
[26:11] When we really show our love, it's like something that smells very nice. You see? And you've got something in your hand that smells very nice.
[26:25] Would you smell it? There's still quite a lot left of this rose, but I don't know what I would do if I asked you all now, would you pass the rose back up again, just like this?
[26:40] And you couldn't do it because it's all been torn apart. And so Jesus gave his life for us just as we've taken these beautiful roses and torn them apart.
[26:52] And we did it so that we could smell the beautiful smell and everybody would do it. So Jesus has given us the wonderful gift of his life as a beautiful and sweet-smelling offering to God.
[27:05] and he wants your life and mine to be the same, to be a beautiful and sweet-smelling gift to God. So that's why I wanted you each to have something to smell at the end, to remind you of the loveliness of what Jesus Christ, without a word, did for us.
[27:27] And he's the one who says that no evil words come out of your mouth, but things which speak from the love which my Father has for you to your heart and from that love to other people.
[27:43] Now we're going to sing the offertory hymn, which is number 50. Boys and girls, will you go back to your parents and death.
[27:57] We'll all sing hymn number 50. singing, şirkt şirkt chorus şirkt şirkt şirkt şirkt şirkt şirkt şirkt ş OK şirkt şirkt şirkt şirk şirk şirkt şirk şirk şirk şirk Amen.
[28:59] Amen. Amen.
[29:59] Amen. Amen.