I want to thank everybody for being here today. It's really a joy to see everybody here on this Mother's Day. Just bear with me, I lost my voice at a baseball game earlier this week and I haven't quite recovered it 100%. Today I want to preach to you from the fourth chapter of Ephesians. It really is one of my favorite chapters in the Bible. It's just talking about the body of Christ how to treat each other, but I want to look specifically at Ephesians 4 verse 29. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. So we know that the tongue is a powerful weapon. The book of James says that it's like the helm of a ship. It's just this one mighty member. Just the tongue can turn about the whole body, just like the helm of a great boat can turn about that big old ship. Just that one little member. And it's a two-edged sword. We can build people up. We can cut them down. We can either encourage them, we can either help them, or we can also be a hindrance. We can cause brothers to err. James chapter 3 verse 5 and 6 says, Even so, the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth, and the tongue is a fire, A world of iniquity, so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature, and is set on fire of hell." So it doesn't take much to start a big fire. Back in 2018, the Carr Fire in California, burned 229,000 acres, cost 1.6 billion dollars in damages, and it killed eight people. This massive fire, spanning over miles and miles, took hours and hours of manpower and resources, all these billions of dollars, and you know what caused that fire? Did somebody drop a bomb over there? Did they Did they set off a can of gasoline? No, a trailer tire went flat and the sparks from the rim dragging across the street caused a fire. This huge fire, 229,000 acres from just a few sparks showering across there. So it doesn't start, it doesn't take a lot to start. It may, and speaking in the context of James Chapter 3, the tongue can cause a fire, I mean, it can just be little things, just maybe a gossip here and there, a little lie or some untruths, or maybe taking something out of context, speaking behind people's backs, being rude to people. It's really important. how we speak to each other. James spends a lot of time in his book, Under the Direction of the Holy Spirit, talking about this. He says that you can really seem like you're a really great Christian man. You seem to, you know, maybe you read your scriptures every day, or you kind of get that out of the way, and you come to church every Sunday, and maybe you donate money to charity or something. But James 1.26 says, if any man among you seem to be religious and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain. It's vanity. If you're not speaking and acting the right way, all these good works that you do don't mean anything. When you, especially when it comes to people that you know and you love the most, when you're just in there, maybe you got mad at them for, could be whatever, some small thing, sometimes you're over there just berating them, you know which buttons to push to make them mad, and you're just smashing those things down, insulting them. Those words will cut deep. Proverbs 12, 18 says, there is that speaketh like the piercings of a sword, but the tongue of the wise is health. When you're speaking these terrible things to people, or when people find out that you've been talking nasty about them behind your back, those things cut. Those things cut you. It's like taking a sword and just jabbing it right in your heart. But the second half of that verse is, the tongue of the wise is health. The wise man is not going to repeat these gossips or untruths he hears. If he has a problem with somebody, he's going to go and talk to them in love and voice his concerns with that person. He's going to speak wisely. He's going to do it in the If he has a problem with somebody, he's going to speak with them in the spirit of reconciliation, not in the spirit of, I've got you now, and I'm really going to nail you to the wall. That's not right. So we know we don't need to speak these terrible things to each other, insult each other, speak evil of each other, lie. So what is the answer? What are we supposed to do? We just don't say anything? Maybe we just don't want to try to say anything mean, be superficial. No, we just don't want to try to tiptoe and walk on eggshells around each other. We sit here in the service, and then as soon as church leaves, you just kind of scamper out without trying to interact with each other. No. We need to be actively encouraging each other, exhorting each other. When we see each other here, we should be excited when the church service is over to sit around and fellowship with them. We need to say hi to each other. We need to talk to each other about how we're doing. And we need to be doing all this in the spirit of unity, in the spirit of edification. Romans 14, 19 says, Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify one another. You see that word edify in there a lot. It's in Ephesians 4, 29. And first Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 11 says, wherefore comfort yourselves together and edify one another even as also you do. So I looked up the definition of edify, and the dictionary definition is to build up or to instruct morally and righteously. And some other synonyms, similar words to edify would be to enlighten, to inform, to improve, to uplift. So we need to be building each other up, actively building each other up, uplifting each other, enlightening each other, informing and improving each other. And we can really improve each other just by sitting around and talking about the things of the Bible and the things of God. We all have our own perspectives. We all have our own thoughts about it. I think I've found that When I read a verse, when I read the Bible, it seems like there's a different perspective that I see at it every time. If you're really paying attention, and you're really committing these things to heart, you're going to kind of, wow, sometimes you come across a verse that you've read a hundred times, and bam, it just hits you. And if you get that thought, and you're rejoicing in that, we should tell everybody. We should tell somebody you know, so we can rejoice in that truth together. You never know when somebody may be having a bad day, and you could call them or send them a message, say, hey, I was just reading these verse, and I just had these thoughts, and I just rejoiced in that. You might uplift that person. They might say, that's just the thing I needed to hear today. Just days have been going bad and it's just nice to get things put in the correct perspective. So as I said, we need to, we can go up to people, tell them what we've been reading or studying lately. We need to pray for each other. You know, we need to tell each other, and you can be specific. You can ask, we have this bulletin, and that's great to have. So if you have any prayers, anything you need to pray about, whether you need it specifically or generally, just put it in that bulletin. Because I know for me personally, when I have somebody that I know, a brother or sister in Christ, and they told me they're praying for me, that really does make me feel better. That really does help. And just think of how great it would be to know, especially if you're going through a difficult time, to know that everybody in this church is praying for you on a daily basis. That's going to give you a measure of peace. And God will be pleased in that. And we need to do that. You know, God hears our prayers. So we need to all be praying together as a church because we're not just regular friends, as you'd say, out in the world. It's not just that this church isn't The church just isn't a club or some neighborhood group where you pay your dues and you show up to some of the meetings, you slip out and try to avoid everybody. No. We're all fellow travelers on the narrow path, on the path to heaven. We are joint heirs. The Bible says we are joint heirs with Jesus Christ. We're members of the same body. And we need to make sure, we need to help our body out. Help the other members out. We should rejoice in that. We should rejoice that we're not just a loose congregation of people that kind of just come in here and sing a few songs and listen to some guy speak. No, it should be more than that. We can reach out to each other. Don't be afraid to reach out to each other during the week." And you say, well, I don't know what to say to somebody. I don't have anything to say. Well, you can talk about God, because that never gets old to me. You can come up to me, and if you want to talk about something, just say, hey, I read this verse the other day, and this is what I think about it, and that's great. Or you can just say, how marvelous is it? that God is an eternal being. He's from everlasting to everlasting. And this earth is thousands of years old. We're here for just a few decades, all right? Maybe eight or nine decades if you're really lucky, or some people live to be over 100. But think about that. In the grand course of times, 90 or 100 years is not a long time. especially when you think about an eternal being. But God takes time to know us mortal beings who are just here for a few days. He didn't just reach into a fish barrel and say, well, this is my elect. I'm just going to reach into this barrel and plop these over here and these over there. No, he loved each and every one of us. Our very names are engraven in his hands. We're all seared into his memory. He knows the very hairs of each one of our heads. even though mine seem to be dwindling day by day, but he knows us intimately. And that's something we can rejoice in. There's many great truths we can rejoice in, and we should be sharing in that and rejoicing together, uplifting each other. And the last thing that I want to say is that we need to be We need to be talking to each other. We need to know how everybody's doing, okay? And not just your physical well-being. That's very important. We certainly want, if you have a need, we certainly want to pray for that or maybe help you with it. But we also want to be concerned with each other's spiritual. willing being. Peter admonished us to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord. Paul says he wants us to abound more and more, that we would have the peace that passes understanding. So if you have something you need to tell somebody, or if you have something on your heart, share it with everybody. If you have a need, tell us. Or if you just want to rejoice in something, you can tell us. think that would be very good and if you ever if you ever just after church you want to have you if somebody wants to you know say hey would you mind if we all stayed and sang a few songs after lunch or if somebody wants to have a extra extra prayer meeting after church whatever just just tell us and let everyone know and we can do that and It's really nice to be able to to sing and to to pray with one another It's something I really do look forward to it during the week. I look forward to Sunday It's the highlight of my week because I get I get to come here and I get to worship and praise God with my brothers and sisters and So I just want to leave you with this last verse first Thessalonians 4 1 furthermore then we beseech you brethren and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as you have received of us how you ought to walk and to please God, so you would abound more and more. Thank you. Brother Daniel, will you start number three? You may all stand.