In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the destructive power of the tongue and the importance of being mindful of our words. He highlights how lies and negative words can have a lasting impact on individuals, leading to bondage and a distorted self-perception. The preacher urges listeners to examine their hearts and be cautious of exaggerating or stretching the truth. He draws parallels to the danger of a spark in a dry grassland, emphasizing the potential harm that can come from even the smallest words or gossip. The sermon concludes with a call to repentance and a reminder that our words can either edify and bring glory to God or cause devastating damage.

Acts chapter 2, my message tonight is Tongues on Fire, Tongues on Fire, Acts chapter 2. And let's begin reading in the first verse. When the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing, mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues as a fire, and one set upon each of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. I want to pray once more. Heavenly Father, we never, ever want to open your word. In a. Light man, God, as we open your word and as we even read your word. We remember that you're the one who said that you look upon the one who is broken and contrite and who trembles at your word. And Father, I stand in need here tonight. And all my brothers and sisters stand in need here tonight. All of us to hear your voice. And I'm asking you, Lord, to empty me. Of this self-life and of all flesh, that there be a true. Crucifixion, Lord. By faith. To the self-life and to all flesh and to any dependence on the arm of flesh. And Father, we look to you to fill us tonight with the Holy Spirit. And to anoint our ears to hear your voice. And I pray tonight, Father. That you would give us tongues set on fire by the Holy Spirit. And deliver us, Lord. Deliver us from an unruly, ungodly tongue, each and every one of us. We pray for sanctified tongues. Something that can only be done by the power of your Holy Spirit. And I pray that you would be with my mouth now. And make the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart to be pleasing. And acceptable in your sight. Oh, Lord, my strength and my Redeemer. In Jesus name. Amen. Now, as probably most of you are familiar with, this is the day of Pentecost. This was what they had been waiting for. This is when the promise of the Father had come. And the promise of the Father was the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Those 120 were in the upper room praying for 10 days. They were waiting upon God. And suddenly, it says in verse two, as they were gathered together in one accord, in one place, no doubt they were praying. Suddenly there came a sound from heaven as a rushing mighty wind. Can you imagine? A sound from heaven as of a rushing, mighty wind suddenly came and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them divided tongues as a fire and one sat upon each of them. What I want you to see in that third verse is that each of them were baptized in the Holy Spirit and therefore baptized under the fire of God. And each one of them received a new tongue, a new tongue, divided tongues as a fire appeared to them and one sat upon each of them. The next thing that happens, verse four, is that they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. One of the very first things that changes in our life when we are filled with the Holy Spirit is our speech changes. We receive a new tongue. Now, there is a gift of tongues, a spiritual gift of tongues. And I'm not I'm not preaching about that tonight, preaching on that specifically. I'm preaching about how God gives us a new tongue and how we speak different even in our mother language. What they began to speak was actually another language. They were speaking other languages. If you continue reading from verse five on through 13 and as they began to speak with a new tongue, these other languages, everybody in the crowd began to hear them in their own native language. This was miraculous. But the point tonight is what what changed their speech, what gave them a new tongue? How is it that they began to speak in a different way? It was because they were filled with the Holy Spirit and each of them received a new tongue. When you and I go to the doctor because we think we're sick or we just go for a checkup, one of the very first things the doctor does is pull out a stick and says, stick out your tongue. And this begins the evaluation as to whether or not you're healthy. Did you know, in many ways, it's the same spiritually. We can determine much by our speech as to how spiritual we are. Listen to what the Bible says in James chapter one. In fact, I'd invite you to turn there with me in James chapter one and verse twenty six. It says, if anyone among you thinks he is religious. Now, that word religious is not used, as we might often use it as a dead type of religion. This is more speaking of someone who is spiritual, OK, godly. If anyone among you thinks he is religious, spiritual or godly and does not bridle his tongue, but deceives his own heart, this one's religion is what? Useless, worthless, it is worth zero, no matter how spiritual I think I am, no matter how godly I may think I am, if I do not have a bridled tongue, if I have an unruly tongue, all of my profession, all of my so-called religion is worth zero. It's worthless, according to James one twenty six. Just like the doctor evaluates our health by saying, stick out your tongue, the Holy Spirit here is evaluating our spiritual condition, if you will, our walk with God by saying, stick out your tongue. Let me look at the words of your mouth. Let me examine your speech. He who does not bridle his tongue is deceiving himself, deceiving his own heart and his religion is useless. Now, there are two kinds of fire that ignite the tongue. You see this in the New Testament. We just read about one of them in Acts chapter two. Their tongues were set on fire by the Holy Spirit and those tongues then edified, they brought forth life, they spoke the word of God, they prophesied. That was one of the evidences when the Holy Spirit was poured out, he said, your sons and your daughters will prophesy. I believe there were both men and women here because they're both men and women in the upper room. That hundred and twenty and there's everybody's speech changed. Their tongues were set on fire by God. Set on fire by the Holy Spirit. But, you know, there's another kind of fire that can ignite the tongue also mentioned in the New Testament, and this is in the book of James chapter three. Look at this verse with me, James chapter three, verse six. And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body and sets on fire the course of nature and is set on fire by hell. Two kinds of fire that ignite the tongue, your tongue and my tongue will burn with one or the other, either the fire of hell or the fire of the Holy Spirit. The fire of the tongues on fire of the Holy Spirit we read about in Acts two tongues on fire of hell. We read about here in James chapter three. Both are powerful, incredibly powerful. Proverbs chapter 18, verse 21. Listen carefully. Death and life are in the power of the tongue and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof. Death and life are in the power of the tongue and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof. There is edifying power in the tongue that brings forth life. Speaking the words of God, Peter preached and three thousand were saved. He did that with his tongue, a tongue that was set on fire by the Holy Spirit. That's edifying power. But there's also a devastating, destructive power of the tongue. And that comes from the tongue that is set on fire by hell, even though it's such a small member. Look at this in James chapter three. He says, first of all, the first verse, my brethren, let not many of you become teachers knowing that we shall receive the stricter judgment. Anybody who stands in this pulpit, anybody who teaches the word of God, who preaches the word of God is going to be judged in much stricter than anybody else in the fellowship. It's a dangerous thing to preach the word of God. It's a dangerous thing to deliver the word of God. For we all stumble in many ways, if anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, that means he's a mature, spiritually mature man able also to bridle his whole body. Indeed, we put bits in horses mouths that they may obey us and we turn their whole body. Look also at ships, although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires. Even so, the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. See how great a force the little fire candles he's saying out of this tiny member of the body can can come forth the most incredible, devastating, destructive power. Dynamite comes in little small packages, but when it's when it is ignited, look at the destruction that it can cause. A 12 gauge shotgun shell comes in a very tiny cartridge, but once that primer is ignited with fire, look at the damage that can be done and how much fire does it take to start a whole forest, a whole mountain, a whole pasture on fire? All you need is a tiny little spark. How many words of gossip does it take? To absolutely ruin someone's reputation, how long does it take three words of gossip to spread through a community? Especially now with social media about that long, a man so quick, something so small like the little tiny rudder on a ship, even though the winds are howling against that ship, that little tiny rudder can alter the course of that big ship entirely. A little bitty bit in a horse's mouth can alter the direction of that big, strong, powerful horse. And that little bitty member in your mouth and mine can either edify and bring glory to God or absolutely destroy, cause the most devastating, destructive damage. One little word can crush a person's spirit. One little word can break the trust that someone had for a lifetime. Just one little lie can break the trust that's that a couple carried for for years and years. One little word can destroy a person's reputation. One little lie can put someone in bondage. I think of how many children on the playground heard you're ugly or you're you're dumb or you're gay. And you know how many heard those lies as little children, they grew up and there's a tape recorder inside their mind. And these little words and lies were were placed on that tape recorder and they heard them over and over and over again till they believe that lie. And the enemy. Got a stronghold on them and put them in bondage, the destructive power of the tongue, even though it's such a little member, the tongue that is set on fire by hell is a lying tongue. It is an exaggerating tongue. Listen, let us examine our hearts. You examine yours as I'm having to examine mine. Exaggerated. Just just stretching the truth a little bit, Martha and I were talking about this the other day. When you say I wept. Did you weep or did a tear just come down your face? When you say we had 100, was there 100 or just 50? Exaggerating. God wants us to get dead serious about the words of our mouth as tongue that is set on fire is a lying tongue. It is an exaggerating tongue. It is the tongue that flatters. I'm convinced that flattery always precedes. Flattening, flattery is just something that prepares you for an attack, the same ones that yelled Hosanna, Hosanna, blessed be blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Those same tongues shouted later, crucify him. Very same tongues. You see it over and over again. The ones that's praising and flattering will later you'll crucify flattery. Flattery, flattery is saying something to somebody's face that I will not say behind their back. Slander, a tongue that is set on fire by hell is a slandering tongue. Flattery is saying something to somebody's face that I'd never say behind their back. Slander is saying something behind their back that I would never say to their face. Both are tongues that are set on fire by hell. A tongue set on fire by hell is a gossiping tongue. We are warned in Proverbs not only to not be a part of gossip, not not to gossip, but not to be a part of gossip. It's the tongue that complains. It's the tongue that murmurs. It's the tongue that backbites. It's the tongue that lashes out. And such a tongue is dangerous and absolutely untamable. Look at with me, if you will. Verse seven. For every kind of beast and bird of reptile and creature of the sea is tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no man can tame the tongue. You may tame a tiger before you ever tame a tongue. Any beast, sea creature has been tamed, but no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. With it, we bless our God and father, and with it, we curse men who have been made in the similitude of God out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so, he says, it doesn't fit us, doesn't fit who we are as a Christian. No man can tame the tongue. This is what it looks like to try Psalm thirty nine. Turn there with me, if you will. Probably all of us have had this experience, Psalm thirty nine. This is David, a man after God's own heart, but who didn't have the baptism of the Holy Spirit, he wasn't filled with the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit came upon David, but didn't live within him and he tried, he tried hard to tame his tongue. And this is what it looks like. Verse one, someone Psalm thirty nine. I said I will guard my ways, lest I sin with my tongue, I will restrain my mouth with a muzzle while the wicked are before me, I was mute with silence. I held my peace even from good. And my sorrow was stirred up, my heart was hot within me while I was using the fire burn. You get the picture, he sees something, the wicked are all around him, he's wanting to say something so bad, but he said, I'm not going to do it, I'm going to bite my tongue, I'm going to tame my tongue. But he says that I kept my mouth shut, the fire inside burned, it burned hot within me. My heart was hot within me while I was using the fire burned. Then what happened? I spoke with my tongue, I couldn't tame it, I couldn't hold it back. It had to come out. Then he says in verse four, Lord, make me to know my end. And what is the measure of my days that I may know how frail I am? Try as hard as you might, you won't tame the tongue, you must be filled with the Holy Spirit before there can be an infilling with the Holy Spirit, though there must be a cleansing. This is where it begins with all of us. We've got to recognize you can try as hard as you want to to tame your tongue. You don't have the ability to do it apart from the power of the Holy Spirit. Can't do it. You'll be just like David. You can hold on to it for so long. You can you can make a ceiling fan turn by using your hand and all your force, but pretty soon you're going to get tired. Try to make it turn without electricity, without power. You'll give up eventually. It's the same thing. You try your hardest. I'm going to speak words that edify. I'm not going to say this. I'm not going to gossip. I'm not going to slander. I'm not going to flatter. I'm not going to exaggerate. Try, try, try, try. And in your own power, you will only fail. The answer is, brothers and sisters, the issue is I have a tongue set on fire by hell. I first need to confess that. The answer is to have this tongue set on fire by the Holy Spirit. Now, how does it happen? It begins with cleansing. God will never fill an unclean vessel. It begins with cleansing. Remember Isaiah, the prophet Isaiah chapter six? He said in the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne high and lifted up in the train of his robe, filled the temple above it stood seraphim. Each one had six wings with two. He covered his face with two. He covered his feet with two. He flew and one cried to another and said, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. Isaiah has an encounter with the holiness of God, the majesty, the glory and the holiness of God. And what sin is he convicted of? What sin stands out above all the rest? It's the sins of his mouth. He says, then, in verse five, once he saw the Lord, he says, woe is me, for I am undone because I'm a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. For my eyes have seen the king, the Lord of hosts. We come before the Lord. We have an encounter with the holiness of God. And we're immediately made aware the sins of my mouth. My speech is defiled. My lips are unclean. And I live among a people whose lips are also unclean. Where does it begin? He needs a new tongue. He needs to be he needs a tongue set on fire by the Holy Spirit. He needs cleansing. But before you can ever receive cleansing, you've got to repent. You've got to confess just as he did. Woe is me. That's to say I'm ruined. I'm finished. I'm a man of unclean lips and getting honest with God and confessing and repenting of all lying, exaggerating gossip, flattery, slander, murmuring and complaining. That is a man of unclean lips. That is a woman of unclean lips confessing that sin. Sometimes it's not even just what I say, but it's my tone. It's my tone in the way I've spoken to my children or wife or whoever else, not just what you say, but how you say it. I'm a man of unclean lips. What is the answer? I need cleansing like Isaiah. And here's what the Lord does. Verse six, after he confesses his sin. Verse six says, Then one of the seraphim flew to me and having in his hand a live coal, which he had taken with tongs from the altar, and he touched my mouth with it and said, Behold, this is touched your lips. Your iniquity is taken away and your sin purged. Hallelujah. Cleanse my tongue, cleanse my lips, forgive me, Lord. For the sins of my mouth. You know who the Lord will cleanse? The one who starts taking very seriously the words of our mouth, the one who justifies and say, well, that really wasn't that wasn't gossip. That really wasn't murmuring and complaining. Well, you'll never be cleansed of it. You'll never be free of it. It's the one who gets down like Isaiah did and seeks the face of God, has an encounter with the holiness of God and calls their sin sin. There's the cleansing, but not only does he touch our lips in the new covenant, he has to go deeper out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. God has to do a work in my heart. You see, in that Psalm 39, it wasn't just the the tongue that David was dealing with. He said my heart was burning. That's where it was burning on the inside of me. God, you have to come inside and do a deep work in my heart. Go to the source of it all. They say one of the tests in some of these mental hospitals is at least I've heard this or read this somewhere. They put a patient in the in a room, they give him a bucket and a mop and they turn on a faucet. And as long as he mops the floor and keeps mopping and mopping and mopping the floor without going to the source and turning off the water, then they know he has to stay. It's like that for us spiritually, you can keep trying to sniff out all the the fruits that are coming from the tongue. But until I have a heart surgery, until I have a heart cleansing, until I invite God to come in and cleanse my heart and call sin, sin and repent of it, that's turn from it and say, Lord, give me a new heart. Forgive me for my sins. Give me a new heart. Matthew chapter 12, Jesus addresses it so clearly. Matthew chapter 12 and verse 33, either make the tree good and its fruit good or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad for a tree is known by its fruit brood of vipers. How can you being evil speak good things if your heart is not changed? How will your speech ever change? How can you being evil speak good things for out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks a good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. But I say to you that for every idle word. Men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment, do you believe that verse? Every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment, for by your words you will be justified and by your words you will be condemned. Give me a clean heart, oh God, we've got to we've got to take it seriously because this little member is very serious. It's like standing brothers and sisters in a dry. Grassland, go up here to this national grassland and let it, you know, in the in the dead of summer where there's no rain and everything's dry. How dangerous is it to play with one little spark? One little spark, and there are people who live out there, let's say. How dangerous is this little member in my body? Take it seriously, take it very seriously, let us repent, let us come to God for cleansing, and then he is more than willing to fill us up. Ephesians chapter five, I want you to see this in scripture. I need my tongue set on fire. And for that to happen, my heart has to be filled with the Holy Spirit, Ephesians chapter five, verse 18. Do not be drunk with wine in which is dissipation, but be filled with the spirit that is with the Holy Spirit, be filled with the Holy Spirit and notice the immediate result. Be filled with the spirit, verse 19, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. The first thing that changed once I was filled with the spirit is again my speech, just like it was on the day of Pentecost. So it is here filled with the Holy Spirit. Immediately I'm speaking to my brothers and sisters in psalms, hymns, spiritual songs, singing, making melody in my heart to the Lord, a heart filled with the Holy Spirit equals a tongue on fire with the spirit. And now is really where the rubber meets the road. You sought God, you said, Lord, fill me up, cleanse me and fill me now, what does he require from us? Surrender obedience. He will give us the power of the Holy Spirit, but it is up to us to obey him. It is up to us to surrender our tongues to him. To the Lordship of Jesus Christ, surrender and obedience, a tongue that is baptized and yielded to the fire of the Holy Spirit will be a tongue that edifies others. Look at chapter four here in Ephesians chapter four and verse twenty nine. Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification that it may impart grace to the hearers and do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. If we take the scripture in context, once I'm filled with the Holy Spirit, the last thing I want to do is grieve him. But according to this scripture, the way I grieve him is to let corrupt word proceed out of my mouth. Instead of what is good and necessary for edification, I need to ask myself before I say this, if there's any doubt when in doubt, don't when there's doubt, is it necessary is what I'm going to say necessary is what I'm going to say, going to edify is what I'm going to say. True. Is it praiseworthy? And if not, I don't need to say it, I can put out that fire, I can reject that and say I want my tongue ignited by the Holy Spirit, not the fires of hell. So therefore, I will yield and surrender to the Holy Spirit and the word of God and what he's clearly called me to say. Now, the other evidence again is that they it's a tongue that sings praises and continually giving thanks and glory to God. The opposite of that is murmuring and complaining. If you're murmuring and complaining, you're not praising. You're not praising God. Your tongue is yielded and surrendered in the wrong place, one of the first marks of one who is walking in the fullness of the Holy Spirit, is there be a new song in their heart, thanksgiving in their heart, expressed through their mouth, singing and making melody in their heart. When you're filled with the Holy Spirit, there's got to be an outlet. There's got to be a place for that's why you can't wait to come and gather with brothers and sisters to to join in worship and praise of the Lord. That's why you're singing before you ever get here and giving him praise and thanksgiving. It's a tongue again that becomes an instrument of life in God's hand. Just look at our Lord Jesus. He's our example. He's our forerunner. He's the one that we follow. Did he ever belittle others, his disciples? Did he ever pass remarks or make jokes about them that would hurt them? He never spoke about the failures of the disciples behind their backs that speaks volumes to me. Think of this. Even though Jesus knew it was Judas who would betray him. He never said a word about that to any of the other disciples. It was so hidden. And this is why the scripture is true. Love covers a multitude of sins when it was a personal thing, a personal attack. Speaks volumes to me that even on that day when Jesus said one of you will betray me, none of them knew who it was. They all had to ask, is it I? If Jesus was a tailbearer, if Jesus was a gossip, if Jesus was one to speak about others failures behind their backs, they would have known clearly Judas. I've been with Jesus, I know it's Judas. What an example our Lord is to us of someone whose tongue was pure, someone whose tongue was set on fire, not by hell, but the power of the Holy Spirit. We see it in in Jesus, in that he always spoke the truth and love again. That's what the Bible says in verse 25 here of Ephesians four, therefore put away all lying. Let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. Speak the truth. And he says in another place here, speaking the truth and love. Speaking the truth and love, they go together, I think of Jesus going to the woman who was caught in adultery. And can you imagine these words of edification? Who is it that condemns you? No one, sir, neither do I condemn you, though he had the power to condemn me. Now go and sin no more. Those words brought forth life. But the same words of love also spoke truth and said to the Pharisees, you brood of vipers, you brood of snakes, he said. The same one who would say to Peter, get behind me, Satan. We love Peter. He spoke the truth, but he always spoke it in love. That's a tongue that is set on fire by the Holy Spirit. It's yielded to God, it it it edifies it, corrects when necessary, always speaks the truth. Such a tongue will speak for God, I want you to see this verse in Jeremiah 15, Jeremiah 15, because this is not just for preachers, this is not just for somebody standing up here to speak during the at the communion table. This is for all of us, brothers and sisters, twenty four, seven, three hundred and sixty five days out of the year. We want to be as God's mouth. Don't you want to bless people when you speak? Don't you want to open your mouth and edify and bring forth words of life instead of words that destroy and devastate and cause destruction? Here's a secret. Here's a secret that ought to be marked in every single one of our Bibles. Jeremiah, chapter 15, verse 19. Therefore, thus says the Lord, if you return. Then I will bring you back, you shall stand before me, if you take out the precious from the vial, you shall be as my mouth. What an amazing thing. What a high calling to be as God's mouth. Can you be? There's a condition if you take out, separate the precious from the vial. That which is sin, that which doesn't edify, that which is not of God is vile, you rejected it, you cast it out, you put that fire out, stomp on that spark before it goes anywhere. And if you speak forth the precious, I believe this, if we. If we are as if we are as serious. Even in just everyday speech, even in our family and those who know us best, and we are we take dead serious how we speak to one another there. God will be with such a mouth when it's time to minister, but if with our mother tongue we are flippant and we use every kind of tone and we exaggerate and we murmur and we complain, we gossip, how is it that we can expect God to be with our mouth when it comes time to minister? That's hypocrisy. Just what James said, how these things should not be the salt water and fresh water come from the same source. No. It shouldn't be if you separate the precious from the vial, then you shall be as my mouth. You shall speak for God, the words of God, the precious from the worthless, worthless speeches, idle speech, meaningless talk. Arguing and fighting. And when you separate that and be as God's mouth, then. God's words will come forth from your mouth and they will burn into the hearts of people, even at your kitchen table, even on a city park bench, you will speak, you can even speak three words and it will penetrate somebody's heart and absolutely bless them and change their life forever when you are as God's mouth. That's my prayer, that we would have tongues of fire, sanctified tongues. And we can have if we get serious about cleansing, repentance, seeking God for his feelings and surrendering our tongues to him. As we do that, I want to close with two prayers in the scriptures. The first one is Psalm 141. Psalm 141 and verse three, set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth, keep watch over the door of my lips, do not incline my heart to any evil thing, to practice wicked works with men who work iniquity and do not let me eat of their delicacies. Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth, keep watch over the door of my lips. Look at Psalm 19, verse 14, one of my favorite prayers. Psalm 19, verse 14. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer. And that is a prayer God will answer when we pray it sincerely from our hearts. Amen. Let's stand to our feet, brothers and sisters. I want to simply ask you tonight as we bow our heads before God. Is Jesus Christ Lord of your tongue? What kind of fire is burning? What kind of fire has ignited your tongue? The fires of hell or the fires of the Holy Spirit. And very simply, God is calling us to come to him tonight. If need be in repentance and confession before God and seeking him for cleansing and filling and absolute surrender. Heavenly Father, I pray, Lord God, that you would meet with us, Lord. I pray, Father, that you would search our hearts and let us, Lord, examine ourselves before you and in the light of your holy presence. Lord, I'm asking you to give each and every one of us the encounter, an encounter with you like Isaiah had with you, O God, the holiness of God, that you would not allow us, Lord, to deceive ourselves. And I pray, Lord God, you speak to every single one of us. And if need be, you'd bring us to the absolute confession and repentance. Forgive us, O Lord, whether it be backbiting, whether it be gossip, whether it be flattering, whether it be slandering, whether it be murmuring, whether it be complaining, whether it be idle talk, whether it be a looseness with the tongue. We ask you to have mercy upon us tonight, O God, and to cleanse us deeply and help us, Lord, to take very seriously your holy word. We pray, God, that you would go deeper to the very source and change and transform and sanctify our hearts, O God. We pray, Father, that you would fill us with your Holy Spirit, fill us to overflowing so that our speech changes, Lord, and give us the grace, Lord, to surrender to you. To have tongues that are yielded, surrendered and set on fire by the Holy Spirit, tongues that will be used, Lord, for your glory and honor. We pray it in Jesus' name, Amen.