Passage

[Psalm 141: 3]
"Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth; Keep watch over the door of my lips."

Introduction

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
God the Father wants to give blessings to His children.
He is the good God who wants to give us His mercy and peace.
He especially proclaimed this year as the 'Year of Blessing' and is telling us in detail the ways to receive blessings.
He has told us in detail how we can resolve our fundamental problems.
I hope now all of you will receive spiritual and material blessings.
I hope none of you will be sick or financially poor but you will reap 30, 60, and 100 times more fruits by sowing with faith.
Sowing doesn't only mean monetary offering. Your service and voluntary works will give you the blessing of your soul's prosperity and physical health.
But all answers and blessings are given according to the justice and love of God.
Namely, God can answer you when the amount of our deeds of faith is filled up according to the justice of God.
The amount of deeds of faith will be different according to the answer we want to get from God.
But some people just demolish the deeds that they have been accumulating.
Nobody would actually want to do that.
But in fact, many people do destroy the deeds they have stored up, being unable to control their lips.
Of course, if we commit sins, it creates a wall of sin, and we cannot receive any answer or blessing.
But even though we do not actually commit sins, sometimes we delay our own answer and blessing because of the words of our mouths.
Some inappropriate words will break down the deeds of faith we have been storing up.
We have to continually build up with faith, but we repeat a cycle of building and demolishing again and again.
So, in this service, I will speak to you under the title, 'Set a Guard over My Mouth'.
I hope you will gain life and strength through this sermon so that you will receive all the answers and blessings that God the Father has prepared for you.

Main

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, please repeat after the title of today's message loudly. "Set a Guard over My Mouth."
A 'guard' is somebody who keeps and guards something. It can also mean somebody who is hard-working in a particular matter.
So, if we set a guard over our mouth, we can always control our words.
But Matthew 15:18 says, "But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart,"

Matthew 12:35 also says, "The good man brings out of his good treasure what is good; and the evil man brings out of his evil treasure what is evil."
Thus, if you come into whole spirit, you will have only fullness of goodness without any evil, and you won't even have to set a guard over your mouth.
You will have self-control completely, so you will be able to automatically control the words from your heart.
You will be able to speak the most appropriate words according to the time, space, and the listener.
But since you will still have evil remaining in you before you go into spirit, you have to set a guard over your mouth.
Even very good words may not be edifying or glorifying God if they are uncontrolled.
Also, even if you speak with a good intention, the listener may not accept it as it was intended.
Therefore, I urge you to set a guard over your mouth until you go into whole spirit.
Now, what does it mean by 'setting a guard over my mouth'?
During this time I will give you three guidelines and I hope you will keep them in mind.
If you remember and pay attention to these three guidelines about every word you say, this is the meaning of 'setting a guard over your mouth'.
First, we should not say anything that is not beneficial.
There are words that are not beneficial for both the speaker and the hearer.
All words of untruth are disadvantageous, but please keep in mind the couple of examples I am giving you now and be careful about them.
First, telling a lie is a minus, and not only that, it is detrimental[ for both the speaker and hearer.
Telling a lie is to cheat others, and it will harm the hearer.
The hearer might face material or mental damage if he believes the lie to be true.

Telling a lie also harms the speaker.
It is a work of flesh to tell a lie, and it is a sin before God, too.
Thus, I hope you will not tell even little lies or try to hide something by telling a lie.
'Irrelevant answers' are also words that are inexpedient[.
'Irrelevant answers' are answers that have no relation to the question.
The person who asked the question cannot get the answer when irrelevant answers are given.
Further conversation will be possible only after getting an answer to the question.
It is especially true with spiritual counseling.
For the counselor to help the counselee, the counselee's problem must be understood.
So when a counselor asks the question, and then he gets irrelevant answers, it's difficult to understand the problem.
It will be hard to solve the problem of the counselee.
Then, it is not only a waste of time for the counselor, but the counselee cannot get resolution. This is really useless!
I hope you will try to change the habit of giving irrelevant answers.
You can reduce irrelevant answers just by listening to the other person attentively.
In many cases, you give irrelevant answers because you don't focus on what the other person is saying but you listen by your own thoughts.
Giving irrelevant answers is not a great sin, but it is a very useless and meaningless thing.
Of course, often there are lies or words that put the blame on others contained in irrelevant answers.
These words are even more improper before God.
I hope you will thoroughly keep in mind the uselessness of irrelevant answers.
Even jesting or some of the popular expressions of the world are also meaningless to believers.
Jesting is something said or done to elicit laughter.
Those who joke and jest a lot cannot be taken seriously.
Such people don't appear to be trustworthy, so we find it difficult to share secrets with them or give them important work.
It is difficult for those who enjoy jesting and telling jokes to go into spirit.
For example, some people make others laugh by embarrassing a particular person in order to create a funny situation.
If that person becomes upset, they will just say, "It's just a joke," and they are not even sorry.
In 'joking around' there are many exaggerations and things that are not really right.
All these words are not right for the God's children who are holy.
Ephesians 5:4 says, "and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks."
It's the same with popular expressions of the world. The trend of the world can be found in those words.
When you use such expressions, you might also be influenced by the worldly fashions.
Even though they don't contain bad meanings, it is better not to speak such words if you are really longing for New Jerusalem.
There is another important reason why we shouldn't use useless and meaningless words.
In Matthew 12:36 Jesus said, "But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment."
Of course, if you repent of it, saying careless and meaningless words will be forgiven.
But the problem is that there are many careless words that you just say and then forget.
I hope you will be more careful not to say such meaningless words.
I urge you to develop a habit of thinking before you say anything to determine whether or not what you say is beneficial for both you and the listener.
Proverbs 10:19 also says, "When there are many words, transgression is unavoidable, but he who restrains his lips is wise."
Then, what are beneficial words for God's children?
Ephesians 4:29 says, "Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear."
As said, beneficial words are words that give grace to and edify others.
They are the words that give glory to God, plant faith into others, and give life to others.
I hope you will be able to speak these good words all the time.
One more thing you should remember is that you should not carry on conversations about worldly things in the church including the churchgrounds.
I hope you will have only spiritual conversations that give grace and edify each other.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, to set a guard over our mouths, we should not say anything that goes too far.
Going too far here means going beyond limits of position and standing.
So, some arrogant persons are likely to say things that go too far.
Those who are humble will not say anything that goes beyond what is acceptable in any situation.
Examples of words that go too far are words of passing judgment and condemnation.
It's the same with criticism on others.
Men who are mere creatures do not have any right to judge or condemn anybody.
The right to judge and condemn solely belongs to God the Creator.
James 4:11-12 says, "Do not speak against one another, brethren. He who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks against the law and judges the law; but if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge of it. [12] There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and to destroy; but who are you who judge your neighbor?"
If God's children, who have received salvation, complain and express resentments, it is also 'going too far'.
We would have fallen into eternal fire of Hell had we not met God. But we are saved by God's grace and we can go into the beautiful heavenly kingdom now.
We can be thankful just with this fact.
But if we complain about our difficult environment and situations, or hold grudges against anybody, then it means we have forgotten the grace of salvation.
But those who understand that they are saved from the fire of Hell, namely those who know the limits of their position, will give thanks even in difficult situations.
They will say, "I am thankful just to be saved. I give thanks for the love of the Father God who gives me a lesson through this hardship."
It's the same when we do something for the kingdom of God.
Those who are humble and know their position and responsibilities will accept any work with thanks and obey.
They will say, "Thank you for giving this task to someone like me."
"I am thankful that I can do something for God's kingdom."
On the other hand, there are also those who say, "Why give me such a trivial task?" "Why should I have to do this kind of work?"
Instead of accepting it with thanks, they complain about it.
These words in complaints and ungratefulness are words that 'go too far'.
How did the Virgin Mary react when she heard from an angel she would conceive and give birth to a baby?
It is impossible with human understanding for a virgin to be pregnant.
Moreover, in those days, if a single woman became pregnant she would be condemned and stoned.
Still, the Virgin Mary accepted it saying, "Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word."
It was the same with the Canaanite woman whose daughter was set free from demon possession.
In order to reveal her faith, Jesus said to her, "It is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs."
Namely, He compared this Gentile woman with a dog for she was not a Jew.
Nevertheless, she did not get disappointed, give up, or get upset thinking she was insulted and rejected.
But, in Matthew 15:27 she said, "Yes, Lord; but even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from their masters' table."
She humbled herself completely before Jesus, who could solve her problem, and asked Him with unchanging faith.
As a result, she received complete resolution of her daughter's problem. Through the above examples, I hope you will understand and find the way for resolving your problems and receive blessings.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, to set a guard over our mouth, thirdly, we should use positive words and confession of faith in every kind of situations.
Why don't you try not making any kind of negative remarks in your daily life?
It's better not to say, "It seems it won't work out. I don't think it's possible."
I suggest you make it a habit to say only positive words and profession of faith such as: "It will work out well. We can do it. Nothing is impossible for those who believe."
If your lips utter negative words, it will also have negative effects on others.
It will make the mood gloomier and shadowy.
It will take away motivation and cause discouragement.
But positive words will make the mood brighter and be more encouraging.
It gives them confidence and strength for them to stand up again.
Proverbs 18:21 says, "Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit."
So, the more pessimistic words you speak, the more difficult the things will go.
But with optimistic words of faith, even difficult things may turn out well.
There are many biblical examples, too.
David did not see the reality or say anything negative when he fought Goliath.
He only looked up to the almighty God and went forward with a profession of faith.
1 Samuel 17:45-47 says, "Then David said to the Philistine, "You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have taunted. [46] "This day the LORD will deliver you up into my hands, and I will strike you down and remove your head from you. And I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, [47] and that all this assembly may know that the LORD does not deliver by sword or by spear; for the battle is the LORD's and He will give you into our hands."
David struck Goliath with a sling and a stone. The stone hit Goliath in the forehead.
God was pleased with David's faith and allowed Israel to win the victory very easily in a battle that was actually very difficult.
As above, profession of faith is very powerful.
But there were also people who faced miserable consequences from negative words.
It was the case with the ten among the twelve spies who scouted the land of Canaan.
God promised the sons of Israel many times that He would give them the land flowing with milk and honey.
But ten of those spies spoke pessimistically after spying out the land of Canaan.
Numbers 13:32-33 says, "So they gave out to the sons of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, "The land through which we have gone, in spying it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants; and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great size. [33] "There also we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim); and we became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight."
This negative report of the spies soon influenced most of the people very much.
It caused them to have pessimistic thoughts and soon they began to complain and express their resentment.
But there were some people who made positive professions among them.
They were Joshua and Caleb.
Numbers 14:7-9 says, "and they spoke to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, saying, "The land which we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land. [8] "If the LORD is pleased with us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us a land which flows with milk and honey. [9] "Only do not rebel against the LORD; and do not fear the people of the land, for they will be our prey. Their protection has been removed from them, and the LORD is with us; do not fear them."
The more difficult situation you are facing, I hope, you will become more like Joshua and Caleb.
You should never be like the ten spies who drove the people into destruction with their negative reports.
I hope you will receive answers and blessings with positive words of faith such as "When God is pleased with us we can do anything. When God is with us everything is possible."
If you are about to say something negative, you may even want to gag your mouth to keep from saying it.
If you train yourself that way and always make positive professions, your heart and your environment will change.

Conclusion

Let me conclude the message. Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, Proverbs 13:2 says, "From the fruit of a man's mouth he enjoys good."
I talked about three ways to set a guard over our mouth so that we can enjoy abundant blessings.
First, we should speak beneficial words rather than meaningless and careless words. Second, we should not say anything that goes too far. Third, we should always speak positive words of faith.
It is to set a guard over our mouth if we just keep these three points in mind and be careful.
I hope you will now really set a guard over your mouth and keep your mouth in check very well.
In doing so, I pray in the name of the Lord that you will all receive answers and blessings and give glory to God.

(Amen)