A Matter of Life and Death

[0:00] skill All right, if you got your Bible, go to the book of Proverbs. Yes, Proverbs, not the book of Exodus.

[0:39] I've been hinting, in fact, Proverbs 18 is where we're going to be this evening. I've been hinting now for a few weeks that we would probably take a short little summer break from the book of Exodus.

[0:51] And what we're going to do is pick that back up when we return to our new building. That's the plan, which hopefully will still be sometime in August, right? That's the hope. And so we'll come back and we'll pick right up where we left off in the book of Exodus. But what I want to do is I want to do a kind of a four or five week series kind of for the rest of the summer or middle of the summer until we make that move. And if you know or been around Faith Family for a while, you kind of know my preaching patterns. Typically, we will preach through a book of the Bible. So we've preached through like the book of Acts, the book of 1 John. We're in the book of Exodus. Sometimes I'll do a section of a book like the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew or the miracles in the Gospels. But usually, a couple of times throughout the year, I will deal with a topic. And this topic is usually something that's extremely practical. Now, I hope every sermon in some way is practical, even if you're going through a book. But it's usually a topic like we've looked at Anxious for Nothing. You remember that series where we tackled anxiety and worry and depression? Or we did the series Abide, which was talking about our spiritual growth in the Lord? Well, this series is going to be that. It's going to be a practical series. And it's something that is so practical and so important, it literally is a matter of life and death. That's how serious it is. In fact, I'm just going to tell you, over the next few weeks, you're going to be extremely convicted. And so will I. In fact, I'll make a promise. You ready? Here's the promise. If you're not convicted at any point in this series, you get your money back. All right? Money back, guarantee, you get your money back. All right? So I just promise you this is going to be something that's going to speak to the practical areas of our life. And it's going to be so convicting. And that's a good thing. And it's such an important topic in the Bible.

[2:47] And so here's essentially what we're going to do. Notice this on the screen. We're going to talk about talking. We're going to talk about talking. What I mean is we're going to talk about our words, the things that we say, the things that we don't say, how we say them. In fact, the series we're entitling Just Saying, The Power of Words. And you may, like right now, think, ah, I'm going to just check out on this. This isn't relevant to me. You will be surprised how much the Bible has to say about this issue and how important this issue is biblically. And so I want you to join with me these next few weeks as we work our way through what the Bible says about our words and the importance of our tongue. Look here at Proverbs 18. This is tonight's just going to kind of be an introduction to the series. And so just a few verses here that we'll do that kind of lays the foundation for where we're going the next few weeks. You with me? Okay, good, good, good, good. Proverbs 18. If you're able to stand, please do so as we honor the reading of God's word. Proverbs 18. And look here at verse 19.

[4:00] It says, a brother offended is more unyielding than a strong city. And quarreling is like the bars of a castle. From the fruit of a man's mouth, his stomach is satisfied. He is satisfied by the yield of his lips.

[4:19] Watch. Death and life. I told you this was a matter of life and death. Death and life are in the power of the tongue. And those who love it will eat its fruits. This is God's word. Would you pray with me and for me as we ask God to come and convict us and teach us tonight? So Lord, thank you for this time to be together now to study your word. Thank you for this series that you're going to take us through, which will be, I hope, conforming us even more into the image of Jesus. And the way we talk, the words we use, the things we say, the things we don't say, come and help us understand just how important this is to you, which is why you have spoken about it in your word. And we pray this in Jesus' precious name. And God's people said, amen. Amen. You can be seated. You know, sometimes just one small adjustment can save thousands of lives. One minor adjustment can save thousands of lives.

[5:24] That was the discovery of Ignace Sammelweis. Anybody ever heard of him? That's because most of you weren't alive in 1846. Most of you, maybe a few of you. But back in 1846, Sammelweis was a Hungarian doctor. He was a professor at Johns Hopkins. And he took a new job at a hospital. And when he took this new job at this hospital, he noticed a really strange phenomenon. What he noticed, first of all, there was two maternity clinics. And one of the maternity clinics was run by doctors. And the other maternity clinic was run by midwives. And the phenomenon that he observed, the thing that he noticed was that a lot more women were dying in the clinic run by doctors. In fact, five times more likely, the women would die of a childbed fever than at the clinic run by midwives. And no one really understood why this was the case. And so Dr. Sammelweis wanted to understand what's causing this, what's going on. And so he began to discover, began to study the differences between the two clinics.

[6:37] First of all, he noticed that at the doctor's clinic or the clinic run by doctors, the women gave birth on their back. At the midwives clinic, they gave birth on their side. So he thought, maybe this has something to do with it. And so they made that adjustment, but that didn't affect it at all.

[6:55] And then he discovered another difference was that at the doctor's clinic, right after one of the women would die of fever, a priest would walk through the hospital just ringing a bell. And he thought, well, maybe the bell makes everybody nervous or whatever, and they get a fever and die. And so they had the priest stop ringing the bell. That didn't change anything. And then he noticed something that at first it really seemed insignificant. What he noticed was at the doctor's clinic, after a woman would die, the doctors would do something there they didn't do at the midwife's clinic. They would perform an autopsy, which was something very, very new for them in that day.

[7:40] But not only would they do an autopsy on the woman that died, but immediately after doing the autopsy, they would go and deliver a baby without washing their hands or their instruments. Now remember, this is 1846. Germs have not been discovered. Louis Pasteur has not discovered. That's the 1860s.

[8:05] And so this was just an observation. And Semmelweis said, wait, maybe you should wash your hands with chlorine. And he didn't even know that that would kill germs. He just thought the smell of it would do something. And so that's what they did. And they noticed a significant decrease in the death of women of childbed fever. Now, I want you to stop and think about that because that seems, today we're like, duh. Some of you, when I told the story, you're like, gross, wash your hands, dude.

[8:36] Like everybody knows that that's something really important. But here's what I want you to think about. Something so small, something so insignificant was literally a matter of life and death.

[8:53] Something as simple as washing your hands was literally what was causing lots of death. Here's what I want to ask you tonight. Are you with me? Say yes. Have you ever dismissed something as insignificant only to later discover it's really, really, really important? You know, like the warning light on the dashboard, right? You dismiss that. Oh, it's no big deal. It'll probably go away.

[9:20] Only to discover there's a really major problem that needs your attention. Or maybe it's a lump or a discomfort and you dismiss it. Oh, it's probably nothing that big of a deal. Later to discover it's a tumor. Maybe it was a conversation that you thought was unimportant, but later you realized that that was very important. That was an opportunity of a lifetime. Maybe you dismiss the advice of a friend or a parent and it ended up costing you big time. Every one of you knows what it's like. Are you with me? Where you saw something and you thought, that's really not that big of a deal.

[9:56] That's really insignificant. That's not a problem only to discover it's really, really important. It's a matter of life and death. That is exactly what the Bible says about your words and my words. The words that we speak and the things that we say, these are things we tend to think are insignificant. Oh, come on. They're just words. They're not that big of a deal.

[10:24] Doesn't really even matter. In fact, we actually have phrases that we learn when we're young like this. Sticks and stones may break my bones. Say it with me. But words will never hurt me.

[10:36] Baloney. You know that's not true. You know words can hurt you. You know words can damage you and crush your spirit. The point is something as simple as like washing hands, something as simple as the words you say are a matter of life and death. And you say, man, life and death just seems a bit strong. It seems a bit much. That's exactly what the author of Proverbs 18 says. Look at it again in verse 21. It says, death, say it with me, death and life. Death and life are in the power of the, say it, tongue. Death and life are in the power of the tongue. I want to talk first about the significance of our words. Again, this is just laying a foundation for the next few weeks. Listen, the tongue, that is our words, have the power to bring life or bring death. And this is not hyperbolic language.

[11:41] The author here is not just trying to exaggerate to get your attention. He's being biblical. He's speaking the truth. The impact of our words. Are you listening? The impact of our words to ourself, to others, and to the world around us is a matter of life and death. It's said that we speak about 16,000 words a day. Some of you, a whole lot more. Ladies, you know what I'm talking about, right? I'm just kidding. I'm kidding, right? I'm a dude. Some of you, you just don't shut up. You talk all the time like this. Bad day, huh? Me too. Of course, everything's been bad since I broke up with my boyfriend. I said to myself, run, Beth, run for your life before this man kills you both. Then do you know what the klutz did? No, and I don't care. I'm going to tell you, he came home one night dead drunk and decided he wanted to fix the sink. Couldn't believe him. Anyway, enough of that. Let's talk about you. How come you're here? Bartender. Come on, be honest. Does anybody know somebody like that?

[12:56] You don't need to point. Don't point them out if they're here, but you just want to look at them and say, would you just shut up? Like you talk all the time. But regardless of if you're a big talker or not much of a talker, it's roughly 16,000 words that is estimated that we speak a day.

[13:14] That is a 60-page book that you write with your mouth every single day. In fact, I may say about 5,000 words. Maybe that's being generous for my sermons. 5,000 words. And we know like one phrase could be something that the Lord uses to change your life. One word, one phrase. The Lord takes that and impacts your life in an amazing way. Or one word, one phrase, and you're like, I'm never coming back.

[13:45] That's the power of words. The things that we say. Think about this, how words shape our reality. Take, for example, the simple word blue. That's a very simple word, the word blue. If I showed you this picture and I said, show me or point out the blue square, how many of you could do that?

[14:06] Okay. Yeah. Which one is it? Yeah. About 10 o'clock. You see it. Okay. It's kind of obvious. Okay. But did you know that if you showed that same picture to someone in the Himba tribe, they wouldn't be able to do it. Do you know why they wouldn't be able to do it? Because they don't have a word for blue.

[14:24] They actually did this test. Notice this picture here, where they put before them that same image and they didn't recognize any difference whatsoever. If you ask them, what is the blue square? They don't see a blue square. They see all green. Now, if I showed you this picture, would you be able to pick out the color or to pick out the color that's different from all the other ones? That's a lot harder for you to do, but not in the Himba tribe because they have 11 words for green and they would point out this one as the one that sticks out above all the others. Why? Because words shape our realities.

[15:05] The very words we use define the realities that we know. And if you still don't think that words are important, that words are significant, listen to what Jesus says. Oh, this passage, I may even preach a sermon on this passage in this series. Look here at Matthew chapter 12, Matthew 12 and verse 13. This will get your attention. If you're sleeping, this will wake you up. Jesus says this, either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad. For the tree is known by its fruit.

[15:40] You brood of vipers, how can you speak good when you're evil? For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. I tell you, on the day of judgment, judgment, people will give an account for every careless word they speak.

[16:17] For by, some of you are like, oh no. Why? For by your words, you will be justified. And by your words, you will be condemned. Here's what Jesus says. Look at it, look at it. Words can be your salvation, or words can be your damnation. Words can be your justification, or words can be your condemnation. Now, I know what some of you are thinking, and you should be thinking this. I hope that you've been taught well here at Faith Family in terms of what the gospel is. You may be thinking, wait a minute, I thought we're saved by grace. I mean, a surface reading of that, Pat, did you pick up on that? Or are you not kind of thinking, wait a minute, is Jesus actually suggesting that my salvation depends on my words? Yes. But you can't take that out of context, right?

[17:13] The context here is this. Let me break this down for you. This is really important. Jesus says, are you with me? Your attention should be fully raised, because we should want to know what Jesus says here. Amen? Jesus is saying this, right? You speak words, but those words really aren't about the mouth. They're about the heart. Out, out, out of the abundance of the heart. And of course, in the ancient Near East, it's not an inner, or it's like, it's like the inner person. The heart is who you are.

[17:47] So from the inner person, the mouth speaks. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. Now, what just happened in Matthew chapter 12? Jesus, come on, hang with me. Jesus is addressing people that just denied him with their mouth. They said, you do the works of Beelzebub. You do the works of Satan. And Jesus realizes that it really isn't their words that mattered there, just that their words reflected a heart that had rejected Christ. And so Jesus says, you'll be judged by those words.

[18:25] And do you know why you'll be judged by those words? Because those words reveal a heart that is separated from God. Notice this on the screen. Words don't reflect your mouth. Words reflect your heart.

[18:42] Your words reflect who you are. It's like the warning light again, that you need to take inventory of what's coming out of your mouth and what you say and how you say it, because it's revealing something.

[18:58] The mouth is connected to the heart, right? And the mouth, in fact, if you're still confused about Matthew 12, oh man, this is gonna clear it up. Are you ready? Come on, look at the connection. I'm so excited about teaching this stuff. Can you tell? Look at the connection that Jesus not only makes between the mouth and the heart, but the apostle Paul, in terms of salvation, takes the very same connection and elaborates more. Look at Romans chapter 10, verse 8. This is good. But what does it say?

[19:30] The word is near you in your, say it? Mouth and in your heart. That is the word of faith that we proclaim.

[19:41] Because if you confess with your mouth, that is, if the words that you say are Jesus is Lord, it's connected to what? A belief in your heart. A belief in your heart that God raised him from the dead and you will be saved.

[19:59] For with the heart one believes and is, oh, that makes now so much sense of what Jesus is saying in Matthew 12. My justification is coming by a heart that trusts. A heart that believes. It is about faith and not works. My salvation is not about my words. It's about my heart that believes God. And how do I know that my heart believes God? I confess with my words, Jesus is Lord. That was all for free, right? That was good. That was good. With my, and with the mouth, one confesses and is saved. In other words, Paul makes the same connection between the mouth and the heart that Jesus does in Matthew 12. Listen, words shape our realities. Words reveal our hearts. And if the heart loves God, then you should see evidence of that in the words we speak. Keep going. So significant are these words that we say, that we speak, say things that we say or don't say. Again, notice what the author in Proverbs 18 says, back to verse 21. Death and life are in the power of the tongue. Death and life are in the power of the tongue. So here's the first obvious point from that is that words have the power to bring life.

[21:27] Do you believe that? I mean, do you really believe that? Words, your words, the words of your mouth, the words of your tongue have the power to bring life. You should believe that because you don't have to go very far in your Bible to see this. What is this a reference to? That words have the power to bring life? Genesis 1. In Genesis chapter 1, what's going down? You have a formless world, empty and void.

[21:58] Darkness is over the surface of the deep. And how does life come into existence? Answer, words. Genesis 1. 3. And God, come on, said. God said. What did he say? Let there be light.

[22:16] And there was light. Life came into being, how? By words. Because God spoke. And you can read the rest of Genesis 1. God speaks. And when he speaks, life comes into existence. That is, everything alive came alive because of the power of words. And not only do words bring life, words also, notice this, have the power to bring death. Remember verse 21 again? Sorry, I messed that up. Death and life are in the power of the tongue. So the second thing is that words have the power to bring death. The power to bring death. This too echoes back to Genesis. Not Genesis 1, but Genesis 3. Remember Satan, a fallen spiritual being, comes to tempt God's image bearers. And how does he do that? What does he say?

[23:12] Look at it here in Genesis chapter 3, verse 1. This is so good. Somebody say, preach, preacher. I was going to anyways. I just like the encouragement. Here we go. Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God made. And he said to the woman, did God actually say, he uses his words to uproot God's words? Did God actually say that you shall not eat of the tree of the garden? And the woman said to the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden.

[23:45] Now what happens as a result of the fall? It was all based on words. Look at here in Romans chapter 5. Romans chapter 5 and verse 12. Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and say it, death through sin. So what happened? Death spread to all men because all sin. And how did that happen? Words. Words. Words in Genesis 1 brought life. Words in Genesis 3 brought death. And death spread to all. Are you with me? Listen, the author of Proverbs 18 is not exaggerating.

[24:26] When he says death and life are in the power of the tongue. He's giving you more Bible. He's referring back to Genesis 1 and Genesis 3, how words had the power to bring life and death. Now listen to me, everybody's zoning right here. I am not suggesting that our words have the same power as God's words.

[24:47] I would never suggest that. I am not suggesting that you can create a universe with your words. But nevertheless, your words have the power to create life and bring death. Notice this on the screen.

[25:03] Lord, help us. Your words may not create the world, but they most certainly impact the world. Your words. My words. They may not create the world, but they sure have a life and death impact on the world.

[25:28] And you know this. Some of you can think about it right now. You can go back to those few words that were said to you by a parent, a teacher, a sibling, a friend, a coach, and they brought life to you.

[25:49] They brought encouragement and hope and transformation or excitement and joy. And you could also think of examples of people like that who spoke words that brought death to you. They brought brokenness and discouragement and hurt and pain. Notice what verse 19 says in chapter 18. A brother offended is more unyielding than a strong city. And quarreling is like the bars of a castle. In other words, words can literally hold people captive like a fortified city. Words can do to people's lives what COVID did in our nation, namely putting people on lockdown. You can lock people up like a fortified city just by what you say. You may not create the world, but you have an impact on the world by the words you speak.

[26:47] You have an impact on one another. You have an impact on your children. You have an impact on your parents. You have an impact on the people that you work with. You have an impact on literally everybody you have a conversation and you have the opportunity. I hope you're listening in those moments to use words that will bring life or words that will bring death because that is the power of the tongue.

[27:13] This is the significance of words. It is creating realities. It is connected to our hearts. It has the power of life and the power of death. But notice the next thing. That was just point number one. I've got six. Just kidding. I got three. Verse 20. Verse 20. This one's not as long.

[27:34] But notice what after the author describes the significance of the words that we use. He talks about the satisfaction. Verse 20. He talks about from the fruit of a man's mouth, his stomach is, say it, satisfied. He is, say it, satisfied by the yield of his lips. In verse 21, death and life are in the power of the tongue. And those who love it will do what? Eat its fruits.

[28:01] That is, enjoy the harvest of what you say. This is simple. How many of you have ever heard the expression, you will eat your words? Anybody ever heard that? Or he's going to eat his words.

[28:15] Make no mistake about it. He'll eat his words. That's the idea here in Proverbs 18. It's actually kind of a reap-sow relationship here in Proverbs 18 that the author is talking about. In other words, it goes like this. If you're the kind of person that sows seeds of encouragement, guess what? You'll be the kind of person that will reap encouragement. If you're the kind of person that sows seeds of gossip and division, you will reap drama and broken relationships. And let's be honest, it is far more satisfying to reap encouragement and hope than it is division. Amen? I mean, if you're one of those that just loves division, you have a bigger issue than your mouth. It's your heart. Amen? And the author here is saying is, the beautiful thing is that if you're the kind of person that realizes, man, my tongue has the power to bring life, and I want to use that to bring life in people, one of the byproducts of that is going to be my own satisfaction. Let me give you a few examples.

[29:20] I mean, this is so practical. Take somebody that's down and discouraged. This might be a sibling of yours right now. It might be a parent. But think of somebody in your life right now who's discouraged. It might even be you. And here's what you decide. You're going to take point number one that we talked about tonight seriously. And you're going to say, I'm going to give a word of hope, a word of life. And so you speak encouragement to them. And that brings life to their discouragement. It brings hope to their darkness. It makes an impact on their life. That's point number one. Amen? You with me? Say yes. What's point number two? How do you feel when that happens?

[30:02] You feel great. Now, you didn't say those words, I hope, just to make yourself feel better. But nevertheless, you are satisfied in someone else's encouragement because the Lord used you to impact their life.

[30:20] And you ought to feel good about that. That ought to encourage you and satisfy you. Now, take the alternative example. Say you hear information about someone. You don't know that's true.

[30:31] It's speculation and hearsay. You've not spoken to them directly, but you still decide to sow seeds of gossip. That would be death. So that's point number one. And what happens as a result? It gets back to them. It stirs up all kinds of drama and fighting and quarreling. It gets people involved that don't even want to be involved. And now there's multiple people caught up in this nasty web, all because of sowing seeds of division. Here's what the author is saying. Look at it right here. You're going to eat your words. You're going to eat your words. Do you see that in the text? If you use your tongue to help bring life, you're going to be satisfied in what that yields. You're going to enjoy the harvest of a tongue that brings life. You will not enjoy the harvest of a tongue that brings death and division and destruction.

[31:32] Do you see how big of a deal this is? It's life and death. And your satisfaction is on the line. Words are significant. Words are satisfying. And then there's one more point I want us to see as we introduce this topic is that words point us to our Savior. Words point us to our Savior. How does the apostle John, listen, if you think it was good thus far, it's about to get gooder. All right. This is the best part of the sermon. Zone in. How does John introduce Jesus to us? John chapter one. I love this.

[32:14] John one. Verse one. In the beginning was the word. And the word was with God. And the word was God.

[32:25] He was in the beginning with God. And all things were made through him. Without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life. Proverbs 18. And the life was the light of men. Listen, listen to me. Zone in here. John does not introduce Jesus as Jesus. He doesn't introduce Jesus as Messiah. He introduces Jesus as the word. And did you see the connection between John one and Genesis one? Oh, come on. Somebody say preach preacher. It's about to get going here. Genesis one says God speaks and life came into existence. Light came into darkness. In John one, Jesus is introduced as the word that brings light into darkness. In fact, there is not anything alive that has not been made alive apart from Jesus. Jesus is the living word. Jesus is Lord help us see this. Jesus is the words of

[33:44] Genesis one. Here it is. Notice it on the screen. It means this. The powerful word that brought life in Genesis one wasn't participles or pronouns. It was a person.

[34:05] When God said, that said, that word was a person. The word who was in the beginning with God and was God and was God and is God and created everything that is alive. Jesus is the very powerful word. All words are for him and to him because he is the powerful word. Amen. And just think about, think about Jesus's ministry in light of Proverbs 18. Jesus, who is the word, the powerful word, has the power to bring life and death with his words. I could give you a hundred examples. I won't, but I'll give you a few. Remember when the storm was raging and Jesus is with the disciples in the boat?

[35:01] How does Jesus calm the storm? Like clap on, clap off. No. What does he say? Peace be still. He calms the storm with words. Here's an example where Jesus brings death. This is enjoyable.

[35:22] Come on. It's a little bit comical. You read some of this and you're like, I would have loved to have been there to see this. Here it is. Mark chapter 21, verse 18. In the morning, Jesus was returning to the city and he's hungry. Seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it, but only leaves. And Jesus used his words. He said to it, may no fruit ever come from you again.

[35:46] And what happened? This is kind of funny, right? The fig tree withered and died at once. It's like, Jesus is mad at fig trees. Like, okay. He's hungry. Fig tree didn't give him anything to eat. He just kills the fig tree. His words had the power to wither that tree up because the word is the powerful word and his tongue has the power to bring life and death. Amen? The lame man in John 5, Jesus uses his words, take up your mat and walk. And he gets up. He gets legs. I'll give you one more. This is the best example probably with Lazarus. Lazarus is dead. Everybody's weeping and crying because they don't know why Jesus wasn't there sooner. Jesus walks up to the grave of Lazarus and he doesn't raise Lazarus by the power of his mind. All right, everybody be silent for just a moment.

[36:44] Okay, I'll get this. Right, here we go. No. The word says just a few words. Lazarus, come forth and life comes out of the grave.

[37:07] That's Proverbs 18 and the fulfillment of it in the person of Jesus Christ that the tongue has the power of death and life. The word who is Jesus has the power of life and death in his words. Now, what does this mean for us? This is my point and I'm done, okay? I'm done for the rest of this series.

[37:28] Are you all going to come back and be a part of this? Was everybody already convicted tonight? It's going to get worse. Okay. Here's what I'm not saying. I'm not saying that you can calm storms with your words or raise people from the dead. Here's what I'm after and here's why I've spent this time showing you that Jesus is the word. It's this. Notice it on the screen. We can become more like the word with our words. Amen? We can become more like the word with our words in that our tongue is used for words that bring life to others. That's what this is about. That's what's going on here. That's what God wants to grow in us among many things in this series is listen, you're not the word. Jesus is the word, but you can become more like the word with your words by learning to speak life instead of death and enjoy the satisfaction of being like the word that brings life.

[38:44] God has given us the ability to speak and with that ability, he has given us the power to speak life and death to the world around us and we must realize the significance of our words.

[38:56] You know, Dr. Samuel Weiss's story doesn't end well. If you know his story, here's how it ends. He makes this discovery about the washing of hands and he shares it with the doctors and they temporarily make the adjustment. They notice a significant decrease in women dying from fever, fever, but then they go back to their old ways. And do you know why the doctors went back to their old ways? Because they didn't think that was significant enough to have caused the difference.

[39:35] And not only that, this is true, this is true. Not only that, the doctors refused to believe, are you listening? That they were actually the problem.

[39:46] They didn't want to accept that they were the ones that were carrying that from one person to another and causing these deaths. And as a result, they dismissed this until later on, the discovery of germs, we began to realize how important it is. Listen to me. May that not be true of us, that we walk out of here tonight like those doctors saying, eh, this really isn't a problem for me, or I don't really want to admit that my words carry this big of a weight or has this big of importance.

[40:22] No, I want us to understand how serious, how important, how life and death this is. And if you don't believe me, here's one final example of how the words have power to bring death.

[40:35] Matthew 27.

[41:05] Let him be crucified. And he said, but why? What evil has he done? And they said, let him be crucified.

[41:20] And on a side note, look what happened next. Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing. He took water and washed his hands. Listen, the cross of Jesus Christ took place, not just because of the result of our sin.

[41:41] It happened because of the result of words. Words of death that shouted, crucify him, crucify him, crucify him. Words brought death to the very son of God.

[42:03] But the good news of the gospel is this. The word had the final word. And all God's people said, amen. Let's pray. Let's pray.

[42:17] Lord, thank you for this journey that you're beginning in us. And we are already convicted and we ask for more because we want to be like the word in our words.

[42:29] Lord, it's easy to dismiss because we say so many things.

[42:40] And I know, I know that everybody in this room is aware of our struggle in this area. So we just ask that you would help us grow and become more like Jesus in one who brings life through what we say.

[42:58] That speaks life and encouragement and hope into the lives of other people, into the world around us. Because what all we have to do is watch the political scene, watch the news, watch the college campus, watch churches, watch offices and places of work, to know we need a lot more words of life.

[43:34] And who better to bring that than followers of the word? So yes, I pray for conviction. I pray for culture shaping.

[43:47] In us individually and as a faith family. In the power of our words. In Jesus' name I pray. And God's people said, amen.

[44:17] And I pray for skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill skill