Research has shown that for the average person, not for the extremely talkative person or the extremely shy person,
but the average human being will spend one-fifth of their life talking.
I don't mean one-fifth of life in conversation where you're both talking and listening,
but a fifth of your life is speaking words, whether that's with your mouth or tweeting, texting.
But we're communicating a fifth of our life.
That is, again, researchers, they say, I don't know where they get all this stuff,
but they found that in one year of our life, we will say enough words that it would fill 120, 200-page books of words, just your words.
Which, if you live to be 73 years old and you learn to speak when you were three,
that would mean you'd have said enough words in your life for more than 9,000 books of just you.
And if words are such a part of the human experience of our lives,
it makes sense to us that God has some things to say about how we should speak.
And truly, he does.
This summer, we're spending this whole summer through Proverbs.
We've called it Proverbs, Ancient Wisdom for Postmodern World.
And you'll find that in the book of Proverbs, there's all these various verses,
these pithy sayings that are God's word,
but in each chapter, it deals with a whole bunch of different issues.
But there's this thread you can bring between the various chapters of the various themes that the various chapters address.
And so, instead of doing what we normally do here at Church of the Messiah,
going through a passage and unpacking it from the Bible,
we're going through themes in Proverbs and picking these verses that speak to the same issue throughout the book of Proverbs.
And so, to keep you from having to flip through your Bible back and forth and losing yourself along the way,
we have this insert in your bulletin, and you can follow along.
The verses that I speak from are going to be from here.
They're all from the book of Proverbs.
It would be really helpful for me if you can pull this out now as we dig into this.
The Bible has a lot to say about the words that we speak.
Proverbs 10, verse 11 says,
The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life, but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence.
And at the bottom, on the other side of your insert, you'll see Proverbs 18, verse 21 says,
Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.
The words that the scriptures have to say about words can seem so intense that it almost can seem exaggerated,
especially when, as little kids, we may have said, when someone says something mean to us,
the famous saying, Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words may never harm me.
Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words may never harm me.
That's one of the most ridiculous things a young child has taught,
because words can have such devastation and have such potential for life.
If you think about it, all that you understand about who you are, the good, the bad,
all that you perceive yourself, last week we talked about how we see ourselves
as we looked at pride and humility, all that we understand about who we are
and in relation to other people and to God, and all of that has been shaped by words.
We understand about our calling, our purpose, our value, all that stuff is by words.
Words shape our lives. Words can also destroy our lives.
I mean, any more evidence of this you can see in the amount of news stories
that have come out in the past few years of young people who have taken their lives,
who have committed suicide because of the relentless bullying.
The bullying was not, normally it was not physical abuse, it was just words.
Words that cut deep. Words that shape us.
And so what we see from the book of Proverbs is that part of what it means to live life
the way God made us to live, to live life the way we were designed to as human beings,
is to be people who use our words with wisdom in righteousness for the glory of God.
Now there's a number of different ways that we can misuse our words,
and three of them, which I heard recently in a pastor's preaching on a similar theme,
actually the exact same theme, I was visiting a church in Toronto,
and he defined, he chalked these three different categories Proverbs deal with
as jabber, lies, and gossip.
And I'm going to borrow the same themes from him.
We're looking today at jabber, lies, and gossip.
So starting with jabber, again, this is the first page of the insert you have.
Jabber is defined as those extra careless words, empty words,
that we don't need to speak, that we speak anyways.
And here's what Proverbs has to say about that.
And this is only a small selection of what the book of Proverbs speaks to regarding jabber.
Proverbs 13, verse 3.
Whoever guards his mouth preserves his life.
He who opens wide his lips comes to ruin.
The heart of the righteous ponders how to answer,
but the mouth of the wicked pours out evil things.
And these two verses are addressing not someone speaking filthy words
that would harm people with the content of the words,
but rather it has to do with this image of someone who is just careless with his words,
who speaks a lot.
I don't know if you can see because of the light shining on my face,
but I'm blushing right now because this is one of the many things that I really struggle with.
I told my roommates that I was speaking on this today,
and their response was to laugh heartily, somewhat deridingly,
as they joined me in amusement at, and in my case,
just embarrassment for how I could speak about this.
Because I have been a man who I would define as someone
who has let his lips just open wide.
And what the scriptures are showing us here,
and it was kind of miserable preparing this sermon because,
again, there's a lot more verses than the few that I've chosen for you today,
but in Proverbs again and again and again,
it tells us that even if you're someone who's not putting people down,
even if you're someone who's not speaking death into people's lives,
if you're someone who has no restraint over your lips,
and you just speak,
then you are someone who's going to come to ruin for yourself
and also harm others.
It's not okay.
Now, as we look at this,
I've heard a number of sermons on words and speech throughout my life,
and the way that I often hear it spoken of,
and it's partly because James in the New Testament
speaks about how it's just about impossible to tame the tongue,
to change the way we speak.
And so the way I often hear words preached about is,
here is God's holy standard for words,
and you and I are going to fail at that standard,
therefore we need a Savior.
That's why Jesus died, and then end of sermon.
But the Scriptures, though, it does teach us that,
that we won't obtain the holy standard,
the perfect standard God has for us.
The Scriptures don't simply teach us that we're always going to fail.
The Scriptures also speak into our lives as to how we can actually change,
as how we can actually have our words be words that bring life and only life.
We're not going to be perfect at it.
We'll always need a Savior,
but the Savior not only saves us from the consequences of our sin,
He also saves us from sinning itself.
And so as we continue to live the Christian life and look to God in His Word,
we're actually able to find hope and help to change.
And I'd illustrate that by saying,
if your house is covered in spiderwebs,
you have two options.
You can either always be trying to get rid of spiderwebs,
which is what I've spent the last few decades of my life,
just trying to deal with words and always failing,
because there's always more spiderwebs,
or you can go and get rid of the spiders.
And as you get rid of the spiders,
you can then get rid of the spiderwebs,
and the spiderwebs are gone forever.
I hope you didn't get lost in that.
What I'm trying to say is,
if you find, like me,
that you are ashamed of your words,
but you try and try,
and you can't get rid of your foolish words,
we're going to look at,
how do we actually deal with the things
that are driving those foolish words,
or those lying words,
whatever those words you're struggling with,
what are the things that are driving that?
And as we deal with that,
we'll find actual help to change.
In the Gospel of Luke 6, verse 45,
Jesus says,
out of the abundance of the heart,
the mouth speaks.
And so in order for us to change our words,
we need to change our heart.
We need to change the stuff that's in our heart,
and in that we'll find hope.
So we'll continue.
Proverbs 17, verse 27, 28,
whoever restrains his words has knowledge,
and he who has a cool spirit
is a man of understanding.
Even a fool who keeps silent
is considered wise.
When he closes his lips,
he is deemed intelligent.
Proverbs 29, verse 20,
do you see a man who is hasty in his words?
There is more hope for a fool than for him.
Now as we read through these,
and we're seeing in this,
as Proverbs are speaking into
how devastating it is
for someone to just let their words run wild,
sometimes we'll feel guilt about this type of thing,
conviction from God.
There's other times,
at least a lot of my life,
although I'll have a brief moment
of feeling some shame
over how careless I am with my words,
and I just speak so many words.
Other times,
I don't feel any conviction over this.
And I think some of you in the room
could probably relate to me,
that there are certain things
that you read about
how devastating it is
to just let the open wide your lips,
and you're like,
really?
In my life,
I use a lot of words,
and there's a number of my friends
who think it's really funny,
and that's part of why
they think I'm a funny person
because of this.
It can actually,
I'm sure some of my friends
think I'm ridiculous
for how many words they say,
but other people find it funny,
and it's one of those things
that isn't necessarily
something you're going
to feel conviction of.
But what we know
in Psalm 119,
verse 9,
it says,
how can a young man
keep his way pure?
As it says that,
it's not just talking about
how can someone stay away
from sexual impurity.
It means,
no,
how can you walk in life
the way you were made for?
And it says,
by guarding your way
according to God's word.
By guarding our way
according to God's word.
If we're going to base
our morality
morality
and the way we live life,
not on our own feelings
of what is right and wrong,
but on God's word,
then we see very clearly
that jabber
is something that must go.
So how do we change that?
Well,
as I did some research
on why people jabber,
and it's not just Bible scholars
or pastors
who speak about this,
but you'll actually be able
to find a research
from other academics
about why people
just speak and speak and speak.
And there's a few reasons
that I've found.
One of them is that
some people speak a ton
because they don't think
anyone else has anything
to say of value.
They always think
that they have the answer
to everything.
I was at lunch
with a few people,
and there was two people
in particular
who were just talking
the entire time,
whether we were talking
about politics
or church stuff
or sports.
They had every answer.
And there was someone else
there who was a good listener.
They were asking questions,
and they never got
to really say anything.
And it seemed to me,
I'm judging them,
but it seems to me
that it really seems
like they have such confidence
that their answers
are the answer
that they never stopped
to ask this other friend
what he thought about anything
because it didn't seem
like they really cared
what he had to say.
So sometimes we find ourselves
jabbering because we're arrogant.
Others of us
will find ourselves jabbering
in times where we're,
it's not that we're arrogant,
we're actually really insecure,
and we feel really nervous.
And some of us,
our default,
when we're nervous,
is to start speaking
tons and tons of words.
I do that.
It's embarrassing,
but I do.
Others of us
will find ourselves
just speaking foolish words
just because of lack of care.
And I think that might be
one of the issues with me
where you're just used
to just speaking
because you just speak.
You're not really thinking about it.
In every single one
of these three driving forces
for why we speak
so many words,
the antidote to this
is the fear of God.
In the case of these arrogant people,
they're not fearing God.
They're so confident
in themselves
that they let their words be many.
In the case of someone
who's really nervous
and jabbering away
because they're so nervous,
they're fearing people.
They're afraid
of what other people will think.
But in both cases,
as well as in the case
of the one who's just careless
and not thinking about life,
as you turn to God
and you fear God,
all of a sudden,
you'll find that your words
begin to be less.
And so, Andrew,
if you could put up
the first point,
the heart issue
we need to deal with
is that through the power of God,
I become free of being,
I can't really,
of jabbering words
through cultivating a heart
that fears God.
Do you want to say that
out loud with me,
especially because I can't
really see the screen?
Together,
through the power of God,
I become free
of jabbering words
through cultivating a heart
that fears God.
The point is
through the power of God
because you and I can be like,
okay,
we're not just going to deal
with the spider web
of jabbering words,
we're going to deal
with the spider
of lack of fear in God,
so I'm going to really
try to fear God.
But if we try to do it
in our own strength,
we'll find ourselves failing.
We get to cultivate
a heart that fears God.
We're able to have success
in this
through the power of God.
And so,
one of the ways we do that,
obviously,
is through prayer.
We pray,
God,
help me to fear you.
This isn't something
I can do on my own, God.
I know you deserve
all the fear in the world
and the holy fear,
but I'm jabbering right now.
What am I saying?
So,
the point is this,
just pray for the fear of God.
The second thing
is you spend time
in the word.
You spend time thinking
on the greatness
and the power of God.
That helps cultivate
a heart that fears God
as you understand
who this God is
that we're fearing.
It's not a fear
of like just being scared
of him,
but a fear of reverence,
a fear of awe,
and a concern
that you care more
about what he says,
what he thinks,
than what anyone else
says or thinks.
You're concerned
about him
and his evaluation.
And as we cultivate
a heart that is oriented
toward God,
we will find
that are words
that are so many
become much less
and that are words
or words of wisdom.
Now,
the next theme
that Proverbs speaks
of regarding words
is that of lies.
Proverbs 12,
verse 19,
truthful lips
endure forever,
but a lying tongue
is but for a moment.
Proverbs 12,
22,
lying lips
are an abomination
to the Lord,
but those who act
faithfully
are his delight.
There are times
where lies
seem so innocent,
but Proverbs 12
tells us
that lies
are an abomination.
Those white lies,
we don't see that,
don't trouble
our conscience at all.
God hates them.
They're an abomination.
This word is used
for bringing something
that is unholy
into the temple
and offering
a blaspheming,
unholy sacrifice
in the temple of God.
That is what words
are like
that are lies.
Proverbs 14,
25,
a truthful witness
saves lives,
but one who breathes
out lies
is deceitful.
And then Proverbs 21,
verse 6,
the getting of treasures
by a lying tongue
is a fleeting vapor
and a snare of death.
The way that I have
sometimes looked at lies,
and I think probably
the way some of you
look at lies,
is that lying
we often think of
as something
where we've said words
that are not true,
a fabrication.
You've said something
that's not true.
And so the way
that some of us
play this game
is that if we can
say something
that the actual words
we say are not lies,
then we think
that we are okay
on this one.
And to illustrate
how that looks
in our lives,
a few years ago,
I think it was
just last summer,
I was with a really
good friend of mine
and we're going
to call him Steve.
And Steve and I
were walking up
the stairs of his house,
the light was off
because we just arrived,
and as we get up,
he was in front of me,
as he gets up
the top of the stairs,
he put his hand
on the little platform
by the stairs,
and we hear crash!
And this beautiful,
exotic vase
that his wife's sister
had bought for her
in like turkey
or something
was now in pieces
irreparable
on the floor.
This, regrettably,
wasn't the only thing
Steve had broken
in their first
seven months of marriage,
so he was frustrated.
He was actually horrified.
No, what am I going to do?
And I, being a clever chap,
I'd like to think of myself,
I pick up the pieces
and I'm like,
Steve, I got your back.
Your wife is going to be
so frustrated with you
because you've broken
a lot of stuff already
and you're married to her
and whatever else,
but I, I'll be easily
forgiven by her wife
because she's like,
oh, that's Daniel,
whatever.
So I'm going to break
this again.
I'm going to smash
it on the floor.
When she comes home,
you can say,
honey, the vase is broken,
and she'll say,
who broke it?
And you can say,
Daniel smashed the vase.
It's a true statement.
He's like,
Daniel, you would do that for me?
I'm like, yeah, man.
Like, I'm a friend
that's closer than a brother.
Let's do this.
So you take the thing
and look at each other
and then smash,
I break it.
I go home,
and I'm like,
yeah, man,
I'm a good friend,
and I'm a truthful friend.
I'm like,
this is going to be
a true thing we say.
So she comes home.
She sees it.
She's devastated.
She loves the vase.
It's irreplaceable.
Her sister's not going back
to Turkey anytime soon,
and she says,
who broke it?
And Steve is like,
I did.
And then I got a text
from him moments later
saying,
pray for me.
My wife is so mad.
And I was just like,
man,
we had a plan.
It was a truthful plan.
And he's just like,
Daniel,
you're actually,
your plan that we made together
was a plan of lies.
I'm like,
but no,
I'm trying to challenge him on it.
Like,
it would have been
a true statement.
He said,
no,
Daniel,
lying is not just fabrication.
Lying is deception.
When we are telling,
whether or not
we're fabricating,
we're able to deceive people
intentionally by omission,
by just avoiding
saying a certain thing.
We can lie by exaggeration.
We can lie by
emphasizing something.
So we can lie by
fabrication,
omission,
exaggeration,
or by emphasizing something.
And while we do those things,
if we're doing,
if we're playing word games
in order to
intentionally deceive someone,
it doesn't matter
whether the sentences we say
are actually true sentences,
we're lying.
And to do that
is an abomination
to the Lord.
In the case of
my friend and I,
who we're calling Steve
this morning,
Proverbs 21 says,
the getting of treasures.
And what Steve and I
were trying to do is,
we're trying to get a treasure,
a treasure not of money
in this case,
or of a new vase,
but we're trying to get a treasure
of his wife not hating him.
That's the thing
we were going for.
We're trying to get that.
And we really thought
that if we were able
to play this game,
that we'd get this treasure.
But Proverbs 21 says,
the getting of treasures
by lying tongue
is a fleeting vapor
and a snare of death.
I'm convinced
that if my friend Steve
had said that lie,
which was,
we thought,
if he had gone that route,
it would be the kind of thing
that either
would continue to build
and have to keep lying,
keep lying to safeguard
that thing we were trying to get,
that her not being mad at him.
Or even if he was successful in it,
it would be the kind of thing
that just,
that although he,
although she would not be mad at him
over the broken vase,
it would be the kind of thing
that would,
in the back of his mind,
be plaguing him,
be plaguing him.
And what he thought
he had achieved
through deception
would be something
that would actually be
harming his friendship.
And this isn't just
my analysis of it.
This is from the Bible,
that lying lips
bring death,
that the treasures
we get through lying
is just a fleeting vapor.
It's not something
that can actually last.
So if we're afraid,
if we're afraid of reality
and still we're lying,
the deal that's going on right here
is that we're not entrusting
the one who is truth.
God defines himself,
Jesus says,
I am the way,
the truth,
and the life.
And this is one of the many reasons
that lying is,
that deception is something
that is so abhorrent to God,
is that it is against
his very nature
and his identity.
He is truth.
And in any situation
where you might lie,
whether it is because
you've broken a vase
or because maybe
your child is asking you
if their painting
is a beautiful painting
and it's actually horrendous
or you're trying to get
into a baseball game
and you want to get
a student ticket
and you're not actually a student,
whatever it may be,
whatever the thing
that may be driving your lie,
maybe you're at work
and you're trying to
cover your own back
because you messed up
on something.
In every case,
what we're doing
is that we're not entrusting,
we're not trusting the truth.
We think that the truth
is not a safe place for us
and so we're trying to
look out for ourselves
as we lie
or look out for a buddy
as we lie.
And so how we deal
with the words of lying
is by dealing with the heart
that's not just trusting the truth.
So if you can put up
the second point.
Thank you, Andrew.
Let's read it together.
Through the power of God,
I become free of lying words
as I entrust myself
to the one who is truth.
Through the power of God,
I become free of lying words
as I entrust myself
to the one who is truth.
And so if you find yourself
being someone that lies,
the thing to do
is to go to God,
confess it,
every time confess it,
but go to God
and say,
Lord, don't just change
my words.
Don't just help me
stop lying.
Help me to trust you
who is truth.
Help me to live
in the truth.
As we find that our hearts
begin to trust God
in the truth,
we'll find that we're able
to actually have the courage
to speak the truth.
Jabber,
lies,
are both things
we can overcome
as is gossip.
Proverbs 11, 13 says,
whoever goes about
slandering reveals secrets,
but he who is trustworthy
in spirit keeps the thing covered.
Proverbs 16, verse 28,
a dishonest man spreads strife
and a whisperer
separates close friends.
Proverbs 17, 9,
whoever covers an offense
seeks love,
but he who repeats a matter
separates close friends.
Again, we see that
that whispering gossip
not only has the power
to keep people
who could have been friends
from being friends,
but it is such a devastating thing,
even though it might feel
so good,
that it has the power
to separate even close friends.
And I know there are people
in this room
who know these words
to be true,
and it's a devastating truth.
Proverbs 18, verse 8,
the words of a whisperer
are like delicious morsels.
They go down
into the inner parts
of the body.
What this is saying
is that gossiping words
is something that
can be so delightful,
so enjoyable.
It's like delicious morsels,
it says,
that go down
into your body.
It can feel so good.
And truly,
even jabbering
may be something
that just doesn't seem
to bother us,
and lies may be
something we justify,
but gossip is something
that we can so enjoy.
In fact,
if you're a gossiper,
there's a good chance
that some of your friends
actually value you
for that.
You're someone that they,
like,
I've been working
in politics for a while,
and when I talk
to my friends
who are interested
in politics,
they'll ask me,
can you tell us
some stories?
And throughout the years,
I'd have some juicy stories.
There's some hilarious stories
from doing interviews
with politicians
where they act
in such a ridiculous
and foolish manner
in an interview.
They give you
this amazing story
you can tell,
and people will laugh
with you at the story,
and they want more stories,
and I can produce
more stories,
and it actually makes you
someone that people
will actually want
to talk with,
and hear you speak
because you have
these juicy morsels
that are so delicious
to listen to.
Gossip isn't just something
that doesn't convict us.
It's something that actually,
that we can enjoy so much,
and yet,
gossip separates
close friends.
It devastates relationships.
Proverbs 26, verse 20,
For lack of wood,
the fire goes out,
and where there is
no whisperer,
quarreling ceases.
You'll see that
in Proverbs,
King Solomon
chose to use
the term whispering
for most of his references
to gossip.
The reason I'm so thankful
that he did that
is that when we talk
about gossip,
it's easy for us
to think of gossip
as something that is
motivated by spite,
that is motivated
by a destructive desire,
and so I found it
in my own life
when I chat with my friends
about maybe we should
stop gossiping.
People will often say
things like,
well, no, gossip
is defined by its motivation,
and we're not sharing
this stuff because of an ill,
for ill reasons,
but in Christian circles,
some of the gossip
that we're trying to address
is actually in the form
of prayer requests.
I was trying to say,
hey, I think we've been
sitting by gossip
and sharing these things.
It doesn't feel like
it's gossip if it ends
with, can you pray for them?
That's often the case
in church circles,
but when King Solomon
talks about whispering,
he's saying that
it's not just the motivation
that makes it gossip,
it's the information.
It's the information
that is not yours to tell,
and one of the things
that I noticed just recently,
even as I was preparing
for this,
is that I received a text
from a friend
who said,
hey, I'm going through
some tough stuff.
Can you pray for me?
I wrote back,
hey, do you want
to be specific?
And they said,
no, I don't feel comfortable
sharing what I'm going through,
but can you just pray?
God knows.
And so I prayed for them.
And yet,
at the same time,
I find that we can be,
although so discreet
about our own needs
and our own situations
we're going through,
when it comes to someone else,
it's so easy for us
to just share
all the dirt,
all the confusion,
all the stuff
someone else is going through,
being like,
hey, can you pray for them?
And I know that
a lot of those times
it's motivated by a good thing.
We actually care about that person.
And yet,
for ourselves,
we're discreet.
For someone else,
we're not.
Whoever goes,
Proverbs 11 again,
whoever goes about slandering
reveals secrets,
but he who is trustworthy
in spirit
keeps the thing covered.
Every single one of us,
as we live life,
ends up with information
about other people
that we can choose
to keep covered
or we can choose
to reveal.
The person of God,
the godly person
will finish their life
with a huge reservoir
of things they could have said
about people
and chose not to.
But the person
who is not honoring God
with their lips
because they're gossiping
is someone
who just shares that stuff.
Now,
every single one of us
should have stuff
about people.
Well,
every one of us
will have stuff
that we can share
about other people,
but it'd be gossip.
So if you and I
don't know what it feels like
to want to speak
about someone's stuff
but choose not to,
if you know what it's like
to sometimes
like white bare knuckle
gripping you,
like I will not share
the stuff,
but you have the stuff
to share,
there's a really good chance
you don't feel that
because you're gossiping.
If you don't know
what it's like
to have something
that people would enjoy hearing
but you're choosing
not to say it,
there's a really good chance
it's because you're just
someone who just gives
into that desire
and just gossips.
I've been guilty of it
and I believe many of us
in this room
are guilty of it.
So why do we gossip?
What is it in our hearts
that allows us to gossip
or drives us to gossip?
From the little bit
of research I did,
it seems that a lot of times
we gossip
because of insecurity
in our lives.
Sometimes we'll gossip
because we want to put
someone else down
so that people will think
of us as being
a better person.
Sometimes we gossip
because we're insecure,
we don't have anything
really meaningful to say
and so it's just easy
to revert to gossip.
Again,
it's another type
of insecurity.
And then other times
we can gossip
just because,
again,
it's being motivated
by a concern
to have people
pray for something
but you're just not
truly loving,
caring for that person.
And so,
one of the ways
we're able to deal
with that spider
that's driving gossip
is,
if you can put up
the next point,
that through the power
of God
I become free
of gossiping
as I find my identity
in God.
That the antidote
for insecurity
that would drive gossip
is that we become
more secure
in who we are in God.
So we need to prove
ourselves to people
by putting others down.
So if you'd read it
with me,
through the power
of God
I become free
of gossiping
as I find my identity
in God.
So that's something
to pray for
if you find yourself.
This is something
I've wrestled with
in the past
bunch of years
where I found
in high school
I was incredibly insecure
and it would manifest
itself sometimes
in gossip.
And so in God's grace
by his power
I'd pray that God
would you help me
to see how you see me?
Would you help me
to stop being insecure?
And over time
seeing,
it's still something
a work in progress
but seeing God
actually bring
such security
such freedom
such a sense
of belonging in God
and value in him
and there's freedom
from gossip in that.
And then another thing
to pray
and it's not on the screen
but if you find yourself
that you're praying
for someone gossiping
not motivated
by anything ill
or anything insecure
but actually maybe
motivated by a good thing
you want people
to pray for people's stuff
and you're just careless
and sharing other people's stuff
that's embarrassing for them
or it's just not yours
to share
I'm just praying
God, would you help me
to be someone
who's walking in wisdom?
Would you help me
maybe that first thing
about jabbering
to be someone
who's living
in the fear of you
that as you fear God
you're able to get victory
over this stuff.
Death and life
are in the power
of the tongue
and those who love it
will eat its fruits.
Whether what you and I
are struggling with
is gossip
or jabber
or lies
it can be so difficult
to get victory
on this stuff
and so I hope
that there's encouragement
in the message today
as we look to God
for these various heart issues
that we can find victory
over these things.
But the greatest hope
we'll find
is actually
for me at least
is in the beginning
of the Gospel of John
verse 1
it says these words
in the beginning
was the Word
and the Word
was with God
and the Word
was God
He was in the beginning
with God
all things were made
through Him
and without Him
was not anything
made that was made
in Him
in the Word
was life
and the life
was the light of men
the light shines
in the darkness
and the darkness
has not overcome it.
This word that
the translators
are putting into English
is the Word
is the Greek word
logos
which means
communication
it means
to communicate something
they're translating
as the Word
and as I was preparing
for this message
I was just getting
so discouraged
like man
I've tried to change
my words so many times
and as I stopped
trying to prepare
the message
and started just praying
and asked some friends
for prayer
like I don't deserve
to preach this message
I can't speak
as someone
who has mastery
over all this
I can speak
as someone
who wants mastery
over this
and as I was preparing
this and looking
to what does the Bible
not just Proverbs
what does the Bible
say about words
we see that God
himself is the Word
that God himself
is communication
and so I want to invite you
to join me in praying
to the one who is the Word
that we would have victory
over our words
that we would be people
not only looking to God
for forgiveness
for our wrong words
but that we would be a church
that is looking to God
for our words
to be words
exclusively bringing life
how wonderful would it be
that in every one
of our lives
and as a church
as a church community
church Messiah
would be a people
who use their words
to speak encouragement
sometimes we're necessary
to speak rebuke
that brings life
to be people
who are affirming
and encouraging
and exhorting
each other
walking in truth
walking in restraint
walking in life
and love for each other
and we find that
as we look to him
who is the Word
so if you can put
the final point up
Andrew
read this with me
I receive
the power of God
over my words
and my heart
as I look
to the Word
Jesus
as we speak about
we're able to find
freedom from
bad words
through the power
of God
dealing with our hearts
we receive the power
of God
the true and living
power of God
the power that
spoke the world
into existence
we receive that power
as we look to him
from whom the power
comes to
the Word
Jesus
so let us look to him
now in prayer
would you
bow your hearts
with me
Heavenly Father
I pray that as we
go out from here
today
in a few minutes
that you would
help us not to
just be those
who just try a little
harder to get our
words right
but that you would
help us to be a
people who are
living life by the
power of God
by your power
that you would
help each one of us
deal with the heart
issues that are
driving those
those empty words
those jabbering
or those lying
or gossiping words
Lord I pray that
if the if the heart
issues aren't the
ones we've spoken
about today
but our other
driving forces
for why we're
speaking words of
death
that you would
minister and speak
into our lives
about those things
that you would
make each one of us
as individuals
and as a community
a community
and a people
whose words bring
life
and not death
that you would
help us
without your help
we will not tame
our tongues
we will not have
victory
lasting victory
but Lord
by your power
by you who is
the Word
you can transform
us
so would you
transform us
for your glory
and our good
in Jesus' name
Amen