WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:12.000 So I want to share with you from tonight from Ecclesiastes chapter five and the tradition in our church if you would allow me that privileges out of reverence for the word of God and its inspiration. 00:00:12.000 --> 00:00:13.000 We stand for the reading. 00:00:13.000 --> 00:00:22.000 So would you stand as we read tonight trusting in the Holy Spirit to make infinite truths known to finite minds. 00:00:22.000 --> 00:00:25.000 We read in Ecclesiastes chapter five verses one to seven. 00:00:25.000 --> 00:00:36.000 Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Go near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools who do not know that they do wrong. 00:00:36.000 --> 00:00:43.000 Do not be quick with your mouth. Do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. 00:00:43.000 --> 00:00:48.000 God is in heaven and you are on earth so let your words be few. 00:00:48.000 --> 00:00:54.000 As a dream comes when there are many cares so the speech of a fool when there are many words. 00:00:54.000 --> 00:00:58.000 When you make a vow to God do not delay in fulfilling it. 00:00:58.000 --> 00:01:00.000 He has no pleasure in fools. 00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:02.000 Fulfill your vow. 00:01:02.000 --> 00:01:06.000 It is better not to vow than to make a vow and not fulfill it. 00:01:06.000 --> 00:01:12.000 Do not let your mouth lead you into sin and do not protest to the temple messenger. 00:01:12.000 --> 00:01:14.000 My vow was a mistake. 00:01:14.000 --> 00:01:18.000 Why should God be angry at what you say and destroy the work of your hands? 00:01:18.000 --> 00:01:22.000 Much dreaming and many words are meaningless. 00:01:22.000 --> 00:01:26.000 Therefore stand in awe of God. 00:01:26.000 --> 00:01:31.000 This is the word of the Lord tonight for you as church for the people of God in May the spirit. 00:01:31.000 --> 00:01:41.000 Plant it in us for the purpose of transforming our hearts and our lives so that we more and more reflect who he is in the world. 00:01:41.000 --> 00:01:44.000 The word of the Lord for us tonight. Amen and amen. 00:01:44.000 --> 00:01:46.000 You may be seated. 00:01:46.000 --> 00:01:54.000 Regardless of what you may do in the course of your day there are always unique features to any job any vocation. 00:01:54.000 --> 00:01:58.000 One of the unique things about what I do is I deal with words. 00:01:58.000 --> 00:02:03.000 I am constantly talking or I'm writing or I'm reading. 00:02:03.000 --> 00:02:10.000 You know, and depending on what day of the week it is I am just constantly using words and I traffic in words. 00:02:10.000 --> 00:02:12.000 It's kind of my currency. 00:02:12.000 --> 00:02:20.000 I will confess there was a time when I thought words were just sort of insignificant bluster that people used past the time of day. 00:02:20.000 --> 00:02:32.000 But thanks to my mother's love for literature and a number of English teachers that I had along the way I have come over the years to have a deep love for and passion for words. 00:02:32.000 --> 00:02:36.000 And I owe much to my eighth grade English teacher. 00:02:36.000 --> 00:02:38.000 Her name was Mary Garan. 00:02:38.000 --> 00:02:45.000 And she required that our class memorize one of Henry Longfellow's classic poems called Evangeline. 00:02:45.000 --> 00:02:58.000 And I will confess to you at the time that I despised her for requiring this of us as I spent hours memorizing these insignificant and what I thought at the time were meaningless words. 00:02:58.000 --> 00:03:02.000 Why should I spend so much effort in doing this? 00:03:02.000 --> 00:03:09.000 Today I love her for it because I can still remember the opening stanzas of Evangeline. 00:03:09.000 --> 00:03:17.000 And every time I take my family on a hike in the woods I burst out into the opening stanza of the poem. 00:03:17.000 --> 00:03:28.000 This is the forest primeval, the murmuring pines and the hemlocks bearded with moths and in garments green, indistinct in the twilight. 00:03:28.000 --> 00:03:33.000 A man like druids of old with voices sad and prophetic. 00:03:33.000 --> 00:03:42.000 The deep voiced neighboring ocean speaks and an accent's disconsolate answers the wail of the forest. 00:03:42.000 --> 00:03:53.000 And every time I say those things my children roll their eyes and say, oh dad, but I'm so glad I know them because in them are beauty. 00:03:53.000 --> 00:04:04.000 And there's power in words, words influence us, words shape us, they change us into arranged words in ways that are influential. 00:04:04.000 --> 00:04:09.000 To take the time to put words together in ways that possess beauty. 00:04:09.000 --> 00:04:21.000 It takes time and energy and care and effort and it's why today I'm so distressed by what is so often our glib and casual approach to language and words 00:04:21.000 --> 00:04:29.000 and how we speak and how we use it, my goodness, today to think that we could use a subject and a predicate into one full sentence. 00:04:29.000 --> 00:04:31.000 Is that too much to ask? 00:04:31.000 --> 00:04:35.000 That we might use a noun and a verb as we communicate. 00:04:35.000 --> 00:04:36.000 But instead what do we do? 00:04:36.000 --> 00:04:44.000 We communicate in little snippets on social media where we don't even spell out entire words. 00:04:44.000 --> 00:04:50.000 We just abbreviate things and now all of a sudden our language has been reduced to little faces. 00:04:50.000 --> 00:04:56.000 Emojis that are smiling or crying or somewhere upside down and some have crazy faces. 00:04:56.000 --> 00:05:03.000 We've just decided not even to use words or we weaponize our words on social media. 00:05:03.000 --> 00:05:12.000 Last Sunday someone I was just reading on my Facebook page a thread and someone was unhappy with the decision that we had made at First Presbyterian Church 00:05:12.000 --> 00:05:17.000 and they said, well those whack jobs down at First Presbyterian Church. 00:05:17.000 --> 00:05:21.000 And I thought to myself, I don't even know who this person is. 00:05:21.000 --> 00:05:32.000 And yet they're choosing to hide behind a screen and use words that are cruel and wounding at different seasons. 00:05:32.000 --> 00:05:37.000 So I want to talk to you about the power of language, the power of words. 00:05:37.000 --> 00:05:44.000 And we shouldn't be surprised by their power because in essence what we learn in the Bible is that God in his nature is word. 00:05:44.000 --> 00:05:49.000 Maybe you've heard of the theologian John Frame at Reform Seminary in Orlando. 00:05:49.000 --> 00:05:54.000 He wrote this, God performs all his actions by speaking. 00:05:54.000 --> 00:05:56.000 He spoke and the world was formed. 00:05:56.000 --> 00:05:59.000 He spoke and light came to be. 00:05:59.000 --> 00:06:02.000 From his words come judgments, blessings, healings. 00:06:02.000 --> 00:06:05.000 Words reveal God. 00:06:05.000 --> 00:06:11.000 When God speaks, he reveals his mind, his will, his heart, his nature. 00:06:11.000 --> 00:06:17.000 God is distinguished from other pagan gods by the fact that he speaks. 00:06:17.000 --> 00:06:22.000 Idols are mute, but God in his nature is word. 00:06:22.000 --> 00:06:25.000 The word is God, John 1-1. 00:06:25.000 --> 00:06:32.000 In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. 00:06:32.000 --> 00:06:38.000 And the word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. 00:06:38.000 --> 00:06:42.000 He actually prays this word, Psalm 56-4. 00:06:42.000 --> 00:06:51.000 In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust and I shall not be afraid. 00:06:51.000 --> 00:07:01.000 So from the creation of the world to the creation of Holy Scripture, God has always revealed to us that his nature is word. 00:07:01.000 --> 00:07:08.000 We then, as those created in his image, we are therefore a people of language. 00:07:08.000 --> 00:07:17.000 We're a people of words and sin corrupts our use of words so that it can be used either for the good or for the evil. 00:07:17.000 --> 00:07:24.000 And just a quick cursory look at what the Scriptures say about the power of language in our lives. 00:07:24.000 --> 00:07:26.000 And I'll give you the reference. 00:07:26.000 --> 00:07:27.000 You can look at these later. 00:07:27.000 --> 00:07:29.000 Proverbs 12-18. 00:07:29.000 --> 00:07:33.000 Words have the power to wound or to heal. 00:07:33.000 --> 00:07:34.000 Proverbs 15-4. 00:07:34.000 --> 00:07:39.000 Words can be a tree of life or they can break the spirit. 00:07:39.000 --> 00:07:41.000 Proverbs 21-23. 00:07:41.000 --> 00:07:46.000 Our words can keep us out of trouble or they can lead us to ruin. 00:07:46.000 --> 00:07:48.000 Matthew 12-34. 00:07:48.000 --> 00:07:54.000 Our words reveal what are in our hearts, what's in our hearts. 00:07:54.000 --> 00:08:03.000 We realize today that what you speak and your use of language says something about who you truly are inside. 00:08:03.000 --> 00:08:06.000 Your words reveal your heart. 00:08:06.000 --> 00:08:09.000 We are also encouraged in Scripture to avoid the following. 00:08:09.000 --> 00:08:22.000 A lying tongue, crooked speech, gossip, a flattering mouth, talking too much, speaking rashly, swearing, speaking hastily, or using harsh words. 00:08:22.000 --> 00:08:34.000 So with all of that as background and information, let me ask you this evening, how do you feel right now as you reflect on your life about your use of words? 00:08:34.000 --> 00:08:36.000 How do you feel about the way you're speaking? 00:08:36.000 --> 00:08:44.000 Are you using words and language in ways that edify and encourage and reflect the presence of God in you? 00:08:44.000 --> 00:08:53.000 Or are there times when perhaps your words and your use of words fall a little bit short of that ideal? 00:08:53.000 --> 00:08:58.000 Well, that's kind of where I found myself as I was doing this research and study. 00:08:58.000 --> 00:09:04.000 The good news for us is God gives us some very important guidance in Ecclesiastes chapter 5. 00:09:04.000 --> 00:09:06.000 Just a quick background on Ecclesiastes. 00:09:06.000 --> 00:09:10.000 We believe that it's largely written by Solomon, King Solomon. 00:09:10.000 --> 00:09:15.000 And Ecclesiastes is part of a group of books in the Bible known as wisdom literature. 00:09:15.000 --> 00:09:27.000 So Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, those are all considered to be wisdom literature, less theological and doctrinal, and more practical guidance for living. 00:09:27.000 --> 00:09:35.000 So Solomon comes along, and the Hebrew word that runs all throughout Ecclesiastes is the word, Hevel. 00:09:35.000 --> 00:09:37.000 And Hevel means meaningless. 00:09:37.000 --> 00:09:44.000 So Solomon's looking back at his life and he's realizing that there are so many things that in the end are meaningless. 00:09:44.000 --> 00:09:53.000 Your work, your money, your pleasures, all of the things that you pursued in this life that you thought were going to make you happy, they're Hevel. 00:09:53.000 --> 00:10:00.000 They're meaningless, but it's not completely hopeless, though you can read a few chapters and feel sort of down about things. 00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:13.000 But he says there are things that do have meaning, and in chapter five he reflects one of those, and that is both our relationship with God, our trust in God, and then the relationships that we have with each other. 00:10:13.000 --> 00:10:23.000 These are the places that Solomon begins to say are what give life, form, and satisfaction, and meaning, and he starts with our relationship with God. 00:10:23.000 --> 00:10:41.000 And in chapter five he says when you begin to have relationship with God and you're approaching the mysterium tremendous, the majesty, the glory, the holiness of God, then you should consider how you address such a being. 00:10:41.000 --> 00:11:03.000 You should consider your words, and what I want you to then understand is the way that you speak to God actually influences and shapes and changes how you will then speak to each other, both in Christian community and to those who are lost and who are in need of the gospel. 00:11:03.000 --> 00:11:12.000 So let's just reflect a bit on some of what Solomon reveals to us in Ecclesiastes. So first thing, he says you need to think about your approach. 00:11:12.000 --> 00:11:24.000 Okay, so you think about it in our own lives, we do this with people. If you plan to have coffee or lunch with someone, you know who that person is, and as you're driving or walking to meet them, you think about, well, what am I going to say? 00:11:24.000 --> 00:11:27.000 What are the things we're going to talk about? You think about your approach. 00:11:27.000 --> 00:11:38.000 Well, in verse one, Solomon says guard your steps when you go to the house of God. So God in the Old Testament was spatially defined. He was in the temple. 00:11:38.000 --> 00:11:46.000 So you would go to the temple to be in the presence of God. And so as you were going, you would be thinking about your preparations, your approach. 00:11:46.000 --> 00:11:58.000 When I get there, what am I going to say? What are the sacrifices I'm going to make? What are the vows that I may make in the presence of God promises that I will make to him because of the relationship we share? 00:11:58.000 --> 00:12:12.000 You think about your approach, and yet I'm not so sure that we spend a lot of time considering our approach, the words that we will use in the presence of Almighty God. 00:12:12.000 --> 00:12:21.000 So let me just poke a little bit. You know, I get to come in and talk to you and then leave, and if you're mad at me, then it won't matter because you'll never see me again, likely. 00:12:21.000 --> 00:12:31.000 So I can say some of those hard things, but I want you to think about your favorite football team. I was talking to Tom and he said there were two teams here in Edinburgh and their rivals. 00:12:31.000 --> 00:12:39.000 And so whichever one is your favorite, imagine you've got great seats to see your favorite football team in a match. 00:12:39.000 --> 00:12:46.000 And you think it's the day of, and maybe it's a critical game, what are you going to do? How are you going to behave? 00:12:46.000 --> 00:12:52.000 You're going to be thinking about that game most of the day. You're likely going to find a shirt in your team colors. 00:12:52.000 --> 00:13:03.000 Perhaps you have a scarf that you will wear. Maybe you'll carry a sign and you'll get to the game in plenty of times so that you can see your team run onto the field. 00:13:03.000 --> 00:13:10.000 You will learn the songs and the chants, and I would imagine that you will also teach those to your children. 00:13:10.000 --> 00:13:22.000 Very specifically, you're going to pass on those loyalties. You wouldn't say, well, goodness, the match begins at one. Let's go down about 130. 00:13:22.000 --> 00:13:34.000 Nobody does that. And yet, when we come weekly into the presence of Almighty God to worship, we haven't done any of those preparations. 00:13:34.000 --> 00:13:41.000 When we think about coming into worship, we should be eager to be here 15, 20 minutes, perhaps. 00:13:41.000 --> 00:13:49.000 Maybe I'm going to change the whole ethos of St. Colombs where everyone comes 30 minutes before the service so that you can prepare. 00:13:49.000 --> 00:14:05.000 You can think about your approach in verse one. What am I going to say to Almighty God about who he is and how my life in this last week and the praise that he is worthy to receive? 00:14:05.000 --> 00:14:14.000 What is the approach that you have with God? And then that should begin to shape once you have focused on that, that should begin to shape and change. 00:14:14.000 --> 00:14:24.000 How will I approach others? And what will I say? How will I encourage them? And if there are tensions between us, how will I bring reconciliation? 00:14:24.000 --> 00:14:32.000 Because one distinctly shapes the other. Then Solomon goes on to provide some other insight. Verse two, he says, 00:14:32.000 --> 00:14:48.000 He says, Don't be rash with your mouth, nor let your heart hasty an utter word before God, for God's in heaven, and you're on earth. 00:14:48.000 --> 00:14:59.000 Therefore, let your words be few. So the picture of somebody is of someone who runs into the temple and they hastily make a sacrifice because they're supposed to. 00:14:59.000 --> 00:15:05.000 Right? And they kind of rush through it and they say the words so they can check the box. I fulfilled my duty to go to church today. I'm done. 00:15:05.000 --> 00:15:20.000 And then they rush out. But what do they not do? They don't listen. They don't listen. And God says in verse two, he says, Hey, I'm in heaven and you're not. 00:15:20.000 --> 00:15:31.000 Are you really going to come in here and yakety yak talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk and never listen to me who created you? 00:15:31.000 --> 00:15:41.000 And you think in our culture, we're so bad. At least I am. I'm bad at creating space to listen to Almighty God. 00:15:41.000 --> 00:15:51.000 And the only problem with God's words is that God's words are so bad that it's hard to understand. 00:15:51.000 --> 00:15:58.000 And the only problem with God's words is that God's words are so bad that it's hard to understand. 00:15:58.000 --> 00:16:14.000 Through reading His word, through conversation with others that you value their words and their relationship with God, God's word will increasingly rest and settle in your heart such that His words become your words. 00:16:14.000 --> 00:16:23.000 And as His words become your words, as you're listening to Him, then you become the one who speaks those words into the world. 00:16:23.000 --> 00:16:29.000 You begin to experience healthier relationships. Why? Because you know how to listen. 00:16:29.000 --> 00:16:35.000 See, vanity is often expressed as an excessive use of words. 00:16:35.000 --> 00:16:43.000 But oh, to listen. I found a great article by Brenda Euland who wrote, listening is a magnetic and strange thing. 00:16:43.000 --> 00:16:51.000 A creative force. The people who really listen to us are the ones we move toward. 00:16:51.000 --> 00:16:59.000 Ever notice that when someone really listens to you? They try to understand you. You move towards them. 00:16:59.000 --> 00:17:07.000 Because you know they care about you. God's trying to say, if you want to be my people, listen to me. 00:17:07.000 --> 00:17:14.000 And then listen to one another. Give them that gift where you're not constantly being the one to talk. 00:17:14.000 --> 00:17:23.000 Talk less and listen to others because that's what communicates the love and the care of Christ for others in our lives. 00:17:23.000 --> 00:17:29.000 And then Solomon gets into the whole dynamic of speed or haste. 00:17:29.000 --> 00:17:36.000 He says, don't do things that are hasty or rash or in chapter 7 verse 9 out of anger. 00:17:36.000 --> 00:17:42.000 Don't be quickly provoked in your spirit for anger resides in the lap of fools. 00:17:42.000 --> 00:17:50.000 But see, here's what can happen to us. We live at such a pace in our lives that we grow accustomed to everything happening quickly. 00:17:50.000 --> 00:17:56.000 We want our shipping fast. We want our downloads fast. We want our food fast. 00:17:56.000 --> 00:18:01.000 And then we come into our relationship with God and it doesn't happen anything like that. 00:18:01.000 --> 00:18:04.000 And because it doesn't, then what happens we grow impatient with God. 00:18:04.000 --> 00:18:09.000 Impatience breeds irritability and irritability, anger and anger never leads anywhere good. 00:18:09.000 --> 00:18:16.000 How many of you all have ever used words and said things or wrote things, emails perhaps? 00:18:16.000 --> 00:18:24.000 And if you wrote them in haste, if you wrote them quickly and rashly and out of anger, how many times did that work out well for you? 00:18:24.000 --> 00:18:28.000 Yeah, I'd really like to meet the person that that worked out well for. 00:18:28.000 --> 00:18:31.000 I've asked that in several churches and never gotten a positive answer. 00:18:31.000 --> 00:18:38.000 It never leads anywhere good. In fact, most of the time it takes you more time and effort to go clean up the mess that you made 00:18:38.000 --> 00:18:45.000 because you acted too fast. Right? So I'm in this fitness center, kind of like a workout room in my neighborhood in Orlando. 00:18:45.000 --> 00:18:51.000 And it's Saturday afternoon and I'm doing my kind of my running workout and I'm probably 20, 25 minutes in. 00:18:51.000 --> 00:18:57.000 I'm about halfway done and I am just full on. It's going well. I feel good. 00:18:57.000 --> 00:19:03.000 Got a good sweat going. You know, you feel like you're being healthy and there's a woman on the treadmill next to me. 00:19:03.000 --> 00:19:11.000 We haven't spoken because you don't talk in fitness areas. So I'm just running along and then all of a sudden the cleaning crew comes in 00:19:11.000 --> 00:19:17.000 and they go, sorry, it's time to clean. We have to shut the place down. 00:19:17.000 --> 00:19:23.000 It's one o'clock in the afternoon who closes a fitness center in the middle of the day. 00:19:23.000 --> 00:19:30.000 And so of course this nice lady next to me dutifully turns her machine off and begins to gather her thing. 00:19:30.000 --> 00:19:36.000 And I, not me, not David Swanson, I just react. I go, no, no, no, no, no, that's ridiculous. 00:19:36.000 --> 00:19:41.000 I'm not in the middle of my workout. You can't stop me now. Just give me 20 minutes. 00:19:41.000 --> 00:19:49.000 Go over there, give me 20 minutes. This is nuts. And so the poor cleaning guy just, you know, tautles off 00:19:49.000 --> 00:19:55.000 and the woman on the treadmill gives me this look like you're such a rude man. And I was being very rude. 00:19:55.000 --> 00:20:02.000 And so God had a conversation with me on the treadmill for 10 minutes during which he pointed out the fact that I was being very selfish, 00:20:02.000 --> 00:20:09.000 not considering the fact that the cleaning crew had a job to do. And it was about more than just whether I got my workout in. 00:20:09.000 --> 00:20:15.000 So I then had to go to the cleaning crew and apologize because I acted hastily and rashly. 00:20:15.000 --> 00:20:21.000 It never leads to anywhere good. Slow your speech down. 00:20:21.000 --> 00:20:27.000 Don't send the email until tomorrow. Don't fire off the text at 1.30 in the morning. 00:20:27.000 --> 00:20:34.000 They generally don't work out or end well, and we use words that don't honor the Lord. 00:20:34.000 --> 00:20:39.000 So he says, slow it down. Listen more. Then he gets to the content. 00:20:39.000 --> 00:20:44.000 He starts talking about, okay, once you've mastered those things, what are you going to say? 00:20:44.000 --> 00:20:49.000 And Solomon starts to address in particular the vowels that we make or the promises. 00:20:49.000 --> 00:20:55.000 Verse 4, when you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying it for he has no pleasure and fools. 00:20:55.000 --> 00:21:00.000 Pay what you vow. It's better that you should not vow than vow and not pay. 00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:03.000 Let not your mouth lead you into sin. 00:21:03.000 --> 00:21:06.000 So he's talking about the vows that people would make when they would go to the temple. 00:21:06.000 --> 00:21:09.000 They would say, God, I'm going to do this. And then sometimes they wouldn't. 00:21:09.000 --> 00:21:15.000 He said to be better not to promise something than to promise it and not deliver it. 00:21:15.000 --> 00:21:22.000 You see, God is a covenant God. God is a vow making God. 00:21:22.000 --> 00:21:27.000 Therefore, he wants his people to be a reflection of who he is. 00:21:27.000 --> 00:21:30.000 In that covenant God, he says, I'm going to be your God and you're going to be my people. 00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:33.000 And I'm going to demonstrate to you my fidelity. 00:21:33.000 --> 00:21:39.000 So you too should be reflecting that fidelity to the world that you actually do what you say. 00:21:39.000 --> 00:21:42.000 That you keep your promises. 00:21:42.000 --> 00:21:47.000 In other words, we have to grow up in our language and our use of words. 00:21:47.000 --> 00:21:54.000 Remember Paul in 1 Corinthians 13 said, when I was a child, I talked like a child. 00:21:54.000 --> 00:21:59.000 I fought like a child. I reasoned like a child. 00:21:59.000 --> 00:22:04.000 But when I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 00:22:04.000 --> 00:22:11.000 My old youth pastor in Dallas used to say, you can tell the character of a man 00:22:11.000 --> 00:22:17.000 by the way in which he keeps the promises he makes in casual conversation. 00:22:17.000 --> 00:22:21.000 So if you say you're going to be there at nine, be there at nine. 00:22:21.000 --> 00:22:27.000 If you say we should have lunch, don't just let that fall into the air. 00:22:27.000 --> 00:22:31.000 The next thing you do when you get back to your offices, you contact that person 00:22:31.000 --> 00:22:33.000 and you make a plan to have lunch. 00:22:33.000 --> 00:22:38.000 If you say you're going to manage the project, manage the project. 00:22:38.000 --> 00:22:41.000 Let your yes be yes as Jesus reminds us. 00:22:41.000 --> 00:22:43.000 Let your yes be yes and your no be no. 00:22:43.000 --> 00:22:49.000 In other words, have responsibility and integrity in your language and your speech 00:22:49.000 --> 00:22:51.000 because that's who God is. 00:22:51.000 --> 00:22:57.000 And as those created in his image, our speech should reflect that same character 00:22:57.000 --> 00:22:59.000 and that same responsibility. 00:22:59.000 --> 00:23:02.000 Be careful about the vows that you make. 00:23:02.000 --> 00:23:04.000 I'm going to close there. 00:23:04.000 --> 00:23:10.000 I'm going to read you one of my favorite pieces of prose to close. 00:23:10.000 --> 00:23:17.000 But just remember that if you feel like, you know, I could do better in how I use my words, 00:23:17.000 --> 00:23:22.000 then the first thing that you should focus on, what are my words to God? 00:23:22.000 --> 00:23:29.000 And as his words begin to be shaped and formed in you, then your words to others 00:23:29.000 --> 00:23:32.000 will also naturally be shaped and formed. 00:23:32.000 --> 00:23:39.000 Such that you become the living presence of his revealed word in the world. 00:23:39.000 --> 00:23:44.000 Norman McClain wrote a great book that became a movie called A River Runs Through It. 00:23:44.000 --> 00:23:46.000 It's about a Presbyterian minister and his two sons. 00:23:46.000 --> 00:23:48.000 You're going to understand why I love the movie. 00:23:48.000 --> 00:23:55.000 But at the end of it, he writes, this is the words of the oldest son, Paul. 00:23:55.000 --> 00:23:59.000 He says, of course, now I am too old to be much of a fisherman. 00:23:59.000 --> 00:24:03.000 And now, of course, I usually fish the big waters alone. 00:24:03.000 --> 00:24:11.000 But then in the arctic half-light of the canyon, all existence fades to a being with my soul and memories 00:24:11.000 --> 00:24:18.000 and the sounds of the big Blackfoot River and a four-count rhythm and the hope that a fish will rise. 00:24:18.000 --> 00:24:24.000 The river was cut by the world's great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. 00:24:24.000 --> 00:24:30.000 On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops, under the rocks are the words, 00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:34.000 and some of the words are theirs. 00:24:34.000 --> 00:24:40.000 I do believe that ultimately all things merge into one. 00:24:40.000 --> 00:24:45.000 They merge into the unity of God's redemptive plan and purpose for the world 00:24:45.000 --> 00:24:49.000 when we will all be gathered around his throne. 00:24:49.000 --> 00:24:54.000 And until that time, it's our use of language. 00:24:54.000 --> 00:24:58.000 Some of the words will be ours. 00:24:58.000 --> 00:25:02.000 Some of the words will be yours. 00:25:02.000 --> 00:25:04.000 What will they be? 00:25:04.000 --> 00:25:14.000 And will they reflect the true nature of God as Word made flesh for our salvation? 00:25:14.000 --> 00:25:18.000 Let us pray together. 00:25:18.000 --> 00:25:25.000 Lord God, in the course of our day, we all use many words, 00:25:25.000 --> 00:25:33.000 but we also confess that sometimes those words are used quickly and rashly, 00:25:33.000 --> 00:25:36.000 sometimes in anger without much thought. 00:25:36.000 --> 00:25:43.000 Lord, we confess that we have used words that have wounded, that have caused pain. 00:25:43.000 --> 00:25:48.000 And Lord, I pray that by the movement of your Spirit as we reflect on Solomon's word 00:25:48.000 --> 00:25:54.000 that we would recognize that as your Word comes to take up residence within us, 00:25:54.000 --> 00:26:01.000 as Jesus, who is the Word made flesh, comes to live in our hearts, 00:26:01.000 --> 00:26:06.000 Lord, may we become your Word expressed in the world. 00:26:06.000 --> 00:26:14.000 May we become those who speak language that honors, glorifies you, 00:26:14.000 --> 00:26:17.000 and draws people unto yourself. 00:26:17.000 --> 00:26:20.000 So teach us, oh God, show us your truth. 00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:37.000 We pray in Jesus' name, amen.