Sermon – “Speaking Life and Death”

36 But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. 37 For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.

Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.

(as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”) in the presence of Him whom he be-lieved—God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did;

who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.

Look also at ships: although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires. 5 Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles! 6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell. 7 For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind. 8 But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. 9 With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God. 10 Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so. 11 Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening? 12 Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh.

Our first question reading this morning is which one is up there Matthew. We kind of changed it around after I wrote it you know that happens that way sometimes Matthew twelve thirty seven. Part. Yellow That’s right. I just to read it out here we’re start with twelve thirty seven for by your words you will be justified in by your word you will be condemned. So that’s a very short scripture in it. What do you have. You have thirty six and thirty seven but I say to you that every idle word men speak. They will give account of it in the day of judgment for by you word you will be justified in by your word true but will be condemned. Yeah that’s what I want to thank you. And our next script sure is a fi sions five one through two says therefore be imitators of God His dear children and walk in love as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us an offering and the sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling aroma. And I have one more for now first Corinthians eleven one says imitate me just as I also imitate Christ and you might be wondering where I’m going with this but I’m going to have a few questions ask him we’re going to tie all those scriptures together. How important do you think your words are. How important. Do our words make a difference in the lives of others and do you think our words can bring life and death literally life and death. Good I’m glad you all. I don’t need to preach a message you are no good. So if. I’m just give you a couple examples. Well I’m going to start by telling you one thing Isabel was over to form one day and she’s not here so she can’t you know me for saying this but she was answering the fan. You know she was watching Colson but she also answers the phone and she says and then it’s really hard to answer that phone and sound like I’m happy all the time I said well is about here some I learned a long time ago when you answer the phone you smile because you can’t sound grumpy with a smile on your face trot trot try to stand Gropius now and try to say something groping. I’m serious. Can you do it it doesn’t come out. It is. It comes out mean you can call me but you can’t compel me. You cannot do it I’m telling you if you have a smile. Your words are going to sound more positive no matter what you do. OK. But I have a couple examples here I have here. Here’s a Norma a negative Norma. And I want you to see which person which person you would rather be you want to be with negative norm or do you want to be with positive poly. So here’s a negative Norma negative Norma. Well I suppose you could run it right along with me today. But you probably why I probably won’t be very good company. You know the dog peeped on the floor this morning. I’ve got a headache I feel sick. The kids are always on my nerves they’re always on my last nerve and you know that husband of mine he never ever agrees with anything I say they can never tell me what that I’m doing something good. Everything is just terrible I’m in a bad mood I might not be very good company but if you want to ride with me that’s fine maybe a tractor trailer won’t hit its head on as we go down the road. You don’t want to go with. Nor how about positive calling you want to ride with me all I think that would be great you know I’ve not had a great morning but I’m sure we’ll have a lovely time together every time we get together we laugh and have a good time we can talk about the Lord won’t even stop and get something good to eat along the way it always makes the trip so much faster and more fun when I have company which one of us would like to pray as we start out for our safety. How do you want to go with. One you don’t want to go with either one. You know there’s there are some things that I think we all try to do and that is to to praise God and. Thank Him for everything be it good or bad one thing we probably have a little bit of trouble with is praising him during the bad. It’s hard it’s hard. You know it’s easy to praise God when our finances are good. It’s easy to praise God when we’ve been to the doctor and we have a good report. It’s easy to praise God when our kids are healthy and things are going our way and we’ve not had devastation just one more on that that level playing field and everything looks good but it’s a lot harder forced to praise God when we’ve lost a job or when we’ve gotten bad medical news. It’s hard to praise God when maybe we’ve had a devastation either in a community or in our lives or in the neighborhood or even nationally my goodness we’re seeing so much bad news it’s hard to praise God in the midst of it I’m not sure how these people would nice last week in Munich yesterday in and Florida a few weeks ago in New Orleans not New Orleans but you know Newark no Baton Rouge and. Doubtless power in the world do you stand up in the midst of this and praise God But you know we need to do that. We need to find a positive spin on a negative problem because we can speak good into a situation or we can speak bad you know there’s different ways we can approach a situation if we get up I mean we’re all going to have a bad day. Right. We’re all going to have a day that we hurt. Or maybe our stomachs upset or you know something’s not gone right. We’re all going to have a bad day but there are different spins we can put on that you know we can be the negative norm and get up and say walk feel such so I’m such a hunk of misery today I don’t even want to be around myself. Or we can get up and say well you know I’m not feeling the greatest today but I’m going to pray and I’m going to have faith that God’s going to turn this around and I’m going to feel better and that what we have to do is we have to walk forward in that what we’re saying we have to walk forward and proclaim I am going to feel better so I’m going to go and carry on my day I’m going to do what I need done because I have faith that God is in this and on going to feel better or things are going to change and I’m going to be better things are going to get better our nation is going to get better. I don’t know how God has the play and I don’t but I’m going to walk and say things are going to get better. There’s a different spin we can put on everything right and I have seen so much positive come out of some of these tragedies have you not heard the positive spins the people that have forgiven the shooters that have gone into their churches and shot their families. My goodness they’re coming out and say and I forgive you praise God. They’ve got it. They’ve got it in such a hard situation they’ve got it. And when they’re doing that they’re speaking into existence that this that that that those not exist. As though with us to hear what I’m saying they’re speaking into existence. That does not exist as though it does and Romans four seventeen. He’s speaking to God is speaking to Abraham. He says I have made you a father of many nations and the presence of Him who believed God in the presence of Him who believe of him he believed God who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did is that phrase up there it is. I want you to read out a couple times. Think about what that’s telling you calls those things which do not exist as though they did. Are we think in creation. How did God create the earth. He spoke of how did God create the animals. He spoke it. How did God create night and day. How did got separate the water’s the only thing God did not speak that he created by hand was what me. So that tells us that were a special being he didn’t want to just speak it he wanted to have a hand in it he could of he could have spoken it but the previous one of our previous Scripture says be the easier imitators of Christ to imitate Christ. So what’s that say it. What are we to do. We’re to be like Christ. Do you think God can still speak things into existence. Do you think God still calls those things which do not existence acts as if they do. He doesn’t change so I’m thinking yeah he does who Heber’s one three says. God is up holding all things by the word by his power holding up all things by the word. And when swear to imitate Christ we too can speak things into being we too cannot hold things you know we might not be able to speak the world into existence that might be a bit above our level but we can speak life and death into a situation we can either be that negative Norma that just is speak and speak in nasty things that just you don’t even want to go there or you can be the positive Polly who’s going to speak good things into the situation. It’s all how we speak it. It’s what we say now I don’t think we’re going to get up in the morning if we feel bad say you got I got the flu thank you so much. But we could get up and say Lord. You know I’ve got this flu and I’m just trusting that you’re going to make it better. How many of us are old enough and it’s probably a few to remember what Cumberland so had they had a phrase years ago I can’t think if it was the eighty’s or the ninety’s it was P A C Don’t buy remember what that stood for. Everything. Now I’m sure they weren’t thinking Biblically at the time. Well maybe they were I don’t know. But how true is it that positive attitudes can change everything. If we’re going to think about something in a negative light. Guess what. It’s probably not to turn out real good but if we’re going to think about it positively and look at a positive side. That’s the side we’re going to work toward So that’s probably where we’re going to end. Our tongues are mighty told. There are weapon. We can speak life or we can speak death. Proverbs eighteen twenty one says Death and Life are in the power of the tongue and they that love it shout eat the fruit thereof. That’s houses right there that what we speak is death or it’s life. How many times it will hurt people curse someone say oh I wish they’d just I’m not a finished phrase. Well guess what their speaking death upon that person that’s why we shouldn’t do that our tongues can bring death and life to those who love to talk to gossip who like to spread rumors their weight the consequences. So are we going to speak a positive thing into existence or are we to speak in the Egad of thing there for good officials five twelve that says that was one of our opening verses and it would therefore be imitators of God If we’re going imitate God then we too can speak things into existence. We must speak life into existence and in that when I’m saying that I mean into somebody’s spirit into somebody’s soul. Bonnie is a teacher you saw that every day I’m sure that these kids came in and their parents maybe they were our affirmative parents that they didn’t speak. We grew up teaching our kids you can do anything you want you can be whoever you want to be you just have to strive and do your best you can be whatever you want to be. And how many kids today are beaten down and told you’re just a no good you’re never going to mount anything. What are they speak an end of these kids’ lives. What are we speaking enter our kids’ lives our way telling our kids and our grandchildren you can be anything you want to be. Hey guys you can be anything you want. You can be anything you can do anything when we say these negative things we’re self prophesied how many of us have ever done that say all it’s going to be a terrible day all things just are never going to go right all along never going to get out of this mess. Yourself prophesied. We’ve all done it I can pretty much say we’ve all done it we’ve all said it all I’m never going to feel better all I’m never going to get over this flu all this is never going to happen. We can’t do that we have to think before we speak because what we speak is life and death don’t self prophesies unless you’re going to self prophesied positively. Then as now prophesied by all means so prophesies and. I don’t think I’m talking to you or anybody else because I’m talking to me as much as it. I’ve done it a lot and in the since I’ve been studying this and reading is something and all Lord when He will guide my tongue when I’m up here speaking and I think I’ve come in unprepared he will guide my tongue and I think God why don’t you God my time when I’m about to say something that I shouldn’t say somewhere else. Really but it’s because we have free will and we’re going to do whatever we want to do and we can think we’re going along real good and all of a sudden something pops right out there where does it come from. It was where to start where does that that those words come from this starts up here in your mind does it start as a thought and the more we speak the negative and the more we think the negative. The more that negative is going to roll or floor all of our tongue. It comes from the devil and what does he want to do with it. He wants us to use it he wants the confuses he wants to use us to self destruct or self-destruct someone else or destruct someone else to wreak havoc in their lives and it’s easy to do. To easy our words carry so much power so much power. It’s just it’s hard to put out there. How much power the word can have and not just our words but our facial expressions and attitude. Body Language. I mean you don’t have to say a thing and you can come in here or walk down the street and you can tell or someone else can tell if you’re in a bad mood or what you’re thinking or how you’re acting or you can read them and sometimes just all you gotta do is look at him. That would yeah that was my happy face. I mean think about it think about it what are we do want as we live our lives what kind. What kind of prophesied do we want to do. James three four through twelve says look also what ships. Although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds they are turned by every small rather whenever the pilot. Desires. Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things see how great a force a little fire Kindles and the tongue is a fire a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set upon the members that it defiles the whole body and sets on fire the course of nature and it is set on fire by hell. For every kind of be. In birds of reptile and creature of the sea is pain and has been tamed by mankind. But no man contain the tongue. It is an unruly evil full of deadly poison with it we bless our God and Father and with that we curse men who have been made in the similitude of Gore. Out of the same mouth Percy blessings and cursings my brother these things ought not be so there’s a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening. Can I think Tree my brother bear all of the were great vine bare figs sus no spring yields both salt water and fresh water. How many times that we hear somebody come into a church or or be at a church gather nerved praising God they’re saying all these things and later in the meek week you might hear him spin out all these profanities how sad happen. How does that happen. Are we letting God control our minds and our thoughts are we letting the evil one come in and control was I mean we don’t like to think about that but there’s got to be a reason why we can do say one thing one day and then go out and say something another and hopefully none of us do that I think we’re pretty well pretty steady but we all fall at some point in some way whether it be I don’t think we spew cursings but I think we might say things that are negative. From time to time it it how me says things negative from time to time. Yeah we’re human we do. But think about a match. If you have a match or a spark and you lay it on a mound of paper or a branch a bunch of dry branches and dry leaves what’s going to happen to it. It’s good catch fire and that’s what our negative words do they catch fire and they spread very quickly and. Not just for those around us it will just spread out and spread out and spread out and it’ll consume. Or we can think about a little sea and some water. What happens when you pour water on that dry sea. It’s going to sprout. We’re going to water. We’re going to give it life. It’s going to sprout and that seed brings forth light life will pretty soon that state’s going to spread think about a grass see how grass seed will just spread it spreads its things you Little’s roots these things out and it’s spreads across your yard or weight. Oh my goodness how a wave spreads. Faster than a gracile Silas’s crabgrass and it goes everywhere but you know are we going to be the match and the dry tender or away gonna be the water on the seat of life. What are we going to be with our words what are we going to be with our attitudes What are we going to be and just for example the fair this week we were up there and whoever was that saddest probably heard we say when we we were playing with these kids and treating these kids. Well and you know if they didn’t know any answer. I mean it kind of a fact that we had to cover all that shock and just go one and keep keep playing with him keep trying to teach him and I can’t tell you how many kids we got to tell this week who God was and who Jesus was they had no clue. We got to be that water on that seed and then when they put the parents saw that we weren’t putting their kids down and we were giving them Candy whether they got the answers right or not or we were going to give them a prize sometimes whether they even got a ring or not just because someone were such good sports we’d go go get a prize. We had plenty I think we still do but they saw that we were treating our kids good so then they opened up and that opened up conversation to the. Parents didn’t and all because we kept a small one our face even though we may have been in shock and we were I mean we thought we had this covered we had everything we had our little cards in our little questions written out and you know and then you come upon kids that don’t know who’s God I don’t know. You know God Creator of the world look like us sprouted antlers or something you know Jesus you know who Jesus was you know. Well do you know whose birthday we celebrate on Christmas my dad’s. Well not exactly. So we had to tell him we gave him the answers and you know. We did it with a smile when we laughed with him and but hopefully they’ll remember maybe they’ll go home and yes mom and dad maybe mom and dad will say well we’re not doing what we need to do and what they’ll they’ll come in but it was the attitude with which it was done we could have been like you don’t believe or do you know who Jesus is really that would have been real encouraging one. To really we have to keep our minds so sad on the things that go on and we. And if we’re depressed we have to keep praises there. If we’re angry we have to keep praises there that one song we sang. Blessed be your name all or talks about even in a dark place see I will praise you. And that’s what we have to do if we have praises in our mind at all times more not to be as likely to think about the negative things we can because it’s not let and say put that little thought in our mind because there’s no room for I’ve heard of people that leave Christian you. I want all the time in the house because they say if there’s Christian music going there’s no room for anything else to come in there’s a point there. I don’t do it I don’t want to sound all the time but you know I do try to meditate on things but you know we all fall short a little bit. So that’s why it’s important that we must keep God’s word in our mind that we must if it’s a song you know if you ever get a song stuck in your head delegate that thing at all or place I guess long out of my head but you know what if it’s a price song Hallelujah. I’ve gone to sleep many time with a praise song or a hammer or something just running over my mind and I’m thinking well. It’s a lot worse. There’s a lot worse things that could be there. But I think back to mark twenty five twenty nine when the woman said If I touch the hem of his garment. I will be healed is talking about the woman that had the issue of blood and she wanted to go touch Jesus’ garment she didn’t say I think if I go touch as garment I might be healed or if I touch his garment I could be healed. She said if I touch the hem of his garment. I will be well God hasn’t changed from those days to this day God hasn’t changed his words the saying he still creates with words we still create with words we create with our attitudes with our minds with how we treat people. We are God’s messengers and when we can understand that and stop to think about it what that truly means and what a responsibility that is that I think we all realize that we need to think positive we laded think what’s the word I’m looking for. I can think about purposely we need to think purposely. We need to purposely think about what we’re thinking about because if we don’t we’re not to say what we really want to say. We need to speak life. We need to speak life like the person that we’re speaking to is dying because you know what they by the It may not be a physical death. It may be a spiritual death. It may be a death that they just feel like they can’t find any hope we have to stop self prophesied doom and destruction and start self prophesies. Wellness and health and healing and good things because that’s what God will do he will honor the praises of his people and he will honor our good words. God is looking for people who are willing to change from what they are to what only he can make them be. He wants people to are willing to change who are willing to take what they’re thinking and what they’re saying and change it to something even better. And I don’t care how good we get I don’t care how long we’ve been a Christian if there’s not room for improvement or if you think there’s not room for improvement you’re wrong. We’ve worked human beings and there will always be room to improve. And I speak for myself as much as anyone here because I know my mouth sometimes takes off and it’s it goes twenty miles and there are my brains back here stuck by. It may be a trial to get where you’re going. How many times have you ever taken a vacation and the trip wasn’t so great kitten there wasn’t so great. Maybe you had a flat tire and you had to empty out the trunk and get the spare tire change the cart and you had to load everything back in when it’s ninety five degrees and the kids are won and all of that hurry up I have to go to the bathroom and maybe the trip wasn’t so good but the ultimate destination was wonderful and same day had problems like that you know you go on somewhere and just but when you get there. It’s great it’s the same with our journey with trying to improve the way we think in the way we speak it might be a rough destination God might have to really work or new he might do some things that you don’t want done or you think you don’t. But if you tell God Lord help me to change is help me to guard my tongue help me to Gordon my thoughts. He will do it when he knows you’re willing to try. Don’t let those gloomy thoughts or the depressing thoughts or the thoughts of I can’t or are cool will never get so deep in your brain that they will dig a rug in so deep that you need a four wheel drive truck to pull you out of it because you know weak our brain will get pathways going through it I had a doctor one time say before I had to have a surgery to remove a bunch of the Haitians and he said you know I’m just hoping that when we get in there and we get all that out that your brain hasn’t already formed the pain pathways. He said because if it has no matter what I take out. You’re still going to have that pain. So that tells me of our mind can form a pain pathway. It can for my depressive pass away pathway. It can form a negative pathway. Armont is a miraculous miraculous organ and is created by a miraculous gone and we might get those ruts in there so deep that we need a big four wheel drive tractor to pour us out of the negative and into the posit but I tell you what you know who’s operating the tractor. We have a God It is big enough. He is big enough. He is great enough. He is powerful enough he can make help you to overcome. Anything you choose you choose to overcome. Are you going to choose to overcome it are we going to wall Oh and the misery that we want to put our cell. Said in the negative speech in the negative thoughts. It’s hard I know it’s hard but it’s going to be worth the journey. I’ve been I’ve been trying to guard my tongue and my thoughts so much since I’ve started reading it’s been probably a month and I hope I’m making progress but it’s not going to happen overnight. It’s not going to happen overnight. It’s a process. We’ve not larn thirty forty fifty sixty seventy years of bad habits only they haven’t changed to morrow we have gotten herself into these habits and we need to get ourselves out of them. Amen. But you know what God is big enough. He is strong enough and he is capable. And if you are willing to say God help me do this he will help you do this. And then we too can go out. And we can speak life to those around us we can speak positive. If you have someone come up to you and say oh I feel so terrible on to say I don’t think I’m ever going to feel better and odd is I can’t do anything so I know you feel bad but it’s going to get better you know. Walked out in faith that it’s going to get better leave home when you feel bad and see if you don’t feel a little better. Have you ever gone to work when you felt bad and when you get there you start feeling better and it might not all go away but you feel little bit better. We have to walk in that faith that we’re going to be better that it’s going to be better the things are going to get better the times are going to get better. God is in control and I don’t care who’s in our presidential office while I do care but it doesn’t matter who’s in our office or who’s doing what in and who’s trying to destroy us we have a God who’s in control and we may not be able to change the whole world but we can change our little corner of it. Amen amen.