Today I want to continue our series on Purpose, the purpose of our church and the principles of our church – these are the foundational core values of what makes this place what it is.
We will cover a variety of topics throughout this series
1. Church on Purpose Across the Aisle
2. Church on Purpose Across the Street
3. Church on Purpose Around the World
4. We live purpose
5. We lead up
6. We Aim for 5 Stars
7. We are Audacious
8. We Embrace Truth
9. We Serve
10. We keep it simple
And in each of those you have to choose to do them on purpose. You will not accidently accomplish any of those. It has to be a conscious decision to live a life on purpose.
You will hear us say, we are a church on purpose. A Church left to accidents will accomplish little. However, to purpose in your heart to be on purpose across the aisle, across the street, and around the world, by living purpose, leading people up, aiming for excellence, living and praying audaciously, embracing truth, and then just keep it simple, the main the main thing. If you do that on purpose, with a purpose, and for a purpose, then you along with the church, will accomplish much.
Now today I want to talk about something that you will have to really do on purpose. You really have to Purpose in your heart do this and to do it correctly –
What we say… what We speak…
Now everybody is saying something, but what are you saying.
Much is said about what we listen too, what we watch, where we go, and what we do…
I want to focus on what we say…
Let me start by asking you a few questions
- We are Audacious…
Have you ever heard of
- Shammua son of Zaccur, from the tribe of Reuben
- Shaphat son of Hori, from the tribe of Simeon
- Igal son of Joseph, from the tribe of Issachar
- Palti son of Raphu, from the tribe of Benjamin
- Gaddiel son of Sodi, from the tribe of Zebulin
- Gaddi son of Susi, from the tribe of Manasseh
- Ammiel son of Gemalli, from the tribe of Dan
- Sethur son of Michael, from the tribe of Asher
- Nahbi son of Vophsi, from the tribe of Naphtali
- Geuel son of Maki, from the tribe of Gad
Very few people know these 10 men. Why? People don’t remember the names of the people who say we cannot! However we do remember the names of the people who say we can.
- Caleb son of Jephunneh, from the tribe of Judah
- Hoshea (Joshua) son of Nun, from the tribe of Ephraim
In the story of the 12 spies, all of them believed what they were saying, they were all prophetic. They all received exactly what they said.
speak
1. to utter words or articulate sounds with the ordinary voice; talk: He was too ill to speak.
2. to communicate vocally; mention: to speak to a person of various matters.
3. to converse: She spoke with him for an hour.
4. to deliver an address, discourse, etc.: to speak at a meeting.
5. to make a statement in written or printed words.
de·clare
1. to make known or state clearly, especially in explicit or formal terms: to declare one’s position in a controversy.
2. to announce officially; proclaim: to declare a state of emergency; to declare a winner.
3. to state emphatically: He declared that the allegation was a lie.
4. to manifest; reveal;
I think one of the most vital things, a quite possibly one of the greatest tools in the arsenal of the Christian is what we speak…and to whom we speak…
We need to have a conversation with God.
- A Conversation with God
It is in our nature to speak, naturally, but even more so in the spiritual realm.
Just look at the creator of all things and look at how God operates.
Look in Genesis, the creation story, and you will find an early indicator that God works through words…
In Genesis 1 – it is recorded that God said 10 times –
That leads me to tell you that God is a verbal God, he communicates.
It is through this that I can also tell you that because God speaks and creation responded, it means that all things that God created, and He created everything, has the capacity to hear.
We also must hear what God is saying so that we likewise will know what to say, and what to do.
Jeremiah had these verbal encounters with God.
Jeremiah 18:1-3
18 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying: 2 “Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause you to hear My words.” 3
NKJV
Then in Jeremiah 29 in another conversation. God said I have heard and Here is my response…
I Know the plans I have…
God is very much about speaking, and he placed into his most prized creation that same ability of communicating with our mouths.
He even tied it to your salvation!
God is very much into speaking to you and hearing you speak.
Communication Brings Salvation!
Rom 10:10
10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. KJV
James talked about that power that is in the member of our body that formulates words, our tongue!
2 Indeed, we all make many mistakes. For if we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could also control ourselves in every other way.
3 We can make a large horse go wherever we want by means of a small bit in its mouth. 4 And a small rudder makes a huge ship turn wherever the pilot chooses to go, even though the winds are strong. 5 In the same way, the tongue is a small thing that makes grand speeches.
But a tiny spark can set a great forest on fire. 6 And among all the parts of the body, the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself.
7 People can tame all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and fish, 8 but no one can tame the tongue. It is restless and evil, full of deadly poison. 9 Sometimes it praises our Lord and Father, and sometimes it curses those who have been made in the image of God. 10 And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right!
When you look at a mighty ship – and you wonder what is steering the mighty vessel and down below you see this little rudder. You wonder how something so small can steer something so large! The same is true in our lives. Our tongue controls something mightier than that ship, it controls your life.
Proverbs 18:21 – life and death are in the power of the tongue…
In your own strength you cannot tame the tongue – you need the Lord to help you control your tongue
Paul stated that our speech must always be seasoned with salt
Col 4:6
6 Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.
NKJV
This means that you can come upon a very serious situation and when you speak you can bring grace and healing to the situation. When you speak about the graciousness of God you insert grace into an otherwise nasty situation.
We all need to come to grips with this fact…that if your words are bitter it’s because your heart is bitter.
The taste of your words is the condition of your heart.
The seasoning of our words is the representation of the taste of our hearts.
Matt 12:34-37 NLT
. 34 You brood of snakes! How could evil men like you speak what is good and right? For whatever is in your heart determines what you say. 35 A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. 36 And I tell you this, you must give an account on judgment day for every idle word you speak. 37 The words you say will either acquit you or condemn you.”
Your words will either condemn you or justify you.
8 In fact, it says,
“The message is very close at hand;
it is on your lips and in your heart.”
And that message is the very message about faith that we preach: 9 If you openly declarethat Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved. 11 As the Scriptures tell us, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.” 12 Jew and Gentile are the same in this respect. They have the same Lord, who gives generously to all who call on him. 13 For “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
14 But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? 15 And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is why the Scriptures say, “How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!”
16 But not everyone welcomes the Good News, for Isaiah the prophet said, “Lord, who has believed our message?” 17 So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ.
The word translated “saved” is sozo, which refers not only to being born again, but to the fullness of God’s blessing—to delivering, healing, saving, freeing.
So we speak words that justify
We don’t speak words that condemn us
We speak to be saved
We confess unto salvation
Why do we believe in the heart versus the mind? It is out of the abundance of the heart that a man speaks.
God is after your heart. The mind changes easily, but it is difficult to change the heart.
So We speak, we declare and we believe that what we say matters.
What we declare matters.
Our speech, our prayers, our conversations matter and they dictate the path that we take.
We don’t speak curses, rather we speak blessings!
We don’t speak doubt, rather we speak faith!
We don’t speak death, rather we speak life!
We don’t speak sickness, we speak Healing!
We don’t speak debt, we speak abundance!
We speak, and we speak life and life more abundantly!
We speak faith…
- Speaking Faith Unleashes Your Faith
In Luke the disciples were talking with the Lord
Luke 17:5
5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Show us how to increase our faith.”
6 The Lord answered, “If you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘May you be uprooted and be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you!
The disciples said, “Increase our faith.”
Jesus said, “Unleash your faith.”
The disciples said, “Expand our faith.”
Jesus said, “Express your faith.
Jesus said the same thing regarding any obstacle before us. He didn’t say, “Pray that the mountain might be removed. He said, “Speak to the mountain itself,” (Mark 11:23).
Why were the disciples told to speak? Because while faith is implanted by the Word, it is unleashed through the lips.…
But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Romans 10:8, 9
By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast. Psalm 33:6, 9
How did God make the world? He spoke it into existence. So, too, Jesus altered the course of the world and eternity when He spoke…
“Waves, be still” (Mark 4:39).
“Lazarus, come forth” (John 11:43).
“It is Finished” (John 19:30).
“Loose Him and Let Him Go” John 11:44
“Woman thou are loosed from thine infirmity” Luke 13:12
“Thy Son liveth” John 4:53
Out of your belly shall flow rivers of living water – John 3
We are Made in the image of God, we also speak our individual worlds into existence and alter their course with our words.
This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. Joshua 1:8
The Hebrew word translated “meditate” means “to mutter over and over again.”
If you want to be prosperous and successful in that which the Lord has laid before you to do, mutter the Word day and night. The promises of God will be of no effect if they’re simply written in your journal or underlined in your Bible. They only take effect when they’re in your mouth.
With his back to the Red Sea and the armies of Egypt barreling down upon him, Moses cried to the Lord.
God responded – why are you talking to me, talk to them
“Why speakest thou to Me? Speak to the children that they are to go forward,” the Lord answered (Exodus 14:15).
You might be a great student of Scripture. You might even be a prayer warrior. But if you wonder why the Sea isn’t parting, could it be that the Lord is whispering to you, “Why are you asking Me? Speak to the mountain that looms large before you”?
Examples abound in the Word of men who understood the absolutely essential principle that the Word in them had to be spoken by them if they were to see results around them.…
It was when Joshua spoke to the sun that it stood still, giving him time to accomplish a great victory (Joshua 10:12).
It was when Elisha spoke to king Ahab on the basis of Deuteronomy 11:16–17 that there was no rain (1 Kings 17:1).
It was when Zerubbabel spoke to the cornerstone of the temple that the Lord began moving and the project came to completion (Zechariah 4:7).
You can decry the day or you can say, “This is the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 118:24)! That choice you make will alter the course of your day.
You can either say, “Everything is falling apart,” or you will say, “The Word of God declares that all things are working together for good,” (Romans 8:28).
You can say “We’re not going to make it,” or you will say, “The Word declares that our God will supply all our needs according to His riches in glory (Philippians 4:19). Because he blesses the givers!
Of God, the writer of the letter to the Hebrews says,
“For he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, ‘The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me,’ ” (see Hebrews 13:5, 6).
God hath said that we may say—not that we may know, not that we may write, not even that we may pray—but that we may say.
• Happy is the people whose God is the Lord (Psalm 144:15).
• The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? (Psalm 27:1).
• The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want (Psalm 23:1).
• The Lord is good unto them that wait for Him (Lamentations 3:25).
I challenge you to write down four or five such promises from the Word on three-by-five cards, put them on your dashboard or on your mirror, and mutter them over and over again. Frame your world and your day with the Word as you speak it forth—and watch what happens.
Meditating on God’s word is the best way to get your faith up, to get your faith working for you.
Romans 10:17 – Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.
So I ask you what will you speak, as for this house, we speak life, blessings, salvation, healing, deliverance, and abundance into our lives.
What will you speak? What will you say?
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