there was a military ball and celebration for the officers and their wives When
at this ball, command General gave a seemingly endless speech and after he went
on and on, a young lieutenant leaned over to the woman next to him and hand, can
you believe this old to which she responded just flabbergasted. She says, do you
know who I am? She said, He said no, he said, I'm the wife of the man you just
called an old windbag. And then the young lieutenant replied back, well, do you
know who I am? And she said no to which he replied good. And he took off and
head for the rest of the evening. There. Now we all have had instances or maybe
not all, maybe just most of us have had instances where we've put our foot in
our mouth, We've said something that we didn't mean, or maybe we meant something
that we didn't say or we used the wrong tone or we were hurt or frustrated at
something else. and we, we took it out on somebody and while we have these way
with words I want to share with you a message this morning entitled Watch what
you say because we are wrapping up our series through the book of proverbs and
we are taking a look at what does it mean to live a life full of wisdom. And if
we're gonna live a life full of wisdom, it starts with what we say, how do we
communicate? Because we've heard that phrase sticks and stones may break my
bones, but words can never hurt me, but we know that's not true. We know that
our words have a deeper meaning. We all have been blessed or broken by a
statement of an employee or employer or a friend or a neighbor or sibling or a
parent or a child. Why is that? Why is it that some words just resonate at a
deeper level? Well, I want to spend a few moments a few minutes if you will dive
into the scriptures and see what is it about our words that has so much weight
in our lives now. I'm a morning person and by morning person, I don't actually
mean awake morning as in I have them. And so, uh, and I just wake up and every
morning the wake up is a little bit of a struggle. Are you with me? Non morning
people? Okay. Right. Any morning people in the room? Okay. You're all being
judged right now by everybody else. Uh, and so I need some coffee to function a
little bit, right? Or just a little something in the morning. Anyone with me
there. So, uh, you know, just something simple. A cup to 10, you know, just
something normal just to get some caffeine in the system and so I love drinking
coffee. But having young kid does a lot of times that means that we're on the go
pretty quickly whether it's a school or an appointment um or just somewhere
we're running out the door. And so a lot of times I'll make my coffee to go and
I have a few of those travel coffee mugs but I also because I get a little bit
A. D. H. D. In the morning and and just I start thinking about this thing or
that thing or that sporting event that was on last night and it all kind of
jumbled together. I tend to lose travel mugs, anyone do that, anyone everyone
does anyone have that one person in their family that just always leaves
something somewhere like oh I forgot this, okay for me it's the coffee mug, it's
the coffee cup and so I've been kind of running out of travel mugs and so, or
they'll be dirty and I'm too lazy to wash them and so I just grab a cup like, oh
it's fine, it's hot, but it's fine and so I'll just grab a cup and I'll hop in
the car and off we go now. One of the things that I've learned from living in
Arizona a few years, is that a lot of our roads act like a, a little child's
roller coaster, it's not major hills, but because of monsoon season, like very
straight road, just do this right. And some of you can feel the drive right now,
even here this morning, right? Because it's just gonna hope up and down up and
down. Okay, that's fun to have kids in the car, not so fun when you just have an
open cup of hot coffee. And so one day I was out driving with my kids and I was
blessing them in the back as they were having just joyful debate in which father
had to step in and so one hand on the wheel, one hand on the open cup of coffee
and blessing my Children behind me and, and I hit that bump and hot coffee
everywhere and it felt great, felt great and just added to me being a morning
person and in that moment I was like, right, it was so hot and there and you
know what, I spilled on my lap that morning. You're like, of course coffee. I
wish though that it was like water, I wish I had anything else in that moment
besides that hot cup of coffee and it spilled onto my lap and I was like, oh,
Why does this happen? Even though like I know, I know I grabbed the cup. I know
I poured the coffee. I know, I don't have the lead. I could have just taken an
extra 30 seconds and washed one that was there. And now I'm dealing with the
scorching hot coffee across the lap while driving and just starting off my
morning. Right? Here's the thing. Well, I was mad that the coffee spilled. The
reality was I had to have coffee in the cup to spill on my lap in the first
place. The only thing that was going to spill, what was in my cup. Why do I
bring this up when you're going through life and you're going through the ups
and downs, the daily routines and something happens and something spills out of
you, right? You can only spill out what you already have inside of you when I
spilled coffee, the only thing that was coming out of that coffee cup was coffee
because that was what was inside growing up. I used to love the different video
game systems. Nintendo Sega, right? Sonic the hedgehog. If you've played sonic
the hedgehog, just great, Really weird concept. If I look back on it now, let's
create a blue hedgehog that's really fast and collects rings because that makes
sense. And as a kid, it made sense. But as you play, if you've never played the
game okay, you're going through, you're trying to defeat bosses and save these
little animals. See that's you know, it's nice animals. I guess not. I think
about it, but I loved collecting coins. And so sonic the hedgehog, you would
collect these coins, you'd run through. But what would happen if you get hit?
All your coins would go everywhere and so you will get hit and whatever you had
would bust out. Here's here's how language works, okay. We like to think of
ourselves sometimes better than we ought and something happens and we get hit
and then what spills out of us is actually what's inside of us. Does that make
sense? And that we have to pay attention to our words because when we spoke and
this is this goes much deeper than just say a few inappropriate words here and
there. Okay, I'm talking about the deeper level, like the stories we tell
ourselves the anger that we take out on a regular basis on the people we love
because they're safe, the frustrations and the doubts that we have. Where does
that come from? Where does that spill out from? We're gonna take a look at a few
passages today. First, in the gospel of Luke Luke. Chapter six, Jesus says this.
He says, for no good tree bears bad fruit. Nor again does a battery bear. Good
fruit for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from
thorn bushes, nor grapes are picked from a bramble bush. This is the good person
out of the good treasure of his heart produces good and the evil person out of
the evil treasure produces evil. And I've highlighted this last phrase here that
for out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. So let me ask you what
is in your heart, what is in your cup? That if you got knocked, if you got
pushed, if you got bumped, what's spilling out? Can you have an honest
assessment of where you're at spiritually? Because it's easy to fake it out
here. It's easy to come on a sunday morning. How are you doing fine. How are you
doing fine. Before Covid 19 the church was really good at masks. Okay? We were
you come in and you wear it and you cover it. But what happens is is that when
you get bumped, when you get hit, when you get knocked with the things of life,
what's inside of you spills out? Now? I want you to notice this. I just picked
out about five or six passages from proverbs, But there's probably 20-30, maybe
even 40 verses in proverbs that talk directly with the power of the tongue,
directly with these words. But before we dive into that, if you take notes, I
want you to write this down. This is our big idea for today. And it's this that
words are a window into your heart. Words are window into your heart. Do you
want to know what someone is thinking or how someone is feeling? Pay attention
to what they are saying. A couple years ago we did a study verse by verse from
the book of James and in James Chapter three. It talked about taming the tongue
and it compared really a few illustrations to the power of speech. How a
powerful horse can be controlled by a small bit in its mouth or how a large boat
is directed by a small rudder or how eight massive fire can be started ignited
from a simple spark. Our words have weight. Our words have power. In fact, God
spoke the world into existence. You can't get three verses into the Bible before
you see the very power of words and then you get to the Gospel is the Gospel of
john specifically in the beginning was what it's the word and the word was with
God and the word was God. And so God values words. In fact he created the world
through speech. So do we have that understanding? Do we believe that our words
have weight? Here's what's interesting when it comes to our relationships? Your
words will either build or break the people around you. If you picture a brick
firm moment, there is a kind of brick siding up here and bricks can be used to
build something that is strong. That same brick, when individually hurled at a
window can break something really easily. Same thing with our words when you
invest in your Children, when you invest in your employees, When you invest in
your friendships, your words have the opportunity to speak life to create worlds
for them and to create their future for them at the same time, your words can
also break them. Some of you are dealing with a father or a mother womb from
your childhood as a result of something that was said to you. And it's not even,
it doesn't have to be true. It just has to be said and you feel it, don't you?
Because our words have weight and your words are window into your heart for out
of the abundance of your heart you speak. So I'm just going to a couple couple
passages in proverbs, but I want you to notice the contrast that the opportunity
to build or to break rests in the individual. This means that you have the power
to create worlds for the people around you. Just as God spoke, the world into
existence. You can speak life into the people around. You notice the sharp
contrast here First Proverbs 1020. The tongue of the Righteous is choice,
Silver. The heart of the Wicked is of little worth. Do you have people in your
life who opinions don't matter to you because of something they have said in the
past of a lie they told. Well, I can't trust them. Now. Have you ever had that
thought? Where does that come from? Comes from words proverbs 12 18. It says
reckless words pierced like a sword. But the tongue of the Wise brings healing.
You can hurt, or you can heal, you can break, or you can bless. The choice is
yours proverbs 15 1. A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up
anger. You can pour water on the fire when it comes to you, or you can pour
gasoline. It matters how you respond when somebody comes to you. Do you want to
call 9, 11 when you have an emergency? And the person on the other side is more
frantic than you are? Hello. nine on 1. I need help. Oh no, Wait A. 2nd. You're
supposed what are you gonna do? Like you, you want the person to respond. Why?
Like you want to bring it down a notch, right? Same thing in our friendship. So
when somebody comes to you and expresses a fire in their life, you get a chance
to blame somebody else. You get a chance to pour it on that person. So he told
you so, or you get a chance to bring hope and healing into their life. It's not
on the screens. But I want you to write this down how you speak, shapes the
season that you're in, how you speak, shapes the season that you're in. If
you're part of a workplace that is toxic. You understand what I'm talking about.
It makes a huge difference to have positivity on the team, but not just like
fluffy cloud positivity, but like a solid purpose. Love and joy based positivity
that comes from the security in christ and then treating people the way jesus
treated us probably 15 4 says this gentle words are a tree of life, but a
deceitful tongue crushes the spirit. How are Adam and Eve 1st tempted. That's
when the servant spoke to them and got them to doubt, got them to doubt. God got
them to doubt themselves and through perversion and persuasion, convince them to
take action in the wrong direction. Gentle words lead the life, but a deceitful
tongue crushes the spirit. Lastly Proverbs 1821, the tongue has the power of
life and death turn to your neighbor right now and say to them, you have power.
I'm gonna give you one more opportunity in that because it didn't seem as strong
as some of you are still whispering like we're in a library, come on, we're
doing church in a comedy club. It's okay to talk loud. Alright, You're like you
have power. Okay go ahead one more time. Turn to your neighbor and say you have
power. Mm It's great. Now some of you were even speaking in accents. I
appreciate that. Add a little flavor to the mix. Okay. I like that. I cannot do
any accents. It's not it's not good but it won't stop me from trying. Uh when
we're watching tv shows anyone in that family that anyone that person and family
that when you're watching the show with someone speaking in an accent, you try
to do that accent. It doesn't matter if you're successful or not, you just go
for it. Okay. And accents are really interesting. Like, I wish, I wish, I wish
that I had like an accent. I just feel like I would sound smarter. I mean, I've
shared with some of you before. One of my favorite rounds of golf ever was when
I was in florida and my father and I got paired up with a Scottish man who was
about four ft eight and I got to the T and my first shot, he goes, great strike
laddie. I was like, this is amazing and, and accents this sound cool. Don't they
like that? It just gives you a flavor of where someone is from. It gives you a
little bit of who they are and how they speak. Let me ask you this question now,
how many of us in the room speak with a spiritual accent in other words when you
when you speak, do you talk in such a way that people can tell that you're from
God? If you want an encouraging verse, I want to share this with you in first,
John four vs 4-6, it says this little Children, you are from where God And have
overcome them. Now, this is an incredible verse. If you need some encouragement,
if you need a promise to cling to this week marked down first, John 44 says, for
he who is in you is greater than he, who is in the world since they are from the
world. Therefore, they speak from the world. In other words, they have a worldly
accent. Why are we surprised that people of the world speak like they're from
the world? We cannot expect darkness to produce light and yet we continually get
shocked. Okay, it's how they speak. It's what they know. The world listens to
them, but notice your verse six, but we are from God. Whoever knows God listens
to us. Whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this. We know the
spirit of truth and the spirit of error. Do you speak with a heavenly accent?
Jesus is the very language of God. Here's the word. And when you love people,
the way that jesus has loved you when you speak life into them, When you offer
grace and forgiveness and truth and purpose, you are speaking the very language
of God in a way that can be understood by the world. The world doesn't need an
echo of itself. It needs an alternative. We need to stop trying to be relevant
all the time and just be truthful because truth is always relevant and truth
leads to life. Now, I know some of you are walking through some very difficult
circumstances right now. So I want to ask you then how are you speaking into
those circumstances? I want to give you right now a personal, just a quick five
question personal speech inventory. Think of these as like the lights on the
dashboard, right, and just four of them is really just a check in your spirit
and the fifth one, it's more like fuel in the gas tank. Okay, 1st 1, 1st
personal inventory question here, has your anger become an attitude? I'm not
talking about just a burst of emotion but has your anger continued to the point
that has just become your default attitude? You're angry about something you
can't control and therefore you take out your anger on the people that you think
you can control right? Heard the phrase hurt people, hurt people. Just ask
yourself as my anger become an attitude. 2nd, personal inventory question is
this, has your voice become a viewpoint? Is your voice your unique speech your
perspective? Does it become a viewpoint that you think is God himself? Listen,
we are in a very divided political culture and if your God lines up with every
single one of your political views, you might want to pause for a moment and
say, okay, am I worshipping God or did I create my own? I'm not saying don't
have an opinion, I'm not saying don't have discussions, but has your voice when
you speak, Do you speak with a heavenly accent? Can they tell where you come
from? Has your voice become a viewpoint? Number three? Has your worry become a
worldview? You see as we're raising kids, it's impossible to protect your child
from everything. So instead what if we tried to prepare our Children for
anything? You can't protect them from everything, but you can prepare them for
anything. And so you gotta ask yourself, have you become so anxious? So
worrisome that that has become your default worldview because I've read
scripture Godwin's okay. Do we know that? Like, I'm not saying that it's not
crazy, but we know who wins, You know, the olympics right now in Tokyo because
of the time difference, What happens is on, they'll release the results and then
sometimes they play the the event later. Uh, I was watching one of the events
and I was I was watching one of the events that I already knew the outcome for
and I got really nervous. It's like, oh no, what's going to happen? And I was
like, wait a second. I know who wins. That changes how you watch an event,
doesn't it? It should change how we live our lives as well. Number four, has
your language become a label? See words are so much deeper in a few things we
spout out when we stub our toe that we shouldn't words like shame, guilt,
victim, you're not good enough. You gotta be real careful with those labels. You
know, we try to organize our lives and some of you maybe even have a label maker
at home for little buckets and drawers and things. There be careful about how
you do that though, When it comes to your people, labels can last a lifetime if
we're not careful. Have you put a label on yourself that jesus didn't? Do you
see yourself as overwhelmed or do you see yourself as an overcome er before he
who is in you is greater than he, who is in the world? What if our labels came
from him see those words? God's words, brings life The last one here. Has your
praise become a platform? Has your praise become a platform? One of the
Olympians as Sydney McLaughlin when she broke the 400 m Hurdles record, was
asked to respond how she felt and in that moment she spent her whole life
training for that moment, she responded by telling the world records come and
go, but the glory of God is eternal. She used her praise as a platform to lift
God up. Do you use your praise to as a platform to lift others up? Do you make
your family better, your team better stronger. Are you like these spotlights
that are shining down on me? Could you be a spotlight into the life of someone
else? God, I see you. God is using you. Do you lift them up if you do that,
you're gonna see a difference. You know, paint cans look pretty similar. Quick
show of hands in the room, However you have like a spot in the garage was just
like random paint cans, like we need to keep it in case there's something right?
And then we just have paint cans right now. Imagine if you will that you go home
today and you decided to repaint a bedroom living in pick a room and and imagine
having all these cans in the center of the room, they all kind of look the same.
But here's the thing. You get to decide what color you paint the room, you have
all the colors before you there in the cans, they're in there and but you decide
what the room looks like in the same way. I want to ask you, what does your room
look like, What does your heart look like? Because you decide what you're going
to paint it, how you're going to paint the relationship, how you're going to
paint the job, how you're going to paint the difficulties that you're facing.
And if you find yourself focused on worry, anxiety, struggle, battles, issues,
anger. Now, some might need professional help. And I encourage you to do that,
take that step further, do whatever you can to get to the healthy spot to get
the people who can speak life into you, who can support you and can love you.
But I want to end here, that your words are window into your heart. So whatever
spilling out, I want you to know that you have the opportunity to choose life
and to choose jesus and to speak with the heavenly accent so that the world will
know that he who is in us is greater than he, who is in the world, and that
we're going to paint our rooms with glory, with grace, with forgiveness, with
hope, May the world see God for who he is, with how we speak And Love one
Another. Let's pray.