The Power of Words: Shaping Lives and Hearts

Here are the selected quotes from the sermon transcript:

1. "What we say matters, right? How we use our language matters. Actually, we get to represent God probably the easiest way with what we say, right? So if people hear us speak a certain way, that is usually a way. A way that people can represent, hey, do I believe in God or, you know, what are my values, right? So I think it is important on what we say. And that's what I'm going to be seeing in this book of James. And actually, you know, if you grew up in a different household where, you know, there was more liberties with language, you know, I'm not here to judge you. What we're going to learn to talk about today is that what we say matters to God. What we say matters to God. And that goes well beyond. Forbidden four -letter words, right?" [00:09:01] (49 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


2. "There is so much power, right, that this small member of our body has, right? And a lot of times we don't really consider what that is. We don't consider how much power that our tongue has, right? And this is the simple truth. There is so much power in what we say. And I actually love the illustration that James is using about the rudder of a ship, right? Have you ever seen a boat or a ship, right, or especially an old school ship, right? The rudder. The rudder is a small part that you can't even see, right, above the water, but it controls the whole ship. It controls the direction the ship is going, right? It has so much power, even though it's a small part." [00:11:43] (44 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


3. "The words we use, they can drastically impact our lives and even the lives of those around us, right? Now, I want us to understand that, that the words we use, just like the steering wheel in the car, can impact the direction of the car, where it goes, where it ends up. So is our words. So is our tongue. It has the ability to drastically impact the direction of our lives and even those around us. And why is that, right? Why does our words have so much power? Well, I believe it's because of this simple truth, right? That we are made in the image of God." [00:13:21] (42 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


4. "With just your words, you are inspiring that child. You are shaping that child's outlook of their life. You're shaping, you're building that child's outlook of their future. And I would say that they would believe that things are possible because of what you said versus you not saying them, understand? Because you are pouring into your child just with your words, right? It has a huge impact on what that child's future may look like, right? This is because we have the power, like I said, with our words to build and create and impact lives, right? And this is why our words matter to God." [00:15:18] (44 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


5. "Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark it says the tongue also is a fire it says a world of evil among the parts of the body corrupts the whole body sets the whole course of one's life on fire and is itself set on fire by hell wow these are strong warnings a strong kind of uh analyzation of our words that that james is making here right he says that our words our tongues the way we talk the words we use can set our whole life on fire interestingly enough i i just saw a study that said that everybody if you're watching this is true for you too are only one or two decisions from absolutely destroying their whole life right it doesn't take a lot one or two decisions and i'd be willing to bet that for most of us we can do that probably one phone call right it doesn't take a lot we can call right now if you're married you can call your your spouse right now and tell them what you really think about that cooking right or you can call your boss and actually tell them what you really think about them right just those few words can really up in your whole entire life the point is this is how powerful our words are right this is how quickly our words can light a fire to our entire life and do irreputable damage right and this is the truth right they're so they're it's probably nothing more destructive than the power of words right words can start world wars" [00:16:58] (108 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


6. "We all curse too much in this way, right? A curse is really just to speak ill will of, right? To say something that is not edifying, that is not beneficial, say something that denigrates, that tears somebody down, that's really the definition of a curse. And we all do that too much, right? Think about it, right? And maybe it's a harmless joke about somebody that annoys you at work, right? You're saying, ah, they're so, they're so, they're so lazy, right? Oh, they're so dumb. They couldn't even figure out the new program, right? You have to laugh with your buddies. You're cursing. You're cursing them, right? Or maybe you just need to vent, right?" [00:20:13] (42 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


7. "It's going to lead to some destruction, it's going to eventually lead to some harm, and that is exactly what is what's happening when we're careless with our tongue, when we're careless with our words, we're whipping that thing like crazy, and you know where we end up, we end up in depression, we end up in anxiety, we end up in broken relationships, we end up with regret, wishing we could take back things that we've said, right? And again, this is no judgment zone here, I just want us to get this wisdom that James is teaching, right, so that we can glean from it, because I know the truth is, for many of us, when we're in heated situations and heated arguments, it's pretty difficult, right, to not say what we want to say, or say what we feel needs to be said, it's pretty difficult to control our tongues in that moment, and this is what James understands, listen to what he says, he says, All kinds of animals" [00:22:08] (63 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


8. "birds reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind but no human can tame the tongue it is a restless evil full of deadly poison wow james is making an example like hey you can go to a circus right now and see an elephant you know in a tent right now we've managed to tame this you know multi -ton you know gigantic animal but this little object in our mouths we can't seem to control right and what he's simply saying is we need the help of god to do that we need the help of god to control our tongues and it starts with just us being more mindful of it and that's my encouragement today to all of us be let's be more mindful of what's right be more mindful that we do need to tame our tongues right because it's hard sometimes even in those moments that you know you are right in those moments where you you feel the need stirring up in you to correct somebody right maybe not in the best way in that moment where you feel like you need to just kind of air out your grievances right we need to have wisdom as james is teaching us in our word our words are not using the power to tear down but the power to build up and create in other people that's what god's desires for us and it's so important to do that it's so important to understand hey when should i say something or when should i not you know there's an old wisdom that says if you can't say anything nice don't say anything at all right and that that is so true because here's the truth sometimes in life what we say not only tears other people's out but it can truly hinder what god wants to do in our life hear that understand that what you say" [00:23:10] (124 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


9. "can hinder what god wants to do in your life sounds sounds crazy right but there's a really good story in the bible that kind of examples this right this is clearly seen in the book of luke right it's the story of the birth of john the baptist and what's happening now is john's the baptist parents are elizabeth and zachariah and they were both well above childbearing age and angel of the lord came to them and told them that they will bear a child that will be the forerunner of jesus christ that he will prepare the way for jesus right a pretty big deal right and zachariah's the the father he had trouble believing this right and so let's let's read what his response the angel came to him told him about this miraculous thing that's going to happen but zachariah had an issue believing and so let's look what happened it says zachariah asked the angel how could i be sure of this i'm an old man and my wife is well along in years and the angel said to him i am gabriel i stand in the presence of god and have been sent to speak to you and tell you of this good news and now you're going to be a good man and you're going to be a good woman and you will be silent and not be able to speak until this day happens because you did not believe my words which will come true at their appointed time i find this fascinating i find it absolutely fascinating because here you have god right preparing the way for jesus for thousands of years this has been in the works right and john the baptist has a role in this right and so god is prepared for all this time preparing this and here you have his the father of john the baptist right in doubt and because he is in doubt" [00:27:19] (124 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


10. "the angel Gabriel had to silence his mouth, right? Now you would think, oh, this is God at work. What is a word of one man? Like how could one man's words stop this? No, we have to understand God calls us in partnership with himself, right? And our words play a big role. Here the angel Gabriel had to silence Zechariah's mouth so that his words wouldn't breed more doubt. His words wouldn't stir up unbelief, maybe in Elizabeth, right? He needed to tame his tongue. Here's Gabriel actually taming the tongue of Zechariah for him so that what he would say wouldn't hinder God's move." [00:31:39] (41 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)