The Transformative Power of Words in Faith
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1. "We need power to accomplish God's purpose. And that's true, whether you're doing a floor, Puerto Rico, to parenting here in Michigan in 2024, or just trying to get through your day, getting through a hard circumstance, we need power to accomplish God's purposes. And that's why we've been going through the book of Acts over the course of this summer, because there's so much power in some of the tools that God provides." [02:44] (26 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
2. "Words have power. Think about all the phrases that we use on a day-to-day basis, and we really don't even think about it. Just say the word. Or people will say, hey, I'm not going to speak that over you. Or maybe we hear some people say, I want to speak that into existence. It's been proven that talking to a baby, even in the womb, can be a very powerful thing. Shaping who that baby, that person becomes, especially in recent years, we've seen the power of words in the rise of bullying, hate speech, our presence online. Words absolutely have power." [04:14] (47 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
3. "If, in fact, our words have the power of life and death, how do we harness that power to bring life? Because that's what God's word has done all throughout history. Go all the way back to the beginning of the Bible. In the book of Genesis, it says that God speaks creation. He speaks life into existence. That is the power, the life-giving power of God's word." [05:51] (24 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
4. "What I love is that God says to Paul, go on speaking, be bold, use your words. There's power in them, and God will actually provide protection and accomplish his purposes when Paul does just that. So what kinds of words is it that God is directing Paul to speak and us to speak that bring life and not death? Well, as I said before, there's three ones in particular that I would like to focus in, and they are reason, testimony, and explanation." [07:14] (34 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
5. "Your reasons are actually some of the most persuasive, powerful, things that you have for why you believe, why you have faith. Always be ready to give a reason. I want you to think back over your life, over the last day, week, month, years. What are your reasons for belief? Why do you have faith? It's something that we actually call prayer and worship. Worship is saying, God, this is who you are. I thank you. I praise you. And here's why. You are fill in the blank. You're good. You're present. You're faithful. You're joy. You heal. You forgive. You make all things new." [10:29] (58 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
6. "When we share what we have seen, what we've felt, what we've experienced, what has happened to us, there's power. And actually in Acts chapter 18, there's power for entire households to come together and say, come to know Jesus simply because of our testimony. In verse five, it says, when Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with the word, testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus. Testimony is personal to us and about a person, Jesus." [12:07] (32 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
7. "When we remember and share our testimony, there is power to overcome in it. There's power for us to overcome and there's power for others to overcome. And many times we'll think of our testimony though, as a one-time thing. Not true. What have you seen? What has happened to you? Sure, that can be the first time that you encountered or experienced the power of Jesus. In a way that helped you overcome something, but not just once. Where have you seen and experienced Jesus right now, today, recently?" [13:33] (35 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
8. "Do you understand what you're reading? More than this, is there anyone in your life that asks you that, that can help you, that is close enough by you as you're walking this out, maybe even teaching, maybe even sharing boldly? Is there anyone that says, hey, you know, I saw this this time. Can I pull you aside? Privately, not publicly, not humiliating, lovingly, caringly, privately saying, hey, can I explain more accurately to you? Who do you trust enough to do that? Who's in your life that asks you the hard questions?" [19:26] (37 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
9. "In fact, there's some simple questions that I often use to help me see and understand more fully Jesus in the pages of Scripture. Anytime I read something, just pause and I say, all right, what's the main point here? How could I summarize this in my own words? I want to understand what it's saying. Sometimes to help, you might need to ask somebody, get in a life group, discuss it, maybe get a commentary or a study Bible. But then you can say, all right, where, and this gets back to testimony, where do I see Jesus in this?" [19:26] (36 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
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2. "Words have power. Think about all the phrases that we use on a day-to-day basis, and we really don't even think about it. Just say the word. Or people will say, hey, I'm not going to speak that over you. Or maybe we hear some people say, I want to speak that into existence. It's been proven that talking to a baby, even in the womb, can be a very powerful thing. Shaping who that baby, that person becomes, especially in recent years, we've seen the power of words in the rise of bullying, hate speech, our presence online. Words absolutely have power." [04:14] (47 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
3. "If, in fact, our words have the power of life and death, how do we harness that power to bring life? Because that's what God's word has done all throughout history. Go all the way back to the beginning of the Bible. In the book of Genesis, it says that God speaks creation. He speaks life into existence. That is the power, the life-giving power of God's word." [05:51] (24 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
4. "What I love is that God says to Paul, go on speaking, be bold, use your words. There's power in them, and God will actually provide protection and accomplish his purposes when Paul does just that. So what kinds of words is it that God is directing Paul to speak and us to speak that bring life and not death? Well, as I said before, there's three ones in particular that I would like to focus in, and they are reason, testimony, and explanation." [07:14] (34 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
5. "Your reasons are actually some of the most persuasive, powerful, things that you have for why you believe, why you have faith. Always be ready to give a reason. I want you to think back over your life, over the last day, week, month, years. What are your reasons for belief? Why do you have faith? It's something that we actually call prayer and worship. Worship is saying, God, this is who you are. I thank you. I praise you. And here's why. You are fill in the blank. You're good. You're present. You're faithful. You're joy. You heal. You forgive. You make all things new." [10:29] (58 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
6. "When we share what we have seen, what we've felt, what we've experienced, what has happened to us, there's power. And actually in Acts chapter 18, there's power for entire households to come together and say, come to know Jesus simply because of our testimony. In verse five, it says, when Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with the word, testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus. Testimony is personal to us and about a person, Jesus." [12:07] (32 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
7. "When we remember and share our testimony, there is power to overcome in it. There's power for us to overcome and there's power for others to overcome. And many times we'll think of our testimony though, as a one-time thing. Not true. What have you seen? What has happened to you? Sure, that can be the first time that you encountered or experienced the power of Jesus. In a way that helped you overcome something, but not just once. Where have you seen and experienced Jesus right now, today, recently?" [13:33] (35 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
8. "Do you understand what you're reading? More than this, is there anyone in your life that asks you that, that can help you, that is close enough by you as you're walking this out, maybe even teaching, maybe even sharing boldly? Is there anyone that says, hey, you know, I saw this this time. Can I pull you aside? Privately, not publicly, not humiliating, lovingly, caringly, privately saying, hey, can I explain more accurately to you? Who do you trust enough to do that? Who's in your life that asks you the hard questions?" [19:26] (37 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
9. "In fact, there's some simple questions that I often use to help me see and understand more fully Jesus in the pages of Scripture. Anytime I read something, just pause and I say, all right, what's the main point here? How could I summarize this in my own words? I want to understand what it's saying. Sometimes to help, you might need to ask somebody, get in a life group, discuss it, maybe get a commentary or a study Bible. But then you can say, all right, where, and this gets back to testimony, where do I see Jesus in this?" [19:26] (36 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
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