Speaker: we're in Proverbs, uh, 10, Proverbs 10, so you
can make your way over there.
We're gonna be talking about words this week, about words
written, spoken, all of the above.
But I took a quiz this week, actually.
Uh, I haven't taken a quiz in a while.
I took a quiz this week, um, and the quiz was, "Should you start a podcast?"
That was the quiz I took.
Um, and it was two questions long.
And, uh, the answer to the quiz, uh, well, the, the question was, uh, "Do you
have something to say that no one else in the history of the world has ever said?"
Uh, if it was yes, then it said, uh, "You shouldn't start
a podcast because you're lying."
And if it was no, the, uh, you shouldn't start a podcast 'cause everyone's
already talked about what you said.
Anyway, it was a funny quiz because, uh, uh, I don't know
if you know this, there are 4.5
million podcasts in the world.
4.5
million podcasts.
Everyone's got a podcast, apparently.
And, um, Americans, I researched this, listen to 70 s- or sorry, 773
million hours of podcasts per week.
773 million hours of podcasts are listened to in America per week, which
is 32 million days worth of podcasts in a week, um, which is also 88,000 years.
88,000 years of podcasts are listened to every week in, in America.
And, um, if you take average words per minute of 150, which is average
for average talking speed for most podcasters, it's seven trillion words.
So that means that America, as a country, listens to seven trillion
words every single week, which is crazy.
And that's not including songs.
That's not including TV.
That's not including friends and conversations.
That's just podcasts.
So the- our country listens to seven trillion words every week.
And now those words, right, some of them are super helpful, some of them
are garbage, some of them are useful, some of them are inspirational,
some of them are just fun, right?
But there's a lot of words out there.
And, uh, your words, right?
You speak about, uh, 700 times, depending on the average, a day.
Uh, you speak about 7,000 words to anywhere to maybe 20,000 words per day.
Your words can be worthless or they can be priceless.
They can … Or they can be anywhere in between, but they're never meaningless
because your words always matter.
Whether you think they do or not, your words always matter.
And what we're gonna see tonight is that you have a responsibility,
I have a responsibility to use my words in a valuable way, a way that,
that is important, a way that's helpful, a way that's meaningful.
Okay?
So we're gonna be in Proverbs 10:20.
Okay.
And here's what it says.
It says, "The tongue," right, the … That's a metaphor for the words, "of a,
of a righteous person is choice silver."
Right?
It's, like, super awesome.
It's valuable.
It's important.
It's great.
"But the heart of the wicked is of little worth."
Right?
So not very important.
Not very helpful.
Not very valuable, right?
Worthless.
You don't even care
What we see here is that your words can be impactful and good,
or they can be worthless, right?
No one should listen to you ever.
And what we're gonna see is that your words actually aren't just
more or less helpful to some people.
They're actually even more important than that.
Um, what Proverbs says, um, is that death and life are at stake with your words.
Maybe you don't think about that, but that's our first point.
We're, don't underestimate the power of words.
Don't underes- u- don't underestimate the power of words
They can't just be…
They're, they're valuable, right?
But they're also impactful.
They also accomplish things
Proverbs 18:21 says, "Death and life are in the power of the tongue."
Right?
You, with your speech, are making life or death decisions,
potentially, with how you talk.
Right?
It could be physical.
Right?
We saw that in the news a couple months ago.
There was someone your age who died because of words.
There was a conversation at a high school, right?
That, uh … There was the, the news … I mean, this happened a year ago, right?
But the, the news was two months ago that they finally had the trial.
But, um, that started with words.
Right?
That didn't start with a war.
It didn't start with, um, actions.
It started with things that were said.
And it resulted in someone killing someone, a high schooler killing
another high schooler, right?
So words can have a big impact.
Right?
Death and life are in the power of the tongue.
But not just in their impact, but also in how they affect people.
Right?
When you open your mouth, you are either moving people in a life direction
or in a death direction, right?
We've talked about this in the Book of Proverbs.
There's like two paths, right?
There's the, the life path, which is God's way.
Right?
God says, "If you follow me and my instructions for you, my directions,
my wisdom," it gives you life.
Right?
Not just like, oh, you live forever or you live really long,
but life in terms of quality.
Right?
God loves you, and His, p- His words for you, right, His wisdom
for you, is for your good.
Right?
That's why He gives us commands, and that's why He gives us wisdom,
instruction, is for, for us to live His way, which is the best way to live.
Or your words are moving people in the opposite direction, the death
direction, away from the Lord.
They're, they're bringing … They're tearing people down.
They're discouraging people from paying attention to God.
Right?
They're distracting people from God.
Your words are, are doing one of two things at all times.
They're, they're moving people one way or the other.
Maybe you don't think about it, but similar idea here.
Proverbs 10:11.
"The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life."
Right?
Someone who is speaking God's way is life giving.
Right?
You wanna be around them.
They're, they're the type of person whose words help you.
They're u- important to you.
They mean good things for you.
They push you in the right direction.
You talk about the right type of things.
They make you excited for things that you should be excited about.
But the mouth of the wicked conceals violence.
Right?
Then maybe they're just talking.
Maybe you think, oh, it's just … They're just fun to hang out with or they're
really funny or I like listening to them.
But really what they're doing is they're attacking you because they're distracting
you from the Lord or they're promoting things that replace God in your life.
And that's not just, oh, yeah, that's good for some people, good for others.
It's actually violent.
That's bad for you.
It's killing you.
That's what's happening when people talk.
They're either giving life or they're attacking you, or they're either
healing you or tearing you down.
And your words are doing the same thing to other people.
Every time you talk, you are either giving someone life or
you are being violent to them.
You're hurting them by the things that you say.
Right?
There's, there's a life direction and a, and a death direction, right?
There's no neutral direction, right?
It made me think of…
I don't know if you guys played Mario Kart back on the Wii, you know, but
you remember Toad Factory with the, the things on the ground, right?
You wanted to be on, on this one, right?
Ex- unless you got hit by that, then that would be bad.
But you wanna be moving in, like, the good direction, right?
You want the boost, right?
You don't wanna be going this way, 'cause then you're going backward.
If you just want the safe route, you're like, "Oh, I'm just gonna go
in the middle and not worry about the things that flatten you," right?
That was, that's what some people did, right?
You, you play it safe.
You don't worry about it.
This person obviously stinks at Mario Kart, so they don't
know what they're doing.
But in, in your words, your conversations, there's no middle ground.
There's no regular road.
There's only this one or that one.
Every word you say is either like this, pushing people forward, giving
them life, or it's pushing them back, distracting them from God.
There's, there's not this regular road with your words.
There's only one or the other.
There's only two options.
That's what I want you to see, is y- y- when you talk to someone or when you
talk about someone or when you listen to someone, right, those words are
either the green arrows, saying, "This is life-giving," or they're the red
arrows, saying, "This is killing you."
There's only two options, right?
You can't just play it safe and, "Oh, I'm just not gonna talk about
anything meaningful," and that's fine.
Right?
'Cause that's actually distracting people from God, right?
Your words are powerful, and so is your listening, right?
Your listening, what you listen to, is also related to words.
Your listening really shapes who you are.
You're a product of all the words that have ever been said to you.
You think about that?
Every single word that's ever been said to you has conveyed an idea
or a tone or a value, and it's shaped you into who you are today.
You're like a, like a pot of soup, and everyone's been pouring ingredients
in with their words your whole life.
And the, the flavor you are, right, the type of soup you are, is a
product of all the ingredients that have been poured in there.
All the words that you've ever listened to, all the sentences, all
the ideas, all the paragraphs, all the, all the things you've read, all
the things you've watched, all the things you've heard, have shaped you.
Your listening is really you becoming who you're gonna be.
Every time you listen to something, you're making a decision.
Who am I going to be?
Your words have power, and other people's words have power, too.
And that's what God wants you to see, that words are one of the
most important things in your life.
Maybe you think, "Well, my words aren't…
don't seem like that," right?
"They don't seem like they're doing much.
I speak and no one listens," or, "I speak and people make fun of me," or, "I
speak and maybe sometimes people listen."
But little by little, they are accomplishing something.
They're shaping you.
They're shaping others.
And that's what God wants you to see, is that your words have power, right?
They impact people, and you are impacted as well.
And the reason your words are so important is because they're related to your heart.
You notice this in Proverbs, there's the, there's always the parallel, right?
There's like first half, second half.
And so we've got, okay, little worth is contrasted with choice silver, right?
So th- those are the same kind of idea.
Silver is good.
Little worth is bad, right?
So it's parallel, contrast, right?
Wicked, righteous.
Okay.
So, so far these are all opposites, but they're, they're related, right?
And then we have tongue and heart.
What God says about your words and your heart is that your
words reveal who you really are.
And you're gonna see this in your small group questions, but what Jesus
says is that you know someone's heart from what they say and how they say it
So your words and your heart are inseparable, right?
Your words reveal who you really are, what you love, what you think is
important, what you care about, right?
That's your heart.
When you read s- heart in the Bible, it's kind of the center of who you are.
Your loves, your values, your desires, your ambitions, that's your heart.
And so the parallel is not, oh, the words of the wicked are of little
worth, the heart is, because the heart and the words are connected.
They're, they're interchangeable in this sentence because what we're
trying to see here is that your words come from your heart, right?
Your heart is the source of your words.
And so point two is focus on the source of your words
Focus on the source of your words, right?
Your words come from your heart, and they show what your heart is really like
I don't know if you've ever, uh, you've ever said something and you
said, "Oh, I didn't really mean that."
Right?
You, you ever say something and you're like, "Oh, th- that's,
that's not really what I meant."
Right?
Which sometimes maybe is true, but really you did mean to say it, right?
Maybe you didn't mean to mean it the way the other person thought you meant
it, but you did mean to say it, right?
Or maybe … I remember when I was, um, when I was in first grade, someone
taught me all the bad words, right?
There was a kid at my school.
This is why parents homeschool their kids.
There's a kid at my school, he taught me all the bad words, right?
So now they're, they're in me, right?
I know them.
And, um, me being a first grader and being selfish and, and being a
sinner, right, I decided to use them and attack people with my words.
Now, did the words, did learning the bad words make me a bad kid?
No.
Right?
I was a bad kid before I had the bad words, right?
The bad words just gave me weapons, right?
But I was already a selfish, a selfish kid who wanted to put people down, right?
But now I just decided to, to, you know, use the, the nuclear
weapons of the playground and attack people with my bad words, right?
The words didn't make me bad.
I was already bad, and now I'm just using them, right?
The words gave me an opportunity to exercise my badness, right?
It came from my heart.
Someone didn't just drop the, the bad words into me and be like,
"Oh, now Lewis is a bad kid."
No.
Right?
I was already a bad kid, and the bad words gave me a way to express
that in a even more obvious way Your words always come from your heart.
No one just drops the words in your mouth, and you're like,
"Oh, where did that come from?"
It came from you.
Right, when you say something, or maybe the tone you said it with, right?
When some- if you're driving and someone cuts you off, that tone didn't
come from that person cutting you off.
It came from you, from your heart.
Or when you drop something or someone annoys you and you snap at them,
that tone didn't come from, "Oh, that, my brother's really annoying.
I just can't help it."
No, that, that anger in your tone or the frustration came
from you, from your heart.
Right?
They didn't make you do it.
They just gave you an opportunity to express that.
And so when we wanna talk about our words, what we really wanna
talk about is our heart, 'cause that's where everything comes from.
Right?
If you wanna change your, your words, you need to start with the heart.
'Cause you can just change all the external words, and it's
not gonna do much for you.
It's kinda like when I, when I thought of the word source, um, 'cause we were
talking about Minecraft last week.
Um, you ever, you know when you play Minecraft, and you see lava?
Right?
And, uh, you gotta get the source block to stop the lava, right?
'Cause if you got a bucket, you can't pick up all the lava.
You, if you do the, if you pick, try to pick up the lava and the
bucket, it doesn't take it away.
The lava just stays there.
You have to find this, there's one block that's like the source block of the lava.
You pick that up, all the lava goes away.
Right?
If you climbed to the top of this thing and found the source block
and picked up the, the lava, all the lava goes away, right?
I don't even know if you guys play Minecraft.
I know some of you do.
I love it.
Okay, great.
I was unsure if, like, you guys were too cool for Minecraft, you
move on to bigger and better things.
No one's too cool for Minecraft, okay?
You'll find that, same with Pokémon.
Now, like, Pokémon's coming back.
You're never too cool for that.
Anyway, point is, right, you can try to change your words.
You can be like, "Well, I'm just not gonna s- I'm just, you know, gonna substitute,
you know, that word that kinda sounds like a cuss word for, for instead, and
that way it's gonna, like, be better."
It's like, okay, well, that doesn't change your heart, right?
That's you just taking your bucket and trying to take up this lava, right?
It's not doing anything.
You're like, "Well, okay, I, I said dang instead of," you know,
or, "I said gosh instead of…"
Right?
Not helping, because it's, it's about the heart,
right?
To change your words, you really need to change your heart.
Because if you weren't selfish and angry at people, you
wouldn't even need those words.
So if you try to, maybe you just say, "Oh, well, I'm just not gonna say those
words around those type of people," right?
Again, not a, not a heart solution, right?
You're just trying to, trying to block the lava in or, or, you know,
take the lava out from the sides
Your heart is really what, what you see when your words come out.
So if you see a lot of complaining words in your life, that's a heart problem.
You're ungrateful, right?
Or if you see a lot of, a lot of angry words or impatient
words, that's a heart problem.
That's not a, "Well, I just need to stop yelling at people."
It's like…
Or stop complaining.
It's like, yeah, well, you need a grateful heart.
That's what you need.
You don't just need to stop complaining
So what happens is kinda like you're a cup, and when you get bumped, what's in,
what's inside your heart comes out, right?
So the, the bumps, right, that's maybe stress.
You're, you're just like, "Oh, I was just so stressed I just snapped and I got mad."
It's like, well, the stress just drew out that from your heart.
It was already there.
The stress didn't create that.
Or maybe when you're happy, maybe when you're happy, you get really selfish.
Maybe you're, you're happy, you forget about other people,
or you forget about God.
That's bumping you, and it's showing you, oh, I'm actually just selfish.
I forget about God when things go well.
Or maybe you're, you, there's conflict, right?
There's a, there's a problem with someone, and, and you s- try, you
start gossiping about them, right?
That's coming out of your heart.
The conflict bumped you, and now the gossip came out.
The gossip was already in there.
The conflict didn't create that.
And obviously it goes with good things as well.
Maybe there you have a success in your life and, and now you're, you're bragging.
The bragging is a result of the pride being in your heart
before the success came, right?
So it's, it's always a heart issue.
And maybe you're thinking, well, why do I care so much about words?
It's like, you know, y- people say actions speak louder than words, right?
Isn't that, isn't that more important?
Isn't there a parable that Jesus said about, you know, isn't it better to be
the guy who said he wouldn't obey and then obeyed versus the guy who said
he would obey and then didn't obey?
Isn't that in the Bible?
What about that?
Well, if you think about that, deceptive words are also from your heart, right?
So if you're saying, "Well, you know, I know my words aren't very
Christian," or, "My words aren't very humble," or, "My words aren't very
loving, but my actions really are."
Well then, that's showing that your heart is divided because your
words are saying one thing and your actions are saying the other thing.
So your deceptive, divided words are actually coming from
a deceptive and divided heart.
So maybe you're like, "Well, you know, I really care about them, but…
And, and they know I love them, but I just say really mean things to them."
That's a heart problem.
Because if you really cared about them, you would also love them with your
words, not just your actions, right?
It's like, well, yeah, yeah, I, my siblings know I love them,
and I just, you know, say mean things to them all the time.
Or my friends, you know, we just mess with each other.
We're, you know, we don't really mean it.
They know I don't mean it.
Right?
That's a heart problem.
Because if you really love them, you would love them with your words, and you'd
make it really obvious that you care.
You wouldn't leave them guessing, "Oh, well, yeah, I, I guess they s- they might
love me because they say they really love me, but they make fun of me all the time,
and they tear me down all the time."
So if you say one thing but live another thing, that, that means
your heart's divided too, right?
So yes, actions do speak louder than words, but your words still
matter because your words are also speaking as well as your actions.
So that leaves us, right, what do I do about my words then, right?
Okay.
So we, we know that my words are important.
My words matter.
God really cares about my words.
My words show who I am.
They come from my heart.
It's not just word problems.
Word problems are heart problems.
Not those kind of word problems, you know, that you don't like in math class.
So what do I do with my words?
Well, our responsibility with our words, our opportunity, right, is to
use our words for God's glory, right?
To, to use our words to, to do, to accomplish things, right?
Productive, good things.
So our third point, pretty simple, use your words for good.
Use your words for good
Now obviously we have to define good, right?
We would say good is glorifying God and loving others, right?
That's good.
Use your words for good
And this isn't just like, "Oh, well, my parents told me to use my words
for good, so I guess I have to."
Right?
This is an opportunity.
You have an opportunity to bless people with your words, to love people,
to bring people to Jesus with your words, to help people see more of
how great Jesus is, to help people trust God more, to help people learn
wisdom, God's wisdom from your words.
Right?
You have such an amazing opportunity.
I have such an amazing opportunity with my words to, to do stuff like this with
the thousands of words you say every day.
Right?
It's not just like, "Oh, I have to, but it's more fun to be mean to people."
It's like, no, it's actually way more fun and way cooler to be, to
be life-giving with your words.
Right?
No one wants to, to hang out with someone who's complaining all the
time, or who's angry all the time, or who's boasting all the time
No, no one wants to be with those people.
Now, using your words for good is, is the best way to do it
In Proverbs 12 verse 18, it says, "There's one," there's someone,
"whose rash words," right?
So careless words, thoughtless words, "are like sword thrusts."
Right?
I just love the picture, right?
When you say words without thinking, it's like you're stabbing someone with a sword.
And I…
You know, we've all felt that, right?
You've all been there.
Someone says something i- in a heated moment, and it really, it sits with you.
You remember it.
There's things that people have said to you that you remember
for the rest of your life because they stabbed you with their words.
There's someone whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of
the wise, right, the words of, of someone who's wise, they bring healing, right?
They're good for people.
You wanna be around someone who talks like this.
You wanna be around someone who, who isn't careless with their words but
who's careful, who's loving, who's kind, who's gentle, who's loyal
I read one book about words and, uh, what the author said is he said, "Your words
are, are participating in a war," okay?
There's two, there's two kingdoms in this war.
There's God's kingdom, and there's your kingdom, and I thought this was a
really helpful way to think about it.
There's, there's words, right?
And, and my words are either serving myself or they're serving God.
All right, I'll give you, give you an example.
Let's say, um, I … You get homework, and you're like,
"This is way too much homework.
This is terrible.
Why did my teacher do this?
This is the worst."
Right?
Your complaining is serving your kingdom, right?
Because what, what really the complaining comes from is this isn't
the way I want it to be, right?
I want my life to be easy.
I want my homework to be easy.
I don't wanna have to try.
I wanna have time to do other things, right?
The homework has inconvenienced you.
It's bothered you.
It's messed up your plan for your week and your day, and so then what you
say is, "I'm gonna complain, and I'm going to use my words to serve myself."
Right?
There's nothing productive that happened from you complaining, right?
That's your words serving your own kingdom, right?
Or you can use your words to serve God's kingdom.
You can say, "You know what?
I'm not gonna complain about this.
I'm going to trust that God knew my teacher was gonna give
me this much homework and that He's gonna use it for good.
Even if it's really hard, even if I don't understand it, even if I don't
like it, I can trust that my loving Father cares about me enough that He's
gonna have me do hard things that are good for me, and I want a God like that.
I don't want a God that gives me everything I want,
and so I'm gonna trust Him."
Right?
Those are God's kingdom building words.
So you see how there's, you can go one of two ways, right?
But there's, there's no middle ground there.
So there's rash words or worthless words, right?
Like complaining or grumbling or gossip or starting division, right?
Or quarreling, right, arguing with people.
Um, there's l- like lying, boasting, right?
These are all ways that you can build your own kingdom with your words.
Flattering people, right, telling them compliments that, that aren't
really true or you don't really mean.
Harsh words, we talked about that, right?
Rude words, deceptive words, arrogant words, hateful words, angry words, right?
These are angry birds, not ang- you know, you know what I mean.
Um, these are all words that build your kingdom, right?
Because you're putting other people down so you can feel good, right?
Or you, you are bu- putting yourself up, right?
You're, you're boasting.
You're, you're, you're prideful.
Or maybe it's blasphemy.
Maybe you take God's name in vain, right?
Maybe you use Jesus' name like a, like a curse word.
That's a worthless use of your words, right?
You're taking God's name and you're using it for something evil, right?
An expression of your sinful anger.
So those are worthless words and, and maybe one, you know, certain
ones of those stuck out to you.
But then there's valuable words, right?
Precious words, beautiful words, and maybe that's praising God,
or maybe it's being thankful.
Maybe it's encouraging or maybe it's sharing the gospel, right?
That's a good use of your words.
Or rebuking someone, calling someone out in love, right?
Or instructing someone, passing on something you've learned to someone.
Those are good uses of your words.
Gentle words, right?
Joyful words, loving words, faithful words, patient words, humble words, right?
These are valuable.
Y- Everyone wants those words.
When you think about it, you don't want to be around someone who's grumbling,
who's dividing, who's angry, who's arrogant, who's flattering, who's
You don't wanna be around that person, and you don't wanna be that person either.
Right?
You wanna be around the person who's gentle, who's patient,
who's faithful, who's joyful.
Those are the words you want to be around.
So how do you do it?
How do you do that?
Well, we talked about heart change, but part of it also is, is thinking.
There's a … I'm gonna put a couple of different verses up on the
screen for you, but I want you to see what they have in common, okay?
So Proverbs 15:28, "The heart of the righteous ponders," right?
That means they think about it, how to answer, "but the mouth of
the wicked pours out evil things."
Right?
So someone who's, who's righteous, who's using their
words well, is thinking about it.
They're using their words on purpose.
Whereas the mouth of the wicked, they're just dumping them out, right?
We were, we were hanging out with, uh, with Beckham, Matt's son, this
weekend, and he doesn't take his toys out very carefully, right?
He just takes the bag, and he just goes boom, right?
They're all out.
Maybe that's you with your words.
You just, you just have to say whatever you're thinking.
It just comes out.
Right?
You just dump 'em out on whoever's listening, or maybe no one's listening,
and you just dump 'em out anyway, right?
And that includes this, all, all these words, right?
This includes stuff you text, by the way, right?
That, that's still words that God sees and God knows and everyone
else can find too, by the way.
Just 'cause it's on your phone doesn't mean it's private.
Or posting things, right?
These are all words.
They're real words that you're really saying.
Just 'cause it's typed out doesn't change that.
And then parallel here, right?
You see a man who's hasty in his words, who's, who's quick.
I always think, when I think of hasty, I think of, what's his name?
Pippin from Lord of the Rings, right?
He's like…
Um, there is more hope for a fool than for him.
And that's, y- y- you wouldn't think this is a bad idea.
Oh, someone who's quick with their words, someone who, who fires off things quickly.
What's wrong with that?
Well, Proverb says a- you're actually better off being foolish
than just shooting off whatever you think needs to be said
Big deal with your words.
Two more, similar idea.
"A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only
in expressing his opinion."
Maybe that's you.
You always have to give your opinion.
You don't wanna hear someone else's thoughts.
You don't ask questions.
You just wanna, you just wanna give.
You just wanna say, "Oh, here- here's what I think.
Here…
Oh, I don't like that," or, "I do like this."
You don't wanna understand someone else's perspective, you just wanna give yours.
That's foolish.
That's worthless, right?
That's dumb to do that.
Same thing a few verses later.
"If one gives an answer before he hears, it is his folly and shame."
Right?
It's embarrassing.
You ever, you ever say something when you didn't have all the facts?
Right, you di- you, you thought you had it all figured out and
you're like, "Oh yeah, duh."
And someone else comes along and gives you more information, and you're like,
"Oh, I look real dumb right now."
Right, you…
That's, that's what it's like to, to be someone who, who
speaks quickly all the time.
So to, to use your words well, they have to be thoughtful.
They have to be on purpose.
You don't just wanna fire 'em off whenever you feel like it.
So, um, I put together some questions to ask before you speak.
Um, I tried to do, like, who, what, where, when, why.
And we don't have time to go through all of it, but just
thinking about this, right?
Maybe you think, before you say something, "Who is this for?
Am I saying this to make myself look good, or am I saying this to make God look good?
Am I saying this for their benefit or my benefit?"
Right?
"Am I just saying this so I can give my take on things, or am I
saying this because it's actually helpful for these people to hear?"
Right, who is this for?
Similar, right?
What am I trying to get?
Have you ever thought about that?
When you speak, you're trying to get something.
Maybe you've never thought about that before.
When you speak, you're trying to get…
Maybe it's attention.
Maybe it's laughs.
Maybe it's you wanna get your point across.
Maybe it's you wanna make someone feel a certain way.
Maybe it's you wanna protect yourself.
Maybe you need to stand up for your reputation and your rights.
You're always trying to get something when you talk.
So what, what are you trying to get?
Is it…
'Cause then you can a- okay, a- am I being selfish with this?
Is this really…
Am I trying to get someone e- else's good out of this?
Or am I trying to just win an argument and be right?
Where will this lead, right?
This is…
Obviously, there's a lot of times you, you, you get angry, you say
something, you might as well just…
If you waited three more seconds, you would've thought about it
and been like, "You know what?
This is gonna, this is gonna snowball and create a, a giant explosion."
Right?
Where will this lead?
Or maybe it'll change the…
Maybe you're in small groups.
You can apply this very soon.
Maybe you're in small groups and you think of something really funny to
say, but you know it's gonna derail the conversation and distract people.
Where will this lead?
Is this helpful?
'Cause really, sometimes when you're…
A- and it's okay to be fun in small groups, right?
But if, if you totally derail, that's a, that's a violent use of your words,
'cause you are distracting people from a potentially life-changing conversation.
Right?
You are hurting people.
You could be, right?
You could be building group chemistry and, and having fun.
But you, you think about it.
W- w- was this good to say?
Was this a good time to make this joke?
This one, you'll see this in small groups too.
When I stand before God, what will he say?
Jesus says in Matthew 12, "You will be judged for every careless word you speak."
Every word you said, right?
Imagine that.
Every word you said, you have…
God's gonna be like, "Why'd you do that?
Why'd you say that?
Why'd you say it like that?
Why didn't you say this?"
I don't know if he's gonna do it exactly like that.
I don't know if it's gonna be like a film review of all your words, right?
That would stink.
But he says he'll, you'll, you'll be judged for them.
When I stand before God, am I gonna be proud of saying this?
Am I gonna be proud of making this joke, or making that comment,
or, or answering like that, or talking to my parents like that
How is that gonna go?
This one, right?
Why do I need to say this, right?
This is similar to what am I trying to get.
And then how will this affect others, right?
And that's the main thing is s- a lot of the times our
words are all about ourselves
Right?
Our words are for our kingdom, our, our priorities, our values.
And that's really what this is all about, is your words are an opportunity, right?
This isn't supposed to be, it, maybe you do need to feel really bad after
your sermon, after this sermon.
But it also is a, you have an opportunity to do so much good with your words.
To be so, such a good friend with your words.
To be such a good sibling with your words, such a good kid to your parents,
such a blessing to them with your words.
You could share the gospel with someone.
Those are life-changing words, right?
You could teach someone something really wise and really impactful for them.
You have such an amazing opportunity with your words, and so I hope
you don't miss it or waste it on worthless and careless words.
So let's pray, and let's use our words well in small groups.
Father, we're grateful that you have given us your word, that you have given
us, um, your Son, the perfect expression of who you are, um, that when we see
Jesus in your word, the Bible, we see everything we need to see from you.
We see all of who you are perfectly as you want us to see you.
And so we're grateful that you've made yourself known to us, that you've given
us, as Peter says, the words of life, the gospel, and the Bible so that we
can live, um, the way you designed us to live, and that we can have the grace
we need to, to trust you, to follow you, and to live with you forever.
And so I pray that you help all of us to use our words for good, help
us to use our words for things that matter, and help us to evaluate what
our words say about our own hearts.
We pray this in Jesus' name.
Amen.