1 00:00:01,120 --> 00:00:02,480 Let's praise him. Could you? 2 00:00:02,600 --> 00:00:04,840 Could you clap a little longer and give him glory? 3 00:00:05,880 --> 00:00:08,039 We give you honor, we give you Thanksgiving. 4 00:00:10,120 --> 00:00:26,190 Thank you Jesus, somebody say Amen. 5 00:00:28,990 --> 00:00:41,080 You may be seated. Imagine this. 6 00:00:43,480 --> 00:00:52,120 Every word you speak is like a seed planted in the hearts of 7 00:00:52,120 --> 00:00:56,760 everybody around you. Some grow into beautiful life 8 00:00:58,040 --> 00:01:05,680 and others into destruction. What if I told you but the power 9 00:01:05,680 --> 00:01:12,520 of your words is not random, that God has handed you and IA 10 00:01:12,520 --> 00:01:18,320 key? It's an ancient wisdom to unlock 11 00:01:18,320 --> 00:01:28,320 life giving potential. In your speech tonight, we're 12 00:01:28,320 --> 00:01:32,600 not just talking about communication, we're diving into 13 00:01:32,600 --> 00:01:37,640 a supernatural tool that can connect broken hearts, ignite 14 00:01:37,640 --> 00:01:42,760 hope into despair, and transform lives. 15 00:01:45,280 --> 00:01:48,160 So here's a question that every one of us need to wrestle with 16 00:01:48,160 --> 00:01:51,360 tonight. What kind of life are you 17 00:01:51,360 --> 00:01:54,160 speaking into the world around you? 18 00:01:54,160 --> 00:01:59,040 That's good. That's good. 19 00:01:59,160 --> 00:02:01,680 So I'm going to be speaking tonight, this Wednesday night 20 00:02:01,680 --> 00:02:05,280 Bible study. This is the longest message 21 00:02:05,280 --> 00:02:09,280 title I have ever used in almost 34 years of doing this. 22 00:02:10,639 --> 00:02:13,040 So you can take that for whatever it's worth, whatever 23 00:02:13,040 --> 00:02:19,480 it's worth to you. Speaking life, unlocking God's 24 00:02:19,480 --> 00:02:24,640 wisdom to connect, encourage and transform through the words you 25 00:02:24,640 --> 00:02:27,560 speak. I'm taking my scripture text 26 00:02:27,560 --> 00:02:30,320 this evening from Hebrews chapter 13 and you can just 27 00:02:30,320 --> 00:02:34,320 remain seated tonight. Hebrews 13 and 16 the Bible 28 00:02:34,320 --> 00:02:42,080 says, but to do good and to communicate, forget not, for 29 00:02:42,080 --> 00:02:47,640 with such sacrifices God is well pleased. 30 00:02:50,800 --> 00:02:54,360 The Bible tells us in Proverbs 1821 that death and life are in 31 00:02:54,360 --> 00:02:59,080 the power of the tongue, and they that love it shall eat the 32 00:02:59,080 --> 00:03:03,520 fruit thereof. Whatever whichever side of that 33 00:03:03,520 --> 00:03:07,680 you are on, you eat the fruit of that if you're on the life side 34 00:03:08,720 --> 00:03:12,840 or if you're on the death side. The power of the tongue yields 35 00:03:12,840 --> 00:03:17,800 fruit in everybody's life, and that fruit is by virtue of 36 00:03:18,160 --> 00:03:21,640 consequences. Have you ever said something and 37 00:03:21,640 --> 00:03:26,640 the moment you said it, you knew? 38 00:03:28,560 --> 00:03:32,400 Yikes, I shouldn't have said that. 39 00:03:34,240 --> 00:03:37,240 You didn't need someone else's countenance to change. 40 00:03:37,240 --> 00:03:38,800 You didn't need someone else to cry. 41 00:03:39,040 --> 00:03:40,760 You didn't need someone else to yell back. 42 00:03:40,880 --> 00:03:46,640 You knew soon as you said it. That is the fruit thereof. 43 00:03:47,440 --> 00:03:51,160 If words carry the power of life and death, and they do, then we 44 00:03:51,160 --> 00:03:56,360 must learn not just how to talk, but how to speak with purpose. 45 00:03:57,360 --> 00:04:01,520 Because the truth is, wherever God has placed you in your home, 46 00:04:01,520 --> 00:04:05,800 in your job, in your church, in your community, in your family, 47 00:04:06,040 --> 00:04:15,160 you're already leading someone. What we need to be doing is 48 00:04:15,160 --> 00:04:20,399 understanding the impact of that while we learn to lead our self. 49 00:04:22,040 --> 00:04:23,840 So let's start where influence begin. 50 00:04:24,800 --> 00:04:26,640 We're going to start with the words of a leader. 51 00:04:27,320 --> 00:04:30,160 And I want to stress just here two things real quick. 52 00:04:30,160 --> 00:04:33,440 One, every topic that I'm going to cover tonight is going to be 53 00:04:33,440 --> 00:04:35,920 somewhat shallow because we don't have the luxury of time to 54 00:04:35,920 --> 00:04:39,880 dive real deep. And secondly, I'm starting with 55 00:04:39,880 --> 00:04:43,440 the words of a leader intentionally because leadership 56 00:04:43,440 --> 00:04:46,240 is not about a title. And this is not just about my 57 00:04:46,240 --> 00:04:49,720 personal passion for leadership. Leadership value cannot be 58 00:04:49,840 --> 00:04:54,280 overestimated. And every single one of us is a 59 00:04:54,280 --> 00:04:56,920 leader. And if you're not leading 60 00:04:56,920 --> 00:05:00,600 someone else, and you likely are and just don't recognize it, but 61 00:05:00,600 --> 00:05:04,600 if you're not, you still need to be leading yourself and it 62 00:05:04,600 --> 00:05:09,880 really needs to start with you. So the words of a leader 63 00:05:10,680 --> 00:05:14,240 speaking life as a leader, your word set the tone. 64 00:05:14,880 --> 00:05:18,680 Ephesians 429 says let no corrupt communication proceed 65 00:05:18,680 --> 00:05:21,480 out of your mouth. But that which is good to the 66 00:05:21,480 --> 00:05:26,400 use of edifying that it may minister grace unto the hearers. 67 00:05:26,920 --> 00:05:31,760 Leaders define culture. That's not just on the job. 68 00:05:31,760 --> 00:05:34,640 That's not just in corporate America, that's in the church, 69 00:05:35,920 --> 00:05:41,160 that's in your home. If you're a if you're a parent 70 00:05:41,200 --> 00:05:44,440 and you never talk to your kids, that's leading. 71 00:05:46,760 --> 00:05:49,360 May not be the right way, but that's leading you. 72 00:05:49,360 --> 00:05:51,680 You are. You are defining the culture of 73 00:05:51,680 --> 00:05:58,680 your home through silence. Your words either clarify or 74 00:05:58,680 --> 00:06:03,400 confuse. They either heal or they harm. 75 00:06:06,200 --> 00:06:10,680 Things that we should do. We should speak the truth in 76 00:06:10,680 --> 00:06:15,440 love, Hebrews 4, not Hebrews, Ephesians 415 says. 77 00:06:15,640 --> 00:06:19,600 But speaking the truth in love may grow up into Him in all 78 00:06:19,600 --> 00:06:23,200 things, which is the head. Even Christ, giving feedback to 79 00:06:23,200 --> 00:06:26,800 those that edify, leading with humility and clarity. 80 00:06:27,240 --> 00:06:29,920 Speaking the truth and love, ladies and gentlemen, is not 81 00:06:29,920 --> 00:06:32,920 always easy. It means sometime you're going 82 00:06:32,920 --> 00:06:38,120 to have to tell your best friend that they're wrong if you do it. 83 00:06:39,560 --> 00:06:41,360 Now, what happens? A lot of times we take the 84 00:06:41,360 --> 00:06:43,880 passive least of resistance and say, well, I don't want to. 85 00:06:44,320 --> 00:06:46,280 I don't want to cause any problems and I don't want to 86 00:06:46,280 --> 00:06:56,080 make anybody mad. Then, at the risk of sounding, I 87 00:06:56,120 --> 00:07:01,640 don't know, overly aggressive, allow me to clarify that when 88 00:07:01,640 --> 00:07:10,160 you do that, you are sacrificing your friendship because words 89 00:07:10,160 --> 00:07:13,000 are supposed to clarify. And the Bible tells us to speak 90 00:07:13,000 --> 00:07:16,240 the truth in love. That's our mandate. 91 00:07:16,720 --> 00:07:24,920 Barriers to good communication, pride, assumptions we've all 92 00:07:24,920 --> 00:07:30,600 made them. Misunderstandings, likely, I 93 00:07:30,600 --> 00:07:34,320 haven't done a study on this, but likely I feel confident we 94 00:07:34,320 --> 00:07:37,800 could say Bishop misunderstandings happened more 95 00:07:37,800 --> 00:07:42,400 today than they did 30 years ago because we've got more text that 96 00:07:42,400 --> 00:07:46,680 we're reading. And I'm not anti cell phone or 97 00:07:46,680 --> 00:07:49,200 anti text message, do it all, all the time. 98 00:07:50,680 --> 00:07:53,440 But we have to understand the medium that we're using. 99 00:07:53,600 --> 00:07:56,800 If you don't know how to take something, make a phone call. 100 00:07:56,800 --> 00:08:02,680 Amen. Misunderstandings. 101 00:08:02,680 --> 00:08:04,480 It's a barrier to good communication. 102 00:08:04,760 --> 00:08:10,080 Lack of emotional awareness, busyness or even apathy is a 103 00:08:10,360 --> 00:08:14,760 barrier to good communication. Moving on to our next area of 104 00:08:14,760 --> 00:08:17,520 communication. Speaking life. 105 00:08:19,880 --> 00:08:22,760 Speaking Life in marriage and relationships. 106 00:08:25,160 --> 00:08:30,200 Connection. Connection in your marriage 107 00:08:31,000 --> 00:08:38,760 depends on communication. If you never talk to your 108 00:08:38,760 --> 00:08:47,800 spouse, if you never talk to the person that you are you that you 109 00:08:47,800 --> 00:08:54,000 vowed to love the rest of your days, or if the only time you 110 00:08:54,000 --> 00:08:56,560 talk to them is when the conversation is leaning your 111 00:08:56,560 --> 00:09:03,040 direction, there is a breakdown in your connection. 112 00:09:03,040 --> 00:09:07,840 You might be, you might talk, but you're not communicating. 113 00:09:10,520 --> 00:09:14,280 The top communication issues listed in marriage today. 114 00:09:14,520 --> 00:09:19,720 The top three unspoken expectations, emotional 115 00:09:19,720 --> 00:09:28,640 withdrawal and poor listening. There's been a time or two in 116 00:09:28,640 --> 00:09:35,240 the last 30 something years that my wife has said, did you hear 117 00:09:35,240 --> 00:09:40,000 me? And it wasn't because I have a 118 00:09:40,000 --> 00:09:44,000 hearing deficiency. That's right. 119 00:09:44,000 --> 00:09:47,040 He can tell the difference. I promise you. 120 00:09:48,400 --> 00:09:51,080 Maybe a time or two that she has said, were you listening? 121 00:09:51,560 --> 00:09:52,680 You weren't even listening to me. 122 00:09:52,680 --> 00:09:54,160 Yeah, it was. What did I say? 123 00:09:54,160 --> 00:09:56,680 That's that's, that's that's the conversation. 124 00:09:56,880 --> 00:09:59,320 Every time I get caught, I try to get my way out of it. 125 00:09:59,440 --> 00:10:01,120 Yeah, I was listening. What did I say? 126 00:10:01,120 --> 00:10:04,800 I don't know. I wasn't listening. 127 00:10:06,320 --> 00:10:09,800 Poor listening. Misinterpreted tone or body 128 00:10:09,800 --> 00:10:14,520 language. I said it's the top three. 129 00:10:14,520 --> 00:10:17,920 It's actually top five. An avoidance of hard 130 00:10:17,920 --> 00:10:22,120 conversations. Because some of the hardest 131 00:10:22,120 --> 00:10:24,760 conversations we'll ever have in life is with the people we care 132 00:10:24,760 --> 00:10:28,840 the most about. And if we avoid those 133 00:10:28,840 --> 00:10:31,680 conversations, we're not doing them any favors or ourself. 134 00:10:32,240 --> 00:10:34,600 Sometimes those hard conversations have to be done. 135 00:10:35,800 --> 00:10:42,200 What we should be doing is speak with patients, listen to 136 00:10:42,200 --> 00:10:49,880 understand what do we do? It's called active listening. 137 00:10:51,400 --> 00:10:53,680 That's what we should be doing. But what happens a lot of times 138 00:10:53,680 --> 00:10:57,360 is we, we if, if you, if you will just pay attention to it, 139 00:10:57,360 --> 00:11:02,120 you'll find it, I promise you. But we listen to respond. 140 00:11:03,360 --> 00:11:06,320 I'm listening to the queue. I'm listening for that, that, 141 00:11:06,600 --> 00:11:09,920 that right word, brother Reese, that you're about to trigger and 142 00:11:09,920 --> 00:11:14,440 I'm about to pounce. I'm listening to respond because 143 00:11:14,440 --> 00:11:16,640 I've already geared up. I think I know what you're about 144 00:11:16,640 --> 00:11:23,160 to say. And then what follows, it's red 145 00:11:23,160 --> 00:11:27,160 faces, it's veins on the neck, it's silence, it's broke down 146 00:11:27,160 --> 00:11:29,720 communication. It's I'm mad at you, so I'm 147 00:11:29,720 --> 00:11:36,040 leaving. We should be listening to 148 00:11:36,040 --> 00:11:38,720 understand. We need to watch our body 149 00:11:38,720 --> 00:11:42,080 language. I'm talking inside marriage 150 00:11:42,080 --> 00:11:45,680 right now, but this is this applies outside of marriage, but 151 00:11:45,680 --> 00:11:46,880 we need to watch our body language. 152 00:11:46,880 --> 00:11:52,640 Your body language reveals your attitude and your intent even 153 00:11:52,640 --> 00:11:57,440 when you don't say a word. Your body knows because it's 154 00:11:57,440 --> 00:12:00,920 connected to your brain and it's listening. 155 00:12:00,920 --> 00:12:02,480 It doesn't have a listening problem. 156 00:12:04,520 --> 00:12:07,440 It has an interpreting problem sometimes, but it doesn't have a 157 00:12:07,440 --> 00:12:12,840 listening problem. Posture, crossed arms, 158 00:12:13,640 --> 00:12:18,440 fidgeting, leaning in or leaning away all speak when words are 159 00:12:18,440 --> 00:12:23,480 not being spoken. Add to this word spoken in the 160 00:12:23,480 --> 00:12:27,520 wrong attitude and you have a solid recipe for relationship 161 00:12:27,520 --> 00:12:32,320 problems. And if we don't get this right 162 00:12:32,320 --> 00:12:35,720 out of the church, it will infect your relationship with 163 00:12:35,720 --> 00:12:40,440 God every time you come to church because you'll try to 164 00:12:40,440 --> 00:12:43,800 worship and all you feel is the the disdain and the bitterness 165 00:12:43,800 --> 00:12:46,400 toward the person you just argued with before church. 166 00:12:48,880 --> 00:12:51,200 Facial expression and eye contact. 167 00:12:53,000 --> 00:12:56,480 Communication is communication is more than solving problems. 168 00:12:56,480 --> 00:13:04,160 It's about understanding hearts. And it, it humors me or it 169 00:13:04,440 --> 00:13:06,280 tickles me whenever I hear people. 170 00:13:07,160 --> 00:13:10,520 There was a there was, there was an elderly gentleman in my dad's 171 00:13:10,520 --> 00:13:12,800 church when I was growing up. I won't call his name because 172 00:13:12,800 --> 00:13:16,600 some people would know him. He was a sweet, sweet man. 173 00:13:17,280 --> 00:13:20,880 But he would get up and he would testify Brother Fred, and he 174 00:13:20,880 --> 00:13:24,800 would talk about how him and his wife never had an argument, 175 00:13:26,560 --> 00:13:29,440 never had one false word toward each other whatsoever. 176 00:13:29,600 --> 00:13:36,960 And he thanked God for that. Almost every service, when they 177 00:13:36,960 --> 00:13:40,040 would be exiting the sanctuary to go to their car after after 178 00:13:40,040 --> 00:13:43,520 after service was over, you'd hear them arguing and bickering 179 00:13:43,520 --> 00:13:46,080 and throwing words at each other. 180 00:13:47,960 --> 00:13:49,720 She'd be cutting her eyes at him. 181 00:13:52,600 --> 00:13:55,680 Every surface and the entire congregation knew. 182 00:13:56,160 --> 00:14:02,480 And we were just behind them smiling and laughing. 183 00:14:03,920 --> 00:14:05,960 But there's a whole lot of things that we can understand 184 00:14:05,960 --> 00:14:10,960 through that. If you're going to say you never 185 00:14:10,960 --> 00:14:12,520 argue, make sure you never argue. 186 00:14:13,640 --> 00:14:15,400 And and for sure don't do it in public. 187 00:14:16,560 --> 00:14:19,400 So we need to understand this. Your body language speaks before 188 00:14:19,400 --> 00:14:24,560 you do. Here's here's a here's maybe one 189 00:14:24,560 --> 00:14:26,640 of my most important points of the night. 190 00:14:26,640 --> 00:14:31,040 Maybe it was for me. Silence isn't neutral. 191 00:14:35,440 --> 00:14:39,440 We use silence sometimes as an excuse and say, well, I better 192 00:14:39,440 --> 00:14:42,400 not say anything right now. I know there's a time and a 193 00:14:42,400 --> 00:14:46,320 place for that, but we can grandstand that on so much that 194 00:14:46,320 --> 00:14:50,960 we just stopped talking to each other and we think because we 195 00:14:50,960 --> 00:14:53,320 didn't say the wrong thing that everything's OK. 196 00:14:54,480 --> 00:14:58,920 Your silence still speaks too. If you never turn back around 197 00:14:58,920 --> 00:15:02,720 full circle to have that conversation or to apologize, 198 00:15:04,360 --> 00:15:07,160 your silence is speaking. Silence is a form of 199 00:15:07,160 --> 00:15:12,880 communication. I use it every time I have this 200 00:15:12,880 --> 00:15:22,530 microphone. Some of you getting 201 00:15:22,530 --> 00:15:26,530 uncomfortable right now because we don't like silence, but the 202 00:15:26,530 --> 00:15:34,160 pause has meaning. So silence can yell loudly. 203 00:15:35,120 --> 00:15:37,520 More importantly, silence creates an environment where 204 00:15:37,520 --> 00:15:41,080 there's not only a lack of communication, but it fosters 205 00:15:41,520 --> 00:15:45,640 division. And your enemy wants nothing 206 00:15:45,640 --> 00:15:50,200 more than to divide you, because if he can divide the home, he'll 207 00:15:50,200 --> 00:15:58,160 separate you at the church. Your worship, your connectedness 208 00:15:58,160 --> 00:16:04,480 to God, even your obedience to God has roots connected to your 209 00:16:04,480 --> 00:16:13,670 communication. Ladies, if you want to see the 210 00:16:13,670 --> 00:16:20,030 king in him, start speaking like a queen, standing next to him. 211 00:16:25,920 --> 00:16:27,640 And we can, we can roll reverse that. 212 00:16:30,840 --> 00:16:33,760 You don't get what you want by acting the way that you 213 00:16:33,760 --> 00:16:39,440 shouldn't act. All right, Amen. 214 00:16:39,440 --> 00:16:43,760 We'll move on speaking life across personality differences. 215 00:16:43,760 --> 00:16:46,400 We won't stay here long, but it is important. 216 00:16:47,640 --> 00:16:50,520 And I've touched on this before. I'm going to dabble in it just a 217 00:16:50,520 --> 00:16:52,560 little bit tonight. Introverts and extroverts 218 00:16:52,560 --> 00:16:56,440 communicate differently and the reason why this is important is 219 00:16:56,440 --> 00:17:00,240 because it is a mistake for us to expect the people around us 220 00:17:00,240 --> 00:17:03,680 and the people that are closest to us to communicate the way 221 00:17:03,680 --> 00:17:08,280 that we want them to. We have to allow people to be 222 00:17:08,280 --> 00:17:19,079 who they are. Introverts process inside, hence 223 00:17:19,079 --> 00:17:22,400 the word introvert. It's it's introspective. 224 00:17:22,400 --> 00:17:24,760 It's inside. They may pause, they reflect. 225 00:17:25,000 --> 00:17:27,119 Sometimes they'll write it out before they talk it out. 226 00:17:27,119 --> 00:17:29,600 They want to figure it all out a lot of times before they say it 227 00:17:29,600 --> 00:17:33,960 out loud. This leads an introvert for you. 228 00:17:33,960 --> 00:17:36,680 Introverts tonight, and we've got several in this church. 229 00:17:37,400 --> 00:17:40,560 This leads an introvert to think that they've communicated far 230 00:17:40,560 --> 00:17:43,320 more than they actually have because they've been playing 231 00:17:43,320 --> 00:17:49,560 that reel inside their head. And then sometimes we're 232 00:17:49,560 --> 00:17:52,880 surprised because somebody thinks somebody's upset because 233 00:17:52,880 --> 00:17:54,840 we didn't say something and we think we said it. 234 00:17:57,880 --> 00:17:59,680 So it's just a matter of understanding. 235 00:17:59,680 --> 00:18:03,640 Extroverts process externally. They often think out loud and 236 00:18:03,640 --> 00:18:07,120 they respond quickly because they, we extroverts, do not 237 00:18:07,120 --> 00:18:09,080 attach our emotions to what we're saying. 238 00:18:12,720 --> 00:18:14,680 I suppose that's a good thing or a bad thing. 239 00:18:16,560 --> 00:18:20,440 So think of it this way. Extroverts are like jazz 240 00:18:20,440 --> 00:18:24,880 musicians. They improvise and they they 241 00:18:24,880 --> 00:18:29,840 respond in real time. Introverts are like classical 242 00:18:29,840 --> 00:18:34,800 composers, carefully crafting what it is that they're sharing. 243 00:18:36,800 --> 00:18:40,160 As a musician, I can tell you there's a very strong contrast 244 00:18:40,160 --> 00:18:44,800 between the two in that, especially since most Apostolic 245 00:18:44,800 --> 00:18:48,920 musicians lean more toward jazz. I have an appreciation for that 246 00:18:48,920 --> 00:18:54,440 statement, James 119 says. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, 247 00:18:54,440 --> 00:18:58,760 let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to wrath 248 00:18:59,800 --> 00:19:05,400 to wrath. Swift to hear, slow to speak, 249 00:19:06,320 --> 00:19:13,240 slow wrath. Bringing the two paradigms 250 00:19:13,240 --> 00:19:18,120 together, extroverts and introverts, requires work, 251 00:19:20,240 --> 00:19:23,040 Especially if if it's if it's in your marriage or if it's in your 252 00:19:23,040 --> 00:19:25,880 home. I just get a laughing kick out 253 00:19:25,880 --> 00:19:28,240 of two introverts having an extrovert as a child. 254 00:19:28,400 --> 00:19:30,440 I think it's the most hilarious thing that there is. 255 00:19:32,760 --> 00:19:35,120 I would just love to be a family on the wall inside that home 256 00:19:35,120 --> 00:19:38,400 occasionally just to see what's, what's the communication like? 257 00:19:39,120 --> 00:19:40,800 It just sounds so funny to me. I'm sorry. 258 00:19:41,320 --> 00:19:45,040 The challenge for us is understanding other styles 259 00:19:45,040 --> 00:19:48,480 before judging their silence or judging their speed of response. 260 00:19:50,800 --> 00:19:54,520 You cannot speak life into someone until you first learn to 261 00:19:54,520 --> 00:19:59,000 listen to them. And listening to them means. 262 00:19:59,720 --> 00:20:03,120 So here's where we go wrong. I think we are convinced that if 263 00:20:03,120 --> 00:20:05,280 we listen to someone, that means we agree with them. 264 00:20:05,280 --> 00:20:11,040 Come on. And I'm afraid that that is part 265 00:20:11,040 --> 00:20:14,440 of the poison of today's society and why we don't listen to 266 00:20:14,440 --> 00:20:18,000 people that we we fundamentally disagree with their policies and 267 00:20:18,000 --> 00:20:20,240 their practices, maybe their politics. 268 00:20:20,400 --> 00:20:22,880 We don't listen because we're afraid that that will imply 269 00:20:22,880 --> 00:20:26,880 agreement. Listening doesn't mean I agree. 270 00:20:27,840 --> 00:20:31,600 Listening means I care enough about you to allow you to 271 00:20:31,600 --> 00:20:33,920 express yourself and what you have to say. 272 00:20:35,400 --> 00:20:40,240 So much so to the point that even when people disrespect you, 273 00:20:42,600 --> 00:20:46,720 if you show respect to the person disrespecting you, that 274 00:20:46,720 --> 00:20:49,120 is more about your character than it is theirs. 275 00:20:53,480 --> 00:20:56,080 People don't always respond the way that we think they should. 276 00:20:56,080 --> 00:20:57,560 It does not mean that they're wrong. 277 00:20:57,560 --> 00:21:02,920 That's right, that's right. Sometimes they might just need 278 00:21:02,920 --> 00:21:06,840 some space to think it out, and if you've been mulling it over 279 00:21:08,240 --> 00:21:12,400 and then you just let the bullet out of the chamber and haven't 280 00:21:12,400 --> 00:21:19,440 given them time to do the same, it's hard to expect that 281 00:21:19,440 --> 00:21:23,200 communication to go well. Kindness and understanding go a 282 00:21:23,200 --> 00:21:26,360 long way when we're talking with each other, especially with 283 00:21:26,360 --> 00:21:30,440 people who are different than you speaking life across racial 284 00:21:30,440 --> 00:21:34,160 and social divides. Our communication has the 285 00:21:34,160 --> 00:21:40,960 ability to heal wounds if we would learn to see people 286 00:21:40,960 --> 00:21:47,000 without color. Matter of fact, let me say it 287 00:21:47,000 --> 00:21:49,040 this way. If you're covered by the blood 288 00:21:49,040 --> 00:21:51,160 of Jesus, you shouldn't see people in color. 289 00:21:55,280 --> 00:22:07,640 It should be black and white. The greatest example of reaching 290 00:22:07,640 --> 00:22:12,400 across racial divides come from Jesus. 291 00:22:14,200 --> 00:22:19,200 In John chapter 4, he broke racial, gender, and religious 292 00:22:19,200 --> 00:22:23,760 barriers through having a conversation with a woman from 293 00:22:23,760 --> 00:22:33,760 Samaria. Samaritans were dogs in the eyes 294 00:22:34,040 --> 00:22:37,240 of the Jews. That don't sound very good. 295 00:22:37,640 --> 00:22:40,880 It's not. It's because they were half 296 00:22:40,880 --> 00:22:45,120 breeds. They had relationships that were 297 00:22:45,120 --> 00:22:49,400 half Jew, half Gentile. And if that a that era in 298 00:22:49,400 --> 00:22:53,640 history, the divide between Jews and Gentiles might have been 299 00:22:53,640 --> 00:22:55,480 more contrasting than it is today. 300 00:22:59,240 --> 00:23:05,200 Jesus should not have spoke to the woman because she was a 301 00:23:05,200 --> 00:23:13,720 Samaritan, because she was a woman, and because the religious 302 00:23:13,960 --> 00:23:18,120 differences. But He had a conversation with 303 00:23:18,120 --> 00:23:23,680 her, and that conversation changed a whole lot of things. 304 00:23:25,240 --> 00:23:28,320 John chapter 4 and verse 9. Then saith the woman of Samaria 305 00:23:28,320 --> 00:23:31,320 unto him. How is it that thou being a Jew 306 00:23:31,880 --> 00:23:37,200 ask us drink of me which am a woman of Samaria, for the Jews 307 00:23:37,200 --> 00:23:39,160 have no dealings with the Samaritans. 308 00:23:39,760 --> 00:23:44,080 Racial healing begins with honest, humble, spirit LED 309 00:23:44,200 --> 00:23:49,360 communication. If we can, if we refuse to talk 310 00:23:49,360 --> 00:23:54,720 to people who are physically, ethnically, gender wise 311 00:23:54,760 --> 00:24:00,200 different than us, then we are behaving in the opposite 312 00:24:00,200 --> 00:24:03,240 standard that Jesus set for us in John chapter 4. 313 00:24:05,800 --> 00:24:10,640 He said a testimony before us, how we should behave with people 314 00:24:10,640 --> 00:24:15,840 who are different from us. And it's not to make fun of them 315 00:24:15,840 --> 00:24:19,480 because they're different. It's not to avoid them because 316 00:24:19,480 --> 00:24:22,840 they're different. And the definition of different 317 00:24:22,840 --> 00:24:28,840 is 1 sided because they can say the same thing about you. 318 00:24:32,200 --> 00:24:36,760 You're different. You've got a different color, 319 00:24:37,200 --> 00:24:40,920 different skin tone, different speech, different accent, a 320 00:24:40,920 --> 00:24:42,600 different cultural understanding. 321 00:24:42,760 --> 00:24:48,160 You're different. And as Pentecostals, we like to 322 00:24:48,160 --> 00:24:51,560 grandstand on being different because the Bible tells us to 323 00:24:51,560 --> 00:24:54,920 come out from among the world and be separate, saith the Lord. 324 00:24:57,120 --> 00:25:00,240 And we we like to shout to that. But then we don't want to talk 325 00:25:00,240 --> 00:25:02,880 to people at the grocery store that are different than us. 326 00:25:03,600 --> 00:25:06,520 How in the world do we think we're ever going to lead them to 327 00:25:06,520 --> 00:25:10,120 Jesus if we can't have a basic conversation with them? 328 00:25:19,440 --> 00:25:22,360 We shouldn't have to describe people based on their skin tone. 329 00:25:26,400 --> 00:25:28,800 Humanity is humanity. People are people. 330 00:25:30,000 --> 00:25:39,600 That's all we need to know. One conversation with Jesus led 331 00:25:39,600 --> 00:25:44,680 to revival. The question is, what are your 332 00:25:44,680 --> 00:25:50,800 conversations doing? Are your words drawing people 333 00:25:50,800 --> 00:25:53,080 closer to God or pushing them farther away? 334 00:25:55,760 --> 00:26:00,360 Are you building bridges or creating barriers and your 335 00:26:00,360 --> 00:26:03,840 marriage, your team, your community, your job, your 336 00:26:03,840 --> 00:26:08,360 friends? First Corinthians 15 and 33 337 00:26:08,360 --> 00:26:10,040 reads this way. Be not deceived. 338 00:26:10,440 --> 00:26:12,960 Evil communications corrupt good manners. 339 00:26:14,600 --> 00:26:17,640 I once read a quote that said there are two ways to build the 340 00:26:17,640 --> 00:26:21,400 biggest building in town. The first way is to build the 341 00:26:21,400 --> 00:26:25,280 biggest building in town. The second way is to tear all 342 00:26:25,280 --> 00:26:26,800 the other buildings down around you. 343 00:26:31,280 --> 00:26:34,360 So if I can be blunt for here just a moment tonight, it's, 344 00:26:34,360 --> 00:26:37,200 it's it's dangerous when we spend more time tearing people 345 00:26:37,200 --> 00:26:40,960 down because they're different or tearing people down because 346 00:26:40,960 --> 00:26:44,360 we disagree with them or gossiping about somebody because 347 00:26:44,360 --> 00:26:47,920 we don't understand them. Rather than us bringing 348 00:26:47,920 --> 00:26:50,960 ourselves up to a new level, we want to bring other people down 349 00:26:50,960 --> 00:26:53,720 to the level we're at so we don't have to change. 350 00:26:53,960 --> 00:26:56,360 Ladies and gentlemen, that's not where we need to be living our 351 00:26:56,360 --> 00:27:00,120 life. God didn't call us to tear 352 00:27:00,120 --> 00:27:02,000 others down. He called us to build them up. 353 00:27:03,400 --> 00:27:06,600 And if you've got to elevate yourself first, then I believe 354 00:27:06,600 --> 00:27:08,720 that's the calling of God for your life. 355 00:27:10,760 --> 00:27:17,480 So again, First Corinthians 1533 says be not deceived, make sure 356 00:27:17,480 --> 00:27:20,920 we understand evil communications, corrupt good 357 00:27:20,920 --> 00:27:23,080 manners. Our main text one more time, 358 00:27:23,080 --> 00:27:27,360 Hebrews 1316 says, but to do good and to communicate, forget 359 00:27:27,360 --> 00:27:31,600 not. What's the wording of that 360 00:27:31,600 --> 00:27:32,440 verse? It's so. 361 00:27:32,480 --> 00:27:41,160 It's so plain and so powerful to do good and to communicate. 362 00:27:42,720 --> 00:27:51,640 Forget not for with such sacrifices, sacrifices, 363 00:27:53,560 --> 00:27:57,160 sacrifices. The reason why he said for with 364 00:27:57,160 --> 00:28:01,640 such sacrifices God is well pleased is because communication 365 00:28:01,800 --> 00:28:07,960 requires sacrifice. Well, I don't know if I agree 366 00:28:07,960 --> 00:28:09,720 with that. Well, let's go back and talk 367 00:28:09,720 --> 00:28:11,800 about how easy communication is then. 368 00:28:11,800 --> 00:28:18,280 And why don't you do it? Because if it wasn't difficult, 369 00:28:18,280 --> 00:28:21,400 if it wasn't challenging, and if it wasn't inconvenient, we would 370 00:28:21,400 --> 00:28:29,390 never have a misunderstanding. I want to point out the 371 00:28:29,390 --> 00:28:32,990 placement of this particular verse in the Word of the Lord 372 00:28:33,750 --> 00:28:37,830 because it's between two very specific points of reference in 373 00:28:37,830 --> 00:28:39,790 the Word of God that I find very powerful. 374 00:28:40,680 --> 00:28:42,880 Backing up a verse to Hebrews 13 and 15. 375 00:28:42,880 --> 00:28:45,200 It says by him. Therefore, let us offer the 376 00:28:45,200 --> 00:28:49,640 sacrifice of praise. Everybody say praise to God 377 00:28:49,640 --> 00:28:53,080 continually. That is the fruit of our lips. 378 00:28:54,120 --> 00:28:57,240 This wasn't this isn't my point, but when we read this, we 379 00:28:57,240 --> 00:28:59,360 understand that if it's the fruit of our lips that we are 380 00:28:59,360 --> 00:29:03,160 communicating to God. So not all of our worship can be 381 00:29:03,160 --> 00:29:14,400 in our mind. We have to vocalize your volume 382 00:29:14,400 --> 00:29:19,880 level is not my volume level. I I gave a speech to our plant 383 00:29:19,880 --> 00:29:23,400 this morning. First thing I found out later, 384 00:29:23,400 --> 00:29:24,960 microphone was cutting in and out. 385 00:29:25,080 --> 00:29:27,120 I didn't know it. I couldn't hear the difference. 386 00:29:28,000 --> 00:29:30,920 And the person in charge of the sound system said, that's all 387 00:29:30,920 --> 00:29:35,200 right, you've got a loud mouth. Not the first time I've been 388 00:29:35,200 --> 00:29:36,440 told that. It was said in fun. 389 00:29:36,440 --> 00:29:38,480 And I agreed with her, and we laughed and we moved on. 390 00:29:39,080 --> 00:29:40,920 Not everybody's volume level is mine. 391 00:29:42,440 --> 00:29:45,240 So my thank you Jesus may be a bit louder than yours. 392 00:29:45,880 --> 00:29:48,040 That's OK. But that doesn't stop you from 393 00:29:48,040 --> 00:29:52,560 saying thank you, Jesus, even if it's at the softness of a 394 00:29:52,560 --> 00:29:54,960 whisper. If that's your volume 10, then 395 00:29:54,960 --> 00:29:57,360 you need to give your volume 10 every time you're in the House 396 00:29:57,360 --> 00:30:00,400 of God. Because God will hear it. 397 00:30:02,280 --> 00:30:04,640 He'll hear it. He'll know fruit of the lips. 398 00:30:04,640 --> 00:30:06,640 That wasn't my point. Let's move on thanks to his 399 00:30:06,640 --> 00:30:08,760 name. Verse 16 again, but to do good 400 00:30:08,760 --> 00:30:11,080 and communicate, forget not communicate, communicate, 401 00:30:11,080 --> 00:30:12,680 communicate. That's the keyword here. 402 00:30:12,880 --> 00:30:15,560 Forget not for with such sacrifices God as well. 403 00:30:15,560 --> 00:30:20,600 Please verse #17 watch this very swift 90° turn. 404 00:30:20,760 --> 00:30:23,240 Obey them that have the rule over you. 405 00:30:26,520 --> 00:30:31,760 My neck hurts like whoa, another direction real fast. 406 00:30:31,760 --> 00:30:34,400 We went from praising God. We went to communicating and now 407 00:30:34,400 --> 00:30:36,960 all of a sudden he's talking about obey them to have the rule 408 00:30:36,960 --> 00:30:43,120 over you and submit yourselves for they watch for your souls as 409 00:30:43,120 --> 00:30:47,320 they that must give account that they may do it with joy and not 410 00:30:47,320 --> 00:30:49,440 with grief for that is unprofitable for you. 411 00:30:49,480 --> 00:30:51,440 Now there's a whole lot in that verse we can unpack. 412 00:30:51,600 --> 00:30:53,480 I don't have time. We're going to stick with just 413 00:30:53,480 --> 00:30:56,000 some of the keywording. So if we don't think 414 00:30:56,000 --> 00:30:58,720 communication is important, I want you to just look at the 415 00:30:58,720 --> 00:31:03,880 placement of Hebrews 13 and 16 because communication is 416 00:31:03,880 --> 00:31:08,040 sandwiched between praise and obedience. 417 00:31:10,760 --> 00:31:15,320 So praise puts you in a position for God's goodness. 418 00:31:17,400 --> 00:31:22,960 Goodness will help you improve your communication because we're 419 00:31:23,640 --> 00:31:25,400 we're talking about more than just community. 420 00:31:25,400 --> 00:31:26,760 It's got to be good communication. 421 00:31:27,800 --> 00:31:32,600 The devil can communicate. Matter of fact he does. 422 00:31:34,000 --> 00:31:36,120 Now, I think we probably give him credit for saying things 423 00:31:36,120 --> 00:31:40,000 that he doesn't articulate, but that's a different problem. 424 00:31:40,000 --> 00:31:44,160 But there are times in our life he does, he does communicate. 425 00:31:44,920 --> 00:31:49,360 He does tempt, He does make suggestions that we should not 426 00:31:49,360 --> 00:31:51,320 listen to. So we've got to have good 427 00:31:51,320 --> 00:31:54,600 communication. But then communication leads to 428 00:31:54,600 --> 00:31:58,920 obedience. If you think communication's not 429 00:31:58,920 --> 00:32:02,440 directly correlated to obedience, then I want you to. 430 00:32:03,360 --> 00:32:07,320 I want you to, I want you to practice that. 431 00:32:08,440 --> 00:32:14,200 I want you to try that. Try communicating something that 432 00:32:14,200 --> 00:32:15,840 is the opposite of what you're obeying. 433 00:32:22,800 --> 00:32:30,240 It's not easy. Try try saying yes to God and 434 00:32:30,240 --> 00:32:41,050 then live a different lifestyle somewhere the 2 are going to get 435 00:32:41,050 --> 00:32:49,330 mixed up. It is a sacrifice to do good. 436 00:32:54,250 --> 00:32:56,450 I'm pausing for effect there, just in case anybody got 437 00:32:56,450 --> 00:33:01,200 uncomfortable. Being bad is easy. 438 00:33:06,740 --> 00:33:10,180 Isn't that right, Sister Malen? You don't have to answer that, 439 00:33:10,300 --> 00:33:16,060 sorry. Saying the wrong thing is easy 440 00:33:19,980 --> 00:33:22,220 because it's often out of an aggravated emotion. 441 00:33:24,100 --> 00:33:29,400 You sit down at a restaurant to get a meal that you're about to 442 00:33:29,400 --> 00:33:33,360 pay good money for and the meal comes out and it's not what you 443 00:33:33,360 --> 00:33:36,360 expected or not what you ordered or not the way you ordered it. 444 00:33:38,880 --> 00:33:40,680 We about lose our Holy Ghost fast. 445 00:33:45,240 --> 00:33:49,440 How we behave and what we communicate at that moment 446 00:33:49,440 --> 00:33:54,800 becomes a decision. I'm telling you, saying the 447 00:33:54,800 --> 00:34:00,160 wrong thing is easy. Speaking your mind and saying 448 00:34:00,160 --> 00:34:03,880 what you want to say when you want to say it, it's easy. 449 00:34:04,640 --> 00:34:06,240 To the world, that's a badge of honor. 450 00:34:07,200 --> 00:34:12,080 Well, they speak their mind, That's easy. 451 00:34:13,199 --> 00:34:24,770 It takes 0 discipline to be rude, 0 discipline to be rude. 452 00:34:25,250 --> 00:34:30,250 It takes 0 maturity to be rude. Anybody can act like a 5 year 453 00:34:30,290 --> 00:34:35,560 old. You don't believe me? 454 00:34:36,920 --> 00:34:38,960 What's their steak? Not come cook the right way. 455 00:34:42,520 --> 00:34:46,120 So I'm not saying we have to be doormats and allow everything to 456 00:34:46,120 --> 00:34:48,040 happen, but there's a right way to communicate. 457 00:34:50,520 --> 00:34:53,760 And by the way, I worked in a restaurant, first job I ever 458 00:34:53,760 --> 00:34:55,840 had. They going to spit on your food? 459 00:34:59,280 --> 00:35:02,600 I'm sorry to tell you I don't care if they're a Michelin star 460 00:35:02,600 --> 00:35:05,320 restaurant, if you rude they going to be rude too. 461 00:35:05,320 --> 00:35:06,200 You're just not going to know it. 462 00:35:10,120 --> 00:35:14,880 Lord, I've seen some stuff. One of the reasons why I like 463 00:35:14,880 --> 00:35:16,720 going to certain kitchens where I can see the cook. 464 00:35:18,360 --> 00:35:24,160 What's he doing back there? Takes 0 discipline to be rude. 465 00:35:24,480 --> 00:35:28,000 To communicate effectively requires a sacrifice. 466 00:35:29,200 --> 00:35:34,320 It takes time, means you have to stop, you have to pause what 467 00:35:34,320 --> 00:35:40,160 you're doing, and you have to talk to somebody who's wearing 468 00:35:40,160 --> 00:35:43,480 AT shirt that says, in my defense, I was left unsupervised 469 00:35:47,480 --> 00:35:50,520 and you got to talk to that. That's a sacrifice. 470 00:35:51,800 --> 00:35:58,320 It requires us to be vulnerable, and we don't like being 471 00:35:58,360 --> 00:36:01,960 vulnerable. We don't like being exposed. 472 00:36:02,080 --> 00:36:05,000 We don't like looking like we don't know what we're doing. 473 00:36:06,360 --> 00:36:09,200 So how do we cover that up? Silence. 474 00:36:13,320 --> 00:36:18,440 It takes effort. The Bible tells us evil 475 00:36:18,640 --> 00:36:25,280 communication will corrupt good manners. 476 00:36:27,400 --> 00:36:32,720 The 2GO hand in hand, watch it. The people who have the worst 477 00:36:32,720 --> 00:36:39,440 manners watch their speech. Their speech is directly 478 00:36:39,440 --> 00:36:44,760 connected to their behavior. What you communicate makes a 479 00:36:44,760 --> 00:36:49,120 declaration of your thoughts and your beliefs. 480 00:36:50,880 --> 00:36:53,600 In closing, I want to take one more look at First Corinthians 481 00:36:53,600 --> 00:37:01,720 1533 in Hebrews 1316, First Corinthians 1533, the word 482 00:37:01,720 --> 00:37:05,800 communicate in this verse in the Greek. 483 00:37:08,200 --> 00:37:11,680 I am not studying Greek except for a particular lesson. 484 00:37:12,440 --> 00:37:15,760 I am not practicing Greek, and I am not pursuing the Greek 485 00:37:15,760 --> 00:37:20,600 language. I refuse, however, that's a 486 00:37:20,600 --> 00:37:23,360 personal thing. I've got too many other 487 00:37:23,360 --> 00:37:25,200 languages in my head I've got to worry about. 488 00:37:26,720 --> 00:37:30,080 But I am going to try my best to stress the two differences in 489 00:37:30,080 --> 00:37:31,800 Greek just so that you understand that they are 490 00:37:31,800 --> 00:37:33,720 different. The word communicate in this 491 00:37:33,720 --> 00:37:36,320 verse comes from the Greek word homelia. 492 00:37:36,320 --> 00:37:41,080 I want to define that here in just a moment. 493 00:37:41,080 --> 00:37:44,360 Hebrews 13 and 16. The word communication in the 494 00:37:44,360 --> 00:37:55,560 Greek is the word Koinonia. Now to express the importance of 495 00:37:55,560 --> 00:38:00,720 this information, I want to share the meaning Koinonia in 496 00:38:00,720 --> 00:38:04,920 Hebrews 13 and 16 means fellowship. 497 00:38:06,840 --> 00:38:09,760 The word communicate in the Greek Fellowship, sharing, 498 00:38:10,240 --> 00:38:14,200 partnership, contribution more than talking actively, 499 00:38:14,200 --> 00:38:18,480 participating in the lives of others, community, joint 500 00:38:18,480 --> 00:38:21,840 participation. If we go back to First 501 00:38:21,840 --> 00:38:27,800 Corinthians 15 and 33, the word homelia means companionship, 502 00:38:28,000 --> 00:38:32,560 association, company, close relationships or social 503 00:38:32,560 --> 00:38:35,320 interactions. Not a lot of differences. 504 00:38:35,320 --> 00:38:42,760 Yet there's one more definition that the word homelia means in 505 00:38:42,760 --> 00:38:47,560 the Greek and it correlates to the verse that says evil 506 00:38:47,560 --> 00:38:49,320 communication corrupts good manners. 507 00:38:49,600 --> 00:38:51,440 And that definition is intercourse. 508 00:38:59,750 --> 00:39:02,910 So it's it's a next level social interaction. 509 00:39:04,190 --> 00:39:06,710 If we go back to the other definition, it's fellowship, 510 00:39:07,710 --> 00:39:11,710 joint partnership, friendship, closeness more than talking, 511 00:39:11,710 --> 00:39:13,990 actively participating in the lives of others. 512 00:39:15,230 --> 00:39:20,840 But when we start talking about evil communication, evil in this 513 00:39:20,840 --> 00:39:23,840 verse means morally bad, wrong influence, corrupt thinking and 514 00:39:23,840 --> 00:39:26,640 moral attitude and toxic behavior. 515 00:39:31,240 --> 00:39:34,760 So outside of the confines of marriage as defined by the Word 516 00:39:34,760 --> 00:39:44,320 of God, intercourse that is found, that is morally corrupt, 517 00:39:46,200 --> 00:39:52,600 wrong influence, immoral, toxic, corrupts, good manners. 518 00:39:56,280 --> 00:40:05,460 You want a good example of that? There's plenty. 519 00:40:12,160 --> 00:40:15,440 My wife and I were youth pastors in this church. 520 00:40:17,600 --> 00:40:22,200 It's been a day or two ago, but a particular season. 521 00:40:22,200 --> 00:40:27,320 In that 22 year span, we had a lot of kids. 522 00:40:30,360 --> 00:40:36,400 We had a lot of girls and boys. You want to know what tripped 523 00:40:36,400 --> 00:40:39,520 them up? What tripped them up was 524 00:40:39,520 --> 00:40:44,040 disobedience. But at the core of what tripped 525 00:40:44,040 --> 00:40:52,560 them up, what we like to call missionary dating, they found a 526 00:40:52,560 --> 00:40:59,720 love interest or a lust interest that was not in the House of 527 00:40:59,720 --> 00:41:04,600 God. Can you put that verse back up 528 00:41:04,600 --> 00:41:08,640 real quick? First, First Corinthians, when 529 00:41:08,640 --> 00:41:10,840 we start talking about the depths of the meaning of evil 530 00:41:10,840 --> 00:41:14,800 communications corrupting good manners, you'll find no quicker 531 00:41:15,200 --> 00:41:19,840 reflection than that in the lives of teenagers that want to 532 00:41:19,840 --> 00:41:29,320 do what they want to do. But we're no different. 533 00:41:30,000 --> 00:41:32,640 I'm picking on teenagers for just a moment, but we're really 534 00:41:32,640 --> 00:41:34,960 not that much different. We just aren't that loud about 535 00:41:34,960 --> 00:41:38,480 it. They were very open. 536 00:41:39,520 --> 00:41:42,720 They were very open to the point of telling me directly in the 537 00:41:42,720 --> 00:41:44,280 middle of a Friday night service. 538 00:41:44,640 --> 00:41:46,880 You can tell us what to do all you want to, but that doesn't 539 00:41:46,880 --> 00:41:51,360 mean we're going to listen. Person that made that statements 540 00:41:51,360 --> 00:41:56,680 backslid tonight, not because they made that statement to me, 541 00:41:57,160 --> 00:42:00,240 not just because of the sheer disrespect, but because of the 542 00:42:00,240 --> 00:42:02,120 meaning and the definition behind this. 543 00:42:02,200 --> 00:42:06,520 The heart behind making that statement was I'm not going to 544 00:42:06,520 --> 00:42:09,760 obey God's word. I'm going to do what I want to 545 00:42:09,760 --> 00:42:12,600 do. It corrupts good manners. 546 00:42:15,120 --> 00:42:20,960 It modifies behavior. Most people, I don't know if 547 00:42:20,960 --> 00:42:25,800 I've ever seen a example, but most people do not backslide and 548 00:42:25,800 --> 00:42:31,800 not change their behaviour. Evil communication corrupts good 549 00:42:31,800 --> 00:42:37,800 manners. How we talk, how we live, how we 550 00:42:37,800 --> 00:42:41,720 express ourselves has to do with how we behave. 551 00:42:42,960 --> 00:42:46,840 And we cannot behave well and not be talking well. 552 00:42:47,920 --> 00:42:51,480 And if we're not talking well, it is going to affect how we 553 00:42:51,480 --> 00:42:54,760 behave. And if we take this a step 554 00:42:54,760 --> 00:42:57,880 deeper, it's going to affect how we behave in everyday life. 555 00:42:58,080 --> 00:43:01,480 It's also going to affect how you behave in the presence of 556 00:43:01,480 --> 00:43:06,720 God and could be one of the barriers to our relationship 557 00:43:06,720 --> 00:43:10,000 with Him because of how I behave before I get to Him. 558 00:43:14,960 --> 00:43:16,880 So the words we speak are never neutral. 559 00:43:18,280 --> 00:43:23,240 They're either planting life or they're sowing destruction. 560 00:43:24,800 --> 00:43:26,680 And that's important for us to understand. 561 00:43:27,320 --> 00:43:29,880 Whether you're leading A-Team, loving a spouse, wrestling with 562 00:43:29,880 --> 00:43:32,800 silence, reaching across cultural lines or racial 563 00:43:32,800 --> 00:43:36,640 divides, God has called each and every one of us to speak life. 564 00:43:36,640 --> 00:43:41,520 And when we speak life, we echo the voice of the One who spoke 565 00:43:41,520 --> 00:43:45,280 the world into existence. Would you stand with me tonight? 566 00:43:45,280 --> 00:43:48,200 I'm done. Speak life. 567 00:43:48,800 --> 00:43:52,400 That's our challenge. May our words bring calm and 568 00:43:52,400 --> 00:43:55,680 healing and unity to those that we communicate with. 569 00:43:55,680 --> 00:43:57,800 Let's lift our hands and just love the Lord together. 570 00:43:58,400 --> 00:44:00,240 Mighty God, we're thankful for you tonight. 571 00:44:00,960 --> 00:44:03,400 I ask you, God, to help us. Help us. 572 00:44:03,400 --> 00:44:06,080 Let let our conversations reflect your wisdom. 573 00:44:06,560 --> 00:44:08,960 Let our conversations reflect your grace. 574 00:44:09,320 --> 00:44:12,840 Let our speech reflect your power to transform lives and 575 00:44:13,000 --> 00:44:16,440 change people's hearts through the Word of God and the power of 576 00:44:16,440 --> 00:44:18,800 your Spirit. Lord, we understand today that 577 00:44:19,080 --> 00:44:22,920 that you can bring calm and healing in just a moment with 578 00:44:22,920 --> 00:44:25,720 the words that we speak by your anointing and by your grace. 579 00:44:25,720 --> 00:44:29,800 Help us to extend grace to those Lord that is, that is equal to 580 00:44:29,800 --> 00:44:33,160 that of the grace that we've received and will not fail to 581 00:44:33,160 --> 00:44:34,680 praise you and give you glory for it. 582 00:44:34,680 --> 00:44:38,840 Today, help us to speak life in Jesus name. 583 00:44:39,000 --> 00:44:41,120 Let the church said in Jesus name. 584 00:44:42,160 --> 00:44:44,760 Hey man, speak life. That's our challenge. 585 00:44:44,760 --> 00:44:48,040 I challenge you if you, if you're, if you're having 586 00:44:48,040 --> 00:44:50,680 difficulties with speaking life, try a little harder. 587 00:44:51,520 --> 00:44:56,320 It can be inconvenient, but it is a very, very worth it because 588 00:44:56,320 --> 00:45:01,600 somebody's soul just might be hinging on the words that you 589 00:45:01,600 --> 00:45:05,480 say. They just might be waiting for 590 00:45:05,480 --> 00:45:10,840 you to say, hey would you come to church rather than my steaks? 591 00:45:10,840 --> 00:45:12,760 Not right. Can you get it right for once? 592 00:45:12,760 --> 00:45:20,250 A whole lot for us to consider. Speak life. 593 00:45:20,250 --> 00:45:21,930 God bless you. Thank you for being in the House 594 00:45:21,930 --> 00:45:25,250 of the Lord tonight. Don't forget Sunday morning, 595 00:45:25,250 --> 00:45:29,290 Sunday night church service back on normal schedule this weekend. 596 00:45:29,450 --> 00:45:31,490 God bless you. Have a great week in Jesus name.