The Words That You Speak Matter

TRANSCRIPT

We're looking at the overflow of what's inside us. Okay? We're looking at the overflow of what's inside us and how that impacts, how that overflow impacts the world around us and impacts more importantly, the people in our world. And that's important. We're gonna, we're gonna talk about that today, but I dunno if this has ever happened to you.

But, um, when I was a kid, we had, we had bath time. Like we had a, we had a bath, everything. We had a bath and then put your jammies on. Go to bed. That was, we just, we did baths, you know, and, uh, and this one particular time, it was my turn to, to fill the bath up. So I put the plug in, turn the taps on, and it just takes forever.

It took forever to fill the bath. So I thought, I'm just gonna go watch a little bit of television while this happens. Now you can see, you can see where this is going. And of course I forgot. I got distracted, right? I forgot. And so that water in the bath, it filled up and it filled up until eventually it overflowed over the outside of the bath and it went everywhere, like everywhere, all over the floor.

It went out the door into the carpets. It soaked the wooden skirting boards. It couldn't be stopped. Well, it could eventually 'cause we, we came and turned the taps off. Turned the taps off and we pulled the plug. But then that created another whole issue. 'cause our, our house was like a hundred years old and the, uh, the plumbing pipes couldn't handle the pressure of the bath being emptied so quick.

And so it burst the pipe under our house. And then there was another overflow everywhere. And the crazy thing is, is I think that'll actually happen on a Mother's Day. Would you believe? So? Mom, if you're watching, I love you and I'm sorry again. But it was overflow. Overflow.

The truth is we all have overflow in our lives. We all have overflow. Whatever is in us is going to come out eventually, and we hear the term about bottling things up or cramming things down. You can only do that for so long and then it will come out. We will have spillover. It's like the series we're talking about, whatever is in our heart will eventually spill over.

The question is, is it a good thing or is it a bad thing that's gonna spill over? Is it good or is it bad? And that's why from time to time we do a series like this. Like I mentioned before, it's a, we do a challenging series. We do a series where we have some take homes. We give you some, some some challenges.

We give you some homework to do if you like to take home during the week. So then we come back for the next week with the next part of the series, we can see how we're all doing. And so Kev started us off and he spoke about what's in our hearts, what's in our heart, and he made the comment, he made the statement that said, you can't pour out.

What you don't have, and if you remember, we use the analogy with the jugs. Okay? The jugs. And this is, this is what's in our heart, okay? The, the, the, the, the substance of our heart. And so obviously the, the jug here with the clear liquid. That's good things, okay? That's kindness and gentleness and, and, uh, and encouragement, all those sorts of things.

That's good. Okay. Then we have the dirty water, the dirty liquid, and that's not so good. All right. That's your bitterness and your anger and your, um, cruelty and, and unforgiveness and all those things. And what we can do is we can fill our heart with either one of these, and then if our heart is filled with either one of these, whatever spills out or spills over is gonna be that.

So now knowing that eventually that's gonna come out, eventually it's gonna come out, that means that what's in us will overflow. Like that bathtub. So it's crucial, crucial, crucial that we stay connected to our loving heavenly Father. We stay connected to him because he is all good. God is all good. So if we stay connected to him, then.

We aim and strive to fill our heart with the good. And that's why we always talk about, we always talk about doing devotions, whether it be soap, devotions, or other devotions that you, that you are working through whatever you wanna do. It's just staying connected to God. So keep yourself in the word, keep yourself in scripture.

Work on your prayer life. You know, learn. If you, if you're not good at praying, then practice it. Practice praying to God, you know, just exercise that every single day. And then especially come together. Come together at church on a Sunday, family gathering, spend time together with other believers. All that is working towards filling our heart with good and staying connected to our loving heavenly Father.

So then Anita came out. Anita came out last week with all guns blazing as, as, uh, Kev mentioned. And she talked to us about the power of listening, listening with love. Now, Anita is a teacher by profession, and I could not think of any better person to share what she did last week. She did such an amazing job talking to us and sharing and teaching us about listening, the power of listening, listening with love.

So it's not just jumping in with your opinion. It's not jumping in with a quick return. It's not jumping in with your idea. It's stopping. Stopping and listening. Listening to someone. It's pretty much putting others before yourself. I'm not, I dunno, someone famous came up with that. I can't, can't come.

It'll come to me in a minute. Putting others before yourself. Take the time to listen. Listen to your wife. That's all I'm gonna say. No. Listen to your husband as well. All right? Listen. Listen to your kids. Listen to the other parents at the, in the soccer team. 'cause as you listen, what you can do is you can take the opportunity then to ask God.

'cause remember, we're trying to stay connected as much as we can to God. Then you ask God, God, gimme a response for this person. Gimme a response to what they're saying or what they're going through right now by they're sharing their heart with me. I'm listening. What can I say? So the, the simple act of listening allows you the chance to actually be used by God himself.

That is cool. You get to be used by God just by listening. So it's a very cool, so it's a cool, uh, it's, this is a great series that we're working on and as I mentioned, it's something that we try to create some take homes, some homework, some challenges, if you like. So be ready. It's gonna be all good. Trust me.

So today we're gonna look at part three of our series. We're gonna look at words, oh, the power of our words. So we listened last week. Now we actually get to speak. Okay? We get to do words. So you've got two words. Two types of words. You've got words that build. We've got words that break. They are the only two options you have, sorry to say, only two options.

Words that build, words that break, and it's your choice. On which one you use. This goes right back, as I said, to week one, where Kev talked about what's in our heart is gonna spill over. He said, you can't give out what you don't have, and it will come over. It will, it will come out. So Jesus himself, Jesus himself said in Matthew 1234, he said, outta the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.

Outta the abundance of your heart, the mouth is gonna speak. So guess what? Your words are gonna give you away. You might be trying to hide something, but your words will give you away. Every time the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. So if it's rotten in here, it's gonna come out rotten. If it's good in here, it's gonna come out good.

Does that make sense? Yeah. There we go. Message finished. Let's pray. We can have a coffee early. Some of you're like, yeah, early, mark. No, not that easy. So two things I know. Number one is that words are powerful. Words are powerful. I'm gonna prove it to you. I'm gonna prove it to you, but what I needed at first, I just need everyone just to stand up.

Please stretch your legs a bit. Stand up if you can. Stand up. Righto looking around. That's good. Now I want you to all do this with your hands about there, just about there with your hands, and then heads up, look at me. And a big smile on your face. Now, hold that pose. I'm just gonna get a photo of this.

Just gonna get a photo. Okay, good. All right. You can all sit down. Thank you.

Speaker 2: The message was good.

Speaker: Yeah, that's it. Words are powerful. Words are powerful. I'm gonna just send that photo to my wife Katie. She's on holiday, she's on a, she's on a cruise in the In Alaska. I know. Must be nice.

Hello my darling. Hope your travels are going well, Winky face.

Had a good morning in church this morning. Would you believe I got a standing ovation from my message? I've attached a photo to prove it.

Can't wait to see you soon. Love you lots. Kiss, kiss, hug. Hug, send. There we go.

Our words are powerful. I know. Simply by saying some words, I got everyone to stand up and you gave me a standing ovation, so thank you for, I know that wasn't fair. I know you didn't know that was happening, but it just goes to show that our words are powerful and with great power. Comes great responsibility.

How would you know? Marvel got it right. They knew all along with great power comes great responsibility. That is the catchphrase from superhero movies. But it's true. It's true. There is power in our words, and we have the ability to shape people's lives around us, shape our lives, and others. The next thing I know, number two is that our words are irreversible.

Ah, really they are. Our words are irreversible. Once they are out, they're out. You can't do anything about it. I mean, you can apologize or you can say sorry, or you can delete that nasty post that you put on or that comment that you made. But that horse has bolted. It's too late. It's, it's out there. Now words are irreversible.

I have a demonstration for you for this one. Ethan, where's, where's my man? Ethan, come on up, brother. Demo. Demo time.

Yeah. Give him a hand.

All right. You don't know what this is about, do you, man? Okay. What I want you to do, I want you to undo, take the cap off there, like unscrew the cap tube, a toothpaste. Okay, then camera in this way so people in there can see. That's it. Good on you. Now as fast as you can, just upside down, I want you to squeeze it all over that place as quick as you can.

A big pile. Perfect. Yeah. Satisfying, isn't it? All right. That's cool. Yeah. Hold it there. Now I have a spoon. You didn't know I was going. Okay. You can put, you can grab the spoon now. What I want you to do, I'm gonna time you, okay. And as fast as you can, I want you to put, I want you to put all that toothpaste back in the tube.

Ready? Go.

Come on. No. All right. It's, that's just not happening, doesn't, mate. No, that's not happening. Good work. Would you say that was impossible? Yeah. Yeah. Good work. Whoop. Good on you mate. Thank you. Give hand.

Did you think I was gonna get you to eat it?

Once your words are out there, you can't get 'em back. You can, you know, you can deal with some of the consequences, but they're out there, they're done. How often do we stop and think about just how powerful our words are?

Remember, words can build, or words can break, and it's our choice. And if we're honest, we don't always think about the lasting impact that the words that we speak have. I mean, we might say something in the heat of the moment that happens. Okay? Not realizing that those words that we speak will echo in that person's mind for days or weeks.

Sometimes even years. As I was preparing this message this week, I really believe God spoke to me about some people here today that have got some words that you are hanging onto, and we're gonna talk about that a bit later on and see if we can do something about that. It's time for us to take a closer look at how we're using our words.

Words. They're so powerful. And we have to determine that we're gonna use good words. Okay? This is, I know this sounds a little bit like a school lesson or something like that, but it really is a practical message that we can take home and we can do something about it. So what we're gonna do is we're gonna lay out some scripture.

As a base, that's always the best place to start, God's word. Alright, we're gonna look at Ephesians. Good and verse 29. There we go. Let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs that it may benefit those who listen. And Proverbs.

Proverbs is such a good book. You know, there's about 31 chapters in Proverbs. That's a proverb a day, so you can read one a day. It's always a little. Appetizer. Proverbs 1821, the tongue. The tongue has the power of life and death. The tongue has power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.

Oh, there we go. So there's our foundation. We've laid our scripture base for what we're talking about, our words. That's powerful stuff. So let's, let's dive in. Number one, our words have the power to build up. They've got the power to build up. So we're gonna look at the positive side of things first.

Alright? Words are like tools. They're tools that you can use to create, to encourage and to build. When we use our words wisely, we actually build people up. Imagine for a moment that every time you spoke to someone, it was like laying a brick in a wall that was gonna be used. For them to support themselves or for them to feel safe.

A big safety wall, a safety net. Every time you speak to someone, you are laying a brick in that wall. You're helping them build confidence. You're lifting their spirits, you're building and strengthening their resolve wolf. Ephesians 4 29. Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful, only what is helpful for building others up.

According to their need. Now, this is a call. This is really a call to speak with intention, to speak with intention, and to do that you have to think about what you're gonna say. Anita spoke in her message last week. She said that scripture, be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger. Think about it.

Think about things before you say them. Yeah, and that is a lesson that we need to learn for the rest of our lives because this sort of stuff, it just goes on and and on. We have to just completely always be reminded, speak with intention, to make sure our words are not just filling the air, they're not just floating around out there, not just talking heads, but they are filling others' hearts.

Think about how you feel when someone gives you a sincere compliment. Ah. Your hair looks nice. Your hair looks nice this morning. I like that dress or that outfit. I like Love your shoes man. Hey, good job. That was top. That was a top. That was awesome job mate. I am very impressed. You did well. So good words of compliments.

Well, when someone listens to you, genuinely, they listen to you genuinely, and then they respond with encouragement. You know, oh man, I'm, I'm so sorry that you're going through that, but you know what? I really believe you, you got the strength to get through it, you know, with you and God. You can do anything, you know, and then pray together.

Listen, respond with encouragement. That's building someone up. And you know what? You can be that person. Every single one of us can be that person. Our words carry weight and that weight can change someone's life. You have the ability to change someone's life just by your words. It's pretty incredible to think words have the power to build.

That's just a given. Okay? Number two words, have the power. To break, to tear down. We can't do the good without the bad. We have to look at the flip side. Okay? There is a darker side. It's true. It's not just all sunshine and lollipops. There is a darker side to this. Words also have the potential to tear down.

I mean, we've all experienced the sting of harsh words. Now, whether it be from a stranger. You know, some keyboard warrior with a sweaty upper lip spewing out some garbage, or whether it's from someone that we love, even we've all felt the sting of those harsh words. It's like the saying goes, sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.

Everyone in this room knows that that is a complete and utter lie. That is a lie. Words do hurt, man, they hurt.

Proverbs 1821, the tongue has the power of life and death. Remember that power of life and death and those who love it will eat its fruit. So what does that mean? Simply put, the words have consequences. They have consequences. When we use our words carelessly, we are playing with fire. Playing with fire. It can lead to broken relationships.

Bitterness and even long-term emotional scars, long-term emotional scars. You actually have the ability to leave scars on people's lives, and you don't even have to touch them. You don't have to lay a finger on 'em. You just have to say some words. That's heavy.

We are playing with fire.

When you start using careless words, think, think a way. Think about the way a harsh word can stick with you. I remember refer back to what I was mentioning before about there's people here that have some words that you've maybe hung onto a little bit too long, and those words can replay in your mind and over and over and over long after that conversation has happened.

And here's the thing, when we tear people down with our words, we don't only hurt them, but we also hurt ourselves. You hurt yourself because negative speech can become a habit, and suddenly you're known as Mr. Negativity say alone in Mr. Cranky pants all the time. And the more that happens, the more it impacts our heart.

And our lives, you know, habits can be catching as well. They can be catching. I remember when I was a young apprentice and we were working on a job site, big job site here on the Gold Coast. It was the PAC Fair. It was the first big renovation they did at PAC Fair, like a hundred years ago. And, and there was a, it was a massive big job site.

There was stuff going on everywhere and they had a foreman on the site and his job was basically just to make sure everything was smooth. He'd be taking people from here to there and showing different things. And, uh, and I was an apprentice and I was with him this one day and I had to walk across the entire job site, right to the other side of the whole place with him.

And he had a limp. Now, I dunno if he had had hurt himself or if it was something that he, he had, but he just had this limp. So he would be walking like this, you know, and we'd be walking down the job site like this. And before life, what didn't take me very long at all, like I was walking next to him, I, and I started doing this with him.

You know, just keep, just keeping the rhythm, you know, 'cause I'm talking with him and I'm, you know, and so we got all the way to the other side of the job site and I'm, and I'm walking in like this and my boss looks at me and he goes, what happened to you mate? I said, what? But, oh, I, nothing, nothing. No. And I hadn't, I didn't even realize I was doing it.

And it just happened. 'cause I caught it. I caught what was going on. It's habits are catching. Sometimes negative talk is also catching. I remember my boy Matthew when he was a little boy. He's a big boy now. When he was a little boy about four or five years old and he was helping me around. He is always helping me around the house, doing some stuff out in the yard, and we had this old tree stump and a big rock, and I was trying to move these things.

And I had a big crowbar and I was like, jam, oh, come on, come on. I'm putting all my guts into it and I'm yelling at this thing and I'm really getting passionate and I'm, come

Speaker 2: on, come on.

Speaker: Getting right into it. Later that day I was in the kitchen and Matthew was up in his bedroom. He was playing with his Legos and he is building like this tower, you know, trying to make it go as high as he can and he just hear this

Speaker 2: crash.

Speaker: Then I hear this,

Speaker 2: oh,

Speaker: come on. And my wife Katie, just goes, you taught him that? I'm like, oh, man. Yes, I did. Didn't actually teach him though. I didn't sit him down and say, now this is what you do, son, when you really, he just got it. Your words have the power to break. Words can shape our identity. Yes. And it's tricky.

Words can be tricky words. Words have changed their meaning. Have anyone noticed that? Yes, there's certain words that have changed, meaning I don't know. What if just me getting old of it. I mean, when I was a kid. Mickey Mouse. If something was Mickey Mouse, it was good. Oh, that's Mickey Mouse now. Apparently it's bad.

Poor Mickey. Mickey Mouse is dodgy now. Like, oh, that's a bit Mickey Mouse. You know? And I'm like, oh. Or if when I was a kid, if I, if you was sick, oh, I'm sick. You know, I'm going to, gonna throw up. Sick is good now. Oh, that's sick, man. That's sick. And if it's fully sick, it's like next level. Good. I don't know.

It's all sixes and sevens to me. I don't know. See what I did there, working it in. But words can shape our identity. They can actually shape who you are, your words, you know? Here's the exciting part, the words we speak. Can mold and make us who we are. We often think about words as being powerful for others.

Oh my word. I'm a motivational speaker. I'm giving words of encouragement to these people. I'm leading the way. You know, good. Oh, my words are good for everyone else, but your words can actually be good for yourself. Words are seeds that take root in our hearts and in our minds. Good words. Take root in our hearts.

Okay? We're gonna, we're always back to this. What's in us? Remember, what's in us is gonna come out. You can't stop it. The more we speak life, the more life we begin to see in our own world. When we speak positive or positivity, not only do we encourage others, but we also begin, we begin to believe the truth that we're saying ourselves, and that sits in us and, and goes in there.

Think about how many times you've been encouraged by someone's words. How many times have you been encouraged by someone's words? Yeah. Good job, man. You did. You did good. Wow. That was, I didn't know you had that in you, me. I didn't know you could do that. Man, I'm impressed. That is very, very cool.

Encouraging words and then how you begin to internalize those words and you start thinking, yeah, hey, I not, not. Not being bigheaded, but you say, yeah, I, I am pretty good at that. I mean, I can, I can do that really well. That is something that I can do, and I know that. And you start to build confidence in yourself that you can do these things.

They become part of your identity of who you are. But then on the flip side, there's always a flip side. There is negativity. Negative words can breed insecurity, doubt, and fear in your heart. Oh man. I should never have got you to do that job. I knew you wouldn't able to do it, right? Oh, come on. Come on. How many times have you had, do I have to tell you how to do this?

Ah, simple words. Simple words that can just roll off the tongue from someone and you internalize them, and then you think, oh yeah, you're right, man. I'm hopeless. I can't do that. Why did I even try to do that? Why do I even think I could do that? Then it flips just as quick Jesus said, outta the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks outta the abundance of your heart.

So when you speak words of life, you're also filling your own heart with life. But you gotta have those words of life to begin with.

Sowing good seed will grow. And it will grow into a harvest of peace and of joy, and of purpose. All the good stuff. We love it. Your words have the power to shape your identity, to shape who you are. I'm gonna get the band to come up if they could. As we close up, you can land this sucker.

As I mentioned before, I really believe that. There are people here that are holding on to some word. It might've, it might just be one single word that you've heard, or it might've been a repetitive word that someone kept saying to you when you were young, just yesterday. I don't know, but I really believe that there's some words that people have been hanging onto, they've internalized and they're just festering away in there and they're actually holding you back and we don't wanna see that.

We don't wanna see anyone held back. Because of some simple words that we can easily get rid of.

It's important that we start paying attention to the words that we are saying to others and the words that we are saying to ourselves, because that changes everything. Changes everything. There is power in words. There's power in your words, and they can't be taken back. So we need to think, think before we speak.

Be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger. Think before you speak. It sounds so simple. That's the, that's the crazy thing. It just sounds easy, doesn't it? Ah, it's easy. We'll do that. But so many times, me included, put my hand up. We're all guilty of it. We all forget to think before we say something. Let me blurt something out.

No, no. What have I done? Shouldn't have said that. Shouldn't have typed that in there. But the good news is, is that God is a loving God. He's a forgiving God, and he's on our side. He wants us to win. He wants us to win. So we need to let him let us win or help us win. And that starts over here. What's in your heart is gonna come out.

It's gonna come out in your words. So we work about internalizing God's presence inside us. Fill your heart with good 'cause. You can't give out what you don't have. It's all good. Your words have the power to build your words. Have the power to break. And your words have the power to shape your destiny.

Shape who you are. So here's the challenge. Okay? Here's the homework that we talk about. Here's the challenge this week, this week. I want you to a minimum, a minimum of three positive words, three positive words a day. Now they might be three positive words to the same person, or they might be three separate people that you choose to drop a little gem of positivity into three positive words of that.

That's, it's a minimum. You can go way over above that. Don't. Mark that I've done. My three tick. Alrighty, I'm outta here. Three a day. Three a day. By the end, by it's next Sunday, we get together. You've done 21 and there's a start. Think before you say those words. Sometimes you can pray before you say those words.

God, is this the right word for this person? Well, God, give me a per, gimme a word for that person. Gimme something that's gonna really boost them up. Three. Three positive words a day. Let's choose. Let's choose to build rather than to break down. It's our choice. It's your choice. You get to make it. I can't force you to do anything.

It's a choice. Let's speak lives into others. Let's speak life into others, into ourselves as well. So when you walk outta here today, remember that you have the power. You have the power, and with great power comes great responsibility. Your words shape the world around you. Your words shape the people in your world.

So let's make 'em count for good. Let's do that. So in a world that's often filled with criticism and negativity, you don't have to look too far to see all that stuff going on. Imagine how much brighter, how much brighter the place would be, how much brighter your workplace would be. Your home would be your.

Social club, you go to you, the soccer team that you're with, other parents with how much brighter it would be if we all spoke life into each other. We all spoke life. We drew from a heart full of goodness, and we spoke life. We had spillover of life into others. You have the power.

Speaker 2: You got the power.

Speaker: You have the power.

So let's, let's just do it. That's all I can say. Let's just do it. Let's pray. Let's pray right now. Father God, we just thank you. Thank you, Lord, that you give us life. Lord, you give us life. Father, we just wanna make a, uh, a decision this morning. Make a decision, Lord, that we are gonna fill our hearts with goodness.

Fill our hearts, with your goodness, with your power, with your love. So, Lord, that when it spills over and it will, when it spills over, Lord, we just pray that it will be goodness that comes out in our words as we share with others, as we speak with others, and as we speak to ourselves even. Lord, help us to do that.

Lord, I pray. Help us. Yeah. Lord, we just thank you. Thank you for your love and your mercy toward us. Thank you for all that you've done. All that you've done. We can't even measure it. Lord God, we just thank you. Thank you, thank you. Thank you, Lord.