WEBVTT 00:00:00.940 --> 00:00:04.559 This is the Chip Ingram Sermon Podcast, brought 00:00:04.559 --> 00:00:07.719 to you by Living on the Edge. In this podcast, 00:00:07.960 --> 00:00:10.560 you'll hear Chip's teaching unedited and from 00:00:10.560 --> 00:00:14.019 beginning to end. And now here's our guest teacher, 00:00:14.199 --> 00:00:16.920 Kyle Eidelman, with his message titled, Say It 00:00:16.920 --> 00:00:19.559 Out Loud. I want to start off my message by telling 00:00:19.559 --> 00:00:22.440 you something that's going to seem simple. And 00:00:22.440 --> 00:00:23.620 some of you are like, well, yeah, that's kind 00:00:23.620 --> 00:00:25.559 of your thing, Kyle. That's kind of what you 00:00:25.559 --> 00:00:28.059 do. Well, I know it's going to sound simple. 00:00:28.800 --> 00:00:30.480 It's going to sound simple enough that you'll 00:00:30.480 --> 00:00:32.600 probably think to yourself at some point in this 00:00:32.600 --> 00:00:34.859 sermon, does this really need to be a whole sermon? 00:00:36.340 --> 00:00:38.340 They'll probably sound simple enough that you're 00:00:38.340 --> 00:00:42.159 tempted to dismiss it and think, ah, that's interesting, 00:00:42.359 --> 00:00:45.820 but I'll wait to hear what's next week. I just 00:00:45.820 --> 00:00:47.320 think that what we're going to talk about in 00:00:47.320 --> 00:00:49.679 these next few minutes, even though it's simple. 00:00:50.439 --> 00:00:54.560 has the potential to profoundly impact not just 00:00:54.560 --> 00:00:58.479 your relationship with God, but your whole life, 00:00:58.659 --> 00:01:00.979 your relationship with other people, how you 00:01:00.979 --> 00:01:06.480 see yourself. Here's the idea. Again, it's going 00:01:06.480 --> 00:01:11.959 to sound simple. A word you speak is more powerful 00:01:11.959 --> 00:01:15.459 than a thought you think. A thought that you 00:01:15.459 --> 00:01:18.019 speak out loud with words is more powerful than 00:01:18.019 --> 00:01:19.780 thoughts that just stay in your head. And we're 00:01:19.780 --> 00:01:22.700 gonna see in a few minutes how science shows 00:01:22.700 --> 00:01:24.700 this is true, that when you speak certain words, 00:01:24.739 --> 00:01:26.700 your brain wants to believe what it hears you 00:01:26.700 --> 00:01:30.040 saying. Your brain leans in differently when 00:01:30.040 --> 00:01:32.879 it hears a thought spoken out of your mouth. 00:01:33.099 --> 00:01:35.390 When my kids were young, I would... challenged 00:01:35.390 --> 00:01:37.569 them to pay attention to the words they spoke 00:01:37.569 --> 00:01:40.989 out loud about themselves and about their circumstances. 00:01:41.170 --> 00:01:43.430 I remember taking my middle school daughter to 00:01:43.430 --> 00:01:46.150 school one morning, and she was telling me on 00:01:46.150 --> 00:01:49.569 the way to school about some drama in the friend 00:01:49.569 --> 00:01:52.609 group the day before. And I was glad she was 00:01:52.609 --> 00:01:54.650 sharing with me kind of what's going on in her 00:01:54.650 --> 00:01:57.569 life. I want her to share her emotions with me. 00:01:57.629 --> 00:02:00.049 But as we're driving, I start to hear her words. 00:02:00.620 --> 00:02:02.659 turn on herself and she starts saying things 00:02:02.659 --> 00:02:06.500 like that I'm just so awkward and no one really 00:02:06.500 --> 00:02:09.060 likes me and I just don't fit in anywhere and 00:02:09.060 --> 00:02:12.419 I said hey stop stop it I want you to tell me 00:02:12.419 --> 00:02:14.360 how you're feeling but there are certain things 00:02:14.360 --> 00:02:17.360 you can't hear yourself say about yourself because 00:02:17.360 --> 00:02:20.020 what's happening there is you're not just making 00:02:20.020 --> 00:02:22.939 observations you're programming your mind you're 00:02:22.939 --> 00:02:25.099 creating neural pathways you're giving yourself 00:02:25.099 --> 00:02:28.840 a road to think about yourself and so I tried 00:02:28.840 --> 00:02:31.349 to tell her Like your brain's always listening 00:02:31.349 --> 00:02:32.949 to what you say. And when you say those things 00:02:32.949 --> 00:02:35.849 about yourself, you're teaching yourself to believe 00:02:35.849 --> 00:02:37.849 those things, to think about yourself that way. 00:02:37.949 --> 00:02:40.330 Look, honey, you're smart and you're kind and 00:02:40.330 --> 00:02:42.210 you're beautiful and you're funny. But if you 00:02:42.210 --> 00:02:45.050 keep telling yourself the opposite, then you're 00:02:45.050 --> 00:02:47.629 gonna start believing the lies instead of the 00:02:47.629 --> 00:02:51.129 truth. The words you speak out loud are more 00:02:51.129 --> 00:02:53.090 powerful than just the thoughts that you think 00:02:53.090 --> 00:02:55.669 in your head. And we're in this series called 00:02:55.669 --> 00:02:58.110 Every Thought Captive. And we're being challenged 00:02:58.110 --> 00:03:00.590 to take our thoughts captive as a way to break 00:03:00.590 --> 00:03:03.770 down strongholds, as a way to be transformed, 00:03:03.870 --> 00:03:06.090 as Romans chapter 12 says, by the renewing of 00:03:06.090 --> 00:03:11.990 our minds. And yet, oftentimes the words we speak 00:03:11.990 --> 00:03:16.639 kind of betray. We have these thoughts and we 00:03:16.639 --> 00:03:18.400 say them out loud and those thoughts end up having 00:03:18.400 --> 00:03:20.639 even more power over us. It's not just middle 00:03:20.639 --> 00:03:22.560 school girls, right? Like last month, I was sitting 00:03:22.560 --> 00:03:24.960 at a gate in an airport and I overheard a woman 00:03:24.960 --> 00:03:26.659 on a phone and she was talking about, I think 00:03:26.659 --> 00:03:29.159 a job interview probably that she just had. And 00:03:29.159 --> 00:03:32.439 I heard her say, I completely blew it. I always 00:03:32.439 --> 00:03:34.259 say the wrong thing in those interviews. I'm 00:03:34.259 --> 00:03:37.960 not cut out for jobs like that. After teaching. 00:03:38.919 --> 00:03:41.080 group of men a couple of weeks ago on strongholds, 00:03:41.080 --> 00:03:43.500 a man came up to me afterwards, was telling me 00:03:43.500 --> 00:03:45.039 about his marriage. And he said, I don't know 00:03:45.039 --> 00:03:48.120 why my wife puts up with me. He said, I don't 00:03:48.120 --> 00:03:50.439 know how to be a good husband. I find myself 00:03:50.439 --> 00:03:52.479 just doing the things my dad did. It didn't work 00:03:52.479 --> 00:03:54.099 for him. It's not working for me. She deserves 00:03:54.099 --> 00:03:56.419 someone who actually knows how to make her happy. 00:03:57.400 --> 00:03:59.379 I went to visit a man in the hospital a number 00:03:59.379 --> 00:04:02.340 of months ago. And he said, God's punishing me 00:04:02.340 --> 00:04:05.400 for something. Either that or he obviously doesn't 00:04:05.400 --> 00:04:07.580 care about what I'm going through. Maybe he helps 00:04:07.580 --> 00:04:10.539 other people, but God doesn't help me. And each 00:04:10.539 --> 00:04:13.159 time, what I wanna say is, don't let yourself 00:04:13.159 --> 00:04:16.180 hear you say that. Don't let yourself hear you 00:04:16.180 --> 00:04:18.699 say those things. It might seem harmless, but 00:04:18.699 --> 00:04:20.620 there's a difference between thinking a thought 00:04:20.620 --> 00:04:23.959 and speaking a thought. And when you speak a 00:04:23.959 --> 00:04:26.839 thought out loud, your brain pays closer attention. 00:04:27.560 --> 00:04:29.620 So to help us kind of work through this and think 00:04:29.620 --> 00:04:30.879 through this together, we're gonna look at an 00:04:30.879 --> 00:04:33.540 unusual story in scripture out of the book of 00:04:33.540 --> 00:04:37.300 Ezekiel. The prophet Ezekiel is in a valley, 00:04:37.379 --> 00:04:40.259 the Bible says, full of dry bones. Everywhere 00:04:40.259 --> 00:04:43.160 he looks, it's like desert, completely dried 00:04:43.160 --> 00:04:46.480 out, death scattered everywhere. Starting in 00:04:46.480 --> 00:04:48.540 verse one of chapter 37, the Lord took a hold 00:04:48.540 --> 00:04:51.500 of me, Ezekiel says, and I was carried away by 00:04:51.500 --> 00:04:53.560 the spirit of the Lord to a valley filled with 00:04:53.560 --> 00:04:55.720 bones. This is some kind of a vision, I guess. 00:04:56.410 --> 00:05:00.670 It seems to be, he led me all around among the 00:05:00.670 --> 00:05:02.790 bones that covered the valley. If you can picture 00:05:02.790 --> 00:05:04.529 this, they were scattered everywhere across the 00:05:04.529 --> 00:05:06.910 ground and they were completely dried out. And 00:05:06.910 --> 00:05:08.730 then he asked me, son of man, can these bones 00:05:08.730 --> 00:05:12.709 become living people again? And as you're reading 00:05:12.709 --> 00:05:14.670 it, what you want to say to Ezekiel is, what 00:05:14.670 --> 00:05:18.350 did you eat last night? Like what's the Taco 00:05:18.350 --> 00:05:20.810 Bell late at night? Like what's causing that? 00:05:20.850 --> 00:05:22.930 It just seems a little bit strange and unusual, 00:05:23.129 --> 00:05:27.170 but pay attention to what, he's experiencing 00:05:27.170 --> 00:05:29.470 in this vision. He's in this place of death. 00:05:30.069 --> 00:05:33.069 And everywhere he looks is death. Everywhere 00:05:33.069 --> 00:05:35.129 he looks is the message, it's too late. Things 00:05:35.129 --> 00:05:37.689 are too far gone. You can't do anything about 00:05:37.689 --> 00:05:40.810 this situation. And then the question comes, 00:05:41.089 --> 00:05:45.790 can these bones live again? And that's the question 00:05:45.790 --> 00:05:47.730 that I want us to think through as we talk about 00:05:47.730 --> 00:05:50.009 the power of our words, that something may seem 00:05:50.009 --> 00:05:52.449 beyond hope. It might seem too dry, too broken, 00:05:52.490 --> 00:05:54.730 too bitter, too dead for too long to live again. 00:05:54.870 --> 00:05:57.129 Maybe it's your marriage that feels lifeless, 00:05:57.250 --> 00:06:02.879 desert. Or maybe it is... a relationship with 00:06:02.879 --> 00:06:04.680 one of your kids that's on a respirator. Maybe 00:06:04.680 --> 00:06:07.420 it's grief that has killed your joy, or maybe 00:06:07.420 --> 00:06:09.399 it's a sense of self -worth that you used to 00:06:09.399 --> 00:06:11.639 have, like this sense of purpose and identity, 00:06:11.839 --> 00:06:15.019 but now it's dry and brittle. Maybe it's your 00:06:15.019 --> 00:06:18.779 faith in God that is on life support, like it 00:06:18.779 --> 00:06:21.680 feels like it's six feet under. Maybe it's the 00:06:21.680 --> 00:06:24.339 hope you once had for the future that just feels 00:06:24.339 --> 00:06:26.660 like it's dried up and blown away. And the question 00:06:26.660 --> 00:06:29.600 that Ezekiel asks is the question, is it too 00:06:29.600 --> 00:06:33.230 late? Can these dead bones live again? And God 00:06:33.230 --> 00:06:35.889 promises Ezekiel that he's gonna put flesh and 00:06:35.889 --> 00:06:37.769 skin on the bones. He's gonna breathe life into 00:06:37.769 --> 00:06:40.310 them. And then he tells Ezekiel, okay, here's 00:06:40.310 --> 00:06:43.449 your part in it. I'm gonna work in this powerful 00:06:43.449 --> 00:06:46.290 way and here's what you need to do. Ezekiel, 00:06:46.290 --> 00:06:50.730 I want you, here it is, to speak, to speak, to 00:06:50.730 --> 00:06:54.230 say some things out loud. He doesn't tell Ezekiel 00:06:54.230 --> 00:06:57.660 to pray or to... to visualize or to manifest 00:06:57.660 --> 00:07:00.420 or to touch or to work or to glue some bones 00:07:00.420 --> 00:07:03.439 back together or to sew. He says, Ezekiel, speak. 00:07:04.300 --> 00:07:06.240 Listen to what I say and then you say what I 00:07:06.240 --> 00:07:10.079 say. And I would argue, and we'll look at this 00:07:10.079 --> 00:07:12.279 throughout scripture, there's supernatural power 00:07:12.279 --> 00:07:16.519 when you speak God's word out loud. Ezekiel 37, 00:07:16.759 --> 00:07:18.779 verse four and five. Then he said to me, speak. 00:07:19.779 --> 00:07:22.439 Speak a prophetic message to these bones and 00:07:22.439 --> 00:07:26.240 say, dry bones, listen. to the word of the Lord. 00:07:26.579 --> 00:07:29.759 It doesn't say, listen to me, listen to these 00:07:29.759 --> 00:07:32.800 thoughts I've been having, listen to my positive 00:07:32.800 --> 00:07:35.100 thinking I've been practicing. None of that. 00:07:35.160 --> 00:07:38.319 It's listen while I speak out loud the word of 00:07:38.319 --> 00:07:39.779 the Lord. This is what the sovereign Lord says. 00:07:39.899 --> 00:07:42.779 Look, I am going to put breath into you and make 00:07:42.779 --> 00:07:48.360 you live again. Verse seven says, Ezekiel explained, 00:07:48.500 --> 00:07:53.269 so I did it. I spoke this message. It didn't 00:07:53.269 --> 00:07:57.089 seem to make much sense. It seems way too simple. 00:07:58.230 --> 00:08:02.550 But God told me what to say and I said it. I 00:08:02.550 --> 00:08:05.990 spoke it out loud. Suddenly as I spoke, as I 00:08:05.990 --> 00:08:07.930 was speaking this out loud, there was a rattling 00:08:07.930 --> 00:08:09.509 noise across the valley and the bones of each 00:08:09.509 --> 00:08:11.870 body came together and attached themselves as 00:08:11.870 --> 00:08:14.509 complete skeletons. Then I watched muscles and 00:08:14.509 --> 00:08:16.870 flesh form over the bones and skin formed to 00:08:16.870 --> 00:08:20.040 cover their bodies. And so you have this vision 00:08:20.040 --> 00:08:24.680 where God is driving home a truth, real life 00:08:24.680 --> 00:08:31.160 truth, that his word spoken out loud brings life 00:08:31.160 --> 00:08:35.120 to valleys of death. The thoughts you speak out 00:08:35.120 --> 00:08:38.600 loud have the power of life and death. We see 00:08:38.600 --> 00:08:41.440 this from the very beginning. God has wired our 00:08:41.440 --> 00:08:45.659 universe in such a way that words spoken have 00:08:46.480 --> 00:08:48.659 power. And someone put it this way, that words 00:08:48.659 --> 00:08:52.000 create worlds. Words create worlds. And we see 00:08:52.000 --> 00:08:53.879 it right out of the gate in the book of Genesis. 00:08:53.940 --> 00:08:58.080 When God speaks the world into creation, he does 00:08:58.080 --> 00:09:00.419 it with words. He doesn't dream it into creation. 00:09:00.639 --> 00:09:05.259 He doesn't draw it into creation. He speaks it. 00:09:05.360 --> 00:09:07.340 Genesis chapter one, verse three. And God said, 00:09:07.440 --> 00:09:09.200 let there be light. And there was light. God 00:09:09.200 --> 00:09:13.039 speaks light into darkness. Power of the spoken 00:09:13.039 --> 00:09:15.879 word over the universe. You read through the 00:09:15.879 --> 00:09:18.360 gospels when Jesus brought dead people to life, 00:09:18.440 --> 00:09:21.799 how did he do it? Did he smack them on the forehead? 00:09:22.120 --> 00:09:24.519 Did he throw a handkerchief at them and they 00:09:24.519 --> 00:09:29.120 fell low? No, he spoke. He spoke words. Young 00:09:29.120 --> 00:09:31.539 man, Luke chapter seven, I tell you, get up. 00:09:31.899 --> 00:09:34.440 Luke chapter eight, my child, get up. John 11, 00:09:34.620 --> 00:09:38.759 Lazarus, come out. He's speaking life into death. 00:09:39.539 --> 00:09:42.559 When Jesus is tempted in the wilderness, how 00:09:42.559 --> 00:09:45.879 does he? defeat temptation. Does he do it by 00:09:45.879 --> 00:09:49.519 just thinking scripture? No, he speaks it. He 00:09:49.519 --> 00:09:51.200 speaks scripture. So every time he's tempted, 00:09:51.320 --> 00:09:54.019 he says, listen, he says something out loud. 00:09:54.539 --> 00:09:58.480 He speaks God's word out loud. And each time 00:09:58.480 --> 00:10:00.960 he does it, he begins with saying, it is written. 00:10:01.799 --> 00:10:04.899 He's not saying, here's what I think, even though 00:10:04.899 --> 00:10:06.100 he could have, because he's Jesus and everything 00:10:06.100 --> 00:10:09.000 he says is God's word. He's showing an example 00:10:09.000 --> 00:10:12.340 for us. This is how you handle it. You speak 00:10:12.340 --> 00:10:16.000 God's truth out loud. God's truth spoken out 00:10:16.000 --> 00:10:18.299 loud has the power to break strongholds in your 00:10:18.299 --> 00:10:21.299 life and bring dead things back to life. Proverbs 00:10:21.299 --> 00:10:23.899 18, 21, death and life are in the power of the 00:10:23.899 --> 00:10:27.279 tongue and those who love it will eat its fruit. 00:10:28.220 --> 00:10:31.960 Your tongue has the power to destroy or to build 00:10:31.960 --> 00:10:36.500 up, to tear down or has power of life or death. 00:10:37.399 --> 00:10:39.779 It has power over your circumstances, over your 00:10:39.779 --> 00:10:42.519 future. Now, a lot of us would be quick to recognize 00:10:42.519 --> 00:10:45.539 this when it comes to words that we speak to 00:10:45.539 --> 00:10:47.980 others or maybe words that others have spoken 00:10:47.980 --> 00:10:52.039 to us. Like we've experienced life because of 00:10:52.039 --> 00:10:54.639 that. And maybe you had somebody speak some words 00:10:54.639 --> 00:10:56.740 of life to you when you were young and the words 00:10:56.740 --> 00:10:58.519 they spoke to you became words that you started 00:10:58.519 --> 00:11:01.700 to speak to yourself. I had a teacher, English 00:11:01.700 --> 00:11:06.659 teacher in the sixth grade who had a, was cutting 00:11:06.659 --> 00:11:09.440 technology at the time, a label maker. Raise 00:11:09.440 --> 00:11:10.960 your hand if you know what a label maker is. 00:11:11.240 --> 00:11:15.659 All right. About half the room. So you type a 00:11:15.659 --> 00:11:18.899 word in. It's like a little screen, like a calculator 00:11:18.899 --> 00:11:22.080 type screen. And then it prints out on this little 00:11:22.080 --> 00:11:24.399 sticker, piece of plastic, whatever word you 00:11:24.399 --> 00:11:26.899 typed in. Just prints it out right there. It's 00:11:26.899 --> 00:11:29.279 labels. And she loved her label maker. She would 00:11:29.279 --> 00:11:31.980 label everything, like her stapler. She'd put 00:11:31.980 --> 00:11:34.620 her name on the stapler with the label and graded 00:11:34.620 --> 00:11:36.559 paper. She had a label for graded papers and 00:11:36.559 --> 00:11:39.419 label for the snack drawer. And everywhere you 00:11:39.419 --> 00:11:42.039 looked in her room, she loved her label maker. 00:11:42.220 --> 00:11:43.980 She'd sit at her desk while we were working and 00:11:43.980 --> 00:11:46.100 just make labels. But eventually she ran out 00:11:46.100 --> 00:11:49.580 of things to label and she started labeling us. 00:11:50.269 --> 00:11:52.730 And she would put some kind of word into her 00:11:52.730 --> 00:11:54.590 little label maker and then she'd put it on her 00:11:54.590 --> 00:11:56.870 shoulder. And I didn't think much about it, didn't 00:11:56.870 --> 00:12:00.169 pay much attention to it. Until one day as a 00:12:00.169 --> 00:12:02.629 sixth grader, she came by my desk and she stood 00:12:02.629 --> 00:12:05.269 by me and she put some kind of word into her 00:12:05.269 --> 00:12:07.970 little label maker and she tore it off and she 00:12:07.970 --> 00:12:10.870 put it on my shoulder. And I acted like I wasn't 00:12:10.870 --> 00:12:13.970 interested and I didn't care. But I looked over 00:12:13.970 --> 00:12:19.299 and it said, creative, creative. Nobody ever 00:12:19.299 --> 00:12:21.860 called me creative before. Never thought of myself 00:12:21.860 --> 00:12:26.039 that way before. A couple months later, she's 00:12:26.039 --> 00:12:27.799 walking down the aisle. She stops at my desk 00:12:27.799 --> 00:12:29.879 again. This time she types another word into 00:12:29.879 --> 00:12:32.240 her label maker. She tears it off and it says 00:12:32.240 --> 00:12:37.899 leader, leader. As a sixth grader, having somebody 00:12:37.899 --> 00:12:41.740 speak that word over me gave me a word that I 00:12:41.740 --> 00:12:43.419 could use for myself that I really hadn't thought 00:12:43.419 --> 00:12:45.860 of before. We wouldn't have had the courage to 00:12:45.860 --> 00:12:48.070 speak, but somebody else spoke it. And then that 00:12:48.070 --> 00:12:51.269 word became a word that I could speak over my 00:12:51.269 --> 00:12:52.809 own life. Maybe some of you had that blessing 00:12:52.809 --> 00:12:55.409 in your life. Somebody shared a word with you 00:12:55.409 --> 00:12:58.529 and it brought you life. And their word for you 00:12:58.529 --> 00:13:02.789 became your word for you. For a lot of us, it's 00:13:02.789 --> 00:13:05.850 easier to identify the other end of that. It's 00:13:05.850 --> 00:13:09.129 the words of death that got spoken. Those words 00:13:09.129 --> 00:13:11.309 became your words. I asked some of my social 00:13:11.309 --> 00:13:13.289 media friends about this. I said, hey, can you 00:13:13.289 --> 00:13:16.360 just give me some examples of some hurtful words, 00:13:16.419 --> 00:13:20.080 destructive words of others from when you were 00:13:20.080 --> 00:13:22.500 young that kind of stuck with you. And what struck 00:13:22.500 --> 00:13:25.460 me by these responses wasn't how many, like there 00:13:25.460 --> 00:13:27.399 were hundreds of them, wasn't how many, it was 00:13:27.399 --> 00:13:31.299 how quickly they came. It's very quickly, people 00:13:31.299 --> 00:13:35.740 sharing some of those words. That was the worst 00:13:35.740 --> 00:13:38.399 performance I've seen in 25 years. No one will 00:13:38.399 --> 00:13:41.600 ever wanna be with you. You're damaged goods. 00:13:42.250 --> 00:13:44.370 You're so lazy. You're just not smart enough. 00:13:44.590 --> 00:13:46.370 Why can't you be more like your sister? You'll 00:13:46.370 --> 00:13:48.129 never amount to anything. I wish you were never 00:13:48.129 --> 00:13:51.889 born. And on down the list it goes. Proverbs 00:13:51.889 --> 00:13:54.269 12, 18 says, the words of the reckless pierce 00:13:54.269 --> 00:14:00.549 like swords. And so many times, these words spoken 00:14:00.549 --> 00:14:04.269 by others became words that we just began speaking 00:14:04.269 --> 00:14:08.090 over our own lives. Jesus warns against words 00:14:08.090 --> 00:14:10.909 carelessly spoken in Matthew 12 as he's talking 00:14:10.909 --> 00:14:14.029 to us about the power of spoken words. This is 00:14:14.029 --> 00:14:16.330 out of the message paraphrase. Jesus writes or 00:14:16.330 --> 00:14:19.970 says, let me tell you something. Let me tell 00:14:19.970 --> 00:14:23.210 you something. Every one of these careless words 00:14:23.210 --> 00:14:25.409 is gonna come back to haunt you. There will be 00:14:25.409 --> 00:14:28.389 a time of reckoning. Words are powerful and you 00:14:28.389 --> 00:14:30.250 need to take them seriously. Acting like it's 00:14:30.250 --> 00:14:32.639 not a big deal, it's a big deal. Words can be 00:14:32.639 --> 00:14:34.799 your salvation. They can bring life to you. Words 00:14:34.799 --> 00:14:36.519 can be your damnation. They can bring death. 00:14:36.919 --> 00:14:41.340 It matters. The words you speak matter. What's 00:14:41.340 --> 00:14:44.000 fascinating is modern neuroscience has just discovered 00:14:44.000 --> 00:14:47.480 just what the Bible seemed to acknowledge long 00:14:47.480 --> 00:14:50.100 ago, that there's something remarkable that happens 00:14:50.100 --> 00:14:52.179 in your brain when you speak your thoughts out 00:14:52.179 --> 00:14:55.039 loud versus just thinking them. When you speak 00:14:55.039 --> 00:14:57.320 words out loud, your brain processes the information 00:14:57.320 --> 00:15:00.799 through multiple channels that more regions of 00:15:00.799 --> 00:15:04.000 the brain, get used when you speak your thoughts 00:15:04.000 --> 00:15:07.519 out loud. I could spend 30 minutes talking about 00:15:07.519 --> 00:15:10.320 how some of this works, but the point is that 00:15:10.320 --> 00:15:12.899 speaking your thoughts out loud engages more 00:15:12.899 --> 00:15:16.779 neural networks to create stronger and more lasting 00:15:16.779 --> 00:15:19.080 neural pathways than just the thoughts you think 00:15:19.080 --> 00:15:22.320 quietly to yourself. Like the neurological bottom 00:15:22.320 --> 00:15:25.419 line is that speaking truth out loud can literally 00:15:25.419 --> 00:15:28.559 rewire your brain more effectively than just 00:15:28.559 --> 00:15:30.879 thinking something silently. Let me give you 00:15:30.879 --> 00:15:37.210 an example. Our culture tells us one way to deal 00:15:37.210 --> 00:15:39.149 with your anger or frustration would be to vent 00:15:39.149 --> 00:15:41.529 your feelings. That's healthy to vent. Some of 00:15:41.529 --> 00:15:44.990 you are so good at it. Like you are a venter. 00:15:46.509 --> 00:15:48.950 And you think to yourself, the more I vent, the 00:15:48.950 --> 00:15:52.389 better I feel. I just get it all out. Or maybe 00:15:52.389 --> 00:15:54.710 you're a complainer. You think, if I just complain, 00:15:54.850 --> 00:15:56.549 if I just let people know all the things that 00:15:56.549 --> 00:15:58.970 I find wrong with whatever's going on in my life, 00:15:59.129 --> 00:16:01.230 I'll start being content. I just need to get 00:16:01.230 --> 00:16:02.850 it out. I just need to complain about it a little 00:16:02.850 --> 00:16:06.309 bit. But consistently, research is being done, 00:16:06.409 --> 00:16:08.690 some research out of Ohio State University recently 00:16:08.690 --> 00:16:12.269 by Brad Bushman was just affirming the fact that 00:16:12.269 --> 00:16:15.820 that's not how it works. Like when you vent, 00:16:15.899 --> 00:16:19.440 your brain hears you saying things out loud and 00:16:19.440 --> 00:16:22.820 your brain wants to look for reasons why what 00:16:22.820 --> 00:16:26.000 you're saying is true. It's the cognitive bias. 00:16:26.080 --> 00:16:28.759 It wants to look for evidence that backs up what 00:16:28.759 --> 00:16:31.379 it hears your mouth speaking. And so when you 00:16:31.379 --> 00:16:34.159 vent, you find more things to vent about. When 00:16:34.159 --> 00:16:36.200 you start complaining, complaining doesn't lead 00:16:36.200 --> 00:16:39.409 to contentment. Complaining causes you to find 00:16:39.409 --> 00:16:41.450 more things to complain about. When you start 00:16:41.450 --> 00:16:43.309 criticizing, you'll start seeing more things 00:16:43.309 --> 00:16:46.110 to be critical of. That's the way neural pathways 00:16:46.110 --> 00:16:50.610 work. And so the term for this is embodied reinforcement. 00:16:51.149 --> 00:16:53.470 Embodied reinforcement. When you hear yourself 00:16:53.470 --> 00:17:00.889 speak, complaints, criticism, venting, it creates 00:17:00.889 --> 00:17:04.970 these pathways where your brain wants to reinforce 00:17:04.970 --> 00:17:08.140 what it's hearing your mouth say. So whatever 00:17:08.140 --> 00:17:10.039 words we speak, whether words of life or death, 00:17:10.220 --> 00:17:13.099 are programming in our mind. Now, as we saw in 00:17:13.099 --> 00:17:15.579 Proverbs 18, we'll look at it again in a minute, 00:17:15.640 --> 00:17:21.279 words are like seed that get planted. And we 00:17:21.279 --> 00:17:23.599 don't always recognize the impact of the seed 00:17:23.599 --> 00:17:25.660 that gets planted because there's a lag time 00:17:25.660 --> 00:17:27.920 between the time the seed gets planted and the 00:17:27.920 --> 00:17:30.680 time fruit starts to show up. And so we don't 00:17:30.680 --> 00:17:32.799 always make the connection. Like, oh, these words 00:17:32.799 --> 00:17:36.019 are... building up this garden these words are 00:17:36.019 --> 00:17:39.279 creating this fruit in my life and whatever words 00:17:39.279 --> 00:17:41.880 you speak are creating fruit that you have to 00:17:41.880 --> 00:17:45.019 eat and so I want us to take a few minutes I 00:17:45.019 --> 00:17:46.599 want to show you another one of my little parables 00:17:46.599 --> 00:17:49.599 I know these feel like children's stories but 00:17:49.599 --> 00:17:54.619 my hope is that it helps us remember that creates 00:17:54.619 --> 00:17:57.700 picture pictures in our mind so we're not just 00:17:57.700 --> 00:18:00.859 consuming content but that we're processing it 00:18:00.859 --> 00:18:02.940 like we're thinking about these things so Take 00:18:02.940 --> 00:18:07.660 a look at the screens. In a distant land, there 00:18:07.660 --> 00:18:10.779 was a mysterious garden known as the Garden of 00:18:10.779 --> 00:18:13.259 Words. It wasn't always called that. In fact, 00:18:13.279 --> 00:18:15.119 how it received that name is quite interesting. 00:18:15.720 --> 00:18:17.940 Every person in the nearby village had their 00:18:17.940 --> 00:18:20.279 own plot in this garden. Some were beautiful 00:18:20.279 --> 00:18:23.240 with flowers and vegetation. Others were overrun 00:18:23.240 --> 00:18:26.009 with weeds. The people of the village didn't 00:18:26.009 --> 00:18:28.569 realize that what they grew in their gardens 00:18:28.569 --> 00:18:31.029 was determined by the words they spoke. They 00:18:31.029 --> 00:18:33.569 didn't know that each word spoken was a seed 00:18:33.569 --> 00:18:36.630 planted in their garden. Words that were true 00:18:36.630 --> 00:18:39.309 and kind, excellent and praiseworthy, encouraging 00:18:39.309 --> 00:18:42.509 and compassionate became flowers and fruit trees. 00:18:42.930 --> 00:18:46.329 Negative, harsh, untruthful words became thorns 00:18:46.329 --> 00:18:50.539 and weeds. At the center of each plot stood a 00:18:50.539 --> 00:18:54.039 fountain called the RAS watering system. This 00:18:54.039 --> 00:18:56.559 fountain had an unusual way of watering. It would 00:18:56.559 --> 00:18:59.180 water whatever plants were most abundant in the 00:18:59.180 --> 00:19:01.660 garden. If there were more flowers, it would 00:19:01.660 --> 00:19:03.359 water the flowers. If there were more weeds, 00:19:03.440 --> 00:19:05.579 it would water the weeds, causing them to grow 00:19:05.579 --> 00:19:09.299 even more. One day, a young lady named Lily discovered 00:19:09.299 --> 00:19:11.700 the secret of the garden. She noticed that her 00:19:11.700 --> 00:19:14.299 plot, once filled with vibrant flowers, had become 00:19:14.299 --> 00:19:16.960 overrun with weeds. This was often something 00:19:16.960 --> 00:19:18.759 that people in the village noticed when their 00:19:18.759 --> 00:19:21.920 children became teenagers. She discovered the 00:19:21.920 --> 00:19:24.819 mystery of the garden one day when she was venting 00:19:24.819 --> 00:19:26.799 about all the weeds that had begun to grow in 00:19:26.799 --> 00:19:29.589 her plot. She yelled and screamed and cursed 00:19:29.589 --> 00:19:31.730 at herself for having such a horrible garden. 00:19:31.910 --> 00:19:34.650 And when she was especially letting herself have 00:19:34.650 --> 00:19:37.670 it, she happened to notice a small sprout appear 00:19:37.670 --> 00:19:40.950 from the ground. She repeated her words and another 00:19:40.950 --> 00:19:44.410 weed sprouted up. She wondered if there was perhaps 00:19:44.410 --> 00:19:46.950 some connection of the words she spoke to what 00:19:46.950 --> 00:19:49.869 was growing in her garden. She knew one way to 00:19:49.869 --> 00:19:53.059 find out for sure. Emily, she said to herself. 00:19:53.380 --> 00:19:55.500 Emily was her classmate and she was the kindest 00:19:55.500 --> 00:19:58.599 person Lily knew. Lily ran to Emily's plot and 00:19:58.599 --> 00:20:00.599 sure enough, it was full of flowers and fruit 00:20:00.599 --> 00:20:03.720 trees. She decided it was best to keep this secret 00:20:03.720 --> 00:20:06.240 until she knew for sure. For the next month, 00:20:06.359 --> 00:20:08.339 Lily began to be careful about the words that 00:20:08.339 --> 00:20:11.079 she spoke. She purposely would start her day 00:20:11.079 --> 00:20:14.039 speaking words of life and truth. She spoke kind 00:20:14.039 --> 00:20:16.259 words to others and even kind words to herself 00:20:16.259 --> 00:20:19.009 when no one was around. She prayed prayers of 00:20:19.009 --> 00:20:20.950 thanksgiving and made a list of things she was 00:20:20.950 --> 00:20:23.349 grateful for. When she would get ready in the 00:20:23.349 --> 00:20:25.769 morning, she would sing worship songs to herself 00:20:25.769 --> 00:20:28.789 to start the day. After the first week, she couldn't 00:20:28.789 --> 00:20:30.869 really see much difference and almost started 00:20:30.869 --> 00:20:33.829 to berate herself for not doing better. But instead, 00:20:34.029 --> 00:20:37.430 she spoke words of grace and encouragement. Before 00:20:37.430 --> 00:20:39.529 long, she started to see sprouts of beautiful 00:20:39.529 --> 00:20:42.549 flowers. The RAS watering system in the garden 00:20:42.549 --> 00:20:44.890 began to shift its water from the weeds over 00:20:44.890 --> 00:20:47.430 to the flowers, and as they began to grow, the 00:20:47.430 --> 00:20:50.950 weeds began to disappear. The people of the village 00:20:50.950 --> 00:20:53.609 began to call the garden the Garden of Woods, 00:20:53.750 --> 00:20:56.829 so no one would ever again fail to realize the 00:20:56.829 --> 00:20:59.630 power of the words they spoke. And in time, that 00:20:59.630 --> 00:21:02.069 garden became a breathtaking display of color 00:21:02.069 --> 00:21:05.099 and fragrances. a paradise that people would 00:21:05.099 --> 00:21:10.920 come from all around to see and admire. That 00:21:10.920 --> 00:21:13.079 parable, I guess it's really more of an allegory, 00:21:13.099 --> 00:21:16.660 but it paints a picture of what we read in Scripture, 00:21:16.839 --> 00:21:20.960 that the thoughts we think become words we speak 00:21:20.960 --> 00:21:23.799 that become seeds planted in the ground that 00:21:23.799 --> 00:21:26.680 end up having incredible power over our lives. 00:21:27.000 --> 00:21:29.420 Now, we tend to listen to that and want to use 00:21:29.420 --> 00:21:31.940 it as a warning, like, hey, be careful. with 00:21:31.940 --> 00:21:33.660 what you're saying because of this, like words 00:21:33.660 --> 00:21:36.119 of death, which is a valid way to think through 00:21:36.119 --> 00:21:40.180 this, but it's also a promise. It's an invitation 00:21:40.180 --> 00:21:43.559 to use the power of words, specifically God's 00:21:43.559 --> 00:21:45.720 word out loud to bring about transformation. 00:21:46.279 --> 00:21:47.920 So I wanna talk to you about that, but look, 00:21:47.980 --> 00:21:51.460 I'm not encouraging you to speak your own words. 00:21:52.029 --> 00:21:55.390 This isn't a self -help. It isn't a power of 00:21:55.390 --> 00:21:57.750 positive thinking message. It is the power of 00:21:57.750 --> 00:22:00.970 God's word message. That when you identify God's 00:22:00.970 --> 00:22:04.109 word and you speak that word out loud, it has 00:22:04.109 --> 00:22:07.430 power over your life. Proverbs 18, 21, the tongue 00:22:07.430 --> 00:22:09.349 has the power of life and death. Second part 00:22:09.349 --> 00:22:11.750 of that is those who love it will eat its fruit. 00:22:12.710 --> 00:22:15.279 Maybe you've heard the phrase. You're gonna have 00:22:15.279 --> 00:22:17.720 to eat your words. This is where it comes from. 00:22:17.779 --> 00:22:21.160 It's this idea that your words are seeds. Those 00:22:21.160 --> 00:22:25.059 seeds create fruit and that's fruit you're gonna 00:22:25.059 --> 00:22:30.220 have to eat. That fruit is gonna have to be consumed 00:22:30.220 --> 00:22:33.700 by you. And so you have the power with your words 00:22:33.700 --> 00:22:36.680 to plant seeds that will create fruit that you'd 00:22:36.680 --> 00:22:39.079 love to eat or fruit that will create poison 00:22:39.079 --> 00:22:42.779 in your life. And so our promise then from scripture 00:22:42.779 --> 00:22:45.559 isn't about I mean, again, just wanna be so clear 00:22:45.559 --> 00:22:48.660 about this. It's not about our words or our wisdom 00:22:48.660 --> 00:22:51.000 or our positive thinking. It's about God's word 00:22:51.000 --> 00:22:55.059 that we speak out loud. So Isaiah 55 speaks about 00:22:55.059 --> 00:22:57.900 God's word as seed. The rain and snow come down 00:22:57.900 --> 00:23:00.079 from the heavens and stay on the ground to water 00:23:00.079 --> 00:23:03.000 the earth. They cause the grain to grow, producing 00:23:03.000 --> 00:23:05.380 seed for the farmer and bread for the hungry. 00:23:05.519 --> 00:23:07.420 And it's the same, God says, it's the same with 00:23:07.420 --> 00:23:09.900 my word. This is how my word works. I send it 00:23:09.900 --> 00:23:14.039 out and it's supernatural. It always produces 00:23:14.039 --> 00:23:16.859 fruit. It will accomplish all I wanted to. It's 00:23:16.859 --> 00:23:19.779 not just any word. It's his word. And it will 00:23:19.779 --> 00:23:22.579 prosper everywhere I send it, he says. So what's 00:23:22.579 --> 00:23:24.180 that mean? Well, it means instead of speaking 00:23:24.180 --> 00:23:26.599 and saying, I don't have anything special to 00:23:26.599 --> 00:23:29.019 offer. I'm not going to make a difference. You 00:23:29.019 --> 00:23:31.299 speak out loud Ephesians 2 .10. You say, I'm 00:23:31.299 --> 00:23:34.500 God's masterpiece. God's prepared good things 00:23:34.500 --> 00:23:36.819 for me to do in advance. He's going to use me 00:23:36.819 --> 00:23:38.759 to make a difference today. You say it out loud. 00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:42.500 Instead of saying I'm defined by my worst sins, 00:23:42.599 --> 00:23:44.980 you speak Romans 8 .1 over your life. There's 00:23:44.980 --> 00:23:48.000 no condemnation for me because I'm in Christ 00:23:48.000 --> 00:23:51.779 Jesus. I've been set free by God's grace and 00:23:51.779 --> 00:23:55.329 his grace is enough for me. Instead of saying, 00:23:55.369 --> 00:23:57.529 I'm just too tired and it's just all too hard. 00:23:57.630 --> 00:23:59.849 You speak Matthew 11 and Philippians 4 over your 00:23:59.849 --> 00:24:02.289 life. That when I get tired, I can go to Jesus 00:24:02.289 --> 00:24:04.470 and I can find rest for my soul. I can be renewed. 00:24:04.869 --> 00:24:07.710 And I know in him, I'll have everything I need 00:24:07.710 --> 00:24:10.369 to do everything he's called me to do. Instead 00:24:10.369 --> 00:24:13.349 of saying, I'm always worried, always anxious. 00:24:14.430 --> 00:24:17.049 You say 1 Peter 5, 7, today, I'm not gonna be 00:24:17.049 --> 00:24:20.089 worried or anxious. That's not who I am. I live 00:24:20.089 --> 00:24:23.779 above fear. because I cast all my cares on God. 00:24:23.920 --> 00:24:26.519 I know he cares for me. And you say that out 00:24:26.519 --> 00:24:29.039 loud. Instead of saying, I'm all alone and no 00:24:29.039 --> 00:24:31.880 one cares, you say Hebrews 13, five over your 00:24:31.880 --> 00:24:33.700 life. I'm never alone because I know God will 00:24:33.700 --> 00:24:35.680 never leave me or forsake me. And when you say 00:24:35.680 --> 00:24:39.140 it out loud, you say it with conviction. And 00:24:39.140 --> 00:24:42.539 when you do, your mind leans in and says, oh, 00:24:42.779 --> 00:24:47.519 is that what we believe? Is that what's true? 00:24:47.720 --> 00:24:49.640 I'm gonna start looking for evidence that that's 00:24:49.640 --> 00:24:53.200 true. And you speak it out loud. Go back to Ezekiel. 00:24:53.359 --> 00:24:55.140 After he spoke the first time, the bones come 00:24:55.140 --> 00:24:58.000 together, muscles and flesh mold and are formed, 00:24:58.039 --> 00:25:03.140 but there's still no breath. So God says to Ezekiel, 00:25:03.160 --> 00:25:05.099 okay, now here's what I want you to do. I want 00:25:05.099 --> 00:25:09.099 you to speak again. Look at verse nine and 10. 00:25:09.599 --> 00:25:12.000 Then he said to me, speak a prophetic message 00:25:12.000 --> 00:25:14.579 to the winds, son of man. Come, oh breath from 00:25:14.579 --> 00:25:17.079 the four winds, breathe into these dead bodies 00:25:17.079 --> 00:25:20.569 so they may live again. Ezekiel says, So I did 00:25:20.569 --> 00:25:23.690 it. I spoke the message as he commanded me. I 00:25:23.690 --> 00:25:25.569 heard what God said and I said what God said 00:25:25.569 --> 00:25:29.390 and breath came into their bodies. They all came 00:25:29.390 --> 00:25:31.150 to life and stood up on their feet, a great army. 00:25:32.069 --> 00:25:34.710 And so there's this vision that Ezekiel has that's 00:25:34.710 --> 00:25:37.190 driving home this rhythm that God wanted for 00:25:37.190 --> 00:25:39.970 Ezekiel's ministry in life and God wants for 00:25:39.970 --> 00:25:42.349 you, that you listen to what God says, you speak 00:25:42.349 --> 00:25:45.589 what God says, you watch what God does. You listen 00:25:45.589 --> 00:25:48.349 to what God says, you speak out loud what God 00:25:48.349 --> 00:25:51.029 has said. With conviction and authority, you 00:25:51.029 --> 00:25:53.109 speak it out loud. With faith and confidence, 00:25:53.329 --> 00:25:55.210 you speak it out loud and then you watch what 00:25:55.210 --> 00:25:58.650 God does. You listen, you speak, you watch. And 00:25:58.650 --> 00:26:02.250 God brings life to a place of death and he's 00:26:02.250 --> 00:26:04.650 not done doing that. I believe he still wants 00:26:04.650 --> 00:26:06.309 to do it today. And I know some of you are skeptical. 00:26:06.910 --> 00:26:09.049 I know some of you think this seems too simple. 00:26:10.109 --> 00:26:14.130 But again, Ezekiel is told to prophesy. Prophesy 00:26:14.130 --> 00:26:16.470 means that you're not speaking your word, you're 00:26:16.470 --> 00:26:19.750 speaking God's word. that Ezekiel is a transmitter 00:26:19.750 --> 00:26:22.849 for what God is wanting to speak into the world 00:26:22.849 --> 00:26:27.170 and to speak over what he sees around him. Prophesied 00:26:27.170 --> 00:26:30.109 means that you speak with authority. You don't 00:26:30.109 --> 00:26:33.190 speak as a question like, well, I think so, or 00:26:33.190 --> 00:26:35.849 wouldn't it be great? It's speaking with authority. 00:26:36.029 --> 00:26:39.630 Like you believe it because of who God is. And 00:26:39.630 --> 00:26:41.549 I just wanna be practical about this for a couple 00:26:41.549 --> 00:26:44.950 of minutes here is I wanna challenge you. And 00:26:44.950 --> 00:26:46.849 I know it's gonna be simple enough that you're 00:26:46.849 --> 00:26:48.730 gonna feel resistant to it. I just wanna challenge 00:26:48.730 --> 00:26:50.750 you to choose a specific place where you're gonna 00:26:50.750 --> 00:26:53.349 practice it this week, where you're gonna identify 00:26:53.349 --> 00:26:57.250 something God has said that applies to your life. 00:26:57.309 --> 00:27:00.329 You're gonna speak it out loud and then you're 00:27:00.329 --> 00:27:01.829 gonna watch what God does. You're gonna speak 00:27:01.829 --> 00:27:04.369 it out loud. Maybe you do this in the shower. 00:27:05.160 --> 00:27:07.440 I think the shower is a good place to speak things 00:27:07.440 --> 00:27:08.980 out loud because you sound good in there. It's 00:27:08.980 --> 00:27:12.720 got this Morgan Freeman authority to it. Like 00:27:12.720 --> 00:27:14.759 you believe it. Like my brain believes what I 00:27:14.759 --> 00:27:16.880 say in the shower more than it does when I speak 00:27:16.880 --> 00:27:19.599 outside of the shower. So maybe that's you, that 00:27:19.599 --> 00:27:22.220 you're in the shower, you're gonna declare God's 00:27:22.220 --> 00:27:24.420 promises over your life and not timidly, but 00:27:24.420 --> 00:27:26.420 with authority. So much so that some people who 00:27:26.420 --> 00:27:28.460 live with you are like, is he okay in there? 00:27:28.599 --> 00:27:30.480 Is everything all right? Is everything all right 00:27:30.480 --> 00:27:32.700 in there? It's like with authority you speak 00:27:32.700 --> 00:27:36.230 it. Or maybe it's on your commute. If you drive 00:27:36.230 --> 00:27:38.849 to work, you turn your car into a mobile sanctuary 00:27:38.849 --> 00:27:41.849 and instead of listening to news that fills you 00:27:41.849 --> 00:27:44.250 with anxiety or podcasts that get you worked 00:27:44.250 --> 00:27:47.670 up, you speak scripture out loud. You declare 00:27:47.670 --> 00:27:50.130 God's promises over your day and your car becomes 00:27:50.130 --> 00:27:53.750 a place where lies get demolished and truth gets 00:27:53.750 --> 00:27:56.089 established. Maybe it's sitting on your front 00:27:56.089 --> 00:27:59.400 porch. where you open up your Bible and you read 00:27:59.400 --> 00:28:01.039 God's word, but you're not just reading it in 00:28:01.039 --> 00:28:03.119 your mind. You're reading it out loud. You're 00:28:03.119 --> 00:28:05.380 letting yourself hear you say some things out 00:28:05.380 --> 00:28:08.180 loud. Or maybe it's when you look in the mirror 00:28:08.180 --> 00:28:09.519 in the morning and you're getting ready for the 00:28:09.519 --> 00:28:12.220 day and you look yourself in the eye and you 00:28:12.220 --> 00:28:15.200 remind yourself who you are in Christ, that you 00:28:15.200 --> 00:28:20.059 are chosen, holy, and dearly loved. You speak 00:28:20.059 --> 00:28:24.200 truth to yourself. I don't know how Ezekiel felt 00:28:24.200 --> 00:28:27.059 when God gave him the instructions. But I do 00:28:27.059 --> 00:28:29.500 think he probably thought, this isn't gonna work. 00:28:31.019 --> 00:28:36.180 This isn't gonna work. This is all too simple. 00:28:37.019 --> 00:28:39.319 You're talking about something really complicated. 00:28:40.119 --> 00:28:42.279 You can't just speak words over something so 00:28:42.279 --> 00:28:45.339 complex. But he listened to what God said. He 00:28:45.339 --> 00:28:47.619 said what God said and he watched what God did. 00:28:48.319 --> 00:28:50.319 And I know some of you have been playing prophet 00:28:50.319 --> 00:28:52.599 over your life, but you've been prophesying death 00:28:52.599 --> 00:28:56.220 instead of life. You've been speaking death over 00:28:56.220 --> 00:28:59.640 what God wants to bring life to in your life. 00:29:00.200 --> 00:29:03.220 Stop speaking death over your marriage. To the 00:29:03.220 --> 00:29:06.160 couple sitting here, you barely spoke on the 00:29:06.160 --> 00:29:08.339 drive to church this morning. You can't remember 00:29:08.339 --> 00:29:11.119 the last time you laughed together or were affectionate 00:29:11.119 --> 00:29:14.000 with one another. And every time you say, I just 00:29:14.000 --> 00:29:16.960 don't have those feelings anymore. Or I think 00:29:16.960 --> 00:29:19.200 I married the wrong person. You're speaking death 00:29:19.200 --> 00:29:22.779 over something that God wants to bring life to. 00:29:23.180 --> 00:29:25.960 Stop speaking death over your calling to the 00:29:25.960 --> 00:29:28.559 person who feels overlooked at work or watches 00:29:28.559 --> 00:29:31.339 others get promoted while you stay stuck. Maybe 00:29:31.339 --> 00:29:33.799 your dreams are sitting in a drawer collecting 00:29:33.799 --> 00:29:37.319 dust and you tell yourself, well, it's because 00:29:37.319 --> 00:29:39.660 I missed my chance. It's too late for me to start 00:29:39.660 --> 00:29:42.819 over. God doesn't wanna bless me. I've done too 00:29:42.819 --> 00:29:46.119 much to offend him. He's not on my side. You're 00:29:46.119 --> 00:29:49.059 speaking death over purpose that God has placed 00:29:49.059 --> 00:29:51.940 inside of you. Stop speaking death over your 00:29:51.940 --> 00:29:54.640 future to the single mom working two jobs, wondering 00:29:54.640 --> 00:29:57.119 how you'll ever get ahead. To the dad who lost 00:29:57.119 --> 00:29:59.160 his business and can't see a way forward. To 00:29:59.160 --> 00:30:01.680 a student who's drowning in debt and loneliness. 00:30:02.640 --> 00:30:05.200 You find yourself saying, it's just not gonna 00:30:05.200 --> 00:30:08.640 work for me. I can never catch a break. You're 00:30:08.640 --> 00:30:11.039 speaking death over a future that God has not 00:30:11.039 --> 00:30:14.940 done writing yet. Ezekiel spoke the word of the 00:30:14.940 --> 00:30:17.400 Lord. He prophesied over dead and dry bones. 00:30:17.940 --> 00:30:22.200 And I wanna do that for you. and over you. I 00:30:22.200 --> 00:30:25.680 want to speak prophetically the way that Ezekiel 00:30:25.680 --> 00:30:29.319 does based in the word of God. But before I do 00:30:29.319 --> 00:30:31.000 it, I know I need to address something for a 00:30:31.000 --> 00:30:34.619 few of you. I know a lot of you don't. This won't 00:30:34.619 --> 00:30:38.759 apply. But I know some of you might think, Kyle, 00:30:38.980 --> 00:30:40.500 I'm a little uncomfortable with this message. 00:30:41.640 --> 00:30:43.359 This is starting to sound like a name it and 00:30:43.359 --> 00:30:45.519 claim it gospel, a name it and claim it theology. 00:30:47.000 --> 00:30:50.700 And I get that concern. I'm not telling you you 00:30:50.700 --> 00:30:53.940 can speak your dream car into existence. I mean, 00:30:53.960 --> 00:30:56.400 you can try. I don't care if you try. But I'm 00:30:56.400 --> 00:31:01.240 not telling you that that's how this works. I'm 00:31:01.240 --> 00:31:03.359 not telling you that positive thinking is the 00:31:03.359 --> 00:31:06.559 same as biblical faith. I'm saying that in this 00:31:06.559 --> 00:31:09.480 world, you will have trouble. That's part of 00:31:09.480 --> 00:31:11.319 living in this world. Jesus said it and it's 00:31:11.319 --> 00:31:13.539 true. But I'm also telling you that's not the 00:31:13.539 --> 00:31:15.720 end of the verse. Jesus said, I have overcome 00:31:15.720 --> 00:31:18.940 the world. And so my concern for some of us, 00:31:18.980 --> 00:31:21.680 and I put myself in this category, is that our 00:31:21.680 --> 00:31:24.839 fear of the word of faith extremes and of preachers 00:31:24.839 --> 00:31:26.940 who seem to promise sports cars and a life free 00:31:26.940 --> 00:31:30.079 of sickness, and our fear of that, we've swung 00:31:30.079 --> 00:31:32.319 so far the other way that we have forgotten the 00:31:32.319 --> 00:31:35.579 power of speaking biblical faith out loud. We've 00:31:35.579 --> 00:31:37.779 become so afraid of claiming something inappropriate 00:31:37.779 --> 00:31:39.960 that we've stopped claiming anything at all. 00:31:40.059 --> 00:31:42.220 We've become so worried about presuming upon 00:31:42.220 --> 00:31:44.480 God that we've stopped declaring our faith in 00:31:44.480 --> 00:31:48.400 God. And so what I wanna do here is not about 00:31:48.400 --> 00:31:51.160 manipulating God's hand. It's not about speaking 00:31:51.160 --> 00:31:54.380 things into existence through some human willpower. 00:31:54.599 --> 00:31:56.799 It's about agreeing with what God has already 00:31:56.799 --> 00:31:59.500 said in his word. It's about aligning ourself 00:31:59.500 --> 00:32:01.839 with what he has said around restoration and 00:32:01.839 --> 00:32:04.819 redemption and resurrection and renewal. It's 00:32:04.819 --> 00:32:07.019 about speaking God's heart over our circumstances 00:32:07.019 --> 00:32:11.900 and then trusting him with what unfolds. Word 00:32:11.900 --> 00:32:15.940 of faith says, I can speak my will into reality. 00:32:16.299 --> 00:32:18.819 Biblical faith says, I will speak God's will 00:32:18.819 --> 00:32:22.339 over my reality. So when Ezekiel spoke to these 00:32:22.339 --> 00:32:25.420 bones, he wasn't making up his own prophecy. 00:32:25.500 --> 00:32:27.559 It wasn't wishful thinking or positive thinking. 00:32:27.660 --> 00:32:31.299 He was simply declaring what God has said. And 00:32:31.299 --> 00:32:33.160 so I just wanna speak some of that over you. 00:32:33.799 --> 00:32:35.920 I just wanna give you some of those words because 00:32:35.920 --> 00:32:37.819 you don't have them for yourself and nobody ever 00:32:37.819 --> 00:32:41.740 said them to you. It's not presumption. It's 00:32:41.740 --> 00:32:45.819 faith to speak this way. It's not hype. It's 00:32:45.819 --> 00:32:49.519 hope in who God is and what God has said. It's 00:32:49.519 --> 00:32:51.940 trust that even if things don't go the way we 00:32:51.940 --> 00:32:55.519 want them to, our confidence is in him and his 00:32:55.519 --> 00:33:00.579 promises and in eternity. So, to marriages hanging 00:33:00.579 --> 00:33:05.279 on by a thread. You're still married, but you've 00:33:05.279 --> 00:33:11.140 given up. I want to speak breakthrough. I want 00:33:11.140 --> 00:33:14.000 to speak laughter back into your kitchen. I want 00:33:14.000 --> 00:33:16.480 to speak romance back into your routine. What 00:33:16.480 --> 00:33:18.759 God has joined together, let no valley of death 00:33:18.759 --> 00:33:22.220 separate. To broken parent -child relationships 00:33:22.220 --> 00:33:26.319 in this room, to the mom whose teenager won't 00:33:26.319 --> 00:33:28.559 talk to her, to the dad whose adult son won't 00:33:28.559 --> 00:33:31.039 return his calls, to the parent who feels like 00:33:31.039 --> 00:33:33.960 a failure, I want to speak God's heart of restoration 00:33:33.960 --> 00:33:37.690 over you. I wanna speak phone calls that end 00:33:37.690 --> 00:33:40.109 with I love you. I wanna speak family dinners 00:33:40.109 --> 00:33:43.890 where everybody wants to be there. To those battling 00:33:43.890 --> 00:33:48.029 addiction, to the person who's hiding their bottles, 00:33:48.170 --> 00:33:51.650 deleting their history, who makes promises to 00:33:51.650 --> 00:33:53.990 themselves that they can't keep. So many promises. 00:33:54.130 --> 00:33:56.190 They don't believe their own words when they 00:33:56.190 --> 00:33:59.220 speak them. I want to speak. freedom over you 00:33:59.220 --> 00:34:01.920 in the name of Jesus. I want to speak chains 00:34:01.920 --> 00:34:04.700 breaking. I speak a day when you look in the 00:34:04.700 --> 00:34:07.079 mirror and you see who God created you to be 00:34:07.079 --> 00:34:08.980 instead of who the enemy has convinced you you 00:34:08.980 --> 00:34:11.940 are. To those of you who are living with spiritual 00:34:11.940 --> 00:34:14.539 dryness where your Bible has gathered dust and 00:34:14.539 --> 00:34:16.760 your screen time is 10 times more than your prayer 00:34:16.760 --> 00:34:19.179 time. To those of you who came to church here 00:34:19.179 --> 00:34:20.860 but you don't really care and you're just going 00:34:20.860 --> 00:34:23.019 through the motions, I just want to speak renewal 00:34:23.019 --> 00:34:26.719 and revival over you. To those battling depression 00:34:26.719 --> 00:34:29.739 and anxiety, You put a smile when you came in 00:34:29.739 --> 00:34:31.559 here to church, but you cried yourself to sleep 00:34:31.559 --> 00:34:34.320 last night in your bed. And you feel like you're 00:34:34.320 --> 00:34:36.860 drowning, even though everything looks fine on 00:34:36.860 --> 00:34:39.480 the outside. You wonder if darkness will ever 00:34:39.480 --> 00:34:42.119 lift. I just wanna speak God's word of light 00:34:42.119 --> 00:34:45.039 over you. I wanna speak his joy and his peace. 00:34:45.159 --> 00:34:48.219 I wanna speak Jesus into the darkness to those 00:34:48.219 --> 00:34:51.500 who are carrying shame from your past. The person 00:34:51.500 --> 00:34:53.420 here who's haunted by mistakes you made years 00:34:53.420 --> 00:34:56.619 ago, and you still live with the enemy's accusations. 00:34:57.500 --> 00:34:59.760 Every morning you wake up, the accusations are 00:34:59.760 --> 00:35:01.920 there and the guilt and the shame feels heavier 00:35:01.920 --> 00:35:04.219 than you can bear. And every time you try to 00:35:04.219 --> 00:35:07.340 move forward, you feel disqualified from what 00:35:07.340 --> 00:35:10.920 God wants for you. I speak forgiveness over you 00:35:10.920 --> 00:35:13.199 in the name of Jesus and redemption. He wants 00:35:13.199 --> 00:35:15.340 to make all things new. He wants to work for 00:35:15.340 --> 00:35:17.860 good in your life. I wanna speak beauty from 00:35:17.860 --> 00:35:21.340 ashes. I wanna speak a future so bright that 00:35:21.340 --> 00:35:23.480 your past ends up becoming the very thing God 00:35:23.480 --> 00:35:26.789 uses to help others experience forgiveness. I 00:35:26.789 --> 00:35:32.989 want to speak God's word over you. And my prayer 00:35:32.989 --> 00:35:34.570 is that you would believe it, that you would 00:35:34.570 --> 00:35:40.750 believe what he says. And I hear people say things 00:35:40.750 --> 00:35:42.889 that are so contrary to what God wants for them. 00:35:42.969 --> 00:35:46.889 And I'm like, that's not true. Stop saying that. 00:35:47.650 --> 00:35:51.190 It's not true. And so I want us to close by practicing 00:35:51.190 --> 00:35:53.590 this out loud together. I'm gonna lead us through 00:35:53.590 --> 00:35:56.599 some just, Speaking out loud some biblical truths 00:35:56.599 --> 00:35:59.639 together. And so I'm gonna ask you to stand up 00:35:59.639 --> 00:36:02.280 for this. And I'm gonna read the first, there's 00:36:02.280 --> 00:36:04.360 gonna be two statements that come up on the screen. 00:36:05.480 --> 00:36:07.860 I'm gonna read the first part and then we'll 00:36:07.860 --> 00:36:09.380 read the second part, which is just scripture. 00:36:09.719 --> 00:36:11.840 Scripture is what we're reading out loud. We're 00:36:11.840 --> 00:36:14.789 gonna declare scripture together. I just want 00:36:14.789 --> 00:36:16.289 to challenge you to read this out loud with me 00:36:16.289 --> 00:36:18.809 and do it with some conviction. So I'll read 00:36:18.809 --> 00:36:20.449 the first statement and we'll read the second 00:36:20.449 --> 00:36:22.469 together. When anxiety tries to overwhelm our 00:36:22.469 --> 00:36:25.409 thoughts, all of us together, we cast all our 00:36:25.409 --> 00:36:30.250 anxiety on God because he cares for us. When 00:36:30.250 --> 00:36:32.190 discouragement whispers that will never change, 00:36:32.550 --> 00:36:36.550 he who began a good work in us will carry it 00:36:36.550 --> 00:36:40.329 on to completion. When distraction tries to pull 00:36:40.329 --> 00:36:44.039 us away from what matters, We set our minds on 00:36:44.039 --> 00:36:48.699 things above and not on earthly things. When 00:36:48.699 --> 00:36:52.280 offense tempts us to hold grudges, we forgive 00:36:52.280 --> 00:36:55.659 each other just as in Christ God forgave us. 00:36:56.780 --> 00:37:00.599 When fear threatens to paralyze our faith, God 00:37:00.599 --> 00:37:04.420 has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, 00:37:04.539 --> 00:37:09.019 love, and sound mind. When lies about our identity 00:37:09.019 --> 00:37:13.590 try to define us, We are chosen, royal, holy, 00:37:13.690 --> 00:37:19.010 and belong to God. Today and every day, we will 00:37:19.010 --> 00:37:22.510 not be conformed to this world, but we will be 00:37:22.510 --> 00:37:26.389 transformed by the renewing of our minds. God, 00:37:26.510 --> 00:37:28.929 I pray that you would give us a deep conviction 00:37:28.929 --> 00:37:34.650 in our hearts that what you say is true. It's 00:37:34.650 --> 00:37:37.389 different than what we've heard others say. It's 00:37:37.389 --> 00:37:39.429 different than words we've spoken over ourselves. 00:37:39.650 --> 00:37:43.309 God, would you let us hear what you say and love 00:37:43.309 --> 00:37:46.269 what you say and speak what you say and then 00:37:46.269 --> 00:37:49.070 watch what you do. God, would you give us faith? 00:37:49.130 --> 00:37:52.650 I pray in this sanctuary, just like in that valley 00:37:52.650 --> 00:37:55.150 of dry bones where there's a noise of rattling 00:37:55.150 --> 00:37:58.309 bones coming together. I pray, God, that we would 00:37:58.309 --> 00:38:00.769 experience that together, that we would experience 00:38:00.769 --> 00:38:05.349 your power at work, not because we say so, not 00:38:05.349 --> 00:38:09.570 because of our own thinking, our own words, but 00:38:09.570 --> 00:38:13.150 because of the power of your word. So God, let 00:38:13.150 --> 00:38:17.349 us have faith. Give us faith. God, where we wanna 00:38:17.349 --> 00:38:19.570 believe more, I pray that you would help our 00:38:19.570 --> 00:38:22.730 unbelief, but God, would you move in the sanctuary 00:38:22.730 --> 00:38:24.610 the same way that you moved in that valley of 00:38:24.610 --> 00:38:27.539 dry bones? I pray for rattling, that would be 00:38:27.539 --> 00:38:30.400 true because of your power and because we have 00:38:30.400 --> 00:38:33.679 declared what you said to be true over our lives. 00:38:33.880 --> 00:38:39.559 It's in Jesus' name. Amen. This is Living on 00:38:39.559 --> 00:38:42.639 the Edge with Chip Ingram. Friend, for over 30 00:38:42.639 --> 00:38:44.820 years, Living on the Edge has been committed 00:38:44.820 --> 00:38:47.559 to one mission, helping believers understand 00:38:47.559 --> 00:38:50.960 what it truly means to follow Jesus. Not religious 00:38:50.960 --> 00:38:53.860 activity, not trying harder, but relational. 00:38:54.329 --> 00:38:57.610 practical, measurable Christianity that transforms 00:38:57.610 --> 00:39:01.809 every area of life. Messages like today's exist 00:39:01.809 --> 00:39:04.090 because partners believe this mission matters. 00:39:04.369 --> 00:39:07.230 When you give to Living on the Edge, you're helping 00:39:07.230 --> 00:39:10.309 Christians discover God's power, peace, purpose, 00:39:10.570 --> 00:39:13.650 presence, and perspective. You're investing in 00:39:13.650 --> 00:39:16.110 clear biblical teaching that moves people from 00:39:16.110 --> 00:39:19.889 confusion to clarity, from exhaustion to experiencing 00:39:19.889 --> 00:39:22.989 God's best. Would you join this mission today? 00:39:23.690 --> 00:39:27.570 Give online at livingontheedge .org or call us 00:39:27.570 --> 00:39:32.829 at 888 -333 -6003. You can also mail your gift 00:39:32.829 --> 00:39:36.929 to Living on the Edge, P .O. Box 3007, Atlanta, 00:39:37.210 --> 00:39:41.829 Georgia 30024. Want more content throughout the 00:39:41.829 --> 00:39:45.090 week? Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. 00:39:45.869 --> 00:39:48.809 Just search for Living on the Edge on Facebook 00:39:48.809 --> 00:39:51.789 and Instagram. And then for all of our video 00:39:51.789 --> 00:39:54.690 content, subscribe to Chip Ingram's YouTube channel 00:39:54.690 --> 00:39:57.570 when you're there. Well, that wraps up today's 00:39:57.570 --> 00:40:00.190 episode. Don't miss the next Bible teaching message 00:40:00.190 --> 00:40:03.010 coming up here on the Chip Ingram Sermon Podcast. 00:40:06.969 --> 00:40:09.469 Today's program is produced and sponsored by 00:40:09.469 --> 00:40:10.590 Living on the Edge.