Welcome everyone, wherever you are from. wherever you're joining us, you
are so welcome to be a part of this. We're in this series called Fighting
Fit. And I have news for you, if I'm speaking to you and you're a
believer, it doesn't matter where you are right now, if you're a believer that
Jesus Christ came for you, that he is your Saviour, that you know him,
he never called you to be a spectator in this faith. The Christian
life is not a spectator sport, you get on the field and you play. The only
people that spectate are the judges, and you know what they do, they just make
a lot of comments about what everyone else does. The Christian faith doesn't
have any of those and says we have one judge. It says that we are involved in a
great race, a great game. We were involved in this race for life
and within that we are involved, we're
participating, and so I would encourage you to participate in this
message, because how we participate
actually affects what you receive, so if someone comes in and you're perhaps
tricked into coming into church, and you're there with
arms folded thinking "How long is he going to go on for?" you're
going to receive less than someone who is open-hearted, saying "There are
some things going on in my life. I've got some things like that I was working
through in my life." It's amazing how the enemy wants to rob you of
the word that he has for you, how he'll do it by distraction, so let's
just get our minds fixed, because he wants to speak to you, and this word I'm
going to share is fairly simple but it's profound and we struggle with doing it.
That's why I'm going to speak it loud, because we struggle with doing it. We can
say we know the principles of this word, but we're not practicing this
word, and the more we practise this there is a reward to this word I'm going
to share with you, and that is actually life, life and life again, so there's a
reward. I'm telling you that this will change your life, so we're
going to go for this. We started off saying fighting fit means
not just turning out to church, not just like being fit, but being fighting fit.
When someone gets into a boxing ring they didn't just turn up there one day
and think "Hey, I fancy a bit of a fight" and yet that's what we do as
Christians. We don't train, we don't discipline ourselves, we don't know what
self-control is, and we step into an arena and what we find is that
we didn't prepare ourselves, and we end up getting hurt and damaged, and some
people even step out of the fight, because they've said they'll just
become a spectator, and God says "I want my people to
know what it is to run the race set before them and not give up," and so we
looked last week at a great foundational message about body,
soul and spirit, and we looked at what that really is, and we said
most of us are very easily led by our emotions; we're led by our
feelings. I heard last Monday after doing the message
a psychologist talking on TV, and they were saying that when you
wake up in the morning, each day we all have different feelings, and
we have different struggles going on, and you just need to take a moment
and think about how you feel and then dress accordingly, and it will help you
express yourself through the day. I thought it was a load of rubbish, but it's
fascinating advice, wisdom from the world: wake
up, and take a moment to think how you are feeling today. If I if I did that
every day and thought "How do I feel today?" I might not get out of bed.
I'm not thinking how I feel. I know I've got something to fulfill this day.
I've got something to do this day. I know that this day needs me. I know there are
people in my life that need this day, and
if I'm feeling low I'm not going to dress accordingly.
But some of us do. When we're bright we look bright, and it's
like we made all the attention, and then when we're feeling rough some people
just reflect it in the way that they dressed, the way they look, their posture.
We talked about being spirit led, spirit led, not feeling or emotions led
but spirit led, the spirit that's within us, the spirit that speaks to us
that we can only receive that life-giving spirit when we come to know
who Jesus is, and then where did we finish up? It was all around self control,
and it's one of the characteristics of who we are, who we should grow, we
need self control to grow, it's a characteristic. so I'm going to
lead you into one of the most difficult things that we all find challenging. This
is going to be relevant to every person I'm speaking to, every person that is
listening, this will be relevant to you, so that's a good win, so don't switch off,
because you need this. I know what is the one thing that we struggle to
control, the one thing all of us struggle to control, and when we think we've
mastered it, it gets us into trouble. It's our mouth, it's this tongue, it's the
words that we use, and I was just thinking on the way in about the amount
of times I've said the wrong thing at the wrong time. I got into trouble. I
remember years ago when we were pastoring and we had a couple round to
our house that had a lot of issues and things going on in their life.
It was a difficult evening, we were there for quite a long time, and
then someone called and in those days they called on a landline, with
a cable, and then when we answered it was connected to an answer
phone, and if you don't pick up the phone fast enough the answer phone flicks on,
and so Heather dived into the office and the answer phone
started up as she's speaking on there. I'm with this couple chatting and
then whoever's on the other end of the phone, I won't tell you who on the other
end of the phone, is saying "What are you doing?" "Oh, we've got this couple
round." "Oh my goodness that must be hard work,
I bet you've been there all night, because they just
go on and on." It was true, and I was sat in the other room
hearing it echo through the hallway while I'm sat there trying
to make loud conversation, hoping that they wouldn't hear. It was the most
cringiest thing, and afterwards when we said goodbye it was like
"I really, really hope they never heard that." They're not in the
church anymore bless them, and it's
just amazing how we can say things. You imagine, if all of our conversations were
recorded and amplified, all the things that we say in secret actually it says
will be shouted from the rooftops. I've made that mistake where I've
met someone in church, and I've said "When are you expecting the baby? Oh,
you're not pregnant."
They're not in the church either.
The amount of times I was trying to do something good, I was trying
to notice, I was thinking that I want to be a man
that notices things, but it helps to be sensitive about these things, and
I am sure every one of us can think of something we said, something
that was misunderstood, someone got the wrong end of it or the a context.
It happens to us all, the time where something takes place and we
only get part of the story through the words that we use, and words get us into
trouble, they get us into trouble? "No, I didn't mean that."
The Bible has a lot to say about what we do with this tongue, because we
get in all sorts of trouble, so when I talk about being fighting fit I believe
that God is speaking to us saying "Church, you need to be wiser about this. I want
to teach you about this, about what you say." So we're going to go into this
famous passage, James 3:2 to 6. We all fail in many areas.
James's opening is really encouraging, but especially with our words. This is the
one area that we struggle with, yet if we're able to bridle the words we say we
are powerful enough to control ourselves in every way. So it means this is a key
area, and that means our character is mature and fully developed,
because it's around self-control. It's something you have to
grow, you don't suddenly get it, you have to grow in this, and every one of us
today can change. If we struggle and we're a bit loose tongued
God's plan is that we become more controlled. It's good for us. Horses have
bits and bridles in their mouths as great beasts, so that we can control and
guide their large body, and the same with mighty ships. Think about it; though they
are massive and driven by fierce winds, they are steered by a tiny rudder at
the direction of the person at the helm. This is like your life.
How many of us can remember things that were spoken to us when we were
young and formative, and that thing just keeps coming back and says "This is
who you are," they can control the direction we take through life, they are
massive, and for parents today we need to know that whatever
we say and speak into our children, words are powerful, they steer the
rudder of the ship that will cause a course to be set for good or for bad.
So the tongue is a small part of the body, yet it carries this great power
Just think of how a small flame can set a huge forest ablaze, and the tongue
is a fire, the tongue is a fire, and I believe if you get a match
and you just strike that thing, you strike, you don't need much
of a match to set a fire, but you get a forest that is drying through
some of the summer that we've just had. There have been so many fires that have
just raged for miles, square miles, all because of a spark.
That's what our tongue can do; someone that is careless with their mouth, if you
get around them you're probably going to get burned: or a fire can bring life
and light and sustenance, so there's this
powerful idea of what the tongue is. Now I'm going to try and finish this off and
I'm going to show you some diagrams to explain this. Now it can be compared
to the sum total of wickedness, this tongue, this thing that sets a forest on
fire, and it is the most dangerous part of our human body. This is the most
dangerous part of your body; it corrupts the entire body and is a hellish flame.
It's not just a flame, it's a hellish flame, it releases a fire that can burn
throughout the course of human existence. That means it can affect your destiny; it
can affect your life; it will burn, just those words that have been spoken,
the sentences that have been lying framed
in your mind, they can burn through existence and God wants to heal us and
set us free from it, but at the same time he wants us to start being
responsible for the words that we speak. You can't just dismiss it and say that's
not important. God says it is. God says it is. So here's the diagram.
You've got to understand that
this is our mind, this is where we process things, our
thoughts or emotions. This is where we'll think about
something that was said and then start to either think
of it for good or actually think "Or were they meaning this?" Isn't it
amazing? This is where it starts, but right here I want you to get the idea of
these being gates. There are various gates. You've got the mind gate.
A gate is something that opens and shuts. I can choose to think about
something or choose to deny it. Then we have the eye gate. The eye gate.
If we're in the wrong place,
choosing to do the wrong thing, or sometimes we just find in life that
things happen, the eye gate allows things in, we can choose to
look at things longer than we need to look, that can cause
something to happen within the mind gate, and then we start getting in
trouble. It's not wrong to have feelings, it's not wrong
even for temptations; temptations will come, but it's what you
do with it and how you process it, and so the eye gate and the mind
gate, but also there's the ear gate. Now the ear gate is
where it all comes in. These are gates where you're going to either completely
open it up to whatever comes, whatever someone says. That means you can be
around someone that is very negative. You can choose to be around, and you're going
to hear negative things. You can either decide to hang out in the atmosphere
regularly, or you can choose to say I'm going to close my ears to that, so I'm not
actually going to be around that, and if you think somehow you can switch it off
by being around them, sorry, it doesn't really work, because we have these ear
gates, and if enough words are spoken that are unhealthy they will come in
through this gate. They come in through the eye gate, through the mind gate. Can
you see what's happening? And all of that then it pours into your heart, and the
Bible says "Out of your heart the mouth speaks," but the gates are where it all
comes in. Everything that you understand and that you know and you're
perhaps led to believe about yourself has come through these gateways,
and that's why church is such an amazing place to be, because even
if you've come in to one of our locations I would really hope and
pray that if you were feeling a bit low, or you feel you're in a place where
you need encouraging, that through the way that we sing and through the words
that we use, the way we pray, what we're doing is we're choosing to open up
the gates to something. We're opening up the gates to something that's going
to bring life, and what it does is it comes into your heart, it doesn't just stay
here, it comes into our heart, so if we take a word that's been spoken and we
get through the ear gate and process it in the mind, and we think actually that was
personal, and I've got some hurt here, the hurt comes down into our heart,
and the heart is like a reservoir, and I go biking around these reservoirs
up in the mountains and round the massive areas of water, spaces that
have filled, our heart is a massive space and we decide we are responsible for
what we fill our heart with. It comes through the gates. You're the gatekeeper.
You're the gatekeeper of your life, no one else; you're the gatekeeper. Some
people deposited some things, but the great thing is you can change what's in
your reservoir, you can change what's in the reservoir. This is so crucial,
because what's in our heart will come out through our mouth.
The Bible says it will. If someone is like Mr. Angry, it doesn't take
long to be around them and to really know them well, if you know them well
that anger is not just going to stay inside, it's going to come out through
what they say. If someone has been through situations where they just feel
a victim through life, you're going to hear it come out through their mouths
and the way they reflect and see things. It's the way that we
are, and from here it creates a cycle. This is why it's so important, that you
understand that as it comes in through the ear gate
we process it, and actually sometimes it misses the mind and comes
straight through the tongue.
Those things that we dwell on, goes in
your mind, it comes into the reservoir of our heart, and as it's in our reservoir
we start confessing it, and the Bible says as we confess it it starts to
create a cycle in our life, "Well this is where I am, and so I'm going to confess
it, and this is where I'll always be, this is me, this is how I feel," and as we
confess it it creates a cycle, and we wonder why we can't break
the cycle and the pattern that we're in that is destructive or negative in our
life, because it's what this tongue, we have no control over the tongue, and
we're just saying how we feel, and God says it's important. God says it's crucial,
you can't say things and just get away with it. Sorry believer,
you can't say something and just think "Well, by the grace of God, hopefully I'll
be okay here." The Bible says we're responsible. The
words of my mouth reveal the condition of my heart, and if you just step back a
minute and look, even through this next week, about the things that
come out of your mouth, and if somehow you look like you have a little record
and record it all, and start looking, say "Was that healthy, was it good, was it
judgmental ,was it critical, was it angry?
We'd soon be surprised, but we've got to realize this is where God is pushing us. I
want to encourage you. The words of your mouth, you can
fake it, it actually even says in Scripture, in James, that we can even
play at religion, and we can call ourselves religious, and we can turn up
to church, and we can look like whatever a religious person looks like,
and we can be like that, but you know what it says, it's all worthless if
we have no control of our tongue. It says your religion is worthless if you don't
have, because it's destructive, it's destructive, and even within the heart I
talked about this reservoir, and that's where we pour out from, and if you're
pouring anxiety into your heart no wonder you're speaking out worry and
stress, and as you confess it the cycle continues. If you're praying for
peace it's no good praying for peace if you're actually confessing anxiety.
You've got to start confessing what God says rather than what you're feeling,
not being emotionally but being spirit led, and the Spirit says "My plans for
you are for good, not for harm," but you've got to start confessing, and
for some of us, we have this reservoir in our heart that is filled, and it's
contaminated, and you can only pull out from what you put in, and if we're not
around God's Word much and we just hoping, and we're involved in
conversations and attitudes and atmosphere that is negative,
you're filling your heart, it doesn't
happen every day, normally it happens over a process;
stagnation happens over a process, where just a little bit by bit "Oh well, I
shouldn't think it really matters. I know I should have spoken up but
I know better." You will shift and your heart ends up in
trouble. It's something that God wants to speak to us about, being fighting fit,
because I think it's really challenging, to be aware of all those words that you
are responsible for. You are responsible for your words. It doesn't
matter what anyone does to you. This is where it's hard but they did
this and they said that, and that's how I feel, and we start then saying it to
someone close. We're reinforcing it. There's power in this whole
confession. It says in Matthew 12, 36 to 37 You can be sure of this, when the day of
judgment comes one thing you can be sure of.
When judgment comes for us everyone will be held accountable for every
careless word he has spoken, your every word will be used as evidence against
you, and your words will declare you either innocent or guilty. You mean I
can't get away with ........?
It came out." Often you'll find it's from the
heart and what you've been storing up there, but it says that we will be
accountable for every careless word. That careless word means a word that is
destructive, removes life not adds life.
That's where we get the phrase you're going to "eat your own words", something
that comes back into our heart. I think it's very easy and I hold my hand
up to this, so don't think I'm standing here as a pastor. I want to be
real with you, not saying I'm perfect in all this. I know that
this tongue of mine has got me in trouble.
We have that conversation and then the spirit within
you, the Holy Spirit, is going "Those are not the words that align
with me."
What we do is we want to find someone that
agrees with us, and what we normally do is we go to friends or someone that's
close to us that isn't going to disagree but agree with us, and
it's "Oh, they understand me." It's the worst thing you can have, someone that
understands you rather than confronts you.
You don't need understanding, you need confrontation, and there's something a
about a good friend that would do that. There's something about someone
that would say "I think you crossed the line there," and that's how we
need to be, to be responsible and be accountable, because it's very easy to
gossip about people. Come on guys, we do it. We gossip, we get an opinion about
what we've seen or heard. It's normally third-hand information,
and some people love it, and the Bible says these
people will not inherit the kingdom of God. You be careful what you
choose to be involved with, because it even says gossip is like a tasty
morsel, it actually tastes good, because I'm talking about someone else it makes
me feel better,
so it's not like something ugly or bitter, it's something actually
sweet. How about a suspicion of people? If you have a trust issue
and you speak that suspicion ..... There's one thing when you're
allowing your emotions to lead you, but when you start confessing it this is a
whole other level of danger. When you confess it it's another level of danger,
and so when you start speaking about "I'm not sure about them" or "What is it you're
not sure about?" "Well I just got that feeling,"
because immediately that person's "Oh, right, I'd better just keep ...." We have
got to watch out, because through that suspicion which can come from a lack of
trust or hurt, it ends up that we make judgments on others, and when we get
round that we're in trouble, we can fill out the gaps. I'm as good at filling out
the gaps. It's like "that happened, so
that must equal this," and we can be totally wrong, because we don't know the
consequence, and we don't know the heart of God, and we don't know what's going on,
but we want to make judgments, and these things bring doubt,
nearly all of these things are fueled by pride. We somehow think that
we know better. Pride actually sets myself up, that I'm
perhaps higher or more important than others, and that's the dangerous thing,
that I start thinking that I know and I'm in a place to
make a judgement, and God says you've got to watch it, even winning an
argument, having the last word, that is not a good thing, it's not a good thing
to be good at arguing. When I got married it wasn't long before I realized
winning an argument wasn't the point, it doesn't help anyone, it can be
so right but so wrong, it's not actually about that, it's about agreement,
it's about finding agreement, and that means common ground,
we're going to come to common ground, but when we argue and
I proved my point, no, you just proved you've got a lot of
pride. Sorry, so many people have broken, fragmented relationships
because of that, because where does it come from? Insecurity. Let's look at
this - Timothy 2:23 "But have nothing to do with foolish and ignorant
speculations" - that's what he has been talking about - "useless disputes over
unedifying stupid controversies, since you know that they produce strife and
give birth to quarrels." I want to speak to the church now. It breaks the
heart of God when his people who are part the body that should be joined
together in peace and doing all things for unity pick out what they don't have
in common, what they don't agree with. We don't agree with dedications, we don't
agree with baptisms, I mean I'm hearing more and more in these days
where people will leave a church because they didn't quite agree with baptism as
Jesus did, and we were instructed, one of the main things, and other ways, but more
about how it's done, or the method or the quarreling over
aiming on what separates us rather than what joins us together, having 95% what
would join us together, but I'm going to fixate on this one thing, and through it we
start speaking, speaking, and there is this critical spirit and it breaks the
heart of God, and I want to say if that's you, you need to shut up.
You need a shut up right now, because there is something about what damages
the heart, God is not impressed with it. It says here "since you know that they
produce strife and they give birth to quarrels" and the enemy, if he can bring
division and separate you off, it won't just be this church that you've got
that issue with, it will be the next one, it was probably the one before, you've
probably got a track record. It's time to start looking, because God wants us
accountable for this whole area. It's like being around someone that smokes
and you're a passive smoker, which means that you know you don't smoke but you're
in a house or you're in a car and they just smoke, and every day I go to work
and they smoke, you can't say it doesn't affect me, I just shut
my ears, shut my eyes and I'll be OK. No, you're going to breathe it in, and there are
people every year that die from passive smoking. When you get around people with
that negativity and undermining, if they have an issue with authority they start
speaking about it. I've seen so many people lost for this. Oh no, it's fine.
It does matter about the friends you keep, it matters greatly to God, because
if you're putting yourself in a negative atmosphere, in an atmosphere of hurt and
bitterness regularly, it's like secondhand smoke, it's going to be
like a cancer and it will kill you. Pride will say
you're fine, because you've got this super duper way of switching
off. No, it will affect you, and if you're in that situation,
you hear someone say something, you need to speak up and say "I'm not
happy with that. I'm not happy about you talking about that, you need to sort your
heart out." That's a good friend, it's a good friend.
What we confess will eventually consume us for good or for bad. If I'm
going to speak about hope and love, and think the best, that will consume me.
I'm going to live a life led like that and I'll still be wrong, but I'm going to choose
to live a life that way, but if I confess suspicion, negativity, hurt, I'm a victim,
it will consume me.
Proverbs 18:21 "Your words are so powerful that they will kill or give
life, and the talkative person will reap the consequences." That means if you
talk a lot you're going to get into more trouble, it's so true.
Sometimes, some people you just think "Say less." The
more you go on, the more you get yourself in trouble. In fact if you
say less, because there are so many times when something's
brewing up, something happens, and it brews up,
there's wisdom about choosing when to be silent, when to be
quiet. Also, can I point out,
in the world of social media you might not say something, but confessing
as good, as typing something, and the words that you use, because
this is very dangerous, we've got an epidemic of this, where you can just say
things, but not say it to the person's face, it's another level. It means that we
spill out damaging words, and we spill out things we haven't really thought
about, and it's very easy to do that. God will hold us accountable as his people,
So
the news is you don't have to confess what you think. You might feel this way,
you might think that, but you don't have to confess it. It's another level, it's
another level. You can interrupt your thoughts though, you're unhealthy
thoughts, by what? Confession. I'm going to turn it right round in this last few
minutes, I'm going to turn this right round, bring you some good news.
There is something about the power of our agreement. In church in
Freedom we're quite a responsive bunch. Some weeks we're more
responsive than others. I think it's sometimes like we're not really in the
mood, but I want to say to you that in Scripture it says clearly that our
yes needs to be yes ,or amen needs to be amen. Amen means let it be so, so when
I'm speaking a truth to you from God's Word there's something
about you saying "let it be so." You're saying "let it be to me."
When Jesus spoke to the storm he didn't do it quietly in his heart,
and all the disciples said "Did he say something?" He spoke to the storm.
With Jesus it was important for him
to confess and make declaration out loud. You can't just say "Well I was saying
amen in my heart." In the psalms it says "make a shout, make
a joyful noise," and I'm really hoping through
this message we'll never be as quiet as we are right now, because I've said
all about the negative stuff, but you want to turn this round. You've got to start
employing your tongue by being positive through praise, through what is good and
upright. God says that's what we've got to do, but it's a choice, because many
of us haven't said a word in church for many years. God holds you responsible,
because when we gather together this power of agreement, when people get
round and they agree, they can do incredible things. When we sit and be
quiet we're often spectators, and for some of us it's not natural.
"I'm bit of a quiet person. I like to just sit and reflect." When you got
around Jesus I'm sure, if he was here today and he was speaking to you, they
would be like "I want Jesus. I want more Jesus. I'm here." And often Jesus
spoke to people that were around and said "What do you want? and he wanted
them to voice it. Do you think Jesus didn't know what wanted?
They knew he knew what they wanted, but he said "you want to speak it out."
You've got to confess it out. If we're not confessing, if he can get you to say
negative stuff, the enemy get you to say stuff that is unhealthy,
he also wants you to shut up around stuff that is healthy, that brings
life, that brings goodness. So we've got to do it, we've got to choose, we
can't be silent. There's power and agreement. Saying you're amen isn't for
me, it's for you. We say "come on." It's a sort of modern amen, and some people get
irritated. "It's distracting me." I'd much rather like ten people in the room who
were vocal and responsive, than 500 where you hear a mouse, because our confession,
that's the important thing. So I'm going to finish with these
practical ways, and what you can do. Here we go.
First of all, confession produces healing. James 5
verse 16. You can look it up. It says that through your confession you'll
be healed, and we've learnt this, especially in Barbarians,
when we come together in our men's ministry, that if I confess
what I'm ashamed of that wants to keep hidden, when I confess that,
my sin, it says I'm going to see healing. Confess, confess is to
speak out, confess is to speak out. I want to keep this quiet, I want to
keep it here, and all that time I'm in shame, but when I confess I become
accountable and I start seeing healing. There is power through confession.
Number two. Encouragement is life-altering. Encouragement is
life-altering. When you choose to speak to someone and
you bring words of life or death - we looked at their death side - but you're
children of God, and there is something about you speaking life, not just at
church but in your life and around you, when you see someone that doesn't
know Jesus, that's struggling, and you just go up and say "I just want to
say that you're doing a great job. I believe in you and I
think that you've got a great future ahead," really that can
be the very words that turn someone's future from one way to another. We've
got to get encouragement operating. Too many of us are too quiet with this,
because we don't understand what it really is. Proverbs 18, 20. We like to be
encouraged, but you start listing the encouragement that you give, it's very
minimal. That's an issue. If you've been given the words of encouragement and
life we've got to start using it. Heather taught me all about
encouragement; she was my greatest encourager in all the early days.
She's the most encouraging person I've ever known.
Encouragement. Encouragement. That's why there's life all over her. There's
life over you when you encourage, really encourage. How many of us will
go out today without encouraging a soul?. I think God's interested about that
I think God wants to know that we we're ready to encourage and build life, build
life. You don't know where people are at and they're waiting for some
encouragement. Thirdly, your praise is a weapon. 2 Chronicles 20:22.
Praise see is about confession, praise is declaration, so when
I'm feeling low, and in the middle of the week there's been loss in my
life, things haven't worked out, I'm feeling overwhelmed by my situation, God
has given this incredible thing; to praise him. Praise isn't doing it quietly,
but it might be getting that worship CD on and singing. You might not even have
any music; you can still sing. Make a joyful noise to the Lord. It says
he comes on the shout of his people, the shout of his people is something of
defiance, it's saying "I can keep quiet right now because all of that
stuff wants to keep you quiet, you shut up you Christian, you shut up you person,
you'd better just bow down in your situation and give up right now, where
you can stand up and say "I'm going to lift a shout."
I haven't got the answer, I don't even know where my help comes from. We
know scripture says our help comes from the Lord, and it may be delayed, but it's
not denied. It's coming, it's on its way. There is something about praise as a
weapon, and we understood this, this is just about the worship stirring
us up, use your praise. You've had a week of being battered by
the enemy and stuff going on. This is the day when we come together and we
corporately worship together, and as we lift his name the enemy flees. This is real stuff.
Armies were turned back. Power of confession, the last one. We proclaim his
word and his plans. Ezekiel 27. W this means is
that you can confess through the power of proclamation, and what it
means is if you're a believer you can prophesy. You can prophesy. To prophesy
to speak something into what isn't as if it was. We're speaking death into death
situations. God says it's time to speak life into death situations before
you see life. He speaks to the dry bones in Ezekiel, and he says and these dry
bones came up and they became a great army, there was a rattling and
there was a noise, and it says they are there stood in front of me, and then
says the breath came, the breath came. What's the breath? It's the spirit, it's the
spirit that's within us, and the breath came and he says "Prophesy to these
bones," and I prophesy to you, I prophesy you every situation, situation
of lack, situation of pain, of loss, of struggle, of self-doubt, of insecurity, of
hurt, I prophesy to you, and I say come to life in Jesus name. There's life,
not because of me but because of him. We need to stop talking
about our mountains and start talking to our mountains, and tell them to move.
We're too busy talking about them when we've got to start speaking to them.
Get out of my way. Move. His plans for you were good, his plans for you were
great, so to finish; employing your tongue with life, choosing to employ.
Right now it's unemployed by many, but God is saying this is the day to employ your
tongue more than ever. If you just increased 10% more and start employing
your tongue with his promises, with declaring his promises over your life,
declaring to what is dead that there's life, beginning to speak life to others,
encouraging others, beginning to praise, beginning to lift your hands, begin
raising a shout, begin praying, begin using the prayer app, begin using it to
declare, speak it out loud, don't be quiet, speak it out loud. It says the result is
health to your body soul and spirit. Health, and that's why this is a
message of life, it's a message of life, because when you do this and you employ
this tongue it brings life life, life, abundant life to that reservoir of your
heart, but you have a choice. You're responsible, and God is saying "Will you
choose life today, in Jesus name?" I want to hand over to our locations now.
Thank you for being with us. God bless every one of you with this word,
in Jesus' name. Amen.
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