Say it Like you Mean It! Pastor Chris Lindberg.

Good morning, men and women. Such an honor to come to you again from Life Fellowship Church here in McKinney, Texas on your screen on the Pando app in the in the facility that you're in. It's amazing. It's an I just man, I wish I had that technology when I was incarcerated. My name is Logan Williams and my TDC number is 1490218. I got four numbers after that and spent nine and a half years in and out, in and out, in and out. I couldn't seem to get this life thing right and I'm just hopelessly addicted to drugs and all the stuff that that brings. I just want you to know that man, when Jesus got a hold of me, he absolutely revolutionized and changed everything. I want to encourage you because I know some of you have been to prison four times. Some of you have been to prison more than that. Some of you are wondering, what in the world? Is this just my lot in life? And I want to tell you, no, I want to tell you to speak against that. I want you to pray against that line of thinking because anything is possible with God. Anything's possible and it can start right now at this moment. I want you to encourage your family to get in with you on some of these teachings and some of the spiritual walk. They can download the same Pando app that you have on their phones and you can watch the same things and talk about it and grow together as a family, even though you're incarcerated. I know that may seem like a daunting task, but you can do that. You can lead your wife, you can lead your kids, even though you're incarcerated. And don't forget to hit subscribe so you don't miss anything that comes out. We know you don't want to miss anything and we'd love to have you as a subscriber. We do mean it when we say that you are part of our church family. You're part of my heart. My heart is for inmates who are struggling that want a new life, want a better way, want

Jesus and just haven't been able to to get a hold of him because that was me. And I want to tell you, man, that starting right now, it can it can be completely different. It can be completely different. I want to tell you about a story in the Old Testament. Many of you might have heard this story, but it's it's about a guy named Naaman and it's in Second Kings chapter five. And I'll just I'll just pick it up. In verse one, it says the king of Aram had a great admiration for Naaman, the commander of his army, because though through him, the Lord had given Aram great victories. But though Naaman was a mighty warrior, he suffered from leprosy. That was a really gnarly skin disease. So at the time, the Armenian raiders had invaded the land of Israel. So they're actually Israel's opponent, right? And among their captives was a young girl who had been given to Naaman's wife as a maid, as a servant. So they just roll in, take whoever they want and like, OK, you're a servant. You're going to work for her now. But this girl, man, was really had the spirit of God in her because she wasn't bitter. She wasn't playing the victim. She was like one day the girl said to her mistress, I wish my master talking about Naaman would go see the prophet in Samaria. He would heal him of his leprosy. See this girl knew that there was a prophet down there that could heal people. And even though she was she was taken and being held as a slave, she had a heart for this guy because he was suffering so much. And man, the spirit of God was in that young girl because she cared about him and was like, hey, man, if you go and see this guy, he'll heal you. So so Naaman told the king what the young girl from Israel had said. Go and visit the prophet. The king of Aram told him, I will send a letter of introduction for you to take to the king

of Israel. So he's like, hey, yeah, you can go down there if you want to. I'll send a letter and try to kind of smooth the way for you. But yeah, if you want to do that, do that. So Naaman started out carrying as gifts 750 pounds of silver, 150 pounds of gold, 10 sets of clothing and the letter to the king of Israel, which said with this letter, I present my servant Naaman. I want you to heal him of leprosy. I mean, if I was a king and I got that, what do you want me to do? And he he did get a little angry. He says when the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes in dismay and said, am I God that I can give life and take it away? Why is this man asking me to heal someone with leprosy? It's funny. in the day when they would get, when they would hear some really bad news or something that angered them, they would tear their clothes for whatever reason. I'm not gonna tear my clothes, but that's what they did. Says, I can see that he's just trying to pick a fight with me. So he totally misinterpreted the whole thing and tore his clothes. But when Elijah, this is the prophet, the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes in dismay, he sent him this message, said, why did you tear your clothes? Kind of what I would say. Why are you so upset?

Send Naaman to me and he will learn that there's a true prophet here in Israel. That's key. He wanted, because that they were enemies, he wanted God's power to be on display. And so he's like, now send him to me, send him to me. So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and waited at the door of Elijah's house. But Elijah sent a messenger out to him with this message, go wash yourself seven times in the Jordan River and your skin will be restored and you will be healed of leprosy. That angered Naaman. I wonder if he tore his clothes because he became angry and stalked away. He said, I thought he would certainly come out and meet me. I expected him to wave his hand over me, over the leprosy and call him the name of the Lord, his God and heal me. Aren't the rivers in Damascus and Abana and the far, far, I don't know, it's a weird, it's another, there's other rivers that he's talking about in his homeland and they're cleaner than the Jordan River. He's saying, aren't they better than the rivers of Israel? Why shouldn't I wash in them and be healed? So Naaman turned away, turned and went away in a rage. And so sometimes in our walk, most of the time, God is gonna ask us to do some things that don't make sense to us. He's gonna ask us to lay down certain things.

He's gonna ask us to take certain things off the throne. He's gonna ask us to do some things that don't make sense. For example, maybe you're sitting in the county jail right now and you don't even know what you're gonna get. You don't know if you're gonna get probation or if they're gonna give you prison time or whatever. And you might think, man, what I need is a lawyer. But what you really need is something completely different. You need to get a relationship with Christ. You need to learn how to walk these spiritual principles because that's truly gonna fix your problem. That's gonna be the solution to the root of your problem. Yes, right in this moment, sure, you may need a lawyer, but that's not really what you need. But it doesn't make sense to us what God sometimes asks us to do. He says, but his officers tried to reason with him and say, sir, if the prophet would have told you to do something very difficult, wouldn't you have done it? So you should certainly obey him when he says simply go wash and be cured. So they're like saying, hey, come on, man. Like you come all the way out here. I know it doesn't make sense, but why don't you just try it? It says, so Naaman went down to the Jordan River and dipped himself seven times as the man who God had instructed and his skin became as healthy as the skin of a young child

and he was healed. I mean, can you imagine you go down there, dirty water, get undressed, get in, one, still got leprosy. Two, let me look, still got leprosy. You know, during the process, you're probably thinking, man, what am I doing? Like this doesn't make any sense. But that's exactly what the spiritual walk is sometimes. I know God, when I came, when I got saved and I laid down all those drugs, he asked me to lay down sexual sin. And I was thinking, no one really does that, do they? It's 2021, it was 2021 at the time. Does anyone really do that? Like, that's not gonna fix my problem. Like, my problem is I can't stop shooting meth. I can't stop doing drugs. Like, look, can I just focus on this? And he was like, no, I want all of you. I want you to get all the way in. And then shortly after that, he revealed to me that money was an idol in my life and he wanted me to start returning the first 10% of anything I made and I wasn't making much back to him. It wasn't about the money, it was to honor him. That didn't make any sense, okay? I'm broke, living in a sober living home. I'm cleaning houses for a lady at the church and I'm making about 60 bucks a day. And it's like, that doesn't make any sense

to give 10% of it away, it just doesn't. But this is what he asked me to do. And he followed it up with a download of. Just imagine what your life could be like if you just got all the way in with me one time. And so, yes, the thing Elisha asked Naaman to do doesn't make sense, didn't make sense. He didn't wanna do it. He wanted a solution that made sense to him. He wanted him just to say, be healed in Jesus' name. I don't know what he wanted, but he humbled himself and he followed directions. And that's what my wife and I, we lead out a Overcomers 12-step recovery group. I'm big in prison and I'm big with working with drug addicts and alcoholics and people that are addicted to things, sexual sin and gambling and whatever is out of control in your life. And we practice the 12-step recovery with Jesus at the centerpiece. It's just Christianity for dummies is what it is. We just look at our lives. We say, man, is there something out of control in my life? Sometimes it's obvious if you're on drugs. Sometimes it's sin. Sometimes it can be codependency. Sometimes it can be whatever it is. And we're like, God, I think you can help me with that. I'm gonna make a decision to get all in with you. And then we do an inventory, a personal inventory.

And no one wants to do that because that doesn't make sense to us, right? It's like saying, go dip in the Jordan seven times and you'll be healed. I don't wanna sit here and write out an inventory of myself and then you gotta share it with somebody. But if you just follow through with that, we found freedom comes. James 5.16, admit your sins to one another, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed. Yes, and then we make amends to people that we wronged or harmed. We go to them and say, I was wrong, I regret it. What can I do to make it right? There's a process that we have that doesn't make sense when you're just coming in on drugs off the street or you're coming in and you're absolutely consumed with a sin or with something that's completely out of control in your life that you can't wish or will away. And maybe some of you in the facilities that you're at now are experiencing that. I know drugs are rampant here in Texas. Maybe you don't know how to stop. Maybe you need to seek out a recovery program that's not gonna make sense to you just like this didn't make sense to Naaman. But if we can just follow through with it, even though it doesn't make sense,

this is the spiritual walk. These things never make sense sometimes. The things that God asks us to do, the things that he asks us to lay down. And we have to have that belief system in our mind when we're doing this walk is, God, what do you have for me today? So I just wanna challenge you all to do some things that don't make sense, to seek God, hey man, what do you have for me? What are some practical things I can do? I don't care if you're in county jail and you just got there or maybe you've been in prison for 20 years. Today is the day you can start. And it might not make sense. But I just wanna implore you to pray and move and do it anyway. Do it anyway. Let me pray for you guys. Heavenly Father, we just lift up all the men and women that are watching, that are listening to us, our church family that we love. God, our heart breaks for the ones that are in bondage. And God, I just pray that you would meet them all right where they're at right now and let them know how much you love them, that you have a plan and a purpose for their life that may not make sense, but it's far greater than anything they can think,

ask or imagine. And God, I pray that you would give them visions and glimpses of that, and that you would give them hope and that that would encourage them to keep taking these steps and doing these things, even though it might not make sense to them. I pray that you would give them just a sense of perseverance to persevere through things that don't make sense or things that they don't necessarily want to do, spiritual things. Give them perseverance until they can. And God, I pray that you would give them a sense of hope and that they would see some fruits. And then once they see the fruits, man, that they would just jump in all the way in with all the desperation of a drowning man. God, we just want to chase after you with all our hearts. And we just want more of you. And so God, I pray that you would bless them wherever they're at and that you would let them know you love them some things that they can do to grow closer to you, because we ultimately just want to enlarge your kingdom and make much of your name. And we love you so much. We give you all the praise and glory in Jesus' name. Amen, amen. I have to have one more question. you. Whose house? God's house. Let's give him some praise.

Let's give him some praise. Let's give him some praise. Let's give him some praise. Let's give him some praise. Let's give him some praise. Let's give him some praise. Let's give him some praise. Let's give him some praise. Let's give him some praise. Let's give him some praise. Let's give him some praise. Let's give him some praise. Let's give him some praise. Let's give him some praise. Let's give him some praise. Let's give him some praise. Let's give him some praise. Let's give him some praise. Let's give him some praise. Let's give him some praise. Let's give him some praise. Let's give him some praise. Let's give him some praise. Let's give him some praise. Let's give him some praise. You are so great! Come on church, begin to express your heart to the Lord today. You are so great! You are so mighty! You are so awesome God! We worship you! We praise you God! Let's give you all the praise today, oh God! Let the heart be filled with your glory, come on! Cause you're the name above all names! Come on, you are worthy! And my heart will sing my praise! Come on, it's our God! Y'all sound real good this morning! Come on, sing you're the name above all names! You're the name above! You are worthy, yes you are Lord! And my heart will sing my praise! How great, how great is our God! You are so great! You are so great! Come on, sing your name above all names, come on! You're the name above all names! You are worthy, yes you are great! And my heart will sing how great! You are great! You are great! You are great!

You are great! You are so great! Great is who you are! Great is who you are! Come on, you're the name, come on! Cause you're the name above all names! You are worthy, yes you are! And my heart will sing our praise! How great, how great is our God! Now come on, sing how great is our God, come on! How great is our God! Sing the name, how great is our God! Come on, sing how great, how great is our God! I believe we can put some more weight on this. We're talking about God, let's sing how great, come on! How great is our God! Sing with me, how great is our God! And oh, sing how great, how great is our God! Now come on, let's have a moment with you and God in this moment. Come on, have a moment with you and the Father. Come on. Can we just say the name Jesus? Everybody just say the name Jesus. There's something about when we say his name, something shifts the atmosphere. Come on, speak Jesus in this moment. Oh Jesus. Oh Jesus. Oh Jesus. We're going to do it one more time. Let's call your name Jesus. Oh Jesus. Oh Jesus.

Oh Jesus. Oh Jesus. Oh Jesus. Oh Jesus. I could sing your name for all my life And still find more to love each time Jesus be the name ever on my lips It's sweeter every time that I call on it There's just something about your name There's just something about your name There's just something about your name That makes me cry horribly There is no other name There is no other name There is no other name Jesus, you're worthy You have been the friend who never left I won't forget your faithfulness Jesus be the name ever on my lips It's sweeter every time that I call on There's just something about your name There's just something about your name There's just something about your name That makes me cry horribly There is no other name There is no other name There is no other name Jesus, you're worthy There's just something about your name There's just something about your name There's just something about your name That makes me cry horribly There is no other name There is no other name There is no other name Jesus, you're worthy So worthy of love So great to have you on my lips Jesus, you're worthy So worthy to be praised Jesus, your name is like the morning light The one the darkness can't deny The resurrection and the life Jesus, Jesus, your name You save, you make, you heal You make, you make the storm disappear You never fail, you never will Jesus, Jesus, the bread of life broken through lust The wounded and the worthy one The first, the last, and soon to come Jesus, Jesus my King Who overwhelmed the grave The Lord who will forever reign The name above all other names Jesus, Jesus be the name Jesus be the name

Jesus be the name That gets all the glory Jesus be the name Jesus be the name Jesus be the name That gets all the glory Oh, Jesus be the name Jesus be the name Jesus be the name That gets all the glory Jesus be the name Be the name, be the name, be the name Be the name, be the name, be the name The gifts for the glory Oh Jesus we believe We give you all the glory Come on that's your moment right there to give Him all the glory To lift up your voice in exultation and say You get all the glory You get all the glory You get all the glory Come on lift your voice and say Jesus Oh Jesus be the name Jesus be the name Jesus be the name That gives all the glory Oh Jesus be the name Jesus be the name Oh Jesus be the name That gets all the glory Jesus be the name Jesus be the name That gets all the glory Oh Jesus be the name Jesus be the name Jesus be the name

That gets all the glory There's just something about the name There's just something about the name There's just something about the name That makes me cry holy There's just something about the name There's just something about the name There's just something about the name That makes me cry holy Oh Jesus Oh Jesus Jesus Just say the name Jesus Speak the name of Jesus Oh Jesus Oh Jesus Oh Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus It was my cross you bore So I could live In the freedom you died for And now my life is yours And I will sing Of your goodness forevermore Come on you guys know it, sing it Worthy is your name

Jesus You deserve the praise Worthy is your name Worthy is your name Jesus You deserve the praise Worthy is your name We're greatly to be praised Jesus And now my shame is gone I stand amazed in your love undeniable His grace goes on, your grace goes on and on And I will sing of your goodness forevermore Worthy is your name, Jesus You deserve the praise, worthy is your name Worthy is your name, Jesus You deserve the praise, worthy is your name Worthy is your name, Jesus You deserve the praise, worthy is your name Worthy is your name, Jesus You deserve the praise, worthy is your name So be exalted now in the heavens As your glory fills this place You alone deserve our praise You're the name above all names Be exalted now in the heavens As your glory fills this place You alone deserve our praise You're the name above all names So be exalted now in the heavens As your glory fills this place

You alone deserve our praise You're the name above all names Be exalted now in the heavens As your glory fills this place You alone deserve our praise You're the name So worthy is your name, Jesus You deserve the praise, worthy is your name Worthy is your name, Jesus You deserve the praise, worthy is your name One more time Worthy is You deserve the praise, worthy is your name Worthy is your name, Jesus You deserve the praise, worthy is your name Jesus, you are so worthy, God Lord, your name holds so much power Your name is the only name we can call and that can save, that can heal, that can deliver us, God Lord, us as one body, God, we are here to praise you and worship you, Jesus Find us singing your name for the rest of our lives, God We love you, Jesus, we praise you this morning And the house of God says, amen and amen Amen, amen Are you happy to be in God's house this morning? Hey, you guys look awesome Take a seat as you're being seated Tell your neighbor, whichever one you like better That they look good this morning Ooh, y'all are loud, I love it

Hey, I want to welcome you to Life Fellowship this morning If you are new here, go ahead and text new to 51010 We would love to get connected with you And if you've been here for a little bit And you want to get connected with our serve team And learn more about us We would love for you to text growth track to 51010 And you can find out how to get connected here Before we get into the word this morning We are going to spend a little bit of time talking about giving So we're going to receive the tithes and offerings And I just want to share a quick scripture Out of Proverbs chapter 3 It says, honor the Lord with your wealth With the first fruits of all of your crops Can you turn to your neighbor and say, with the first fruits I think about the first time the tithe is recorded in the Bible And this is with Abram and Melchizedek Went to war and he gave Melchizedek the king a tenth of his spoils to honor him and in the same way We honor our king jesus by giving him the first and the best the first 10 of what we receive you know pastor chris often often says that Giving is not a financial issue giving is a faith issue It shows where we put our trust where we put our faith when we can really put our money where our mouth is And say jesus it's yours first. Let's pray together Lord, I ask that As we give you the first and the best I pray that you would align all of our other priorities. I pray that You would take precedence over all of it and as we put you first that you would realign everything else in our life

You would take care of everything that we need We love you and we praise you and we give you all the glory all the honor In jesus name and everybody said amen. Amen. You can prepare your hearts for the message I really don't want to go to this stupid meeting. I always say the wrong thing and i'll probably embarrass myself again and honestly My boss is an arrogant jerk impossible to please And now you want me to help him I could really help myself But This is how I used to think But now I actually look forward to meetings because god gives me the right words to say And maybe I shouldn't judge him before I know him I'll give him a chance Because you never really know someone until you do God knows i'm not perfect But I remember when someone reached out to me when I needed it most But maybe success starts with the little things And with god's help I can speak differently because big wins Are built on small things Well, hey everybody good to have you with us in service today want to say a big hello to our Church online family and want to give a big welcome to all the men and women in over six Thousand correctional facilities over 150 000 of you joining with us in service today Come on, everybody. Would you make them feel welcome on this chilly sunday in january? God bless you guys And for those of you in the correctional facilities that are maybe joining us for the first time I want you to know you are not a project to us. We consider you a part of this church family We love you we brag on you all the time and I know that sometimes life can feel dismal Sometimes you can feel like there is no hope but i'm going to tell you that there is great Hope in jesus and I believe that the best is yet to come in your life

And I just want you to know we're so glad that you're with us and a part of this journey And I wanted to speak to all of us here before we jump into the message and I really want to encourage you To make sure that you are considering bringing somebody with you for our next series That's going to kick off here in two weeks from today in the first of february called kiss and tell so it's been a few years since i've done a relational series and I think you're gonna really Really really really really really enjoy this we're going to go verse by verse through the song of solomon Uh, it's going to get spicy all right, and And so let me just encourage you if you know anybody that is in any listen if they're married married and having issues single dating engaged single again It doesn't matter. I promise you Bring somebody with you. Let's completely pack the house I'm putting a lot of extra time into this series and I know god's going to use it to help you And don't keep this to yourself like fill up a row fill up two rows fill up a section And let's Let's spread the word with what god is is doing today is the third installment of our series That we've entitled a little goes a long way And i'm just going to be very forthright with you and just tell you that today's topic is going to seem very Insignificant to you But here's what I can promise you that if you will apply it to your life Years down the road you're going to look back to this moment and you're going to see that it has produced massive results in your life Because here's what we know that if you'll do the little things Repeatedly over time they will produce a big difference massive things That really are going to impact all the facets Of the life that you and I live

And so if you happen to miss the few weeks here's been the overarching thought that has been driving this series forward and that is that the life everyone dreams of is built on the small choices not the big things but the small choices that nobody else sees today we're going to talk about the power of our words because your words are like the steering wheel of your life if you want to know where you're headed in your life you want to know the direction that you're going check and see the words that you've been speaking because you can actually frame out your future with your words in fact I want you to see what King Solomon said he said the tongue has the power of life and death meaning this that your words can either carry life or they can create death your words they are not inconsequential they carry power to them like great power mighty power magnificent power and a lot of times we're using those words incorrectly so today I'm going to give you a driving thought that is going to champion this entire message forward and so if you're ready for this come on I want you to jot this thought down if you want a different life it starts with different words oh that's so good today I don't know how you guys are being quiet on me somebody I just feel it's going to get excited about this message bring some energy into this and help me to speak this thing today in fact I'm going to say this again it was so good if you want a different life it starts with different words oh yeah baby we're going to have some fun with that today because the small if because small changes in the words that you speak actually make big differences in the life that you and I are living and this is not a new concept in fact James the half-brother of Jesus talked about this thousands of years ago which interesting enough there are some scholars and theologians that believe that James is one of the greatest evidences to the divinity of Jesus think about this hey think think they think what would your brother have to do to convince you that he was the son of God what would you have to do to convince your brother that you were the son of God think about that and James so believed that Jesus was the son of God that he was willing to become a martyr he gave his life for that truth

and I don't know about you but that's some pretty good evidence and here's what he said James said we can make what size a large horse go wherever we want by means of a what a small bit in its mouth because small things matter and and notice this what size of rudder a small rudder makes a huge ship turn wherever the pilot chooses to go even though the winds are strong in the same way the tongue is is a what it's a small thing that makes grand speeches in other words a well-crafted message can move an entire audience to do great things because preparing is caring when you speak you need to make sure that you speak it in such a way that you've really thought through that you don't just ramble and notice this though that a tiny spark can say set a great forest on fire so for example you show me a struggling marriage I guarantee it that marriage is going to be filled with a lot of life-taking words but on the flip side if you show me a marriage that is thriving I can promise you that it is going to be filled with there's going to be an abundance overwhelming of life-giving words if you have a boss if you have a friend that nobody likes to be around I can guarantee it that they are very accustomed to speaking life taking words but the people that everybody likes to be around they are I promise you that there is a plethora of life giving words fact interesting enough according to the Wall Street Journal the top hundred best place to work in America. Those companies, those organizations, the amount of words of affirmation that are spoken from the top leadership down, between all of the inner workings of the employees, it doubles what all other normal companies do. Words of affirmation, and then here's what's crazy, their work produce, what they produce as an organization doubles what everybody else does in their industry. Like your words matter, they matter. Top 100 of best places to work have double the amount of life-giving affirmations of words. In fact, King Solomon said this in Proverbs, he said, the words of the reckless, what do they do?

They pierce like a sword. And here's what I just want to stop and just say, I bet that every one of us have experienced that before. You felt that, and listen, you still remember the word, the tone, the place that that person said that to you? Because your words are powerful. They're either carrying life or they're creating death. But the tongue of the wise brings healing. I'm just going to tell you, you can say the right word in the right time, and it fills up your tank like nothing else. He also says in Proverbs 15, 4, that the soothing tongue is what? It's a tree of life, like it brings life. But the perverse tongue, what does it do? It crushes the spirit. I can guarantee every one of us have experienced the crushing defeat, the blow of careless words. And sometimes words can come across really careless, people like, hey, did you check your hair out this morning when you walked out the door? Or people that are single, all my single folks, you've probably heard this so many times, are you married yet? You're like, I'm going to slap you in the face if you say that one more time to me. Because careless words, they can crush you at the deepest part of who you are. And so can intentional words. Like, you disgust me. Really? Really? And I wish I would have never married you. I don't love you. You're such a failure. That dinner was horrible. Why are you always late? Why do you always talk like that? Why is your tone always in that? Intentional words that are life-taking can zap the very life out of who you are. But on the flip side, nothing can bring blessing into your life faster than life-giving words. Like, hey, baby, if I had to do it all over again, I'd still choose you. I'd marry you all over again. Like, you're my best friend. I thank God for you that the Lord sent you into my life. Man, you are a major blessing. Great words. They can heal your soul.

They can fill up your tank. In fact, when Tatum and I, when we were raising our kids, we tried to be very intentional, not just with the words that we spoke to them, but with the words that they saw from us. So one of the things that we did is that we actually wrote down two different letters to our kids. We wrote them all out and we talked about the gifts that we saw on the inside of them and their qualities and their purpose and their future. We talked about how proud we were of them. And then we actually gave it to a graphic designer who designed it, and then we framed it and put it on their walls of their bedroom so that they would always not just hear words of affirmation, but they would also see words. And you can take that, steal that, and make it your own. Don't tell anybody where you got it from, all right? Because our kids, they need to hear and they need to see those words. In fact, one of my favorite stories, and if you've been around here for a little while, you've heard this, and I don't care, you're going to hear it again. But when my kids were growing up, I gave my son, Nash, a nickname, Champ, because I always wanted him to know that he's my champion. And then I called my daughter, Bug. Now, it was an acrostic. And so one day, Blakely came to me and she's like, Dad, it's not fair. Nash gets to be a champ, and I'm a... bug I Said baby, that's because the bug stands for my beautiful unbelievable girl And I wish you could have seen her face just light up In fact, they don't outgrow that on New Year's Day by the day I sat down and I rode out to both my my son and my My daughter my my son-in-law Letters that I just wanted to speak life into them and tell them how much that I'm for them that that'll that I'll never back away from them that and I started pulling out different things that I see on the inside of them speaking into their Into their future because I need you to understand that your kids the people that are around you none of us ever

outgrow hearing and receiving words of Affirmation being able to speak life Being life giving words instead of life taking words In fact, my wife Tatum is exceptional at this She doesn't even just do this on words on on paper like she'll text me text me all the time She'll just just dote on me. She'll just brag on me in these texts. Sometimes they're spicy texts. I Call them hot texts So the other week I was out speaking at a church and Tatum wasn't able to come with me And so she watched a little bit of it online and when I finished up She gives me a little text and she says great preaching mega, man Hurry home. I Mean I put the pedal to the metal baby, you know I'm saying Because I'm just telling you that when your wife calls you mega, man, I Felt really close to God and to her And so Last week I gave you what I called a thought inventory I wanted you to give an audit of the thoughts that you've been thinking today. I'm gonna do something different I want to get I want you to take a word inventory of the words. You've been speaking. I brought a chart with me And I want you to answer this these two questions. What are the words that you're speaking to others and yourself Okay, what are they so in other words a little bit of yourself talk So, let's just talk about this top row here, what are you words you're speaking to you to others are your words life-giving Or are they life? taking You know, are you looking at other people say man you really suck And you're such a disappointment to me. You're a failure. You're like that was a that was a horrible meal That was a horrible presentation. Like why do you do things like that? Do you even know what you're doing? You're you are incompetent You have no joy you have no smile you have no you have no charisma

I just I wish that you weren't a part of my life. You will never make a difference You do you speak those kinds of words to others? Life-taking you keep leaving the toilet seat up Put it down. That was it was Or are you more of a life giver in your words and you look at somebody and say, well, I'm not a life-giver In your words and you look at somebody and say Hey, I just want you to know baby. You look beautiful today Hey, you are a handsome husband. Hey, you know what the the way that you led that meeting was Unbelievable and way to go you hit your numbers man. You were you were Exceptional man, you walk with character and integrity man. You are you are a man of God. You are a woman of God I'm so glad that you're a part of my life. Like you are a major blessing And I consider you one of my closest friends So when you assess your life, do you give more life-giving or life-taking words and then what about this bottom? Row here Do you do you speak more life-taking words from yourself to yourself? And I'm just never gonna make a difference I'm always gonna be alone. Why am I always in last place? I just I feel like I just grew up on the wrong side of the track I Feel like I'm a disappointment to everybody and I just can't ever seem to succeed and when why even try when I know I'm going to fail Or are you a life Giving when you speak to yourself that you wake up and you think man This is the day that God has made I cannot be defeated and I will not quit I can't help but win because God walks with me the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead lives on the inside of Me today is a great day with new opportunities I don't see the glass half empty, I see it half full with free refills. Come on somebody. So I want you to assess your life.

Come on. I want you to circle the number that best represents you in these two different areas. So let me ask you a question today. I'm very curious. How many of you would admit that you speak life-giving words a whole lot more to others than you do to yourself? Come on. If that's you, come on, put your hands up. That's you. Come on. Just be honest with me. Okay. Let me flip it. How many of you would say that I speak way more life-giving words to myself first before I do that for other people? Anybody? Hands up. Okay. That's kind of what I thought. How many of you are saying, I ain't lifting my hand no matter what those stupid questions are today? Put your hand up. Okay. So here's the deal. If you did not put 10 on both of these, this message is going to make a tremendous impact on your life because we all have a lot of room for us to grow. We all have a lot of room to grow because your words are not inconsequential. They are powerful. If you want a different life, it starts with making different choices in the words that you speak.

So what I'm going to do is I'm going to give you two powerful rules today when it comes to life-giving words. And the first one, I'm going to sound a lot like your mama, but your mama was right. And that is that if you can't say something nice, number one, don't say anything at all. How many of you all ever heard that growing up? Here's what the apostle Paul, he said that same thing, but he said it a little different. In Ephesians he said, do not let any, what? Unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what kind of talk? What is helpful for building others up according to their needs that it may benefit those who listen. Everyone, if that doesn't convict you, you're not paying attention. In fact, if you just apply that one principle in your life, then today would have been worth the price of your admission. People say, give something to me, give me something deep. You want deep? Deep is not something that you learn, deep is something that you live out. That's deep. You live that out, oh my goodness. The way that it will affect your marriage, your parenting, your work relations, your sphere of influence, your church family, like it makes a massive difference. Hey everybody, if you can't say something nice, shut it, zip it, bite it, close it, don't say anything at all, number one. Here's the second thing, second rule. If you see the good, speak the good. So I try, I'm not perfect at this, I've got a lot of improvement that I need to make, but when I see good things in others, in God, in circumstances, in my own life, I'm going to try to speak that out. In fact, here's how King Solomon said it. Notice this in Proverbs, he said gracious words are like a what? A honeycomb.

Notice this, he didn't say gracious thoughts. He said gracious words. It's not enough just to think a thought, you need to speak the thought. Speak it. Because those words are sweet to the soul, and if anybody has ever spoken to you the right word in the right season, the right moment, it is healing to you. Your words carry life or they create death. In fact, I'm really thankful for my parents. My parents have been exceptional at this. They have always been really, really, really, really encouraging. I'll give you an example of this. One of my very first ministry assignments, I was a youth pastor in a small little country town in Missouri, 149 people, 18 people in the church, and I had one teenager. I worked at a gas station. called Get and Go, the night shift, so that I could make money, so that I could volunteer and be able to reach teenagers. And my mom and dad came to visit. And so, man, I walked them into this small, little country church, like it was itty-bitty, and I remember feeling like such a disappointment to them. Because I know that they've always had big dreams for my life. And then on top of that, my dad's got his doctorate of theology, and when he was pastoring, he pastored one of the most influential churches in all of Memphis, and here I am, standing in this tiny, little country church with about 40 chairs that were there, and I'm like, here's where I'm at.

And I will never forget, never forget, my dad stopped, he looked me square in the eyes and says, Chris, I want you to know that your mom and I are so proud of you. God is using you to reach the students of this community. And when he said that to me, it built me so up on the inside, in fact, who I am today is a result of words of affirmation, life-giving words that have been spoken into me. Because when you seek the good, you speak the good. So fast forward, years later, I'm now in Dallas, Texas, I'm youth pastoring, we're having hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of teenagers that are showing up to youth services. We were in, it's called Sachse, or it's a suburb of Garland. And I'll never forget, I had a teenager that came a couple different nights in a row, and then one week, he showed up high on pot, he had dropped out of school, life was going the wrong way for him, and so after service, he comes in my office, slumps down, sits in a chair, and says, Pastor Chris, my life is garbage. It's garbage. He said, my parents are going through a divorce, I got kicked out of school, I ain't got nothing good going for me. Nothing good going for me, so why even try? And I looked at him, and I said, my man,

I said, I actually think you have a lot of good things going for you. He said, no, I don't. I said, yes, you do. He said, like what? So I leaned in, and I looked at him, and I said, like the fact that you are an incredible skateboarder. He said, well, yeah, I guess I am pretty good. And I said, and not only that, I said, you're really funny. He said, yeah, I guess I am kind of funny. I said, and then, can I just say this? I mean, you're a cool-looking kid, and he smiled, and I started to see the crack in his heart starting to open on up. So I knew I had a moment there. So I just began, for the next 15 minutes, to just begin to speak words of life, giving into him. I said, man, you're faithful. You're loyal. The reason why you have so many friends is because people know that you're true to your word, and that you genuinely love people. I said, your mom and dad, they love you. And about this time now, these little crocodile tears started forming in his eyes. And I looked at him, and I said, my man, let me tell you something,

not just from me, let me tell you something from God. When God looks at you, he sees his son, and he loves you. You are not an embarrassment to him. In fact, you are his masterpiece. You are special. And when I said that, he said, now he's crying, crying. He's like, God thinks I'm special. I said, yeah, my man. I placed my hands on him. I began to pray over him, speaking more words of life into him. We walked out of that office, and it was like he was a different kid. He started showing up to youth services every single week. And he went from dropping out of school to be reengaged into school, went from straight F's to straight A's, graduated at the top of his class, most influential student in the entire school. And I couldn't keep him away from me. Like, everywhere that I went, I mean, I'm looking, and here he is. He's right there with me. Because he wanted to be around somebody that would speak words of life into him. And years later, fast forward today, he is leading a youth ministry of over 1,400 students,

impacting a generation for Jesus. Come on, everybody. And I've thought to myself this question, what would have happened if I would have never spoke life into him? giving words into Him. Your words are powerful. They carry life or they create death. You get the opportunity to speak them whenever God wanted to create. He didn't just think the world into existence. He created it by opening His mouth and speaking. And you and I have been made in the same image and likeness as of God. Speak words of life. If you see the good, speak the good. Send the text. Put a comment in that thing on social media. Pick up the phone. Give that person a call. Send them a note. Everybody listen to me. Why in the world would you ever rob your friends, your family, your neighbors, the people that God has put in your world, why would you ever rob them of a blessing? You have blessing that you can speak. And don't just do that for others. Do that thing for yourself. I am shocked at how many of us we speak negative, life-taking words in our inner talk all the time. Listen to me. Why would you ever speak death over your own soul? One of my favorite portions of Scripture is when King David was in the dark, one of the darkest moments of his life. He was about ready to be stoned to death. And here's what he said. It says in 1 Samuel, but David

encouraged himself in the Lord his God. Have you ever had moments you just feel like you're all alone and there's not somebody there that's going to encourage you? Those are those times you're going to need to buck up under that little buckaroo. You're going to need to encourage yourself and speak life. Speak God's words over you. In fact, I'm getting ready to give you a statement here that if you will apply this to your life, I think that it is going to yield massive dividends in the days to come. And here it is. If you want to change your future, change your words. I'm going to say that again. If you want to change your future, change your words because your words are powerful. So for example, let's just say that your marriage is not doing well right now. You know, you could side with what you're seeing and begin to say things like, you know what, my my marriage is going to hell in a handbasket and it's probably going to end in divorce. You can say that. Probably not going to bode well for you. You can look at your own life and say, you know what, my life sucks. I'm alone. I fail. I never succeed. It seems like everybody else gets all the breaks and I never get get the breaks. I feel like I'm just such a disappointment. I'm never going to make a difference in my life. Like you can talk like that all you want, but you change your words and you can change your future. So instead,

may I please do the honor today of submitting to you a different way to speak. I believe that you can speak with all integrity and say this, you know what, my marriage is in a tough spot, but we're putting our marriage in the hand of a faithful God and I am going to love my wife like Christ loves the church and I believe with all of my heart that God himself is going to begin to heal my marriage. Or maybe you're in a lot of debt right now and you feel the weight of it. Man, it's just there. It's not comfortable. And so I think that you can say with all integrity, you know what, we're in a tough place financially. We're going to start to do things God's way. We're going to act our wage. We're going to live beneath our means. We're going to create margin in our lives and we're going to become people that actually honor God's word. We're going to begin to honor God with the tithe, with the whole vision and the hope that someday we're going to become massively generous as kingdom builders. Listen, your thoughts shape your words. Your words shape your actions. Your actions form habits, which by the way, we're going to talk about disciplines next week. It will be my favorite message of this entire series next week. And I don't know how else to say it other than that it is going to hurt so good. Like it's good, it's good. Yeah, it's good. And notice this, your habits determine who you become. Because if you want to change your future, change your words. So in week one of this series, I kind of put the carrot out there for you. And I said, hey, why don't you ask God what's the one word that he has for your life?

And then anchor it to a verse because you're not going to be able to perform that, accomplish that in your own strength. You need the power of the Word of God. Last week, I challenged you to listen to God about a statement, a thought that would help shape your 2026. Today, my challenge for you is this. I want you to ask God for the one statement for your year. Something that you're going to say again and again and again and again and again and again and again until it begins to drive your life forward. And I know what some of you are thinking. You're thinking, well, can my statement be the same thing as my thought? And the answer is absolutely. Yes, it can. But it can't stay a thought. You're going to have to speak it out. You're going to have to begin to bring life to it because life-giving thoughts become life-giving words when we speak them out. So I told you last week that God gave me a word of rest. That's my word. You know, and I've talked to so many of you. Like, it's amazing how God has uniquely given words to all kinds of folks that are here. I mean, I've talked to friends and they said, man, my word is precision. My word is health. My word is strength, peace, life, hope, encouragement, faithfulness, perseverance, love. I mean, it's just incredible. There's been a bunch of you that have said, Pastor Chris, the word for the church is strong and strengthened. And I feel the same thing for my life. That's so cool. My word was rest. My anchor verse is in Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 1. And there's a cool statement at the end of it. And it's become my thought. It's become my statement.

I will do my best to enter His rest. I'm going to do my best. I'm going to do my absolute best. And the reason why that's so important for me that I have this statement, which, by the way, I've probably said that thing at least 100 times out loud this year already. Because I don't know how your mind works. My mind works like this. That when I have a thought, I have three thoughts in my mind with another 17 of them in the back that are just trying to get their way out. So the minute I start going down a little bit of a pathway, I've got this tidal wave, like Niagara Falls of thoughts that are just, and I just can't stop it. It just keeps going. It just flows. And so I can't even begin to describe to you how this one statement that I've said out loud so many times has begun to change my life and bless me. If you want to change your future, change your words, because your words are powerful. They are containers that are containing life and death. What are we going to do? I'll tell you what we're going to do. We're going to be people that we are not going to speak life-taking words to those that are all around. We will speak life-giving words to our family, our friends, our neighbors, those that are in the marketplace. When we look at ourselves and speak internally, our inner thoughts, we're not going to speak life-taking words. Instead, we're going to speak blessing. We're going to speak life-encouraging words. Because if we see the good, we're going to speak the good. We're not going to let any unwholesome talk come out of our mouth, but that which is beneficial to others, to the building up, to the advancing of their life. And I'll tell you why. Because the life that everybody dreams of is not built on all the huge things that everybody sees. It's actually the small things that nobody else sees. Amen, everybody. Amen. Do me a favor, I want you to bow your heads, close your eyes. So here's what I need you to do today. I'm going to ask you to do three things.

Number one. What's your statement that you're going to say out loud throughout this next sermon? year. That's going to begin to drive your year forward. That's anchored to that verse. That's tied into that word. What is it? You're going to replace that negative internal talk with something different, something life giving. So ask God what that thing is. The second thing. Some of you today, I don't know, it just seems like it's kind of a challenge for you to do that internally. You don't have a problem speaking life to others that are all around, but internally, it's a struggle. Because you just haven't forgiven yourself of your past, even though God has. And the enemy comes right along and he just, he causes you to ruminate on your mistakes, your failures, your regrets. And today is the day that you finally put that to the side and say, you know what? I refuse to speak death over my own soul. I'm going to begin to speak life. So Father, I pray that you would set your people free. In Jesus' mighty name, give us courage to speak words that will frame our future, that you've always destined for us. We ask this, oh God, with eyes closed and heads bowed. Many of you are feeling right now what's called the convicting power of the Holy Spirit. You've walked into a service like this, you've even watched the team lead in worship and you're thinking, man, I see other people and they worship and they got their hands lifted, there's like actual joy in their face, like I want that, yet I feel all this. What you're feeling is your own weight of your own shame and your guilt. And it's time that you finally surrender that back to God. So come on, right where you're at, would you pray and just say, Jesus, I give you my life. Take the shame and this guilt off of me, it's heavy. Forgive me of my sins. Cleanse me from my regrets. I call on your name. In faith believing, the best that I know how, in Jesus' strong, mighty name I pray. And everybody in the house, come on, say amen and amen. Come on, can we explode and put our hands together and thank God for the lives that are being changed. Amen, amen. Hey, did you guys get something out of the Word this morning? I know I did. Hey, if you made a decision for Christ, I just want to encourage you to text Jesus to 51010. We want to give you some next steps. We want to walk out this faith journey with you. Hey, our prayer teams are going to make their way to the front. If we could all stand together, I want to remind you that next Sunday at 6 p.m., we have our pursuit night. It is going

to be a powerful, powerful time in the presence of the Lord. I want to invite you out, bring a friend, bring a few friends. It's going to be a great, great time. Our prayer teams are at the front, ready to pray for you. And before we all go out, I just want to say a blessing. The Lord bless you and keep you and make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. May he lift his countenance toward you and give you peace. And everybody said a man. Amen. You are dismissed.