1. What most impacted you about Episode 12? 2. Do you think that some christians have accepted a form of christianity that doesn’t contain the type of life changing power that we read about in the Bible? How can we make sure that we avoid this? 3. How does it make you feel when a person says one thing and does another? Have you ever been hurt by hypocrsy? Are we all guilty of hypocrisy to some extent? 4. Read the final verse of the series one more time (Jeremiah 15:19). Do you think this may be a word in season to the Body of Christ, or to you personally at this time? Action Point: Ask God to give you a soft and teachable heart, a repentant heart, a heart that loves Him more than the things of this world. Ask Him to give you the humility, perseverance, faith and grace to be a worthy spokeperson for Him on this earth, sowing seeds of truth and bearing much fruit for His Kingdom.

hey guys and welcome back to this series on the power of words we’re now in the 12th and final episode and we’re going to be talking about how words on their own are not enough the apostle paul said something really important and something that we really need to think about at the end of a series like this in first corinthians 4 19 to 20 he said this some of you have become arrogant as if i were not coming to you but i will come to you very soon if the lord is willing and then i will find out not only how these arrogant people are talking but what power they have for the kingdom of god is not a matter of talk but of power so paul seems to be saying words are not enough and of course we can say all kinds of things with our mouths but what really counts is the power that we walk in and he’s saying the kingdom of god is not a matter of talk but of power and those who really walk closely with god in humility and faith will know his power in their lives working through them as they speak and act but those who only know how to speak and in this case paul was speaking about people who speak arrogantly those people will find that they simply don’t have the power of god to back them up why is that well we know that god opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble that’s james 4 6. you see paul knew that a person who speaks arrogantly thinking that they are something special will be found to have very little real strength or power when confronted by somebody who really walks closely with god and paul had learned that humility not arrogant speech is what invites god’s power and even the person who is very weak humanly speaking can be strong in the power of god we mustn’t forget what god said to paul he said my grace is sufficient for you for my power is made perfect in your weakness therefore paul said i will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so that christ’s power may rest on me when you have that understanding that you are weak and in your weakness he is strong there’s that humility that brings god’s power into your life and of course words are not enough but if christ’s power rests on us that will be enough but how many people today who call themselves christians are really walking in god’s power how many people think that by speaking the words jesus is lord or by saying i’m a christian that those things actually make them a christian well of course in romans 10 verse 9 it does say that if you declare with your mouth jesus is lord and believe in your heart that god raised him from the dead you will be saved so this verse shows that there are two primary things we need in order to be saved one is to profess the right thing with our mouths and the second thing is to believe the right thing in our hearts but are there times when those two things are not enough you see if we’re going to talk about professing that jesus is lord we need to remember what jesus himself said in matthew 7 this is verse 21 jesus said not everyone who says to me lord lord will enter the kingdom of heaven but only the one who does the will of my father who is in heaven so what’s the problem here the problem is that professing that jesus is lord is only valid if he really is your lord if you really are doing the will of god so speaking the truth alone is not enough you have to align your life and your decisions with the truth that you profess and it’s exactly the same when jesus speaks to us purely listening to his words don’t change our lives in fact you can listen to the word of god all day long every day and still end up deceived james 1 22 says do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves do what it says and that’s why jesus goes on in matthew 7 to say this therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock the rain came down the streams rose and the winds blew and beat against that house yet it did not fall because it had its foundation on the rock but everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on the sand the rain came down the streams rose the wind blew and beat against that house and it fell with a great crash so don’t think that because you’ve listened to the right words and you’ve spoken the right words that your life must be perfectly on track it’s your obedience that is the sign that you really believe what you profess which takes us to the next thing you see we’ve looked at calling jesus lord but what about the second part it said believing in your heart that god raised him from the dead now first of all it’s interesting isn’t it how specific that is it doesn’t say believing in your heart that jesus exists it doesn’t say believing in your heart that jesus died on the cross for your sins although those two things are really important it says believing in your heart that god raised him from the dead this is one of the requirements of salvation so how do you know if a person really believes in their heart that god raised jesus from the dead well the best example we have of this is the example of abraham in hebrews 11 19 it says abraham reasoned that god could even raise the dead so in a manner of speaking he did receive isaac back from the death but we could ask ourselves what did abraham do as a result of believing that god could raise isaac from the dead answer he took him up a mountain and almost killed him in other words he didn’t just reason in his mind or believe in his heart that god could raise the dead he acted on it and the bible tells us that abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness so we know that this is the type of faith that god is looking for the type of faith that can save us but david are you saying that abraham was saved because of his actions no that’s not what i’m saying romans 4 makes that clear romans 4 says what then shall we say that abraham our forefather according to the flesh discovered in this matter if in fact abraham was justified by works he had something to boast about but not before god what does scripture say abraham believed god and it was credited to him as righteousness now the one who works to the one who works wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation however to the one who does not work but trusts god who justifies the ungodly their faith is credited as righteousness so righteousness is credited to a person on the basis of their faith not on the basis of their works however abraham’s actions were the visible proof that his faith was genuine so you could say here’s a person who professes that jesus is lord and believes in their heart that god raised him from the dead but where are the actions that are the visible proof that that faith and that profession are genuine and james goes on to say that his faith talking about abraham again his faith and his actions were working together james 2 21-24 it says was not our father abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son isaac on the altar you see that his faith and his actions were working together and his faith was made complete by what he did and the scripture was fulfilled that says abraham believed god and it was credited to him as righteousness and he was called god’s friend you see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone it says that abraham was called god’s friend and you remember jesus said you are my friends if you do what i command now i just want to make it clear i am not saying that we can earn our salvation by works we are saved not because of what we have done but because of what jesus has done however it’s not enough to just profess jesus as lord or to say that we believe in him if he really is our lord and we really do believe in him it will be shown automatically by our actions words alone are not enough and actually if we go back a few verses in the book of james chapter 2 we can see this he says what good is it my brothers and sisters if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds can such faith save them suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food if one of you says to them go in peace keep warm and well fed but does nothing about their physical needs what good is it in the same way faith by itself if it is not accompanied by action is dead but someone will say you have faith i have deeds show me your faith without deeds and i will show you my faith by my deeds james is saying that my faith will be evident by the way i live this reminds me of when john the baptist in matthew 3 verse 8 said produce fruit in keeping with repentance i if there’s really been repentance in your heart if you are calling jesus your lord now then produce fruit that reflects that reality you see faith is not something that can be hidden when a person’s heart changes their fruit changes their thoughts change their words change and their actions change and actually psalm 15 also specifies something very specific and practical that i want to bring your attention to in this episode we looked at this psalm in an earlier episode but for a different reason so this is psalm 15 it’s only five verses it says lord who may dwell in your sacred tent who may live on your holy mountain the one whose walk is blameless who does what is righteous who speaks the truth from their heart whose tongue utters no slander who does no wrong to a neighbor and casts no slur on others who despises a vile person but honors those who fear the lord now look at this who keeps an oath even when it hurts and does not change their mind who lends money to the poor without interest who does not accept a bribe against the innocent whoever does these things will never be shaken did you see that it said who keeps an oath even when it hurts and does not change their mind you see there’s something about giving our word and keeping it or acting upon it that god really values and i think that too many people today make commitments and then change their mind either because they don’t feel like doing it anymore or because they think that they’ve found a better option and i would say two things i would say first of all be careful what you commit to be careful what you say you are going to do don’t commit yourself too quickly make your decisions prayerfully so that you know that what you’re committing to is what god wants you to commit to once you’ve committed to something don’t be easily moved because it says here who keeps an oath even when it hurts so just because something becomes difficult or uncomfortable inconvenient or even painful does not mean that you should back out of the commitment that you’ve made and actually often true maturity is on the other side of perseverance and we’ve looked at this verse before but let’s look at it again james one verse four it says let perseverance finish its work so that you may become mature and complete not lacking anything and those who back out when things get difficult are usually missing a great opportunity to become more like jesus i suppose another thing that this psalm teaching teaches us is that god takes our words very seriously so here are my questions for you in episode 12. do you take your words as seriously as god does and how seriously do you take god’s word do you tremble at his word are you quick to obey his word are you a person who says that jesus is lord or are you a person for whom jesus really is your lord of course how you speak is one thing what you profess is one thing what you say you believe is one thing but how do you live when nobody is watching that’s my challenge for you and that’s the challenge for me as well at the end of this series you see our words might get us a reputation among men but the only thing that really matters is what god thinks in the book of revelation jesus spoke to a church that had a reputation the church was in a city called sardis and this is what he said to them to the angel of the church in sardis write these are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of god and the seven stars i know your deeds you have a reputation of being alive but you’re dead wake up strengthen what remains and is about to die for i have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my god remember therefore what you’ve received and heard hold it fast and repent but if you do not wake up i will come like a thief and you will not know at what time i will come to you yet you have a few people in sardis who have not soiled their clothes they will walk with me dressed in white for they are worthy the one who is victorious will like them be dressed in white i will never blot out the name of that person from the book of life but will acknowledge that name before my father and his angels whoever has ears let them hear what the spirit says to the churches and for those of you who know that your deeds may have been unfinished in the sight of god i want to really encourage you to repent and i really believe that god wants me to end this series by giving you the same words that he gave to the prophet jeremiah and before i read these words i want to encourage you not to take them casually i want to encourage you to listen very carefully because i believe that god is speaking these words directly to you right now jeremiah 15 19 therefore this is what the lord says if you repent i will restore you that you may serve me if you utter worthy not worthless words you will be my spokesman let this people turn to you but you must not turn to them let’s pray together father we just want to thank you for all the things that you’ve taught us during this series lord we want to thank you that you’ve revealed to us how powerful your word is and how powerful our words can be and father we want to receive this message of this final episode in humility right now lord and we just want to recognize that sometimes we’ve said the right things sometimes we’ve professed the right things but actually our deeds have not been in line with what we’ve professed and father we want to come before you right now we want to say we’re sorry and lord we want to turn from that kind of life that is displeasing to you father we want to say our sorry that our deeds have been unfinished in your sight and lord we ask that you would come and restore us right now we thank you for your forgiveness we thank you jesus that your deeds were not unfinished that you died on the cross for us so that we might be forgiven of every sin we’ve ever committed and we receive that forgiveness and that cleansing right now in jesus name we thank you for it would you fill us with your spirit now would you help us to utter worthy not worthless words lord that we might be your spokesman lord and that people would turn to us but that we would not turn to them and we pray that many people would be affected for your kingdom purposes on this earth through the way that we live through the things that we believe and by the way that we speak in jesus name amen i want to thank you so much for joining me for this series i hope you’ve been really blessed and i look forward to seeing you in the next one god bless you.