So the year was
1997 and I vividly remember standing on the
linoleum floor in the kitchen and I looked at
the refrigerator. It's one of those that has two
sides and a little compartment for water and ice. I remember the water. You couldn't get water out of-- I think for years it hadn't
been a filter replaced in that-- anybody ever have one
of those refrigerators? And so, it's like, you can get
water there but no you can't. And so you had a Brita
filter in the refrigerator. That's where you got
the cold water from. I distinctly remember that
I had been eating a peanut butter covered Eggo
waffle with syrup and I had made it
into a sandwich. I think I'd finished
my homework or at least had looked at it in the backpack
and decided against doing it. And I had something on TV. And it was a rerun
of sorts and it was one of those
commercial breaks that I had to sprint
to get something to eat because there
wasn't DVR and it wasn't on Netflix to where
you could just pause it. There was a day, believe
it or not young people, where we would do this thing
called the sprint for a snack. And you would run as fast
as you could in socked feet. You would slide
across the linoleum. You could end if you timed
it just right at the fridge where you'd open the door to
see if there's anything to eat. And you would prepare
yourself your delicious snack. And you would have to run
back as fast as you could with your food, jump over
the back of the sofa, land in perfect position. And I did all this,
believe it or not, barely missing any of the
show that had begun again, with my peanut butter covered
Eggo sandwich waffle covered in syrup also. And I ate it. I ate it all. I ate every last bit. And then it kicked
in-- the need for milk. Oh. The deep burning need for milk. Now, I don't know where you
sit on the subject of milk. These days, it seems
like milk has fallen out of public popularity. I open up the door to our
refrigerator the other day-- this is not made up in any way. And there was milk that
comes from macadamias. There was milk that
comes from almonds. There was milk that
comes from bananas. There was milk that came
from chocolate almonds. I have never heard of
a chocolate almonds but there was
chocolate almond milk. I counted six different
kinds of milk in-- because there was coconut milk. There was also coconut
water, which is somehow different than coconut milk. And all of these milks
were looking at me but there was not a drop
of actual milk to be found. But back when I was
standing at the fridge and seeing the Brita
filters to the right and seeing the orange
juice to the left. Tropicana probably,
which I don't think there is orange juice
in Tropicana orange juice. But that's not to be confused
with Sunkist orange juice, which is even worse because
from that all you get is very, very,
very thick saliva. But basically I recall that
as I ran to the kitchen, forgetting now about the
episode because I was like, at the crisis moment between
needing milk and choking to death. You can get peanut butter lodged
in your throat in just such a fashion to where your life
flashes before your eyes, just for a moment, and your eyes
bulge out just a little bit. And I thought I'm going to
die watching Saved by the Bell reruns and eating
peanut butter on waffles inappropriately at
4:23 PM on a Tuesday. And I don't like milk, actually. I don't ever drink milk. I'll put milk in protein
shakes or have it in cereal. But I have to need milk
to actually drink milk. So it has to be one
of those moments where it's like, break glass
drink milk is a necessary evil. I don't know where you sit
on the subject of dipping things into milk but I'm
judging you in my heart if you dip anything. You're like, cookies? No, don't dip anything
into any liquid you're going to be drinking--
biscotti into coffee? No, gross. I don't like anything
floating around. I don't want to meet friends
at the bottom of my drink. So I have texture issues. My issues have issues, OK? Right. And if you've read books,
that much is clear. So basically I found myself
now at the refrigerator in my socked feet. And I was gulping down milk. Yes, it was straight
from the carton. Don't judge my journey. I'm a work in progress. But I found myself
gulping it down. And the cold relief of
an ice cold drink of milk when you really
need it-- there's almost nothing more
precious than that. Maybe when you finally get to
that rest stop on a road trip. There's another moment that
is equal to the milk dilemma and I won't go into it in
case your church doesn't have potty humor. But if your church
does have potty humor, you know what I'm talking about. Wow. So I was probably
four or five gulps in. I was nearing the
end of the gulps that I was going to
be taking on that day when something sent
a signal to my brain that things weren't well. And I couldn't put my
finger on precisely whether it was the
sourness or the texture. [AUDIENCE GROANING] But I had already chugged a
substantial portion of the milk when something said
to me, self, things aren't well with this milk. And what you are doing-- it's not good. And at that point I began to
think about what was happening and I realized this
milk ha turned. This milk is not your friend. This milk is bad. And so I immediately
stopped and I looked at it and indeed this
was not days old. This was more than a week old. I'm drinking this milk and it
was precisely at that moment that I just realized my
mouth was full of curdled turned cottage cheese milk. I'm telling you what followed
next was me dislodging gum in my small intestine
that had been there since the second
grade I puked so hard. I found myself at the sink. The Eggo's were gone. The milk was gone. I'm telling you I nearly got
a plunger and Ace Ventura'd the situation because
I was so horrified. Dan Marino, laces out. I mean I was just deeply,
deeply disturbed and scarred by the story that day of
what had come into my mouth. In the gospel of
Matthew, Jesus tells us there's actually something
more dangerous than eating or drinking something
that's bad and it's speaking something that's bad. Notice what Jesus
says in Matthew 15:10. He says, "it's not what
goes into your mouth that defiles you. You are defiled by the words
that come out of your mouth." And that's why if we are going
to win the war with ourselves, we have to learn to
speak like a wolf. We have to learn to
speak like a wolf because we're tempted to make
the problem an external one. And that's why we've said in the
series there might be a devil. We believe there is. There might be problems with
the enemies in the world that come against you but the truth
is we are our own worst enemy. And in one of the most
sinister fronts this shows up is the words that we speak. I believe that the
words that you speak can sabotage the life
that Jesus died for you to have like few other things. The enemy's not without. Let me tell you something--
we have met the enemy and it is us, OK? In many different ways. Now, what is it going to
take to speak like a wolf? I did a little research. Wolves, of course, we
think of them howling. And when you think of a
wolf, you think of them-- [HOWLS] Could you give me a howl? Every location, church online. [HOWLS] That's pretty good. That's pretty good. I'm trying my hardest to
teach my son, Lennox, to howl. So every chance I
get I'm howling. And sometimes-- [HOWLS] --he'll howl a little bit. And I did a little
studying in preparation for the writing of the
book and we did even more getting ready for this series. And we uncovered some
pretty cool stuff about wolves howling. Like, did you know
that when wolves howl, they intentionally achieve
something called dissonance. Now dissonance is
basically-- well, it means that they're
pitchy on purpose, right? Right, you're pitchy on purpose. You're like I'm sitting next
to someone in church today. They're pitchy. They must be a wolf. They were pitchy on purpose. That was a joke. But basically when wolves howl,
they don't try and harmonize. They actually avoid harmonizing. Why? Because it makes them
appear more numerous than they really are. If they all
harmonize, you'd only hear that one united sound. But when you hear them in
this thing called dissonance, you can't tell. Is there five or is there 50? It makes them sound more
numerous than they are. But that's not the only thing
about wolves and communication. Because they don't just only
communicate with their howling. They also communicate
with scent. They also communicate
with body language. I found that
basically wolves have so many more ways to communicate
than many other animals do. Why? Because they have a very
varied facial gestures that they're capable of. In fact, there's a belief
that their facial expressions are used to communicate with one
another within the pack family. And they're constantly
interacting with each other not just through howling not
just your facial expressions but also through touching with
each other and their tails. And they affirm
their family bonds. And they're basically able to
stay united because of the way that they speak. But when it does
come to howling, that howl can be heard
from a long ways away. Up to 10 miles, that's how
far the wolves howl can carry. Now, when we speak about
our actual communication, none of us are probably
capable of communicating for up to 10 miles away. But we do, they say,
speak about 5,000 words per day, which is a lot. And so the wolf is
powerful as he howls. You are powerful as you speak,
on an average day, 5,000 words. And like a wolf, you
communicate non-verbally too. In fact, experts estimate that
only 7% of our communication is the words themselves. Only 7%. That leaves 93% of what we
say each day being our body and the tone with
which we communicate. Which puts us at a
detriment these days in the day of comments, in
the days of text messages because you don't know,
at face value, what is said in that communication. And so we have to realize
there's incredible power. And if you add all
that up-- so now you're talking about all that you
communicate through your body language, all that
you communicate through your facial expressions,
all that you communicate through the tone, and the
way that you present yourself to the world. And then you take
the words themselves. We have a lot. We have a lot that's
there on the table. And words are weighty. Can you say that aloud with me? Words are weighty. They indeed are. In fact, they're so
weighty and they should become more weighty to you. Like just the sense of like,
OK, this is valuable, right? If you go to a
Christmas party where they do the white elephant, part
of what your strategy might be is pick the heavy one up. And of course, someone might've
stuck a brick in the bad gift just to throw you off. But generally speaking when you
think of something being heavy, it's powerful, it's expensive,
it's worth something. I want you to think about
your words as being weighty. That's what it means
to speak like a wolf. And this should
sober you right up to know that of all
those 5,000 words that you will speak on any given
day, all the communications that come through your
thumbs, on your phone, or your fingers
through an email, the Bible says that we will give
an account for every idle word that's spoken. Wow. That at one point in your
life, as you stand before God, it will not be to
determine your place in your getting to Heaven. It will be to speak about
your place in Heaven. Because this is with
a mind to rewards. And I don't think that,
in church services, we talk enough about rewards. We talk so much about getting
to Heaven, which is only accomplished through Jesus. There's only one way
to Heaven and that's trusting in God's son. Because Jesus said, I am the
way, the truth, and the life and no one comes to the
Father except through me. So you can't earn
your way to heaven. But the Bible does say as
His sons and daughters, the way we live our lives
it does have a one to one impact on our reward in Heaven. So a part of that
is going to be us giving an account for
the words that we spoke. God wants you to understand
your words are weighty. Your words, they matter. And how you'll be
rewarded in Heaven-- it could even be what
job you have in Heaven. It could be what clothes
you wear in Heaven. I know you're like, really? Yeah, literally it says
that these in Heaven are wearing the righteous
acts of the saints. So if someone said what
we're weaving on Earth, we'll be wearing in Heaven. So there's a connection. And part of that is whatever
the potential reward would have been being
tabulated against the words that we spoke. Think about all the words, the
idle words, juh, juh, juh juh, juh, falling into place. as you stand before
God to answer. Why'd you say that? Hey, on this day. Hey, yeah. Imagine on the screen pulling
up that text to your sister. But why'd you say that? Why'd you say that? Why'd you say it? Not with a harsh eye but
with the mentality of, I gave you this powerful gift. How did you use it and
what did you do with it? He loads your Instagram account. He starts scrolling through. He's like, you want to
talk about that one? You're like, nope. I don't want to
talk about that one. Even the stories? No, no, no, those good. Those disappear after 20-- Yik Yak? Oh yeah, he'll pull
your Yik Yak up. And you're deleting
Snapchat off. They're all going to
come up, every idle word. In fact, Eugene Peterson,
who now is in Heaven but worked so hard and
was such a precious gift as he gave to the body of
Christ the message translation. That statement will stand before
every idle word before God. Look how he put
it in his version. He said, "every one of
these careless words is going to come
back to haunt you. There will be a
time of reckoning." Wow. That's intense. Yes. That should hit you
like it hits you. You're like, that's gnarly. It should be gnarly because
God gave you something powerful and he wants you to use it
for good and not for evil. My whole sermon in a sentence-- if Jesus is the
Lord of your life, then he should be the
Lord of your lips too. And it shouldn't just be well,
Jesus is the king of my heart. No, he should be the
King of your lips too. Everything that comes
out of your mouth should bring praise
and bring glory to God and not bring destruction. Three different ways that
we should realize our words are weighty. Number one-- jot it down, your
words impact other people. Know this about your words-- how you choose to use
them, your allotment, $5,000 per day, those
impact other people. You're like, because we
might say to ourselves. Oh it's cool, I
was messing around. I was just messing around. I didn't mean that. No offense, bro. You totally ripped into someone. Just totally
eviscerated someone. Just totally mocked someone. Oh, that outfit? Hey, the 80's called. They wanted your
blah, blah, blah back. Which we'd have to update
because these new decades just keep swinging back around. So like, that's
a compliment now. Ha, ha, ha, joke's on you. And I think that we're such
a sarcastic, mocking culture and we can be so quick
just to kind of make ourselves feel comfortable
by tearing someone else down. And when we feel
we're not at ease, I need to assert my
place into this moment or into this conversation. And the easiest, cheapest
way to do that is just say something at
someone else's expense. Ha, ha. What we're saying is,
aren't I important? Don't I matter? And let me just
tell you something, there's a better
way to get there. Bless someone. Encourage someone. Build someone up. That's the kind of person
that's always in demand. Notice someone else. That tendency-- and let
me tell you something, I have 10 fingers pointing
at me and 0 at you today because this has always
been my Achilles' heel. And I write a lot
about in the book about how I, throughout
my whole life, have caused problems with my
tongue and then the check comes and I don't want to pay
for what my tongue ordered. And so let me just
tell you something, and one of the reasons
I had to write this book and go through
this journey to be able to speak to
you in this way is because this has been
something that's held me back. And I have seen God
grow me in this area. I've got a long way to
go but I've seen growth. And I want that for you as well. So let sink in. Your words, they're not a joke. They impact other people. You don't get to just scrub them
away like, I didn't mean that. But you said it and it impacted
the people who heard you. And the text messages that went
out and the e-mails that went out and you copied everyone
in as you berated that person or whatever it was-- hung them out to dry,
threw them under the bus. Let me just tell you
something, your words, they impact other people. I picked out-- I could have picked
20 but I picked 3 just to show you the impact
your words can have and are meant to have. Look at the first one. It says-- this is
from Ephesians 4:29, it says, "watch the way you
talk let nothing foul or dirty come out of your mouth. Say only what helps. Each word is a gift." So ask yourself the
question before you're about to speak to somebody. Is this word a gift? Is this a gift? Are they going to
feel like, man-- because you know how
it feels when you receive a well-wrapped gift. In that moment, you like,
almost don't even want to like-- so you want me to open it now? You know you do but you say
it like, do you want me to? Like, when you receive
a well-wrapped-- your name's on it. When you open your
mouth up to speak, let other people feel like that. Let your family feel like
you just handed them a gift and they just
received a present. And not in the Billy
Madison way where it's flaming and on their doorstep. That's the gift some of
us are leaving for people. Proverbs 18:21, "words kill. Words give life. They're either poison or fruit." Then He says, "you choose." And you do every time you talk. You're choosing to
spit venom or you're choosing to speak a gift,
something that can give life. Colossians 4:6, "let every
word you speak--" I love this, "--be drenched with grace." Let it be drenched with grace. Grace is unmerited
favor, by the way. Grace is not ever deserved. So if your rationale is I'm
mean but you don't even know. They're way bigger of a jerk. Grace is something
someone doesn't deserve. So let the way you speak
drench them with something that they don't deserve. Something that they're
unwilling to give. Something that they
probably desperately need. And that's why they're
acting the way that they act. Let your words be
drenched with grace. And then look at this, "tempered
with truth and clarity" because there is a time
for speaking hard things. There's a time for
different conversations. There is time to tell
someone, hey, you were rude and that was mean and
that hurt my feelings. There was a time to
say I love you so much. And just between us,
as friends, here's something I think
is holding you back. Take it for what you will. I'm not saying there's
not a time for that. We're not just going to
walk around saccharin elves, you know? But God has called
us to use our words in a way that build people
up and don't tear them down. Back to wolves a little bit. One of the books I
read in preparation to writing this book was a book
called "The Wisdom of Wolves." And it was by these
two researchers who spent six years
living with a wolf pack. That's commitment. That is dedication. Literally, they lived amongst
a wolf pack for six years so that they can
write and learn. It was the most extensive
study ever done. From the inside out they learned
about all the wolves behavior. And one of the things they
said about the howl, I love. They said, the wolf
often uses the howl as a way to get the members of
the pack worked up and excited before they would
go out on a hunt. And I just got to
thinking about how cool it is that they're almost
like rallying each other like, here we go. We got it. We're going to kill the deer. It's like, [HOWLS] Yeah. And like, the wolf's
like, no, I don't feel it. [HOWLS] In this fashion. Yeah I don't know. I'm pretty-- [HOWLS] And I just wonder like,
do the people in your life feel like the way you open
your mouth up and howl at them causes them to feel excitement
about what God's called them to? They believe the
best is yet to come and that God is for them
and not against them? And that He has a good plan. Are they getting texts from
you that is basically like, what's this text? [HOWLS] And they're like-- [GROANS] Love it. I just wonder if
God has not just given us this tongue so
that we might encourage each other towards good works. Because it is a hard
world and people are going through
difficult stuff. And God, listen to me, God
loves the people in your life so much he put you
in their lives. And he gave you
the tongue he did so that they could be better
off because of the way that you speak and because of
the way that you're a representative of Him. And I got to thinking
about how, in my life, there's been words that
have stuck with me, words that weren't so kind, and
words that even maybe weren't intended to be super mean
but they just stuck with me. I haven't been photographed
for about four years without lotion on my knees. Not once. Not one time. Because I was at Disneyland
with my daughter, Clover, and we saw Mickey
Mouse just sitting there and we felt bad for him. So we thought we'd
take a picture with him and cheer him up. And so we got in line
and when we got to him, he hugged my daughter, Clover,
and I stood there next to him and-- well, I think we have a
picture right here actually. Basically-- yeah, come on. 1, 2, 3. Aw. Aw. That's what you should
be saying but there was quite a few people, when
I posted it on my Instagram account, who noticed
the ashiness of my knees and just pointed that out to me
over and over and over again. And I would like to say that
I hadn't noticed it but I had. I noticed it when the
picture was taken. It was one of the
first things I saw. I said, those knees could
use a little hydration. And yeah, I thought it's
a picture about atonement. It's about my daughter
and it's about Mickey. It's not about my knees. This isn't about me. And I was like, I was
a little sensitive about putting it out there. And literally, within
minutes, I had confirmation that I looked like a crocodile. And it's such a
small, little thing. Ashy knees. Ash much? Knees much? You're like, lotion much? You're like man, that boys
knees need some lotion. And every single one. It took all my strength to
not pull the photo down. I left it though. I'm proud to say I just left it
up there because I don't care. And I do, I care a lot. Way more than I let on. And yet, literally for several
years since that moment, there has not been
a time when I've been in shorts where my photo's
being taken where I'm not like, my knees, my knees,
my knees, my knees. And it's just a
funny little thing, the way those words have stuck
with me in such a small way. And another thing about life
giving words that I've heard. And the first thing
that came to my mind was a few years back
when we were getting ready to release my
book, "Swipe Right" and we were talking with a
friend of ours who's an author. And I had said just an
offhanded thing like, ah, well I'm not a great
writer like you are, because she's an amazing writer. And I said that. And she literally stopped. She put her finger on
my face and she said, take that back, captain. And I was like, what? She goes, that thought,
that's not life. You are a great writer. And then she went
on to say, I've never seen a male author
understand a female mind like you. And I said, let me
just clear this up. I don't understand women at all. But she said,
well, look, no, no. Understand what
I'm saying to you. I'm saying most men who
write can't put themselves in the head of a female
so they write primarily from a male perspective. But as you write, I've noticed
on several occasion, instance after instance where your
application speaks specifically to things that is how a
woman would look at it. But then you're effortlessly
able to jump over and then speak to men as well. And that's very rare and
that's the spirit of God. So don't you say you're
not a great writer. God made you to be a writer. Yes. And I was like-- [AUDIENCE APPLAUSE] And I'm telling
you, if that didn't put some go go juice in the
tank the next time I sat down to write. I'll get my inner girl on. I'll get my inner guy on. I'll do whatever God called
me to do in the moment, right? So those words gave me life. Those words gave
me strength and so I put some lotion on my knees
and I wrote my next book and here we are today. Come on, in Jesus' name. Is this encouraging anybody? All right, so your words
impact other people. Jot this down. Number two, your words
impact the future. Your words can literally
alter the course of history as the future is changed
because of how you speak. So no big deal but huge
really huge really big deal also at the same time. In fact, didn't Jesus say, if
you're willing to speak faith, if you're willing to literally
say it to a mountain to move? That mountain's
going to be jacked. He didn't say because
you're going to think about the mountain moving. He said you'll speak
to the mountain. You'll speak to a
difficult story. I believe the way you talk
in a difficult situation has the ability to cause
the impossible to be done. I've seen it happen
so many times. And I believe a
part of this is just what happens inside
of us when we speak with faith in the midst
of difficult days, right? And that's what Jesus wants us
to hear that promise and think about. He's saying that
impossible things can be done when you speak
faith in the midst of the storm. Now sometimes the
impossible thing being done is you continuing to believe in
Him in the midst of your storm even when the impossible
thing that you believe for doesn't happen. Because He's not saying you're
going to get every single thing you want because our
heart is to pray. Thy will be done not
mine will be done. So we're not in some
warped reality distortion field where we say, my Honda
Accord is now a Ferrari. And there, proof,
well, what do you know? The mountain got moved, right? That's not what we're
talking about here. We're not believing that our
faith is some sort of bottle that we rub and a genie pops out
to grant us our three wishes, right? Jesus Christ, He
didn't come so we have the blank check for any dream. For many of us, as we follow
Him, we go through hard days. And when those hard days
come, the way we speak in the midst of
our crisis, the way we speak in the midst
of our difficulty, it can cause something
that feels impossible. The whole world would say
that's impossible to be done in Jesus' name. Where you have more
to give and more to serve in the midst of
a chemotherapy treatment. That's an impossible
thing being done because of how you speak about it. I'm not here as a victim. God sent me into this hospital
to get my chemotherapy today. I dare someone to discourage--
to park next to me and get their IV bag plugged in. Their catheter
dripping, their chemo because I'm going
to encourage them. I'mma bless them. I'mma pray for them. I'mma bless these nurses. I'mma bless this doctor. I this didn't happen to me. God sent me in
here to save life. It's how you speak
to your difficulty. You can't be a victim and
a victor at the same time. And how you speak can
change the future. Literally alter the
course of history. How you speak in
difficult times. In the book, I talk a lot
about the word "good." Good. Good. You can face hardship
and say, "good." Good. Not that it is good always. Something horrible
happening isn't good but when you say
"good," you believe and God's going to do good in this. Good. Some hardship? I'm good. Hardship, come speak
it right there. Good. That's going to be the end,
meaning the devil's not getting the last word in this. Meaning that, at
the end of the day, God's going to work all
this crap together for good. That's two weeks in
a row, I'm sorry. I said "crap" last week too. OK, so-- but next
week, you just watch, it's not coming out of my mouth. No unwholesome talk is
coming out of this mouth but only which is good for
necessary edification that made progress through
the ears, right? My words are going to be a gift
and not a brown bag on fire. All right, so-- (IMITATING BILLY MADISON)
Shampoo is better. OK, so conditioner is better. Stop looking at me, swan. All right, so-- Wow. --back to the Bible. Your words impact the future. Third and finally,
your words impact you. Other people, the future. Even the words as they're
coming out of your mouth are changing you. And that's the danger of
speaking death and not life. It's not just your children. It's not just your co-workers
who are going to suffer. It's not just the
people on the receiving end of your salty comments
and your critical tweets and your harsh words. It's also that as they
come out of your mouth, they're changing
you in the process, impacting you in the process. Why is that? Well, practically
speaking, the person you speak to more often
than anyone is you. Because, they say,
the majority of talk is self-talk,
external self-talk. If you actually add up the
words you speak every day, a lot of it is just muttering
and grumbling and talking. And you kind of get
up and say, oh man-- [GRUMBLES] --LEGOs. Ah, LEGOs! We just kind of mutter it. We just kind of talk
and we just kind of talk and we kind of talk. And we go through things and
kind of say things to ourselves and we speak to ourself. And I just got so sick
of the voice in my head that speaks to me. I got so sick. At a certain point-- this
is probably six years ago when I really started to
pay attention to the words that I was speaking to myself. And this connects
us now to last week because so many of the
words that I was speaking was coming from negative
thoughts that I was thinking. And I had a turning point. I remember where I was. I remember I was in my car. I remember I was about a
hundred yards from a stop sign. And as I sat there in my car, I
literally just kind of stopped and I said to myself-- I was a hundred
from a stop sign. I shouldn't have
stopped but I did. There was no one behind
me and I just stopped. And I literally had this
kind of breaking moment where I just realized-- I said it out loud. I said, whose side are
you on, voice in my head? Whose side are you even on? Because I started listening
to this and it was like, you're the worst. And why are you so bad? And this is terrible. This isn't going well. And I just said, whose
side are you even on? Wow. And I decided, on the
spot, to fire myself as my personal critic. And I rehired myself two
seconds later as my own coach. Come on. And there's a big difference
between a critic and a coach. A critic just sits there on the
sidelines and says, bad job. They have nothing invested. They don't care if
you win or lose. A critic just says, bad. They just pass judgment
on what just happened. But a coach is in your corner. A coach is going home with you. A coach cares very
much about the outcome. A coach has skin in the
game and blood and sweat, and tears on the line. A coach is saying, come
on, you can do better. Yeah, that was a mistake. Yeah, you got knocked
down a little bit. But come on, you can do this. Remember your training. Stick to the plan. You got this. Eye of the tiger. I mean, the coach
is different thing. And my life has been a
lot different having me in my own corner as a coach. Choosing to remember
I speak life to me. And I catch my wife
talking bad about herself and I'll say this
to her-- she could finish this sentence for me. I'll say, don't you talk
about my wife that way. Don't you talk about
my wife that way. And when I hear
talking about herself, I have to encourage her. And she'll do the same to me. Actually more what she does
is she smooths out the frown marks between my eyes. But I'll tell her, don't you
talk about my wife that way. Because we need to learn to
speak life to ourselves and not just to other people. Because Jesus died for you too. He died for everybody who
would speak death about. But he died for you too. He loves you. You're His prize. He cares about you. You're the apple of His eye. He's got plans for you. He's got your name
written on his palm so don't you speak
bad about someone who's written on Jesus' hand. And now to you, all right? And His eye is on you. In all of your talking, perhaps
the most important words that you could say
today are, "thank you." Thank you. Thank you. Say it to God. Say it with me, thank you. Thank you. It puts a smile on your face. It picks you up a little bit. It's a humble thing
to say because you're thanking somebody. And I think sometimes
we don't receive help from others because we
don't have to say thank you. Because we realize
it kind of puts us in their debt a little bit. Thank you. It's so important to God. All through the
Bible we find it. Enter His presence with
Thanksgiving in your heart. This is the will of
God, that you would be thankful in everything. Clap your hands all you people. Sing to Him. Be thankful to your
God who made you. I think there should be an
attitude of gratitude that marks our lives. And here's the coolest thing-- it will change the course
of our lives as well. Because one of
the reasons people take antidepressants
is so that they'll release into their system
dopamine and serotonin. But they've actually
done studies and they've found that
those two things actually spike in your system when you
say the words, "thank you." So perhaps, for some of us--
and I'm not saying there aren't those of you who
need prescriptions as well. But what I am saying
is that all of us could do with a bit
more of what God knows is going to be released in
our lives when we, His people, are a thankful people who
don't walk in entitlement but walk with an
attitude of gratitude. In Jesus' name. And, Father, we
pray that you would help us to realize yes,
we should watch out for spoiled milk. But far more important
are the spoiled words that come from our lips. And if we'll allow you
to change our heart, then that will change what
comes out of our mouth. Because out of the abundance
of the heart, the mouth speaks. Even as we're praying
now, if there's any among us who would say,
I respond to this message. Hearing this, I want to use
my words for good and not for evil. Either you're saying, I'm
convicted about how I've spoken or you're saying I just want to
renew my commitment to speaking encouraging life filled words. In fact, I'm describing
every Fresh Life location, every church
participating, church online, podcast. Could I just ask you
to raise your hand up? Just your way of
saying, this was for me and I want to use my lips
for good not for evil. I want to be kind to
my little brother. I want to be nicer to my wife. I want to build people up
and not tear them down. I want life to be
created and to be spoken anytime my voice is heard. Thank you, Jesus, for what
you're doing in our hearts. Fill us with your strength
as we seek to live this out. You can put your hands down. I want to now just
take a moment to give an invitation for anybody
who's here this week and you've never given
your heart to Jesus. Let me just tell you something--
the most important words that could ever come
out of your mouth would be ones where you
call Jesus your Lord. There was a man who had
spent his life as a criminal, as a sinner. And in his dying
moment he looked over and Jesus just
happened to be there as they were both crucified on
crosses by the Roman Empire. And the last words that we
know of this man ever speaking was to say to Jesus,
Lord, remember me when you enter your kingdom. He called Jesus a king. Called him Lord and basically
said, I don't deserve anything but I trust you. And Jesus said,
today, you're going to be with me in paradise. Let me just tell you
something-- those simple words coming out of your mouth
to call Jesus your Lord, the Bible promises it's
enough to receive salvation. There's not enough
good works could ever do to fix yourself
because you're a sinner, just like I am. But that's why Jesus died
on the cross for you. And if you, with
your mouth, speak words asking for forgiveness,
telling him he's Lord, he'll save you. He'll make you new. And then you'll have a
brand new lease on life. A brand new life itself
to encourage people that he puts in your path. So I want to ask,
if that's the case, would you like to give your life
to Jesus right now right here? Would you like to pray
with me inviting him in to be your Savior? If you do, I want you to say
this prayer out loud after me. Mean it in your heart but
let it come out of your lips. Let Heaven hear you. Say this, dear God-- come on, church
family pray with us. Dear God-- Dear God-- --I know I'm a sinner. --I know I'm a sinner. --I can't fix myself. --I can't fix myself. Please come in to my heart. Please come in to my heart. Make me new. Make me new. I give my life to you-- I give my life to you-- --in Jesus' name. --in Jesus' name. Well, I hope that message
challenged you and blessed you as you listened to it as
much as it did for me as I prepared it and preached it. If you live anywhere near
Portland, Oregon; Salt Lake City, Utah; Jackson Hole,
Wyoming; or really anywhere in Montana, we would love
to have you come, in person, to a Fresh Life Church where you
could engage with God's people together. There's so much that's
happening with our Fresh Life kids and the students and the
small groups of our church and we would love to have you
come take part in it in person. Also want to throw out
there, if you haven't yet, please subscribe to my YouTube
page at YouTube.com/LeviLusko so you don't miss any of the
new content we're putting out. Thanks a lot and God bless you. [MUSIC PLAYING]
