You Have the Power of Life and Death

Good morning everyone.

A special welcome to our guests, our members, and our

online viewers.

We want to wish all of you a very blessed sabbath.

Those of you who came to see Pastor Mike or

hear him, I'm sorry to disappoint you.

But he's on a very special mission.

He is visiting his newest grandchild and that's a very

important task to accomplish, so I'm glad that he's getting

an opportunity. I just wish that Grandma Diana was also

able to join him for this happy occasion, but they'll

be together some other times. So we wish him well

and we wish the grand baby also a very nice future.

How are you all doing? Everybody having a good saba.

Let us have a word of prayer before we begin. Father,

no matter what happens in this world, you have not

left us without directions of where to go, where to

find help, and where to be fed your word. Thank

you for your word, Lord, And if we don't know,

and if we allow the incidents of the world to

overwhelm us, shame on us, because you have told us

that this is what the end times are going to

be like, and you have told us in your word

what we should do to prepare for it. So maybe

be good hearers of your word and good doers of

the deeds that we need to do, so that we

will be faithful to you.

Lord, bless us as.

We talk about words, and may the words from my

mouth be something that you put so that it'll edify

the church in your blessed name.

Amen. Now have you ever wondered.

How many words the average person speaks in one lifetime?

Other than maybe saying it's a lot of words, I

don't think anybody has done anything. But after a little

research I found out that in nineteen eighty four, British writer, actor, broadcaster,

self professed word person and scrabble fanatic Giles brand Wreath

came up with the answer.

And here it is. It's eight.

Eight hundred and sixty million, three hundred and forty one thousand,

five hundred words.

Let me put that into a perspective.

That is the equivalent of speaking the entire Bible, both

all the New Testaments, one thousand, one hundred and ten times.

So that's a lot of words.

And I don't know that I speak that many words,

but that's what he has.

I haven't read his book.

So I don't know on what basis he came up

with his figure, but that's the figure that we have.

Eight hundred and sixty million words.

That's a lot.

Now from our scripture reading, we find that words are

incredibly powerful. There is life and death in words. And

you and I are here today because of words. In

the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and

we are here because of those words. Unfortunately, we are

still here in this world of sin and misery because

of the words that were spoken.

Between the devil and Eve.

And so we realize that words are incredibly important. They

have huge consequences, and yet we use them as if

they were harmless. Now, social scientists revealed some things startling

about our spoken communication, and this is what they share

with us. They say, the average person will come in

cont act with approximately sixty seven people.

In a day.

You know, this may not be one on one contact.

You may be in a group sometimes, but that's how

many people you come across each day. The average person

will speak about twenty thousand words a day. Twenty thousand

words a day, and this is based on mister Brandreth's

estimate of eight hundred and sixty million for a lifetime,

and then we have you know, the question that comes up,

how many I mean, of the sex, the genders that

we have that God created, which of the genders speak

more than the other? How many think it's men that

speak more? One person, two, that's it. How many think

it's women that speak more. I'm literally blown away. I

thought it may be more, but not in this proportion.

But my own research the Internet, by the way, was

not helpful at all. They had stories to support men

speaking more, they had facts to support that women speak more,

so it was complete. But in my estimate and my

little research, it is women that speak more, not by much,

but they do speak more. And when you think of

the role God assigned to them and the role men

were assigned, it's not uncommon to expect them to speak

a few more words. So thank you ladies.

Now.

It was also noted by these scientists that approximately seventy

three muscles are used to say one word. And you know,

enough energy is expended in one day by our speaking

approximately twenty thousand words. We said a day to raise

a locomotive railroad locomotive twenty two inches off the ground.

Did you realize that all the words create enough energy

to raise this locomotive twenty two inches off the ground. Now,

this is an average, and obviously some days we speak

more and other days we may not speak as much.

And some people obviously.

Spend a lot of time speaking and they probably not

only lift the locomotive twenty two inches, they may even

send it into orbit. Have you ever felt tired after

really not doing too much?

Now you know?

Okay, So that is what words and the energy that

we expend are capable of doing. Now, let's break down

these twenty thousand words spoken daily, and it reveals when

we do the breakdown, it reveals some very sorry facts.

We have three thousand one and twenty four words that

are slanged, nineteen seventy eight words are used improperly, seventeen

thirty one words are not even heard, nineteen sixty words

are unnecessary, sixteen forty two words are unkind, and three

seven hundred and sixteen words are misinterpreted or misunderstood. In

other words, of the twenty thousand words we may speak

each day, most of them are useless. And it add

to this the fact that scientists tell us that after

six minutes, most people forget eighty percent.

Of what they heard.

So if our words that we speak are not very

meaningful and people don't remember them anyway, does it really

help us to speak a lot? Maybe fewer words is better.

And this is exactly what the wise counsel of Jesus is,

as found in Matthew five thirty seven. And this is

what he says. He says, just say a simple yes

I will or no I won't. Anything beyond this is

from the evil one. In other words, think more than

you speak is good advice for all of us.

One of our.

Presidents set a great example when it comes to using

few words. His name was is Calvin Coolidge. He soon

earned the nickname of Silent cal because he said so little.

One day, a female reporter met him at a function

and said to him, mister President, I want you to

know that I have taken a bet that I can

get you to say more than three words this evening.

He looked at her, and without meeting a beat, said,

you lose. His other great advice, which I think is

worth following, I have never been hurt by anything I

didn't say.

I wish all of us would remember that.

All our conversation is an index of our character, because

the Bible, as we heard from our scripture reading, says

that out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh.

So a good man, out of the good treasure of

his heart brings forth good, and an evil man out

of the evil treasure of his heart, brings forth evil.

For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. Now,

Ellen White put the same thought in slightly different words,

and it is a profound statement found in the classic

book on the Life of Jesus, The Desire of Ages,

in page three hundred and twenty three, And this is

what she says. It's a long quotation, and apologize for

including it, but it's packed full of meaning. And if

you follow along as I read it, I think we'll

get the gist of what the statement has and it's

vital to our understanding of how.

We use words.

Closely connected with Christ's warning in regard to the sin

against the Holy Spirit is a warning against idle words

and evil words. So right there, you know there's a

connection between these two. Obviously, the sin against the Holy

Spirit is the most grievous sin, because that's the only

sin that's not going to be forgiven. All kinds of

other sins can be forgiven.

But not that.

So if this is related to that, then it must

have profound implications.

And let's read on.

The words are an indication of what is in the heart.

Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh.

But the words more than an indication of character. Let

me repeat that the words are more than an indication

of character. They have power to react on character. Men

are influenced by their own words. Men and women obviously

often under a moment momentary impulse prompted by Satan, they

give utterance to jealousy and evil surmising, expressing that which

they do not really believe. But the expression reacts on

the thoughts. They are deceived by their words and come

to believe that true which was spoken at Satan's instigation.

Having once expressed an opinion or decision, they are often

too proud to retract it and try to prove themselves

in the right until they come to believe that they

are are. It is dangerous to utter a word of doubt,

dangerous to question and criticize divine light. The habit of

careless and irreverent criticism reacts upon the character in fostering

irreverence and unbelief. Many a man indulging in this habit

has gone on unconscious of danger until he was ready

to criticize and reject the work.

Of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus said, every idle word that men shall speak shall

give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by

thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words

they can be condemned. Huge implications for the words, and

yet so many times they are so thoughtlessly spoken that

we don't even think about it or realize the impact that.

They can have.

In Proverbs six sixteen to nineteen, it says that there

are six things, no, seven things that the Lord hates,

and the seventh thing that the Lord hates is a

false witness who speaks lies, and one who sows discord

among brothren. Now we have had our share of that recently,

and you know the devastating impact that that can have.

While I may be speaking to the choir, I.

Do want to remind us that any time this can

come and take us, and if you are not careful,

we won't even know what we are doing, and our

actions will have unintended consequences. I'm going to read something

and tell me if you can guess what I'm talking about?

Do you know me?

I have no respect for justice, truth or fair play.

I name without killing, I break hearts and ruin lives.

I am cunning and.

Malicious and gathers strength with age. Once I tarnish a reputation,

it is never quite the same. The more I am courted,

the more I'm believed, I flourish at every level of society.

I am responsible for more human misery, be it between spouses, friends, family,

and even church members. My victims are helpless. They cannot

protect themselves against me because I have no name and

no face. To track me down is impossible. The harder

you try, the more elusive I become. I am nobody's friend.

Yet people spend countless hours in indulging in.

My destructive work. Who am I gossip? My name is gossip?

Okay, Death and life now here's a quotation by Ellen

White that talks about gossip, Death and life are in

the power of the tongue. In the scriptures backbiters. Who

is a backbiter? What does a backbiter? What does a

backbiter do? A back biter is one who says something

that's afraid to say it in front of a person,

and usually it's unverified truth. She says that back biters

are classified with haters of God, with inventors of evil things,

with those who without natural affection, implacable and merciful, full

of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity. It is the judgment

of God that they who commit such things are worthy

of death.

He whom God accounts.

A citizen of Zion, is he that speaketh the truth

in his heart, that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor

taketh up a reproach against his neighbor. And in another

statement in the General Conference bullet in April to nineteen

oh three, she says that backbiting is cannibalism.

Strong words, but.

That's the effect of ruining a reputation, ruining somebody's reputation

and leaving that person without the ability to defend themselves.

When the serpent tempted Eve, he started off with a

very subtle slander. She stated that backbiting is cannibalism and

used this as a metaphor for anyone who destroys.

Somebody else's character.

A good reason not to indulge in gossiping.

Ellen White says this a double curse.

Falls follows, falling more heavily on the gossiper than upon

he who malign he who maligns.

So this is not.

Going to hurt the person being maligned, but it'll certainly

hurt the person who's gossiping.

Now, related to gossip.

Is a hybrid of this evil that is growing rapidly

in our churches today. Graham Maxwell calls it theological gossip.

What is it?

Theological gossip occurs when one uses unverified truth, falsehood, and

indiandos to attack or spread falsehood against the minister, church leaders,

and church members on doctrine or church practice without making

reasonable attempts to verify the truth. Now, Satan certainly knows

if the shepherd is attacked and the shepherd is maligned,

then the flock is affected and he succeeds, So he

tries very hard to do that.

And we have had our share of that.

And the reason I mentioned this is this is going

to grow even stronger in the latter days, and we

should guard against this and be very careful that we

don't participate in it and become a person who shares

this gossip and tries to attack those that God has

appointed to help us with finding out how we use

the truth and how we should live in the last days.

So this is.

What theological gossip does. The spirit of love is also

the spirit of truth. Two things that help in this regard.

Verify the truth directly with the person. So if you

hear anything, try to verify the truth directly with the

person you heard, instead of accepting what you hear as truth. Remember,

truth can be unverified, and if it's unverified truth and

we believe it and pass it on, then we are

in danger of perpetuating that so verified directly with the

person whether or not it is truth, and find out

what they meant. Till this is done, no one has

the right to accuse, and we should remember this. And

this goes on without any verification, and it lends itself,

It gets a life of its own, and before you

not it has.

Traveled halfway around the world.

Ellen White says, if a brother differ with you on

some points of truth, do not stoop to ridicule. Do

not place him in false light or misconstrue his word,

making sport of them. Do not misinterpret his words and

wrest them of their meaning. Do not present before him

others as a heretic, when you have not with him

investigated his positions. This is taken straight from the Bible.

This is what the Bible requires of us, and the

Bible has laid out in several places what should be

done if we hear things which we don't understand or

which we don't believe, how we handle those, and what.

We need to do.

One of the antidotes to gossip. How many of you

heard the Four Way Test? Anybody here heard the Four

Way Test?

Okay? Any members been members of the Rotary Club? Okay?

The Four Way Test is a non partisan, non sectarian

ethical guide for Rotarians to use and others to use

for their personal and professional relationships. It was started by

a gentleman by the name of Herbert J. Taylor, a

devout Christian, and he used it in his company to

save his company for bankruptcy. And later on the four

Way Test was adopted by Rotary International and it is

used in their meetings. I was a member of one

of the Rotary clubs for several years, and at every

meeting we recited this four Way Test.

And this is what it says.

Of the things we think and say of the things

we think, say or do. These are the things the

four way test asks you to do. One is it

the truth?

Number two?

Is it fair to all concerned? Now, sometimes it may

be the truth, but it may not be fair to

all concerned.

And it should stop right there. Will it build goodwill

and better friendships? Yes? Or no?

And if it doesn't, then it stops there. Will it

be beneficial to all concerned? If these questions are sincerely

asked and sincerely answered.

It will put gossip in its place. Now, going back to.

The words from Proverbs, we found out that our words

have life and our words have death in them. And

I'm going to close with three stories. One that illustrates

that our words have death, another story to illustrate our

words have life, and then the last story to illustrate.

The solution to this problem. And then we'll be done.

The first story is from France. French Canadian author Pierre

Juan Poisson tells the story in his book The Days

of Our Life when, when Poisson was a young man

in the village of Borg, he knew and befriended a

hunchback named Yougolin. He said that Yougolin had the kindest

eyes of anyone he had ever met. You Goolin and

his oldest sister, Solange, lived with their mother, who was

an alcoholic. From an early age, Solange looked out for

her disabled brother and became like a mother to him

because their real mother was unable to function as a mother.

They meant the world to each other. One day, Solange

was falsely accused of being.

A thief and was sent to prison.

When she got out of prison, she could not find work,

and then her little brother fell ill and needed food

and medicine. Solange was desperate. She knew to save her

brother's life. She needed medicine, but she had no money,

and she did the only thing that she thought was

available to her. She sold her body to get money.

She got the money, she bought the medicine and saved

his life. But the people in the village began to talk.

One day, Ugolin found himself all alone and people from

the village surrounding him, and people being what they did,

they began to talk, and they began to talk ill

of his sister. When Yougolin heard people talking ill of

his sister, he tried to take up for him, and

people started coming to him and using physical force, and

he was thrown to the ground, and fortunately the village

priest was passing by, and he stopped what was going

on and took Yougolin to his home, and everybody went home.

The next morning, Yougolin walked into the river and drowned himself.

Solange was so distraught when she heard about her brother's

death that she killed herself with a gun. The village

priest said, these children are not suicides. They have been

murdered by a society without mercy. The village priest sent

for the citizens of the village to come to the

church for the funeral. Now, in those days, village priests

had incredible power. When you were told to meet for

a religious service, you better meet because you wouldn't be

able to live very peaceful in the village if you

did not obey the village priest. So he summoned everybody

to the funeral, and everybody came. When he spoke in

the funeral, he began, He went up to the pulpit,

and he began summoned with a voice that cut the

air like a whip. Christians, when the Lord of Life

and Death shall ask me on the judgment day, where

are your sheep? I shall not answer him. When the

Lord asks the second time, where are your sheep? I

shall not answer him. But when the Lord asks me

the third time, where are your sheep? I shall hang

my head in shame, and I will answer him.

They were not sheep, Lord, they were a pack of wolves.

Fortunately, words cut both ways death and life. The next

story is about a little girl who thought her life

was useless until a few words changed her life for

the better for ever. Now I need to set the

story in context, and this little girl the story in

the story was born with a cleft palate.

A cleft is a.

General term that's used for a split or opening, and generally,

if somebody says they have a cleft palate, that can

commonly mean they have a cleft palate which is in

a mouth, or it can also be the lip that

is not formed correctly.

So there'll be a break in the lip.

And it is a terrible sight to see somebody that

has a cleft left and palette. Nowadays, we don't see

a lot of people with this condition because a plastic

surgery has done wonders, and plastic surgeons are so skilled

that they can take care of it.

And you wouldn't even know that.

Born with the cleft palette had it, but in days

gone by this was not true.

And I grew up seeing.

People children with this condition and also seeing adults with

this condition, and it always, you know, impressed me tremendously

of how these people must have lived their lives with

this handicap, because it is an awful sight. And there

are missions that go to different parts of the world

and do this today and take care of it. But

this girl, unfortunately lived in a time when plastic surgery

was not developed well enough for her to have been

taken to care. So she was with this and her

life was very difficult. As you can imagine, she was

self conscious and it did a lot.

To reduce her self esteem.

Very difficult life over So, this is what happens when

you have a cleft thirdery, and this is the story.

I would like to read it to you in her

own words. I grew up knowing that I was different,

and I hated it. I was born with a cleft palate,

and when I started to go to school, my classmates,

who were constantly teasing, made it clear to me how

I must look to others, a little girl with a

misshapen lip, crooked nose, lopsided teeth, and hollow and somewhat

garbled speech. I couldn't even blow up a balloon without

holding my nose, and when I bent to drink from

a fountain, the water spilled out of my nose. When

schoolmates asked, what happened to your lip? I told them

that I'd fallen as a baby and cut it on

a piece of glass. Somehow it seemed more acceptable acceptable

to have suffered an accident then.

To be born different.

By the age of seven, I was convinced that no

one outside my family would ever love me or even

like me. And then I entered second grade and Missus

Leonard's class. I never knew what her first name was,

just Missus Leonard. She was round and pretty and fragrant,

with chubby arms, shining brown hair, and warm, dark eyes

that smiled even on rare occasions when her mouth did not.

Everyone adored her, but no one came to love her.

More than I did.

And for special reason, the time came for the annual

here tests given at our school. I was barely able

to hear anything out of one year, and not about

to reveal yet another problem that will single me out

as being different, so I cheated. I learned to watch

other children and raise my hand when then they did.

During group testing, somebody would read something and ask the

children to raise their hands if they heard it, and

of course everybody would read and she would do the

same thing too. The whisper test, however, was different and

required a different kind of deception. Each child will go

to the door of the classroom, turn sideways close one

year with a finger, and the teacher would whisper something

from her desk. Would the child would have to repeat,

then the same thing would be done for the other year.

I had discovered in kindergarten that nobody checked to see

how tightly the untested year was being covered, so I

merely pretended to block mine. As usual, I was last,

but all through the testing I wondered what missus Leonard

might say to me. I knew from previous years that

she whispered things like the sky is.

Blue, or do you have new shoes.

My turn came, I turned my bad year to her,

plugging up the other solidly with my finger, then gently

backed my finger out enough to be able to hear.

I waited, and then the words that God had surely

put into her mouth seven words that changed my life forever.

Missus Leonard, the pretty fragrant teacher I adored, said softly,

I wish you where my little girl. That's the power

words have for life and death. Now here's the solution.

And before I read the solution, I'm going to read

a statement by Ellen White, and this will put it

also into perspective some things of what I've been saying.

Of all the gifts we have received, none is capable

of being a greater blessing than the gift of speech.

Is my speech and your speech used.

To be a blessing, and that's the gift God has

given each one of us. Now here's the solution, and

let us see if we can follow this solution that

will help us with the challenge that we have with words.

A lady went to her pastor and said, Pastor, I

won't be going to your church anymore.

The pastor, who was a wise pastor like the pastor

we have at Arichai, said but why. The lady said, ah,

I saw a woman gossiping, and she was gossiping about

another member, a man that is a hypocrite. The worship

team was living wrong. People were looking at their phones

during a sermon, and among so many other things that

are wrong in your church. The pastor replied, okay, but

before you go, do me a favor.

Take a full glass.

Of water and walk around the church three times without

spilling a drop on the ground. Afterwards, leave the church

if you desire. The lady thought, too easy. She walked

three times round the church, as the pastor had asked.

When she finished, she told the pastor, I'm ready to leave.

The pastor said, before you leave, I want to ask

you one more question. When you were walking around the church,

did you see anyone gossiping? The lady replied no. Did

you see any hypocrites? The lady said no, anyone looking

at their phones?

No? Do you know why?

No, you were focused on the glass to make sure

you don't stumble and spill any water.

It's the same with our life.

When we keep our eyes on Jesus, we don't have

time to see the mistakes of others. We will reach

out a helping hand to them and concentrate on our

own walk.

With the Lord.

At any church, there are going to be things to

complain about, including ours. A church is filled with people,

and people are not perfect. Only Jesus can set the

perfect example.

So if you want your words to be filled

With life that bless, build, uplift, and encourage, focus on

him