The Voice in the Voyage Vol. I with Pastor Joshua Clay

I want to talk about the importance of words.

Words are actually the most valuable, important commodity,

not just in the Earth, but in the whole universe.

Words. That's why I don't I don't

believe that it's by accident that the Holy Spirit who

breathed on men and inspired the scripture and breathed on Ezra

to canonize the Old Testament put the book of beginnings,

Genesis 1st and Genesis chapter one first.

We just read Genesis 126, but it starts out and God was in the

beginning. But the first thing we find out

about him is that one, he's a creator and two, he talks, so he

says, then God said the first thing we find out about God is

he's a creator that speaks. And from that moment in the

history that we have of our beginnings, God continues that

theme of speaking and placing immense value on words.

Words are what shape our beliefs, our worldview.

They're actually what shape our circumstance when we're in the

middle of it. Think about it.

Your experience doesn't trump words because we can all

experience the same thing, but the words that are spoken in our

hearts and spoken to us in that experience will actually be what

shaped the result of the experience.

I couldn't help but thinking to my kids, you know what?

Has anybody in here that's raised young children has?

Have you ever had a kid that had to scrape their knee?

You realize all of us have done it.

We've all, we've all scraped our knee at some point in our life.

We've all had a child scrape the knee.

And you realize it's not the experience of scraping the knee

that will shape their memory of that.

It's going to be the words spoken over them when that

happens. Because you know, when whenever

one of my kids goes and scrapes the knee, I could go, oh, no, oh

God, what are we going to do? Oh, well, this is so bad.

It's so bad. What can we do?

And there's some parents that do that.

I've seen some Mamas. You're like, chill.

It's just a scraped knee. It's a little bit of blood, but

there's some parents that say what my brother over here say,

hey, you're OK, get up. Same experience, two different

responses with words, and those words shape the outcome of that

situation. Is there stress undue in the

life of this child because they're wondering, am I going to

be OK or do they have the confidence hearing the voice of

their parents saying you'll be all right, whatever this is,

you're going to be OK. Those words spoken over that

circumstance change the outcome internally saying I grew up and

that's what I heard. You going to be all right.

Remember one time I, you know, I don't know if this is not going

to be sent to the federal government, but I, I cut my

finger almost all the way off, jumping on the bed with my

brother. We're bouncing back and forth

and I hit, I had a flashlight in my hand.

I broke the glass Dome on the ceiling fan.

And I remember my dad told my brother, hey, go get a popsicle.

He goes there and in one bite, bam, eats that popsicle, snaps

it in half and puts 2 butterfly bandages on it and puts the

popsicle and wraps it up in tape.

And that's as close as I ever got to the hospital with an

injury. That's it.

I remember it. He's like, it's called a splint,

son. I was like, OK, it's orange.

It smells like orange. I don't know.

But in that moment there was no stress.

There was no breathing weird. It was it was the the words that

were spoken in their calm to that situation.

Any situation you deal with, what parent are you going to

listen to in the midst of that situation?

Are you going to let the world parent you?

Are you going to let politics parent you?

Are you going to go to your heavenly Father and say, what do

you have to say over me here right now?

Words matter. So, you know, words matter.

Whenever you all sudden you get a sore throat, you can go to

somebody that's anointed in the medical field like Miss Karen.

You can go and say, hey, I got a sore throat.

And she's probably going to say, listen, just pray over it.

Drink you some hot tea. You'll be OK.

And that gives you hope. But if you go to Web MD, you're

going to find some words. Could be throat cancer, probably

going to die and we can laugh. This is funny.

But you know, there's people that have real turmoil right

here because of that. There's people that read those

words and those words get stuck in there and they can't get rid

of them. And all the sudden they're

laying in bed at night wondering just feel swollen off.

It's a tumor. And they're, they're running

through a scenario in their minds because they've heard

words, because words matter so much that God says, listen, hear

my voice so much that Jesus when he was here, he said, I don't

even just speak and whatever I want to say, I'm careful to only

speak what my father tells me. In fact, there's only one thing

we know. We all sing about the name of

Jesus. We know Jesus's name is above

every other name, but there's one thing God honors above his

name. What is it?

His words, what he has spoken, what he has said.

Why is this? Because in a Kingdom, when we

read Genesis 126, God's original design was dominion on the

earth, that man would dominate and rule this Kingdom here on

earth, just like God rules in heaven.

And when a king speaks something, it becomes law and it

becomes definite in its territory and unchangeable.

So think about it. God says let us make man in our

image according to our likeness and let them rule.

But the first thing we learn about God every day of creation

before he says this statement is that God says let there be, and

then what happens? Then there is God says let there

be and then it happens. Then when we get to Genesis 126,

he says, and we've not listened. We've not exhausted the depth of

the first page of the Bible. OK, Whenever we come in together

and we hear this and we're like, oh, turn to Genesis 1.

Everybody's like, Oh my God, what are we going to talk about?

Creation dominion? We're going to talk.

We've not exhausted the depths because when God said let us

make man in our image, in our likeness, he meant let us make

man operate like we do. So from the very start we find

God is a speaking spirit and creates man to be the same.

From the very start we see God is high King of heaven.

He rules in the heavens. Again in Anchor Faith Church we

read Psalm 1/15/16. The highest heavens are the

Lords, but the earth he has given to man.

So as God rules heaven, man was meant to dominate and rule

earth. The as God rules heaven, man was

meant to rule and dominate earth as God rules heaven.

The way God rules the way God operates.

We were designed to operate that way.

How does he operate? By honoring the Word and by

speaking and creating through words.

So James gives us some insight into this and this will be the

key text that we use throughout the rest of this this month.

But if we look at James chapter 3, verse 4, because again, God

James 3:4

has set us on this epic quest, this voyage to a destination.

He knows the whole plane. He didn't give you the whole

map, but I promise you, he gave you a bunch of waypoints to try

to find your path to the end. Then what he also did was he set

you to be the pilot of your own ship.

But if we look at what James says, he gives us some insight

into our words and the value of words.

He says look at ships also, though, as they are so great and

are driven by strong winds, they are still directed by a very

small rudder wherever the inclination of the pilot

desires. So also the tongue is a small

part of the body and yet it boasts of great things.

Has anybody ever been on a ship before, A sailboat or a ship?

Have you ever been on one of those?

I know here at Anchor Faith Church, for the sake of those

who are listening to the recording, we are a coastal town

and we have multiple ship captains that come to our

church. So they're going to be back

there aiming at the loudest, I hope.

But whenever a ship gets on the water, you understand, it can

have wind, it can have a great headwind, it can have the the

current flowing in the right direction.

But what determines the absolute direction of that boat is the

rudder that's in the water. That compass does not determine

the direction. The compass that a captain holds

or a pilot holds only tells it where it should go.

The wind doesn't determine the direction.

The current doesn't determine the direction.

Those things can either help or hinder the journey, but in the

end, that final destination hinges on the pilot steering the

rudder in the right direction. So why would we have believers

that say, oh, I'm trying to do what God wants?

But it seems like they're always finding themselves washed up on

foreign shores. They're washing themselves up on

the shores of addiction. How'd you get here?

That's that's not where the king sent you.

That's not where you were supposed to steer.

They show up on the shores of heartbreaking relationships,

going from person to person to person.

That is not who God intended. How did you get there?

That's because God can set you on the journey, but he doesn't

say, hey, just jump on my boat with me.

He says I've given you everything you need to steer

yourself in the right direction. But I found the problem is a lot

of people shipwreck their life because they don't know how to

control their mouth. If a king was designed to decree

something and it become law and it become visible because they

create with their words. Oh my gosh, what have you

created with your words lately? The tongue is a small thing, but

it steers the direction of your life.

I'm telling you that that as the pilot or the captain, you can

you can steer in the direction, but the rudder itself is what's

going to carry you to your destination.

If you're writing things down, which I, I highly encourage you

to write things down tonight. Listen, I'm sorry I didn't have

you stretch before, but you know, you can take a second and

go like this because we're it's only getting faster, but our

lives move in the direction of our mouth.

Think about it. You're like, OK, well, you know

what about salvation? You can't be born again unless

your mouth gets involved. You didn't come into this

Kingdom without opening your mouth.

Romans 10/9 and 10 says how to be born again.

It says, listen, if you confess with your mouth and believe in

your heart, it doesn't say just believe.

In fact, you'll find that belief will result in confession.

Belief always results in confession.

You will say what you believe if you don't think words are

important. Let's look at let's look at John

chapter one, verse one. Let me give you, Let me, let me,

let me give us a few more to set the stage for how important your

words are. Because what I want you to do is

leave here. And the next time you just go to

say whatever comes to your mind, I want you to check it.

I want you to say, am I honoring God?

Am I honoring my dominion? John 11 says in the beginning

was the what the Word? In the beginning was the Word

and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Then verse 14 of the same passage says the Word became

flesh and dwelt among us. Jesus Christ is identified as

the Word becoming flesh. Is Jesus powerful?

Does God never fail? We just sang the song.

Oh my gosh. I figured somebody be like,

yeah, God never fails. He's never failed ever.

He's never gone into a battle and lost.

He's never showed up in a situation and his word fell

apart. No, every time God shows up, he

he succeeds. He's victorious.

He conquers. Why?

Because the word of God is what he is.

The word in your situation is what causes you to overcome and

conquer. OK, it'll get better.

Psalm 33 six. Psalm 33, six says, by the word

of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of his

mouth all of their lights, by the word of the Lord the heavens

were made, and by the breath of his mouth you understand God

breathed into Adam in the beginning, in that thing He

formed man out of the dust of the earth, and then he breathed

his life into Adam. And whenever he commissioned

Adam to go forth and be multiplied, be fruitful, He also

gave him a mandate of what to speak.

In fact, the first thing that God did with Adam is he spoke to

him words. And then we find the enemies in

the garden walking around looking to looking for somebody

to usurp their throne. Since he already couldn't do

that in heaven, which we see in Isaiah 14, he tried to usurp the

throne in heaven. He got kicked down real fast.

Then he's looking around in the garden and he's like, man, these

people operate like God. I recognize a speaking spirit

when I see it. So when he shows up in Genesis

Genesis 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2, notice that the serpent didn't attack the woman,

he attacked the Word. The first massive failure of

humankind was a battle of words. It was an allegiance.

To whose words do you believe the first thing he asks?

He says, hey, what did God say? That's a trap.

That's a trap. What did God say?

Why? Because the enemy went for the

most powerful thing. He his first attack, his most

potent attack, had to be on the most powerful entity in the

world, in the universe, which is the words of God.

So he goes, what did God say? Then he was like, oh, here's

what God said. Then what is his very next

statement? Listen, she said, yeah, we'll if

we eat of the fruit or touch the tree, we'll die.

And he said you surely won't die.

The only attack that he had was to come in and say the powerful

word of God is incorrect, don't trust it.

Twisted it from there. She believed his words operated

on and and and applied those words and in doing so forfeited.

Dominion. Forfeited or dominion.

Wow. Know this, the heaven and earth

both respond to verbal command and your dominion is dependent

on your dialogue. Adam was born to rule but lost

that rulership. Is God good?

Yes. Did God want him to rule?

Yes. Then why didn't he keep it?

Because God gave him the free will and the choice to choose

whose words will use. Not only believe, but whose

words will you obey and whose words will you speak?

And I'll tell you, this is going to be the pattern for us for the

rest of our lives. I'm going to say it again.

Whose words will you believe? Whose words will you obey and

whose words will you speak? That will determine the type of

person that you are. That will determine whether or

not you find this God-given purpose that He gave you in this

earth. That'll determine whether or not

you find your destiny and begin to operate in it.

Whose words do you believe? Whose words do you obey, and

whose words do you speak? When a king speaks, it becomes

law. God has this universal thing,

and this goes for all mankind, that what you say is what you'll

have. It's not just for believers.

This is what we would call an eternal law, just like sowing

and reaping. Just like sowing and reaping,

there's an eternal law that happens whatsoever a man sows

that shall he also reap. But we also understand whatever

you say as a speaking spirit created by God to be an entity

on planet Earth that says and then has what they say that

doesn't go away. That's why if words again, if

words aren't important, why does it say at the very end when he

gathers us all together after the after the catching away,

after all these things take place, He says he will, we will

give an account for every idle word we've spoken.

That's not just meaning like, oh, he's going to have a whole

list of all the cuss words you said.

Idle words are declarations that you made that you didn't honor,

declarations that you made that affected people's lives in your

influence that weren't his. It matters.

What comes out of our mouth matters.

Since we were made to be speaking spirits, I want to kind

of like give some insight into this.

I had done some studies several years back and read this book.

It was a secular book, but it was a scientific book talking

about the origin of species. And I know that specific phrase

there, you know, people that owns a place in people's minds.

But whenever they looked across and begin to study in the mid

1800s other the animal Kingdom and, and how it correlates with

mankind, they found that there's something that distinguishes us

from the animal Kingdom. And it's not poseable thumbs.

Because if you've ever had one of those little black and white,

you know, trash pandas, they can open lids, you can put, you can

put weights on top of your trash cans.

They'll figure out how to do it because they also have poseable

thumbs. We also know in the primate

world, they're in there, they got poseable, they got 4

poseable thumbs. How'd that happen?

You know, I can't, I've got, I can't peel a banana with my

feet. So that's not what distinguishes

either. No, when they went through and

searched the entire animal Kingdom scientifically, they

found the distinguishing factor of human beings from the animal

Kingdom is actually speech. That there's actually only, I

believe it's a handful. I'm not going to give a direct

number, but it's like a handful of primate species that have a

language amongst themselves where they can make a noise.

And that noise means snake, or that noise means danger, or that

noise means food, or they have a certain call that means like

they're calling a mate. But even in the midst of their

primitive layer of speech, they've never figured out how to

write it down for the next generation.

So we didn't evolve in speech. If in the very beginning it says

in the beginning God created, then it says and God said speech

was in the beginning that didn't come because of haphazardly a

bunch of cells started forming and and going to no speech was

there with the first man Adam that we have recorded in our

beginnings that Adam God says to Adam gives him words and you

know what Adam did understood language God established in the

very beginning because he knew it would be the most potent

thing that would last for all of eternity.

See, he says. Listen, heaven and earth will

pass away, but what stays? He said my words will remain how

long? Forever.

The word always lasts. So no, when you speak something,

it lasts. There's a lasting effect.

We know. We've heard the statements

before, like sticks and stones break my bones.

Listen, we, we. I've counseled many a person

that sticks and stones have absolutely wrecked their lives.

I've talked with many a middle-aged man that still is

recalling and remembering things his parents said to him when he

was a child. You don't think words matter?

OK, If if one of my kids came up here and they were standing on

the stage with me and they they tripped and fell, if I was like,

hey, that's OK, listen, walk with me.

You'll be all right. You'd be like, wow, what a good

dad. But if they tripped and fell and

I was like, hey, loser, get up, idiot.

God, I wish you weren't up here on the stage.

Do my words matter? Do you think they'll remember

that yet? How often do we flippantly speak

what's on our minds? Because what you can't do is say

something, then I'll bring it back.

What you say matters. It plants seeds in people's

hearts, in their minds and their ears.

When Jesus spoke, he said, I don't speak anything on my own

initiative. I just say what the Father says.

Then we got Christians running around going, oh, I just speak

my mind. I just say whatever comes to my

mind, and that's my personality. Danger, danger, danger.

And you're shipwrecked over here and we're trying to help bail

you out. Oh, it's just my personality.

I don't have a filter. Find one quick.

James tells us. Listen, the the tongue is a

small thing, but it determines your direction.

So if you can't control your tongue.

He also says the person who perfects their mouth is a

perfect person. There's no perfect people.

Well, that statement proves it. You're not one.

No perfection means maturity or somebody that has their life has

come together and become whole, mature, developed.

You cannot be a mature believer and be a believer that just says

whatever you want to say. Mature believers know what the

word says and they echo God's words in this planet.

Pastor Chase ministered a message, I think it was a couple

years ago. It's called the empty echo of a

quiet king, powerful. It's also the longest sermon

title that he's ever had. But in that you realize as kings

we were destined to give voice, and our voice would echo into

eternity and make waves and change and move things because

we said it. It's not arrogance, it's not

pride, it's understanding. That's how God established the

world to work. When you speak, creation stops

and says, yes, Sir, what is it? Yeah, we get loose in our in our

conversations. We get loose with our friends.

We get loose in what we're saying and start to begin to sow

out there stuff that we don't want to reap a harvest of later

and then wonder why we're frustrated.

For us to be made in God's image means, which includes

communication. They say, well, you know, I'll

just let other people speak for them.

Oh, I've got a unspoken prayer request.

I don't want to speak. No, get Don't let the enemy

quelch the most powerful weapon in your arsenal, which is your

mouth. When a circumstance hits you,

you'd understand everything screaming at you.

Why would we stand silently and let the doctors tell us

everything that they they want to say?

And yet we don't get to let the Kingdom declare something over

our situation. Why would we let financial

advisors come in and tell us how much we don't have or how much

we're going to owe or how much we're going to have to file for,

and then all the sudden we don't let the Kingdom get something on

it with some declaration? If anybody's ever been on a

boat, and you know how that rudder works, you realize just

one degree, just one degree adjustment changes the entire

destination. If anybody's ever driven a car,

has anybody ever driven a car? Have you ever gotten in your car

and turned it on and set back with the wheel and just let it

take you wherever it's going to take you?

Yeah. And all the Tesla owners are

like, yeah, sure not listen, No, when you're steering even in a

straight direction on US1 or a straight direction on 95, you're

making small adjustments the whole time to make sure you stay

on that right path. Yet whenever James compares our

mouth and our confession in the words we say to a rudder of a

ship, you understand even more. So how many small, fine

adjustments should you be making sure you're making the whole

time so you don't drift into a different place?

We find our lives drifting into frustration, Our lives, because

a ship is built to withstand storms.

Your life is built to withstand storms.

Jesus didn't die so that you would fall apart every time

trials came. In fact, he said trials and

tribulations are going to come. It's going to happen in your

life. And he had enough confidence in

what he gave you that he said, listen, you're going to overcome

because I overcome. Yet whenever we have those

trials happen, the winds and the waves are beating against the

ship and they're trying to get us off course.

Our mouth in the midst of the storm can determine the

direction we are come out on the other side.

Jesus gave us this whole this whole entire, you know,

historical account of him walking, being out on the the

waves with his disciples. And he's out there in the boat

asleep and the winds and waves are going up and down.

These people are professional fishermen.

They've seen high water before. They've seen rain before.

And something about what they saw made them think we're going

to die. This is dangerous.

And yet Jesus was asleep. So whenever he got up and said,

hey, this is crazy, you could die.

This is you know what, what are you saying?

He gets out there and looks at it and what does he do?

He says something to it. Even in physical danger, Jesus

stands up and says, peace be still.

Then it says the disciples marveled at him and they said,

who is this? You've been with them a while,

you've seen some stuff and then all of a sudden with this one,

they're like, who is this guy? If it was, if it was modern day,

they'd be like, surely is he not the goat, right?

But they looked at like, who is this?

That even the winds and waves obey his voice.

The winds and waves obey his voice.

What Jesus said, even creation stopped and said, what is it?

That's why we don't just use the name of Jesus just flippantly.

You understand when you say in the name of Jesus and you begin

to declare something in this Kingdom realm, creation has to

stop and await command. Did you know your body is made

out of dirt? Now you can put whatever in the

dirt that you want. That should be a disclaimer

because some people are unhealthy because they have

personal responsibility of what to do to take care of their

bodies. But there are times when through

the fall of man and the the world we live in that sin comes

in. There can be some physical

ailments that try to hit you and some some symptoms that can come

on your body. But you know what?

You can say, Hey, in the name of Jesus, I will live and not die,

and your body has to hear it and respond to it.

A person who knows the word of God, who knows their authority

in the word of God, also knows the responsibility of their

voice with their authority. That's good, that's good.

Hmm. Hallelujah, Hallelujah. 2nd

Corinthians chapter 4, verse 13. We've got a long voyage ahead of

us for the next three weeks. Let's look at 2nd Corinthians

chapter 4, verse 13. It says but having this the same

spirit of faith according to what is written, I have believed

and therefore I what spoke and we also believe, therefore we

speak find it interesting that when we would consider ourselves

people of faith. Where does faith come from?

We know this all all the people that have been here for a while.

Where does faith come from? Hearing what?

You can't hear a word that hasn't been spoken.

So our faith hinges on words we've heard.

In fact, your faith is determined.

See, everybody can say they have faith.

Everybody does. Every other religion, in fact,

people that say they're atheists, everybody in the

medical field, everybody in your, your sphere of influence,

they all have faith. Faith is just a firm persuasion

based on something they have heard, based on a word somebody

says. Social media is full of it.

Somebody hears a word, they go out and they film themselves

repeating this word. Right or wrong, they're saying

it because they're fully convinced that what they heard

was right. Then they begin just spewing

their opinions because what they heard, whether it was right or

wrong, they just want to echo what someone else said.

Whereas believers, we don't just have faith because we just

believe whatever is God was pretty clear.

You need to have the faith of God.

What does God put his faith in his words.

Heaven and earth will pass away, but His word will remain forever

His His. His name is the highest of all

names, but He exalts His own word above His name.

So for us to have the same faith God has, we have to put our firm

persuasion on the same word. God has.

We tracking that. So then when we have our faith

manifest put that verse back up. Says, but having the same spirit

of faith, if we want the same spirit of faith, not only that's

in God himself, that was in Jesus Christ, but that was also

in the patriarchs, also in the disciples, also in all the

people that led in the early church up until now.

If we don't have the same spirit of faith, he says, I believe,

therefore I spoke so we also believe.

Do you believe? Are you missing the second part?

Raise your hand. Do you believe?

Then I would say the proof of your belief is in your

confession. It's the proof.

You can tell a lot about a person when they open their

mouth. In fact, you can tell a lot

about them by what they're saying.

Even if what they're saying isn't what you know to be true.

Just think about the value of words.

That words are so important that God had to put in His top ten

list that he gave Moses to the whole first covenant people of

the the nation of Israel hid in this top ten list.

He said you shall not lie. Then we find throughout Psalms

and Proverbs there's this pattern where God hates and it

says he abhors, which is this deep hatred of a lying tongue.

Can't stand it. The penalty for breaking the law

in the Old Testament was being stoned to death.

You understand one of those laws was don't tell a lie.

Why would a lie be a big deal? Because it's a manipulation of

true authority and true power. If the most powerful entity in

the universe is the word of God and it is you speaking out his

word, then why would the enemy not want to attack that the most

some people would boast me like, oh, I'm I'm pretty good at

lying. Listen, be better at truth and

be better at speaking what God says.

That's where true power lies. Lies manipulate people, but you

understand that truth manipulates creation to God's

will. Your faith is brought to

completion and proof through your speech.

Belief without confession is incomplete.

Just like at the end of service, we're going to have the

opportunity to take up an offering to worship the Lord

with our giving. And at Anchor Faith Church, we

always put up on the screen, we do a giving confession.

Why do we do that? So we can all chant together

like Gregorian monks. No, that's not why we do that.

Because there's this principle. It's not just enough to just be

like, oh, I'm just going to sow money into the Kingdom and then

just, you know, let it be. No, declare something over it.

If you look at what we say, there's scriptures that go along

with the giving confession that tell you where it's rooted in

truth. So as we all declare together,

no wonder God's doing mighty things in Anchor Faith Church.

We're not just looking for God to do something.

He's already doing powerful things.

I'm just honored to participate in it.

But that's because we have such a foundation of the Word, a such

a foundation of confession. That's why you can't be at

Anchor Faith Church long or hang out with somebody at their house

long without saying something squarely and then being like,

hey, I wouldn't say that. Why do you care so much about

what I'm saying? There's many testimonies.

Remember there was a gentleman that came in years ago and he

had lived as an alcoholic for so long.

Apostle Earl's testified of of his story many times from the

platform, but he lived as an alcoholic for the longest time.

He came in and said, pastor, pray for me, I'm an alcoholic.

That's all he knew to say. And God, God showed up in that

prayer, showed up in that moment and empowered him to throw away

his alcohol and not touch it again for decades.

Come on. But I remember on my side of

that story, I was here and I remember the next time that we

saw him, he said, hey, brother, the Lord, the, you know, the

Lord's doing work on me. I'm an alcoholic.

I said, no, you're not. Don't ever say that again.

Why would you identify with something you're not?

Did the Lord deliver you? In fact, some people come in,

they've got vices, they've got addictions.

They go, oh, you know, I'm just a smoker.

Well, are you smoking right now? So since you put the last one

out, you've been a non-smoker. Don't be a smoker again.

If God's put that in your heart and you're saying, man, I wish I

could be free of this financially.

I know there was a guy that that came for a long time, he was a

chain smoker and he's like, Lord, do you need to deliver me?

Because it's expensive. And this guy took his cash that

he would get out of his paycheck and buy cigarettes with the Lord

delivered him of it. He was able to go take it and

within one month he bought a laptop computer.

What are we doing able to change his whole life, but in his case

as well, he's begin to identify. I'm not a smoker anymore.

When somebody you a smoker. No.

Why? Because his words begin to

dictate the direction of his life.

That's why of all the nice things that I'm sure Alcoholics

Anonymous has done, the only major problem that it can still

contains is it makes you identify and say and confess

God, something that's not God. See, that's why.

But but yeah. And you're like, oh, Alcoholics,

not a lot of churches are have this problem too.

They just say, I'm just say sorry, Sinner.

Saved by grace. You have no idea what grace even

is. Grace doesn't save you to keep

you where you were. If you've been saved by grace,

God has empowered you to now be something and say something

else. If you talk like you did before

you got born again, the change hasn't fully manifested yet.

Somebody needs to write that down.

I don't know who it is. I don't know somebody, somebody,

somewhere. The spirit of faith is a vocal

spirit. Mark Chapter 11, verse 23.

Mark 11:23

Speaking of faith. Come on, are we people of faith?

That means we have heard a word that we fully believed.

We adhere our lives to it, but it's not enough just to believe.

Mark 1123. We all know this.

It's a faith scripture that we've heard for a long time.

It says truly. I say to you, whoever says to

this mountain be taken up and be thrown into the sea and does not

doubt in his heart but believes that what he says is going to

happen. It will be granted to him.

So we can sing songs about mountain moving faith.

We can sing songs about how God's able to move them out.

Our faith can move mountains. But you understand there's an

ingredient with your faith that that mountain won't budget until

you mix them both together. And what is that?

That whoever says to this mountain be thou removed, be

cast into the sea and has not doubted but believed in his

heart he that what he says is going to happen.

It will be granted to him. Jesus ties the outcome to the

conversation. He ties your outcome to your

conversation. Again, if we're look at another

example, sometimes you get up here like that.

Just I've read the Bible a bunch of times.

OK, so like I've got a lot of these stories that are in here

another, but Jesus at one point walks by and is looking, he's

hungry and he looks at this tree.

He's like, man, I need some figs.

I don't know if you've ever had figs before.

I've never had them right off the tree.

But apparently Jesus in this day didn't either.

There weren't any on there. And he goes, he's like cursed

are you? No one will eat from you again

and walks away. And his disciples are like, OK,

Then later on their journey when they come back by, that tree had

withered up. It didn't just not have figs.

It didn't just have the leaves fall up.

It says it withered at its roots.

The disciples were like, isn't that what the tree Jesus like,

spoke to? Like people, Are you paying

attention? How much stuff is he done?

He's open blind eyes. He's got raised people from the

dead. We got him speaking the winds

and waves, and they're like, blown away that a tree's dead.

They should come to my house. They'd be blown away at all the

plants. Listen, my wife does the best

she can. We're trying as hard as we can.

But the green thumb was not something that just came second

nature to us. OK?

We are plant Hospice. This is where plants come.

You bring them. We will ease their passing.

You would think we're walking around cursing all the plants in

the house. You're cursed.

You can look. You look.

Miracles everywhere. No, but again, Jesus speaks to a

tree and the earth, the tree, this thing of the planet

responded to His voice, responded to his authority.

He didn't just look at it and hope that it would.

When God wanted to create the whole world, he didn't hope it

into existence. He didn't just think it into

existence. He had a thought.

But then he declared and spoke over his world.

I'm glad that we get to have three weeks together because

that means this week you can go home.

I'm not going to give you an assignment like Apostle Marcy

always dutifully does. I'm not going to give you a

reading assignment, but your assignment.

Would be internal and say look at your life and look at where

you are and what have you said that brought you here, positive

or negative? Because we'll see next week.

Life and death are both in the power of your mouth.

Both. See, we think that we have

neutral gear in the Kingdom. We don't have a neutral gear.

People are like, oh, it's, it's there's there's three options.

I can do what God says. I can do what I say or I can do

what the enemy says. You know, I'm not going to

choose the enemy, but sometimes it's just going to do me.

No, that's neutral gear. We don't have that with your

confession. You're like, oh, you know,

sometimes it's just, I'm just saying stuff and you know, I

don't really mean it. Be weary of somebody who says,

oh, I don't really mean it. Be weary because whether they

mean it or not, they're saying it.

And if they're saying it, it's going to happen.

Now, I guess I should give the disclaimer here.

If somebody's saying something over you, they don't have

authority over your life. That's why God was able to tell

Abraham. He said, listen, I will bless

those who bless you and I'll curse those who curse you.

Just because somebody's cursing you doesn't mean you have to

receive it. You're going to, you direct your

own ship. Somebody can bring their own,

their own, their ship all up alongside you and try to ram

into your ship, but in the end, you direct your own.

But I think too often we let other people guide the direction

of our lives. Again, if, if a parent says

something at a young age, if you were told when you were a child,

you know you're never going to amount to anything.

You came into the Kingdom and got in your own boat.

The king gave you a brand new heading.

You got to let that one go. If somebody came in and told

you, man, you're just stupid. You just you, you, it's like you

can't understand what's happening.

You were told that as a child. Listen, I'm telling you your

your heavenly Father didn't say that.

But too often the enemy wants you to put faith in those words

that were spoken negatively over and you be firmly persuaded that

you are that person when you need to be firmly persuaded of

what God says about you. You can tell someone's self

worth by how they talk. That's why humor, it's a it's a

dangerous, it's a slippery slope.

I saw a a meme the other day that I sent to my mother that we

both found hilarious. He says, wow, you're so funny.

And the guy was like, thanks. My parents used to meet about

what to do with me. You'll get that later, I guess.

But self deprecating humor, you can find people that they're

always making jokes and always making jokes about themselves.

And if you listen a little bit longer, maybe they believe in

that about themselves too. Maybe they're concerned that

whenever they start making jokes about themselves that they'll

make so much fun of themselves that you won't because they're

afraid you will see them the way they see themselves.

Most people aren't. Most people aren't just what

they are and what they think they are.

Most people are what they think others think they are.

Does that make sense? Most people are and believe

about themselves, what they think others think of them, what

other people have said about them.

It's why in the Kingdom we've got to hear the word of the

Lord. We've got to be people of the

Word. We've got to be people that read

our Bible. I'm telling you, you can't make

it. I'm going to tell you right now

how good God is, how great your purpose is, how powerful this

Kingdom is. You won't make it if you don't

get in the Word. If the most powerful thing in

the universe is the word of God, how can you make it without it?

Somebody's like, oh, I've read enough of the Bible.

I get, I get the gist of it. Like, I've got it.

Yeah. And your life looks like you

kind of got some of it. Come on.

True victory is going to come from us hearing the word of God.

Faith comes by hearing. Hearing is a perpetual thing.

It says ING in every translation.

It doesn't say as as my father used to say, all grown up.

Faith doesn't come from having heard, comes from hearing a

perpetual hearing, staying in the word of God.

What is God saying? What does the Scripture tell me

about me? What does the Scripture say

about my circumstance? What should I declare?

If the doctor says you're going to die, don't just repeat like a

parrot, I'm going to die. Then everybody go, well, they

were such a strong man and woman of God.

Listen, I've been in this thing for a while.

I've seen people come and go. I've seen people have ailments

that were healed and whole of stuff that was incurable and

I've seen people die of stuff that was incurable.

I've seen people that said I believe in God, I believe in

him. I trust him at His word.

He's my healer. But you know what I didn't get

to see? I didn't get to see what they

were whispering in their bedroom when the lights went out and

they were in pain. I didn't get to see that.

But I know how things work. I know that life and death are

in the power of your tongue. I know that God is the healer.

I know that he has given you free will that you can declare

over your circumstance what you want.

So if a believer says I'm believing God, I'm believing,

all of a sudden you find out. Oh, so and so passed away.

How could the Why did God let him down?

No, no, no, no, no. What did they say?

What did they say? What do they say when they're in

the depths of their pain? They said, Lord, just take me.

I just can't handle this anymore.

That sentence matters. That's why you won't ever hear

any, any of us going, oh, man, this is killing me.

Half the stuff people say, oh, this is killing me about is like

pitiful stuff. You want me to put that in your

gravestone? My kids saying, Mama, Mama,

Mama, it's killing me. I'm going to put that on your

tombstone. Mama, Mama, Mama did me in.

That's pitiful. You're you're a warrior.

You got more you got more in you than that.

Oh, man, it's 9:00 to 5:00. It's just killing me.

There's been a lot of people die on the nine to five job.

Don't say it. Watch your mouth.

Even Jesus again, I'm forecasting some things for the

for, for the future weeks that we'll really break into.

But when Jesus goes to the centurion, he needed a miracle.

And the centurion is like, listen, Jesus said, I'll come,

I'll go there. You're like, who's going to deny

Jesus? And the centurion had the guts

to look at him and say, you don't have to.

All I need you to do is give the most powerful thing that this

earth has seen in 500 years. Jesus said the earth was dry and

deprived of the word of God for 4 to 500 years before Jesus

showed up. From the time the last prophet

spoke to the time that John the Baptist was born, the earth was

void of the word of God. It was only in memory.

But then Jesus shows up. John the Baptist shows up and

declares the Kingdom of God is at hand and quotes Old Testament

prophets. Then Jesus shows up and begins

to declare the word of God. He opens up the book of Isaiah

and declares that word. So then the centurion has heard

all of these things and he realizes where Jesus's true

power was. It was in his mouth.

That's when Jesus declared the word of God over something.

Things happened. So he says just speak the word

only and it'll be done for my servant.

Jesus goes, I've never found so great a faith.

Hallelujah. Great faith is directly

connected to value of words. Great faith is directly

connected to the value you have and the honor you have for

words. So Jesus goes and declares the

word of God over that that servant and that person was

healed just by his words. The power of God rests in his

words. So you understand, let me say

this, and I've heard, I've heard this growing up in the, in the,

you know, the, the circles we've been in, the ministers that

we've had even come to this church.

And this bears repeating that the word of God in Jesus's mouth

has the same power as the word of God in your mouth.

God's word does not diminish in its potency or its authority

when you speak it from the time that Jesus spoke it.

If Jesus says peace be still, and if you say peace be still,

the same response should come. See, sometimes I think whenever

we go to lay hands on people, Jesus said before he left, he's

like, listen, I've done, you've seen the works I've done, but

greater works will you do because I'm going to the Father.

So greater things will you accomplish.

If Jesus was able to speak to the winds and waves, he expects

you would be able to. He people were healed because he

said be made whole. Yeah, we come in and we think,

man, if somebody's sick, I don't know, Lord, you know, what are

we going to do? I need to have a very poetic

prayer. Father God, with your bounty and

your beautiful blessings, will you please come upon this

person's life? God's just looking for you to

declare something. It's just as impactful for me to

come into Gabriel's, you know, hospital room and look at him

and say in the name of Jesus, get up that it is for me to go.

God, our heavenly Father, who art in heaven, let your healing

be in this room. You don't have to do all that.

Let your mouth do the faith, let your mouth declare the Word, and

you'll find the end result is God is faithful and has never

let His word go out and return void.

We'll close with this passage here.

Pick up here again next week too with Proverbs chapter 18, verse

Proverbs 18:21

21. We quoted it before, but we're

going to look at it together. There's a reason we put these

words up on the screen so that you can see this isn't just

something that's being said. You don't have to believe

anything that somebody says in this, in this pulpit.

What you have the obligation to do is go back and search the

Scriptures, verify that what was said was true to Scripture,

rightly divided, and then believe and place your whole

trust and life value in the word of God.

Don't leave and say, oh, because Pastor Josh said that ain't

going to get you anywhere. But if you leave and say the

word of God says that's going to be the most powerful thing you

can do. So it says life and death are in

the power of the tongue and those who love it will eat its

fruit. Those who love it will eat its

fruit. So again tonight I'm not going

to lay hands on you because I can't give you a blessed a word

blessing, a tongue blessing. Lord bless their tongue that it

wouldn't cause any more problems in their life.

But what I can do is just say you can make an eternal

commitment and say, Lord, check me, Holy Ghost, do your job and

be the the one who leads me and guides me into truth.

That's my helper that comes alongside me and tells me, do I

need to adjust my words? The Holy Ghost will come in.

He'll start meddling in your life and he'll say, hey, the way

you're talking to your wife ain't right.

Maybe you argue all the time because your mouth is always

saying that you're always arguing.

Oh, Lord, you know those, those kids?

I got their little little hellions, man.

I don't know. I've been in this Kingdom thing

a long time. But when somebody starts talking

about their kids like that, you're like somebody goes, oh,

you know what, I'm in. I'm in the terrible twos phase.

You know what? I never confessed over my kids?

They'd have terrible twos. You know what?

They came two years old and became three years old and you

know what? We never had terrible twos.

It's amazing. It's like it works, but maybe

you have what you have because you've been saying it, but it

should be said, and I don't want to end tonight without saying

this. All of these principles are for

people that are in God's Kingdom.

You can't confess right. You can't truly know God.

You can't know what's right from wrong without the Spirit of God

within you and being born again and coming into this Kingdom.