FINDING YOUR VOICE | SUNDAY 1ST FEBRUARY | PS AARON MORE

God bless. You can grab a seat. And uh

Wow. Thank you, Jamie. What an amazing

communion message. Hey, can we uh we

could probably do a little bit better

than that. Uh we could

like our church is still in that place

where we never quite know whether we're

giving a round of applause or not,

right? Like we kind of like golf clap

slash. Um that was awesome, uh Jamie.

And what a great word uh last week from

Paul. Um so so good. And uh it was great

to be over at youth camp. Um I think

they had a total of about 170 people. So

there's youth and uh leaders just

serving from the church and making uh

such a difference. It was such an

awesome atmosphere. They're just so uh

such respectful young people and just uh

just a joy to be around. Uh they're just

so so cool and uh so that was really

exciting. I think we had a few photos

from youth camp that went up before but

uh yeah those um might come up now and

uh they just yeah had were having heaps

of fun but um also just so hungry you

know I looked and when they were uh

doing ministry last night the the

speaker was praying for people and you

know I don't want to exaggerate probably

50% of the young people when he's

praying are just have just got their

hands they're just declaring they're

just and even the majority of the others

were so engaged and it It's just so so

beautiful to see and um you know it's

good being around young people keeps you

young. Um I went to their actually went

to their youth leaders retreat and uh

they had them lined up and I said I can

take the photo. And of course Brody's a

photographer so he got a bit nervous

about me taking the photo. So I said to

one of the young girls, "Can you just

show Aaron how to frame it up properly?"

And so she comes back and she goes, "Oh

yeah, you just want to make the top

corner there and the top corner there,

the bottom." Yeah, that's good. And then

she goes, "And then when you want to

push uh take the photo, you push that

button." And so um so that was really

good. Like um I got the full tutorial

because clearly I was of the age

demographic that didn't know how to take

a uh a photo on a phone. So um so that

was good. Hey, if you've got your Bible,

you can turn to Proverbs 18 uh 21.

Proverbs 18:21. And uh actually going to

Proverbs 18:21

continue uh this week with a part two of

what I spoke a few weeks ago. I don't

know, it's so confusing because we

missed a week, but uh called finding

your voice. And this is kind of a second

part to uh that message. And um Proverbs

Proverbs 18:21

18:21 says this, "The tongue has the

power of life and death, and those who

love it will eat its fruit." The tongue

has the power of life and death, and

those who love it will eat its fruit.

Now, I don't know uh how much church

circles you've been in, but some church

circles I've been in, this verse has has

been made really weird. Like like you

will say something and they go, "You

need to be careful. Don't want to speak

it into being

like a casual throw." I mean, we should

be careful with our careless words. But

if my careless words create things into

being, well, Porsche, Porsch, Porsche,

like

Christianity isn't, the verse isn't

saying you can casually say something

and it's magically going to happen and

be careful about what you say because uh

your oneoff words might create a

reality. That's not Christianity. Now,

is there power in our declarations? Is

there life and death in the tongue? Yes,

there is. But some people take it to a

hyper thing. You're like, "Oh, I'm not

feeling well. Shouldn't have said that

negative confession, brother."

>> It's like

that's not what this verse is talking

about. Yes, we need to be careful about

what we say, but the reality is this.

Most of our speech is actually directed

to other people. And so I believe this

is talking far more about what is the

pattern of your speech.

And what it actually says is you're

going to eat the fruit of the pattern of

your speech. And just in case you're

wondering, I do believe that includes

declarations. I do believe we can speak

to things. I do believe that's part of

what power and life and death of the

tongue is. But I also believe it's far

wider than that. And it's actually hey

what is the pattern of the speech of our

lives? And what we realize is most of

the time the speech of our lives is

actually in communication with other

people. And we need to remember in our

daytoday life that the power of life and

death is in the tongue.

Uh uh Brody said I could tell the story

on uh Tuesday night I or Monday night I

was down sitting up some chairs. Brody

was uh running something with some of

the youth leaders who weren't able to

make it to retreat. He's running this

session out in the street there. And uh

that's the name for our foyer, by the

way, in case you're thinking he was

outside. Um he's just in the we foyer

area there. And uh what happens is he

sees this guy walk across the road with

a couple of spray cans about to come

into the area where we're doing

renovations and tag and the guy hasn't

seen him at all. And so Brody just jumps

up, walks out, and uh opens the door and

goes, "Hey, what you up to?"

And uh the guy's like, "Oh, oh man, no,

no, no. Sorry, sorry." Hey, oh, sorry. I

just uh And Brody's like, "Man, I've got

some clout." Like that guy's backing up

faster than anything. Then he turns

around and realizes that the six

Polynesian youth leaders have followed

him and they are standing behind him.

and he kind of realizes in that moment

maybe it wasn't so much his words, it

was the power of the people behind him.

So anyway, he's cracking up about that,

finding it so funny. Sarah's in the

office. So he walks outside and he's

just reliving it in his mind like we do.

And so he walks outside and he actually

goes, "Yeah." And I said, "What are you

up to?" And he hears this voice go, "Oh,

sorry. I'm just having," and there was a

homeless guy around the other side of

the rubbish bin. And Brody had to say,

"Oh, no. I wasn't talking to you. I was

just reliving me stepping out some. And

then uh because of Brody's heart, he's

like, "Hey, why don't you get in the

car? I'll take you to McDonald's."

Because he uh he felt like he was uh

but you know, the power of life and

death is in the tongue and most of our

communication

will be to other people.

Ephesians 4:14 and 15 says this, "Then

Ephesians 4:14

we will no longer be infants tossed back

and forth by the waves and blown here

and there by every wind of teaching and

by the cunning craftiness of people in

their deceitful scheming. Instead,

speaking the truth in love, we will grow

to become in every respect the mature

body of him who is the head, that is

Christ." And so it's a really

interesting verse because what it says

is when we become mature,

we begin to speak the truth in love. And

then it also says what brings about

maturity in people's lives is when we

speak the truth in love. Can I say to

you that most Christians interpret this

verse, speak the truth with love, and so

they instantly do an interpretation

without even realizing it, which is, I

guess, when I say something harsh to

someone, I need to make sure it's loving

and there's enough gift wrapping on it,

but uh when I'm speaking a word of

rebuke, I need to make sure I do it in

love. And that's true, but it doesn't

actually say when you need to rebuke

someone, do it in love. It just says you

need to speak the truth in love. And so

that certainly includes healthy

confrontation. That there are times

where that involves uh being willing to

speak things uh into people's lives. But

speaking the truth in love is more than

just that. It's actually also the way we

share the goodness of God, the gospel,

the the the the message of hope, all of

those things. We're to speak the truth

in love. But do you know it's also

speaking the truth in love is actually

words of encouragement.

That we are to speak the truth in love.

And that's actually an invitation to

encourage people. And somehow we got a

culture that speaking the truth in love

only means confrontation.

But actually, if our words are going to

be life, if life and death is in the

power of the tongue, then we need to

learn what it is to encourage one

another from the place of truth.

See, in 1 Thessalonians 5:10, it says,

1 Thessalonians 5:10

"He died for us so that whether we are

awake or asleep, we may live together

with him." Therefore, encourage one

another. Build each other up just as in

fact you are doing. And

it's it's this to this commandment. Hey,

in light of what Christ has done,

encourage one another. Now, I want to be

clear. Um not talking about just uh

empty encouragement. Like there is a

form of encouragement that's quite

empty, right? like, you know, you've had

someone encourage you and you're like,

"Yeah, the words were words, but it

didn't really land in my heart. There

was an emptiness to it." And I guess we

all kind of do that sometimes to one

another just in the way we we speak that

it's not doesn't always doesn't

necessarily mean it's wrong. But, you

know, I did I I read this the other

week. Somehow in our culture, a legend

has gone from someone who drew a sword

and killed a dragon to someone who

ordered Uber Eatats. Like, you know what

I mean? Like, oh, you're a legend. And I

use that word as well. But sometimes uh

what what we're using to describe

someone as a legend was the fact that

they made me a flat white and uh

it's uh modern life, right? But the

point is you can have empty

encouragement. You know, you ever had

the person who encourages you, but you

kind of feel like h they were just going

through the motions. Wow, I think you're

amazing. You're I remember uh one guy

and HE SAID, "OH MAN, YOU'RE SUCH OH

YOU'RE DOING SUCH AN AMAZING JOB. YOU'RE

SO AND I WAS LIKE oh thank and then as I

was about to he had gone on to the next

person just left the conversation I was

like oh thank you very oh off to the

next person to uh encourage them didn't

feel particularly seen or known some of

you with my ADD brain are going you've

done that to me plenty of times Aaron

but that's okay

one of the problems my brain goes in

many directions at the same time or you

can have flattery encouragement

you know, uh I I heard a lady was

telling me that she went into a clothes

shop. She goes in and the lady goes,

"Wow, that's a really nice jacket that

you're wearing. I like that. Wow, it's

such a nice jacket." And she said, "Oh,

thanks." So, she goes and tries a piece

of clothing on. As she's trying the

piece of clothing on in the changing

rooms, she hears the lady say to the

next customer who comes in, "That's a

lovely top you've got on. I really love

that top." And you know, in that moment,

she realized that the encouragement was

if I can get this person feeling good

about their clothes choice, good about

how they look, they're more likely to

spend money. I'm more likely to get a

commission. And so it was flattery with

self-interest behind it. And so

sometimes that can even be true, but

it's encouragement that's actually

designed to get a particular outcome

from the person. And that's not what

we're talking about when we come to

biblical encouragement. What we're

actually talking about, as uh John Piper

says, is drawing attention to evidence

of God's grace in one another's life.

Now, I don't mean we have to always be

super spiritual, but it is a great way

to put it, isn't it? It's drawing

attention to evidence of the grace of

God. Because we all know that we all

have shortcomings, but we also know we

were fearfully and wonderfully made. And

if you look around right now, you'll see

some were more fearfully than

wonderfully. But we all were we were all

fearfully and wonderfully made. But you

know what the interesting thing is in

the psalm he actually says, I praise you

because I am fearfully and wonderfully

made. You see, healthy encouragement,

yes, it does build us up, but it builds

us up in a way where God gets the glory.

Not building up in a way where now I

think I'm something and I'm puffed up.

No, it doesn't puff up, it builds up.

And that's the difference between

biblical encouragement and, you know, uh

where's Corna? I think I saw him before.

Man, I'm so encouraged by Cornet. I

don't know. He's reasonably new to our

church and every week he just comes up

and just uh waits till the end and then

just encourages me and just it's so

heartfelt and it's like oh it's just so

uh so beautiful and overwhelming and you

can tell it's just a genuine flowing

from his heart and I feel so built up

sometimes at the end of a Sunday. Okay,

Sunday has ended and then Cornet will

just speak a word and I'll just walk out

feeling um so encouraged. So thank you

brother. I believe God's given you a

real ability to encourage people and um

you know it was awesome to spend years

being on staff with Pastor Trevor who is

such an encourager you know just loves

to encourage people and so we have this

uh mandate that we would be people of

encouragement and actually in 1

1 Corinthians 4:3

Corinthians 4:3 it says the one who

prophesies

speaks to people for their strengthening

encouraging and comfort and so I know

some People are like, "Oh, that's just

dumbing down prophecy." But the reality

is, uh, seeing God's grace and feeling

the nudge of the spirit and speaking to

someone according to the grace of God on

their life is a massively prophetic

thing. It it actually shifts something

in people's words worlds. And I do

believe in the in the full thing of the

prophetic gifting. I believe there are

all kinds of different words, but I

believe sometimes people are looking for

grand words instead of just the word of

encouragement. Sometimes they want to

speak mysteries that are that are

mindshattering and they need to say

something that makes people think,

"Wow." Instead of actually realizing

that many times the prophetic call is

actually to call out and encourage God's

grace in someone's life.

Uh, I had this happen. I've shared it

many times because it's one of the

landmark moments in my life when I was

13 or 14 and my dad had just died and I

was really uh quite broken and still

emotional and processing all of it. And

I remember being at a a meeting where we

uh I think it might have been

MyersBriggle, one of those other

personality types we did and everyone

was sharing and this lady within our

church just looked at me and said, "I

see leadership in you." And it it was

actually a a prophetic encouragement.

And so like 30 years later, I can still

remember those words. Can I tell you? I

have received words that were some true

but maybe uh wrapped around that they

would sound far more uh amazing and

pompous than I see leadership in you.

But I can tell you that was a landmark

moment in my life where this person

simply said a word of encouragement and

she would never know. Like if I went to

her now and said, I mean she's been to

be with Jesus, but if I went back to her

and said, "Hey, do you know when I was

13 you said this to me?" It would seem

like the most meaningless thing, right?

I Well, clearly she wouldn't remember

it. And and it would seem like, wow, it

may not have been that meaningful, but

there is something about being people

that see the grace of God in another

person's life and begin to speak to it,

>> drawing attention to the evidence of

God's grace. I remember I I had um when

I used to speak at Promise Keepers, one

of the other speakers who uh we'd maybe

done about 10 PromiseKeepers events

together, so we'd seen each other a

number of times, but we had a very

surface relationship. And this

particular promisekeepers because what

would happen when you spoke, you would

do the circuit, so you'd do Christ

Church, Wellington, um Oakland, u maybe

a few other things all within a few

weeks. And so, uh you'd see each other a

few times. And I knew this particular uh

guy, he had been um unemployed and it

was a horrible moment for him like he

lost a job. He's applying for jobs. Very

competent, very capable man. And he was

going through a season of unemployment

and that's really tough right when you

go through that. And I remember he was

sharing this session and um I just felt

the scripture, you're like a man planted

by the waters who bears fruit in every

season. When I was listening to him, I

was just like, wow. Like he's going

through this, but hearing him preach and

minister is so powerful. And so I didn't

really know him that well and probably

admired him quite a lot, but was like uh

we didn't really have a close

friendship. And I remember he got to the

end of his message and I just waited

around and um I was really nervous

because you never want to be the person

when someone's going through a trial

that just gives glib trite like oh

here's a scripture for you and uh it can

sometimes feel a bit hollow but I really

felt it in my heart. So I was like,

"Hey, hey, I just wanted to encourage

you. Um, this is a scripture that I had

for you that you're like a tree planted

by the water that bears fruit in every

season and even in this season. How

awesome that you're bearing fruit." And

he said, "Oh, thanks, bro." And we left

it there. And I'll be honest, I went

away and um because he was someone I

admired, I replayed that and I was like,

"Oh, I wonder what he thought of that.

Oh, did I?" He said thanks, but he

didn't say anything else. And like I

replayed it in my mind and um I was

like, "Oh, I don't know." Began to

overthink it. Maybe I said the wrong

thing. And uh I I because we'd connected

a little bit more at that particular

event. I flicked him a text and uh

didn't reference the fact cuz I was way

overthinking it. I was like, I better

not send him a text saying, you know, um

I'm like, he's probably forgotten what I

said anyway. But I just sent him a text

and he actually texts me back and I was

like, "Hey, should we uh PromiseKeepers

is in Oakland. Um he lived in Oakland.

Should we catch up?" Uh and he was like,

"Yeah." And so we caught up and um he

said to me um oh when I've been telling

people who I'm coming for dinner with,

I'm actually been telling them that in

this whole journey

I had the most prophetic moment I've had

of God speaking to me at that

promisekeepers event. And it was just

the simplest word of encouragement. just

so simple, you know, didn't need he

didn't need someone to tell him, you

know, here's the job you're going to

apply for and this is the door the

Lord's opening and I see the third angel

descending and it might be unemployment,

but I see THE UNBE CROSSED OUT AND IT'S

GOING TO BE EMPLOY. He didn't need all

of that. He just needed someone to say,

"Well, I can see the grace of God and

you're in a tough season and I discern

that even though the season sucks,

you're like a tree planted by water."

and it opened him up to the grace of

God. And he's like, "Man, that was the

most prophetic moment I've had during

this whole season

simply because of a basic word of

encouragement.

You know, people often when you're a

pastor, they're like, "Well, we need to

have more uh more of the prophetic in

the church." Uh, Pastor Trevor will tell

you, you know, regularly, hey, we need

to have more of the prophetic in the

church. And I'm like, I've never stopped

you encouraging someone once.

Look for the grace of God and encourage

someone.

>> Like, we believe in prophetic words in

our gathering. We I I also actually

believe that

many things that are said in our

gathering are prophetic even if they're

not coupled with thus sayaeth the Lord.

>> That God is speaking to us.

>> Uh I by no means say every time I preach

the message is prophetic. But I do

believe in the midst of all the people

we have preaching at times there are

words that they speak that actually

carry prophetic power to them. and and

we actually need to realize that grace

and and it may not have been thus

sayaeth the Lord, but there's actually

encouragement there. But bigger than

that, being a prophetic church doesn't

mean having seven prophetic words from

the front every morning, even though

we're not opposed to that, you can

imagine if everyone here this morning

came with a thing of saying, "God, let

me discern the grace of God on someone

else's life this morning." That I could

speak a word of encouragement to it. all

of a sudden we would have hundreds of

prophetic words being released every

week. And some people like, "Oh, that's

a pretty low-level prophecy." It is not.

If you realize that this prophecy is

building someone up, that it builds us

up. It actually says, you know, speak

the truth in love so you can bring one

another to maturity. What would happen

if we were no longer looking for a

platform to give some big prophetic

words from? But the most prophetic place

in our church became the foyer because

you could not walk into our foyer

without someone apprehending you and

encouraging you. Not fluffy, but they're

like, "I discern the grace of God in

your life, and I'm going to speak to

it."

>> That would be so much more powerful than

having five prophetic words from the

front. Even though we believe in that,

we need both.

>> But that's why it says in Hebrews 10:24,

Hebrews 10:24

"Let us consider how we may spur one

another on towards love and good deeds."

Not giving up meeting together as some

are in the habit of doing. Don't give up

meeting. But what kind of meeting should

you have? But encourage one another. And

even more as you see see the day draw

nearing. Even more as you get towards

end times. What is the mandate? To

encourage. Could you imagine if every

person who had a revelation that the end

was coming had also had a revelation

that in that season what is supposed to

rise up within our life is words of

encouragement. Because sadly sometimes

the ones with the biggest revelation of

end times are also the most discouraging

people to be around.

>> And I do believe in the return of Jesus.

Jesus is coming back.

>> And we're I don't know when, but I know

one thing. We're closer to that today

than we were yesterday. And so as it

draws nearer, what is the mandate for

the people of God? The mandate for the

people of God is to begin to encourage

one another more. Don't give up meeting

together, but come so all of us can

bring words of encouragement.

I started with Proverbs 18:21. The

Proverbs 18:21

tongue has the power of life and death,

and those who love it will eat of its

fruit. And while it says those who love

it, really what it's talking about is

you are going to eat the fruit of what

you continually speak. The pattern of

your speech will be the fruit that you

eat. Life and death in your life will be

determined by the pattern of your

speech. Yes, that includes declaration,

but we also know it actually includes

the way we speak to one another. I hope

he doesn't mind me sharing it from the

front. I was sharing with Pastor Trivia

yesterday, you know,

he's just so encouraging to me. And so

often,

um,

sometimes

people who transition into a church do

it foolishly and upset the pastor who

was there before them. Also, sometimes

the pastor who was there before them

can't let go and only criticizes what

happens.

And I don't think either Pastor Trevor

or I are like that. That's not the kind

of relationship we have. But what I

realized is Pastor Trevor has spent

decades with the fruit of his lips being

encouraging. And so he is now living in

the fruit of that. And so he is a joy to

be around. We drove over to camp

together yesterday. Um he put up with my

80k an hour driving on the hills and uh

he said to me, "Oh no, I wouldn't

overtake that truck either." And I

thought, "Oh, I don't know."

I thought I think you probably would,

but that's okay.

But I felt so encouraged and so blessed.

But part of what's happening is he's

eating the fruit of his lips. The

pattern of his lips has been to

encourage people. And so he is living in

that. We don't do it for our own good.

But can I tell you, it's pretty good to

have life rather than death.

And the pattern of our speech

determines whether we live in life and

death.

That's why it says consider, think about

how you can spur one another on. You

see, I think it's actually can be a

little bit more mechanical than we want

it to be. I'm actually choosing. Yes,

I'm trying not to have flattery or

empty, but God, I'm choosing to anytime

I see grace on someone, would you help

me to speak it over them so that I can

build them up? And of Isaiah, it says in

the scriptures, you have given me an

instructed tongue that I would know the

word to sustain the weary. And my heart

for us as a church as we bring this to a

close is that we would have an

instructed tongue, all of us, that we

would know the word to sustain one

another when we're weary. Why don't you

stand to your feet,

Jesus? We thank you,

Lord, for your awesome grace over our

lives.

And Lord, I do ask that we would truly

be a prophetic church. And Lord, that a

massive part of that would mean that we

come to encourage and build up one

another. Lord, would this be a place

where, Lord, our foyer was such a an

atmosphere of prophecy because people

were coming to encourage, to build up,

to see the grace of God on one another's

lives and speak to it. Lord, we ask that

you would bless us with an instructed

tongue. Lord, that we would be people

who would know the word to sustain the

weary in Jesus mighty name. Amen. Amen.

Awesome. Hey, just as um

just as Calvin comes um you know uh just

as we close, we uh he'll give a final

notice, but we do have a prayer team on.

So, we'd love to pray with you. Also, if

you're here and you don't know Jesus and

you want to uh know more about that, the

front is also open. We would encourage

you to come forward. Someone would love

to pray with you and talk to you about

what it means to live life connected to

Jesus. But apart from that, have a

wonderful Sunday. I will I don't know if

there's a final notice from Calvin.

Solar.