Said, Saw and Good - Genesis 1v3

So today I've titled my teaching as said, saw and good.

Yeah?

Said, saw and good.

Thank you, Jane.

I think it was the Spirit of God that definitely led in that direction.

I think they set up beautifully for what I am about to share.

So thanks, Dawn and Jane.

Thank you for being sensitive to the Spirit.

It was exactly what, like speaking, I speak Jesus, I speak Jesus into our situation, into

the streets, into the mountains, into the valleys.

That's what I'm talking about.

So thank you guys.

SAID, said, saw and good.

Yeah.

So those three words, said, saw and good.

The idea came from Genesis chapter 1 verse 3.

Genesis 1:3

Genesis chapter 1 verse 3.

Genesis 1:3

So when we look at Genesis, from Genesis 1, the creation account, the first thing that

we see is God creating the heavens and the earth, right?

And we see the power of God right from the beginning, the power of God's word, right?

The earth was formless.

The earth was void.

And there was darkness over the surface of the deep.

And it was in that moment where there is emptiness, there is darkness, there is void.

I think it's gone.

Let me check.

Maybe I can just use the microphone or?

Okay.

Okay.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So it was in that situation.

And it was in that moment God spoke light.

And there came light, right?

So notice in that situation, there was this hovering spirit, right?

There was this hovering spirit.

And yet, the hovering spirit did not go to work until God spoke, right?

So there's this hovering spirit of God that is over the surface of the deep.

And there is darkness.

There is void.

And it was formless.

And then God spoke light and light came into existence.

So the hovering spirit only goes to work at the sound of his voice.

And that's a very important line.

The hovering spirit only went to work at the sound of his voice.

So God spoke, God saw, and it was good.

That's the teaching for the day, yeah?

God spoke, God saw, and it was good.

So when it comes to sermons, we Christians, oftentimes we look and expect very profound

sermons, right?

Because we've been believers for a long period of time.

So our expectations are high.

We are always looking for sermons that will stir us up.

Sermons that are profound.

Sermons that sound philosophical, right?

But what I'm trying to say is that the word of God is very simple and yet very deep.

And just because the cookies are on the lower shelf doesn't mean it's shallow, yeah?

There's an assumption that anything that is philosophical or sound philosophical is deep.

And anything that is very simple is shallow, yeah?

Let me say for example, let me say this sentence.

In the early hours, I partook in a ritualistic alchemy of caffeinated consciousness and proceeded

to embark upon a contemplative ambulation and allowing each step to intertwine with

the rhythm of awakening awareness, yeah?

Let me say it again.

In the early hours, I partook in a ritualistic alchemy of caffeinated consciousness and proceeded

to embark upon a contemplative ambulation and allowing each step to intertwine with

the rhythm of awakening awareness, yeah?

Sounds fancy, right?

All I'm saying is I had coffee and I went for a walk.

That's all I'm saying, right?

And yet, that's the catch, right?

Sometimes God's word is so simple that we think that it is so shallow.

But that's the word of God.

The word of God is that a three-year-old can understand and a 40-year-old can completely

miss it, yeah?

So I pray that we'll have ears to hear.

Jesus is dealing with a very sophisticated group, yeah, who are the elite thinkers, the

scholars of his time.

And here is a renowned scholar by the name Nicodemus who comes to Jesus.

And yet, Jesus doesn't want to play an academic game with him, yeah?

So here is a renowned scholar and Jesus is saying, you should consider being born again,

yeah?

And Nicodemus thought, surely I will not go back in my mother's womb, yeah?

So Nicodemus is thinking literally, and born again is a very simple term, and yet so deep.

It's like you're missing out.

There's not just a physical life, but there's a spiritual life which you can experience

here on earth and you're missing that out.

And yet, his words were, think about being born again.

And Nicodemus couldn't get it, yeah?

So when these Pharisees and the scribes offer or throw big questions, Jesus would say,

let me tell you a story.

And then he would start sharing his parables, right?

And his parables often had double-edged meanings, very easy to grasp on the surface and yet

very profound, yeah?

So I pray that today's teaching will be something like that.

It will be very easy, very easy to grasp, but maybe life-transforming for you.

Let me show why that is important.

Because we've got to understand that God is the one who communicates, who speaks things

into existence.

That's his nature, right?

Whenever he's going to do something, he announces first before he acts upon it, yeah?

So he's a speaking God.

He communicates.

And in Isaiah 55 verse 11 where it says, so is my word that goes out of my mouth, it will

Isaiah 55:11

not return empty, but it will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which

I sent, right?

So meaning like God's word is guaranteed to fulfill the purpose and it's never going

to return empty, right?

The moment the word comes from the mouth of God, the moment word is released from God,

it's going to accomplish for the very reason why it was sent out for, yeah?

So for example, if God says that you're going to go to Brazil or Argentina and going to

raise a bivocational, you know, a bivocational young apostolic and who are gifted in the

business man.

If that's the word that God had spoken over your life, it may take a year, it may take

five years, it may take 20 years, but it will come to pass, yeah?

That's the certainty of God's word.

It will surely come to pass.

Such is the power and the reliability of God's word, yeah?

So this is why man does not live on bread alone.

We are never by bread alone, yeah?

But we are sustained by the word that proceeds from the mouth of God and God speaks yesterday,

he spoke yesterday, he's speaking today for our generation and he will continue to speak

for the generation to come, right?

So in the Bible, you'll come across this phrase, thus says the Lord, right?

Thus says the Lord.

I really love that phrase, thus says the Lord and I started exploring that phrase, thus

says the Lord, thus says the Lord.

And every time he says, thus says the Lord, be it through a prophet, be it through an

angel, it always accomplishes, right?

That very phrase is released by God.

Thus says the Lord.

It's guaranteed that whatever that following sentence is, it's going to come to fruition,

right?

So take for example, in 2 Kings, chapter 3, here's this three kings, King Jehoram, King

2 Kings 3 · chapter mention

Josephet and King of Edom.

These three kings, they team up and they march against the King of Moab and seven days they

traveled in the wilderness and they ran out of water.

And so one king said, we are doomed.

And then the other king, King Josephet said, isn't there a man of God in this region from

whom we can inquire of the Lord?

So just to cut the story short, Elisha was proposed.

And so these three kings, they saw Elisha and then Elisha said, get me a musician.

And then they brought him a harpist.

And so when the harpist started playing, the word of the Lord came powerfully upon him,

right?

And he said this phrase, thus says the Lord, right?

And then he instructed them to dig the trenches.

It was a desert and yet the word of the Lord said, dig up the trenches.

And so they dug this whole valley with trenches.

Not one trench, not two, but full, right?

And then what happened was the next morning, like what God said was that, I'm not going

to use rain, I'm not going to use wind.

But the valleys, the trenches are going to be filled with water.

He's saying, I'm going to do it my supernatural way.

No wind, no rain, still the water will be filled, right?

And so as we read that story, we saw that in the morning for real.

Sure enough, the next morning, and after they offered their grain offering, the whole trenches

were miraculously filled.

That's what God's word does, right?

When he speaks, it is guaranteed that it's going to come to fruition.

God says, the Lord, that phrase had appeared several times in the Bible.

And each one, God fulfills every time.

And so God had spoken through his written word, right?

That God's, all scripture is God's breathed, as Timothy would put it, right?

I mean, Paul's letter to Timothy.

And so God spoke through his written word.

God spoke through his Holy Spirit.

And he continues to speak through his Holy Spirit.

Thirdly, he spoke through the prophets, right?

Back in the day, the word of the Lord was very limited.

The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah in the 13th year of the king of reign of King Josiah,

right?

Or, you know, or Hosea 1.

The word of the Lord came to Hosea, son of Barai, during the reigns of Uzziah, right?

The word of the Lord was very rare.

It would come through prophets, right?

But the beauty or the advantage that you and I have now is that we have the Lord, we have

the word of the Lord every day.

If you are paying attention every minute, huge advantage, right?

So that's the third one.

God had spoken through his written word.

God had spoken through his Spirit.

God had spoken through his prophets and priests.

And God had spoken through his angels, right?

You know, angel Gabriel would bring message of the Lord, right?

And then the fifth one.

God had spoken through visions and dreams.

God spoke to Daniel.

God spoke to Solomon.

God spoke to Daniel.

We can go on.

So in the Old Testament, God always speaks through different channels.

When it comes to the New Testament, it's a little different.

Now God is speaking through Jesus.

The word, God has become flesh.

And now whatever that Jesus had spoken, it will always come to fruition.

Not a single word of Christ falls to the ground empty.

So there's no change of plan.

There's no change of plan.

It's always plan A. God spoke, he will continue to speak, right?

So when Jesus came, Jesus said, Jesus saw and it was good.

The very phrase which I started, it continues through Jesus Christ, right?

On one occasion, Jesus was even willing to go to that centurion's house.

And so he said, shall I come to your house?

This centurion came to Jesus and said, my servant is suffering terribly.

He's paralyzed and he's terribly suffering.

And so Jesus offered that, shall I come to your house and then heal your servant?

And then this servant, sorry, this man in a centurion said, say the word and my servant

shall be healed.

Say the word.

He believed that Jesus doesn't need to come to his house.

If only Jesus had spoken, whether he is physically there or not doesn't really matter.

It's going to happen, right?

So Jesus was impressed with his faith and he said, go.

And he goes, right?

And let it be done so, just as you have believed, right?

And then when this man, centurion, went home, that time his servant was healed.

So Jesus spoke, the centurion saw and it was good.

Yeah?

Every word that Jesus spoke brings healing, brings order, brings life.

Jesus isn't speaking whatever he wants.

He isn't speaking whatever he wants.

Yeah?

He's only speaking what the Father is revealing.

He only sees what the Father is showing him.

So he does nothing on his own.

And that's the thing, right?

In the Old Testament, the God of Israel, Yahweh, had spoken through a burning bush,

through a pillar of fire, and his words carried divine authority.

That's the God of the Old Testament.

In the New Testament, Jesus comes in the flesh and yet he says, all authority in heaven and

on earth has been given to me.

And so Jesus carries here on earth, though in the flesh, same authority.

Whatever he spoke, things happen, right?

And so there's much more to say.

But you and I have been commissioned.

You and I have been empowered.

You and I have been authorized to be the mouthpiece of Jesus Christ.

And many Christians sometimes, we don't underestimate, we don't understand the

importance of that.

There's a weight upon our shoulders, guys.

This is why Jesus says, you are in the world, but you are not of the world.

You represent me.

You are created in my image.

I have put my own spirit in you.

Yeah?

You are not speaking in your own authority.

I am commissioning you.

Jesus is saying, you know, before the Great Commission, right, he says, all authority

in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Now I empower you.

I commission you to go and make disciples to proclaim the gospel to the four corners

of the world.

That's the mandate you have and I have.

It doesn't really matter whether you're an engineer, whether you're a doctor, whether

you're a student, whether you are an IT guy.

It doesn't really matter.

You are authorized to be the mouthpiece of God.

You're authorized.

Yeah?

So, you know, I'm going to share just three points here.

First, why it is really important for us to use words, right?

And here, you know, I'm not talking about preaching or I'm not talking about, you know,

evangelism.

That's for another day.

Of course, it's important to evangelize.

It's important to share the gospel to our non-Christian friends and everybody.

That's true.

But here, I'm talking about words that you and I use every day at home, at work, or in

the bus, or wherever it is.

The importance of using words.

Yeah?

Because we only, because our words only matters or we, or say, we give importance to our words

only when we are evangelizing, only when we are preaching, or only when we are praying.

I pray that you will understand the weight of our words, the weight, the responsibility,

the privilege, and the honor we carry with our words.

Yeah?

So, first, the power of our words aligned with God's will.

The power of our words aligned with God's will.

Yeah?

Words of our own are lifeless.

Words of our own are powerless.

Human-originated words carries no power.

Human-originated words doesn't have any power.

I may come and say, repent.

Don't repent.

It's like, who are you?

Yeah?

It's like, there's no authority if my words are human-originated.

Yeah?

But when God breathes into my words, when there is the breath of God, when there is

the Spirit of God breathing through my words, there's power.

It brings conviction.

Yeah?

How sinners come to know Christ is that somebody shares the Word of God, and one may not be

a great preacher, but it's just simple words that you spoke and your friend is convinced.

You and I, it's so hard to convince others.

Yeah?

I remember, and I shared this story with some of our friends, but I'm just going to repeat

it.

There was a very famous preacher who came to my previous college, Regent College.

The auditorium was filled.

There were thousands of people and gave this wonderful lecture.

We were blown away by how wise this person is.

But as we were having coffee after that event, one of our friends said, yeah, but I don't

agree with him.

Yeah?

That's all it takes, eh?

Human words are like that.

You may agree with me, you may not agree with me.

And if you don't agree with me, no matter how smart I am, no matter how philosophical

I may sound, it doesn't convince you.

Yeah?

That's why knowledge puffs up.

It doesn't bring transformation.

My mom used to say, Tuni, there are two kinds of preachers who comes to our village.

One group is that they will come and we will be blown away by how much they know and how

little we know.

Yeah?

It fascinates us.

And yet, the second kind of preacher comes to our village.

When they come and preach, lives change.

People repent.

They change their ways.

Yeah?

There are two kinds of preachers here.

One is just mere human-originated wisdom and knowledge.

One is spirit-inspired, God-inspired.

And the second one is your mandate.

The second one is my mandate.

You and I are empowered for this.

Yeah?

And this is not just to do with leaders here in this house.

Not just leaders.

Everybody.

That's why he had put his spirit in you in the first place.

Right?

So, you know, Jeremiah 1, 9 and 10 talks about that.

Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth.

And the Lord said to me, behold, I have put words in your mouth.

I really love that verse.

See, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms to pluck up and to break

down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plan.

So he's been authorized, he's been given to do this.

And yet, God is saying, I have put words in your mouth.

Yeah?

On one hand, there is God's sovereignty.

He is saying that nations and given kingdoms, right, I have set you this day over nations,

over kingdoms to pluck, to break, to destroy, to overthrow, to build, to plan.

He is saying that I am the sovereign one.

And so I have set you over these nations.

On one hand, we see God's sovereignty.

On the other hand, we see I have put words in your mouth.

Man has a responsibility here.

Yeah?

So God's sovereignty, man's responsibility, they have to meet.

They have to meet.

Yeah?

Until and unless God's sovereignty and man's responsibility meet, we will not see change

here on earth.

God, as St. Augustine would put it, God, without us, he will not.

Though God can do everything by himself, God without us, he will not.

And man without God cannot.

No matter how hard you and I try, we cannot without God.

And yet God, on the other hand, even though he can, he doesn't want to do it without us.

You know, the song goes, you didn't want heaven without us, right?

You didn't want heaven without us.

And heaven would be empty.

Yeah?

So God's sovereignty, man's responsibility, and as they meet, so we have a responsibility

and that responsibility is our response to God's ability, that is our responsibility.

Yeah, I say that again.

Our response to God's ability, that becomes our responsibility.

So when we see the prevalence of sickness, darkness, spiritual bondage, and addiction,

all kinds of diseases and challenges in our lives and in the lives of the people around us,

yet often we fail to speak light into these situations.

Yeah?

We see darkness all around and we're like, oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

We just admit the reality and do nothing about it.

That's not for you, that's not for me.

You and I are given the mandate to speak into dark things.

Yeah?

That's what Jesus has commissioned you and I.

We are never meant to live a defeated life.

For many Christians, it's difficult to speak good things into a world that is lost and

tainted with negativity.

Yeah?

So this isn't just about positive thinking or positive speaking.

Yeah?

That's different.

That's very shallow, you know, being positive thinking and having positive mindset.

No, it is about aligning with a divine perspective.

Yeah?

So on one hand, yes, we acknowledge the reality of our conditions, right?

We're not denying the reality.

And yet, on the other, we are given the mandate to speak victory into these darkness, into

these challenges, right?

Yeah?

Are you getting what I'm saying here?

Yeah.

So we're not brushing aside reality.

So in faith, we bring our requests into alignment with God's will.

Yeah?

In faith, we bring our requests into alignment with God's will.

Right?

So we've got to put two Bible verses together here.

First is 1 John 5 verse 14.

1 John 5:14

1 John 5 verse 14, where it says that if we ask according to his will, he'll answer us,

1 John 5:14

even if we ask anything, right?

So it's not like Tuni asking anything he wants, right?

It is Tuni asking according to the will of God, right?

So that's one.

And Hebrews chapter 2, right?

Hebrews 2 · chapter mention

The word of God, which they heard, did not profit them because they did not mix faith

with it, because there was no faith in it, right?

So without faith, it is impossible to please God.

Faith is an essential ingredient to whatever we do as Christians, right?

Because without faith, even if you're starting a business, even if you're commanding, there's

no faith, right?

Because it doesn't please God.

Because without faith, it is impossible to please God.

That's what it says.

Without faith, it may not be possible.

No, it is impossible to please God.

Yeah?

That's a hard line.

So we bring faith, yet not just what I want, but with the will.

So when you and I are able to mix our faith in accordance with the will of God, God is

saying, you ask whatever it is, it will be done.

So faith is not in ourself, but faith is grounded in God's word, right?

Faith is not in ourselves, in our own abilities, in our own giftings, but faith is grounded

in the word.

So it is partnering with God.

It is partnering with God.

So faith is not a blind leap in the dark.

We say that faith is like jumping in the dark, you know?

No, that's stupidity.

Yeah?

Faith is not a leap in the dark.

Yes?

Faith is still a leap into something uncertain, unknown, and yet, while holding the God who

really knows you well.

That's faith.

Yeah?

You know the nature of God.

You know God is this, God is that.

You know that God's truth.

You know God's principles.

You know how God operates.

And so even though the next step is uncertain, unsure, yet you still walk in faith.

Why?

Because you're holding the hands of the God of the universe who knows you by name.

That is faith, right?

That is faith.

So why sometimes we speak and yet things doesn't happen?

We pray and yet things doesn't happen.

Why?

Here, you know, I want to share two reasons here.

Everything about God is true.

Everything about God is transparent.

Everything about God is holy.

And so when we mix with our own ambition, when we mix with greed, when we speak with

our own greed and jealousy or revengeful attitude, it doesn't serve Christ and the kingdom.

That's one.

Secondly, the other extreme is name it, claim it.

Right?

Name it, claim it.

It's like if you have the faith for it, just ask the Lord and by faith you will receive

it, yeah?

God wants you to be rich.

So just pray that God will give you a new car.

Don't doubt it.

Believe it.

Have faith.

Receive it.

Right?

Name it.

Claim it.

That's the other extreme, right?

No.

True faith operates within the bound of God's will.

True faith operates within the bounds of God's will.

Right?

You know, recently God showed me a vision and it was impossible, humanly speaking.

It was impossible.

Yet, I am confident that that was God's will.

So what I started doing is that I started declaring what God had shown me.

I'm yet to see it come to fruition, but whenever I get an opportunity, I'm starting to declare

what God had shown me, yeah?

And that's just one practice that I'm doing, which I'm just sharing, which might be helpful

maybe for some of you.

So the point that I'm making here is that we are called to come into alignment with

God's will.

John would put it, abiding Christ, right?

And in this abiding, mixed with faith, powerful combination, right?

Powerful combination.

Not words of our own, but when we now begin to use words according to the will of God,

aligned with the will of God, and you speak those words with faith.

It's a deadly combination, guys.

So that's the first one.

Second, miracle is in your mouth.

Miracle is in your mouth.

Do you believe that?

When I first heard that phrase, I thought and thought, and again and again, miracle

is in your mouth.

Victory is in your mouth.

Success is in your mouth.

Why?

Where do I draw this from?

Proverbs 18-21, where it says, death and life are in the power of the tongue, right?

Some versions say that the tongue can bring life and death, and those who love will reap

the consequences.

Some versions say those who love it will eat the labor of its fruits.

Yeah?

And you know, Proverbs 13-3 also says, whoever guards his mouth preserves his life, and he

opens wide his lips comes to ruin.

There's power of words in what we speak.

There's life, there's death.

One can be under this roof, and we can go out, and as we have coffee, the same teaching,

the same spirit moving in our midst, one can say, life is dull.

Life is boring.

One can say, life is amazing.

And it's in the power of the tongue.

Sometimes the least optimistic people are strangely Christians.

Yeah?

Despite having the God of the universe, the God of the universe doing extraordinary things,

and yet often we struggle with our own self, with our own problems, and this is a very

important line.

Unknowingly, we pronounce judgment and spiritual bondage over ourselves.

Yeah?

Unknowingly, we pronounce judgment and speak spiritual bondage over ourselves.

Let me tell you why.

Some say, my depression, my ADHD, my cancer, my addiction, and so my question is, when

have you started owning these things?

We even begin to say, my addiction, my cancer.

Yes, acknowledging them is one reality, and I'm not denying that, but claiming them to

be ours isn't right.

You don't own cancer.

God doesn't say, hey, it's just cancer, take it.

It's just depression, take it.

No, God doesn't give you, and you don't receive such sicknesses.

It's not yours.

It's not mine.

Yeah?

We don't own them.

Maybe it is what you are wrestling with, but it's not a gift from God.

You don't own that.

I once had cancer, as you all know, but I don't own that.

God had removed that.

So I think we've got to change our words.

We don't say, my cancer, my depression.

No, it's not yours.

It's not yours.

God hasn't given you that.

Yeah?

The enemy might torment you.

Similarly, we speak poverty over ourselves.

I'll never be able to afford it.

I'll never be able to afford it.

You may not be able to afford it for now, but God may be able to do it for you.

It's important because we restrict, we limit God.

And you will read that in Psalm 78, where the Israelites, right?

From the TBT version, where it says, again and again, they limited God, preventing from

blessing them.

Again and again, they limited God, preventing Him from blessing them.

How?

They grumbled.

They rebelled.

And that really stopped God from blessing them because God wanted them to show who He

is to their enemies.

Yeah?

I will be an enemy to your enemies.

Yeah?

I will bless those you bless.

I will show you don't need to have kings.

I am your king.

I am your father.

I will do whatever it takes.

I will show the world that you are my chosen people.

You will be a light to the nations.

That's what God is saying.

And yet, again and again, just because they don't have meat, yeah?

There's no water.

Complain.

Complain.

Complain.

They limit God.

We all limit God.

Don't think this is just Israelite story.

We all limit God.

We limit God at varying degrees.

Yeah?

Some of us limits God more than others.

Some have more faith.

Because of our fear, because of our lack of faith, because of our insecurities, for different

We limit God.

Yeah?

So, that's another one.

This even extends to spiritual giftings.

Yeah?

Ah, you know, speaking in tongues is never for me.

Yeah?

Never for me.

To prophesy, to heal when I pray and forgot to heal, that's never me.

To pastor, that's never me.

Yeah?

Like, oh, God would never use someone like me.

It's a false humility.

Where in the Bible where it says, God won't use you?

Yeah?

God chose the most unexpected people.

He knows my shortcomings.

He knows your shortcomings.

Knowing the fact that we have fallen short, He calls you and I.

So, you know, we've got to avoid these words because we limit God.

Yeah?

That may not be your reality, but that doesn't mean you have the license to say it will never

happen.

No.

Yeah?

So we've got to match our prayer with what we speak.

There have been occasions where we pray for the sick and then come out and, ah, I don't

think he will get well.

Yeah?

Yeah?

Oh, I prayed for a financial breakthrough.

And then you come out and say, ah, I can't afford it.

We pray for what we want to let God do for us.

And yet when we start speaking in our everyday conversations, we speak a different language

again.

Our prayers and the things we speak doesn't match.

I pray that we will match because we will limit God with our mouth.

Yeah?

So we must change our sound.

We must change our sound because God has given us the privilege, the honor, and the responsibility

to speak on his behalf.

We are to decree heaven's strategies.

We are to decree heaven's plans.

We are to decree heaven's purposes here on earth.

That's for you.

That's for me.

Not just for pastors.

It's for everybody.

Right?

So your miracle will be in your mouth.

You will eat its fruit.

Life and death are in the power of the tongue.

This is why speaking in tongues becomes very important.

Because I can only pray with words that I know.

Yet when I learn to begin to speak in tongues, I don't even understand what I'm praying,

but the Spirit of God is interceding on my behalf.

For many Christians, they think that everybody doesn't need to speak in tongues.

It's true.

Everybody doesn't need to.

Because this is a gift that God offers for free.

So it's not mandatory.

Yeah?

It's not mandatory.

It doesn't prove your spirituality.

But it's a gift.

It's a free gift.

And the gift of tongue edifies the person.

It helps you to intercede.

The Spirit will help you to intercede with groanings that you can't even understand.

And he's going to pray in alignment with the will of God.

Meaning your prayer may fall short, but the Spirit will pray on your behalf so that he

matches your prayer with the will of God.

That's what praying in tongues does.

And many Christians say, oh no, no, no, I don't need it.

I don't want it.

We should pray for it, friends.

Yeah?

And I'm not saying that it's mandatory.

It's not mandatory.

But it's a gift.

It's a gift.

So that's the second one.

And the last one.

Echoing God's voice.

Echoing God's voice.

Because it releases the power of the Spirit.

It releases the power of the Spirit.

You know, remember how we started?

The earth was formless.

It was empty.

It was dark.

And in that moment, and in that situation, God spoke light and light came into existence.

Your life may be dark.

Your life may be formless.

You don't really know what you're doing right now.

Purposelessness.

Fear of lack.

You feel like you have hit your rock bottom.

You feel like there's addiction.

There is lack.

There is purposelessness.

There is depression.

There is anxiety.

And you feel like darkness is hovering over your life.

You feel like you are covered with darkness.

Seize that moment.

Seize that moment.

Rise up to that occasion and speak light into your situation.

Yeah?

Remember, the hovering Spirit of God only goes to work when God spoke.

At the sound of God's voice, the hovering Spirit goes to work.

God will change your situation as you speak into your situation.

Is there a scripture backup for that?

Yes.

Mark 11, 23.

Jesus is saying, like, Jesus is not saying, I will speak to the mountains.

I will remove mountains for you.

Jesus isn't saying that.

Jesus is saying, whoever.

Yeah?

Jesus is saying, whoever.

Let me read.

Whoever says to this mountain, be removed and be cast into the sea

and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says

will be done and he will have whatever he says.

It's for whom?

Whoever.

Yeah?

Jesus is commissioning you and I to speak, to speak to our mountains,

whatever your mountains is.

Yeah?

Is it a mountain of depression?

Is it a mountain of fear?

Is it a mountain of lack?

Mountain of purposelessness?

See, sometimes we don't have to pray.

Yes, there's room for prayer, but sometimes we have to speak into it.

Jesus isn't praying everywhere he goes.

There are times when he uses words he commands.

He rebuked the fever.

Yeah?

He rebuked.

He commanded the sea.

So friends, not every situation needs to be with our religious,

Christiany prayer.

There are areas in our lives where you just have to believe and speak by faith.

Yeah?

We all have days that are harder, that are more challenging than some other days,

be it at work, be it at church, or wherever it is.

There are days when we are not at our best physically, emotionally, mentally,

and I get that.

I often, I mean, not often, sorry.

I sometimes come to church to lead worship, and yet I'm feeling tired.

Yeah?

My body feels drained.

And there are days like that for you I know.

Mind feels dull.

Maybe even those days, I would encourage you, rise up.

Maybe those are the days when you just want to sit quiet in the church and listen

and stay low key.

I would say those days, rise up.

Be intentional.

Give him the due honor and reverence.

Give your worship like you have never given before.

Yeah?

Declare who God is.

Declare his sovereignty.

Yeah?

Declare his truth.

Declare his presence.

Declare his joy.

Declare his grace.

Declare his peace.

Declare his glory.

Declare his presence.

And I tell you, you will see and experience the renewing power of God.

Renewing power of God.

There have been so many times when we are not at our best and yet we worship, things

change.

The atmosphere changes.

You know, remember Paul and Silas.

They were beaten, chained, feeling sore from their lashes, barely alive.

And about midnight, they chose to worship.

I always find this story very fascinating.

Yeah?

Every time I read this, I'm always encouraged.

They're on the verge of almost like dying.

And then they would get up around midnight.

And I love the phrase where as they were praising and worshiping God around midnight, the other

prisoners were listening to them.

And what happened?

The power of the Lord came.

Chains fell off.

Not just their chains.

Not just the chains of Paul and Silas.

The chains of every other prisoner around them.

It changes the atmosphere, man, friends.

Be that voice.

Be that voice of praise when things aren't going the way you want.

Be that voice of praise.

Get up in such situations.

Because the hovering spirit will transform, will go to work as you declare the things

of God.

Yeah?

So change your sound, guys.

Change your sound if you want God to change your sight.

As you and I change our sound, God changes our sight and it will be good.

Yeah?

God said, and then he saw, and it was good.

You speak.

You will see.

And it will be good.

Yeah?

Thank you, guys.