Growintheword's Blog

Manifestations II
“It’s on the tip of my tongue”
Synopsis Sermon 09/13/09
Delivered by Bishop Walker III

Text: Proverbs 18:21: 21Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.
It is essential that every believer understands the power of words. Words have power. In the natural realm they can hurt or heal ones feelings or attitudes. In the spirit world they are containers of the power that can change life or direct your future. They will literally allow you to get your life in line with God’s plan for your destiny.
Words carry God’s power to literally heal your body, bring unnaturally blessings into your circumstances and bring the promises of God’s word into the natural realm to bless you and your family. Everything that we are is really a result of the words that were spoken into our lives. Someone spoke it, we believed it, and then we became it. Ex- Someone said you could achieve, someone said you can overcome, someone spoke something either positive or negative in your life and you evolved as a result of the word that was spoken into your life.
There are many people that take words for granted, loosely throwing around words not realizing the potency that words represent. The text is the word that Solomon shares that indicates to us that the power of life and death is in the tongue. What is released out through the mouth can be the difference between deliverance and your demise.
This message is being preached today because God says there are many of you that have been waiting on him to move in your life. Things are not progressing at the pace in which you think it should. The reality is the answer to your dilemma is simple. You have been given a word from God in your life and now that word must be spoken over your situation. It’s really on the tip of your tongue. Your breakthrough is on the tip of your tongue. Your healing is on the tip of your tongue. Your miracle is on the tip of your tongue. If you can ever understand the transforming power of God’s word spoken literally over your life living within you, you will stop looking for the answer outside of you and recognize that the answer is already inside of you. It is waiting to be pushed out into the atmosphere and released over your circumstance.
I. Words create a climate
1. When you can walk into and room and listen how people are communicating, it will give you some indication of what kind of climate that they are in. Some people are very faithless (negative and irrational) and others have great faith (always speaking positive words). This is why it is so important to recognize that we represent the words that come out of our mouth. We have to be careful when we walk into crowds of people who are negative, who are naysayers, who are cynical, who are gossipers, and who are always speaking about other people’s business. The reality is they are creating a climate that can infect you. That’s why it is important to be around people that are speaking positive and who are speaking destiny and not about destruction. It is important to know that who we are represents what we believe and what we believe represents who we serve. This is why the enemy wants your words to be filled with negativity.
2. Our thoughts create our reality. In other words what we think is often what we speak. This means that there is just a matter of time when what is on our subliminal comes out to the audible. So what a man thinks, so is he. What happens is we begin to speak a thing and it creates our reality. What we say creates our reality. Ex-We hear somebody say “I am just stupid” or “I’m just slow”. If we continue to speak this, eventually we begin believing this and it becomes a reality in our life. Likewise, if we do the opposite of this like saying, “I am the blessed of the Lord” or “I am favored” or “I am above and not beneath” or “I can do this” or “I can accomplish this”, then you will create the reality of this. The devil loves to control your reality by what you speak by getting you to speak negative words, because if you continue to speak negative words, negative words become your conscious. If negative words become your conscious, then you will not be able to distinguish between things that are good or bad. In other words what you will begin to do is associate negative words with positive experiences not realizing that you are doing it, because you will be so inundated with negative thoughts. In other words you will see a positive situation and describe it with negative words. Ex- Someone asks how a person did and you respond, “They killed it!” You are saying they did great, but you used a negative word to describe a positive situation, because your consciousness is so inundated with negativity. We also say, “They murdered that thing!” Murder is usually a negative word, but in this phrase we are using it to describe a positive situation. How was the concert? “Man it was ill”. Normally “ill” in a positive context would be used to describe someone being sick, but in this example we used it to say something was good. We often use negative words to explain positive situations; because we are so inundated with negativity, our reality is a result of the words we speak.
3. Many of us need deliverance from the spirit of vulgarity or the cursing spirit. These are people that speak in tongues, but not the tongues of the Holy Ghost. Many of us need to recognize that this cursing spirit is a lack of self control. In Gal 5, it talks about the fruits of the spirit and we begin to look at the word “temperance”. Galatians 5: 25: 22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. – That word of temperance means control. The scripture talks about our lack of control. The Greek word there is egkrateia eng-krat’-i-ah (εγκράτεια) means strength or one holding himself in mastering their desires or appetite. We must understand that we must be careful when we speak. The bible says be slow to speak, because the enemy wants us to speak out of our emotions. That’s what gets us into trouble. We speak out of our emotions, rather than pausing and having devotion and saying Lord tell us what to speak, because if we speak what we want to speak, something will come out that we may regret. A lack of control leads ultimately to a lack of character, because now it represents behavior on display. If it comes out of your mouth, it begins to define the kind of character that you have in your life. The lack of character is an indication of a lack of Christ in your life, because there is no way you can represent Christ in the earth speaking like you are speaking. There is nothing you have gone through that Christ has not gone through. Not one time in the scripture did you see him using vulgarity, although there are many instances in the bible where if we were in the same situation, we would have probably cursed. Ex – If Peter would have denied us after all we had done and then he denied us, we would have probably cursed. If we had healed all these people and they turned on us, we would have probably cursed, but Jesus simply said “Forgive them for they know not what they do”. Jesus had a way of using his words wisely.
4. Understand the importance of a proper vocabulary. We have always been told that when people curse, it is because they don’t have the vocabulary to express what they are really trying to say. What you must understand is the power of life and death is in the tongue. We must understand that our vocabulary represents the word, it represents his will, and it represents our witness. That’s why we cannot act a fool with people, because we are trying to create an atmosphere, because of our relationship with Christ.
5. Whatever is in your heart will eventually come out of your mouth. Matthew 12:34: 34O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. – People say stuff and say they didn’t mean to say it, but the truth is they really didn’t mean for you to hear them say that. They really said it, because it was already in their heart. We have to get saved and recognize that a relationship of Christ is really an issue of my mouth and my heart.
6. Salvation is an issue of the heart. Romans 10:9: – 9That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.- If you get your heart right, then the stuff that comes out of your mouth will be right. Psalm 119:11: 11Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.-The word is in our heart. We must then recognize the power of words. If we get our heart right, then our mouth will get right. We are trying to create a climate. This is why we have to get the right people around us and the right people speaking into our life, because whatever is going on in our life, our vocabulary now becomes a word vocabulary based on what God’s will is, based on what the proper witness is , rather than what people are trying to push us into believing. So no matter what happens in our life, we are creating a climate.
II. We must have confidence in our communication
1. If you are going to speak, there has to be confidence in what you are saying. You can’t allow yourself to be a spiritual introvert. What happens is many people don’t understand the value of the words that they speak. When we look at how God uses the word, we discover that God used words to create the world. The word has creating power, so words have the power to create. Every word that we use must be released with intention and purpose. Think through your words, before you release them, because you will release something in the atmosphere. Ex-A younger lad goes to an older man and says he has difficulty because I have said some things about some people that I regret. The young lad asked what he could do to make it right. The older man said you must go and apologize, but he says he wanted to teach him a valuable lesson first. He got a sheet of paper and writes some negative things about the lad. Afterwards he tears it into little pieces and he takes it to a window and releases the pieces into the wind. He tells the young lad to go and retrieve ever piece of paper that was released outside of the window. The young lad goes outside of the window and tries to retrieve as many of the pieces of paper as he can. He comes back in with less than 50% of the paper. He says he could not retrieve all of the pieces of paper. The old man tells him that this is how words are. When you say things about people, you cannot get words back once the words have been released. You have to be careful what you say about people, because the words that you speak into people’s lives can live with them for years. That is why we have to teach men that abuse is not just physical. It can be verbal. Verbal Abuse can be greater than physical abuse, so you have to be careful about the words that you use.
2. We must see ourselves as a vessel by which the Lord uses to flow through to bring to pass the will that he has for our life. This is why it is important to know the word of the Lord. Faith is produced by the word and the word gives us the ability to believe what the word says. The word of God contains the power within itself to cause what it says, to come to pass. If we believe Gods word, we use it in the way that God intended it to be used, then the word of God will begin to work in our life.
3. The word of God unlike any other text is a living document. The word of God cannot be separated from the Christ of whom we serve. Because Jesus died and rose again, he is alive and his word is living. Therefore when we use his word, he word is then active or moving in our life. Therefore, we must act on his word. Faith is an act and the best way to act on his word is to speak his word. Not like a coward, but having confidence to have boldness. This is why the enemy tries to shut you up. Ever wondered why when you are going through something you don’t want to talk to anyone? There is so much word inside of you, the Devil don’t want you to open up your mouth, because if you do, you could release something in the atmosphere that can turn your whole situation around.
4. There is an implicit authority ascribed to you based on the source of the word that lives within you. There is an authority implied, every time you speak. If somebody from of the back of the church would say stand up and come down front, each of us would look at them strange. You would wonder what possessed that person to come down front and ask you to do what they wanted you to do. If your Pastor would ask the same thing, because you have graciously given them the authority, you would stand up because you have given them authority of the moment. He asked the same thing as the example of the person in the back of the church, but the difference is your Pastor is sitting in a place of authority. If you go to court and somebody in an orange jumpsuit says stand, you would automatically think something is wrong. If the bailiff says “all rise”, then you would stand because you recognize the authority given to the bailiff. You give greater respect of his word, because of the authority that he represents. A lot of people are speaking, but you have to know who you are. The problem is the devil already knows who you are. That’s why he doesn’t want you to say anything. Do you know who you are? You are the head and not the tail. You are above and not beneath. You are a royal priest hood. You have a place of authority with your relationship with Christ. When you open up your mouth stuff happens. Matthew 17:20: 20And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.- Jesus tried to teach on authority. He says because of their unbelief, things happen. He says if we have the faith the size of a mustard seed we can ask that the mountain be moved and it shall be moved. Nothing will be impossible, because you understand your authority. Jesus was on ship and sleep and the disciples began to use the wrong words because of the storm. Jesus gives them a lesson on authority. He showed them if you know your authority, you can say peace be still and it will. It is all in what you say. Jesus goes to the grave of Lazarus and his sisters spent the wrong words (…if you had been here…). Jesus told Lazarus to come forth and he did. If you speak to what’s dead, it will come back to your life. Open up your mouth and speak to it with authority.
III. The word of God can change your circumstance
1. You will reap the fruit of what you say. This is the power of confession. When you can understand this in light of circumstances, you refuse to be a victim. This is how the enemy gets us. We walk around as if our situation is going to remain the way it is. If you are hopeless and powerless, God’s word for you today is that it is on the tip of your tongue. There is power to change your circumstance. We are not going to walk around defeated, when we know what the word says about our life.
2. When we speak God’s word, it is called confession. Matthew 4:4: 4But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. – Confession is a law. A law is a simple principle based on a predictable consequence of an act. We can predict the consequences based on the act or law. You don’t have to believe in the law, but it’s still a law. You don’t have to believe in gravity, but it is a law. You can’t say you don’t believe in the law and jump off the batman building, but we guarantee there is a predictable consequence of that act. Tithing is a law, so we can predict the consequence base off of your act. It will be the curse of the blessing. You don’t have to believe in it, but it is a law. Confession in the Greek is homologeo hom-ol-og-eh’-o. This means to say what has been said. The devil is no fool. He knows what confession is. What he tries to do is prevent you from hearing clearly what is intended to be said. If you don’t hear clearly what was the intent of what was said, then you will say what you thought you heard. You have 3 gates that enter your mind. It is the eye gate, the ear gate, and a mouth gate.
3. The bible says the god of this world (Satan) blinds the mind so that the Gospel will not come in. 2 Corinthians 4:4: 4In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
4. The devil tries to control what you see and hear and what you speak so he can distort the word you received. This will make you not able to homologeo. Romans 10:14-17: 14How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? 15And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! 16But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? 17So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. – If we can hear what God’s word is saying, it will produce faith to act on.
5. Confession brings possession. Revelation 3:22: 22He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. We must speak it to possess. Ex- Bishop spends the majority of his time rehearsing for people what he just preached about. If you could ever get a hold of this word you will start homologeoing yourself. In other words you will start confessing God’s word. When you say what God says, you change the circumstances of your life with his word. You are not denying the circumstances; you are confessing what God says about the situation. Since God says he can’t lie, his word shall come to pass.
6. What is the formula? John 1:1: 1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. – In the beginning was the word and word was God. John 1:14: 14And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. – We saw the word that God used in creation and we saw that word wrapped in flesh and we beheld his glory. When we came into relationship with Jesus Christ a marvelous thing happened. God was the word that became flesh so that we could become flesh that becomes the word. God is the word that becomes flesh and because we are in relationship with Christ, we are the flesh that became the word. We are the walking word. Hebrews 4:12: 12For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. -Quick in this text means active. It is all about the heart. Isaiah 55:10-11: 10For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: 11So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. -His word is always on assignment.
7. How do you think God always has a tailor made word for you? It is because his word is always on assignment. So when we speak, we change our circumstances. Romans 4:17: 17(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were. -We are stretching our right now and reaching toward our not yet. The word of God is so creative; we can change circumstances by what we speak. Ex- Grandmother had plant in kitchen. It kept growing and growing. She would be talking to the plant. It looked crazy. We inhale oxygen to live. Plants like us are an organism that needs oxygen for life. We exhale carbon dioxide. Research has shown that plants need carbon dioxide to grow, so what looks like a crazy thing to do (talking to the plant), actually contributes to the growth of the plant by the carbon dioxide she exhaled. The more she talks to it, the more it grows. You might ask why does your Pastor keeps preaching to you? It is because the more he speaks over your life, the more he keeps talking to you and like the carbon dioxide what he gives off contributes to your growth. You need to speak over your situation. We see you low self esteem trying to creep in our lives, but we know what the word says about that. We can do all things through Christ that strengthens us. It is on the tip of our tongue.