Life Hacks: Week 3
HAVE YOU EVER SAID SOMETHING THAT YOU WISH YOU COULD IMMEDIATELY TAKE BACK?
Examples of how powerful words are:
Will you marry me?
You are beautiful.
You are worthless.
You are guilty.
You are innocent.
I love you.
PEOPLE WHO HAVE WISDOM USE THEIR WORDS IN WAYS THAT GLORIFY GOD. YOU CANNOT HAVE GODLY WISDOM AND NOT HAVE THE ABILITY TO CONTROL YOUR TONGUE.
Proverbs 13:3 (NLT) Those who control their tongue will have a long life; opening your mouth can ruin everything.
Proverbs 21: 23 (ESV) Whoever keeps his mouth and his tongue keeps himself out of trouble.
James 3:5-10 (NLT) 5In the same way, the tongue is a small thing that makes grand speeches. But a tiny spark can set a great forest on fire. 6And among all the parts of the body, the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself. 7People can tame all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and fish, 8but no one can tame the tongue. It is restless and evil, full of deadly poison. 9Sometimes it praises our Lord and Father, and sometimes it curses those who have been made in the image of God. 10And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right!
WORDS HAVE HAD POWER SINCE THE BEGINNING OF TIME
GOD USED HIS WORDS TO CREATE LIFE.
Psalm 33:8-9 (ESV) 8Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him! 9For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.
Genesis 1:26 (NLT) Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us.”
- We’re created in the image of God, and as such we, should model how we use our words after the way that God used His words—TO BRING LIFE!
Words also brought death into the world:
Genesis 3:1-7 (ESV) 1Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made.
He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” 4But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.
Satan’s words to Adam and Eve led them ( and the world) to death. In the same way, our words have the power to destroy:
Proverbs 11:9 (NLT) With their words, the godless destroy their friends, but knowledge will rescue the righteous.
OUR WORDS REFLECT OUR HEARTS
WHATEVER GOES INTO OUR MINDS/HEARTS WILL EVENTUALLY COME OUT OF OUR MOUTHS.
Matthew 12:34-35 (ESV) 34You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. 35The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil.
- If our hearts are full of fear, anger, loneliness, pride, etc., those things will be reflected in how we use our words.
HOW DO I GUARD MY LIPS?
LIFE HACK 1: For the next 4 Days, try to keep track of (write down) everything that you watch and listen to, as best you can—songs, movies, what you read, what you are checking on social media, etc. Go back and read the list one week later.
LIFE HACK 2: Share the load! Give someone close to you permission to call you out when you’re not using your words for good.
LIFE HACK 3: What do I do if I’m in the middle of it right now? Stop, drop and roll. The same thing we tell kids to do when they are on FIRE:
- Stop talking!
- Drop to your knees
- Roll in a different direction
LIFE HACK 4: Start with speaking LIFE into peoples’ lives. You may still have to say hard things at some point, but why not start by speaking life?
QUESTIONS TO DISCUSS IN LIFE GROUPS OR WITH YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS
PASSAGES TO CONSIDER: Proverbs 12:18-19, 22; 13:3, 21:23; 26:20; James 3:3-10; or select one from the sermon.
- Share how what you wanted to apply from last week went.
- Talk about the sermon. What was significant to you?
- There are words that bring life and those that bring death. Share and compare what each of those types sound like.
- What makes words so powerful?
- What has been your experience with words and your own tongue?
a) What “words of life” easily come?
b) What types of “words of death” easily come off your tongue?
4. Matthew 15:18 says the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart. What do your words show you about your heart?
a) What helps you be aware of how what you feed your heart (what you read, listen to, think about) impacts your words?
Which life hack, shared in the sermon or group, would help you to set a guard over your lips and train your tongue? How will you intentionally use it?