Notes From a Conference Message On Words

the very first words that were spoken was not by man, but by God. it is one of the ways we are like God. words belong to God. 

words are profoundly important precisely because they are in every mundane moment of our lives and it is in those moments that we know where are our hearts are. 

none of our words are neutral. our words have direction- either towards life, or death. 

isn't it significant that faith comes by hearing? 

i was filled with the wonder of this question- how could it be, that God would love me this much, that He would actually care about this mundane incidental moment in one morning of one day of one week  of one month of one year of one family living on one street in one neighbourhood in one city  in one state in one nation in one globe in one universe in one moment of time and God in the glory of His love was in that moment, raising someone up to rescue my heart one more time. that is love, so magnificent, i can't wrap my brain around it. that redeeming love is not just a big-moment love. that love reaches into the private recesses of our everyday lives, into those secret quiet moments, even into moments of the bathroom on a single day- that's how zealous that redeeming love actually is. and because of that we can have the courage to work through the horror of the trouble of our world of words.

"For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks."
(Luke 6:43-45)

what comes out of our mouths is not a reaction to what people do or our circumstances but a reflection of our hearts.

if it hadn't first been in our hearts, it wouldn't have come out of our mouths. 

there's nothing that comes out of the mouth of a drunk that wasn't there in the first place. alcohol merely loosens the lips to reveal what is in the heart. 

there is an organic consistency between what is in my heart and what comes out of my mouth, just like only apple seeds can produce apple trees. 

nice-sounding words without work on the heart is like stapling sweet and juicy apples to a tree that would only continue to produce sour and dry ones. 

we are our greatest communication problem.

"For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised."
(2 Corinthians 5:14-15)

by focusing on ourselves, we are reducing the glory-and-love-infused, big sky kingdom of God vast beyond our imaginations in which we were made to reside to the claustrophobic, restricting, oppressive, self-destructive confines of the self. 

why am i irritated when i'm in traffic? because i want to drive on roads paid for by other citizens who choose not to use them. why am i irritated when my children mess up? because i want self-parenting, sinless children.

how much of our anger has anything at all to do with the kingdom of God?

"For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another. But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh."
(Galatians 5:13-16)

God has invested words with power. People can be destroyed by words.

sin is fundamentally anti-social. it dehumanizes the people around us, making them either merely vehicles to get what we want, or obstacles to what we want.

this is the man you married. the man you dated was the fake.

to be self-seeking is to try to find happiness in little glory that can never last or even satisfy. 

"His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire."
(2 Peter 1:3-4)

Jesus is Emmanuel not just because He came to earth but also because He chose to make us the place where He dwells.

what kingdom rules your words? whose kingdom do you speak in service of?

word problems are heart problems. the struggle of words is a struggle of kingdoms- a war between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of self. the kingdom that rules your heart will dictate your words. there is grace- glorious, powerful, enabling, forgiving, delivering grace for this struggle.

http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/conference-messages/war-of-words-getting-to-the-heart-for-gods-sake#/watch/full