1 00:00:00,517 --> 00:00:00,917 Hey everybody, 2 00:00:00,917 --> 00:00:03,269 good morning and welcome to Christ Community Chapel. 3 00:00:03,269 --> 00:00:03,920 My name is Joe, 4 00:00:03,920 --> 00:00:07,757 I'm one of the pastors here, and I'm glad that you have come. 5 00:00:07,907 --> 00:00:09,676 A couple of things before we get started. 6 00:00:09,676 --> 00:00:12,996 The first is Happy Father's Day to all you dads out there. 7 00:00:13,029 --> 00:00:14,814 So glad that you're here. 8 00:00:14,814 --> 00:00:17,817 Oh, good. 9 00:00:18,435 --> 00:00:20,787 And good job. 10 00:00:20,787 --> 00:00:24,441 Listen, we talk a lot about the world 11 00:00:24,441 --> 00:00:27,577 needing men who will love and lead their families 12 00:00:27,594 --> 00:00:31,347 and by being a dad and bringing your family here, 13 00:00:31,681 --> 00:00:34,667 you're leading well, so kudos. 14 00:00:34,751 --> 00:00:35,552 Thanks. 15 00:00:35,552 --> 00:00:40,507 Oh, and don't miss the cereal bar that we have out in the atrium 16 00:00:40,507 --> 00:00:41,474 after the service. 17 00:00:41,474 --> 00:00:45,195 You got to stop by the cereal bar so we can appreciate you. 18 00:00:45,228 --> 00:00:48,515 Second thing is that you can tell from all the decorations 19 00:00:48,515 --> 00:00:51,601 in the church that kids camp starts on Monday. 20 00:00:51,601 --> 00:00:56,673 If you're one of the 400 or so people that are volunteering your time 21 00:00:56,673 --> 00:00:59,993 so we can pull off kids camp, thank you. 22 00:01:00,043 --> 00:01:03,163 It would not surprise me if when we get to heaven, 23 00:01:03,163 --> 00:01:07,467 we find out that the week of kids camp was the most important week 24 00:01:07,467 --> 00:01:12,155 of our church calendar, because telling over 1000 kids about Jesus 25 00:01:12,155 --> 00:01:16,076 and them having a blast while we do it, it's just priceless. 26 00:01:16,192 --> 00:01:18,762 So thanks. Thanks for doing all that. 27 00:01:18,762 --> 00:01:19,629 All right. 28 00:01:19,629 --> 00:01:23,116 We are in the middle of our Old Testament series. 29 00:01:23,116 --> 00:01:27,187 Every year we spend ten weeks somewhere in the Old Testament. 30 00:01:27,554 --> 00:01:31,307 This year we were spending it in the book of Proverbs looking for wisdom. 31 00:01:31,357 --> 00:01:35,562 We are calling this series More Wisdom, More Life. 32 00:01:35,562 --> 00:01:40,316 And the proverb for today is Proverbs chapter 18, verse 21. 33 00:01:40,517 --> 00:01:43,520 This is what it says death and life 34 00:01:43,670 --> 00:01:48,391 are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit. 35 00:01:49,042 --> 00:01:52,028 Death and life 36 00:01:52,312 --> 00:01:55,315 are in the power of the tongue. 37 00:01:55,999 --> 00:01:59,469 There are a few things that you will encounter in your life 38 00:01:59,469 --> 00:02:02,922 that are more powerful than words. 39 00:02:02,956 --> 00:02:03,990 Let me just stop there. 40 00:02:03,990 --> 00:02:05,975 Let that sink in. 41 00:02:05,975 --> 00:02:09,362 Well, that's wild, because it doesn't seem like that should be true. 42 00:02:09,395 --> 00:02:13,116 I'm stringing words together right now, and it doesn't seem 43 00:02:13,116 --> 00:02:15,201 like they have much power. 44 00:02:15,201 --> 00:02:15,718 Of course, 45 00:02:15,718 --> 00:02:17,837 if if I don't make them more interesting 46 00:02:17,837 --> 00:02:19,722 soon, they have the power to put you to sleep. 47 00:02:19,722 --> 00:02:23,309 Maybe. But words have power. 48 00:02:24,761 --> 00:02:27,547 50 years ago, 50. 49 00:02:27,547 --> 00:02:31,551 I was in a gymnasium in Central Florida when my high school 50 00:02:31,601 --> 00:02:34,954 basketball coach got frustrated with me during practice, 51 00:02:34,954 --> 00:02:37,957 and he called me out in front of the whole team 52 00:02:38,308 --> 00:02:41,110 and he said, Joe, you are a loser 53 00:02:41,110 --> 00:02:45,081 and you will always be a loser. 54 00:02:47,233 --> 00:02:50,003 Now, I don't know if those words fueled 55 00:02:50,003 --> 00:02:53,873 my desperate desire to succeed in life. 56 00:02:54,240 --> 00:02:59,028 I do know that five decades later, I still remember 57 00:02:59,028 --> 00:03:03,600 where I was standing on the court when he said those words. 58 00:03:04,434 --> 00:03:06,002 Words have power. 59 00:03:06,002 --> 00:03:08,888 I say the word idiot means nothing. 60 00:03:08,888 --> 00:03:11,241 I have you stand up and I call you an idiot. 61 00:03:11,241 --> 00:03:14,310 In front of all these people has the power 62 00:03:14,427 --> 00:03:17,430 to mold you for a decade. 63 00:03:18,998 --> 00:03:21,267 Is probably nothing you will come in contact 64 00:03:21,267 --> 00:03:25,755 with in this life that are more powerful than words. 65 00:03:25,755 --> 00:03:29,676 The book of James James says that the tongue is like a like a fire 66 00:03:29,676 --> 00:03:33,630 that can burn up anything and everything here. 67 00:03:33,713 --> 00:03:38,351 Solomon says death and life are in the power of the tongue. 68 00:03:39,435 --> 00:03:41,271 There's probably not a bigger 69 00:03:41,271 --> 00:03:45,475 lie than the ditty I memorized when I was little. 70 00:03:45,592 --> 00:03:48,595 Sticks and stones may break my bones. 71 00:03:48,595 --> 00:03:51,798 But words will never hurt me. 72 00:03:52,398 --> 00:03:55,835 The truth is sticks and stones may break my bones. 73 00:03:56,402 --> 00:03:58,354 But they don't hold a candle. 74 00:03:58,354 --> 00:04:01,357 To what words can do to my soul. 75 00:04:01,557 --> 00:04:02,592 That's true. 76 00:04:02,592 --> 00:04:05,962 Here are my three points I want to cover from this proverb. 77 00:04:06,679 --> 00:04:09,032 First point where words come from. 78 00:04:09,032 --> 00:04:12,035 Second point how words work. 79 00:04:12,318 --> 00:04:16,239 And the third point is the words everyone needs to hear. 80 00:04:16,522 --> 00:04:22,028 Where words come from, how words work, the words everyone needs to here first. 81 00:04:22,078 --> 00:04:24,030 Where words come from. 82 00:04:24,030 --> 00:04:26,149 In the Gospel of Luke. 83 00:04:26,149 --> 00:04:30,470 Jesus is teaching and he says something that I think we all know 84 00:04:30,787 --> 00:04:34,357 kind of intrinsically, but it's still very profound. 85 00:04:34,357 --> 00:04:36,759 This is in Luke chapter six. 86 00:04:36,759 --> 00:04:40,713 Jesus says, for no good tree bears bad fruit. 87 00:04:40,747 --> 00:04:43,433 Nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit. 88 00:04:43,433 --> 00:04:46,002 For each tree is known by its own fruit. 89 00:04:46,002 --> 00:04:50,707 For figs are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor grapes picked from a bramble 90 00:04:50,757 --> 00:04:51,674 bush. 91 00:04:51,674 --> 00:04:55,311 The good person out of the good treasure of his heart, produces 92 00:04:55,311 --> 00:05:00,400 good, and the evil person out of the evil treasure produces evil. 93 00:05:00,433 --> 00:05:04,470 For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. 94 00:05:04,470 --> 00:05:07,757 That's the profound phrase Jesus 95 00:05:07,757 --> 00:05:11,110 says words come from somewhere, 96 00:05:11,427 --> 00:05:15,081 and the words you speak come from your heart. 97 00:05:15,548 --> 00:05:20,036 That your heart is like this bucket and your the. 98 00:05:20,036 --> 00:05:23,956 The ladle can't bring up anything that's not already in the bucket. 99 00:05:23,956 --> 00:05:27,827 You can't speak words that aren't somewhere in your heart. 100 00:05:27,827 --> 00:05:33,282 If you speak hateful words, that means hate is in your heart somewhere. 101 00:05:33,950 --> 00:05:37,870 I remember years and years ago I was driving with my oldest daughter. 102 00:05:37,870 --> 00:05:42,592 She was like six and she was sitting in the back and somebody cut me off 103 00:05:42,592 --> 00:05:46,396 and I didn't yell or anything, but I just said, what an idiot. 104 00:05:46,429 --> 00:05:50,033 And then I heard my six year old from the back and a little squeaky 105 00:05:50,033 --> 00:05:53,353 voice say, let's kill him, daddy, right? 106 00:05:56,639 --> 00:05:58,107 I tell that story, 107 00:05:58,107 --> 00:06:02,678 like at dinner parties, for just that reaction, because it seems like a like 108 00:06:02,712 --> 00:06:06,549 a leap from me being a little frustrated to my murderous six year 109 00:06:06,599 --> 00:06:09,552 old in the back. 110 00:06:09,552 --> 00:06:13,189 But Jesus would say, it's not that great of a leap, right? 111 00:06:13,239 --> 00:06:14,507 In the sermon on the Mount, 112 00:06:14,507 --> 00:06:18,077 Jesus says, you have heard it said, you shall not commit murder. 113 00:06:18,077 --> 00:06:21,831 But I say to you, if you're angry with your brother, if you say to your brother, 114 00:06:22,432 --> 00:06:25,835 you fool, you're guilty, guilty 115 00:06:25,835 --> 00:06:29,188 enough to go to the fires of hell. 116 00:06:30,523 --> 00:06:33,276 Words come from somewhere. 117 00:06:33,276 --> 00:06:37,029 My wife is one of the kindest, gentlest people 118 00:06:37,029 --> 00:06:40,950 I know, and she is in charge in our family. 119 00:06:40,950 --> 00:06:46,239 She's in charge of calling customer service when we are dissatisfied. 120 00:06:46,722 --> 00:06:48,641 I lost that privilege. 121 00:06:49,592 --> 00:06:51,077 I'll tell you how I lost it. 122 00:06:51,077 --> 00:06:56,182 I was talking to a customer service guy and I was really getting frustrated. 123 00:06:56,199 --> 00:06:57,316 He was not hearing me. 124 00:06:57,316 --> 00:06:59,235 He was not budging. 125 00:06:59,235 --> 00:07:01,988 So I decided to leverage you guys. 126 00:07:01,988 --> 00:07:03,639 I was a senior pastor 127 00:07:03,639 --> 00:07:07,760 and I said, listen, I'm in charge of an organization of 3000 people. 128 00:07:07,760 --> 00:07:10,763 You ready to lose 3000 customers? 129 00:07:10,880 --> 00:07:12,915 This guy goes, what's the name of your organization? 130 00:07:12,915 --> 00:07:15,918 I was like, 131 00:07:16,836 --> 00:07:18,438 he called my bluff. 132 00:07:18,438 --> 00:07:20,907 You know, he can't say it's pastor of a church. 133 00:07:20,907 --> 00:07:23,960 Anyway, so now my wife is in charge 134 00:07:23,960 --> 00:07:27,914 and she gets much more accomplished than I ever did. 135 00:07:27,914 --> 00:07:32,034 But I'll listen to her with customer service and she'll say stuff 136 00:07:32,034 --> 00:07:35,071 like, well, it's it's been a couple of months. 137 00:07:35,071 --> 00:07:36,756 I've sent several emails. 138 00:07:36,756 --> 00:07:39,075 I call I've been on hold for 20 minutes. 139 00:07:39,075 --> 00:07:40,443 I know you're busy. 140 00:07:40,443 --> 00:07:44,397 I know, but but we just like you to fulfill what you said in the contract. 141 00:07:44,597 --> 00:07:45,281 Okay? Okay. 142 00:07:45,281 --> 00:07:46,199 Thank you. 143 00:07:46,199 --> 00:07:48,868 Good. That would. That would be great. All right. 144 00:07:48,868 --> 00:07:51,120 Thanks very much. Have a great day. 145 00:07:51,120 --> 00:07:55,992 She hangs up and she looks at me like I gave him a piece of my mind. 146 00:07:59,512 --> 00:08:01,797 Because there's nothing angry. 147 00:08:01,797 --> 00:08:04,517 There's nothing hateful in my wife's heart. 148 00:08:04,517 --> 00:08:07,520 It never comes out right. 149 00:08:08,154 --> 00:08:10,323 Of course, that begs the question. What? 150 00:08:10,323 --> 00:08:13,309 What kind of words do you speak? 151 00:08:13,709 --> 00:08:15,628 They show what's in your heart. 152 00:08:15,628 --> 00:08:19,282 The first thing is where words come from. 153 00:08:20,483 --> 00:08:23,603 Jesus says they don't come from nowhere. 154 00:08:24,187 --> 00:08:27,590 They come from what's deep down in your soul. 155 00:08:27,790 --> 00:08:29,642 That's the first thing. 156 00:08:29,642 --> 00:08:32,628 The second point is how words work. 157 00:08:33,196 --> 00:08:37,033 Words have the power to shape reality. 158 00:08:37,667 --> 00:08:40,119 Words have the power to actually shape reality. 159 00:08:40,119 --> 00:08:41,837 God made it so. 160 00:08:41,837 --> 00:08:44,907 Genesis chapter one God creates all that is. 161 00:08:44,907 --> 00:08:47,109 He creates it with words. 162 00:08:47,109 --> 00:08:48,995 He didn't have to. 163 00:08:48,995 --> 00:08:53,883 It says, And God said, let there be light, and there was light. 164 00:08:53,916 --> 00:08:57,520 God said, let the seed team with life, 165 00:08:57,587 --> 00:09:01,240 and the sea explodes with life. 166 00:09:02,508 --> 00:09:04,827 God created all that is with words. 167 00:09:04,827 --> 00:09:09,348 When Jesus came and Jesus was healing what was broken in the world. 168 00:09:09,398 --> 00:09:10,833 He did it with words. 169 00:09:10,833 --> 00:09:13,402 He says, rise, take up your palate and walk. 170 00:09:13,402 --> 00:09:16,355 And the lame man jumps up and walks. 171 00:09:16,355 --> 00:09:18,708 He shouts, Lazarus, come forth! 172 00:09:18,708 --> 00:09:22,028 Lazarus staggers out of the tomb. 173 00:09:23,162 --> 00:09:25,514 Words have the power to shape reality. 174 00:09:25,514 --> 00:09:27,717 We use words so much in our culture. 175 00:09:27,717 --> 00:09:29,118 We throw them around 176 00:09:29,118 --> 00:09:33,039 like they're nothing, with emails and text messages and Facebook posts. 177 00:09:33,039 --> 00:09:34,907 And we say stuff like, well, you know, 178 00:09:34,907 --> 00:09:38,477 I was just trying to make a point or I was just venting. 179 00:09:39,195 --> 00:09:41,881 We don't realize 180 00:09:41,881 --> 00:09:44,867 that words have such power. 181 00:09:45,434 --> 00:09:50,039 Marriages thrive or die based on words. 182 00:09:50,039 --> 00:09:55,561 Children are filled up or emptied out by words. 183 00:09:55,911 --> 00:09:58,547 One of the things I get to do here at CC 184 00:09:58,547 --> 00:10:02,551 is I host a podcast called Faith stories, where I just sit down 185 00:10:02,551 --> 00:10:06,956 with people and interview them about how Jesus has changed their lives. 186 00:10:06,956 --> 00:10:10,793 And I was a few weeks ago, I got to interview a woman named Brandi, 187 00:10:10,910 --> 00:10:13,963 who's one of our Bible study leaders for our women's Bible study. 188 00:10:13,996 --> 00:10:18,634 She's actually the table leader for my wife and my daughter, and they adore 189 00:10:18,918 --> 00:10:20,803 Brandi. So I was really looking forward 190 00:10:20,803 --> 00:10:22,388 to interviewing her because I didn't know her. 191 00:10:22,388 --> 00:10:26,509 I just knew that my wife and daughter loved her. 192 00:10:27,593 --> 00:10:29,078 When I was talking with her. 193 00:10:29,078 --> 00:10:31,881 She told me this story that when she was 12, 194 00:10:31,881 --> 00:10:36,352 she came home from school and her mom met her 195 00:10:36,352 --> 00:10:40,640 and she said her, her brother and her dad and all their stuff were gone. 196 00:10:40,790 --> 00:10:44,877 And she she said to her mom, what happened? 197 00:10:45,227 --> 00:10:48,597 And her mom said, your dad and your brother are gone. 198 00:10:48,597 --> 00:10:49,832 They're not coming back. 199 00:10:49,832 --> 00:10:53,202 And this is your last night here, too. 200 00:10:53,636 --> 00:10:55,471 I don't want to be your mom. 201 00:10:55,471 --> 00:10:58,941 I have signed over guardianship to your friend's mom. 202 00:10:58,958 --> 00:11:01,961 You start living with them tomorrow. 203 00:11:04,080 --> 00:11:07,083 I have no idea 204 00:11:07,400 --> 00:11:12,672 how those words impacted the soul of a 12 year old. 205 00:11:12,672 --> 00:11:18,477 I can only imagine that words have the power to shape reality. 206 00:11:18,511 --> 00:11:22,481 Contrast that my dad lived with 207 00:11:22,548 --> 00:11:26,902 in an in-law suite attached to my house last 15 years of his life. 208 00:11:26,919 --> 00:11:30,556 My dad was a minister for his entire adult life. 209 00:11:32,191 --> 00:11:33,359 For 15 years. 210 00:11:33,359 --> 00:11:38,831 Every time I preached, every time, sometime Sunday afternoon, 211 00:11:39,198 --> 00:11:42,635 my dad would open the door to come into our side of the house 212 00:11:42,635 --> 00:11:45,755 and he would say, Hey Joe, great job! 213 00:11:46,672 --> 00:11:48,557 Loved your sermon. 214 00:11:48,557 --> 00:11:51,560 Really good 215 00:11:51,560 --> 00:11:53,028 words have the power to shape. 216 00:11:53,028 --> 00:11:58,801 Rather go off like a bomb in a 12 year old soul, or to fall 217 00:11:58,801 --> 00:12:02,354 like a gentle rain on dry ground 218 00:12:02,354 --> 00:12:05,357 that is thirsting for water. 219 00:12:05,641 --> 00:12:09,228 You are in large part a product of the words 220 00:12:09,228 --> 00:12:14,033 that have been spoken to you, or the words you've been desperately 221 00:12:14,550 --> 00:12:17,553 longing to hear and have never heard. 222 00:12:17,670 --> 00:12:22,108 Because words shape things, words shape people. 223 00:12:22,108 --> 00:12:23,959 That's how words work. 224 00:12:23,959 --> 00:12:28,547 That brings me to my last point, which is the words that everyone needs to hear. 225 00:12:29,115 --> 00:12:33,269 After 45 years of teaching and preaching the Bible, it's 226 00:12:33,803 --> 00:12:37,840 would not be a surprise that I have a lot of favorite passages, 227 00:12:37,907 --> 00:12:41,110 but if you've been coming any length of time, you 228 00:12:41,110 --> 00:12:46,916 you probably suspect that my all time favorite passage is probably Luke chapter 229 00:12:46,916 --> 00:12:51,036 15. In Luke chapter 15, Jesus is explaining 230 00:12:51,036 --> 00:12:56,559 how God feels about us, and he tells three stories back to back to back. 231 00:12:56,559 --> 00:12:59,712 And I love all three stories and they're all with the same point. 232 00:12:59,762 --> 00:13:03,999 He tells the story of the the lost sheep, followed by the story of the lost coin, 233 00:13:04,150 --> 00:13:07,520 followed by what we call the story of the prodigal son. 234 00:13:07,987 --> 00:13:11,390 And in those stories, particularly the last story, 235 00:13:11,390 --> 00:13:15,678 I find the words that I long to hear. 236 00:13:16,679 --> 00:13:17,029 I think 237 00:13:17,029 --> 00:13:20,032 the words that everyone needs to hear. 238 00:13:20,032 --> 00:13:24,470 And let me give you the four phrases based on that story. 239 00:13:24,870 --> 00:13:28,157 The way the story goes is that there's a 240 00:13:28,357 --> 00:13:28,991 a younger 241 00:13:28,991 --> 00:13:32,761 son who goes to his father and he says, I want my share of the inheritance 242 00:13:32,795 --> 00:13:35,998 now, what he's saying to his father, and don't miss this. 243 00:13:36,198 --> 00:13:39,201 He's saying to his father, you're I'm 244 00:13:39,318 --> 00:13:42,321 better off with you dead than alive. 245 00:13:42,755 --> 00:13:45,074 So I wish you were dead. 246 00:13:45,074 --> 00:13:48,794 And I can't imagine how much that hurt the father. 247 00:13:48,794 --> 00:13:52,481 What his face must have looked like when he heard those words from his son, 248 00:13:52,481 --> 00:13:55,401 but he went ahead and gave the son his share of the inheritance. 249 00:13:55,401 --> 00:14:00,039 The son went off to a distant land, and he wasted all of that. 250 00:14:00,039 --> 00:14:02,842 And then he's destitute, and he has to come back. 251 00:14:02,842 --> 00:14:08,113 So he's walking back and he thinks he knows how much he hurt his father. 252 00:14:08,113 --> 00:14:12,318 So he thinks his father's heart is full of bitterness and anger. 253 00:14:12,635 --> 00:14:16,922 And the first phrase that I love in that story 254 00:14:16,989 --> 00:14:22,228 is it says, while he was a long way off, his father saw him 255 00:14:23,512 --> 00:14:25,998 while he was a long way off. 256 00:14:25,998 --> 00:14:29,268 His father meant that his father was looking for him. 257 00:14:29,835 --> 00:14:33,989 And I longed for someone to say to me, I see you 258 00:14:34,840 --> 00:14:36,992 because I'm looking for you. 259 00:14:36,992 --> 00:14:41,430 The last week, Zach talked about playing ping pong with his nine year 260 00:14:41,480 --> 00:14:44,316 old son, Graham. I play hide and seek with my grandkids. 261 00:14:44,316 --> 00:14:47,603 Hide and seek is easier, especially with my two year 262 00:14:47,636 --> 00:14:51,190 old grandson, Malachi, because he's such a terrible hider. 263 00:14:52,308 --> 00:14:53,759 Like when I finished counting. 264 00:14:53,759 --> 00:14:54,877 He loves to play hide and seek. 265 00:14:54,877 --> 00:14:57,830 I finished counting and I say, ready or not, here I come. 266 00:14:57,830 --> 00:15:00,833 He'll go, you can't find me. 267 00:15:01,517 --> 00:15:03,869 And if I take too long to find him, he'll go. 268 00:15:03,869 --> 00:15:04,837 You'll never find me. 269 00:15:04,837 --> 00:15:07,840 I'm under the blanket 270 00:15:07,907 --> 00:15:09,792 because he loves the hide. 271 00:15:09,792 --> 00:15:13,195 But he only hides because he wants someone to look for him. 272 00:15:14,163 --> 00:15:17,149 He wants somebody to find him. 273 00:15:17,149 --> 00:15:20,002 There's a psychiatrist named Kurt Thompson 274 00:15:20,002 --> 00:15:22,755 who said, we all come into this world 275 00:15:22,755 --> 00:15:26,108 looking for someone who is looking for us. 276 00:15:27,042 --> 00:15:32,147 We come into this world looking for someone who is looking for us. 277 00:15:32,147 --> 00:15:35,150 And Jesus says, the one who is looking for you 278 00:15:35,467 --> 00:15:37,803 is God. 279 00:15:37,803 --> 00:15:39,989 That while I was a long while, 280 00:15:39,989 --> 00:15:42,992 you were a long way off. 281 00:15:44,043 --> 00:15:45,511 God saw you. 282 00:15:45,511 --> 00:15:47,479 That's the first thing. 283 00:15:47,479 --> 00:15:52,318 The second phrase that I want to hear is 284 00:15:52,918 --> 00:15:56,789 attached to that same verse, because it says, 285 00:15:56,922 --> 00:16:00,509 while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and he ran to him. 286 00:16:00,709 --> 00:16:05,314 And it says he wrapped his arms around him and kissed him. 287 00:16:05,631 --> 00:16:09,952 The son thought that his father's heart would be filled with anger and bitterness 288 00:16:09,952 --> 00:16:14,123 because of the hurt that he had caused his father, and instead, 289 00:16:14,123 --> 00:16:17,109 his father wraps his arms around him and says, 290 00:16:17,443 --> 00:16:20,629 I love you, I love you. 291 00:16:21,680 --> 00:16:23,432 There isn't a person 292 00:16:23,432 --> 00:16:27,836 alive that doesn't need someone to say, I love you. 293 00:16:27,870 --> 00:16:31,590 You know, when I was interviewing Brandi and she said that 294 00:16:31,590 --> 00:16:34,827 about when she was 12 years old, it was so devastating. 295 00:16:34,827 --> 00:16:39,148 I didn't even know where to go, what my next question should be. 296 00:16:39,198 --> 00:16:43,402 And I ended up asking her, how did you come to know Jesus? 297 00:16:43,435 --> 00:16:48,307 Because I needed to know how a broken 12 year old, a shattered 12 year 298 00:16:48,357 --> 00:16:53,278 old, turned out to be a woman full of love and grace like Brandi. 299 00:16:53,278 --> 00:16:58,467 And she said, when I was 18 years old, I went to church and I heard the preacher 300 00:16:58,467 --> 00:17:01,670 say that God loved me. 301 00:17:02,471 --> 00:17:05,841 And she stopped and said, God loves me. 302 00:17:06,875 --> 00:17:10,195 And I have loved him ever since. 303 00:17:11,513 --> 00:17:15,317 You need someone to say to you, I see you. 304 00:17:15,918 --> 00:17:19,271 But even more than that, you need someone to say I love you. 305 00:17:20,072 --> 00:17:22,708 And the next thing that happens in that story 306 00:17:22,708 --> 00:17:26,628 is that the son, he knows that he has hurt the father deeply. 307 00:17:26,628 --> 00:17:28,747 He thinks he's full of anger and bitterness. 308 00:17:28,747 --> 00:17:32,000 So he's he's put together a speech that he's about to tell his dad, 309 00:17:32,000 --> 00:17:36,038 and he says to his father, listen, I know I've sinned against heaven 310 00:17:36,038 --> 00:17:36,722 and against you. 311 00:17:36,722 --> 00:17:39,958 I'm no longer fit, worthy to be called your son. 312 00:17:39,958 --> 00:17:42,594 But before he can do it, his dad, that's all. 313 00:17:42,594 --> 00:17:43,429 He gets out 314 00:17:43,429 --> 00:17:47,149 because his dad wraps his arms around him, kisses him, and begins 315 00:17:47,149 --> 00:17:48,000 to bring him home. 316 00:17:48,000 --> 00:17:51,003 And what he's saying is, I forgive you. 317 00:17:51,437 --> 00:17:52,721 I forgive you. 318 00:17:54,073 --> 00:17:56,675 When I was in my late 20s, 319 00:17:56,675 --> 00:17:59,678 I was a youth pastor in Charlotte, North Carolina, 320 00:17:59,762 --> 00:18:04,116 and my brother John came to live with us between his 321 00:18:04,283 --> 00:18:07,669 for the summer, between his sophomore and junior year in college 322 00:18:08,320 --> 00:18:12,875 and up, being the last summer of his life because he died that summer. 323 00:18:13,075 --> 00:18:15,027 But when he was with us, 324 00:18:15,027 --> 00:18:18,230 he was helping me with the youth group, and we were planning an event. 325 00:18:18,230 --> 00:18:22,317 And this event was going to be this, a massive pillow 326 00:18:22,317 --> 00:18:25,671 fight with the senior high and be like 40 or 50 senior high kids. 327 00:18:25,671 --> 00:18:27,790 It was just going to be a free for all pillow fight. 328 00:18:27,790 --> 00:18:30,509 My idea was that was going to film it from different angles, 329 00:18:30,509 --> 00:18:33,512 and then the next week I would show it in slow, 330 00:18:33,595 --> 00:18:37,316 different clips in slow motion of kids just getting rocked. 331 00:18:37,399 --> 00:18:38,000 You know, 332 00:18:39,001 --> 00:18:40,269 you know, some of those kids, 333 00:18:40,269 --> 00:18:43,789 I mean, they probably have concussions, but they can't find me, so it's okay. 334 00:18:45,240 --> 00:18:47,075 But we were planning this. 335 00:18:47,075 --> 00:18:51,079 And then because we're brothers, we started messing around and then because 336 00:18:51,079 --> 00:18:53,999 we're brothers had started to escalate and we got into a pillow fight. 337 00:18:53,999 --> 00:18:59,037 The two of us, I'm 28, he's 20, and I say he's my little brother. 338 00:18:59,037 --> 00:19:01,039 But he was like six, two, 300 pounds. 339 00:19:01,039 --> 00:19:02,391 He was a big guy. 340 00:19:02,391 --> 00:19:04,676 So we're going all out with this pillow fight. 341 00:19:04,676 --> 00:19:06,278 And he called time out. 342 00:19:06,278 --> 00:19:09,681 I don't know if his contact slipped or whatever, and I knew 343 00:19:09,715 --> 00:19:14,920 he called time out, but I was wound up and I went ahead and swung full on 344 00:19:14,953 --> 00:19:19,241 and hit him flush right in the face, defenseless. 345 00:19:19,591 --> 00:19:22,594 And I'll never forget the look on his face. 346 00:19:23,278 --> 00:19:25,113 He looked at me and his. 347 00:19:25,113 --> 00:19:29,551 His face looked shocked and hurt, 348 00:19:31,520 --> 00:19:34,473 and I remember realizing what I had done. 349 00:19:34,473 --> 00:19:36,391 I was just mean. 350 00:19:36,391 --> 00:19:37,392 It was just mean. 351 00:19:37,392 --> 00:19:41,396 And I said, John, I'm so sorry, and I meant it. 352 00:19:42,197 --> 00:19:45,200 And my brother gave me a great gift. 353 00:19:45,234 --> 00:19:47,319 He forgave me. 354 00:19:47,319 --> 00:19:50,072 If you have ever really hurt someone 355 00:19:50,072 --> 00:19:54,877 and you know it's you, there is no greater gift 356 00:19:55,310 --> 00:19:59,114 than for them to say I forgive you. 357 00:19:59,798 --> 00:20:03,235 One of the things I have to I had to realize about Christianity 358 00:20:03,235 --> 00:20:07,439 is that when I sin, it's not so much breaking the law of God 359 00:20:07,439 --> 00:20:09,992 as it is breaking the heart of God. 360 00:20:09,992 --> 00:20:15,547 That's what Jesus point is about this story is that what the young, 361 00:20:15,597 --> 00:20:19,801 what the boy did, what the son did, was not so much breaking the rules 362 00:20:19,801 --> 00:20:22,788 that his father, he broke his father's heart, 363 00:20:23,589 --> 00:20:26,391 but the father forgave him. 364 00:20:27,442 --> 00:20:29,995 When you realize 365 00:20:29,995 --> 00:20:34,349 what you have done, there is no greater gift 366 00:20:35,117 --> 00:20:38,120 than for someone to say, I forgive you. 367 00:20:38,320 --> 00:20:42,841 And that's what God says I see you, I love you, 368 00:20:42,908 --> 00:20:47,863 I forgive you, and finally come home, come home. 369 00:20:47,879 --> 00:20:51,800 The story ends with the father bringing the son back, 370 00:20:51,800 --> 00:20:56,555 restoring him, giving him a robe and a ring and sandals for his feet, 371 00:20:56,555 --> 00:21:00,842 and throwing a party and saying, my son has come home. 372 00:21:01,560 --> 00:21:07,149 There is something inside of all this that longs for a home to come to. 373 00:21:07,282 --> 00:21:10,419 Saint Augustine said, we are all of us, restless 374 00:21:10,435 --> 00:21:14,122 till we find our rest in thee, O God. 375 00:21:14,523 --> 00:21:18,910 What he's saying is that we all long for the home that we lost 376 00:21:19,311 --> 00:21:24,232 when we walked away from God, and God welcomes us back home. 377 00:21:26,001 --> 00:21:28,954 Words have power. 378 00:21:28,954 --> 00:21:31,957 You are largely a product 379 00:21:32,074 --> 00:21:35,961 of the words that you have heard, spoken to you, 380 00:21:35,961 --> 00:21:41,283 and the words that have never been spoken to you, that you long to hear. 381 00:21:42,200 --> 00:21:45,637 And these are the words that God speaks to you. 382 00:21:47,039 --> 00:21:50,275 And I was I was thinking, what would it be like 383 00:21:50,792 --> 00:21:53,312 if we were able to take the words that people 384 00:21:53,312 --> 00:21:56,315 have spoken to us? 385 00:21:56,315 --> 00:22:00,319 The words like Brandy's mom spoke to her. 386 00:22:02,754 --> 00:22:05,757 That I don't want to be your mom. 387 00:22:06,274 --> 00:22:07,109 You are not love. 388 00:22:07,109 --> 00:22:10,796 This is not your home, or you're not enough, 389 00:22:11,797 --> 00:22:14,433 or you're a loser. 390 00:22:14,433 --> 00:22:18,637 And replace them with the words that God speaks. 391 00:22:19,121 --> 00:22:21,640 That's what Brandi did. 392 00:22:21,640 --> 00:22:24,643 The words that God says, I see you. 393 00:22:27,312 --> 00:22:30,315 I love you. 394 00:22:31,633 --> 00:22:32,868 I forgive you. 395 00:22:36,755 --> 00:22:39,758 And come home. 396 00:22:42,144 --> 00:22:45,147 If those are the words in your heart, 397 00:22:45,397 --> 00:22:49,317 if they filled your heart, what kind of words would come out of 398 00:22:49,317 --> 00:22:52,521 your mouth, would flow out of your heart? 399 00:22:53,638 --> 00:22:54,840 So what I'm thinking, what? 400 00:22:54,840 --> 00:22:56,558 What would this place be like? 401 00:22:56,558 --> 00:23:01,079 4000 people, all filled with the words of God, I see you, 402 00:23:01,079 --> 00:23:05,634 I love you, I forgive you, come home would be like to come into this place. 403 00:23:05,634 --> 00:23:07,919 I can tell you what it'd be like. 404 00:23:07,919 --> 00:23:11,990 It'd be a place where somebody would come in and just feel like life was here. 405 00:23:13,442 --> 00:23:15,911 Because words have the power to mold you. 406 00:23:15,911 --> 00:23:17,162 They have molded you. 407 00:23:17,162 --> 00:23:20,148 But words of God have the power to remake you. 408 00:23:21,800 --> 00:23:24,803 And this is my thing. 409 00:23:25,070 --> 00:23:27,439 Believe God's words about you. 410 00:23:27,439 --> 00:23:31,393 Let those fill your heart and give you life. 411 00:23:31,393 --> 00:23:33,962 That's what Jesus promises. 412 00:23:34,913 --> 00:23:37,432 More wisdom, 413 00:23:37,432 --> 00:23:39,835 more life because of Jesus. 414 00:23:39,835 --> 00:23:42,587 Would you pray with me, 415 00:23:42,587 --> 00:23:45,590 father in heaven, I am so grateful that 416 00:23:46,074 --> 00:23:49,161 the words that you speak into us and over us, 417 00:23:49,961 --> 00:23:55,033 that you are the one who says, I see you, I love you, I forgive you, come home. 418 00:23:55,033 --> 00:23:56,668 I pray for every person here. 419 00:23:56,668 --> 00:24:00,038 I pray that you would help us to empty out some of the damaging words 420 00:24:00,038 --> 00:24:04,359 that have been spoken to us, that have molded us, and I pray 421 00:24:04,359 --> 00:24:08,029 that we will be able to replace them with the words that you speak, 422 00:24:08,480 --> 00:24:14,269 because the words that you speak are the truth and they give life. 423 00:24:14,319 --> 00:24:16,438 You say, life and death are in the power of the tongue, 424 00:24:16,438 --> 00:24:18,907 and you have spoken life to us through Jesus. 425 00:24:18,907 --> 00:24:20,709 So thank you. 426 00:24:20,709 --> 00:24:22,994 We pray this in Jesus name. 427 00:24:22,994 --> 00:24:23,728 Amen.