Say it Out Loud, Part 2

God's truth spoken out loud has the power to break strongholds in your life and bring dead things back to life.

Proverbs 18:21, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” Your tongue has the power to destroy or to build up.

After teaching a group of men a couple of weeks ago on strongholds, a man came up to me afterwards, and was telling me about his marriage, and he said, “I don't know why my wife puts up with me.” He said, “I don't know how to be a good husband. I find myself just doing the things my dad did. It didn't work for him. It's not working for me. She deserves someone who actually knows how to make her happy.”

I went to visit a man in the hospital a number of months ago, and he said, “God's punishing me for something. And each time, what I want to say is, Don't let yourself hear you say that. Don't let yourself hear you say those things. It might seem harmless, but there's a difference between thinking a thought and speaking a thought. And when you speak a thought out loud, your brain pays closer attention.

What's fascinating is modern neuroscience has just discovered just what the Bible seemed to acknowledge long ago that there's something remarkable that happens in your brain when you speak your thoughts out loud versus just thinking them. When you speak words out loud your brain processes the information through multiple channels that more regions of the brain get used when you speak your thoughts out loud.

I could spend 30 minutes talking about how some of this works, but the point is that speaking your thoughts out loud engages more neural networks. It creates stronger and more lasting neural pathways than just the thoughts you think quietly to yourself. Like, the neurological bottom line is that speaking truth out loud can literally rewire your brain more effectively than just thinking something silently.

Let me give you an example. Our culture tells us one way to deal with your anger or frustration would be to vent your feelings. That it’s healthy to vent. Some of you are so good at it. (Laughter) Like, you are a venter, and you think to yourself, The more I vent, the better I feel. I just get it all out. Or maybe you're a complainer. You think, If I just complain, if I just let people know all the things that I find wrong with whatever's going on in my life, I'll start being content. I just need to get it out. I just need to complain about it a little bit.

But consistently, research is being done, some research out of Ohio State University recently by Brad Bushman was just affirming the fact that that's not how it works. Like, when you vent, your brain hears you saying things out loud, and your brain wants to look for reasons why what you're saying is true. So, whatever words we speak, whether words of life or death, are programming our mind.

Now, as we saw in Proverbs 18, we'll look at it again in a minute, words are like seed that get planted. And we don't always recognize the impact of the seed that gets planted, because there's a lag time between the time the seed gets planted and the time fruit starts to show up. And so, we don't always make the connection, like, oh, these words are building up this garden. These words are creating this fruit in my life. And whatever words you speak are creating fruit that you have to eat.

Now we tend to listen to that and want to use it as a warning like, Hey, be careful with what you're saying because of this, like, words of death, but it's also a promise. It's an invitation to use the power of words, specifically God's Word out loud to bring about transformation. So, I want to talk to you about that.

But look, I'm not encouraging you to speak your own words. This isn't a self-help…it isn't a power-of-positive-thinking message. It is the power-of-God's-Word message. That when you identify God's Word and you speak that word out loud, it has power over your life.

Proverbs 18:21, “The tongue has the power of life and death.” Second part of that is, “Those who love it will eat its fruit.”

Maybe you've heard the phrase, you're going to have to eat your words. This is where it comes from. It's this idea that your words are seeds, those seeds create fruit, and that's fruit you're going to have to eat. That fruit is going to have to be consumed by you. And so, you have the power with your words to plant seeds that will create fruit that you love to eat or fruit that will create fruit poison in your life.

And so, our promise then from Scripture isn't about, I mean again, just want to be so clear about this, it's not about our words or our wisdom or our positive thinking. It's about God's Word that we speak out loud.

Isaiah 55 speaks about God's Word as seed. “The rain and snow come down from the heavens and stay on the ground to water the earth. They cause the grain to grow, producing seed for the farmer and bread for the hungry. And it's the same, God says, it's the same with my Word.”

This is how my word works. “I send it out,” and it's supernatural. “It always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to.” It's not just any word; it's his Word. “And it will prosper everywhere I send it,” he says.

So, what's that mean? Well, it means instead of speaking and saying, I don't have anything special to offer, I'm not going to make a difference, you speak out loud Ephesians 2:10. You say, “I'm God's masterpiece. God's prepared good things for me to do in advance.” He's going to use me to make a difference today. You say it out loud.

Instead of saying, I'm defined by my worst sins, you speak Romans 8:1 over your life. “There's no condemnation for me because I'm in Christ Jesus.” I've been set free by God's grace, and his grace is enough for me. Instead of saying, I'm just too tired and it's just all too hard, you speak Matthew 11 and Philippians 4 over your life. That when I get tired, I can go to Jesus and I can find rest for my soul. I can be renewed. And I know in him I'll have everything I need to do, everything he's called me to do.

Instead of saying, I'm always worried, always anxious, you say, 1 Peter 5:7, Today I'm not going to be worried or anxious. That's not who I am. I live above fear because I cast all my cares on God. I know he cares for me. And you say that out loud.

Instead of saying, I'm all alone and no one cares, you say Hebrews 13:5 over your life. I'm never alone because I know “God will never leave me or forsake me.” And when you say it out loud, you say it with conviction. And when you do, your mind leans in and says, Oh, is that what we believe? Is that what's true? I'm going to start looking for evidence that that's true. And you speak it out loud.

Go back to Ezekiel after he spoke the first time. The bones come together. Muscles and flesh mold and are formed, but there's still no breath. So, God says to Ezekiel, Okay, now here's what I want you to do. I want you to speak again. Look at verse 9 and 10, “Then he said to me, ‘Speak a prophetic message to the wind, son of man. Come, O breath from the four winds! Breathe into these dead bodies so they may live again.”

Ezekiel says, So I did it. “I spoke the message as he commanded me.” I heard what God said, and I said what God said. “And breath came into their bodies. They all came to life and stood up on their feet, a great army.”

And so, there's this vision that Ezekiel has that's driving home this rhythm that God wanted for Ezekiel's ministry and life and God wants for you, that you listen to what God says, you speak what God says, you watch what God does. You listen to what God says. You speak out loud what God has said with conviction and authority. You speak it out loud with faith and confidence. You speak it out loud, and then you watch what God does. You listen. You speak. You watch. And God brings life to a place of death. And he's not done doing that; I believe he still wants to do it today.

And I know some of you are skeptical. I know some of you think this seems too simple, but again, Ezekiel is told to prophesy. Prophesy means that you're not speaking your word, you're speaking God's word. That Ezekiel is a transmitter for what God is wanting to speak into the world and to speak over what he sees around him.

Prophesied means that you speak with authority. You don't speak as a question like, Well, I think so, or wouldn't it be great? It's speaking with authority. Like, you believe it because of who God is. And I just want to be practical about this for a couple of minutes here. I want to challenge you. I know it's going to be simple enough that you're going to feel resistant to it.

I just want to challenge you to choose a specific place where you're going to practice it this week, where you're going to identify something God has said that applies to your life. You're going to speak it out loud, and then you're going to watch what God does. You're going to speak it out loud.

I don't know how Ezekiel felt when God gave him the instructions, but I do think he probably thought, This isn't going to work. This isn't going to work. This is all too simple. You're talking about something really complicated. You can't just speak words over something so complex. But he listened to what God said, he said what God said, and he watched what God did.

And I know some of you have been playing prophet over your life, but you've been prophesying death instead of life. You've been speaking death over what God wants to bring life to in your life. Stop speaking death over your marriage. To the couple sitting here, you barely spoke on the drive to church this morning. You can't remember the last time you laughed together or were affectionate with one another, and every time you say, I just don't…I just don't have those feelings anymore, or I think I married the wrong person, you're speaking death over something that God wants to bring life to.

Stop speaking death over your future. To the single mom working two jobs, wondering how you'll ever get ahead. To the dad who lost his business and can't see a way forward. To a student who's drowning in debt and loneliness. You find yourself saying, It's just not going to work for me. I can never catch a break. You're speaking death over a future that God has not done writing yet.

Ezekiel spoke the Word of the LORD. He prophesied over dead and dry bones. And I want to do that for you and over you. I want to speak prophetically the way that Ezekiel does, based on the Word of God. But before I do it, I know I need to address something for a few of you. I know a lot of you don't…this won't apply. But I know some of you might think, Kyle, I'm a little uncomfortable with this message. This is starting to sound like a name it and claim it gospel, a name it and claim it theology.

And I get that concern. I'm not telling you can speak your dream car into existence. I mean, you can try. I don't care if you try. But I'm not telling you that that's how this works. I'm not telling you that positive thinking is the same as Biblical faith. I'm saying that in this world, you will have trouble. That's part of living in this world. Jesus said it and it's true. But I'm also telling you that's not the end of the verse. Jesus said, I have overcome the world.

And so, my concern for some of us, and I put myself in this category, is that our fear of the word of faith extremes and of preachers who seem to promise sports cars and a life free of sickness and our fear of that, we swung so far the other way that we have forgotten the power of speaking Biblical faith out loud.

We've become so afraid of claiming something inappropriate that we've stopped claiming anything at all. We've become so worried about presuming upon God that we've stopped declaring our faith in God.

And so, what I want to do here is not about manipulating God's hand, it's not about speaking things into existence through some human willpower, it's about agreeing with what God has already said in his Word. It's about aligning ourselves with what he has said around restoration and redemption and resurrection and renewal.

It's about speaking God's heart over our circumstances and then trusting him with what unfolds. Word of faith says I can speak my will into reality; Biblical faith says I will speak God's will over my reality. So, when Ezekiel spoke to these bones, he wasn't making up his own prophecy. It wasn't wishful thinking or positive thinking. He was simply declaring what God has said.

And so, I just want to speak some of that over you. Just want to give you some of those words because you don't have them for yourself and nobody ever said them to you. It's not faith…or it's not presumption; it's faith to speak this way. It’s not hype; it's hope in who God is and what God has said. It's trust that even if things don't go the way we want them to, our confidence is in him and his promises in eternity.

So, to marriages hanging on by a thread—you're still married, but you've given up—I want to speak breakthrough; I want to speak laughter back into your kitchen. I want to speak romance back into your routine. What God has joined together, let no valley of death separate.

To broken parent-child relationships in this room, to the mom whose teenager won't talk to her, to the dad whose adult son won't return his calls, to the parent who feels like a failure, I want to speak God's heart of restoration over you. I want to speak phone calls that end with ‘I love you.’ I want to speak family dinners where everybody wants to be there.

To those battling addiction, to the person who's hiding their bottles, deleting their history, who makes promises to themselves that they can't keep—so many promises, they don't believe their own words when they speak them—I want to speak freedom over you in the name of Jesus. I want to speak chains breaking. I speak a day when you look in the mirror and you see who God created you to be instead of who the enemy has convinced you are.

To those of you who are living with spiritual dryness where your Bible has gathered dust and your screen time is 10 times more than your prayer time, to those of you who came to church here but you don't really care and you're just going through the motions, I just want to speak renewal and revival over you.

To those battling depression and anxiety, you put a smile when you came in here to church, but you cried yourself to sleep last night in your bed and you feel like you're drowning even though everything looks fine on the outside. You wonder if darkness will ever lift. I just want to speak God's Word of light over you. I want to speak his joy and his peace. I want to speak Jesus into the darkness.

To those who are carrying shame from your past, the person here who's haunted by mistakes you made years ago, and you still live with the enemy's accusations. Every morning you wake up, the accusations are there, and the guilt and the shame feels heavier than you can bear. And every time you try to move forward, you feel disqualified from what God wants for you.

I speak forgiveness over you in the name of Jesus, and redemption, He wants to make all things new. He wants to work for good in your life. I want to speak beauty from ashes. I want to speak a future so bright that your past ends up becoming the very thing God uses to help others experience forgiveness. (Applause) I want to speak God's Word over you, and my prayer is that you would believe it, that you would believe what He says.

And I hear people say things that are so contrary to what God wants for them, and I'm like, that's not true. Stop saying that. It's not true. And so, I want us to close by practicing this out loud together. I'm going to lead us through some just speaking out loud some Biblical truths together.

[Music begins to play softly.]

And so, I'm going to ask you to stand up for this. And I'm going to read the first…there's going to be two statements that come up on the screen. I'm going to read the first part, and then we'll read the second part, which is just Scripture. Scripture is what we're reading out loud. We're going to declare Scripture together. I just want to challenge you to read this out loud with me and do it with some conviction.

So, I'll read the first statement, then we'll read the second together. When anxiety tries to overwhelm our thoughts—all of us together—(together) we cast all our anxiety on God because He cares for us. When discouragement whispers that will never change, (together) He who began a good work in us will carry it on to completion. When distraction tries to pull us away from what matters, (together) we set our minds on things above and not on earthly things.

When offense tempts us to hold grudges, (together) we forgive each other, just as in Christ, God forgave us. When fear threatens to paralyze our faith, (together) God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and sound mind. When lies about our identity try to define us, (together) we are chosen, royal, holy, and belong to God. Today and every day, (together) we will not be conformed to this world, but we will be transformed by the renewing of our minds.

God, I pray that You would give us a deep conviction in our hearts that what You say is true. Maybe it's different than what we've heard others say; it's different than words we've spoken over ourselves. God, would You let us hear what You say, and love what You say, and speak what you say and then watch what You do?

God, would you give us faith? I pray in this sanctuary, just like in that valley of dry bones where there's a noise of rattling bones coming together, I…I pray, God, that we would experience that together. That we would experience Your power at work. Not because we say so, not because of our own thinking, our own words, but because of the power of Your Word. So, God, let us have faith. Give us faith.

God, where we want to believe more, I pray that You would help our unbelief. But God, would You…would You move in the sanctuary the same way that you moved in that valley of dry bones? I pray for rattling that would be true because of Your power and because we have declared what You said to be true over our lives. It's in Jesus name. Amen.