SPEAKER_00 0:01

It is surreal. What's up, Salt Milwaukee? Come on. Guys, first, I have to I have to give a shout out to Marquette basketball. Seriously. I know I literally was going to shout them out, and then he was like, Yeah, actually, none of them are going to be here. So that's depressing. But guys, I'm super, I'm super pumped to be here with you guys. Super pumped to be in a room like this, because like he said a year ago, um, we got on the ground in this room and we just got on our knees and prayed. We said, God, would you would you do something in this city? Would you do something on these campuses? We want the gospel to go forth in this place. And now to be here a year later to actually see the answered prayers. Um, you might not realize that, but you actually sitting in these pews are answered prayers. Um, because we prayed and we labored and we went and invited a bunch of people that we would never see again, um, that we didn't think we would. And now it's cool to be here a year later and be like, no, God actually is answering prayers in this place. Um, and it's with you guys. And so, um, guys, as he said, I am the salt company director at the Illinois State University, Roll Birds. Um, and even though I am a salt company director and I literally work with college age students as my job, I can't tell you how insecure I was about making a video that he was gonna post on your guys' social media saying, hey, come check it out, I'm gonna be there on Tuesday. At least six takes, okay? Um I was I was insecure about my smile, I wasn't smiling, and then I was, and then I was insecure about my eye contact. It was just bad, okay? But um yeah, I guys, I was incredibly insecure, but I'm I'm glad to actually be here. Guys, I'm I'm married um and I have three kids. Yep, okay. Um three beautiful babies. Uh we've got a yellow lab named Rudy who made an appearance in like three of my videos, that's why I had to scrap them. Um but guys, I I got my start into ministry um in a room just like this. Not actually this room, but when I was in college, I was a sophomore at a community college. And uh basically going nowhere in life, that's where most community college students are going. Okay, that's that was me. So if that was you, shout out. Um I was in it with you. Uh but I I I essentially had no clear direction in my life at that point. And uh I got involved with a ministry called Salt Company, and it was incredible, exciting. It honestly brought a ton of life and joy into my college experience. Um, and so I was just discipling guys left and right, sharing the gospel all the time, and just having a ton of fun doing ministry things because there's literally nothing else to do in community college. Um, and I remember at some point in that year, the guy that was the director of our ministry and he was mentoring me, discipling me, took me out to lunch, and he said, dude, what what do you want to do with your life? And I think he could probably tell I was going nowhere. And I was like, I I I mean, I don't know, like I I thought ministry maybe, like I'm having a ton of fun doing it now, but I just don't really know. And I remember I'll never forget what he said to me. He said, Listen, I don't I don't have any prophetic word for you, okay, of what your future holds, but I do see ministry qualities in you, and I see God using you in some ways. Um, and I think you should pursue it. Nothing magical, nothing crazy, but I never forgot those words because to this day I don't know where I'd be without his words. It'd be safe to say that the words that he spoke into my life on that day totally changed my life. And all of us in this room have been shaped and formed by words. Have we not? Every single one of us have been shaped and formed by people's words in our lives, whether positive or negative. Some of you guys are haunted in this room today, you're haunted by something that your mom or your dad said to you when you were a kid. It literally just came to mind right now. Some of you guys are carrying bitterness and pain from something a friend said to you this week. Some of you are walking in shame and guilt because of what you say to and about yourself every day. And then some of you guys are in the degree program that you're in because somebody that you really looked up to actually spoke some life into you, and they encouraged you, and they said, Hey, I think you should do this. And so you did that. That's what happened for me, and that's why I'm here today. Words are powerful, and with them we have the ability to bring life or death. Tonight we're continuing your guys' series in Proverbs. It's a book full of wisdom, which is God's word. God's word meant for our good. And tonight we're gonna see three things in the book of Proverbs when it comes to words. One, the first thing is the consequence of our words, the consequence of our words, secondly, the character of our words, and lastly, the purpose of our words. Consequence of our words, character of our words, and the purpose of our words. How many of you in here would say you had strict parents growing up? Okay, nice, a decent handful, okay. Um, I have to be honest, I didn't have the most strict parents, but my dad was a pastor, okay? So we had some things pretty buttoned up, all right? We uh no school dances were allowed, okay. No dating until I graduate and probably graduate college. I don't know, okay. Not actually, but no dating, okay. Um no playing Halo for longer than like an hour at my friend's house, okay. That was when I was in like middle school, but um okay, so maybe they were a little bit strict, all right. Um, but they loved me. I knew that they loved me, and and most of the time I followed the rules because I'm a rule follower, I hate getting in trouble, so I would just do my best to follow the rules, but on the occasional time I played Halo for like two hours or something, I don't know. Um, I would get punished, okay? Now, as a kid, you never really agree with the punishment, right? It's never fair. Every single time your parents say, okay, two weeks, not this, I don't know. Whatever the punishment is, you're just like, no, that's that's dumb, that's not fair, okay, whatever. And so whenever I would try and argue, what whatever the punishment was, I didn't think it was just, all right, they would always say this thing, this phrase, and I hated it. Okay. They would say, you can choose your sin, but you can't choose your consequence. You can choose your sin, but you can't choose your consequence. And I was always like, oh, that's so annoying. Why can't I choose my consequence too? That's uh so dumb. But I think the same is true for our words. You can choose your words, but you can't always choose the consequence of your words. You can choose your words, but you can't always choose the consequence of your words. Point number one is this the consequence of our words. Inevitable but unpredictable. I'm not sure who coined the phrase, sticks in stones may break your bones, but words will never hurt you. Uh, but they clearly never read the book of Proverbs, okay? I want to read just a few Proverbs for you guys when it comes to our words. Proverbs 12, verse 18 says this. We're gonna be bouncing around a couple different spots, so you can just listen to me read it if you want to. But Proverbs 12, verse 18 says this There is one who speaks rashly, like a piercing sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing. Proverbs 17, verse 9 says this whoever conceals an offense promotes love, but whoever gossips about it separates friends. Proverbs 18, 21 says, Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its flesh, eat its fruit. Guys, we keep going on and on. There's so many proverbs. There's so many proverbs about our tongue. There's so many proverbs about our words and the consequences of our words. And so whoever coined the phrase, sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me, must have thought that they could just go through life and pretend that anything, nothing, would be hurtful to them. Nothing that was just words. It's like, oh, I don't know if any of you in this room would ever just like pretend to imagine that people's words just don't hurt you at all. Okay. Maybe it's just a random person walking in the street says something, it doesn't really matter to you, but it simply doesn't work this way. Okay, if you honestly, this culture will say if you if you simply believe in yourself enough, then it doesn't matter what people say, you can be untouchable. However, the author uses very real imagery when describing the consequence of our words. Proverbs 12, 18. I want to go back to this one. Proverbs 12, 18 says this there is one who speaks rashly, like a piercing sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing. How many of you in here have ever been stabbed by a sword? Okay, didn't think so, okay. None of you. Um none of you even have a sword. I actually do. I was writing this and I was like, wait, I actually do have a sword. Okay, that's kind of weird. Um I've never stabbed anyone, I promise, okay? But I imagine, okay, if you did have a sword and it was sharp and you accidentally stabbed someone, you couldn't just pull it out and be like, oops, my bad. Sorry, like, didn't mean to do that. Hopefully you're okay, right? Yeah, yeah, just move on. As the person's literally like bending over, bleeding out, and you're like, oh, okay, yeah, uh, we probably need to do something about this. Proverbs 12, 18 says, there is one who speaks rashly, like a piercing sword. Salt company. Our words are so powerful that once we say them, we can't just take them back. The damage has already been done. Our words are so powerful that once we say them, once we actually bring them into the air, we can't just like take them back, like, oh, I I didn't actually mean that, or I'm sorry, I didn't actually, and once we say sorry, then it just somehow the wound just magically goes away. It's like a piercing sword. Once the words go out into people, we can't just take them back without consequences. The damage has already been done. And unfortunately, many of us grew up in homes or environments where words would be rashly spoken. A slight misunderstanding or a disagreement would escalate to rash words, which often led to open wounds that would take days or weeks or sometimes even years to heal. Some of you guys are probably healing or mending open wounds from a friend or a mom or a dad within the last few weeks. And some of you on the other side, where you haven't been considering the weight of your words, the severity of your words, the consequences of your words. You imagine that everyone around you is too sensitive, too soft, too immature, to take things way too seriously, and you would never let somebody's words affect you. But if this is you, I I want to invite you to actually consider that maybe you feel this way because you too were hurt by someone's words when you were young, and now you've just grown callous. Or maybe you were hurt by the lack of words from someone that you loved. Maybe you're still waiting for a good job, son. I'm proud of you. I love spending time with you, sweetheart. And it was the lack of actually positive words that would build you up that now you're just callous because you never received these things from your parents, and so now you don't even think words matter. You've gotten to this point where words don't even matter for you. Could it be that the consequence of someone else's words or lack thereof have led you to pretend that you're unaffected and unbothered? Words, they're powerful. With them we wield the power of life and death. You can choose your words, but you can't always choose your consequences. How many um how many hoopers do we have in the room? Okay, a couple bold ones. Okay, a couple girls, nice. I told Caleb on the way up, I was like, I hope there's a couple girls that say they're they're hoopers, okay? Guys, I'm not a hooper, okay? But I like to hoop, alright? I like to I like to play some pickup. Um But I I wanted to ask you guys that are you know basketball players, what is the worst part of pickup basketball? Shout it out. Huh? When people suck, okay. That does, yeah, that is bad. That is bad. What else? Give me another one.

unknown 13:04

Trash talk.

SPEAKER_00 13:05

Trash talk, arguing. Okay, there we go. Trash talk, arguing. Thank you. Guys, listen. When I go play basketball, I want to go play basketball. I do not want to listen to large, sweaty old men just argue with each other for like 40 minutes, okay? Like, I just I'm sorry. I'm just uninterested in doing that. I actually want to play basketball when I go to a gym and I drive and I get my clothes on and my shoes. Like, I don't want to sit there and listen to you argue. But it always happens, it's inevitable, okay? It usually goes like this foul. Foul? What do you mean, foul? What are you talking about? I hit all the ball and all arm. What do you mean what are you talking about? Bro, I'm not giving that to you. You're completely soft. You're so soft. I'm soft? You're the definition of soft. You're always trying to cheat us by calling fouls all this time. I don't need to cheat. I'm literally the best one in this gym. I'm literally the best one in this gym. And then the other guy says, Are you kidding me, dude? Did you see all the shots that you just missed? I'm way better than you. And they literally just go back and forth in some version of this for the next 25 minutes. I kid you not. For those of you that are ladies and you've never seen this, you're blessed. Okay. It is just, it is. Every time I see this, I just roll my eyes and I'm like, guys, what are we doing? What makes grown men act like children and how they banter and call each other's names? Point number two is this the character of our words. The character of our words. Guys, our words often reveal our character. Our words reveal our character. Proverbs 8 verse 13 says this. So what you have on the screen is to fear the Lord is to hate evil. I hate arrogant pride, evil conduct, and perverse speech. I also want to read it from the ESV here, because it says it a little bit differently and emphasizes this. The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance, the way of evil and perverted speech, I hate. Here, perverted speech is lumped into the same category as evil, pride, and arrogance. If humility is the greatest virtue, then speech that aims to protect my image and grow my likeness at the expense of someone else's is evil. I'm gonna say that again. If humility is the greatest virtue, then speech that aims to protect my image and grow my likeness at the expense of someone else is completely evil. So what kind of speech do we actually need? What kind of speech is actually life-giving? Tim Keller points out five things about speech that are actually going to lead to us having life-giving speech. The first one is this our speech needs to be honest and truthful, not deceptive. Honest and truthful, not deceptive. Guys, when we don't tell the whole truth, we just tell partial parts of the truth. This is called deception. Um, my dad used to always ask me and my brothers from time to time how our walks with Jesus were going when I was in high school. And honestly, it's just being a good dad and checking in. And I remember in these moments, I always had this tension because high school is when I started to struggle with things like pornography, which I absolutely did not want my dad to know. And so in the midst of this struggle, when my dad would ask, hey, how is your walk with Jesus doing? I would always find a why uh find a way in my mind that I could justify saying, Yeah, yeah, my walk with Jesus has been okay, it's been fine. And I would, you know, usually justify it in my head. It's like, well, yeah, the last week or so it's been great, been doing a great job. Like, or the last few days has been fine. Ah, you know, it's been a little hard, been struggling to read my Bible a little bit. And in this way, I would tell parts of the truth, but not the full truth. And I'll never remember. I got to college and um by God's grace, I found a uh connection group. I was part of a connection group and um got to confess sin for the first time, walk in the light. And the Lord did an awesome work in my life. And so I went back and I told my dad, I said, Hey, you know, I wasn't always truthful with you, and I was struggling with things like pornography in high school. I'll never forget what he said to me because he looked at me. We're in the car driving, and I remember him saying, Son, this is true, then I haven't known who you were for the last three or four years. And this struck me because my dad, who was my hero, my champion, the person who I knew loved me and cared for me most, the person I looked up to in my life, looked at me face to face and said, For the last three to four years, I haven't actually known who you truly are. And he was right. He didn't. He didn't know what I was struggling with. He didn't know what I was wrestling with. I was deceptive. I didn't tell the whole truth. I kept him from reality. And this is what we do with people when we don't tell the full truth. We withhold from them the right to know what reality is. Number two, our speech needs to be gentle and kind, not harsh. Gentle and kind, not harsh, which means to inflict pain. Guys, sometimes and most oftentimes, this comes in our tone. Okay? Have you ever said something that was technically true, but you said it with the wrong tone to your mom and you got in trouble? Yeah. I see some of you smiling and nodding your heads, okay? It's because you weren't gentle. You weren't gentle and kind in your response to your mom, and you were probably disrespectful in your tone. Okay? It's not always okay just to say the right thing, because sometimes it actually matters how you say it, not just what you say. Once you get married, you'll figure this out pretty quick, okay? This happens all the time. I may say the right thing to my wife, but if I don't say it with the right motive or the right attitude, then I have to go back and I have to say it all again, okay? Because she probably didn't hear it. Gentle and kind. Our speech has to be full of gentleness and kindness. Guys, there's a way that you can be honest and still be kind. And if you're saying something that is hard to a friend or loved one or a roommate, the person that you're saying it to should know that you love them and that it's hard for you to say what you're about to say. Some of us have way too much fun just being honest and being blunt. And we really love it because it makes other people uncomfortable. But we have to actually let the people know that we love them and that it's not an easy thing for us to say the hard thing to them. Okay, number three. Our speech. How can we actually have speech that is life-giving? Number three is this it has to be wise and apt. In other words, your words have to be attractive to those who hear it. Your words have to be attractive to those who hear it. And this also oftentimes has to do with timing. Okay, not everyone wants to be called out in their sin in front of the entire connection group. Not everyone wants to be called out in their sin in front of the friend group. Okay? If you've ever tried to do that, probably doesn't go well. Okay, if you have siblings and you try and call them out for something in front of other siblings, no shot that's going well. Okay? I can guarantee you that is not gonna go well because that is an unwise time to call your sibling out and doing something. Okay. Um not everything that comes to mind needs to be said by you right away. Okay? Not everything that comes to mind needs to be said by you right away. Actually, it's wise to practice patience and say, I see this thing, and you know what? I might not even need to address it. Let me pray about it first. I need to I need to pray about it first so I don't say this in anger. So I don't say this without understanding where they're coming from. Or giving them the best possible chance of responding well to what I'm about to say. Wise and apt. Number four, our speech must be direct, meaning no gossip, no slander, and no sarcasm. Okay? Or passive aggression. Oh, I hate that one. Whenever my wife gives me some passive aggression, I'm like, nope, let's try that again. She's like, what? I'm like, you are being passive aggressive, and I hate that. Just tell me. You don't like what I'm doing, okay? Anyways. Guys, our communication must be direct. If you feel hurt by someone, it is actually incredibly kind to go to that person and say, hey, you hurt me when blank. You hurt me by when you did this. Okay? It's really, really kind to go to somebody directly. And not to go to your friend or to your roommate. Guys, we can find all kinds of ways to justify our gossip. We can find all kinds of ways. I'm just seeking wisdom. I'm just seeking advice. I'm just trying to see if I'm crazy that they think this thing about me. I'm trying to see if it's crazy that I want my roommates to just do their dishes. Surely that's not too weird, right? We're just gonna plow through, guys, alright? I don't know if that's hail or rocks. Maybe we're getting persecuted right now. Okay. We all know where we're going when we die. If you don't, come talk to me. I'll lead you to Jesus, okay? Um, we have to be able to stop the train of gossip. Gossip will squash any movement of God in a heartbeat. Because the movement of God is actually thriving when the church is unified and gossip does everything but unify. And so our communication must be direct, no gossip, no slander. Okay, number five. Our speech must be economical. Now, this is like the weirdest sounding one, okay? But in other words, concise. All right? Concise. The more words that you say, the more likely it is that you're actually going to sin. That's just the truth. Okay? The more quantity of words that you actually say, the more likely it is that you're going to sin in some way, shape, or form. And so, less is more oftentimes. Honest, gentle, wise, direct, and less is more is how our speech can actually begin to bring life. Now, if we were to take an honest look at this list, an honest look at our words, I don't know how great we'd feel about following all these things. I don't know about you, but I'm looking at them like, man, I have a lot of work to do on these things. But doesn't it sound exhausting or impossible to say this is how my speech, like blah, boring, okay? Like this is this is how I'm supposed to talk like all the time. This is why why why would this matter? Why do I actually have to do this? That's Proverbs 18, 21. I want to go back to this verse. We've said it a few times. It says, Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit with our words, because we have actually we actually have the potential to bring life or death into our relationships. And I'm sure many of you have actually seen tons of relationships just break in your life because of the lack of life-giving words. Um I have three younger brothers, okay? So I'm the oldest of four. And all of us are super close, and the rest of them are way cooler than I am, but um, I'm a better athlete than all of them. Totally not true. But I am the older brother, so I usually win competition just because that's how the universe works, okay? Uh, but we're all super competitive. We compete in pretty much everything that we do. Every time I go home to see family, it's literally they're just like, all right, we're gonna do this game, and then we're gonna play Halo, and then we're gonna play basketball, and then we're gonna do this katan, and then we're just like, oh my goodness, okay, let's just chill. Um, but we're all super competitive, super close. Um, and sometimes, okay, our competition would turn into smack talk, which would then turn into trash talk growing up. And this would happen pretty frequently, usually playing basketball in our you know, driveway in the front yard. Um, but it would turn to trash talk. And there were things that were said that were actually super hurtful at times. I can remember some of them. And this led me to not loving confrontation, not loving competition at times, because I thought if this is what competition brings, which is just anger and frustration and then division, I don't really want it. Okay. I don't want this. And in particular, the brother that was um directly under me, he was probably the most competitive. And he's probably one of the most skilled people I know in my life. And um I remember he just he had a history of using his words in a really rash way, in a really harsh way. And he's really witty and really smart, and so if you ever got into an argument, he would usually bait you into an argument. Um, because if he couldn't win the competition, then he can win the argument. And so he'd bait you into an argument, and then you'd get going back and forth, and he'd find some way to spin it or to twist it, and then he would usually have some kind of jabs in there that would just absolutely hurt. But we're brothers, so we can't look like it actually hurt. We can't look like this was not a good thing. You just have to kind of keep going forward and move on and whatever. But his words were very cutting. And one day, I remember our family was on um, we went on some family camp together, and I was in college at this point, had just gotten married to Sierra, and I had heard him use some language that was cutting and unkind to his then, it was a longtime girlfriend or fiance, I can't remember where they were at, but they had been together for a while and moving towards marriage. He had said some things that were just unkind towards her, and it made her upset. And honestly, I had seen this pattern happen time and time again. He would say things for attention, or he'd make jokes, or he would do these things, and I could tell that she didn't really love it, but she was a little passive, and so she wouldn't say much about it. She maybe pull him aside every now and then. But I saw that this had definitely hurt her. And the next morning, I was gonna go do a Bible study with, I invited him and my other brothers to come do a Bible study with me before the day started, and he was the only one that showed up, which later on I realized was a complete God thing. Because when he showed up, I realized I had an opportunity to tell him something that was honest, gentle, wise, and direct. You see, most of our confrontations as brothers were just full of emotion, they lacked tact, and I knew that this conversation had to be so much different. And so, as we're sitting there outside by a pond, I'm sitting across from him, and I said, Brother, you know that I love you. I love you so much. In fact, I love you so much that I have to be honest with you. I've been watching you and the interactions that you have with Rachel, and it's it's not good. It's really not good. And if I were Rachel's brother, I would tell her to not marry you. I would tell her right now, if she came to ask me if she should marry you, I would tell her, absolutely not, I wouldn't. It gets better, but don't worry. I said, I think you're one of the most self-centered people I know. I think that you think the world revolves around you, but it doesn't. And unless you change the way that you act, unless the way that unless you change the way that you talk, you're actually in an in an in for a world of hurt. A ton of hurt. Now, how do you think he responded to this? Remember, this is the brother that at any chance he gets he would get to pick a fight, he'd pick a fight, and he'd argue, and he'd find his way out of it, and he'd find he'd find a way to twist it back and say, Well, absolutely not. She's just being emotional, she's just this, she's whatever. But he didn't say much. I remember getting through that, and I was, you know, my heart is beating really fast. I'm like, I don't know how this is gonna go. And we kind of moved on the rest of that weekend, but in reflection of this combo, I've asked him looking back, and he said, this combo was one that actually changed his life. He eventually married Rachel. Now they have two kids, and he's a great husband and a great dad. And this sweatshirt that I'm wearing, actually, was from a clothing brand that he created called Uncertified. And it it means to not find validation in the world, but the one who created it. You see, he was seeking validation from the world, and because he was insecure, he would often use his words in a rash way to cut other people down because he felt so low. And so he said, Actually, no, I want to find my validation from the one who created the world, not from the world itself, because that's leading me into the ground. And to this day, my brother is one of the best evangelists that I know. He shares the gospel with more than almost any other people, any other person that I know, and he's incredible at using his tongue that he was once using in such a skillful way to lift himself up, now to lift high the name of Jesus. Something that he was using for himself is now being used for the kingdom of Jesus. And Jesus has brought him so much success in business adventures and all these things. Death and life are in the power of the tongue. Point number three is this the purpose of our words. You see, the purpose of our words is to give life. Is to give life and bring healing. You see, I knew that if I said something to my brother, it might actually cost me. But I also knew if I didn't say something to my brother, his relationship could end in death, and most likely would. They might get into marriage, and years after being together, he would use the same cutting remarks, and maybe would actually pass down to his kids, and his kids might be in a room like this one day and hear, hey, maybe your dad said something that has left you wounded. And he would have been that kid. If I didn't say something, he he would have had a ton of death in his life. But I decided to put aside my comfortability to confront him, to lead him to life. But I had to do it in a way that was honest, gentle, wise, and direct. See, words are not meaningless or powerless. See, when God created the world, it says that he spoke the world into existence. One of the main ways that God reveals himself to us is through his word. Through his word is actually how we are revealed, um, how God reveals himself to us. Matthew 4, 4, Jesus says, it is written, man must not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from God. And as Christians, we actually look to God's word to give us life because this is where we see that Jesus died for every word, thought, and action that was leading us to death. And he died and rose, and we believe that if that we actually believe in Jesus, he gives us a new heart and his spirit dwells inside of us, renewing our speech. So it actually can give life. And now he sends us into a world, onto campuses, into this city to proclaim the gospel, to proclaim the good news that actually you don't have to stay in your death, but you can have new life because it's found in Jesus. And we do this with our words. With our tongue, we have the power to bring life. But our world is full of crude language and obscene talk. Our music doesn't dignify women, it calls for men to chase empty pursuits, and our relationships are full of sarcasm and deceit. But I believe that God actually wants to use this room powerfully. You guys want to see every tribe, nation, and tongue worshiping Jesus, giving Jesus the words that he gave to us, the breath that he gave to us, and then turn it into words of praise to him because only he deserves it. Life-giving words flow from a heart that has been given new life, Saul Company. And so if you're in this room and you don't know Jesus, you don't have a relationship with Jesus, and all you see is brokenness around you, broken relationship after broken relationship after broken relationship, there is actually a way that you can have new life tonight. See, the Bible says that you can be saved by simply humbling yourself, coming to the end of yourself, saying, I there's nothing I can do to save myself, but by declaring with your words, declaring with your mouth, Jesus Christ is Lord, and by believing in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead because he died for your sin, you will be saved, the Bible says. With your words tonight, you can actually declare Jesus as Lord and have new life. Death and life are in the power of the tongue. Saul company. Could we choose to actually submit to Jesus, surrender to Jesus, and have a heart that's been changed by Jesus so that we can use our words to bring life? Let's pray. My speech is gonna be gentle, it's gonna be kind, it's gonna be wise. I'm not gonna speak like the world does in outrage and anger and frustration, not caring about the consequence. But God, I'm gonna I'm gonna seek to bring healing and peace. I'm gonna seek to bring unity. I'm not gonna speak about crude things, God, because this doesn't honor you or bring you glory. But I'm gonna use my words in a wise way. And God, I pray for the student who doesn't know you. God, life-giving words flow from a heart that has been given new life. So before we can ever try and speak life-giving words, we have to receive the life-giving words from you, Jesus. We can be made a son or a daughter by simply humbling ourselves and declaring, Jesus, you are Lord. Would you save me from my sin? Jesus, would tonight's worship just be a reflection of how good you are, how good you've been to us. Would we not waste our words on silly things, but would we pour it out in praise to you, Jesus? Would you help us to do that? That's your name I pray. Amen.