Offering message: Prov. 3:5-9Are you honoring God with your first-fruits and possessions? Gene English spoke about listening to the voice of silence from God in relation to his trip to Namibia, Africa. Pastor Dale preached on the power of the tongue from James 3:2-8, Prov. 18:20-21, Prov. 6:2, Mark 11:23-24, Prov. 12:13-14, and Isaiah 54:17. If you can control your tongue, you can control your whole body and being. The worst the conditions, the smaller you have to start, just like starting a fire with the smallest and driest wood. Your words are kindling to the fire you’re trying to build. The fire you build can bring life or destruction. Negative words and talking about your problems will burn your life up. Death and life are in the power of the tongue. You can be snared (tricked and trapped) by your words. Talk to your problems and tell them to be removed. Believe what you say, and you will have what you say. Use your words to work for you. Weed out the negative words! Rise up and condemn what comes against you.

Text: James 3:2-4. Faith in your words can work for or against you and can change the direction of your life. Matt. 12:36 tells us that we will have to give account of every idle word. Actions start with words. Philemon 6 says that the communication (intimate sharing, interchange) of our faith becomes effective by our acknowledging what is every good thing in us in Christ Jesus. Do we acknowledge Him in our life situations so the Word works for us? Our first confession should be: “Jesus is the Lord of my life.” We must acknowledge truth to be truth for ourselves, because the Word of God works. It’s not based on how spiritual we are. We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us and that includes our relationships, business, even shopping. Ps. 103:1-7 is a great prayer/confession. Remember, your words change the direction of your life. (There was a communion service.)

(There was a baptismal service for four young ladies.) Text: James 3:1. Be careful with your words and control them. Think before you speak. Your words control your whole body. We should love the principle of our words changing things to the point that we can control our body. You can’t trust your thoughts or your emotions, because they can be manipulated. Pastor Dale shares an experience when he used Scripture to change his depressive thoughts and also, when a Congressional aide said the Lord’s Prayer and was able to resist an addictive sin. Confess God’s Word- it’s alive! Check what you’re meditating on before you go to bed and when you wake up, and you’ll know where you are. You can pull down strongholds in your mind and cast down imaginations (2 Cor. 10:3-5). Speak Eph. 1:4-6 with your name in it. Phil. 4:6-8 tells us not to worry but to pray, supplicate, and give thanksgiving in our prayer requests. It also tells us what to think on. Use the Word to shut your mind up when your thoughts are not good.

Text: James 3:1-6. Verse 6 tells about the curse side of our words: the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity, set on fire by hell. The words you speak define you. Some people have cycles of life, in which they constantly have troubles and tragedies. In those troubles looking for meaning in suffering and saying that you’re a victim of a generational curse won’t set you free. Instead, break the cycle by SPEAKING THE TRUTH OF THE WORD! There’s a secret place in God where we need to live (Ps. 91:1-9), and you get there by SAYING, “The Lord is my refuge and my fortress. He is my God, in Him I will trust.” Speak what the desired result is and who Jesus is, which releases authority. When you are aware of a curse on you, SPEAK, “It will not come near me!” Believe in the power of the blessing. Unbelief and fear silence your mouth. Remember, even though there is a strategy to defeat you and your family and your future, GOD’S POWER IS GREATER. Is. 54:17. Don’t ignore words spoken against you, because that’s agreement with those words. YOU shall condemn every tongue that rises against you in judgment. YOU break the curses, because they are cycles of fire. Josh. 1:5 and Heb. 13:5 assure us that God will never leave nor forsake us, so we can boldly say: “The Lord is my helper!” Speak God’s Words.

Text: James 3:2-5. Your life will go where your words lead you. Prov. 18:20-21 says that from the increase of your lips you will be filled. Speak more, affirm more, confess more, proclaim more. Death and life are in the power of the tongue. The time to build words for long life is when your children are young. The Bible has many promises of long life. Your stomach (the spirit of man) is satisfied by the fruit of your mouth (the words that come out of your mouth). The fruit of what you say is a harvest of words; the yield of a fruitful harvest; the offspring of life (birthing something through words). Get a harvest of words that you want in your life. Learn to love the power of your words, love the law of words. Authority is exercised by words (Deut. 30:14-20), such as when you say “yes” to salvation. Gen. 1:1 God said, “Let there be light”, which really means, “Light be!” God is the source of power. Satan responds to words because he is a created being. God gives the power to become the children of God to those who receive and believe Jesus. You receive and walk in Jesus with your mouth (Col. 2:6; Rom. 10:9, 10). Pastor Dale shares experiences about releasing power by confessing God’s Word. Love the power of your words.

Sermon: In Mark 11:12-14, 20-24 the fig tree spoke lack and non-productivity, so Jesus answered it with a curse. He didn’t keep looking at it, because by faith He knew what would happen. Faith and your words work for you. You will have what you say. The word “pray” can mean to say and to address someone. Jesus spoke to the fig tree, but in Mark 11:23 He told Peter (and us) to speak to the mountain, and in verse 24 to believe that he will have what he says. There are four principles from this story shown by example: 1) Speak to you problem. 2) Speak the desired results and act on the promises. 3) Jesus’ words were at work in the unseen realm. 4) Negative words are a curse. There are five things Jesus taught from this passage. 1) This principle will work for whosoever , which means you. 2) Speak TO your mountain. 3) Speak the end result. 4) Don’t waver. 5) Believe what you say will come to pass.