A Good Word

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But, yeah, today is an awesome opportunity. I want to just first of all, recognize the chapter of Matthew, chapter eight, that we've been looking at and the amazing sermons that Pastor Chris has been delivering for us. When he gave me the thing of like, hey, kind of summarize it, just spend a week. And I was like, dude, you spent weeks doing fire sermon after fire sermon, and I'm supposed to encapsulate that in one thing? Not possible.

And we all know that I'm not good at talking for hours, so I wasn't going to be able to do that. But, yeah, it's just been an amazing service, an amazing sermon, an amazing chapter to be able to reflect on and look at and just see Christ in action. After the sermon on the Mount this morning, I'm going to do something a little different and I'm going to kind of straight go into some punching and making you psychoanalyze yourself, which is exactly what you signed up for. So if I were to ask you in this room, what was the worst thing that anyone has ever said to you, most of us would not have to take very long to think of that. It's probably something that circles in our brain when we're trying to go to sleep, when we drive our car or in the shower.

It's just something that lives with us. But if I was to ask you what is something that was the best thing that somebody has ever said to you, either in your entire life or just this year, does it take you longer to answer that question? And it can tell you a lot about a person by which one of those takes the least amount of time, where that person is mentally, what they've been through, the things that we live with on a daily basis.

Now, I grew up in a household where I was fortunate to have a very overly educated father. He had four degrees. I believe one of those was in psychology, which, unless you actually become a therapist, just means you know, how to psychoanalyze your kids and make them feel guilty for things.

But living with that made us realize things in a different way. So I love to psychoanalyze situations. I love to look at people and just read people and kind of figure out what makes them tick, what makes them work, why do we function in certain ways? Why does my brain go here instead of where it could go potentially?

And sometimes that is from previous parental trauma. But like I said, we're not going to live in that.

But what this reminds us is that words stick with us, because words aren't just neutral. Words carry a Power that we can give to them without any intention of our own. That a word spoken. Even if you're like, I didn't mean it that way. It was read that way.

It carried that power with it. We see in Proverbs chapter 18, where it says that the tongue has the power of life and death.

This isn't some great unlocking knowledge that was delivered here. This isn't a word from God. This is a word from King Solomon. And it's an interesting thing when you look into Proverbs. And I know I'm supposed to be talking about chapter eight.

We'll get back to it. This is my add. Went on a rabbit trail here mid flight. All right, we'll come back. See her back in there.

Just kind of whipped it. Sorry. So King Solomon is the one that authored Proverbs. And what's interesting about him is he became king at a very, very young age. I think some scholars say as young as 15, which I have some of y' all as 15 year olds in my youth group, and I cannot fathom.

And I'm sure you're like, no, no, this, this could not be some 15 year olds. I mean, but for the most part, 99%. But when he had the opportunity in a dream, God met him and asked him, what is something that I could grant for you? What is something that I could do for you to make you be the king that you want to be? He asked for wisdom and discernment.

And so as we look at Proverbs, whenever you're reading that, you're going, this is a man that has used his experience, that has gained wisdom and insight and discernment from the things that he experienced. Hands on. So when he says that the tongue has the power of life and death, it's because he experienced it, because it's a factual thing and it's one that we all know to be true. Because some of us are still living right now in the aftermath of a word spoken years ago. Whether good or bad, some of us are still living in that today because of something that was said.

And today I want to show you that what I saw in Matthew chapter eight, that there's a truth that exists and it exists for everybody in this room.

What happens when a word is spoken and not just a human voice, but it's the voice of Jesus Christ speaking. If our words have the power of life and death, how much greater is the power of his?

Okay, today I'm also going to do something. And yes, youth Pastor, so we're going to get used to it. I'm going to ask for a little crowd participation.

And this was going to be a lot easier to do without a special guest today. But now, because it's real easy to talk about people behind their back, but when they're staring at you in the front row, it's crazy. All right, so my oldest brother is a pastor. He's been one of my look up to guys. And yes, our book and brothers became pastors.

Something in the blood or the water, whatever it is. But he's a phenomenal pastor in Assembly God Church down in Mount Pleasant, Texas. And to direct focus from him to his better half, Stacy, his wife, she is your typical Pentecostal assembly of God wife. And I love it. I used to be cringed out by it because I used to be socially awkward, but now I love it because what she'll do is, you know exactly where she's at in the room and I'm making this camera person following me.

Sorry. You'll know exactly where she's at and it's going to be the front row because that's where you sit.

But she is my brother's biggest supporter. She is the biggest advocate for where he shares something from the Lord. You'll hear an amen. Hallelujah. Just a, mmm, real loud from the front.

And recently, I believe it was last summer. Last summer, my wife went down to their church and they had a phenomenal, like women's gathering. And my wife came back telling me that she had picked up a new phrase.

The phrase acknowledged something that was being said and it's one that I think we should all hold close. So we're going to use this. The phrase is, that's a good word. And you can't say it normal. You can't say, that is a good word.

You have to say East Texas, where they talk about the light of the life and glory. You gotta elongate it. So you gotta be like, that's a good word.

Because it doesn't just say, that's a good word. You're emphasizing it. You're adding something to it. You're passionate about it. That is a good word.

So we need to spend more of our time in our life recognizing a good word, declaring a good word, proclaiming a good word when we hear it. So that we can never underestimate the power of a good word, because it can go just as deep as all the bad words that exist in our life.

So not for my ego, but I'll explain why we're gonna get into this. But if you hear something in your seat today, you can say it quiet. But I encourage you to bring out the non existent East Texas in the room, except for the front row over here. And if you hear something and it resonates with you, acknowledge it. And this is not for my ego.

I don't need to hear you out in the back. Developed some confidence. I'm used to awkward, quiet teenagers. We can do this, but acknowledge it. Let your neighbors know that was a good word.

That is something that we could all use. This is the word of God, because this is what we're speaking from is the word of God. And there is not a word of God that is not a good word.

So last week we talked about some info and like I said, I like to psychoanalyze. I like statistics, I like data. And we talked about the status quo bias. But today I want to talk to you about something called the negativity bias. If you have any experience with that.

It is a system in our brains where we cling on to the negative things of life. Way easier. I'm going to let the smarter people say it. So I'm going to read this description here from the National Library of Medicine. It says life's highs and lows are disproportionately represented in memory.

And when they are retrieved, they often impact our current mood, our thoughts, our influences from various forms of behaviors. Research rooted in neuroscience and cognitive psychology has historically focused on memory for negative emotional content. Yet the study of memories has highlighted the importance of positive emotional memories. What they dive into is that our amygdala in our brain. This is the first portion of your brain that exists.

This is the part of us that is our base level understanding. Fire is hot, ice is cold, rain is wet.

And that's the thing that we run with in life. This happens. So this. And it's a safeguard. It's how we operate to make sure that we're not just alive, but that we stay alive.

Our base level brain is the one that helps us remember negatives for self preservation. But they realize that you can't just function in that and have a happy life, that you have to somehow trigger a good thing, a good word in your life, a memory to rewrite your emotional state.

He's bringing out the twang. All right, great.

So this is why we need a good word. But it can't be fortune cookie good words because we all read that. And if that worked, man, I ate at so many Chinese buffets as a kid, I would be so good right now. But that doesn't help with us because we need words that have authority. We need words with healing.

We need words with presence because they have a stronger impact than the negative ones that we store. And this is what chapter eight gives us.

So Jesus had just given the best sermon of all time in the Sermon on the Mount, comes down and is immediately challenged to put his words to work.

He's been talking about healing and kingdom living and love and grace and mercy and truth. And his words have to go to work the second he steps off that mountain. This chapter is full of scenes where Jesus speaks and something shifts.

The leper greets him at the base of the mountain. It says, he walked down from the mountain, a crowd behind him, and a leper met him right there and says to him, lord, if it be your will, you can make me clean.

Basically, hey, I heard you up on the mountain. Everybody's kind of been talking about it. Prove it to me.

Reaching out his hand, Jesus grabs him and says, I will it be clean. And the man was immediately cleansed, healed of his disease.

But do we notice something that's in here? It is that he is saying, lord, if it be your will. His heart posture is that first he aligns with the will of God. He's like, if it's your will for me right now, you can make me clean. Not, could you not?

Maybe if it's okay. It's like, if it's your will, you can make me clean. And he understood that, and he was given a good word because he put himself in the right posture to receive.

Be clean. That is all that Jesus says. No long ritual, no drama, just authority in action. And when Jesus says, I will, it's an affirmation that where this man was, was not where he was destined to always be.

He immediately speaks him into a new place. It's like, it is my will that you be exactly healed, that you be clean, that you be serving, that you be functioning, that you be back again as a part of society, not an outcast. I don't want you to be left out. I have a kingdom where everybody's let in.

Then we get the story of the centurion and the servant. This is a powerful story because the centurion says, just say a word and my servant will be healed. He knows as a gentile, that the word of God that pours out from Christ is just as powerful as his order to any of his people. That an act of war can be initiated by, but an act of healing can only be done by the voice of God. And just by saying it, just by speaking it, no matter how far away that person is, then that person can receive that healing.

So the centurion knew this. He didn't need to touch. He didn't need more proof. He didn't need to witness it. He just said, if you do it, I know I can go back.

And my guy's good.

His faith believing Jesus word was already enough to change reality yet again. He puts himself in his heart posture for God's word to work, for the good word to be in action. He isn't like, you know, it'd be cool if you could do this. I got a guy and he's sitting over there, he's like, if you speak it, he'll be healed and we can continue on. I don't even want to waste your time with all the semantics.

I don't want to get into it and do this whole thing. Just say it and we're good. Because he's a military man. He's going. You just say the order.

You say jump, I jump. We don't think twice. I need to go. So you just say, healed, he's healed.

And then hearing this, this is the amazing part, is that Jesus was amazed and said to those following him, I assure you, I have not found anyone in Israel with so great a faith.

Not a single person existed with such a great faith as this centurion, this gentile that did not walk up saying, I have now changed my faith. I now proclaim the glory of the Lord Hashem, that is the same God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He just said, you are Jesus Christ, and if you say it, it will be done.

That man's faith to expect a good word and to receive it and to see the actions of it was enough. And it was greater than all of those in Israel. The idea of Jesus having to exist in a place for it to happen, that idea is so crazy. And yet he talks about it again in the same chapter in verses 18 through 20. The man comes up to him and says, wherever you're going, I want to go with you.

And Jesus told him, foxes have dens, the birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of man has no place to lay his head. And as someone who just did a lot of traveling, I have to be so grateful for this, because if we had to do that, if we had to go somewhere, if he had a destination in mind that we had to meet him at, most of us would not be able to hear that good word.

This is what, why it's so exciting because we don't have to have some exact location to organize where we meet Him. But this is why the church is important, because it says that where two or more are gathered there. I am also. I'm a little blinded by the lights. I'm not super good at math and I'm not a betting man, but I'm pretty sure that there's at least three people in this room.

I was homeschooled.

Hey, I taught myself math, so it's my own fault.

So two people in here gathered. Where is Christ? He's in this room.

That means that any other Saturday church that's going on, he's there also tomorrow, all those Sunday churches, He's there as well.

But it also means something incredible that the two people gathered at a bedside praying for somebody that's in the hospital right now, he's there with them. And that two people gathering over coffee to discuss something, to discover God, to really pour into him, to understand him, to build this relationship with him and that are seeking after Him. He's with them as well. He's in our outreach, in our city, wherever we gather in his name. Not of hope of what might be able to do, but in a posture that's expecting what can happen there he is also.

He does not have this den. He does not do that. He does not have a destination in mind, except everywhere that we are and want him to be.

Jesus does not delay his presence. He delivers it. He doesn't hesitate to heal. He speaks and it's done.

His word isn't waiting on our schedule. It's waiting on our faith. Like, I'll do it tomorrow. Maybe it'll be a little convenient. No, today, right now, you speak it and it will happen.

And when he does this, mind you, like, if we're following this in order from when he left the mountain, he heals a leper. Then he gets greeted by a centurion who says, heal my guy. And then that evening, the people brought to him many who were demon possessed. And with a word, literally with a word, he drove out the spirits and he healed all those who were sick with a word, be healed, be freed. I am your peace, salvation, freedom, rest, whatever it was.

With a word, he spoke over the brokenness of people and restored them back to whole.

But the people also knew where to bring their brokenness. Like I said, they didn't wait till the next day. They weren't like, I'll do it tomorrow. They're like, I need it now. I go to him now.

I seek his presence now to find that healing. This dude just delivered a fire message. And they're like, no, he's going to stay awake into the evening, into the late hours. We're going to make this happen. And he was there with them and made it happen.

So where do we bring our brokenness? Do we go to distractions? Well, if I don't think about it anymore, maybe it's not that big of a problem. Or maybe I can delay this till tomorrow. Maybe if I just, you know, zone out on some garbage TV and just don't think about.

Won't be as big of a deal as it actually is. Do we run to people that can't carry it for us? I know a lot of people that do that. Like, hey, I don't expect you to do anything about it, but I need you to listen, okay? And that's how we create a cycle.

Or do we go to the person? Do we go to the one who can drive it out with a single word?

And we're going to get into why that's maybe a little bit more difficult. But his word doesn't need proximity. It doesn't need theatrics. It's not magic. It's kingdom authority, wrapped in compassion, and it's already in action.

You want me to say it again so you can use it in your notes? Ritzima. His word doesn't need proximity, doesn't need theatrics. It's not magic. It's kingdom authority, wrapped in compassion, and it's already in action.

He's going to seal my notes and say it to his people down on Sunday. He did that last week, so I only expect the same, which is kind of flattery as a younger brother. But some of you are waiting on a sign when God's already spoken. And because you're not in that heart posture, because you haven't put yourself in that place to receive it, you don't think it exists.

But we can read Scripture and find out what he already says about us. The deliverance and freedom that's waiting for us. The healing that's waiting for us.

Jesus asleep in the storm. The disciples panic.

No, no, I skipped some stuff. Sorry. I got really excited and started rolling into my notes. Okay, okay.

I really just messed with my entire stuff, Mike. Okay, all right. I got it, I got it, I got it, I got it. Okay.

Jesus sleep in the storm. Yeah, go there.

The disciples start to panic and say, lord, we're perishing. Which, if you've ever had kids, you're like, I'm starving. No, you're not. I can't breathe. You're yelling at me right now like, okay, maybe that was me as a younger sibling being stepped on and, like, bombarded by three older brothers.

I can't breathe. You can breathe. They're still talking.

But he hears that and he goes, calm down. He walks out with a word. He accuses their faith, but then he walks out with a word and calms the seas. Because if he wasn't going down on a ship, he knew he wasn't going to be worried. He's like, this is not my destiny.

We're not dying today. He had no worry.

But sometimes we run to the same conclusion where we run to him and we're like, father, I'm on death's door. This is it for me. I'm being destroyed. Because that's what that word their parish meant was that they were like, we are being destroyed because the waters were coming up onto the ship and they could not rest. And we feel worried and bombarded and burdened by things, and we're like, this is it for me.

God, please. But just like how he was on that boat and it wasn't going to go down. He who lives in you is not going to let you drown in the sea.

He stands up with a few words. The winds and the waves obey. Creation listens to the Creator because He was there at the beginning. He spoke the things into existence. Those waves would not exist if he, the word of God, did not create them.

So he has authority over that. Even the demons understood this authority that we see in verses 28:34. They knew what he could do. Are you here to destroy us? Is this the Day of Judgment?

Because they also a created thing.

His Word speaks into our chaos.

It's not just that Jesus had something to say, it's who was saying it. The authority doesn't come from the amount of words that he said. It comes from the identity of the person speaking the words he spoke. And it happened.

He promises to keep. He does not promise to keep you out of the storms, and this is a hard one. He doesn't promise to keep us out of the storms, but he promises that our Word, that His word is louder than them. The question isn't whether Jesus can calm the storm, but whether we'll trust him before he does it.

So what storms are you listening to more than you're listening to Jesus? What situation are you in that you're saying that speaks louder to me than the words of Christ?

Am I thinking or am I listening to salvation.

But just like the Gadarenes said it first try. Just like the Gadarenes, a good word isn't always an easy one. His word doesn't always comfort, and sometimes it confronts.

And Jesus word confronts comfort.

A good word might disrupt you before it heals you. Because it's not just about what's being said. It's about the authority behind the words being said.

Last week we talked about that, but I don't think we nailed that just enough, is that there are words that he's going to speak to us that really confront us. I said last week, if he was to show up, his presence would confront us before it heals us, before we feel confirmed that we're his possession. Because he's like, first we got to get rid of that that exists, and I can't exist with that.

But all we have to do is let him speak.

Some of us are waiting on this sign, a goosebump, a confirmation. But the fact is that the same God who spoke the world into existence, the same God who spoke to Abraham and established the promises, the same God who healed the leper, calm the seeds and cast out demons, is already speaking to you. And will we listen? Will we have faith like the centurion? Will we receive that good word?

We said it up here several times. He works all things out for our good.

Are we going to say that because it's cute and it's church talk and it's just rhetoric at this point, or are we going to say it because we believe it? Cause I feel like there's too many times where, like, if I say that, maybe it'll happen. But we're not saying that in the authority that God has given us. We're saying, like, I think, you know, he's made a promise to me. No, he works all things out for my good.

End of discussion. And I have to walk in that trust. I have to put myself to say it is his will that I live in a sense and a feeling that his goodness, his greatness, his faithfulness is always with me. And it's active in every single person in this room. Because guess what?

There's more than two people here. And where there's more than two people, he is also. He's alive and active in this room, speaking to somebody. There's been something on your mind this week that he is just targeting. And you're, like, a little uncomfortable right now.

Listen, receive it.

But we have to be able to receive that because we understand who Christ is. Hebrews, chapter 1, verse 3. The sun is the radiance of God's glory and the exact expression of his nature, sustaining all things, Sustaining all things by his power. Forward. Hold on, let's.

The Son is the radiance of God's glory, the exact expression of his nature, and is sustaining all things by his powerful word. And if all things work out for good, if his words have power, his words are a good word.

Remember, the same voice that told demons to flee, told the winds to be still, told sickness to leave, is the same voice that speaks over your life today.

That scripture that we read isn't just stories. It's affirmations. This is what he has said. And it was a word that was at the beginning, and it's a word that's at the end.

He is the living word of God.

I don't know if we fully understand. Like, I. Yeah, I'm getting all fired up. I don't know if it's him or, like, what it was, but I was, like, really thinking about this, But I don't think we fully grasp it and fully understand it. If our face, a mustard seed like face, can move mountains, that means that the authority of all heaven and earth that was active in Christ, who is now active in us, resides in the way that we speak. So that faith that we have allows us so that we can speak a good word and cast a mountain into a sea.

I don't know if I'm going to speak too much and get punished by Chris, but we'll find out. It'd be interesting. Usually I'm on his good side, like one of his favorite people. I think he likes me more than a couple of his kids. Maybe that's too far.

That's too far. Eli's like, that's true. It's me. I'm sorry, no.

As pastors, we love people. And I want to preface this. Every single person in this room. I care deeply for every single person in this room. I want to see healing happen in your life.

I want you to see financial security. I want you to live a life that you feel like you're destined to live. And it breaks hearts as pastors to hear people question the word of God in their life. When you come up and you say, yeah, I know he said that, but no but. No but, no but.

That's one of those jokes. It goes too far. He is active. His word is active. It is for today.

No buts, no thinking it twice. No pondering if it's not active. No pondering if it doesn't have power. This word of God has power. If we're going to be the same people that hold true to the Old Testament feast because we believe there was a guy named Moses who was spoken to by a burning bush.

Little weird, but if we believe that to be true, that that power existed, that that power could move a sea and separate it, that it could bring judgment to those that deserved it, but freedom to the people that God loved, then why don't we think that he can do something in our lives today to the same extent? Because we haven't put ourselves in a position where we say, this is your will. Is it your will? If you say it, I believe it.

We dance around with the topic.

We're like, I know. Yes, he can. And when he does it, you're like, yep. And then the next bad thing that happens, you're like, well, woe is me.

Like, you've never opened the Bible a day in your life to see that his. His good works are not just good today, but tomorrow and forever.

So what word do you need today? Is it healing?

Do you need some calm spoken into your life?

Maybe you need some confrontation.

Maybe you need some direction. Where do I go from here? Give me the one word order. Do I go there or there? And then you move with it.

What is the thing that God is speaking into your life that you need to give Jesus the room to speak in authority?

We look in at chapter eight and it's, you know, you can breeze past it. I mean, many people do. Any book of the Bible, you can read it and not think too long about it. But what we're seeing is that he is putting kingdom in action, that he's putting authority in action immediately. He went up here and said this thing, and then he goes and gives you a whole chapter on the proof of it and what freedom and salvation you can find in it.

And then we glance over it. But we've been looking at this chapter and really trying to dive in and really see what God has to say to us through it.

And at the very least, we should just see that what he says will come to happen, that his life, his Word is a good word.

Go ahead and call the band back up.

Jesus is speaking to us every single day, and we have an opportunity to listen.

His Word is right here and it's active. You can open it up. You can spend time in prayer. You can go and listen to somebody gather, just see what happens. Sit in a room and just focus on his presence, See what He has to say.

But we have to hear it. We have to Be willing to move with it so that we can start having a history where it says all these negative things that are in my life that I've based my entire way of being off of. Now this positive is here outshining all the negative in my life. Maybe you had a situation in your life where you had somebody speak very ill, speak down to you, berate you, and that's what you've been walking in. But the second you hear the Lord of hosts, God, Messiah, in the flesh, written down, or you hear it in your mind because you're spending time with him and you hear him say, I love you and you are valuable, you're important, you're a peace of my heart.

I want to be with you.

You have purpose that should outweigh anything that we think poorly of ourselves.

Maybe you're like, maybe this is just my destiny to be here because this and this and this have kept happening. No, today we break cycles. Today you start listening to the voice of God and say, no, that's not where he wants me to live. My destiny is not this. He wills it for me to be better, to be different, to break the chains, to break the cycles in my life.

Maybe you're the one that's putting those thoughts in your own brain. Maybe it's not an external, maybe it's all internal. Man, I'm just kind of stupid. Anybody ever say that? Yeah, maybe I don't deserve love.

Maybe I don't matter.

Stop. God says that you are loved, that you have a purpose in his kingdom, that you have worth just by existing. Because the fact that you are a part of his creation means that you had an intent behind you because he does all things for good and you are a part of his plan.

So I encourage you today, actively listen to the word of God. Let him speak into your life. Let him make a new cognitive pathway. That's what's called from the dumb base nature of ourselves to the fully formed understanding of this is who I am, this is my purpose, this is my value.

We serve a good God who knows how to make all things better.

And it's dumb to think that we have more control than he does. But we do that on a regular basis.

Father, today we surrender everything that we think about ourselves the way. The way that we think that we are trapped into things.

Father. We hand over those thoughts, allowing you to rewrite the story that exists in our mind because you've already spoken something. Father, I pray that we look at the healing that you say exists for us and that we start walking in it. Father, I pray for everybody in this room that has been dealing with a thought pattern that they felt they couldn't escape from that today they start hearing your voice, that they start living in a good world word knowing that you are working within them every single day and you're working it out for good.

Father, as we focus on you and we listen to you and we reflect on the words of your son and him putting the kingdom into action, I pray that we look forward and listen and change our heart posture and be more open to experiencing the things that you have for us as we continue pressing further into your word as we keep looking past Matthew chapter eight.

But Father, I'd be foolish and also say just thank you for what you've already done.

The things that I overlook, the things that we just tend to think exist. May we be in a habit of being grateful for today, for an opportunity to press in.

Father, thank you for being with us when there's just a few of us. Thank you for not only being here in this room, but in the room down the street, for being in our houses, for being with us when we join together with friends.

Let us focus on bringing the good Word of God into every situation because we're bringing Christ and his authority into every situation.

Father, we love you. We thank you. We lift you up as the King of all kings, the Lord of all lords, the author and finisher of life, and it's your son Jesus name we say amen.