Winners Words

24, February 2002

Dakota Community Church

The Winners Words

Introduction:

1 Corinthians 9:25

Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.

Lets look at tools that have been given us for victory.

Our words can help or hinder our progress in the transformation.

A lady asked a man working in the produce department if she could buy half a head of lettuce. He replied, "Half a head? Are you serious? God grows these in whole heads and that’s how we sell them!"

"You mean," she persisted, "that after all the years I’ve shopped here, you won’t sell me half-a-head of lettuce?"

"Look," he said, "If you like I’ll ask the manager."

She indicated that would be appreciated, so the young man marched to the front of the store. "You won’t believe this, but there’s a lame-braided idiot of a lady back there who wants to know if she can buy half-a-head of lettuce."

He noticed the manager gesturing, and turned around to see the lady standing behind him, obviously having followed him to the front of the store. "And this nice lady was wondering if she could buy the other half" he concluded.

Later in the day the manager cornered the young man and said, "That was the finest example of thinking on your feet I’ve ever seen! Where did you learn that?" "I grew up in Grand Rapids, and if you know anything about Grand Rapids, you know that it’s known for its great hockey teams and its ugly women."

The manager’s face flushed, and he interrupted, "My wife is from Grand Rapids!" "And which hockey team did she play for?"

- A.) Why are our words important?

Do we really need to be careful about what we say? Doesn’t God know what we mean?

If I keep saying it will I ever really laugh my head off?

1. Because the power of life and death is in the tongue.

Proverbs 18:21

21 The tongue has the power of life and death,

and those who love it will eat its fruit.

There was once a pastor who had a little five-year-old daughter. Now the little girl notice that every time her dad stood behind the pulpit, and was getting ready to preach he would bow his head for moment before he began to preach. The little girl noticed that he did this every time.

So one day after the service the little girl when to her dad and asked him, “Why do you bow your head right before you preach your sermon?”

“Well Honey” the preacher answered, “ I asking the Lord to help me preach a good sermon.”

The little girl looked up at her father and asked, “Then how come he doesn’t do it?”

2. Because God is watching over His word to perform it.

Jeremiah 1:12

12Then said the Lord to me, you have seen well, for I am alert and active, watching over My word to perform it.

- Give Him something to work with!

3. Because our words reveal the condition of our hearts.

Matthew 12:33-35

33"Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit. 34You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. 35The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him.

4. Because our words are direction setters.

James 3:2-6

. 2We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check.

3When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. 4Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. 5Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. 6The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.

In 1941 GERMAN BATTLESHIP NAMED BISMARK. SPENT 4 YEARS BUILDING IT. ON ACTIVE DUTY FOR 9 DAYS

BEFORE A SMALL TORPEDO STRUCK THE BOTTOM OF THE SHIP AND DAMAGED THE RUDDER. PILOTS UNSURE IF ANY