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You Have What You Say
Contributed by John Miller on Nov 20, 2002 (message contributor)
Summary: You can receive good things from God if you speak it out in faith
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YOU HAVE WHAT YOU SAY
Read: Mark 11:12-14 & 20-26
INTRODUCTION
When I was growing up I remember a phrase that was said quite often and that was
“sticks and stones can break my bones but names will never hurt me.”
I thought that was true at the time, but have now discovered that it isn’t. Oh yes it’s true
that sticks and stones could break your bones but it’s also true that names can hurt you,
for words that come out of your mouth are very powerful. They can either bring life or
death to you or to someone you direct them to.
*Proverbs 18:21 says:
The tongue has the power of life and death and those who love it will
eat its fruit.
Or in other words, whatever comes out of your mouth, you will have to live with it. What
you say is very important, for once words are said they cannot be retracted. Now some
people say, “I said that without thinking.” I personally find that hard to believe for the
thought must first be formed in your mind before it comes out of your mouth and Jesus
says in Matthew 12:34 “Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh.” So
whatever is on your mind will come out of your mouth, therefore we must carefully
weigh our words because you will have what you say and if you want good things then
you will need to say good things which is what my text is all about. It’s about saying
good things and receiving what you say. This evening I want to give you three things you
must do in order to receive good things from God.
The first thing is, you will have what you say when you confess it with your mouth.
Confession is God’s way of changing your heart. When it comes to salvation, Paul writes
in Romans 10:9-10:
9: That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in
thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
10: For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth
confession is made unto salvation.
Not only is confession how we get saved, it’s also how we stay saved for 1 John 1:9 says:
9: If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse
us from all unrighteousness.
In other words, whenever you make a mistake in your Christian walk all you need to do is
to confess that sin to God out of a sincere heart and he will forgive you and cleanse you
from all unrighteousness.
Now the word confess is an interesting word for it means to declare – to make a statement
or to profess something and when it come to living an overcoming life your confession
must be positive.
There are too many people in the body of Christ who speak negative things over their
lives and the lives of their loved ones and they wonder why they can’t seem to have
victory. Proverbs 6:2 says you can be trapped by what you say, you can be ensnared by
the words of your mouth. So whatever you say then should be positive and not negative.
Mark Chapter 11, which is my text, tells us what we should do. Jesus is giving His
disciples a lesson on faith. It all begins when they had left Bethany and were on their way
to Jerusalem. Verse 12 says Jesus was hungry and seeing a fig tree from a distance went
to it to get some figs. There were no figs on it because they hadn’t come on yet so Jesus
said unto the fig tree, “Let no one eat fruit from you ever again.” This was a positive
confession of faith. Lest we try to read anything else into the cursing of the fig tree. I
believe the sole purpose for doing so was to teach His disciples an important truth. For in
Verse 20 when they pass by the fig tree the next day it is all dried up from the roots and
Peter seeing that said to Jesus, “Rabbi look, “ The fig tree you cursed has withered”. And
Jesus said, “Have Faith in God.”
The withered fig tree was a result of Jesus positive confession of faith. A positive
confession of faith simply means you are speaking forth-good things that are going to
happen regardless of what the circumstances are. If you are sick your positive confession
of faith is you are going to be well. If you are having financial struggles, your positive
confession of faith is, “God will supply all your needs and you will have some left over to
give to others in need.” If you have unsaved loved ones, your confession of faith is that