It is easy, especially in Australia, to use our words to pull other people down. Maybe it is a sarcastic remark, a joke, or just general negative talk. Pulling people down is cheap humour. We might think it is witty and clever. Well go to any school yard and you will find 8 year olds just as witty as you! However you probably won’t find too much words of encouragement on a school playground. I don’t remember too many compliments when I was 8. I never heard this: “What a great haircut you have, you look more handsome today.” Why? Because it takes maturity to build others up and to encourage.

Here are 5 ways to speak:

1.     Speak encouragement (to give courage)
Deut 3:28 Instead, commission Joshua and encourage and strengthen him, for he will lead the people across the fordan. He will give them all the land you now see before you as their possession.

Prov 12:25 Worry weighs a person down; an encouraging word cheers a person up.

2. Speak Life
John 6 – The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.

Start to say. “My business will prosper. I am good enough. I am chosen of God. I am blessed by God. By his stripes I am healed.”

3. Speak with faith
Gen 22:1 Some time later, God tested Abraham’s faith. “Abraham!” God called. “Yes,” he replied. “Here I am.”

4. Speak positive
Psalm 37:30  “The mouth of the righteous speaks wisdom, And his tongue talks of justice.”

Use words like “Today is a new day. I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me. Good things are coming my way.”

5. Speak with praise to God
Psalm 51:15  ” O Lord, open my lips, And my mouth shall show forth Your praise.”

The Bible says “the words of the godly encourage many (Proverbs 10:21)”. Are you a Godly person? You can tell by the way you speak to others.

Psalm 119:5 “Oh, that my actions would consistently reflect your decrees!”

Consistency is very important. Think about it, do you want your doctor to be consistent when he is operating on you? Do you want the pilot of the plane you are on to be consistent? Do you want your wife or husband to be consistent to you in their faithfulness? So no wonder God wants you to live a consistent life because he has a plan and purpose for you!

2 Timothy 1:3 (NKJV) I thank God, whom I serve with a pure conscience, as my forefathers did, as without ceasing I remember you in my prayers night and day.

Without ceasing is talking about a consistent lifestyle. When it comes to consistency there are three kinds of people you will find:

1. The yoyo

The yoyo is the kind of person that has the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. One day they are on top of the world – the next at the bottom of the ocean. It is hard to trust yoyo people. It is hard to give them responsibility. On a bigger scale, it is the person whose principles, character, loyalty, friendship, work ethic, attitude, is always changing based on circumstance.

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Paul writes to Timothy:

2 Timothy 1:5-6 (NLT)

⁵ I remember your genuine faith, for you share the faith that first filled your grandmother Lois and your mother, Eunice. And I know that same faith continues strong in you. ⁶ This is why I remind you to fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you when I laid my hands on you.

Notice the words “fan into flame”. A fire naturally dies down. It cannot sustain itself without fuelling.

• So does our passion in life.
• So does commitment.
• So does faith.
• So does thinking positively.

So when a fire gets down you fan it to supply oxygen and get it roaring again.

Get your enthusiasm for life back. Your energy. Your passion. Your potential. Fan your marriage back into flame. Fan the mission of your business back into flame. Fan your life into a roaring fire!

Having a courageous enthusiasm is essential for success in any kind of work.

I am an ardent local church guy. It’s what I do. The New Testament certainly sets the local church up as an absolute essential to the Christian life.

Having said that, I do not view other churches as competition. In fact, we are on the same team. Our competition is the nightclubs, bars, pubs, and anything that would keep people away from God.

Unity is an important word. Many use it as a thinly veiled disguise for a lack of commitment and accountability. “Well we are all the body” or “I go to numerous churches” are usually just people that are not planted and won’t be accountable to a local community of believers.

On that point, unity is not this either: “Let’s bring all the churches together for a revival meeting in a stadium.” It’s not in the Bible, and the point of getting a bunch of Christians together seems like the salt being in the shaker rather than in the world. In fact, the last time all the disciples were together in the same room was the Upper Room experience. From that point on they set about changing the world.

So the first step to unity is actually to strongly commit to a local church. The next step is to encourage other churches and speak highly of them. The final step is to hold a local church theology in one hand, and a kingdom theology in the other. They actually complement each other.

Remember, over 90% of Brisbane is still in need of a church on Sunday! Comments?

1 Tim 6: 11-12
“Run from evil things and pursue a godly life”

RUN from evil things. Not walk, not look at them and maybe slowly step away, no… Run! Too many times in our lives we play with sin. We think, oh just a little bit is ok, this isn’t going to hurt anyone, or doing this won’t affect me. Unfortunately before you know it, you are trapped by sin and you don’t even realize it.

The enemy is sneaky, he wears us down. He let’s us think that a little won’t hurt us, then when we are used to that, just a little bit more won’t hurt either.

It may start with a thought, then as you give life to that thought it becomes a desire and then you act upon that desire.

The bible says God warns us to RUN from evil things:

• Run from those parties you know you shouldn’t be at,
• Run from those wrong thoughts,
• Run from those situations you shouldn’t be in,
• Run from those conversation you shouldn’t take part in,
• Run from those temptations.

Running isn’t always a bad thing, or a cowardly act. It can take great strength and endurance to pull yourself away from something as ensnaring as sin and keep running towards God.

Pursue the things of God, give your focus over to Him and you’ll know when and what to run from.

In the Western world many people are experiencing less and less of genuine church family.

• You can go to church by watching TV
• Some are experimenting with style of church that avoids corporate meetings.
• There are even churches that are entirely online now.

We keep finding new ways to take family and relationships and community out of church. In short, we are taking people out of the equation.

And it makes sense to me. I actually understand it.

• If there are no people then there are no offences
• No people means no misunderstandings
• No one rubbing you the wrong way
• Take people out and you have no need to be vulnerable
• No need to sacrifice your time and emotions to make new friends
• Less inconveniences with nobody to care about

Yet the Bible considers fellowship (relationships and community) as the backbone of Church and Christianity.

Act 2:42
“They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.”

The early Christians devoted themselves to fellowship. They just didn’t HAVE fellowship; they devoted themselves to it. This means that fellowship was a priority and one of the objectives for gathering together.
Friendships and community is a core part of who we are. The entire context of the New Testament is relational. Why? Because without people we will never learn to forgive, never develop grace and long sufferings. The true test of our lives is how we are with the people around us.

This week make coming to church and spending time with someone from church a priority.