The Power of Our Word

If you would please, turn in your Bibles to Acts Chapter one verse 37, That’s Acts Chapter one verse 37.

This morning we heard from: Revelations 12:11

¹¹“And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death.

The “him” they overcame -we determined- was the devil himself. This morning we began to understand the “power” of Testimony. What is a testimony? We understand “Testimony” to be the relating of the miraculous that the Lord has performed in our lives. What makes it so powerful? We have often heard that “Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God” and understood that of course anything coming from God is going to be powerful. Jesus Himself is known as “The Word become Flesh. Again that of course is The Word Of God. What about the Word of man? What about the words that you and I speak? I think in our heads we understand that with the Holy Spirit involved what we say can be powerful if He fills us. A good example of this would be here in Acts chapter one. This is immediately following Peters first Sermon; which is following the Pentecost or the “Filling of the Holy Spirit” that we know moves within us, when we let it, to great and powerful things.

Acts Chapter one verse 37:

³⁷Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?” ³⁸Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ³⁹“For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.” ⁴⁰And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation!” ⁴¹So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand ^£souls. ⁴²They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

This is one of those parts of the Bible that continues to amaze me for the sheer numbers involved. Pete said: “Repent and Be Baptized!” and Three Thousand Souls were added! Think about the impact! One Testimony and -now say this with me- “Three Thousand Souls were added!” This ladies and Gentlemen is the Power of the Spoken Word. This is the Power that you and I have; the power that you and I not only have and use but also often use without even knowing it.

All the people of the ancient Near East believed in the dynamic power of the spoken word. They believed when a word was spoken, it was trusted to release power either for good or for evil. In their case They were thinking of Magic and of course we want no part of Magic but the dynamic power of words also has a place in the Bible; not only in the very beginning where God spoke and everything was created, but in other places, like where Isaac could not recall the blessing once the power of it had been released on Jacob, even though the blessing had been secured by treachery (that would be Genesis 27:35 but don’t bother turning there now). Turn now to Luke Chapter 10 verse 1. This is an example of the power that is given to us that sometimes I believe we use and don’t even know it.

That’s Luke Chapter 10 verse one.

Luke chapter 10

The Seventy Sent Out

¹Now after this the Lord appointed seventy others, and sent them in pairs ahead of Him to every city and place where He Himself was going to come. ²And He was saying to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest. ³“Go; behold, I send you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. ⁴“Carry no money belt, no bag, no shoes; and greet no one on the way. ⁵“Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house.’ ⁶“If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; but if not, it will return to you. ⁷“Stay in that house, eating and drinking what they give you; for the laborer is worthy of his wages. Do not keep moving from house to house. ⁸“Whatever city you enter and they receive you, eat what is set before you; ⁹and heal those in it who are sick, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ ¹⁰“But whatever city you enter and they do not receive you, go out into its streets and say, ¹¹‘Even the dust of your city which clings to our feet we wipe off in protest against you; yet be sure of this, that the kingdom of God has come near.’ ¹²“I say to you, it will be more tolerable in that day for Sodom than for that city.

This has been argued that it was just for the seventy that went out to the places that Jesus was going at that time. I however, believe that it applies to you and me. We have all been given the “great commission” to go and announce that Jesus is coming. WE are His heralds; as such, we have great power and with great power comes great responsibility. First you have to realize and believe that you have that power. You might as well believe it because you do have it. There is a Gun in your hand whether you believe there is or not. You are responsible for it whether you believe it or not. You are required to use that sword that is in your mouth, which is the Truth that Jesus Christ is Lord. Remember when you speak to your neighbor that there is power in your words when you mumble under your breath there is power in your words. When you make a promise there is power in your promise. When you bless and when you curse there is power and you not only have that power but you are using it. Use it well.