God has created us as relational beings that can communicate in a way that we aer understood. We are given the ability to communicate so that our words would help us do His work and bring Him glory. He is the source, standard, and goal of all our talk. He is the Lord of our mouths, so it is vital that we have a clear sense of His purposes for us in this area. When we talk about God’s mission for our mouths, we are taling about a responsibility we havfe bee4n given to carry out. A mission is a particular set of objectives that gives orde3r and puorsposse wo what a person or goup does. It is a special assignment, to pursue a particular activity. No passage more clearly and succinctly defines God’s mission for our talk than 2 Corinthians 5:11-21. Paul’s words in this passage explain in detail the practical principles regarding how God wants us to use our mouths and the words that come from it. Le me begin by saying that according to this passage we have been called to be ambassadors of the King. As ambassadors we are not free to advance our own interests … READ MORE

Deuteronomy 6:4 says, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one LORD:” The word “here” means to hear in order to understand and consider, and it leads to hear with the purpose of action. I remember as a boy, my mom would tell me to take out the trash, and I would keep playing. As I ignored her command, she would say to me, “James, look at me and answer me, “Did you hear me?!” I would say, “I heard you, mom” She would respond, “Then do what I have told you to do.” It is not enough just to hear what is being said, we must be willing to hear for the purpose of personal application and growth. The privilege of hearing is telling others about what we have heard. Matthew 5:16 tells us, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” Our actions are a reflection of our hearing, when we don’t know what to do, we do what we know to do. Learning is important, and if we are going to be characterized by changed behavior, we need to have heard the … READ MORE

Glorifying God is an outgrowth of our desires as a believer to make Him known to the world. One of Paul’s challenges in Philippians 4:9 is to do the things that we have received of him. We need to learn to receive with gratitude and loyalty. The word for Receive means to receive something as you would a gift. We recognize that when someone gives us a gift, they do it out of love, and not compulsion. We are to receive the gift given in the spirit that it was given, and learn that receiving is a motivation to giving back. As believers it is our responsibility to receive what God and other have given us, and our response is to recognize that it is our privilege to give back. There is a succession of receiving and giving mentioned in 2 Timothy 2:2 “The things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faith ful men who will be able to teach others also. As followers of Jesus Christ, we are always in a cycle of receiving and giving: Responsibility and Privilege. May we learn the value of that cycle and live in it.… READ MORE