Pastor Wayne Cordeiro
May 31, 2015 - W1522

Today’s God’s Home Remedies is to choose right words.  How many of you have ever chosen wrong words in your speech, email, or text?  Sometimes the autocorrect on your computer or cellphone will take it upon itself to be vulgar, immoral, and even uncouth.  Let me tell you a story that was very embarrassing for me, but ended up well.  We have had the privilege of hosting about 1500 pastors at our Hawaii Leadership Practicum over the years.  About three years ago we stopped it for a while because I had so many irons in the fire when the roof collapsed and we had to relocate—so we paused on the practicum.  When we restarted the practicum, the pastors were so excited.  One pastor texted me from Australia and said, “We’re bringing 20 pastors from Australia.”  They were very excited and I was too.  I texted them back and said, “I am so glad you are coming.  This is going to be more than a regular conference.  It will be a spiritual experience.”  I had misspelled “spiritual” and my cellphone just decided to change it without my permission.  As the text is sending, I’m proofreading—now that’s my first mistake, you never hit Send before you proofread because once you “Send”, you cannot get it back.  I noticed that my message had switched from, “It will be a wonderful ‘spiritual’ to a ‘sexual’ experience.”  Twenty texts came right back!  It was the most awkward experience for me because there was nothing I could do; but it turned out well because we had the greatest response for any practicum. 

POWER OF WORDS

Words can be dangerous, but when rightly chosen, they can bring healing.  When I think about right words, I think affectionately about my mom who passed away when I was a sophomore in high school.  I remember clearly when I was six years old I became very ill and dehydrated.  My mom was a single mom, raising four of us kids, working as a waitress at the Flamingo Restaurant.  Her tips were used to buy our groceries and for her to stay at home with me meant she was giving up her tips.  About the third day, I began feeling better but I was still very pale and she said, “I’m going to get you in the sun,” and took me to Ala Moana Beach Park to watch the model boats race in the pond that I loved to watch.  She looked at me and said, “Honey, come here.  Your lips are so chapped from dehydration, they are cracking.”  She said, “Come close, come close,” and she gave me the biggest kiss on my lips.  Her crimson red lipstick was now transferred from her to me and she began to rub it in to my lips and said, “There, that will help you heal.”

Proverbs 24:26, “He kisses the lips who gives a right answer.”  In other words, choosing the right words is like a kiss.  It restores value and brings healing to someone.  You see God knows the importance of words.  Matthew 12:37, “For by your words, you will be justified and by your words you will be condemned.” By choosing wrong words, you can destroy and steal someone’s future.  Proverbs 18:21, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue.”  It all depends if you use right or wrong words.

A great example is in Luke 15:11-24.  The prodigal son was a belligerent young man and wanted everything he could get, now.  He took his inheritance and squandered all in loose living, until a defining moment in his life when he was hungry and out of money.  He found a job feeding pigs and began eating their food.  Suddenly, something changed in his mind at the feeding trough. The scriptures say he came to his senses and said, “How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough…and I perish with hunger!  I will arise and go to my father and will say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called you son.  Make me as one of your hired servants.’”

Sometimes God allows us to go to the “trough” in order to bring us to our knees.  Some of you are here because of a “trough” experience.  A friend once said to me, “Wayne, don’t despise anything that God uses to bring you to your knees, to bring you back to Calvary, because His blessings can be disguised in painful wrappings.  The prodigal son said, “I’m not going to be proud.  I’ll do whatever is necessary,” and he changed his mind.  You may be in that place.  You will not be able to change your destination overnight because it will take time; but you can change your direction overnight, and that starts right here.  The word “repentance” in Greek is metanoia, to change your mind—meta means to change; noia means your mind.

The prodigal son changed his mind and decided to go home.  Luke 15:20b, “But when he was still a great way off, the father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on his neck (embraced) and kissed him.”  The word kiss is used five times in the New Testament.  It means a quiet voice that restores value.  Basically, he said to his son that everything the son once had, the son still had. “He turned to his servants and said bring out the best robe, put a ring on his finger, and sandals on his feet.”  The father was restoring value because the son had changed his mind.  Some of you are here today because God took you through a painful experience and instead of becoming belligerent and angry, you changed your mind and said, “Whatever God needs to do, I’m okay with that.”   While you’re still a long way off, you’ll hear your Father say, “Welcome home, everything you had is still yours.”

THE PRODIGAL SON’S FATHER

God is asking some of us to be like the prodigal son’s father, that through well-chosen words we can put out the red carpet for those who are lost and are coming home.  I am totally convinced that in this next era, there will be many prodigals coming home.  They are looking for men and women who will choose the right words and reestablish values and say to them, “Everything you thought you lost you will still have because you have repented.” 

2 Corinthians 13:12, “Greet one another with a holy kiss.”  That doesn’t mean physically.  When you greet one another do it in a way that establishes values.  We live in a society where adults and children are starving for affection because poorly chosen words have stolen their futures, hopes, and aspirations.  Recently, I went to Ala Moana Shopping Center by the fishpond with my notebook, and sat where people were gathering and listened to their conversations.  The first was a father saying to his son, “You might as well dump geometry because that’s only for smart kids.”  Next, a mother turns to her daughter and said, “You’ll be sorry when I’m in my coffin because you’ll be the one that put me there.”  Another one, “You better find somebody to take care of you because you sure won’t be able to take are of yourself.”  I thought these poorly chosen words steal people’s identity. 

I believe we have the best Sunday school in the world, our Children’s Ark, and I love our teachers.  They are the best.  I walked in the hallway and listened to them.  Notice the difference.  One mom was saying to a little girl who was helping wipe the table, “You are such a good helper.  I’ve seen you take the initiative to help clean the tables almost every weekend.  Thank you.”  Another mom said to a child, “You have such a sensitive spirit and you will end up helping hundreds of people one day.”  Another person was going down the hall and said to someone passing by, “You remind me of Jesus.”  Words can assign value or steal them. 

A PEOPLE OF THE BLESSING

In the Old Testament, children would actually line up to hear words of blessing from their parents.  Here’s something from a Jewish family book written in 1602, “Before the child can walk, they should be carried on the Sabbath day to their father and mother to receive a blessing.  After they are able to walk, they should walk to their father and mother on these holy days on their own accord with their heads bowed to receive their blessings.”

Genesis 12:2b, 3, “I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing…And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”  God is saying I will bless you because I want you to take that blessing and bless others.  Become a conduit, a channel of God’s blessings, because the prodigals are coming home.  May I encourage you to choose right words and become a people of “The Blessing,” that through this church futures can be given, hope can be received, lives will be changed and resurrected, marriages will be healed, children will find their potential, and New Hope will become a healing well for the prodigals that the Father will send back home.  He will use this church in a mighty way. 

Start small.  Every single person can do this.  Here’s your assignment:  Catch someone doing something right and tell them. Proverbs 12:25, reinforces this, “Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs it down (causes depression), but a good word makes it glad.”  Everybody can give a good word.  Just say, “Great job, thank you for what you are doing, I see Jesus in you, that’s so good, no problem.”  Those words will develop a culture and make us a people of “The Blessing.”  But you must say it!  Don’t just think it.  Say good words because we live in a society where people are starving for affection.  If you say nothing, then blanks of silence will most often be filled with wrong words.  In their minds they’ll be thinking, “I must not be good enough.”  “I’m not worthy.”  “There’s nothing I can do.”  Don’t leave those blanks in people’s minds.  A good word makes it glad, so catch someone doing something good and tell it!  Proverbs 3:27, “Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due when it is in your power to do so.”  In other words, when you have the power to say a good word, don’t withhold it because without your knowing it, you will be giving them a whole new future.  

Did you know that God’s word is designed to give people futures and restore hope?  The word “to kiss” comes from the word phileo, like the word “Philadelphia,” city of brotherly love or friendship, “to be a friend to,” “to restore relationship,” “embrace them with value again,” or restoration.  God wants us to be a people of blessings so that we can give out his love in a barren society.  That is what the church is to be.

Jeremiah 29:11, “‘For I know the thoughts that I think toward you,’ says the Lord, ‘thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.’” This is my life verse because when I was growing up I had a horrible self-image, and didn’t think I would amount to anything until God said, “I’m going to give you a picture of a changed life.”  Let me tell you about a lady that filled in the blanks of silence for me.  Her name was Dr. Grace Flint in college.  I was a brand new Christian, I had just came out of a rock and roll band.  They made me cut my hair and I was mad, but when I sat in her class she knew how to choose right words.  When we turned in our papers, she actually wrote something to every student.  I kept all her papers because of the comments.  Here’s one.  Listen to how she restores value to a young Christian:  “Wayne, the comments you had yesterday in class (I was about 19 years old) contains such insight about God’s word.  I want to encourage you to keep seeking God’s Word the way you do because God has given you keen insight into His word.  Thank you for being a part of my class.”  She communicated and gave to me the heart of God.  She was a person of “The Blessing.” 

Here’s another:  “Wayne, I know you are young in the Lord but you are growing so quickly.  You are so amazing.  Thank you for just blessing our lives.”  I took every one of her classes because of those comments—she chose right words.

On the other hand, they called him “Mean Mike.”  When he was two years old, his dad took his toy away from him but he had such a mean grip that his dad started calling him “Mean Grip Mike.”  As the years went by, they dropped the “Grip” and called him “Mean Mike.”  So in grade school, he began to live up to that name because if everybody called him “Mean Mike,” he might as well be mean.  So he worked his way through high school with his fist.  He could not hold down a job so he used his anger, fist, and words to control people.  You can visit him.  He is finishing a life sentence in Arizona State Penitentiary.  Words can misshape people’s future, or make their future bright.  

When I was about four, we lived in the basement of my uncle’s home in Kaimuki.  I was sitting on a concrete floor one night and a huge centipede crawled over my leg.  I screamed and grabbed my mother.  I was scared and started crying.  She picked me up and put me in bed but I was still afraid and cried.   Then my mother began singing, “Somewhere over the rainbow way up high.”  She sang about dreams that would come true.  Today, that’s still my favorite song because it reminds me of my mother choosing right words to restore hope and value in me.

First, start small and you will be a people of “The Blessing.”  Second, give a meaningful touch—one that’s genuine and authentic.  Jesus modeled this so well when a leper came to him.  Lepers had to ring a bell and yell, “Unclean,” to warn the people not to come nearer.  They had to stay a stone’s throw away because if the leper came closer, they could stone him.  That was the law. One day a leper came to Jesus and knelt before Him, risked it and said, “Lord if you are willing you could make me clean.”   Luke 5:13, “Then He (Jesus) stretched out His hand and touched him, saying, ‘I am willing, be cleansed.’  Immediately the leprosy left him.” Jesus touched him before he was healed, while still covered with draining boils, because He knew the man needed internal value restored also.

A study at UCLA states that for emotional and physical health, people need eight to ten meaningful touches every day, such as, a pat on the hand, a hug, handshake, rub on the back—something that says, “Hey, how are you doing? You’re the best.” Babies have to be carried and cuddled because if they don’t, they will become very susceptible to sickness and disease from touch deprivation.  God designed us that way. 

Matthew 19:13,14 AMP, “Then little children were brought to Jesus that He might put His hands on them and pray, but the disciples rebuked them.  But He said, ‘Leave the children alone!  Allow the little ones to come to Me, and do not forbid or hinder them, for of such is the kingdom of heaven.’  And He put His hands upon them.” In other words Jesus was saying that something of the kingdom of God comes through a meaningful, genuine touch because we represent His heart.  If we are not a people of “The Blessing,” we will deprive them of the treasures of the Kingdom of God, which comes through touch.  We represent His heart!

I believe God is calling New Hope to be a people of “The Blessing,” as we choose right words.  Watch God use us for His glory! 

STUDY QUESTIONS:

1.       How do we become Like the Prodigal Son’s Father?
2.       What does being a conduit, a channel, of God’s blessings mean?
3.       Memorize Proverbs 3:27.
4.       What does it mean to Become A People of “The Blessing”?