“One Word” Part 2 By Pastor Joe

I am very excited to hear of many individuals already choosing their One Word for 2022. I want to remind you; this is not a biblical mandate nor is it even a requirement of active participation within this fellowship. I believe you can find clear biblical direction about what kind of words should flow from your mouth. There is nothing better than quoting the Word of God if you are concerned about what comes forth from your lips. “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.” Psalm 19:14. “Take control of what I say, O Lord, and guard my lips. Psalm 141:3. “The king is pleased with words from righteous lips; he loves those who speak honestly. Proverbs 16:13. “The lips of the godly speak helpful words, but the mouth of the wicked speaks perverse words.” Proverbs 10:32. “For the Scriptures say, “If you want to enjoy life and see many happy days, keep your tongue from speaking evil and your lips from telling lies.” 1 Peter 3:10. “Truthful words stand the test of time, but lies are soon exposed.” Proverbs 12:19. “It’s not what goes into your mouth that defiles you; you are defiled by the words that come out of your mouth.” Matthew 15:11. These are just a few of the hundreds of verses which speak to us about the words which come from our heart. I am constantly reminding myself to guard my heart, because I can easily allow my thoughts to take off in the wrong direction. I also realize one word cannot completely reshape your thinking and the direction of your life, but it can spark a significant change in focus. If you are looking in the wrong direction for guidance, it can be very difficult to make good decisions on a daily basis. A small example is wanting to be successful in business, but you spend most of your day watching Shark Tank. Obviously, you can stimulate your entrepreneurial spirit by watching new ideas and patents becoming reality. Yet, until you get yourself off the couch and start your own journey as an inventor, nothing will change. Committing yourself to One Word is like getting off the couch and dusting off the broken dreams of ideas from days gone by. You are saying, God you are my help, and you have been speaking to me about this area of my life, and I am going “all in” in this area of my life. You can see the potential for something great to spark into existence because you dare to believe God wants to use you in some significant way in 2022.

Let me remind you of my One Word: Rattle. This word requires a little explanation, actually if you were here two weeks ago for sermon #14 of my 20/30 series, you have some concept of what it means to me. I don’t want to think I have all my life (70-80-90 years) to get things done. Yet as I mentioned in the message, I need to make sure I am speaking life, more specifically, speaking prophetically to those with dry bones. So, we are truly in the last of the last days, if you consider the whole scope of human existence since Adam became a living being approximately 6000 years ago. It’s time to Rattle some souls! Please don’t become consumed with your One Word, just make it part of your daily routine. This means you are daily mindful of getting proper nutrition, rest, exercise, active in local church fellowship, gainfully employed, involved in healthy relationships, and much more. One of those activities is regular prayer, and every Tuesday at 10am we have prayer here, and soon we’ll be adding a few more opportunities to pray corporately year-round. The week of prayer in January will always be part of our church DNA, yet I am serious about adding another week of prayer in the summer when travel and weather are less intrusive. These are great venues to wait upon the Lord, and in that waiting, believe he will speak to you. Possibly it will only be One Word, but One Word just might be the change you need!