Kimberly Ouderkirk’s song highlights the service
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Right from the start, Pastor Kelvin mentioned that he felt there was a special Presence of God in our congregation on Oct. 23. Our visiting soloist Kim Ouderkirk brought us to tears as she sang “The Goodness of God” and we deeply praised God for the ways He has blessed us.
Pastor Jones’ message continued to parallel the study book we have been using by Charles Stanley called “Leaving a Godly Legacy.” This week he reminded us that if we are to be people who influence others, we will need to do something that we can only do with God’s help. That would be to keep our tongue from evil and have it instead be filled with loving words, and godly teaching and encouragement for others. As the Bible says,
Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.
Col 4:6 NIV
If this is to be so, there are some key ways that our speech will differ from that of the culture around us. Twice in our morning text from Proverbs ten, we were reminded that godly speech is not filled with violence. In addition, Pastor reminded us that Christians should not be taking God’s name in vain in violation of the third commandment. Our speech should not be coarse and crude (Eph. 5:4) and we will also avoid participating in the growing tolerance by our culture of lies and slander. As the the Bible warns,
Whoever conceals hatred with lying lips and spreads slander is a fool.
Proverbs 10:18
On the positive side, if we are to achieve a lasting and memorable legacy that blesses others, our words will be life-giving! Consider two more Proverbs.
The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life.
Proverbs 10:11, 21
The lips of the righteous nourish many.
Jesus explained how the words of Christians can be life-giving.
“Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive.
Jesus in John 7:37-39
Pastor Jones reminded us that words that are a blessing to others will also be faith-filled. Such words will often include words of personal testimony, telling how our trust in God is making a difference in our life. Such words will also reflect a Christian’s positive expectation that God is at work in their everyday life, sometimes mysteriously, often unseen, but always working for our good. The more we allow our faith to overrule, rather than letting our feelings and our circumstances dictate our mood, the more our speech will be filled with grace, with faith, and will bring life to others. By looking to Jesus, over time we will leave a legacy of blessing through our words. We will sing of God’s faithfulness and lead others to do the same.