Speaking Like God [Part 1]

Pastor, author, and Bible teacher, Alan Wright. Real power in our speech is released when it is balanced with grace and truth.

That's Pastor Alan Wright. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. I'm Daniel Britt, excited for you to hear the teaching today in the series, The Power to Bless, taken from Pastor Alan's book of the same title and as presented at Reynolda Church in North Carolina. If you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire program, I want to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now. It can be yours for your donation this month to Alan Wright Ministries. As you listen to today's message, go deeper as we send you today's special offer. Contact us at PastorAlan.org or call 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. More on that later in the program. But now, let's get started with today's teaching. Here is Alan Wright. Beloved, are you ready for some good news?

Yes. Grace and truth are perfectly wed in Jesus Christ. We in Christ can bless others in grace and truth. And when we do, we've come to speak a whole lot like God. We come to the final message in this series on the power to bless that in many ways is not ending because it's going to lead us right into that practical outworkings of this in community group experiences all over. And there's so much more to learn and so much and I want to introduce to you today. The idea of blessing is a form of speech that is full of grace and truth. And I hope that it is revelatory for you in the way that it has been for me.

And I hope that it will stir you to train your tongue in this direction. We are going to look at John chapter one first at verse nine. The prologue as it's called to the gospel of John is amazing. The true light, verse nine, which gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world and the world was made through him. Yet the world did not know him.

He came to his own and his own people did not receive him. But all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we have seen his glory, glory as of the only son from the father, full of grace and truth. Just note that the connection between seeing glory is understanding the son as the fullness of God himself, who is full of grace and truth. John bore witness about him and cried out.

This was he of whom I said he who comes after me ranks before me because he was before me for from his fullness. We have all received grace upon grace for the law was given through Moses. Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. The contrast here you see is between law and grace and truth. It's not just a contrast between law and grace, but grace and truth. And truth is something altogether different than law, as we'll see. No one has ever seen God, the only God who is at the father's side.

He has made him known. And then Ephesians chapter four, the practical instruction from Paul at verse 15 rather speaking the truth in love, truth and grace. We are to grow up in every way into him who is the head into Christ from whom the whole body joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped. When each part is working properly makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. How are we going to grow when we speak with love and truth together?

It's going to build up the whole body in Christ. He said he didn't know he was poor until the seventh grade. And on the first day of seventh grade, he discovered that he was poor having grown up on the poor side of Kenston and finding himself at Harvey Junior High School, which his people said was on the rich side of town. And he immediately felt different and in some ways felt alone.

Even as he showed some academic prowess, none of his other friends were in any of the academically gifted classes. And so he felt not only poor, but also alone. His parents were hardworking. His daddy worked in the dust of the sawmill in Kenston every day of his life and also put on roofs in the evening. His mother was hardworking and worked the second shift in the weave line at the cotton mill. There was only six years education to each of his formal education to each of his parents. It wouldn't have been likely that he would have himself gone to college.

But there was a bright spot in his junior high years, even though he would sometimes tell his parents to drop him off as much as a half mile away from school so that the other students wouldn't see his parents run down car. The bright spot was a woman named Mrs. Betsy Harper, who taught North Carolina history and a few other subjects. And she took real interest in Mickey Thigpen, who has been on staff here with me for many years and become a very dear friend. For some reason, Mrs. Harper made Mickey her eighth grade student assistant.

I think she invented a position because she saw something in him and she wanted to invest in his life. Of course, as an eighth grade boy in Kenston, he didn't recognize all of that. He just assisted Ms. Harper. When it came time to move up to high school at Grainger, it just so happened, I think by Providence, that Ms. Harper also was relocated to high school. And in his ninth year, late one fall day, Mickey was walking out of Mrs. Piaski's Latin class with a paper in his hand after an exam. And Ms. Betsy Harper was across the hall, saw young Mickey walking out of the class and said, Mickey, let me see, how'd you do on that exam? And Mickey showed her he'd made a C, a lackluster performance. And she looked at him, she said, Mickey Thigpen, you are such a smart young man and you don't need to ever make a C again.

You can make all A's and you can be a Morehead Scholar. She really put it even more forthrightly. She said, Mickey Thigpen, you're going to be a Morehead Scholar. Well, Mickey didn't know what a Morehead Scholar was, so he went home and looked it up and found out, of course, that that, which is now called the Morehead Cain Scholarship, is one of the oldest scholarships of its kind in the country based on the model of the Rhodes Scholarship. It is the premier scholarship of any public university in our state, which not only offers a full ride of tuition and board, but also various stipends for expenses and a wonderful summer intern experiences and an elite fellowship that you are remembered for throughout your life as being a Morehead Cain Scholar. Mickey said plainly, I believed her entirely and I took her words to be my future. What are the chances that a boy who grew up on the, quote, wrong side of town in Kinston, whose parents' gems that they were had no real vision of college education, much less a prestigious scholarship?

What's the chance that three years later, Mickey Thigpen was awarded the Morehead Scholarship? That's Alan Wright, and we'll have more teaching in a moment from today's important series. Unlock the power of blessing your life. Discover God's grace-filled vision for your life by signing up for Alan Wright's free daily blessing. If you want to fill your heart with grace and encouragement, get Alan Wright's daily blessing. It's free and just a click away at PastorAlan.org. Embark on a journey of transformation with our free yourself, be yourself resource bundle. Imagine a shame-free life, no more self-condemnation, no more inward angst, wondering if you measure up as you soak in the message of healing grace.

This empowering bundle includes Pastor Alan's landmark book, Free Yourself, Be Yourself, plus an accompanying resource guide and access to the exclusive companion video series. Act now, support Alan Wright Ministries with your donation and step into the abundant life God has awaiting you as we send you this limited time resource bundle as our thanks this month. The gospel is shared when you give to Alan Wright Ministries. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support. When you give today, we will send you today's special offer. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries. Call us at 877-544-4860. That's 877-544-4860 or come to our website, PastorAlan.org. Today's teaching now continues.

Here once again is Alan Wright. The question that comes to mind as I think about the power of blessing when we speak a positive vision over others' lives is how far are we willing to dare that it matters what the words of our mouths have to say? Was it merely a coincidence that she happened to predict something or was there something more mystical and wonderful that took place? And I think the evidence of the scripture is that it is the latter, that there is a way in which our words of blessing put forth into the very atmosphere not only our faith of what can happen, but an actual empowerment that helps lead towards the very positive vision that's been spoken. It doesn't mean that just because you go and tell somebody you're going to be a more scholar that they're automatically going to be, but the question remains, would he have been?

I don't think so because from that time forward, once he believed that was his future, you can imagine it changed his whole orientation towards life, towards school, and towards his future. What would have never been a possibility to him became a possibility and where he might have been glad to settle for making C's in Ms. Piaski's class and every other class, he no longer did so. It is a powerful thing. And what I want to show you today is that what made it powerful and in many ways a reflection of the glory of God is that Ms. Harper's words were at the same time full of grace and full of truth.

Grace which carries us into a kindness, a positive outlook, real hope. But the words were powerful and liberating because they weren't just grace, they were true. She actually had authentic discernment about Mickey's intelligence and academic abilities. If she had said, Mickey Thigpen, you made another bad grade because you don't have a very good brain and I'll tell you, you're just probably not going to go very far in this world. That kind of curse statement would have had no grace and no truth in it, but it would have released a kind of power, wouldn't it? On the other hand, if she had said, Mickey Thigpen, I see you made another bad grade, but don't worry about it because grades don't matter much and it doesn't really matter what you're doing in life as long as you have a good time at it. Well, that might have sounded very gracious, but it just wouldn't have done him any good, would it?

Or if she had spoken something that just wasn't even true, it would have been, well, silly and lack any force. And she said, Mickey Thigpen, it doesn't look like you're that good of a student, but I believe you're going to be an excellent figure skater. I think, Mickey Thigpen, you'll be an Olympic figure skater one day. That's the funniest image I could think of, Mickey, if you know about figure skating on the ice.

I don't believe they had ice to skate on in Kent State, I don't know, but you can never see Mickey being an ice skater. It just wouldn't be true. What I'm saying is that real power in our speech is released when it is balanced with grace and truth. In fact, balance is not only beautiful as the magnificent design of God, but balance is what makes us supremely effective in life. Balance is not this safe middle place that avoids any extremes. Balance is where we can embrace the totality of life with a knowledge that we can move from seeming extreme to extreme without ever falling off one side or the other. I think it's an apt image that the tightrope walker uses this long pole because this principle of physics called the moment of inertia means that you're putting the weight out to the sides.

It decreases actually the possibility of a sudden rotation, decreases the chance of falling that you have equal weight out that is far from the center. And that's what we need in life, you see. Just think about how God has made us. It's not that we need to stay somehow safely in the middle in all things, it's that we need to be able to have a dynamic connection of seemingly opposite things. This is the key to all health, the dynamic inner working of seemingly opposite virtues, activities, characteristics that hold together in the mystery of God's design. It's amazing if you think of it.

Let me give you a couple of examples. It's like one of the things that needs to happen in life is we need to have times in which we are completely inactive, right? And preferably we have this for about eight hours every day. That about one third of our lives, some of you are going, man, I'd give anything for eight hours.

That'd be great. You know, just one, just, just, Oh Lord, give us just one good eight hour stretch where we don't wake up and don't do anything and don't get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom or anything else. You know, what sleep is so good. I like my sleep.

I can't believe as many years as I have walked with the Lord and follow the Holy Spirit and built my life on the word of God. You give me a couple of nights with bad night's sleep and it's like, I don't even act like a Christian anymore. Ain't that amazing? I mean, we need our sleep and scientists have proven that, um, good sleep bolsters the immune system. It changes mental health. People who sleep well live longer on and on the list goes.

Isn't that something? So we're healthier if every day we get completely inactive and go into REM sleep and our body changes during that time. So you might say, well, sleep's fantastic. Then we just need to sleep all the time.

Well, no, because the scientists also tell us that you really need vigorous exercise. You need times where you are getting your heart pumping. You need to, you need to run or walk or jump or do something or move around because if you don't move around any, then everything goes south on you. You got to be moving. You got to be moving at least three times a week. You got to do your best to get out there. And, and really if it's possible, they say, get the heart pumping. I mean, get really active.

You say, why is that? Well, because they've proven cardiovascular health and brain health and everything in your body, everything mentally. Exercise is the thing.

Well, which is it? Sleep or exercise? It's not sleep or exercise in order to be healthy.

You need good sleep and good exercise. Just completely opposite things, right? Being as active as you can be safely and being as inactive as you can be. Both.

If you just have one or the other, you're not going to be healthy. Alan Wright, today's good news message, Speaking Like God. It's from the series, The Power to Bless, Pastor Alan's book by the same title. And you can get that at pastoralan.org.

Find out more on how to get a copy of your own. Pastor Alan is back with us in the studio sharing his parting good news thought for the day in just a moment. Unlock the power of blessing your life. Discover God's grace filled vision for your life by signing up for Alan Wright's free daily blessing. If you want to fill your heart with grace and encouragement, get Alan Wright's daily blessing. It's free and just a click away at pastoralan.org. Embark on a journey of transformation with our free yourself, be yourself resource bundle.

Imagine a shame free life, no more self condemnation, no more inward angst. Wondering if you measure up as you soak in the message of healing grace. This empowering bundle includes Pastor Alan's landmark book, free yourself, be yourself, plus an accompanying resource guide and access to the exclusive companion video series. Act now support Alan Wright Ministries with your donation and step into the abundant life God has awaiting you as we send you this limited time resource bundle as our thanks this month. The gospel is shared when you give to Alan Wright Ministries. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support.

When you give today, we will send you today's special offer. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries. Call us at 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. Or come to our website, pastoralan.org. Back here now with Pastor Alan in the studio and speaking like God. Of course, this would be a great way to wrap up a series on blessing others having the same language.

It's an audacious thing to say, isn't it? To compare anything in our lives that we could do like God, but we do Daniel. We're invited into partnership with God, right? God is love and he wants us to love one another. So we partner with God in loving. God has faith, perfect faith. And what does he want us? He wants us to have faith with him for the transformation of the world and our own lives. Well, our speech is like that.

I think it's one of those things that makes us very much like God that we have human, we have language, but the language that comes out of our mouths, the things that we say, how can we know if it is God's way of speaking? And that's what we're discovering today and in coming days. To speak like God is to bless with grace and truth. And that's the key that we're learning about. Not just truth and not just grace, but grace and truth.

And I think we've got so much to learn. Daniel, that is a really practical tool that we'll be presenting that will help to train our minds and our tongues to recognize what's being spoken to us and what we're speaking. The language of grace and truth is the language of God, and we can learn to speak it. Well, in the series and it's titled The Power to Bless, I'm reminded of the power of story in here because the illustration of Mickey Thigpen, a friend of ours, and of course the story of really just a teacher speaking life and vision into this young student and what a transformation. So, I mean, of course that helps me understand the message, but also that's a story that I think will stick with people for a long, long time and recall instant recall when it comes time to consider our words wisely.

It is an amazing story. And Mickey is such a good friend and a colleague for so many years. And I think the thing is when you hear a story like that, Daniel, a story of a teacher that affirms a student, tells him that she envisions him being a great scholarship academic student, which he becomes, you ask the question, well, if Ms. Harper hadn't told Mickey, I think you'll be a Morehead Scholar, would he ever have become one? And I think the answer is no, because she could have said, Mickey Thigpen, you just made another C and that's all you'll ever be, a C and a D student.

I don't ever see you being much academically and you're probably not going to go to college and you're probably not going to really end up getting that good. She could have spoken curse like that. And as much as Mickey believed her when she said, I believe you're going to be a Morehead Scholar, I think Mickey might have believed her if she had said, spoken a curse. So this becomes so important in our lives that we not only think about what we're saying to others, but we have to learn to think about what people are saying to us and what do we receive and what do we discard?

What do we reject and recognize blessing as a statement of grace and truth? And it's just so important, Daniel, to get this down in our bones, really. It becomes second nature that we know this is what it's all about. And I think that as you listen, you'll hear me describing some diagrams which are in the book.

And of course, if you write us, if you don't have it, we'll be happy to send you those diagrams because it is a visual. And the idea of grace and truth, for me, to see some of this on paper starts making good sense. But train your mind to recognize what's blessing speech and what's not, and train your own tongue to speak blessing because it's that important.

And I think you really can learn it and be trained in it. If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at pastorallen.org. That's pastorallen.org. Today's good news message is a listener-supported production of Allen Wright Ministries.