Monday, October 16th | Words Have Power

Dave, you got to change, buddy. Stop talking to me like that. How do you want me to talk to you? Nice.

That's right. You guys can help us keep the conversation going by supporting the show. You can share it online. Leave us a good review on iTunes or Spotify. Absolutely nothing less than five stars.

We're going to leave a link in the description so you can do just that. The verse of the day today comes from 1 Samuel chapter 12 verse 15. However, if you do not obey the voice of the Lord but rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then the hand of the Lord will be against you as it was against your fathers.

I think Samuel has become my favorite book of the Bible these past year and a half. Just diving into it and going into it. I think that's so simple. If you don't obey the Lord, if you rebel against him, he's going to be against you. It's so simple, and yet we struggle with it so much. Why are things going wrong in my life? Why am I getting off the beaten path? Why do I feel distant from God?

Why is he hiding himself from me? Could it be that you're rebelling against him? Could it be that there's some sin in your life that you're refusing to confront? I think sometimes living on this side of the cross, I think it's a struggle for us sometimes because we're so focused on God's grace and his forgiveness, which is true. We should rightly be focused on those things, but don't forget that this is the same God who punishes sin. This is the same God who pours out wrath on people who disobey him.

Praise God for his grace and praise God for the cross. But that distance that you feel from God, that absence that you feel in your life, God doesn't change. The Bible tells us that God is not a God who changes. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. So if you feel a change in your relationship with God, look in the mirror. You're the one who changed. Yeah, you're the one getting further from him. He can't change.

He can't move. He doesn't ever do that. We had a fan write in today, and we have people write in a lot letter like, Hey, loving the show. Thanks for the support.

Thanks for the awesome encouragement. But it's been a while since we've had someone actually write in a question for us to discuss up top. Grant H. Hey, guys. Big fan of the show. One thing I was wondering, what's one thing your parents did when you were growing up that you said you would never do, but now you do it? Oh, man. Because I said so. Huh? Like, your kid asks you something, and you give them an answer, and they say, Why?

And your response is, Because I said so. Your parents did that? I hated that when I was growing up. Could not stand it. I was like, Give me a reason. Give me a reason. Why did you say so? But I do that with my kids. That is pretty bad. May I butt in?

Yeah, go for it. Mine was doing my laundry correctly. Huh? Say it again? Okay. Your parents told you to do your laundry correctly, and then you said you never would?

It's stuff that they did that you said you would never do. Right. So you heard correctly. Yeah, I heard you correctly.

Oh, no. So I would get up, and I would be like, You know what? I need to get to a point where I'm starting to do stuff around the house for myself. Right. That's awesome.

I got to that point, and I was like, You know what? I can start by doing laundry. I can do my laundry.

Yeah. So at 17, 18, I'm like, It's about time I start doing my own laundry. So I would do my laundry, but my mom would see how I did it.

And I would just dump everything in the washing machine. Right. Like, I wouldn't turn things the right side in. I wouldn't make sure that there were, like, separation between different colors, that kind of stuff. Sure.

Normal teenage boy. Right. She said, You don't do laundry that way. I was like, Do you want me to start doing my laundry? And she said, Yes, I want you to start doing your laundry. I was like, Then I'm gonna do it like this.

Why? And then she said, If you're gonna do laundry in my house with my washing machine, you're gonna do it the way that I tell you. With my washing machine. So I said, As soon as I move out, I promise I'm gonna wash my laundry how I want. You're gonna wash it incorrectly on purpose to spite your mother. I didn't, at the time, didn't think it was incorrectly.

Okay, I got it. I thought it was just a preference. So now... Why would you wash the inside of your clothes that go in and leave the outside dirty?

Because I still kind of believe this, but my thought process was, you throw it in, water and soap gets on the inside and out. No matter how. You're right. So it's gonna get washed either way.

That's fine. The thing is, it makes it easier on the folding end. It does. Much easier. It's not necessarily that it gets cleaner.

It makes it easier on the folding end. Plus, you can't wash a dress shirt with a pair of jeans. But now you do it correctly? Now you do it the way that your mom did it? As far as turning things the right side in, yes. And making sure my socks aren't balled up into one.

That's kind of crazy. But I do wash shirts with jeans and all that stuff. You can't wash a nice button-down shirt with just some jeans. You're not my mom. You're not his mom.

I wouldn't listen to her anyways. When I was a kid, my dad dictated when everybody had to go to bed. And it was when he went to bed. So my dad, when he's ready to go to bed 9, 30, 10 o'clock, it's been a long day.

He's like, all right, gang, I'm going on to bed. And any normal house, this is when we were teenagers, not when we were little kids. Well, I guess we were still kind of little. So when we were little, it made sense. But then as we grew up, we were teenagers, my mom was still up.

She was drinking coffee, watching TV and stuff. My dad was like, all right, I'm going to bed. And she was like, all right, bye, dad. See you in the morning. And he's like, I'm going to bed. Let's wrap it up. Everything had to shut down.

You misunderstand. I'm going to bed means we're going to bed. It means the Galantis house is shutting down for the night. Party over. That was what he would say.

He would say the party is over. Everybody's in bed. When dad is ready to go to bed, the house shuts down for the night and everyone goes to bed.

And I said, when I grow up, I will never, ever do that. And doggone if I don't do it. When I get ready for bed, Ellie has to be in the bed. The lights have to be off. The house has to be quiet. There's no more reading.

There's no more watching TV in another room. No, it's time for bed. It's time for bed.

And I can't sleep. Even the other night, she was in the other room folding laundry. And I was like, I can't sleep until she comes in here and gets in the bed and goes to bed. Because then even if she gets in the bed and she's reading with the light on, I can't sleep. So your bedtime is everyone's bedtime. I am trying to work on it. A bedtime dictator.

Yes. Like my father before me. Like my father before me. That's too funny. I think all of us have those.

Like, our parents did this, and we're like, I'll never do that. And then lo and behold, here we are. Peter Parker style. I'm trying to do better. Trying to do better. I wonder if Dr. Shaw has anything like that.

His dad did, and he was like, I'll never do that when I grow up. And then now, here we are. Let's see. I'm going to ask him when we bring him on the show. We'll continue with the show in just a second, but if you guys have any questions like that, it doesn't have to be just encouragement about the show. We'd love to get those. But if you have any questions you'd like for us to answer at the top of the show, love to hear those.

Send those in to 252-582-5028. Of course, you can visit us online at ClearViewTodayShow.com. We'll be back after this. Hey, everyone. My name's Ellie.

And I'm David. And we want to take a minute and let you know how we can actually serve you as you're listening to Clear View today. The Bible paints an extraordinary picture of who we are as a church body. The mission of Clear View Church is to lead all people into a life-changing, ever-growing relationship with Jesus Christ. A huge part of leading people is praying for them. A big reason that Christians have unanswered prayers in their life is because they're not praying.

You know, 1 John 5.15 says, and if we know that he hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of him. If you're listening to the Clear View Today Show, we want to know how we can pray for you as well. There's a number of ways that you can get in touch with us at Clear View and share your prayer requests, but the best way is by texting us at 252-582-5028. You can also send us an email at prayer at clearviewbc.org.

Or you can download the Clear View app on iTunes or Google Play. You know, on the app, there's a dedicated prayer wall that helps us to get to know what's going on in your life, how we can pray for you, and how we can take any necessary steps to get you moving in the right direction. Thanks for listening. Now let's get back to the show. Welcome back to Clear View Today with Dr. Abbadan Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. You can visit us online at ClearViewTodayShow.com, or if you have any questions or suggestions for new topics, send us a text, 252-582-5028. That's right, and if today's your first time joining us here on the Clear View Today Show, we want to welcome you. Thank you for tuning in on the radio, let you know exactly who's talking to you today. Dr. Abbadan Shah is a Ph.D. in New Testament textual criticism, professor at Carolina University, author, full-time pastor, and the host of today's show.

You can find all of his work on his website, that's AbbadanShah.com. Dr. Shah, do you ever have any, like, memories from when you were a kid where your parents did something that annoyed you and you were like, I'm not ever going to do this when I'm a parent, when I'm an adult, and you ended up doing it? I didn't, but I stopped myself. And it's, it was usually, I don't know why parents feel like, because I see Nicole doing that. I just throw under the bus, but like if the kids are tired or there's like taking a nap, that's the moment the room needs to be clean.

Oh, yes. Moms are bad about that, but wives are also bad about that. And they nag. I'm sorry, ladies, nagging is one of the worst things that can happen. And it starts and it's just like, you know, you need to get up and it's, you've been snacking.

And I'm like, oh my goodness. Or your mom or your dad or both. Dad would do it sometimes, but mom would do it. Grandma would do it a little bit, but not as bad. Grandma was usually like, I'll make you coffee or I'll make you tea. I'll make you this and that. She would bargain with me and mom would be, and then dad would do it too sometimes. And I told myself when I see that tendency coming, I'm going to catch myself and not do it. Yeah.

Overall, I think I've been okay. There's something, there's something really visceral in a woman when they see a man comfortable. They don't like it. A man relaxing just, Ellie has said it, and I think Nicole has said it to me too.

Something about seeing a man relaxed they don't like. Yeah. I can, I can agree with that. I cannot abide that. Yeah. Ryan was talking about how his parents used to tell him, uh, because I said so.

Oh man. That was the worst when I was a kid. Cause I wanted to know why. I want to know what the reason, if the answer was no or why we could, we had to go do something. I was like, why? Because I said so. Oh, that was the worst answer.

Yeah. And I was like, I will never ever say that to my kids. I will give them an explanation. And for the most part, I do take the time to explain to my kids why we have to do things or why we can't do certain things. But there are some times, especially when they were younger and like three, and they would say, why do we have to do something? Because I said so.

Really, what I'm saying is because the explanation is going to go over there. I'm tired just trying to think about how to explain this to you. How about you, Davin? What is, uh, what is something that your parents did? In the intro, we talked about it and my biggest thing was my mom would always make a big fuss about me, like not doing the laundry or not doing my chores or not doing something like that. And then finally I was like, you know what, I'm getting to the point where I need to start doing that.

She's right. So I started trying to do it and then every time I would try to do it, I didn't do it right. So she would tell me, she would be like, I know that you're washing your clothes, but the fact that you're doing it like this and like this and like this means you're not doing it right.

So you're not going to wash clothes like that in my house. And then it's like, how about you, Nicholas? What is your, what is your thing? What is it that you remember from yesterday that your parents did? I don't think I should be, you know, sharing that because I got a parent in the room. Come on, Gus. It's all good.

It's radio, man. Yeah. Your parent is going to ask you. What is one thing? What is one thing? This is your chance.

It just suddenly slipped my mind. I'll come back to you. All right. Convenient. He's very diplomatic.

He's like, I'm going to play this one step at a time. But you know, we're laughing about it, but you think about it and, and it gives us pause or we reconsider it because the things we say to our kids, we, we recognize the words that we have as parents have, have power. They carry weight, they have an impact on our kids and really the words that we use in any interaction, they, they bring weight and they have, they have power behind them. I have always been really, I've always been an admirer of the way that you choose your words, Dr. Shock, because there are words that you choose sometimes. And I think this is really cool because I asked you once, and this is kind of a tangent, but not really, but I asked you once whether you think in English or think in Hindi or think in like Marathi or like whatever the languages that you speak, which one do you think in? And I was expecting like, oh, just a simple answer.

But I remember you told me, maybe you can even talk about it here. It gets complex sometimes. You switch between and then you have to choose the right words. And there are sometimes even from the pulpit where like, that's not the word I meant in this other language. It makes total sense, but I'm trying to get it out in a way.

And it, it demonstrates, I think for people who don't do that kind of thing or who aren't multilingual, how important your words are to you. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Well, I saw this, uh, I guess a meme or a quote or something, he said, don't make fun of people with an accent. They can speak another language. That's true. That's true. Very true. Very true.

So, um, yeah, there are times, you know, when I think of complex things now, I mean, I think in English of course, but if I'm just thinking just everyday normal things, sometimes it'll be in Hindi. You know? Isn't that what I told you? Yeah. Something like that. Yeah. Yeah.

You were telling me that in, there are some things that you can think to yourself that make more sense in Hindi. And then sometimes when it comes out in English, the phrasing may not make sense, but when I'm preaching or when you're preaching, you have to take great care to make sure that it's the best possible word to you. Yeah.

Yeah. And that has helped me a lot when it comes to Greek and Hebrew exegesis to be able to see the sentence construction, because I've seen American students or, or English speaking students, uh, they're trying to figure out like, why is that over there when it should be over here and it should be modifying this. And so I'm like, it's because of emphasis that that statement is that person is making an emphasis by bringing that word up first. So also when I'm talking many times, that's what I'm doing by word order.

It doesn't sound normal in English, but I know what I'm doing by putting the words the way I'm putting them. I'm putting an emphasis, but not everybody gets it. Right.

And I don't, I don't think they should have to get it. It's just, just language barrier. Yeah.

That's right. I feel like our listeners would be interested in this, but Dr. Shah, how many languages do you know? Oh, no is a different word. So well, so I guess differentiate between like, how many, how many are you, would you consider yourself fluent in versus how many, I mean, could you read and understand, read, write, speak? Of course I can do that in English. I can do that in Hindi. I can do that in Marathi, uh, read, no, I can't read, but, but speak and understand is Urdu because we had some family background there with Islam. So I can, I know that language, I can understand it. Not every word, but I'm good with it. And then of course, theologically speaking for exegesis purposes, Hebrew, Greek, then of course, with the dictionary help, I can get by in Latin, German, French.

I'm not as good. I passed the class in German and French, but it was tough. Wow. So if I go back to it and I do, sometimes I'm reading articles, I'll go back to them and I'll kind of focus on, on them for a while. All of a sudden they begin to make sense. I'm like, Oh yeah, I know what that is being said in French as well.

But if I don't stick with it after a while, they just words on the page, just like you're looking at in the or something. Yeah. That's pretty, it's still pretty amazing. And I think that God has really gifted you with, with an incredible power. You know what I mean by that? And I don't mean like power in the sense of like Holy Spirit power. I mean that you have incredible influence. And I think all of us as Christians do with the words that we use, you know, it's something that we often take for granted, how destructive or how edifying our words to other people. This is a convicting message by the way, because all of us, including me have times used words that did not help. Words can make us happy. Words can make us sad.

I mean, think about the words like ice cream. That makes me very happy. Makes me very, very happy.

My son would be very happy. Very rejoined by that word. Heartbroken. Yeah. Heartbroken.

Yeah. It was just sad. Sad. Christmas.

Ryan's more happy than anybody else. My head just exploded. Yeah. Well, goodbye. Also sad. Sad.

Weekend. Hopeful. Happy. Yeah.

And, but then time for bed. Again, I think it depends. It depends. It's true. I'd be pretty happy.

I'd be happy, but my kids would be sad. Yeah. Yeah. And then there are words that can make us inspired or depress us.

Words like goals. Yeah. Inspiring. Inspiring.

Let's get some goals together. Graduation. Inspiring.

Taxes. Not inspiring. Very sad. Very depressing. Not inspired by that. Very discouraged.

My salary and my check. Just kind of... Just like the numbers. Depreciating. Yeah. Yeah. Like the little bar.

Just in real time. Like migraine. These are depressing words. So God has entrusted us with incredible power and the power is not in our mind. Of course, we have a lot of power in our mind or our biceps. The power is actually located in our mouths.

That's right. And we can either use our words to breathe life or we can use our words to bring death. And often because of circumstances in life, because of our own upbringing, because of our poor, sad, angry, frustrated outlook on life, we end up using words for the wrong purposes. So you don't have to be the smartest or the strongest person to have word power.

If you know how to use words, and I would say spirit-filled words, I would say words that are based on the word, Jesus Christ, and the word of God, the Bible, you have incredible power to breathe life into people. I love that reminder because oftentimes people will just say something like, I just say it like it is. Or I just say whatever comes to my mind. That's one of them. I just speak off the cuff.

That's not a bragging point. You know me. You know me.

Yeah, I got no filter at all. That's not a mark in the positive column for you. That's not a good character trait. Yeah, whatever comes to mind, I just say it and I just say what comes to mind and that's how you know I'm real.

I'm authentic. It's like, no, you just have no self-control. That's what I was going to say, that's how we know you don't have any self-control. Because our words have power. You're absolutely right. They bring either life or they bring death, they bring encouragement or discouragement, and we need to understand that, what we're bringing to the conversation. And I hope that our radio show today, our blog or our YouTube video today, will not only convict you, but also help you to think before you speak, whether you're speaking to your spouse, your children, your parents, your neighbors, your co-workers, your teachers, your students, no matter where you are, even strangers, that you would think about those words, you would stop before you speak. And I know that no message lasts forever, am I right on that? I mean, we can hear a message and it may go for two, three weeks or two, three days, and then we sort of revert back to our original place. That's why a regular diet of God's word is so important. That's right. There's a reason that weekly preaching is the standard for Christian living.

If it were so that once you heard it, that's it, you're now different. It doesn't work like that. It's like eating. Once you eat, you're full, right? Right. You should be good. You should be good. That is it. Once and done. Like, why am I wasting time three times a day sitting down, eating food I already ate this morning?

I should be good for at least what? A week? Two? Yeah. Same with the word of God. We have to go back and feed again, hence going back for Sunday morning, Wednesday night, small groups. All these things are so vital because they are helping you craft out the words that the Holy Spirit has for you to use. There was a time where we were in our Sunday night Bible studies, and I remember the lessons that you did through the book of Proverbs, because I remember thinking that Proverbs were just like Aesop's fables, these wise little saints that aren't connected with one another. Right. And we went through those original first 10 that were, I think, Solomon's letters to his son.

Yes. And then going through and seeing all the Proverbs beyond that, those wisdom teachings, and seeing how in Hebrew they actually make way... Not make way more sense, but they are more, I guess, true to the original, how they actually were intended to be read. Now, let me make a clarification here. Sometimes people say that the Proverbs are just generalized statements, and they're not promises. And I disagree with them. I think, yes, there are a lot of Proverbs in the world, but the ones in the Bible are more than just any proverb in the world. These are not just generalized statements. I believe they're the Word of God. And if they're the Word of God, then they're no longer just general suggestions.

I think they do make a difference in life. And if you follow through and do what God's telling you to do in that proverb, then you will see the results. Now, there will be disappointments. There will be contingencies. There will be ups and downs. People have a free will. So take all that into account, but just know that if you do things God's way, things will be taken care of by God, and it'll be okay. All things will work together for good, even through the Book of Proverbs. So let's keep that in mind. Yeah, right.

Let's do it. So we're looking at Proverbs 10, 11, because here we see a contrast between wise words and foolish words, between righteous lips and wicked hearts. And each proverb, here's how we know these are not just individual proverbs that have been thrown together and strung together because randomly, no, they are linked to the next with common words or similar sounding words in Hebrew. In fact, a few years ago, when I was doing a series to the Book of Proverbs, actually 11 years ago, I bought a book and the book was titled Apples of Gold and Settings of Silver. Wow.

That's beautiful. Yeah. And it's a statement from the Proverbs. And this book was worth 150 plus dollars. Wow. And it was only like 150 to 200 pages long. Wow. But it was well worth an investment because I was like, oh my word, I can buy like 10 books on this. But what this book did was it helped me understand that each proverb is being linked to the next with common words or similar sounding words.

Oh, wow. See, we were talking about that earlier, like when you guys were studying through the Book of Proverbs and Converge, when you read it in English, you miss elements like that. You miss, not that it's not God's word, but you miss nuances that are there in the original language. Well, people, I think, and I've been guilty of this in the past, is people are like, well, I'm in my thirties, forties, fifties, I'm not learning a new language.

So I'm just going to read it in English and hope to gain as much as I possibly can. But that's where number one, finding a pastor that you trust who is multilingual, who does understand these biblical language, and then diving into it yourself and learning what those Hebrew words actually mean does spark a new depth to the proverb. That's right. So the verse 11 says, the mouth of the righteous is a well of life. The Hebrew word for well is makor, which means spring or fountain.

The mouth of the righteous is a spring of life. So think about the ancient Near East, where water is in short supply and natural spring or a well spring is very precious. If you have a well, I mean, you got it made. People would gather around wells, they would even fight over wells. If you remember, there were several conflicts in the Old Testament over wells. King Abimelech of Gerar, his servants seized Abraham's well. Remember everywhere Abraham went, he dug wells. And later on, the Philistines stopped Isaac's well.

And then Moses defended Jethro's daughters from the wicked shepherds at the well. So the point is this, just like the well in the ancient Near East, the mouth of the righteous person is a precious commodity. And you have to protect it, you have to guard it, you have to keep it clean. People will gather around it and claim it because it gives life.

There is sort of a loss in, I guess, recognition here in the West where water is, I mean, it's still precious, we need it, but it's readily available, it's plentiful, you know, everybody's got it, we can get it from the gas station for like a dollar. That word well or fountain is found three times in the book of Proverbs. One is again in Proverbs 14, 27, it says, the fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, is a fountain of life. So words, wise words are on the same level as godly reverence. The fear of the Lord is a well of life.

It's a godly reverence is almost like wise words, if you make that connection. And then verse 11 goes on to say, I'm talking about Proverbs chapter 10, verse 11, but violence covers the mouth of the wicked. And interestingly, the word for violence is? Hamas.

Hamas. Oh, appropriate. Yeah.

Very appropriate. Wow. It's a terrorist organization.

In Arabic, it means zeal or courage. Isn't it crazy, isn't that crazy how it means something good or virtuous in Arabic and violence in Hebrew? Yeah. Wow. That's insane.

I hadn't thought about that until just now. I didn't know in Arabic it meant courage. Yeah. Wow.

Zeal or courage. Wow. And of course, Solomon did not know about Hamas at the time, but what a great reminder. Especially right now. Yeah. That violence is in the mouth of the wicked.

If a man or a person constantly talks about hitting somebody and punching someone and I'll take his eyes out or lights out or whatever, that's not a good thing. Yeah. I mean, that contrasts what the world may call courageous. God calls wicked. That's right. And it's not a mark of how tough you are or how worldly you are.

God said it covers the mouth of the wicked. Yeah. You're a wicked person. Those are the things that... If that's what you choose to focus your words on, that's what you choose to use your words for.

That's what it says. Just be careful. Exactly.

Exactly. It's so important for us. I want to continue this conversation. Yeah, let's do it. Because there's so much more here to understand about our words and the power that they have.

It's a good check for us, like, are your words bringing life to people? Yeah. We've got a very special episode tomorrow, but maybe the day after we can pick this conversation up and what works.

Absolutely. If you guys enjoyed today's episode, send us a text and let us know at 252-582-5028. You can visit us online at clearviewtodayshow.com. And don't forget, you can partner with us financially on that same website. Every gift that you give goes not only to building up this radio show, but countless other ministries that have power in their words for the sake of the gospel. We love you guys. We'll see you tomorrow on Clearview Today.