Ecclesiastes 5:2 (TNIV)

2 Do not be quick with your mouth,
do not be hasty in your heart
to utter anything before God.
God is in heaven
and you are on earth,
so let your words be few.

When you walk into the worship room for Sunday worship celebration, how do you enter? How do you approach that time? Is it just another thing you do? Is it no different than you going to work or walking into a store? This passage tell us how we are to approach God by telling us who God is and who we are. God is in heaven and we are on earth. God is God and we are mere mortals whom He can wipe away by His mere breath. In our prayers, let’s not mindlessly say things we don’t mean. Let’s say prayers to God that we really mean. Let’s pray in truth.

Responding to the Transmitted Message:

Let’s meditate on who God is and be awed. Let’s then be amazed that this great, big God would notice us and care for us. Let’s be amazed that He listens to our prayers and answers us with blessing.

1 John 3:16-18 (TNIV)

16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for one another. 17 If any one of you has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in you? 18 Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.

Is it love when it doesn’t cost us anything? Is it love when it’s not followed up by an act of love? If there is no act of love, no doing of love, then it’s merely words that we don’t mean. This is the truth that confronts us. What is really true about us? Do I really love my brother or sister or spouse or child? Do I really care about that stranger? When the answer is, ‘no,’ what are we to do? We approach God with that truth. We ask God to change our hearts, to teach us to love, to give us love.

Responding to the Transmitted Message:

Let’s think about whatever difficulty we might have with others, a specific person or persons. Let’s be open before God to know the truth about what is going on. Let’s be open to know the truth about ourselves. Pray and ask God to show us. With this revelation, let’s ask God to reveal His truth and show us what it means to love that person or persons. Let’s discover what ‘doing of love’ we need to do and start doing it. That’s how we live out His love.

Ephesians 4:14-16 (TNIV)

14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the head, that is, Christ. 16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

Ever wonder why some professional athletes act the way that they do at times - refusing to play, demanding a trade, lobbying for more money (on top of their million dollar contracts). The simple answer is: they just need to Grow Up! The character of a person speaks volumes of why a person acts the way that they do.

Character can be defined as “moving consistently with who God is and who I am.” Our character consists of behavior patterns that are created by long periods of obedience to the Lord. For some of us, these behavior patterns have not been formed yet. As a result, obedience in the crucial times of our lives becomes difficult - and we may feel like we are being tossed and turned by the waves. How we respond to the Lord in these times of crisis really matters, but also hearing and receiving the truth of how we do need to mature is just as important.

Responding to the Transmitted Message:

The amazing reality about our communities is that we are a part of the body of Christ. As we grow up to be like Christ, may we care enough to speak the truth in love to one another. May we help each other to develop Godly character that is dependable, honest, kind, considerate, helpful, humble, and diligent - as we deal with the things of this life. Pray that God would do this more and more in our missional groups and campus fellowships.

Luke 6:43-45 (TNIV)

43 “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. 44 Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. 45 Good people bring good things out of the good stored up in their heart, and evil people bring evil things out of the evil stored up in their heart. For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.

Ever wonder why we say the things that we say sometimes? Or in the heat of a moment, say something that we would rather take back? Or stand in bewilderment after we whisper a smart comment, asking ourselves if we just said that out loud? Well believe it or not, the brain is not what controls our speech. Actually, we read in verse 45 that out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks. Simply put, the heart directs our words as well as our behavior.

Responding to the Transmitted Message:

Now that we have His Spirit living in us, we can live True in all aspects of our life: Heart = Words = Actions. What is the condition of your heart today? Let us continue to plow up the hard things that have accumulated in our lives. Let’s get our hands dirty, dig up the rocks and throw them away. This is cultivating soft hearts. Then, let’s speak to one another out of the overflow of soft hearts, to encourage and strengthen one another today.

Psalm 19:14 (TNIV)

14 May these words in my mouth and this meditation of my heart
be pleasing in your sight,
LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.

The word meditation comes from the Indo-European root med- which means “to measure” and has been defined as “self regulation of attention, in the service of self-inquiry, in the here and now.”

We can see even in the Old Testament how meditation played a vital role in the everyday lives of God’s people: “And don’t for a minute let this Book of The Revelation be out of mind. Ponder and meditate on it day and night, making sure you practice everything written in it.” (Joshua 1:8, MSG)

So how can we be a truth-filled community? How can we live a life that is pleasing in the sight of our Lord, our Rock, our Redeemer? One way is by keeping God’s word in our minds, hearts, and mouths by thinking about them, reciting them and talking about them with one another.

Responding to the Transmitted Message:

Let’s have the same desire as David when he wrote this Psalm. Offer this up as a prayer to God: may the word that comes out of my mouth and what I think about throughout the day be pleasing to you. You are my Lord and I am your servant. You are my rock, the One that keeps me secure. You are my redeemer, the One that saved me.