Talk About It
Pastor Kent Munsey: “Talk about it”
October 28, 2018
“And Joshua set up at Gilgal the twelve stones they had taken out of the Jordan. He said to the Israelites, “In the future when your descendants ask their parents, ‘What do these stones mean?’ tell them, ‘Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.’ For the Lord your God dried up the Jordan before you until you had crossed over. The Lord your God did to the Jordan what he had done to the Red Sea[a] when he dried it up before us until we had crossed over. He did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the Lord is powerful and so that you might always fear the Lord your God.” Joshua 4:20-24
The arc of the Lord was in the middle of the Jordan. God is right in the middle of the impossibility. We love big miracles, but we're not usually big fans of impossibility. We can't have a miracle without an impossibility. We can't have a testimony without a test. We can't have a message without a mess.
The Israelites were delivered out of Egypt, but for 40 years they wandered in the wilderness. Even though they got out of Egypt, they couldn't get Egypt out of them. That generation believed in a Big God and “Little Me”--that the giants who occupied the promised land were too big for them to take the land. The way the Israelites talked about themselves caused them to fail to enter the promised land and instead wander for 40 years.
Although that generation did not make it to the promised land, God raised Joshua up to lead the next generation into it. After Joshua led the Israelites across the Jordan River which God miraculously parted for them, he told the people to go back in the middle and take out a memorial stone. Memorial stones represent what God has done and is doing in our lives.
Our Big God has taken residence in our lives. What we say about ourselves matters. We're not slaves, but we are more than conquerors. We are blessed, we are favored, and we are children of the most high God. When we couldn’t meet the standard or live righteously, Jesus came and did the impossible. We overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony (Revelations 12:11), and we need to talk about the victory that we have in Christ Jesus.
What happens when we talk about what God has done and is doing?
1. It’s risky to talk about what God is doing.
When you start talking about what God has done, people will treat you differently, and enemies will show up in your life. Friends comfort us, but enemies have the power to move us.
Joseph's brothers sold him into slavery, which ultimately led him into his destiny. If he hadn't ended up in jail, he wouldn't have met Pharaoh. If we are faithful to talk about what God has done, the right enemies will show up. You might have to deal with some difficult circumstances, but if you talk about what God is doing, you'll always be headed in the direction of destiny and purpose. Let your enemies move you toward your destiny.
2. It’s revealing when you talk about what God has done.
It's not bragging, but rather it’s humility to talk about what God has done. It's humility to boast in the Lord. We get to say, “Look what God did!”
When the Israelites lacked the faith to move into the Promised Land, it wasn’t that they didn't think God could deal with the giants; it was because they didn't want to deal with who they would have to become in order to survive in the land of giants. In order to survive in the land of giants, we have to allow God to develop us. We can’t stay little.
The previous generation was always talking about the wrong thing. They couldn't serve the Big God because they believed in the Little them. They stopped developing because of their self-talk.
3. Let’s resolve to talk to ourselves and to others about what God is doing.
One of the ways that you know you're talking about it right is when you're talking to yourself right. There is creative and supernatural power when we begin to speak.
In the story of the prodigal son in Luke 15:17-20, the son was at his lowest point, and he said: “I will arise.” He was speaking to himself. And then in verse 18, he arose. The woman with the issue of blood said to herself, “if I can just touch the hem of his garment,” in Mark 5:28-30. She believed therefore she spoke. Talk to yourself. It may be the most important conversation you ever have.
In Romans 4:16-21, Paul says that faith is manifested when we speak. "He calls the things that are not as though they were."
Part of the development of your destiny is talking about it to yourself -- what God has done and what he's going to do. If we're going to possess the promise, we've got to talk about it. It's going to be risky and revealing, but we have to resolve to talk about it in a spirit of faith.
God couldn't just give the Israelites the victory, he had to develop victors. It’s not what people say to us, but what we say to ourselves that can have the most devastating results. When we talk about what God has done and is doing, we exercise a spirit of faith and we allow him to develop us into the overcomers that he designed us to be.
Discussion Questions:
What has God done in your life? What do you think God is doing currently in your life?
What are you talking about in your own life, and what direction are your words moving you in?
Do you talk to others about what God has done? Why or why not?
How are you talking to yourself, and what direction is that conversation moving you in?
How do you think you can adjust your self-talk and your words to others to become more in line with what God says about you, and what he is doing in your life?