Video Transcript: The Power of Words

Well, welcome back, everybody. And we had a very interesting conversation about literacy  and what that means. But literacy, ultimately feed connects to words. So we want to talk  about the importance of words. Okay, let's do it. What are the word in linguistics? A word of a  spoken language can be defined as the smallest sequence of phonemes that can be uttered in isolation with objective or practical meaning. Where is my Christian Leaders Institute coffee  here? Because I need to wake up right now. I mean, seriously, that feels like, heavy. It feels  really academic. Right. And so I know, I'm not even going the other way right now. Right? So  that's the, you know, the struggle sometimes with academic learning is it always sounds  unnecessarily complex? I get a lot of words. Give me a metaphor. Why do you say something  simply? Why are these complex words? A word of what is the word? So but but we're both  philosophy major. Yeah. And things are actually more complex than we sometimes think. And  the more you know about something, the deeper it is, right? But until you know it, it seems  unnecessary. Yeah. So anyway, let's look at this. In linguistics, a word of spoken language can  be defined as a small sequence of phonemes. phonemes is like phonograph, right? It's really  just a sound like a phone. Right? iPhone, right? It's a sound that you make. And so what this is saying is that, that linguistics or words are just sound. And some of them are very simple, A.  Right? A man went to the store A is just a simple little sound, right? But some words are like  compound sound. Right story, right, is now two sounds that we've put together. Right? Now,  what it's saying is we have these sounds. And we put these sounds into combinations. And we end up calling them words. But really, they're just sound that get connected to things. So for  example, store, a store is just a building, it has stuff that you can buy. And we've decided  somewhere in the English language, to have the sound store starts with a st it's come  combining all these little sounds. And whenever we hear that we think of a store, but a store  could have been called the sun. Right? Or cauliflower or anything, right? But we have  assigned specific sounds to specific words. What I find fascinating at Christian Leaders  Alliance your ordained or licensed you are clergy. clergy on our shirts right here. And it means  that someone has is recognized for study for recommendations for the laying on of hands,  that you are not just saying, I'm a minister, but that I've gone through a process. Now why is  clergy, why does it mean something? And what you're really saying? Well, and if what we're  trying to say is that words are not the thing. Word, words are the symbol. So clergy, we  understand it is symbolically of something else, right? That that the sound is just the sound.  Gotcha. But we pour all kinds of meaning into the sound. And so the sound becomes a symbol of something of this sort of like, I have a wedding ring, right? Okay. This is a symbol of my  wedding. This is not my wedding, right? This is not my relationship. It's just a piece of steel,  right? But it's symbolic of something else. Or when you see a stop sign a stop sign is it's just a A piece of metal with something on it painted something, but we are interpreted as  something. So what's really important about this is that different people can interpret things  differently. So even one word can be interpreted by someone as one thing. But someone else  reads all kinds of other meaning into it. So the Bible is translated into all these different  languages. One of them is English. But what's behind this English word is maybe a Hebrew  word, right? Or a Greek word. Right? So then when you go to the Hebrew word, well, how did  they use that word, it has more complexity to it, than maybe our English word, right? You  know, it makes me think of Steve about like language itself, like the Tower of Babel. Like,  when you're so united in language, God saw that, that it was not good for humanity, so he,  like, changes the language, he confuses the language into groups. Right. And we still have  that today. Yes. But then in in with Pentecost, there was the gathering all the nations, and all  of a sudden they can understand disciples, it was sort of like, unBabel. Yeah, that, you know,  they were using Unity, to walk away from God, or to become like God. And then in in Acts,  chapter two at Pentecost, with the releasing of the Holy Spirit, the goal of the Holy Spirit being released to us is, again to bring us together words. So in other words, words, can separate us. And words can bring us together, depending on phonemes yes, to actually bring us together.  So power of the Holy Spirit. why is this important? It's important because communication can  help you. But miscommunication can not help you. And so as you're studying and learning to,  you know, to really listen to the context of what someone is saying, rather than just hearing  someone and then assuming something. In other words, it takes work to understand the 

meaning of some word that someone else has said. Right. So this brings us back to our first  verses from John, and you know, that in the beginning was the word we're back to that place  of words, right? And how even our reading of the Holy Spirit or the Bible becomes  meaningless unless we have the Holy Spirit, helping us understand exactly what it means. So  they're could be one word, but the power of the Holy Spirit helps us understand words from a  heavenly perspective, right? That is pretty cool. So number two, words are often grouped  under fields of study trades, careers, hobbies, sports culture, hold it, hold it, hold it, hold it. So we have words, but so it's not that one word fits all situations. They're actually different  groups of groups of words that describe necessary things within groups of study, or hobbies,  trade records, or every every area has its own little we go on buzzwords, right, that, you  know, when the lawyers talk, most of us have no idea what they're talking about, right? But  they do, and the words that they use, help them parse, and find little differences between  things in order to figure things out in that world, or a trades guy. You know, my dad, my dad  was a good example. Right? So my dad, tractor mechanic, my whole childhood, we he'll be  fixing tractors fixing cars fixing stuff, and he would have me hold the flashlight. So and then  he would like talk about these terms. And no idea. It was like other than an academic  institution, or mechanic. Right. Right. And so what's important about this is you know, Henry,  and I have gone through the academic world. We went to college we went to seminary all  these things we you know, we're doing an on line, seminary school right here. So we're into  this whole academic world all our lives. We're used to the Christian buzzwords the specific  words that mean that but then if we go to a trade world plumbing or carpentry or something,  then we are as unknowledgeable as anybody and we feel out of it. We feel like we have no  idea what's going on. We want to get into the Getting Started class I'm even talking about  here and we feel insecure. And we feel like maybe we'll never get it. Just like some of you. We  feel so stupid, right? Just like some of you may feel as you start taking these classes, right,  but it has nothing to do with whether someone is smart or not smart, right? It just has to do  whether someone has experienced it enough. Right? Anyone can learn any of these words. I  mean, that's like sports. Really? All these categories all have their terms. Yes. Many of you  know sports glossary if you're into football or soccer or baseball offsides, you know and in  bring my wife to a certain game where she has no idea. They were offside. Right? Who was  offsides and offsides in football is way different than offsides in soccer. Soccer. It's where the  where the ball is. Right? In football. There's a line, right? Yeah, so. So if you understand  offsides in football, you're not gonna understand offsides in soccer it's a totally different thing. And then hockey is a little different, right offsides? They are their own little thing. It's like a  game. Every thing has a game. So our trades have a certain game and my father made a  game out of the use of his words. And in fact, with a story he used his terms. You know, when  he accomplished something fixed that broke? I mean, what I think is broke, he thought broke  different than I thought broke. And all these specialized words help in that specific area. So for example, Eskimos up north, they live, they live in the frozen tundra. Yeah, they have like 15  different words for snow, right? We have like, three, there's snow, there's slush, there's rain,  there's sleet. And that's enough, right? Why? We don't need to know all the various levels of  snow. Because we don't do deal with it. We just put a coat on get in our car and go, where as  people that are living in that kind of world, it's really important to have more distinctions  related to this topic. So for them, they have way more words because it's useful. And that I  guess that's the point. Yeah, the words that you learn. And at first, it's always hard because  you don't know what it is right? And it seems strange. The words I now know, I just accept all  of those. But when it's a new word, it's like, I have no idea how to use it. So Henry years, a  few years ago, you came up with a new word somewhere, you're playing a game, and you  find the word glows. Oh, yeah. So I never heard of the word glow. So what is blows? Hello,  means to make an excuse to blame someone else. Now, if they just say that, right, stop  making excuses. Right. But instead, now you have a new word, a verb. And I would challenge  you to use it. Yeah, you know, so I was playing pickleball some months ago, and someone was saying, you know, they missed the shot, because the wind was blowing or something the ball  was cracked or something. And I said, Oh, I see. So you're glozing. They said, why? And I said, I see your glozing. A lot of the glozing means it means to make excuse. Right? Okay, so for 

the rest of that, that time of playing, we started using the word gloze. Right? And you know  what, a year later, he's still I just got a message from him and something we're talking about  something he said it was that glozing? And so what it does, is it is it. It brings attention to  something that you want to add attention to, right somehow, all of a sudden, now this new  word, I'm less likely to make an excuse, right? Because someone's gonna call me out for  glozing. Yeah. And because it's a verb, you can go gloze glozes glozing, you can say, no gloze  zone, right? When you start to think about doing a sermon, you can actually have a sermon,  no gloze zone, right? You know, and then and people will remember that. If you just had a  sermon on stop making excuses and take responsibility. It'd be a good sermon, but a year  later, no one remembers it right. Now. This is a new word. Give me a little hint. You might be  on the quiz. right. Okay. So number three, the more words you know, the more you'll be able  to think, engage in conversation and understand calm, complex concepts, ideas and points of  view. So say that again. The more words you know, the more you'll be able to think you just  think about that, that. You know, before we learned words, we couldn't think about stuff with a think about past, we can think about present we can think about future we had no way of  even thinking about that, right? We couldn't think about concepts like democracy or  capitalism or socialism or philosophy any philosophic thing. You wouldn't be able to think  about those things without Words, right? And the more words you know, the more you can  more deeply get into it. For example, I didn't know much about cars and how cars work. And  my son got into it. I didn't know what our alternator did, or how did that or distributor cap,  right? And so as he's explaining all these things, all of a sudden my view of what a car is, and  the complexity of it, and the incredible invention that it was, and what like people like Henry  Ford did, and then it opens up my whole world to how complex everything is, right? I didn't  know anything about that. And now, the whole world opens up because I know more words,  right, right. I can think about these about these things. It's sort of like, it's sort of like music.  You remember, Henry, when you remember, we were driving? Somewhere we were driving  directly to your brother's house? And 25 years? Yeah. You know, you were asking about music. And you said, I'm not sure what harmony is. Right. Right. And I and I hear it, I like it, but I  don't know what it is. Right. So then I started explaining that harmony is just another melody  around the melody. But then you sing an alternative melody. And somehow it goes together.  And then we started singing together. And all of a sudden is like you, you it was like all of a  sudden lights were on. i And and so so what? Well, what happens is if people the more people  understand about what music is, right, the more when they worship, the richer it becomes,  right? Oh, I see. You know, for example, when you hear a choir sing. The reason why it sounds like a choir is because everyone's a little bit off. If everyone was singing, perfect pitch, it  would just sound like one really loud voice. But because everyone's slightly off, it sounds like  this powerful. It's called a chorus effect. Okay, so So what, but the more you understand  about music, the more when you're singing at church, and people are singing harmony,  they're singing something different with me. But it somehow makes it bigger and richer. Isn't  that a metaphor? For who we are, we're the body of Christ. And we're all different. And our  differences make something bigger and richer. And so understanding more of it makes it a  bigger thing. And that's the same thing with words. The more words you understand the  richer so in theology understanding what justification sanctification, what these words mean,  make your understanding of God and what he's doing richer. Now, a lot of people say I don't  need ministry training, I just, you know, I'm just going out there and help people. But what  we're hearing today is that there's more to it than just, I'm going to do it, there's actually to  get deep into it, to be credible to be have confidence in doing it. Words are important and to  learn. The jargon, which you will learn in ministry training, helps you understand the will of  God helps you understand the Bible better helps you understand God's creation better, and  how to communicate it. For example, if you want to talk to Eskimos about snow, if you learn  their 18 words for snow, you'd be way more credible, you'd have more to say you can use  more metaphors to speak into their life, than if you just say, you know, I'm not studying  anything about you. And I'm just gonna go with what I think. Right? And that's what we tend  to do we tend to paint a picture from our own perspective, right, not realizing that, that  there's huge perspectives, there's way more to understand about something right. You know, 

one of the things that we like to do is we're curious about a lot of subjects, right? And in  evangelism, that curiosity of other subjects is very important. So if you learned about  alternating carburetors, right, talking to someone who's in that world, and then but you also  know the ministry world, and what's a metaphor, there was a simile there, how an illustration  works. And next thing, you know, you you say, you know, we are like engines is, okay. And  then you say, you know, when, you know, we need to fire up, you know, there's we need  gasoline, we need fuel and you're talking about someone who this is their world and you're a  minister who actually loves them enough, or takes interest in what they're taking interest in.  That's powerful communications remember what Paul said, I become all things to all people.  So by all possible means I might save some. So he knew how to speak to the Gentiles. I was  he knew how to speak to the Jews, he understood their background, he understood the word  that they needed to hear, you know, when, when he's in Athens, he sees the statues, you  know, I see that you're really religious people speaking their language. So he probably studied comparative religions, like we offer here a Christian Leaders. Right? Right. So colleges. So  bottom line, bottom line is all the courses that you're going to take are just enriching your  ability to communicate with others, right? And will enrich your understanding of God, the  church, family, society, God's will for your life. All these things are going to be enriched by  every single class that you take. So a couple things to ask, as we close, what if I feel like I  don't know anything? About ministry? You know, Minister, what that overwhelming? Can I get  there? You know? Number one, you have to get rid of the notion that you're not smart. Okay. I  mean, I've disqualified myself, many times people disqualify themselves. And it has more to  do with experience than with anything to do with smarts. Okay. So for example, I spent a  summer in Nicaragua, okay, and we got dropped off in some little village. And we were told by the missionaries do not use English, because you'll make those people feel bad. Still, and  you'll feel like superior, they'll hurt superior. Right? Okay. So I was there for a month. I didn't  speak the language, like they could, right, I couldn't carry 10 gallons of water on my head.  Like they could. the one guy that we ate with he he had an axe and he would chop roots. And  so he handed me the axe and you had to hit the exact same spot like four times to make any  progress. I could not do that. I lived on a farm at that time where we milked cows, so he  invited me to milk his cow at five in the morning. But it was by hand. I mean, I know how to  do it. But after like two minutes, my hands are like cramping. There was nothing that I could  do better than him. Again. So what's my point now? Am I did I have more schooling? Did I  know the Bible? More did I have? I mean, I was superior to him in the academic world, like  nobody's business, right. But in the world that he lived in, that he experienced. And he, he  was like, so it has nothing to do with how smart you are. It's just about being exposed. Right?  And so you may feel like right now you're like, I don't know, I don't know if I can do this. It's  just about exposure, right? It's just taking the classes. And yeah, in the beginning, you might  be struggling. I guarantee you, if you just keep going, you will succeed. And all of a sudden,  you'll be one of those people that you think is smart right now. Right now, Another danger of  learning academic jargon, is now you start throwing it. People, you know, I made them take I  remember when I was at seminary, and I'd come home with a new word and, and you know,  meeting Pam, my young wife were young. And then I'll say learn something new. I throw it out here and my wife looks up like Yeah. So are you better than me? Again, I've never felt that  way. But that's the other danger of learning all this like now all of a sudden you look like  you're better than someone. But you really are not right? You're a Minister, right. So  sometimes, learning all these words, helps you understand God's word better. But that  doesn't mean you need to use all those fancy words. But it does help you. I mean, what, you  know, another skill is to take all the complex, right? And make it simple, right? And to  contextualize it to your audience, right? In ministry means anything to be a minister means  anything is to minister, Jesus Christ to the audience, right, that you're sharing your learning  with, right? So if you feel intimidated right now, if you feel like I don't know if I can do that,  you are actually in the best seat. Because hopefully, as you learn stuff, you will remember  what it's like to not throw these words in to feel like you'll never get it because now as you  talk to people with your newfound knowledge, you'll be very sensitive as to how you know,  how do I communicate this complex thing in a simple way, right. And that really is you know 

that that's like the runner's high. Yeah, really think about To into minister is to know,  something at a deep level and to walk, you know, Jesus came and He talks to disciples and he shared parables, you know, he didn't use Pharisee, buzzwords, you know, he just simple  stories all in, and this is the Son of God, who is been with the Father. And He didn't tell us, you know, there's there's metaphysical multiverses up there, by which you know, what is he says,  I have other sheep, you know, he talks to the ways that we understand. So when you learn all  of this new terminology, it's still only to be a minister, to serve others. So we started last  session with that verse in John, about the Word of God, the Word is God, and then the Word  became flesh. So the complex word of God became simple. In a person that we can see a  person that spoke, a person that walked to us, in some way room believes God does that  same thing. God is infinite. But what did he do? He made it simple. He came as a child, he  lived among us. He taught us, we have the words today. So God in this instance, is come  down. He the takes the complex, and he speaks it to us in a way that we can understand it.  And that's what a minister is. Someone who understands the complex, but can make it  simple. He bore our sins. He walked with the suit down to make a break, right. So here you go. You never realized that the power of words actually become flesh. In you become the  incarnation, the flesh of these words by the life you live and available words change your life  through the power of the Holy Spirit. That's the essence of minister and you are on board.  Now for a journey that will change your life. It will change lives around you. Praise God. And  we are so super excited about continuing in preparing you for vital and fruitful ministry  training. Amen.