This is Spoken Gospel.

We are dedicated to seeing 
Jesus in all of scripture.

In each episode, we see what’s 
happening in a Biblical text  

and how it sheds light on
Jesus and His Gospel.

Let’s jump in.

God made the world by words.

He spoke—and everything
we know was born.

It is only by God’s wise words 
that we and our planet have life.

And it was by God’s words 
that the world was cursed.

Proverbs 18:21 says it this way: “The 
tongue has the power of life and death.”

This ultimately applies to 
God, but it also applies to us.

God has given humans the unique power of
giving life and death through our words.

Our words have the power to 
incite either love or violence.

“The lips of fools … invite a beating … and 
their lips are a snare to their very lives”.

Our words can shame and judge others 
or they can be a means of mercy.

“Drive out the mocker, and out goes 
strife; quarrels and insults are ended”.

Proverbs understands that humans made in the
image of their God carry great power.

In fact, our words don’t just 
impact personal relationships,  

the security and success of cities can 
rest in the words of its influencers.

Wise people choose their words carefully 
because “truthful lips endure forever”.

Wise people also chose
their timing carefully.

No matter how beautiful someone 
sings, nobody wants to hear it at 5AM.

The inclination to share the right words at the right
occasion is wisdom; it’s the way you and your
tongue were meant to work.

Proverbs recognizes the power of 
the tongue to give life or death;  

wise people choose to use 
their tongue to give life.

Our problem is that our mouth gives us away.

Like the book of Proverbs taught, Jesus said that words
are all you needed to tell the state of a person’s heart.

Jesus even warns us that it will be our own 
words that are used to save or condemn us.

We would all be horrified and humiliated if every 
word we ever said was uploaded to the Internet.

But the good news is that Jesus' 
words are more powerful than ours.

His words are always perfect, 
and they always give life.

And at Jesus’ last words on the cross—“It is finished”—
every evil, flippant, or careless word we’ve said is deleted.

For anyone who says, “I believe,” Jesus removes our words
from our reputation as far as the east is from the west. 

And because of Jesus, the wise words 
that spoke healing into withered hands,  

lifeless bodies, demonized minds,
and dead hearts now live inside of us.   

Our words no longer bring shame, but we are given the
power to speak life and grace to those who hear us.

Now we can boldly pray in God’s presence without
worrying about saying the wrong thing. We can confidently
expect that he will answer our prayers.

While the words “it is finished” and 
“I believe” might sound insignificant,  

praise God that he is willing to use simple 
words to grant us his great salvation.

May the Holy Spirit open your eyes to see the God
who brought forth life and creation with wise words.

And may you see Jesus, the Word made
flesh, who gives new life to us and our words.