A Vision for the Verbal Life of the FBC Faith Family
May we be a people whose vertical words of praise to God are matched by our horizontal words of blessings to one another. (James 3:10-12)
May we be a people whose spoken and thought words are acceptable to our God. (Psalm 19:14)
May we be a people whose bridled tongues manifest the vibrancy of our relationship with God. (James 1:26)
May we be a people who understand that “what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart,” and may we cultivate God’s work in our hearts—realizing all the while that God does his work from the inside out and that the words of our mouth reflect the character of our heart. (Matthew 15:10-20)
May we be a people who understand the life-giving and death-blowing power of our words—that with our tongue we give life to others, and we deceivingly scheme, plot destruction, devour one another, backbite, flatter, and poison (Psalm 18:21; 50:19; 52:2, 4; Proverbs 25:15; 28:23; Roman 3:13)
May we be a people whose words are righteous, wise and just. (Psalm 37:30)
May we be a people whose words to one another and about one another are truthful, non-corrupting, kind, tenderhearted, and forgiving, and may our words serve only to build one another up. (Ephesians 4:25,29, 32; James 4:11)
May we be a people whose words are gracious, seasoned with salt, so that we might speak properly to one another. (Proverbs 16:24; Colossians 4:6)
May we be a people whose “yes” means “yes” and whose “no” means “no,” and may we have complete confidence in one another’s words. (Matthew 5:37)
May we be a people, like the two on the Emmaus Road, whose conversations are spiritual and Christ-focused. (Luke 24)
May we be a people whose words reflect our unity and focus on God’s glory. (Romans 15:6)
May our earthly words continuously anticipate our eternal gathering around the throne of God where we will join other nations, tribes, peoples and languages and cry out, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” (Revelation 9-10)
Pastor Todd
