Living on the Edge

Kyle Idleman: And a question that Ezekiel asks is the question is, "Is it too late? Can these dead bones live again?" And God promises Ezekiel that he's going to put flesh and skin on the bones, he's going to breathe life into them. And then he tells Ezekiel, "Okay, here's your part in it. Ezekiel, I want you," here it is, "to speak, to say some things out loud." And I would argue there's supernatural power when you speak God's word out loud.

Dave Druey: Are you speaking death over your marriage, your future, yourself? Every time you say, "I always mess things up," or "Things will never get better," you're planting seeds that bear fruit you'll have to eat. But God's word, spoken out loud, has the power to change that.

Welcome to Living on the Edge. I'm Dave Druey, and today Chip Ingram welcomes back guest teacher Kyle Idleman to contribute to our larger series called God's Dream for Your Life. And to get us set up for today's lesson, here's Chip.

Chip Ingram: Well, I'm super excited today to welcome a special guest to Living on the Edge. He's a friend, and I could introduce him in a lot of ways like, a famous author that wrote *Not a Fan*, sold over a million copies, or he leads a big church called Southeast Christian. And those are nice things, but I want to introduce my friend Kyle Idleman, the lead pastor at Southeast Christian.

He has a series called *Every Thought Captive*. Kyle and I have both passionately wanted to learn and pass on how does Jesus really change our lives? And in this series, I've asked Kyle to step in, be our guest teacher, and you're going to love what he has to share.

Dave Druey: Okay, thanks, Chip. Now here's Kyle with a message titled "Say it Out Loud."

Kyle Idleman: God's truth spoken out loud has the power to break strongholds in your life and bring dead things back to life. Proverbs 18:21: "Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit." Your tongue has the power to destroy or to build up.

After teaching a group of men a couple of weeks ago on strongholds, a man came up to me afterward and was telling me about his marriage. He said, "I don't know why my wife puts up with me. I don't know how to be a good husband. I find myself just doing the things my dad did. It didn't work for him; it's not working for me. She deserves someone who actually knows how to make her happy."

I went to visit a man in the hospital a number of months ago, and he said, "God's punishing me for something." And each time what I want to say is, "Don't let yourself hear you say that. Don't let yourself hear you say those things." It might seem harmless, but there's a difference between thinking a thought and speaking a thought. And when you speak a thought out loud, your brain pays closer attention.

What's fascinating is modern neuroscience has just discovered what the Bible seemed to acknowledge long ago—that there's something remarkable that happens in your brain when you speak your thoughts out loud versus just thinking them. When you speak words out loud, your brain processes the information through multiple channels. More regions of the brain get used when you speak your thoughts out loud.

I could spend 30 minutes talking about how some of this works, but the point is that speaking your thoughts out loud engages more neural networks. It creates stronger and more lasting neural pathways than just the thoughts you think quietly to yourself. The neurological bottom line is that speaking truth out loud can literally rewire your brain more effectively than just thinking something silently.

Let me give you an example. Our culture tells us one way to deal with your anger or frustration would be to vent your feelings. It's healthy to vent; some of you are so good at it. You are a venter. And you think to yourself, "The more I vent, the better I feel, I just get it all out." Or maybe you're a complainer. You think if I just complain, if I just let people know all the things that I find wrong with whatever's going on in my life, I'll start being content. I just need to get it out; I just need to complain about it a little bit.

But consistently research is being done—some research out of Ohio State University recently by Brad Bushman—which was just affirming the fact that that's not how it works. When you vent, your brain hears you saying things out loud, and your brain wants to look for reasons why what you're saying is true. So whatever words we speak, whether words of life or death, are programming our mind.

As we saw in Proverbs 18, we'll look at it again in a minute, words are like seed that get planted. And we don't always recognize the impact of the seed that gets planted because there's a lag time between the time the seed gets planted and the time fruit starts to show up. And so we don't always make the connection. Like, oh, these words are building up this garden; these words are creating this fruit in my life. And whatever words you speak are creating fruit that you have to eat.

We tend to listen to that and want to use it as a warning, like, hey, be careful with what you're saying because of this, like words of death. But it's also a promise; it's an invitation to use the power of words, specifically God's word out loud, to bring about transformation. So I want to talk to you about that, but look, I'm not encouraging you to speak your own words. This isn't self-help; it isn't a power of positive thinking message.

It is the power of God's word message, that when you identify God's word and you speak that word out loud, it has power over your life. Proverbs 18:21, "The tongue has the power of life and death." Second part of that is, "Those who love it will eat its fruit." Maybe you've heard the phrase, "You're going to have to eat your words." This is where it comes from.

It's this idea that your words are seeds, those seeds create fruit, and that fruit you're going to have to eat. That fruit is going to have to be consumed by you. And so you have the power with your words to plant seeds that will create fruit that you love to eat or fruit that will create poison in your life. Our promise then from scripture isn't about our words or our wisdom or our positive thinking; it's about God's word that we speak out loud.

So Isaiah 55 speaks about God's word as seed. "The rain and snow come down from the heavens and stay on the ground to water the earth. They cause the grain to grow, producing seed for the farmer and bread for the hungry. And it's the same," God says, "it's the same with my word. This is how my word works. I send it out and it's supernatural. It always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I wanted it to." Not just any word, it's his word and it will prosper everywhere I send it, he says.

So what's that mean? Well, it means instead of speaking and saying, "I don't have anything special to offer, I'm not going to make a difference," you speak out loud Ephesians 2:10: "I'm God's masterpiece. God's prepared good things for me to do in advance. He's going to use me to make a difference today." You say it out loud. Instead of saying, "I'm defined by my worst sins," you speak Romans 8:1 over your life: "There's no condemnation for me because I'm in Christ Jesus. I've been set free by God's grace, and his grace is enough for me."

Instead of saying, "I'm just too tired and it's just all too hard," you speak Matthew 11 and Philippians 4 over your life: "When I get tired, I can go to Jesus and I can find rest for my soul. I can be renewed. And I know in him I'll have everything I need to do everything he's called me to do." Instead of saying, "I'm always worried, always anxious," you say 1 Peter 5:7: "Today, I'm not going to be worried or anxious. That's not who I am. I live above fear because I cast all my cares on God; I know he cares for me." And you say that out loud.

Instead of saying, "I'm all alone and no one cares," you say Hebrews 13:5 over your life: "I'm never alone because I know God will never leave me or forsake me." And when you say it out loud, you say it with conviction. And when you do, your mind leans in and says, "Oh, is that what we believe? Is that what's true? I'm going to start looking for evidence that that's true." And you speak it out loud.

Go back to Ezekiel. After he spoke the first time, the bones come together, muscles and flesh mold and are formed, but there's still no breath. So God says to Ezekiel, "Okay, now here's what I want you to do. I want you to speak again." Look at verse 9 and 10: "Then he said to me, 'Speak a prophetic message to the winds, son of man. Come, oh breath, from the four winds; breathe into these dead bodies so they may live again.'"

Ezekiel says, "So I did it! I spoke the message as he commanded me. I heard what God said and I said what God said and breath came into their bodies. They all came to life and stood up on their feet, a great army." And so there's this vision that Ezekiel has that's driving home this rhythm that God wanted for Ezekiel's ministry and life and God wants for you: that you listen to what God says, you speak what God says, you watch what God does.

You listen to what God says, you speak out loud what God has said. With conviction and authority, you speak it out loud. With faith and confidence, you speak it out loud, and then you watch what God does. You listen, you speak, you watch. And God brings life to a place of death, and he's not done doing that. I believe he still wants to do it today. And I know some of you are skeptical. I know some of you think this seems too simple.

Dave Druey: You're listening to Living on the Edge, and today's teaching from guest teacher Kyle Idleman continues in just a minute. His message is available anytime at livingontheedge.org. Listen again, share it with a friend, or explore hundreds of additional programs, all free, all online.

You can even search for specific topics like parenting, personal growth, and unchangeable truths, plus find small group resources and practical tools to help you live the Christian life every day. It's all waiting for you at livingontheedge.org. Now let's get back to today's message.

Kyle Idleman: And I know some of you have been playing prophet over your life, but you've been prophesying death instead of life. You've been speaking death over what God wants to bring life to in your life. Stop speaking death over your marriage. To the couple sitting here, you barely spoke on the drive to church this morning. You can't remember the last time you laughed together or were affectionate with one another. Every time you say, "I just don't have those feelings anymore," or "I think I married the wrong person," you're speaking death over something that God wants to bring life to.

Stop speaking death over your future. To the single mom working two jobs wondering how you'll ever get ahead. To the dad who lost his business and can't see a way forward. To a student who's drowning in debt and loneliness. You find yourself saying, "It's just not going to work for me. I can never catch a break." You're speaking death over a future that God is not done writing yet.

Ezekiel spoke the word of the Lord. He prophesied over dead and dry bones. And I want to do that for you and over you. I want to speak prophetically the way that Ezekiel does, based in the word of God. But before I do, I know I need to address something for a few of you. I know a lot of you don't—this won't apply—but I know some of you might think, "Kyle, I'm a little uncomfortable with this message. This is starting to sound like a name it and claim it gospel, a name it and claim it theology."

I get that concern. I am not telling you you can speak your dream car into existence. I mean, you can try; I don't care if you try. But I'm not telling you that that's how this works. I'm not telling you that positive thinking is the same as biblical faith. I'm saying that in this world, you will have trouble. That's part of living in this world; Jesus said it and it's true. But I'm also telling you that's not the end of the verse. Jesus said, "I have overcome the world."

My concern for some of us, and I put myself in this category, is that our fear of the word of faith extremes and of preachers who seem to promise sports cars and a life free of sickness—in our fear of that, we've swung so far the other way that we have forgotten the power of speaking biblical faith out loud. We've become so afraid of claiming something inappropriate that we've stopped claiming anything at all. We've become so worried about presuming upon God that we've stopped declaring our faith in God.

So what I want to do here is not about manipulating God's hand. It's not about speaking things into existence through some human willpower. It's about agreeing with what God has already said in his word. It's about aligning ourselves with what he has said around restoration and redemption and resurrection and renewal. It's about speaking God's heart over our circumstances and then trusting him with what unfolds.

Word of faith says, "I can speak my will into reality." Biblical faith says, "I will speak God's will over my reality." So when Ezekiel spoke to these bones, he wasn't making up his own prophecy. It wasn't wishful thinking or positive thinking; he was simply declaring what God has said. And so I just want to speak some of that over you. I just want to give you some of those words because you don't have them for yourself and nobody ever said them to you.

It's not presumption, it's faith to speak this way. It's not hype, it's hope in who God is and what God has said. It's trust that even if things don't go the way we want them to, our confidence is in him and his promises and in eternity. So to marriages hanging on by a thread. You're still married but you've given up. I want to speak breakthrough. I want to speak laughter back into your kitchen. I want to speak romance back into your routine. What God has joined together, let no valley of death separate.

To broken parent-child relationships in this room. To the mom whose teenager won't talk to her. To the dad whose adult son won't return his calls. To the parent who feels like a failure. I want to speak God's heart of restoration over you. I want to speak phone calls that end with "I love you." I want to speak family dinners where everybody wants to be there.

To those battling addiction. To the person who's hiding their bottles, deleting their history, who makes promises to themselves that they can't keep. So many promises they don't believe their own words when they speak them. I want to speak freedom over you in the name of Jesus. I want to speak chains breaking. I speak a day when you look in the mirror and you see who God created you to be instead of who the enemy has convinced you you are.

To those of you who are living with spiritual dryness, where your Bible has gathered dust and your screen time is ten times more than your prayer time. To those of you who came to church here, but you don't really care and you're just going through the motions. I just want to speak renewal and revival over you.

To those battling depression and anxiety. You put a smile when you came in here to church, but you cried yourself to sleep last night in your bed. And you feel like you're drowning even though everything looks fine on the outside. You wonder if darkness will ever lift. I just want to speak God's word of light over you. I want to speak his joy and his peace. I want to speak Jesus into the darkness.

To those who are carrying shame from your past. The person here who's haunted by mistakes you made years ago, and you still live with the enemy's accusations. Every morning you wake up, the accusations are there, and the guilt and the shame feels heavier than you can bear. And every time you try to move forward, you feel disqualified from what God wants for you. I speak forgiveness over you in the name of Jesus and redemption.

He wants to make all things new. He wants to work for good in your life. I want to speak beauty from ashes. I want to speak a future so bright that your past ends up becoming the very thing God uses to help others experience forgiveness. I want to speak God's word over you, and my prayer is that you would believe it, that you would believe what he says. And I hear people say things that are so contrary to what God wants for them. I'm like, "Stop! That's not true! Stop saying that! It's not true!"

And so I want us to close by practicing this out loud together. I'm going to lead us through just speaking out loud some biblical truths together. And so I'm going to ask you to stand up for this. And I'm going to read the first—there's going to be two statements that come up on the screen. I'll read the first part, and then we'll read the second part, which is just scripture. Scripture is what we're reading out loud. We're going to declare scripture together. I just want challenge you to read this out loud with me and do it with some conviction. So I'll read the first statement, then we'll read the second together. When anxiety tries to overwhelm our thoughts...

Group: We cast all our anxiety on God because he cares for us.

Kyle Idleman: When discouragement whispers that we will never change...

Group: He who began a good work in us will carry it on to completion.

Kyle Idleman: When distraction tries to pull us away from what matters...

Group: We set our minds on things above and not on earthly things.

Kyle Idleman: When offense tempts us to hold grudges...

Group: We forgive each other, just as in Christ God forgave us.

Kyle Idleman: When fear threatens to paralyze our faith...

Group: God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind.

Kyle Idleman: When lies about our identity try to define us...

Group: We are chosen, royal, holy, and belong to God.

Kyle Idleman: Today and every day...

Group: We will not be conformed to this world, but we will be transformed by the renewing of our mind.

Kyle Idleman: God, I pray that you would give us a deep conviction in our hearts that what you say is true. Maybe it's different from what we've heard others say; it's different from words we've spoken over ourselves. God, would you let us hear what you say and love what you say and speak what you say, and then watch what you do?

God, would you give us faith? I pray in this sanctuary, just like in that valley of dry bones where there's a noise of rattling bones coming together. I pray, God, that we would experience that together, that we would experience your power at work, not because we say so, not because of our own thinking or our own words, but because of the power of your word.

So God, let us have faith. Give us faith. God, where we want to believe more, I pray that you would help our unbelief. But God, would you move in this sanctuary the same way that you moved in that valley of dry bones? I pray for a rattling that would be true because of your power and because we have declared what you said to be true over our lives. It's in Jesus' name, amen.

Dave Druey: This is Living on the Edge with special guest teacher Kyle Idleman. Kyle is a pastor, author, and gifted communicator, and a good friend of Chip Ingram's. Chip will join us in just a moment for some final thoughts on today's lesson, so don't go anywhere just yet.

Kyle reminded us today that our words carry extraordinary power. And modern neuroscience is just now catching up to what Proverbs declared long ago: "The tongue has the power of life and death." And when you speak God's word out loud over your marriage, your fears, your future, your identity, something remarkable happens. Your mind leans in. Neural pathways are rewired, and God moves.

Speak what God says; watch what God does. That's the heartbeat of Living on the Edge—helping Christians live like Christians. Not just on Sunday, but Monday through Saturday, in the real trenches of life. And it happens because of friends just like you. Your gifts are important and truly make a difference.

Make an impact by giving online at livingontheedge.org. On our mobile app, just click on the heart icon and follow the simple instructions. You can also call us right now at 888-333-6003. And one more thing, have you subscribed to the Living on the Edge podcast? There you can hear full-length messages from start to finish and take them anywhere you go. Well, now here's Chip Ingram.

Chip Ingram: The vision of Ezekiel speaking to dry bones. Well, I've preached that passage before, but I feel like Kyle brought such powerful application today about God's heart for restoration. You know, God told Ezekiel to speak, not pray, not work, not fix—just speak God's word out loud over dead circumstances.

And maybe you've been prophesying death over your marriage. You know, like, "This will never work." Or your calling: "I'll never amount to anything." You know, you can think those thoughts, you can say them out loud—here's what I want to tell you: stop speaking what you fear and start speaking what God says.

This isn't a "name it and claim it" theology. Biblical faith isn't speaking your will into reality; it's speaking God's will over your reality. When you align your words with scripture, you're not manipulating God; you're agreeing with God, what he has already said about restoration, redemption, and resurrection.

So here's the rhythm: listen to what God says in his word, speak what God says with conviction, and then watch what God does. I came across a little pattern—it was from an NFL football player who used to do prison ministry named Bill Glass. And I learned from him to write down truth on little cards. I still have them. I mean, I'm holding a card right now, I wish you could see it. It's about thirty-some years old.

And I found I had a negative attitude, so I read this out loud every day: "I'd like to become habitually thankful as a matter of unconscious response to all life's circumstances and relationships in light of the goodness and the sovereignty of God." 1 Thessalonians 5:16 through 18. And you know something? As I said those out loud, little by little by little, I became a thankful person. Speak the truth over your life and watch what God does.

Dave Druey: How you start your morning sets the trajectory for your entire day. Well, next time we'll discover how to make morning habits that lead to a stronger, healthier walk with God, right here on Living on the Edge.

Today's program is produced and sponsored by Living on the Edge.