Paul Tripp: You will never, ever properly evaluate the significance of words until you realize that the very first words spoken on earth weren't spoken by a human being. The very first words that the ear of a human being ever heard were the words of God.

Kate Crowley: From Paul Tripp Ministries, this is Right Here, Right Now, connecting the transforming power of Jesus Christ to everyday life. Here, now, is Paul Tripp.

Paul Tripp: We drove to Philadelphia in silence. Finally, we had a night out with each other. Yet, as we drove through the city, neither of us said anything. It wasn't supposed to be this way. The silence was deafening, and it seemed to last for hours even though it was just a few minutes.

In our heads, we were both replaying the DVD of what had happened earlier. We were both nursing our hurt and internally reaffirming our innocence. Fortunately, it wasn't too long before the silence was broken, forgiveness was sought and received, and we were enjoying, rather than tolerating each other's company.

It had started so typically, so innocently; I'm sure you'll be able to relate. It was a Friday night at the end of what was a very busy and felt like a very long week. We had each come into the evening with our own agenda and our own set of expectations for the other person. We were both more demanding than serving and immediately got hurt and frustrated when our ideas for the evening seemed to be dismissed by the other person.

Sadly, it had been more natural for us to accuse one another than to listen to one another. Sadly, neither one of us took time to look at ourselves. Sadly, we each gave up on the other and slid into self-righteous cocoons of hurt and anger.

Does the story depress you? Well, it's just this kind of messy world of talk that God's grace addresses. Even in the middle of personal failure, you can experience that grace. You see, there is grace for your messy world of talk.

Music: "Everybody Hurts" by R.E.M.

When your day is long in the night
And the night is yours alone
When you're sure you've had enough of this life
Well, hang on
Don't let yourself go
'Cause everybody cries
And everybody hurts
Sometimes
Sometimes everything is wrong
Now it's time to sing along
When your day is night alone
(Hold on, Hold on)
If you feel like letting go
(Hold on)
When you think you've had too much of this life
Well, hang on
'Cause everybody hurts
Take comfort in your friends
Everybody hurts
Don't throw your hand
Hold on

Kate Crowley: And there's more to come from Paul Tripp from his series "What About Your Talk?" here on Right Here, Right Now. Here's where you'll find help in Jesus Christ. That's Paul Tripp Ministries, right here, Monday through Friday at 11 A.M. on WFIL.

Now, you can check out Paul's latest book, War of Words, at paultrippministries.org. And while you're there, look up other resources designed to help you face the tough issues of life. That's paultrippministries.org. Right now, here's Paul Tripp with more: Right Here, Right Now.

Talk Is Anything but Cheap

Paul Tripp: I know you've heard it. It's quite a familiar phrase: "Talk is cheap!" The fact of the matter is, your talk is anything but cheap. Words are powerful; words are important; words are significant. It's the way that it was meant to be.

When we speak, it must be with the realization that God has given our words significance. It was God who ordained the words that we speak. It was God who ordained this ability. It was God who gave it to us. And so, God ordained, determined, decided that our words would be important. Words were significant at creation; words were significant at the fall; words are significant to redemption. Here's the bottom line: Your words have value.

Now, think with me here. You never speak a valueless word; you never speak a word that has no importance whatsoever. And if you are ever going to understand the value of your words, you have to be willing to go back to the beginning where words were first created and where words were first spoken.

Now, most of the time when you hear somebody talking about communication, your expectation is that they will focus on techniques and skills and will start with telling you that you could probably have greater skills and greater techniques in this area. And if you learn the skills, and you learn these techniques, your world of talk would be better.

But see, what that doesn't do is it doesn't ask the question, "Why is our world of talk such a world of trouble, and what was it supposed to look like when it was created in the first place?"

So you can only understand what something was supposed to be when you go back to see what it was. And you can only understand how far you've fallen away from what it was intended to be if you go back to the beginning to see it in its pristine, created form.

And so, in this program, we're always going to be going back to the beginning, back to look at what God created in a particular area of life in the beginning because there's the standard that we have to look at. If you are ever going to understand the value of your words, you have to be willing to go back to the beginning where words were first spoken.

Now, most of the time what you actually do get is that catalog of skills and that catalog of techniques, and those skills and techniques can be helpful if they're part of really understanding what is fundamentally wrong inside of us that subverts, kidnaps, and distorts our words.

You see, the fact is your problem with talk penetrates much deeper than an area of skill or technique. In fact, your trouble with talk penetrates right down into the causal core of who you are as a human being.

Historically, our problem with words courses all the way back through the years and centuries of history to the Garden of Eden to what God created and to what later happened there. And when you understand these powerful events in the garden, you'll begin to understand your struggle with talk. Our world of words needs greater help than technique.

Music: The Good Fight, by Dashboard Confessional

Consider the odds,
Consider the obvious.
The martyr is meaningless,
The campaign has died.
In the planning stages and the fallen faces
Are the singular proof that it was ever alive
This purchased rebellion
Has been outbidded
Denounced and rescinded
And left to die
Championless
Championless
Championless

The First Words Ever Heard on Earth

Paul Tripp: You will never, ever, ever properly evaluate the significance of words until you realize that the very first words spoken on earth weren't spoken by a human being. The very first words that the ear of a human being ever heard were the words of God. And so what this means is that the value of every piece of human communication, the value of this powerful ability is rooted in the fact that the God, who created everything, is a God who speaks. The Creator speaks.

Into the sights and sounds of this newly minted world came the voice of God speaking in human language to Adam and Eve. It was a dramatic, an amazing moment. God was actually speaking. The Creator was actually talking with Adam and Eve. What an amazing thing! And when God chose to reveal Himself through words, He raised human language to the level of highest importance.

Notice that there is no struggle with words in Genesis 1. In Genesis 1, the story of creation, the world of communication was a world of peace, truth, and life. Words were never used as weapons. Words were always spoken in love, and human talk never broke through the boundaries of peace.

Let's consider what we can learn from Genesis 1. First, in Genesis 1, God reveals Himself, His plan, and His purpose in words. It was God's choice to use human words to do this. All the other ways that God made Himself known were explained and defined by this one simple tool--words.

Just think about what we're talking about. The Almighty God, Father, and Ruler of the universe made the decision to speak in words that Adam and Eve could actually understand and respond to. Now let the wonder of this grip you. The Infinite One, the Almighty God, makes Himself knowable and understandable through language.

This God is not distant; this God is not silent. He comes near, and He uses words to explain who He is, who we are, and what life is about. He uses words to explain the most fundamental facts of the human existence. God is not just a God who does; He's a God who speaks. He speaks powerfully, creatively, consistently, comprehensively, and clearly to the people He's made.

Can you imagine the amazing moment when Adam and Eve actually hear, with their physical ears, the physically spoken words of God, sounds actually hitting their ears that they can make sense out of, formed into words? And everything God does is marked by words. When God speaks, He lovingly shapes the words to the needs of the moment and to the listeners of the moment.

He's always talking. Before He does something, He talks about what He is about to do. As He is doing it, he talks about what it is He's doing. And after He is done, He interprets what He has done. He speaks constantly; He speaks exhaustively; He speaks lovingly. He speaks in words that can be understood. God speaks; God speaks.

And it is the only reason we can ever know Him, because He's a God who communicates. It's the only reason we can ever love Him, because He is a God who communicates. It's the only reason we can ever worship Him, because he's a God who communicates.

And in the words of God, you see words used for their highest purpose.

What do they do? They define His character. They define His will. They define His plan and define His purpose. God uses words to picture things for us that we would not understand. Apart from His word pictures, He uses words like 'rock', and 'sun', and 'fortress', and 'shield', and 'shepherd', and 'father', 'judge', 'lamb', 'door', 'master', 'water', 'bread', and many, many others to explain exactly who He is and what He is doing. We are so familiar with these words that we have, long ago, tended to minimize their significance. These are the words by which we have come to know the King of kings and the Lord of lords.

Now here's the point of all of this. You cannot understand human communication unless you start here. The very first words ever spoken on earth were not spoken by a human being; they were spoken by God. God is the Creator of language. Words belong to Him.

And in the words of God, you see words used for the highest purpose. We only know God because of words; we only know ourselves because of words; we only know our world because of words; we only understand the meaning and purpose of life because of words; we are utterly dependent on words. That's the way God made us to be.

But there's something more that needs to be grabbed from Genesis 1. There is a fact that is so important; if you do not recognize it, your world of talk immediately becomes a world of distortion. It's not just enough to say that God spoke; it's not just enough to say that God gave us the ability to speak; it's not just enough to say that God used words in the best way possible. It's not just enough to say that that world of talk in Genesis 1 was a world of peace and harmony where words were used exactly as they were supposed to be used.

There is one more observation that comes out of Genesis 1 that is so significant; it literally does alter everything else we will say about this area of talk. Here it is. The only safe place to be with your world of words is to start by saying this: "Words belong to the Lord." The only safe place to be with your world of words is to start by saying, "Words belong to the Lord."

Whenever, in any given situation, or any given relationship, no matter what we're doing, and whom we are with, whenever, we take words as if they belong to us, our words lose their shelter from difficulty.

The only safe place to be with your world of words is a start by saying, "My words belong to the Lord." Because words are rooted in Him, because everything we say is connected to the God who speaks who gave us the ability to speak, we have to say, right here, right now, in the situations of everyday life, "My words belong to the Lord."

Music: "Be Ye Glad" by Michael Blanchard

In these days of confused situations
In these nights of restless remorse
Where the heart and the soul of a nation
Lay wounded and cold as a corpse
From the grave of the innocent Adam
Comes a song bringing joy to the sad
Oh, your cry has been heard and the ransom
Has been paid up in full, be ye glad
Be ye glad
Oh, be ye glad
Oh, be ye glad
Every debt that you've ever had
Has been paid up in full by the grace of the Lord
Be ye glad
Be ye glad
Be ye glad

And God Said: The Dignity and Power of Words

Paul Tripp: They may be three of the most important words in all of Scripture. Here they are: "And God said." In God's initial words in the garden, we see the dignity and the power of words. And when you see words at their most powerful, when you see words at their most dignified, when you are able to go back with the help of the Bible and eavesdrop on creation, and you see the way God intended words to be spoken, you have to ask yourself this question: "Are your words spoken with that kind of dignity? Are your words spoken with the sensibility to how important words are?" As you talk, do you recognize the power of this amazing gift?

There's another proverb that I love; well, I love them all, but this one is powerful. I like the way Eugene Peterson has translated it in his translation The Message, and I have even paraphrased that translation.

The Proverbs tell us this: that words give life, and words bring death; you choose. Words give life; words bring death; you choose.

What this means is that our words have power. What it means is that our words always create some kind of effect. Our words are never powerless, and they are never neutral. In fact, your words have direction to them. Your words are either going in a life direction, or their heading in a death direction.

You either speak the life-giving words of help, instruction, hope, insight, and encouragement; or you're speaking words that go in a death direction, words of harsh criticism, condemnation, sinful anger, gossip, pride, and envy. You see, your words are heading somewhere; your words are going someplace. You can't back away from the power of your words. Words bring life; words bring death; you choose.

And so, when you eavesdrop on creation, when you see the dignity and power of words, when you see words used for their best purpose, when you see there that words are never misused, you have to be reminded of this principal again--That our words become a place of trouble when we mistakenly take words as if they belong to us.

Can you hear me say this? You have never spoken a word that belongs to you. You have never spoken a word that belongs to you. It would utterly be impossible for you to ever speak a word that belongs to you because words belong to the Lord. He created them, and He has a purpose for them. And the goal of everything we say must be this: To speak according to His design and up to His standard. Every word we speak, we must be determined to speak according to His design and up to His standard because words do not ever belong to us.

(Music Interlude)

Paul Tripp: So what's the weather in your world of talk? Is it sunny and bright? Is it cloudy and dark? Is it frigid and cold, blustery and stormy? Is your world of talk a place of peace or a land of conflict? When you speak, do you remember who gave you this ability and who owns every word? When you speak, do you speak with a sense of the purpose and power of words, or do you take words as your own and use their power for your own purpose? If you listen to yourself and to others, you will quickly hear that there's trouble in this world of talk.

But you and I do not have to be discouraged. You and I do not have to be overwhelmed. You and I do not have to be defeated. You and I do not have to be content with being stuck, because the God who gave you words is the same God who now gives you grace to speak those words as He intended. I want to repeat that encouragement for you. The God who gave you words is the same God who now gives you the grace to speak those words as He first intended.

Listen to His powerful words of comfort and forgiveness. Here it is from 1 John 1:9: "If [you] we confess [your] our sins, he is faithful and [righteous] just to forgive [your] us our sins and to cleanse [you] us from all unrighteousness." (ESV)

You do not have to minimize the power of words. You do not have to minimize the way you use or misuse words. You do not have to minimize your struggle with words, because the God, who hears everything you say, is ready to meet you in the struggle. And He meets you with forgiveness and with help, the kind of help that only He can give.

Kate Crowley: Words of grace; Paul Tripp on Right Here, Right Now. And, we've just begun this new series, "What About Your Talk?" Be sure and invite a friend to join in.

You can learn more about the power of words from the new book War of Words. In it, Paul Tripp explains the importance of God-honoring speech. That's War of Words. Log on to paultrippministries.org. That's all one word paultripp, spelled T-R-I-P-P, paultrippministries.org.

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Tomorrow, more from the series, "What About Your Talk?" I'm Kate Crowley, and on behalf of Paul Tripp Ministries, reminding you that, in Jesus Christ, there really is help right here, right now.