Rev. Terence Gray and Ashley Gray team up to teach “loving with your words,” showing how our tongues can be a wildfire or a warming hearth. Drawing from James 3, Pastor Terence warns that a single spark—gossip, sarcasm, a cutting email—can burn down trust, while cold silence can freeze a relationship just as surely; the goal isn’t “no fire,” but Spirit-guided, contained fire. Ashley then anchors the message in 1 Corinthians 13, clarifying that Paul describes agape—the self-giving love of Christ—not a checklist but a Spirit-formed character that makes communication truly Christian. You’ll learn four practices you can start today: (1) assess the “temperature” of your home, work, and online words; (2) set boundaries so your speech brings warmth, not scorches; (3) use 1 Corinthians 13 as a diagnostic—patient and kind, not irritable, boastful, or score-keeping; and (4) try “reverent listening”: create safety, ask open-ended questions (“Say more about that”), and decenter yourself so the other feels seen and loved. Together, Pastor Terence and Ashley call us to grow up in our speech—moving from impulse to surrender, from being “right” to being Christlike—so our words become instruments of blessing in God’s hands. May we be a people who carry the torch forward with courage, humility, and generational faithfulness.
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