Speak Good Words

This is our Sunday teaching by our Senior Pastor, Tom Thompson. Recorded live at our Sunday Service in Harris Academy Purley, Croydon on Sunday 30th August, 2026. 

Speak Good Words

What comes out of us when life isn’t going well?

Jeremiah knew what it was to have a bad day. Actually, he knew what it was to have a bad few years.

He was criticised, rejected and misunderstood. He tried to do what God had asked him to do and, rather than being applauded for it, found himself increasingly unpopular. Eventually, in Jeremiah 15, he reaches breaking point.

And his words begin to show it.

God’s response is striking: “If you speak good words rather than worthless ones, you will be my spokesman… You must influence them; do not let them influence you.”

In other words: don’t let today’s weather determine the climate of your soul.

Think about a British summer. One unexpectedly hot afternoon doesn’t mean the climate has changed. Equally, a rainy day on holiday in Spain doesn’t make Spain a cold country.

Weather changes. Climate runs deeper.

The same is true spiritually.

Someone criticises us. A child pushes exactly the right button. A colleague annoys us. Somebody says something unfair. That is the weather coming at us.

But followers of Jesus are invited to live from a deeper climate: I am loved. God is with me. His mercy follows me. My future is secure in him.

And when that truth gets deep enough into us, it begins to change what comes out of us.

We can correct someone without tearing down their worth.

We can resist the temptation to fire back immediately.

We can refuse to build friendships through gossip.

We can speak well of people when they aren’t in the room.

That doesn’t happen simply by consuming more Christian content. We need moments where we become quiet enough for God’s truth to sink beneath the noise — where his voice becomes stronger than all the other voices coming at us.

Jeremiah’s circumstances didn’t suddenly become easier. In fact, they became harder. But something in him changed. Fourteen chapters later, this same man could speak extraordinary words of hope: God still had a future for his people.

This week, notice your words.

At home, at work, online and at church, ask yourself:

Am I simply reflecting the weather around me — or am I changing the climate by speaking good words?