Every day, we are surrounded by voices.

Some voices inform us. Some entertain us. Some encourage us. Others create fear, confusion, anger, or doubt. Between conversations, social media, news, podcasts, entertainment, and our own internal dialogue, we live in a world where countless voices compete for our attention.

But Scripture shows us that a voice can be much more than noise. One voice, surrendered to God, can change a person, influence a generation, speak courage into fear, and carry the Word of God into a situation that desperately needs to hear it.

In “The Value of a Voice,” Bishop D. G. Hargrove challenges us to recognize that God has given each of us a voice—and that what we choose to do with that voice matters.

The question isn’t simply, Do I have a voice?

The greater question is: What am I using my voice to say?

A Voice Can Prepare the Way

Hundreds of years before John the Baptist appeared, Isaiah prophesied of “the voice of him that crieth in the wilderness” preparing the way of the Lord. Matthew 3:3 identifies John as the fulfillment of that prophecy.

John wasn’t the Savior. He wasn’t the Messiah. He wasn’t the answer.

He was a voice pointing people to the Answer.

That distinction teaches us something important about our own calling. We don’t have to be the solution to someone’s problem to have an impact on their life. We don’t have to possess every answer, occupy a platform, or carry an impressive title. Sometimes our responsibility is simply to use our voice to point someone toward Jesus.

A parent can do that around the dinner table. A teenager can do it at school. A coworker can do it over lunch. A friend can do it through a timely conversation. A believer can do it by sharing what God has done in their life.

John’s greatness wasn’t found in drawing attention to himself. His voice mattered because of Who his voice was pointing toward.

A Voice Can Produce Faith

Romans 10:17 tells us, “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”

Faith involves hearing, which means somebody has to speak.

That gives enormous significance to our words. What comes out of your mouth can become what someone else hears, considers, believes, and ultimately acts upon. A conversation that seems ordinary to you may become a turning point for someone else.

We don’t always know the weight our words are carrying.

A child may remember something a parent says for decades. Someone walking through grief may hold onto one sentence of encouragement. A person questioning their faith may need someone willing to remind them of what Scripture says. Someone who believes their life is beyond redemption may need to hear a testimony of what Jesus can do.

Our culture gives tremendous value to people with the largest platforms, biggest audiences, and loudest voices. The Kingdom of God measures influence differently.

A voice doesn’t have to reach thousands to change a life. It only has to faithfully reach the person God has placed within hearing distance.

A Voice Can Speak Courage Into Fear

First Samuel 17 gives us one of Scripture’s clearest examples of the power of a voice.

Goliath had a voice.

Every day, the Philistine giant stood before Israel and spoke words designed to intimidate them. Israel listened, and fear spread through the army.

Then David arrived.

David saw the same giant everyone else saw, but he talked differently about what he saw. While everyone else was talking about Goliath, David started talking about God.

In 1 Samuel 17:45–47, David declared that he came against Goliath in the name of the Lord of hosts. He didn’t deny the size of the problem. He simply refused to let the size of the problem become greater than his understanding of God.

What Are Your Words Magnifying?

That raises an important question for every believer: What are our conversations making bigger?

We can continually rehearse what’s wrong until everyone around us becomes discouraged. We can magnify the difficulty, repeat the worst-case scenario, and give fear a microphone. Or we can acknowledge reality while reminding ourselves and others of the faithfulness of God.

A voice can complain—or encourage.

A voice can destroy—or build.

A voice can spread fear—or faith.

This doesn’t mean Christians should ignore difficulties or pretend painful circumstances don’t exist. David saw Goliath clearly. Faith isn’t denying the giant; faith is refusing to talk about the giant as though God isn’t present.

Your family needs a voice of faith. Your children need one. Your workplace needs one. Your church needs one. Our communities need believers who can look at difficult circumstances without surrendering their confidence in God.

Sometimes the atmosphere changes when one person decides to start talking about God.

A Voice Can Call Someone Back to God

Not every message God asks us to speak will be easy to deliver or easy for others to receive.

In Ezekiel 2, God sent the prophet to a spiritually resistant people. Ezekiel couldn’t control whether they listened, repented, rejected the message, or became angry with the messenger. His responsibility was to faithfully say what God had entrusted to him.

That principle still matters.

We naturally want our words to produce immediate results. We want the conversation to go well. We want the person we’re trying to help to understand. We want the child to listen, the friend to respond, or the person we’ve been praying for to turn toward God.

But obedience and outcome are not the same thing.

You are responsible for faithfulness. You are not responsible for controlling another person’s response.

There may be someone in your life whom God has repeatedly placed on your heart. Perhaps you’ve hesitated because you don’t know what they’ll say or how they’ll react. You don’t need the ability to control their response. You need the courage to faithfully carry God’s message with truth, wisdom, and love.

Your voice may be one of the ways God calls someone home.

Your Voice Can Build or Destroy

The value of our voice also means we must recognize the responsibility that comes with it.

Words create consequences.

The same mouth that can strengthen faith can spread discouragement. The same voice that can call someone toward Jesus can wound someone deeply. We can use words to encourage our spouse or constantly criticize them. We can speak identity and purpose over our children or allow frustration to define our conversations with them.

We can build the church with our words or continually tear people down.

This makes our everyday speech deeply spiritual.

We often think of “using our voice for God” as preaching, teaching, witnessing, or publicly sharing our testimony. Those things matter, but our voice belongs to God on ordinary days too. How we speak at home matters. How we talk about people when they aren’t present matters. How we respond when we’re frustrated matters.

The value of a voice isn’t limited to what happens behind a microphone.

Some of the most influential words you will ever speak may never be heard by more than one person.

God Has Always Used Voices

Throughout Scripture, God repeatedly chose people willing to speak.

Noah had a voice in a generation moving away from God. Moses had a voice before Pharaoh and before Israel. Samuel learned to recognize God’s voice and eventually became a prophetic voice to a nation. Elijah spoke when compromise had become widespread. David used his voice to confront fear and later gave generations words of worship through the Psalms.

The apostles had voices.

John the Baptist had a voice.

And the church still has a voice.

God could have chosen countless ways to spread the gospel, yet He commissioned people to go, preach, teach, testify, and make disciples. He puts His truth into human hearts and then sends human voices into families, workplaces, schools, neighborhoods, cities, and nations.

That means your voice has value.

Not because everyone knows your name.

Not because you have a platform.

Not because you’re naturally outgoing or an exceptional communicator.

Your voice has value because somebody needs to hear what God has put in you.

God’s Voice Must Be Louder Than Every Other Voice

Before we can effectively use our voices for God, however, we have to learn to recognize His.

Jesus said in John 10:27, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.”

We are surrounded by competing voices. Culture tells us what should matter. Algorithms continually place new opinions in front of us. Fear tells us what could go wrong. Comparison tells us we’re behind. Past failures try to tell us who we are. Other people’s expectations tell us who we should become.

But none of those voices deserves the authority that belongs to Jesus.

The greatest value of a voice isn’t merely determined by how loud it is. It is determined by whose message it carries.

Before we speak for God, we need to listen to God. We need Scripture shaping our thoughts more than culture does. We need prayer quieting the noise long enough for our hearts to become sensitive to the Holy Spirit. We need enough familiarity with God’s Word to recognize when another voice contradicts what He has already said.

The church doesn’t need to become the loudest voice in the world simply for the sake of being heard.

We need to become a faithful voice carrying the message of Jesus.

What Are You Using Your Voice to Say?

This message brings us back to a deeply personal question.

What are you using your voice to say?

Think about the words that have come out of your mouth this week. What did your family hear? What did your coworkers hear? What did your children hear? What did the people closest to you repeatedly hear you magnify?

Did your words create faith or fear?

Did they encourage or discourage?

Did they heal or wound?

Did they point people toward Jesus or simply draw attention to everything that’s wrong?

None of us gets this right every time. James reminds us how difficult the tongue can be to control. But recognizing the value of our voice should cause us to become more intentional about what we allow it to carry.

Before speaking, we can ask: Does this need to be said? Is it true? Is it helpful? Does it build? Does it reflect the heart of Jesus?

Because once we recognize that our words have influence, casual speech becomes sacred stewardship.

North Texas Needs Voices That Point People to Jesus

North Cities is a Spirit-filled, Apostolic church in Garland, Texas, but our calling doesn’t stop at the doors of a church building.

Families throughout Garland, Murphy, Plano, Richardson, Rowlett, and Wylie, as well as communities across Dallas County, Collin County, and Rockwall County, are surrounded by the same competing voices all of us encounter every day.

Our communities need believers willing to speak hope.

Our schools need young people unashamed of Jesus. Our workplaces need Christians who carry both conviction and compassion. Our homes need parents and grandparents who speak Scripture, encouragement, identity, and faith over the next generation. Our neighborhoods need people willing to share what Jesus has done in their lives.

You may never preach to a crowd.

You may never stand behind a pulpit.

You don’t need to.

God can use your voice in a living room, across a restaurant table, in a text message, during a drive to school, in an office, or in a conversation with a neighbor.

One voice can make a difference when that voice is willing to speak what God has said.

Your Voice Has Value

John was only a voice crying in the wilderness, but that voice prepared the way for Jesus.

David was one young man walking onto a battlefield, but his voice spoke faith into an atmosphere dominated by fear.

Ezekiel couldn’t guarantee anyone would listen, but he could faithfully speak what God gave him.

And now the responsibility comes to us.

There are people God has placed within the reach of your voice. Some need encouragement. Some need truth. Some need to hear what Jesus has done for you. Some need someone who will stop talking about how big the giant is and remind them how great God is.

So listen closely to the voice of Jesus.

Let His Word fill your heart.

Then use the voice He gave you.

Your voice has value because somebody needs to hear what God has put in you.

And one voice really can make a difference when that voice is willing to speak what God has said.