“Big Mouth, Big Feet”

“BIG MOUTH, BIG FEET” by Ray Pritchard Several weeks ago while preaching at Word of Life Florida, Harry Bollback told me the secret of Jack Wyrtzen’s faith. I had just finished my sermon on “Beyond Your Imagination” from Ephesians 3 when Harry said, “Jack had a sermon he liked to preach called ‘Big Mouth, Big Feet.’ It was the way he lived his life.” He went on to say that Jack believed there were two things you needed to experience God’s power in your life. First, you need a big mouth. Having a big mouth means taking God’s promises at face value. For Jack that meant constantly memorizing the Word of God until it becomes a foundational part of your life. He often carried memory cards with him so that he could review the verses he was working on that week. He knew the Book from cover to cover, or as one fellow put it, “from Genesis to Maps.” He knew the promises of the Word of God and he believed them fervently. Having a “big mouth” means knowing the Word and being ready to quote it out loud at a moment’s notice. The key verse here is Psalm 81:10, “Open wide your mouth and I will fill it.” That’s the first part. Having “big feet” refers to the faith to act on what God has already promised. When God spoke to the children of Israel after the death of Moses, he told them to follow Joshua across the Jordan River and take possession of the Promised Land. His instructions are very specific: “I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses” (Joshua 1:3). God is saying, “You can have all the land if you want it, but you can’t have it by sitting in your rocking chair, fiddling with the remote control, and daydreaming about how nice it would be to someday have all the land.” At some point you’ve got to get up, turn off the TV, and start walking by faith through the land and claiming it for the Lord. A big mouth names the promise, but it takes big feet to claim the promise. As faith without works is dead, even so a big mouth without big feet can never accomplish anything great for God. Harry said that in the early days of the Bible Institute, quite a few students found themselves unable to pay their school bills. Many of them were praying about the money they needed. Jack offered to pay any student who wanted to work $10 an hour for doing some work at Word of Life Island. Exactly two students took advantage of the offer. Later Jack asked the others why they were praying for money if they weren’t willing to do what it took to earn the money they needed. Sometimes the answer to our prayers lies within us. When a big mouth speaks and big feet start moving, big answers soon appear.