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Your Voice Matters
35 Plays1 month ago
What happens when silence costs more than speaking up? In this powerful episode of Mixon It Up, Bishop Sylvester Mixon delivers a bold and timely message about stewardship, faith, and the responsibility of using your voice. From faith and leadership to culture and personal responsibility, this episode will push you to ask: What seeds have I been burying instead of sowing? If you’ve ever felt called to something greater but held back by fear, frustration, or apathy, this conversation is for you. Get ready for practical wisdom, conviction, and encouragement that will inspire you to step into the room, speak up, and show up with purpose. Because your voice was never meant to stay buried.
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Transcript
Introduction & Podcast Purpose
00:00:16
Speaker
So welcome to the Mixing It Up podcast. I'm your host, Sylvester Mixon, and I'm really pumped to be with you today um and to incurt encourage and empower you with some
Importance of Using Your Voice
00:00:28
Speaker
knowledge. And so this episode today is entitled Your Voice is Your Seed, right?
00:00:33
Speaker
Stop burying what was meant to be sown. So let me start this episode today with a question that might sting a little bit.
00:00:47
Speaker
um When was the last time your silence cost somebody something? Right.
00:00:56
Speaker
When was the last time your silence. Cost somebody something.
Silence vs. Peace and Passivity
00:01:02
Speaker
I want you to think about that. Because we live in this generation um that is confused, quiet with peace.
00:01:12
Speaker
ah Confused. Neutrality with humility. Confused staying out of it with staying spiritual.
00:01:25
Speaker
And I'm here to tell you some of y'all aren't peaceful. You're just being passive. And there is a difference from being peaceful and being passful passive. Come on, talk to me here.
Voice as a Seed in Biblical Context
00:01:41
Speaker
Because a lot of times, you know, just staying neutral could be causing more chaos than actually confronting a thing.
00:01:57
Speaker
So I want to welcome you back to the Mixing It Up podcast, where we mix faith, leadership, and real life, and we serve it hot. I'm your guy, Sylvester Mixon, and today we're getting into something that's really been pressing in my spirit for a minute.
00:02:14
Speaker
And so today's big idea, your voice is a seed.
Story of Esther and Mordecai
00:02:20
Speaker
What you refuse to plant, somebody else will harvest.
00:02:26
Speaker
So if if you've got some space or your journal out or whatever, I don't know how you really listen to podcasts. I like to make notes on some stuff. um Write this down. Your voice is your seed. And what you refuse to plant, somebody else will inherit.
00:02:41
Speaker
ah We're about to unpack this. Now, There's a story tucked away um in the book of Esther. I'm a preacher. You know that at the end of the day. So I got a pull from the Bible here or there um that i can't stop preaching about.
00:02:56
Speaker
And Esther was this young Jewish woman who became a queen during a season when her people were about to be literally erased. Her people were about to be wiped off the map.
00:03:10
Speaker
they were fixing to be legislated into oblivion. um you know And her cousin Mordecai, Wise old Mordecai, he sends her a message that was very, very powerful and impactful.
00:03:24
Speaker
And this message really still echoes today. ah Very much so. I find myself preaching it and going back over it often. And he says something powerful in Esther 414. I want you to just make a note of that somewhere and and read through that chapter, because I believe that it will be impactful and empowering for you.
00:03:44
Speaker
But he says, if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise from another place. But you and your family will die. And who knows, but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this.
00:04:02
Speaker
Now, I got to run that again, because he says, if you keep quiet right now, Relief and deliverance will come from another place. God's going to send it. But, you know, who knows when that will come? And he says, however, you and your father's family are going to perish.
Generational Impact of Silence
00:04:20
Speaker
Right. He says, so who knows if you haven't been called for such a time as this? Mordecai didn't say Esther, God needs you because God doesn't need anybody. Mordecai said God is going to move with you or without you.
00:04:37
Speaker
But if you stay silent. You're going to miss your assignment. Hear me. God will accomplish his purposes. the The the only question is whether you're going to be a part of it or whether you will watch it happen from cheap seats.
00:04:56
Speaker
Here's what I'm trying to bring home today. There are moments in every generation where silence is not spiritual. Silence is sin. Hear me.
00:05:08
Speaker
Think about that. Think about those generational curses in your family. Think about ah the the errors, the mistakes that were made, some of the challenges and the maybe habits or addictions or battles you've had to fight because silence reigned over speaking up.
00:05:25
Speaker
There are seasons, listen to me, when not speaking, when not showing up, when not stewarding your voice is the loudest statement you could possibly make. And it's a statement that says, I don't care enough to participate in the future.
Faith and Action
00:05:42
Speaker
Right? I can't hear nobody. ah Literally. Right? Think about that. Think about that. Research, if if I could just give you a little bit of data,
00:05:55
Speaker
um Kerry Newhoff, one leadership guru that I love to listen to, and one of the most respected church and culture researchers in our generation, he just released this in his 2026 Church report,
00:06:10
Speaker
report And one of the most striking findings that he finds in this report is that 80% of the people who don't attend church say they would come if somebody simply spoke up, used their voice to invite them.
00:06:26
Speaker
80%. So their absence isn't rebellion. It's because nobody used their voice. and and And here's another one that that broke me.
00:06:36
Speaker
According to research, The average American checks their phone 186 times a day, y'all. So we have voices being amplified, broadcast, digitized at a scale our grandparents couldn't imagine.
00:06:53
Speaker
We post about everything, our lunch, our gym selfie. Think about it, our hot takes on the latest scandal that's going on, our opinion on this rapper that we have never met.
00:07:05
Speaker
Right? We talk about all of these people. Beyonce, Drewski, come on. All these folks. But ask people to use that same voice for something that actually matters and can make a difference that can have a lasting impact on generations to come.
00:07:23
Speaker
Something for justice for the kid down the street or for the policies that will shape your classrooms or for the gerrymandering of voting districts.
00:07:39
Speaker
And all of a sudden, everybody gets real spiritual. I don't get involved in that. I'm going to just pray about it. You know, I'm going to let the Lord handle it. That's not my lane.
00:07:50
Speaker
Hear me. Prayer without participation is religious procrastination.
Four Lies That Silence Us
00:07:57
Speaker
yeah James 2.17 says faith without works is dead.
00:08:02
Speaker
And there's a whole lot of dead faith walking around in 2026 with fresh haircuts and vibes, y'all. Right. Faith without works. In other words, it's it's futile to say that I have faith, but I never put my faith into action.
00:08:17
Speaker
Right. And so. There are four lies. Of loud silence that I want to give you four lies of loud silence.
00:08:28
Speaker
But these are lies that keep good people quiet and quiet people complicit. And the enemy loves that. Lie number one, my voice doesn't matter. My voice doesn't matter.
00:08:39
Speaker
and and And hear me, this is not humility, this is actually heresy. You were created in the image of a God who spoke the universe into existence. In Genesis 1, and God said, and God said, it and God said, he didn't think about it.
00:08:54
Speaker
He didn't post about it. He didn't whisper about it. He said, it and then he made you in his image and gave you the same creative capacity. So your voice doesn't just describe reality.
00:09:06
Speaker
Your voice actually helped shape it. Right. Your voice is prophetic. Proverbs 18, 19 says death and life are in the power of the tongue. So the enemy's first strategy in a generation is to convince good people that their voice is too small to matter.
00:09:21
Speaker
That's how darkness wins. Not by overwhelming the light, but by convincing the light not to shine. Lie number two. Not only does lie number one say your voice doesn't matter, but number two, I don't want to get involved.
00:09:33
Speaker
That's the modern Christian's favorite spiritual escape. I don't get involved in that stuff. But here's the catch. You're already involved. You're involved when your tax dollars are spent. You're involved when you're when policies affect your kid's school.
00:09:46
Speaker
You're involved when decisions about your neighborhood or your health care or your community or your safety, um your so sanction your church are being made in rooms that you're not in. And the only question isn't whether you're involved.
00:10:00
Speaker
It's whether you're influential.
Rejecting Apathy & Embracing Change
00:10:03
Speaker
Right. ah Number one, my voice doesn't matter. Number two, I don't get involved. Number three, I'll just pray about it. Now, hold on, because I don't want you to twist my words.
00:10:12
Speaker
You need to pray about everything. Right. But understand this. In the Bible, prayer was never a substitute for participation. Yeah, it was preparation for participation.
00:10:22
Speaker
Nehemiah prayed and then he picked up the trowel. Esther prayed and then she put the robe on. Moses prayed and then he stretched out the rod. David prayed and then he picked up the stones. Prayer fuels you.
00:10:34
Speaker
Prayer doesn't replace you. If all you do is pray about issues that require your participation, you're not being faithful. You're being fragile. Number four, lie number four is I won't make any difference. It won't make any difference anyway.
00:10:47
Speaker
And so that right there is the lie of learned helplessness, learned helplessness. And let me tell you who benefits when good people believe their efforts don't matter.
00:10:59
Speaker
The people who benefit is everybody whose agenda up ah is is dependent on you staying home. See, any anybody who profits from your passivity has a vested interest in your discouragement.
00:11:13
Speaker
Right. So don't let the architects of your apathy convince you that you have no architecture of your own.
Parable of the Farmer and Seeds
00:11:19
Speaker
Come on. Let me preach. You're to make me preach my own podcast. Do not let the architects of your apathy convince you that you have no architecture of your own. Build.
00:11:29
Speaker
Open your you open your voice. Open your mouth. Go vote. Go make a difference. Cry loud. Spare not. Get involved. Right. Now, let me give you a picture that I hope that you cannot shake.
00:11:44
Speaker
Right. Imagine a farmer who has been given a bag of seeds, good seeds, premium seeds, seeds that have generations of harvest packed into them. And the farmer walks out of out to his field, looks at the ground and says, you know what?
00:12:01
Speaker
i don't trust the soil. I don't trust the weather. I don't trust the process. so I'm going to keep these seeds in the bag. It's safer that way anyway. And so he goes, he he goes home in the bag, sits in the barn.
00:12:15
Speaker
Seasons change. The fields stay empty and come harvest time, his family goes is hungry. And here's the question, y'all. Was the farmer faithful or foolish? The Bible has a name for that farmer.
00:12:26
Speaker
Jesus told a parable about him in Matthew 25, and we call him the servant with one talent, the one who buried what he was given because he was afraid of using it. And what did the master say?
00:12:38
Speaker
Wicked and lazy servant. Not you careful servant, not you safe servant. You wicked and lazy. Hear me, what God gave you was not given for safekeeping.
00:12:48
Speaker
It was given for sowing, your voice,
Practical Advice on Using Your Voice
00:12:51
Speaker
your influence, your time, your talent, your treasure, your participation, your prayers, your action. They weren't putting you ah for you to just store and hoard.
00:13:01
Speaker
They were given for circulation. Remember, faith without work is what? It's dead. It's dead. So, Bishop, what do i do with this? Right.
00:13:11
Speaker
I'm so glad you asked. So here are four life hacks, practical, portable and powerful that will work for you. Life hack number one is audit your own stewardship. How am I managing things? I want you to sit down this week. Make a list of every area where God has given you a voice, your family, your job, your neighborhood, your social media, um the school board, the city, the church industry.
00:13:35
Speaker
Ask yourself, where am I stewarding? Well, and where am I being silent? Because stewardship isn't just about money, family. It's also about influence. You think about the widow's mite was praised not because of the size of her gift, but because of the surrender of silence.
00:13:52
Speaker
Number two, replace opinion with engagement. Read, study, learn, listen, investigate, right? For every issue you have a strong opinion about, ask yourself, what have I actually done about it?
00:14:05
Speaker
Have you called somebody? Have you written something? Shown up somewhere? Donated something? Mentored someone? Joined something? You see, opinions are free. Everybody got one.
00:14:16
Speaker
But engagement is going to cost you. So make your engagement match your conviction. Number three, get informed before you get loud. Right? You don't want to be loud and wrong. but Right? Open and ignorant. No. Listen, proximity without understanding is just noise. So before you speak on something, study it.
00:14:35
Speaker
Read all angles. Read both sides. Listen to people who disagree with you. Ask questions before you answer them. The book of Proverbs is literally full of warnings about people who answer before they listen.
00:14:47
Speaker
You want to be the kind of person, the kind of believer whose voice carries weight because it carries wisdom. and Number four, steward small rooms. Steward small rooms. You don't start with the big rooms.
00:14:59
Speaker
Start with the room you're in. Start where you are. Right. Start with the conversation at the dinner table or the coffee shop. Start with the email to the principal start or the school board. Start with a call to a friend who's lost their way.
00:15:15
Speaker
Start with something small. See, God doesn't promote us to bigger until he sees what we do with the small things.
00:15:25
Speaker
So if I could drop a few things on you before we land this plane. And post them, man, share them. You know, I don't care, but just I want you to sit with these things because silence is not neutral.
00:15:41
Speaker
Silence is a side. I want that to sit with you. Silence is not neutral. Silence is a side. What you refuse to steward, somebody else will spend. Your voice is too valuable to be volunteered to apathy.
00:15:56
Speaker
Prayer was never meant to be the substitute for participation. And the world is not shaped by the loudest voices. It's shaped by the voices who actually shows up. So before you turn this off, sit with these three things and don't rush them.
00:16:11
Speaker
Number one, where in my life have I confused silence with spirituality? Think about that. Right. Your voice is powerful. So think about that. Where have I confused silence with spirituality?
00:16:23
Speaker
with spiritual apathy. Number two, what seeds have God given to me that I've been burying because I'm afraid of how they'll grow or that they won't grow for that matter, right?
00:16:35
Speaker
And then number three, if my children studied my level of engagement with the world, what would they learn
00:16:43
Speaker
was worth my voice? What would they learn was worth my voice?
Episode Summary and Book Promotion
00:16:50
Speaker
And i want you to sit with these. Right. So let me leave you with the mixing it up.
00:16:55
Speaker
ah Summary, five things. Number one, your voice is your seed. Number two, silence is not spiritual. Number three, um prayer was designed to fuel participation, not replace it.
00:17:07
Speaker
For what God gave you was given for sowing, not storing. And number five, the generation is watching the rooms you refuse to enter Before we go, I have two things I need to give you. Number one, I'm so excited, y'all.
00:17:21
Speaker
I've got a new book coming and entitl ah called The Gap, and it's dropping soon. And this book is going to meet you where you are. The Gap is all about that frustrating, faith-stretching space between where you are and where God promised to take you.
00:17:36
Speaker
The space between promise and participation, between the calling and the courage to walk in it. And if today's episode hits you, The Gap is going to finish, but this conversation started. So be on the lookout for that.
00:17:47
Speaker
And soon I'll be launching SylvesterMixen.com so you have a chance to um sign up. So be on the lookout for all of the exciting offerings that we're going to be presenting here very, very soon. And don't forget to connect with me on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok.
00:18:02
Speaker
I am there. Look for Sylvester Mixon. Look for Mixing It Up. Send me a DM. ah Tell me what seed you've been bearing and tag a friend who needs this episode.
00:18:13
Speaker
Share it, screenshot it, send it. This podcast is blessing you. Hey, give us a five-star review. Drop us a line, an encouraging word. It's quick and it helps mixing it up, reach more leaders who need to hear it.
00:18:25
Speaker
Peace.