Proverbs 10 - Hold Your Tongue

Well, boy sang thot lang. That's a good morning.

In Vietnamese.

In Vietnamese. How did, did you look at my notes?

I did.

Oh, I thought you were just really smart.

No.

Boy sang thot lang. I even tried to listen to it being said. I probably said it wrong.

And that is, it's okay. So.

Did you use the little listen?

Let's see. Hopefully you can hear us. I don't know.

Is that working well?

Ish. It's alternating between low internet connection, and so it's recording, and then regular internet connection.

So. Well. If we.

If we glitch out, we'll blame it on Carlos.

Yeah.

Right? So we asked Carlos to be on with us today. By the way, Dennis, Bryon, glad you could be with us.

And we asked Carlos to join us, our children's pastor at the church, and he said no. And we thought, I don't know, we thought he liked the word of God more than he does.

But apparently, apparently he doesn't care for the Bible too much and didn't want to be a part of our discussion. We're kidding, Carlos. Don't throw things at us.

Anyway, he will. He will come out and throw things. Well, good morning to everybody.

Hopefully you're doing well today and a beautiful day here in Moses Lake and good to have Bryon and Sam back. They were on vacation last week. How was vacation?

Vacation was awesome.

Went over to Coeur d'Alene and a little bit in Spokane and hit up a whole ton of thrift stores. And so, yeah, I found a couple of good things for me. Sam found a bunch of stuff.

I found some books. I think we got maybe be a dump truck or something, like one of the Tonka trucks made of real metal. So, yes, time will tell how good or bad of a choice that was.

But she wanted one because she had one when she was a kid. And so, we got it for me.

All right. And Tonka truck. Well, how was your morning this morning?

It was good.

What did you do?

Just get up and get ready and come on over?

Got up, got ready, had a protein shake, read. I'm going through Jude right now. And that's been an awesome book.

So, yeah.

All right. Well, very good morning. Well, good.

Well, we're looking forward to this weekend. I'm looking forward to tomorrow night. Tomorrow night at church, we've got a special night doing a missions emphasis night.

I'm going to be hearing from a few of our missionaries via video and then and then spending some time just praying for them. And Samantha says that her brother had a Tonka truck, not her. But I was kind of wondering about that.

She probably, yeah.

Okay.

I don't know.

I used she had a Tonka truck as a kid in a general sense of her family.

Okay. Those kids have good defense.

My bad.

Anyway, so tomorrow night, missions emphasis night. And so I'm looking forward to the service. But then Sunday, Sunday is going to be a great day.

We've got our church barbecue and of course, Memorial Day weekend. And we usually we have a lot of guests on that Sunday because people come and visit Moses Lake. Yeah, that's the place to be on that weekend.

And I know that we're expecting a large influx that weekend here in Moses Lake from people from the west side and all that type of stuff. And so hopefully you'll be with us Sunday. And I'm looking forward.

I was at the property this morning, just up there thinking about the barbecue a little bit. And I'm excited about it would be a good time. So, well, let's take our Bibles today and let's go to Proverbs Chapter No.

10, Proverbs Chapter 10 this morning.

We've been going through the Book of Proverbs and of course, been trying to take just a few thoughts from each chapter and no doubt, and Bryon and I were even talking this morning and then last week or two weeks ago now, that you could spend years

going through the Book of Proverbs. I mean, there are so many principles, but really we're just trying to catch some highlights and some things that we can take with us and kind of apply to our day.

And so yesterday we looked at the first five verses of Proverbs chapter 10, and really just kind of the principle that what we view as important, God says usually is not important. We view our laziness as important.

And some people are like, well, I don't view laziness as important, but really I think you look at kids all the way up. I know our kids even, you know, I don't know too many kids are like, man, I really want to do chores today.

I really want to do some work today. Man, usually we want to sit around and relax, but God says, no, what I say is important is diligent work. And so we looked at a few different things yesterday.

Today as we come to the last part of Proverbs 10, I'll say verse six down through verse number 32, awesome portion of scripture.

There is a lot in here, but there is, we're going to see a highlight throughout this entire rest of the chapter on the power of the tongue, the power of the tongue, power of our words.

I want to start this morning by actually reading from the book of James.

We were here a few months ago, but James chapter three, James chapter three and verse number five, it says this, it says, even so the tongue is a little member and boasted great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth.

You know, we talk about it often, and I know especially thinking about kids this morning, I know we talk about it with our kids a lot, and then the kids of the church and in junior church and in teen class, and hopefully even with our adults, we talk

about the power of the tongue. The tongue is a very powerful thing. By it, we can tear someone down, we can build someone up.

By it, we can even, we read in the Book of James, some can curse God and then bless God in the very same breath, and our tongue has power. That's what we're gonna see in Proverbs 10.

And so we're gonna just highlight about 14 verses, 13 verses or so, and then we'll kinda talk about them as we go through. And if anything stands out to you, I know you've looked it over and I've looked it over, and so let's just talk through that.

So let's go first to Proverbs 10, verse number six. All right, verse six, it says this, Blessings are upon the head of the just, but violence covereth the mouth of the wicked.

Blessings are upon the head of the just, but violence covereth the mouth of the wicked. Have you ever had your mouth get you in a lot of trouble? You seem like that guy.

Did your mouth get you in trouble growing up?

Not as much as my sister.

Yeah, which one?

Harmony.

Really? All right, Harmony, I'm sorry if you watched this, but he just dogged you.

We can see this, you can probably see this true, that this verse, blessings are upon the head of the just, but violence covereth the mouth of the wicked, that a lot of times our mouth gets us in trouble.

And that's kind of the thought that this verse is getting across. Look at verse number eight. The wise at heart will receive commandments, but a Pratting fool shall fall.

What do you think about that verse? I want to know what Pratting means. All right, so Pratting, the word Pratting or Prating, we would probably liken it to our word braggadocious, all right?

The braggadocious fool shall fall. When you think about being a braggadocious person, usually, usually a person who, well, just look at the verse. I'll say it this way.

The wise at heart will receive in commandments, right? Someone who's wise, they're going to receive instruction. But a Pratting fool, a braggadocious fool is going to go, oh, I've got this.

Oh, I know. Oh, I know, right? We've all been around that person.

What did you just think of?

Oh, no, I just just got to my head.

I just thought of something. Verse number 11. Let's go there.

The mouth of the of a righteous man is a well of life, but violence covereth the mouth of the wicked. What's it mean that the mouth of a righteous man is a well of life?

That what comes out of his mouth is going to constantly be like health to other people.

That when other people hear you talk, it's going to be man that was encouraging, man I needed to know that truth, man that really helps me in my life rather than what happens with the wicked.

Yeah. You've been around people and I know I have too. Can you think of people and you don't need to name them now, but people you can think of right off top of your head that you're thinking man every time I'm around them, I leave encouraged.

Yeah.

Am I allowed to name a name?

Sure.

Okay. Craig Hatch, if you're on here, every time I talk to you, you're super encouraging and man, I like it when Craig comes up to me.

Maybe there are people in life that you're like, if this person's coming up, I know the stuff that the wicked is going to come, they're going to maybe degrade or something.

But whenever Craig comes by, I know that he's got an encouraging word for me, even if it's just something real small.

Yeah. It's a blessing to have friendships like that. And there's a ton of people in our church like that.

And I'm thinking right now, even as some pastor friends, I can think of Paul Connor and Thomas Shepard and Mike Rogers. Mike Rogers is a friend of mine from Oregon, and he'll be here in June or July. And Mike's one of those guys.

I just leave encouraged every time I talk to him. You know what that is? That's that verse, the mouth of a righteous man.

It's a well of life. It just brings out good. Notice verse number 13.

In the lips of him that hath understanding, wisdom is found, but a rod is for the back of him, that is void of understanding. Man, in the lips of him that hath understanding, wisdom is found.

It's like, again, I think it connects with verse 11, the people that you speak to that are speaking wisdom and just speak life into you. They speak wisdom into you. Go to verse 14.

Wise men, they lay up knowledge, but the mouth of the foolish is near destruction. Man, a person who's just foolish and constantly speaking, constantly getting themselves in trouble. Verse 18.

He that hiddeth hatred with lying lips, and he that uttereth slander is a fool. Now, that can be kind of a confusing verse. He that hiddeth hatred with lying lips, and he that uttereth a slander is a fool.

The idea behind this verse is the thought of not gossip, but being a person that never speaks the truth with somebody. It's kind of like that chameleon type of person.

That I'll speak one thing to Bryon's face, but then I speak something else behind his back. And man, that is not a wise thing. And I know people who claim to be very godly people that do that all the time.

And you know what I want to protect myself from? I want to protect myself from being that person. Look at verse number 19.

And the multitude of words, there wanteth not sin, but he that refraineth his lips is wise. I love that verse. We're gonna come back to that one, okay?

We'll come back and end on that one. So go to verse 20 and 21. The tongue of the just is as choice silver, the heart of the wicked is little worth, the lips of the righteous feed many, but fools die for want of wisdom.

Man, can you kind of sense what Solomon is getting at through this chapter of, hey listen, you can speak with your mind and your heart, or you can speak with God's mind and God's heart, God's wisdom.

You can feed life to people, you can feed health to people, or you can be foolish, bring destruction, hurt your own life. Go to verse 31 and 32. The mouth of the just bringeth forth wisdom, but the froward tongue shall be cut out.

The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable, but the mouth of the wicked speaketh frowardness. I want to end with that verse and verse 19, and here's why. When you look at verse 32, well, before we do it, I'm going to ask you about verse 32.

So verse 32, I'm going to read it again. It says this. The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable, but the mouth of the wicked speaketh frowardness.

I really think that verse 32, because when you look at chapter 11, it goes into a false balance as an abomination to the Lord, all of that type of stuff. Solomon kind of changes some thought.

I think verse 32 is a good conclusion to the entire chapter. And I know what I think about it, but what do you think about verse 32?

He just kind of goes over what's kind of the definition of all of this stuff. So the lips of the righteous know what is acceptable. So how would you know what acceptable speech is?

Righteousness, how do you know what's righteous? You have to look at God's word. And the things that God tells us to talk about or not talk about are what is righteous and acceptable.

And then the opposite side of that, the mouth of the wicked speaketh fowardness or perversity.

And so when you have, when you look at this chapter, all of the people that are mentioned as hiding their hatred by lying to people, when they're speaking about people behind their backs, when it says violence covers their mouths, like these are

people that are intent on speaking kind of everything except what they're supposed to be speaking.

Yeah.

Yeah. I think that verse really is a good conclusion because of just that thought. If I'm walking with God, I'm going to know what's acceptable.

If I'm not, I'm going to speak foolishness. But I want to close with verse 19. All right.

So I read it a moment ago. In the multitude of words, there wanteth not sin, but he that refraineth his lips is wise. I want to go to verse 19 because I'm going to be very upfront on this because I know that this is me.

I know in my life that some of the times when I've got myself in the most trouble is when I just ran my mouth.

And I know that my parents are on here and, you know, I've mentioned this at church before that I can be and the staff, Bryon really doesn't know this to be true, but I can be very sarcastic. And yeah, isn't that surprising, isn't it?

Not you.

Very surprising.

Now you lied.

Yeah. I know I can be super sarcastic. And you know what?

I know that my sarcasm sometimes can get me in trouble, but it's just those times of just running my mouth. I remember growing up, this was a verse, in all honesty, this is a verse my parents quoted to me a lot.

And even when we were early married, we would be reading these and this verse would always jump out to me, you know, like, man, I can be such a foolish person when I just run my mouth. Why? Because in the multitude of words, there wanteth not sin.

Keep talking and you're going to get yourself in trouble. Just keep sarcasm going, keep the running the mouth going, and you're going to say something that you soon regret. And so what's a good challenge for us with all of these verses today?

I think, number one, we need to remember the impact that our tongue can make in people. Just remember the impact that our tongue has. And then number two, pray, God, help me to use my tongue to influence people positively.

Lord, help me to speak well of life, help me not to be short with people, help me not to allow maybe agitations and irritations to affect not only what I say to people, but how I speak to them and how I engage with folks throughout the day.

And I don't know about you, but every day, every day I'm dealing with people, every day I deal with staff.

And there's some days that I can be a little short, there's some days that I can be a little irritated, there's some days that I can be all happy and encouraging.

I hope that that would be every day, that every day people that we're around would find encouragement through the words that we speak. And so I want to encourage you today to ask God, God help me to be a person who speaks words of life.

Help me not to just run my mouth, help me to speak words that would be pleasing to you, and that would be an encouragement to others. Any last thoughts from me this morning?

No, I just, I feel like I might have mentioned it before, but the words that you say to people can have just a huge difference.

I remember so many times in my life where I remember nothing else for years surrounding whatever event happened, but I remember when someone said a kind word.

And the point of this chapter I think is less of just always keep your mouth shut and never say anything, but watch your words and only speak when you have something good, life-giving, health-giving, wise to be able to give to someone else.

Yeah, it's a good thought. So well, and with that today, look forward to seeing you tomorrow morning at 930 going into Proverbs chapter 11. Have a great day.