TRUNEWS with Rick Wiles - Date: Feb. 5, 2026 - Lesson 24-2026. Title: The Snare of Rash Vows

Episode Date: February 5, 2026

Proverbs 20:25 warns of the danger in making careless vows and then reflecting after the promise is spoken. To dedicate something hastily and only later consider the cost is a snare that entangles the soul. In today’s Morning Manna, Rick Wiles and Doc Burkhart examine the seriousness of words spoken before God, the wisdom of thoughtful commitment, and why reverence requires restraint before making promises we may struggle to keep. Lesson 24-2026 Teachers: Rick Wiles and Doc Burkhart You can partner with us by visiting MannaNation.com, calling 1-888-519-4935, or by mail at PO Box 399 Vero Beach, FL 32961. MEGA FIRE reveals the ancient recurring cycles of war and economic collapse that have shaped history for 600 years. These patterns predict America is now entering its most dangerous period since World War II. Get your copy today! www.megafire.world Get high-quality emergency preparedness food today from American Reserves! www.AmericanReserves.com It’s the Final Day! The day Jesus Christ bursts into our dimension of time, space, and matter. Now available in eBook and audio formats! Order Final Day from Amazon today! www.Amazon.com/Final-Day Apple users, you can download the audio version on Apple Books! www.books.apple.com/final-day Purchase the 4-part DVD set or start streaming Sacrificing Liberty today. www.Sacrificingliberty.com

Welcome to morning manor. Welcome to morning nourishment. Your teachers, Rick Wiles and Dr. Burkaw, get your body before. Well, good morning, everybody. Welcome to Morning Manna. This is where souls are nourished. I'm Rick Wiles, my co-partner in teaching the Word of God is Dr. Raymond Burkhart.

And our home on the internet is manna nation.com. You can find our Bible lessons there. They're numbered, and today's lesson is 24-26. If you're watching on Faith TV, as we end, it's only a 30-minute program on Face TV. The lesson is one hour. You can go to manorination.com, look for 24-26, and follow along with the rest of the lesson. It's a very good lesson today. Let's pray, invite the Holy Spirit, and then Dr. Burckhart will read the Word of God,

God, we're in the 20th chapter of Proverbs. We're looking at verses 25 through 27. Almighty God, our Father, our Father, we love you. And we adore you. We praise you. Father, we are hungry for your word. And we are asking humbly for the presence of the Holy Spirit to preside in this Bible study. And that the Holy Spirit's presence will be in the home and office.

and the vehicles, wherever, anybody is located right now who is watching or listening to Morning Manor. Father, this bless this worldwide virtual Bible study because it's about your son, Jesus Christ, and His kingdom. It's about teaching people your word. And so, Father, we know that your blessing is on this work. Father, let your Holy Spirit illuminate us. and educate us about your kingdom in the name of Jesus. Amen. Amen. And we're so privileged to have you join us today for morning man, no matter where you are in the world today. And we always look forward to sharing the Word of God with you. Today we are continuing our journey at Proverbs chapter 20. And today we're looking at verses 25 through 27. And take your Bibles this morning and let's read together,

shall we? I'm reading from the King James, and it reads starting at verse 25. It is a snare to the man who devourth that which is holy, and after vows to make inquiry. A wise king scattereth the wicked and bringeth the wheel over them. Verse 27, the spirit of man is the candle of the Lord, searching all the inward parts of the belly. God bless the reading of his word. These are going to be some fascinating verses to dissect today, Rick, because I would generally have to say that a lot of people probably get confused on some of these verses here.

Yes, and I learn things in studying and preparing for this lesson. We always read, when we're in the Old Testament, we always read to King James in the Septuagint translations. There are differences between the King James translation and the Greek Septuagint translation of this proverb, Prover chapter 20, verse 25. We are going to focus our lesson on the Septuagint translation for this particular proverb. Okay, so I'm going to read both. The King James says, it is a snare to the man who devoureth that.

which is holy and after vows to make inquiry. The Septuagin has a slightly different reading. It is a snare to a man hastily to consecrate some of his own property, for in that case, repentance comes after vowing. Yes. So we're going to focus on the Septuagint translation, because when it comes to the old covenant, the Septuagint is superior to the King James.

I know that might upset some people, but I'm not trying to be offensive. It's just the way it is. It's the Greek translation of the Hebrew, and it's what Jesus quoted. And the Apostle is quoted throughout the New Testament. Whenever you read the New Testament, and they're quoting the old,

Testament, you go, I'll go back there and look in it. That's not what it says. That's because you're reading the Old Testament in the King James. If you read it in the Septuagint, you'll find out that it lines up with what Jesus and the apostles said. Okay. So let's take a look at this. In the Septuagint translation, this proverb warns that it becomes a moral trap when someone quickly declares something holy, meaning consecrated to God, out of his own property, only to later feel regret and try to walk it back. What is the problem? Where are we seeing a problem here? Well, there are two issues. Firstly, there is haste in the consecration of the item. Secondly, there is repentance, regret after the vow to God. So, there is haste.

this is a serious reversal of the proper order of worship, where discernment should come first. Gee Campbell Morgan said, the order matters, thought, then speech, prayer, then promise. When the order is reversed, valfour's inquiry after, the soul is snared by its own words. Yes. And let's talk about that word snare in there. why this isn't just a case. It's not an accident. It's not just poor planning. A snare implies entrapment, something that appears harmless. You know, you don't see a snare, but binds a soul.

Rick, I don't know when you were a kid, but when I was a kid, we used to build rabbit snares out in the woods to catch rabbits, right? And we would hide the snare, and, you know, it was concealed, but there was thought that went into it. There was planning that it went into it. It was no accident, right? To catch the rabbit, you had to build a very, you know, concealed snare in order to catch these butters. So on snare is not just an inconvenience.

What's tragic here, this is a self-laid snare, and it's where the center's own words and actions become the instrument of his bondage and entrapment. So the warning in the Septuagint assumes that worship or vow has more gravity. When you declare something holy, you've moved it from private discretion over to the realm of accountability before God. And so the question is, why is it a snare? What's words leave your mouth? God holds you to them. You have walked into, a contractual obligation with the Almighty with your words. If you fail to pay that vow, you incur guilt. If you pay what you cannot afford, you incur ruin.

And so this, once again, this is a major theme throughout Proverbs. Speech establishes covenant. Words, you know, in Proverbs, function like deeds, because what they do is they pledge the same. rather than just merely describe a mood of some kind. And the next word that we can look at there is that word haste. So haste is, you know, the idea of impulse that's happening. That's something that you just did as a spur of a moment,

but he's combining it with spiritual language. The person sanctifies an object. It could be money, could be property, it could be themselves, before he actually sanctifies his intention. And so the proverb here is implicitly anti-performative. Critique spirituality, that is reactive, that's image-driven, or it's emotionally inflated, rather than being sober and obedient.

The danger is not in the generosity itself, but in the undecerned consecration, making holy something that you haven't truly yielded in your heart yet. It's true. Religious giving is not simply a donation. In ministry, I do not like using the word donate, donation, gift, when it comes to giving to the support of a ministry or church. That's the terminology that's commonly used.

in society, and especially when you're dealing with online payment platforms. It's going to say donate, things like that. But to me, a donation is something I give to the local volunteer fire department or a local veterans organization. You know, that's a donation. I don't give God donations. You give God offerings, and you take a portion of your money, and you consecrated to him, you offer to him.

If you're not taking what you offer to God, if you're not taking it seriously, if it's just a donation, I'm not sure if you're getting the full spiritual benefit of making that, to me, it's an offering. If you're just making a donation, I think you're missing out on a lot. Heaven responds to offerings. I don't think heaven has a mailbox marked donations

or tax-deductible gifts. I don't think they have a mailbox for that. I think the mailbox is offerings. Offerings of praise, offerings of worship. Offerings of Thanksgiving of gratitude. Anyhow, when you make a vow to God, it is an act of reclassification. What was yours is now set apart for him. It's no longer yours.

I can't say that's my money. Once I've made that vow, that's no longer my money or whatever it is that I vowed to give. The vow is to move an object from the realm of the common to the holy. Now, the warning here is to do it hastily, which is to treat what is holy with contempt. You're just doing hastily, quickly, get it done. You're not really thinking it through. So you can't treat dedicated property the way you treat discretionary spending because you have claimed a divine purpose over it.

So this proverb is about stewardship under holiness. This isn't talking about budgeting. Your family budget. Right. Now, let's turn our attention. to repentance. Repentance after vowing. Why would you repent after vowing? After making a vow to God, why would a person repent? Well, they're not repenting of their sins. They're having buyers' remorse. Right. Actually, it's givers, givers remorse. They're not buying it. They're having givers remorse.

So discernment should precede devotion. Notice the inversion. in this proverb. The speaker vows first and thinks later. That turns his or her worship into a trap, a snare, rather than a means of communication with God, a means of worshiping the Lord. Now, let me very clear, this proverb is not anti-repentance. It is anti-manufactured regret

the kind produced when somebody spiritualizes an impulse to say something to do something and then later thinks about it and considers the true cost of fulfilling their vow. That's what this is about. Yeah. You mentioned giver's remorse there. We could call it a vower's remorse.

The person who rashly made a bow, a hasty vow to God, then later regrets ever having said it. And so this post-bough regret often reveals what the heart of the person was. Maybe they're under pressure to make a promise to God. That can be religious pressure, it can be social pressure, emotional pressure, a public expectation of it, bargaining with God. God, if you'll do X, I'll do Y. Okay.

It could be self-display, you know, giving so that others see it. It could be unexamined optimism, promising what you haven't trained for. So there is a sober conclusion here. Unwise vows do all endanger resources. They endanger your character, your integrity, because a person is tempted to solve regret through evasions, through half-truths or through redefinitions. And I brought back to mind,

there are two examples of this kind of hasty vow, if you will, in Scripture. In the Old Testament, you have the sons of Eli, Phidias, and Opne, and they died because of their hasty vow. And then in the New Testament, we have the story of Ananias and Safira. Same situation. They made a vow, but didn't fulfill it. And so what was their outcome, Rick? They also received a death penalty.

God takes us very seriously, Rick. Yes. And I'm thinking about somebody that I knew. I'm not going to say names or give out of any information that would lead someone to figure out who this was. It was a person that went to a church that we attended. This was many years ago, Doc. I would say at least 30 years ago, sometime in the late 80s, early 90s.

And he was my age. So at that time, I would have been in my 30s, my late 30s. Anyhow, this man had a habit of donating things to the church. and then when he was mad at the church, mad at the pastor, mad at the deacons, he'd take it back. I saw this all over and over over several years of attending church there.

For example, sometimes there'd be a beautiful floral display. And the next time I'd go in the church, you know, everything's gone. And I'd say, well, what would happen to? Well, so he's angry. He's mad at, So he came and took all the flowers back. Okay.

I mean, I saw him do this in musical instruments where he'd say, I'm donating this piano to the church, and then later he'd take the piano back, okay? Doc, he was my age. At that time, I was in my late 30s. He died. Doc, he died. He suddenly died.

Okay. I never said a word to anybody in that church, never said a word to my wife, never said a word to anybody because the fear of the Lord was only like, I don't even want to go there, okay? Right. When the lightning strikes, you don't want to be nearby. That's exactly. But I will tell you, during the years that we attended that church,

and I'm going to say we were there for maybe five years, there were a number of people in church leadership who died, including the pastor at young ages. He was in his 40s. In fact, there were two pastors, back to back, Doc. Two pastors back to back. One in his mid-40s, the other one in about 50 years old. Both of them died.

All right. I saw them mistreating holy things. Okay? It was a flip-it, just an attitude of they were not taking things seriously. And I was like, Lord, I don't know what's going on here, but I'm getting out of this church, okay? There are too many people dying in this church. It's like, it'd be better just... It might be catching.

Like move on, just move on, okay? I could tell a lot of stories about it. But that was a real example. I saw that. Folks, what we're talking about is serious. Yes. People, I've been in ministry 26, 27 years, and I have seen people make vows,

make promises to this ministry, and then withdraw them, never fulfill them, or change the terms, you know? Yes. I've seen it over and over and over. And I keep or get offended on some lighter point of some kind. Yes.

And, you know, then withdraw promised give us as a result of because her feelings were hers. And so, you know, Rick, one of the things I was always uncomfortable as a young minister, the denomination I was a part of it, it said it was a God. I'm not disparaging now. I'm just saying this was something that always made me uncomfortable. To support missionaries, they had a program called the Faith Promise program. And back in the 80s, I guess into the 90s, the pastor and the missionary, they would pass out like 12 envelopes for everybody. And then they would say, now, if you will commit to supporting.

the Ferguson's over the next 12 months, I want you to step out in the aisle and you come to the front and make that promise. And I understand why they did it. They wanted to secure, you know, the promise. But once you stepped out and went to the front of the church, what you've done is you've made a vow. And there were people in the church that didn't even understand

what a vow was and how serious it was, that I think really put a lot of people in spiritual danger because circumstances change and, you know, things go up and down financially in some people's lives. But at the same time, you know, it can be a very dangerous thing. You know, scriptures say let your yea be yea and your nay be nay.

That's it. That's really, you know, and warns against making hasty vows. That's what Solomon's talking about here. You don't think about the vow that you make. Once you make it, though, you're in it. Yes. You're in all the way. You can't come along later and say, well, it just didn't work out.

No. God takes us very seriously. And we have to make sure that as we teach, as we share, that we help people understand just how serious a hasty vow is. I'm going to tell a story of myself. Doc knows this story. This is a true story, and this is about me. Again, this was trying to think this was, this was 20, way back in the 90s, okay, and it's right after I started this ministry.

And so we, the Lord had spoken to my wife, Susan and May to leave. Texas, and we eventually ended up in Florida. We had a little stopover somewhere else, but we ended up in Florida. We've been in Florida ever since 2008. But anyhow, I knew about a woman in the Philippines. I've talked about her before. Mama Zellma. She's...

The Pepego Valley. She's home with the Lord. I never met her. Doc has actually been to her. her orphanage in the Philippines. And he can verify it's a real, true, productive orphanage in the Philippines. Thriving to this day. Yes, it's still there.

She passed away a number of years ago. But anyhow, when we sold our home, and again, this is, you know, way back in the 90s, I said to the Lord, I'm going to give X many thousands of dollars from the proceed of our home. to Mama Zella. And I was happy to do it. Well, after we went to closing and everything and we're, you know,

I started looking at the state of our ministry at that time. And we were going through some hard times, Doc. Things weren't rosy. And I started adding up the bills that we had outstanding. And I just made it, I said, you know, we can't leave until all these bills are paid.

I'm not going to, we're not going to leave. We've got to take care of all this. And so I took the money from the proceeds of our home. The ministry didn't have sufficient funds to pay those bills. So I took the money from the earnings from our home sale and paid the ministry bills. Okay. I didn't promise God I was going to do that. I just did it because it was the right thing that had to be done.

Okay. Well, I didn't give the money to Mama Zelma's orphanage in the Philippines. And my thinking was, I paid all these other bills. I gave far more money than what I was going to give to Mama Zelma. I gave all this money to our ministry to pay off the bills to make sure everything was clear before we moved away. And certainly the Lord's happy with this, right? He didn't say anything, though. He didn't say anything. Okay. Let me get, I'm trying to think how many,

I would say, let's see, six years later. Six years later, I was in my recliner, in my living room one evening. On my, I'm in your own business.

My own business, looking at my iPad and the Lord walked up behind me. I didn't see him. But Doc, I knew he was there. It was so real. I could feel his presence. And it

was like he leaned over the recliner and said not in a mean way, not in a condemning way, just kind of like as a friend. He said, hey Rick, what are we going to do about Mama Zelma? I heard the Lord say that

Hey Rick, what are we going to do about Mama Zelma? And I actually started the laugh and I said, Mama Zelma Well, that was six years ago And he goes, it sure was And you never gave the offering And then things got very serious And I realized, Doc,

He had come to collect That wasn't a house call that was a collection that was a collection call that was a debt collection call the Lord Jesus Christ showed up in my living room I didn't physically see him

he was standing behind me I could I could feel his presence I could hear him I didn't autoly hear him heard him inside of my spirit having this conversation and he's like what are you going to do about Mama's album and I'm saying six years ago yes six years six years I've gone by Rick

and you haven't fulfilled the vow don't worry Lord I'm going to do it right now and I made that I took care of it right away I knew I had a friend from Colorado who knew Mama Zama worked with her closely and I contacted him and I said I am going to send money to you

and I need you to promise you're going to take that money the Philippines give her to Mama Zelma and he did and that's the Lord showed me how serious he is about making a vow that's right and I bet I hate to use that phrase I repent of that but I would say it's likely that after that happened suddenly there was a spiritual breakthrough in your life wasn't there yes yes oh It wasn't 2011.

It was 2013. It was 2013 and a radio station was given to us. Oh. That was the breakthrough, Doc. You know which station. That was the breakthrough. I had to fulfill that vow so the Lord could bring a great blessing in my life. Okay.

Praise God. I'm sharing this with you because I don't, I'm just being real, I'm just being who I am, and just telling you, look, I've done this myself. But God takes it seriously. And when you make a vow to him, don't be flippant about it. Because that's what I did back here those years. I said, hell, I'm going to send so many thousands of dollars to Amazella. As soon as I sell this house, I take the money out of the closing.

I'm going to sit and then I forgot about it because I paid off all these other ministry bills. And it wasn't, it didn't seem to me. that it was that big of a deal. But it was a big deal to the Lord. And so I've learned that when you make a vow to him, he takes it seriously. As I said, over the years, I have seen people make vows to our ministry.

I didn't ask them to do it. They made it. And then they either reneged and never fulfilled any of it, or they changed the terms, you know? What do you mean, change the terms? I'm going to give this, but when they showed up it was this. Well, that's not what you promised. Oh, but I changed my mind.

Hey, I'm giving something. No, that's not what you promised. Okay. There was one time a woman called me, and she made a huge pledge. She said that she had just come into an inheritance. This was all legitimate. She knew that we wanted to buy.

We desired to buy a television station. And she said, I'm going to give you the money to buy the station. And I just thought, oh, this is, oh, this is it. Heaven has shown up. I mean, this is it, okay? She asked for our bank wire information. This was a substantial amount of money. to pay cash for a television station.

And I'll take it back. It was not an inheritance. It was an insurance settlement. And she had received tens of millions of dollars. And so she said, give me the bank number. I'm going to wire it over to you guys. Well, days and days and days go by. And the money never came.

And I finally called her. I was very, you know, sheepish about it. like, Mrs. Soso, your bank war never came through. She goes, I know, I've changed my mind. I said, you changed your mind. You made a promise. You said, in fact, she said, God spoke to her. She said, God spoke to me and said, take from this money

and give it to them to buy the TV station. And she told the Lord she would do it. She said that out loud. Yes, she did. Yes, she did. Boy. And I said, but you said the Lord told you to do it, and you promised him you would do it,

and then you called me and said, you would do it, and now you're not. I said, what happened? She said, I never talked it over with my husband. And he's furious that I would give a church this much money. And so, but it's your money. She goes, yes, legally it's my money, it's settlement in my name.

But my husband is serious. And she goes, we'll probably get a divorce if I give you this money. I said, well, that's between you, your husband, and the Lord. Okay. I'm just, I'm out of this right now. But I ask the Lord, Doug. I asked the Lord about it. And he gave me a scripture about, it referred to a foolish woman.

And what he was saying to me was, she's not. a bad person, but she's foolish. She talked to, she made the pledge to God and made the pledge to me before she talked to her husband. Okay. So the Lord asked her. In my opinion, she's still obligated. Oh, I do too. I absolutely believe. See, the Lord asked her to do it. He didn't order her. He asked her to do it. And she agreed. But she should have gone to her husband at that moment. He didn't tell her. He In order her to do it, he asked her to do it. Yeah. And she should have went to her husband at that point.

But she did. But she told the Lord, yes, I will do it. And then she called us right away and said, I'm wearing the money. I just promised the Lord I'd do it. Is this conversation speaking to anybody out there listening to us right now? Is this like really real? Because this stuff goes. on all the time.

Yes, Solomon wrote this thousands of years ago, but people are making vows to God today that they don't plan to keep. Yes. I might as well get on it. It's not my notes.

I'm just going to go ahead and get on it. I have a problem with some slick ministries that I've seen over the years that use manipulative techniques to, let's put it like this, to persuade people to make a vow

okay and many years ago I felt victim to that and Daka was in a meeting where a very persuasive, charismatic speaking when I say charismatic I mean a person of great

charisma long, was using a lot of techniques to persuade the people in the audience to make a substantial vow. And I was a young man, and I made that vow. And Doc, it just about broke me to try to fulfill it. Okay? Yeah. And I realized I got caught up in the emotion of that meeting.

And God hadn't spoken to me. God knew what I was capable of giving. But the preacher knew, I'll get you on the hook. I'll get you that you'll make this vow to God and you'll eventually give it. That's sin. That's sin. And I did fulfill that vow, but it took a long time. It was like paying off a car loan.

Now, look, I love giving. I'm a very generous person. but when you make a vow that's beyond your ability to fulfill it, it takes all the joy out of giving. That's a good point, Greg. It takes a joy out of the giving. And it creates guilt, and it creates pressure, it creates obligation.

God loves a cheerful giver. He doesn't want, he'll take your gift anyway, but he loves a cheerful giver. I mean, and Rick, this also applies to, I believe applies to the call of God on people's lives. And the reason why I say that, you know, when I went to Bible College, I had some really great friends at Bible College. We were all on fire for Jesus. We were all going to preach the gospel. You know, we were going to be the greatest pastors, the greatest evangelists, the greatest missionaries that ever lived, right?

And, you know, so many made a vow to serve the Lord and to follow in his calling. But Rick, I look back and so many of them have gone on the wayside, never followed through on their calling. My best friend in Bible College, I mean, Rick, he could preach. I mean, he could preach paint off a barn. He could preach. but he's not serving the Lord today. We still talk, we still chat, but I always sense that emptiness in his heart and his life

that he didn't follow through on the calling. And I pray that somehow or rather the Lord gets through to him, and he, even in this late in life, that the Lord wakes him up and says, now's the time, now is the time. He did it with Samson, Right? Samson neglected the calling.

Broke his vow. Broke his vow to God. Allowed others to manipulate him. But in the end, he repented. And he did more in his death than he did throughout his whole life. And so there is an opportunity for repentance of this. So we're not limited as just financial obligations here, friends. But if you've made a commitment,

commitment and promise to God to do something, to fulfill a calling in your life, this is that same obligation. Don't make a hasty vow. Do not make a hasty vow because you are obligated. Your words have locked you down and God will hold you accountable. Yes, absolutely. Draco, you know, over the years, we've, the only time I've ever challenged people is in the area of what we call miracle money and where I've just said, hey, if you don't have money to give,

the Lord knows it, but he gives seed to the sewer, and tell him that if he gives you miracle money, you will give a portion of that money to this ministry. And you know the testimonies that have poured in over the years as we've done that. Oh, yeah. And I've experienced it my own self.

You know, you're lying. You've had miracle money show up multiple times in your life. Yes, so it's insurance check, a settlement out of an estate. Yeah. Just, you know, out of the blue, you know, that's what we're talking about, miracle money, money that you weren't expecting money,

that you didn't. not playing on it, but it shows up. Yes. And what Rick is explaining here is that, let's say that you said to the Lord, Lord, if you provide miracle money, I will give, let's say, half to the ministry. We're not even asking for the whole gift here.

You can decide what you want to keep beforehand. But when that miracle money comes in, you better hold the line on this. Not because of us. but because what you said to the Lord. Your words made a covenant with the Lord. Yes. I remember one gentleman,

and the Lord gave him miracle money. And the portion that he was to donate, give, offer to our ministry, was $1,500, based on what he promised the Lord. And when he sent his gift, Doc, it was only I'm trying to remember it was a very small amount and so what he said was

he was he was going to pro rate his vow out over so many years I mean years he was going to take several years to send the $1,500 but the Lord had already given it to him so what does that say

he kept it all He kept it all and said over two or three years I'll send this much money as my gift okay you changed a term you changed it that's not what you promised God

it would have if that's what you were going to do that's what you should have vowed see God is not holding you he's holding you to what you say to him that you've made this first says you've made a covenant with your mouth.

God didn't force you to do it. He didn't get you down on the ground, twist your arm. You made the vow to him. And what this is talking about is making it hastily. So Doug talked about the snare, that it's a trap, a trap that a rash, impulsive dedication of property to God

and that a person isn't going to fulfill. The next word is hastily. The sin is not in consecrating the property to God, but in doing so without thought and prayer in counting the cost. It's hasty. It's quick. You spent no time in prayer. And, Doc, I'm just going to go back to some of these slick preachers

that I have seen over the years. They used that technique. You've got to make this decision now. The spirit is moving. The spirit is moving now. Make that decision right now. Doc, they're pressuring people to make a hasty decision. All right?

That's what they're doing. They're saying that the Holy Spirit is moving, and you've got to make that decision right now. No, that's contrary to what the word says. Sorry if I'm offending any preachers who are watching us right now. I'm just telling you what I've seen. So notice that the person. person in this proverb pledged some of his property, some not all, some.

That vow could have been real tangible goods, money, land, animals, possessions, whatever, something tangible that you can put your hands on. And he dedicated it to sacred use. The King James says, it is a snare to the man who devoureth that which is holy. The Septuagin says, it is a snare to a man. hastily to consecrate some of his own property. Either way, the target is the same spiritual disorder, treating sacred commitments casually,

then trying to renegotiate with God once you've figured out the cost. That's what this is all about. So we see two forms of profaneness here. firstly failing to distinguish holy from common there are things that are common and there are things that are holy yes and when you dedicate something common and dedicated to the Lord it becomes holy

yes and it's no longer yours it's his that's right see that's it right there it becomes his property the second thing we see is is vowing rashly and then looking for loopholes. This is what the people were doing. They make a fast promise, and then later they go, I got to get out of this.

And God says, that's sin. Yes. Rick, in the Old Testament economy, once property was consecrated, and a couple terms that you might see pop up in the Old Testament in the Hebrew would be, or Kadesh.

it passed out of the owner's control and became the property of God or became the property of the tabernacle or the property of the temple. We see examples of people giving to help construct the tabernacle and we see examples in scripture of people giving to construct the temple.

Can you imagine going into the tavernacle, the tent in the wilderness and seeing a big old gold picture there and taking it back because you got offended by something Aaron did or said. So this is illustrated in the New Testament scriptures regarding Ananias and Safara. I brought this up before. This is the story is in Acts chapter 5.

You're going to go back and read it. Everybody should. They vowed property to God. Okay. They made a vow of giving property to God. They held that they sold the property. they gave money, but the spirit revealed to the church that they had held it back. Okay, this wasn't publicly known, but the spirit revealed it.

They held it back, and what judgment did they receive death? And both of them, Rick, had the opportunity to repent. Both of them. It wasn't like, well, I'm just going to strike them dead because they didn't fulfill a vow. No, each of them had the opportunity to repent and fulfill. the vow. So this snare that we're talking about get you. It's both internal. It could be guilt, it could be a troubled conscience, it could be regret,

and it could also be external. Entanglement in that sacrilege if the vow is broken or somehow manipulated. So once again, I know we've kind of talked about this verse a lot here today. This proverb is warning again, making impulsive promises in moments of fear, moments of emotion, like we talked about earlier, or religious fervor without really having sober reflection over it.

And Solomon connects this later on in his life in Ecclesiastes, Chapter 5. He says this, be not rash with thy mouth. Better is it that thou should us not vow than the, the bow should us bow and not pay. Pretty clear there, right? So in church life, it applies to financial pledges, promises, ministry commitments. Yeah, I'll teach that Sunday school class, even ordination, saying, I feel called a ministry, but then backing out on it, or vows of service in their believers' life, without really

having adequate preparation and discernment. You're still obligated for that vow. You're still obligated. You're obligated to fulfill it. And so once again, avoid hasty vows. Don't make a vow unless you can fulfill it. That's really it right there. Don't make a vow if you can't fulfill it.

Now, there's nothing, I don't think there's anything wrong, Doc. maybe you might have a different opinion. You know, a faith, what I would call a faith pledge, but I use the words as the Lord provides me with the funds to fulfill this pledge, as the Lord provides. Okay? My goal is to give this much to a ministry as the Lord provides me with the funds to give. All right.

That's different than making a hard vow. I am going to give X many dollars to such and such ministry. The message here is be careful what's coming out of your mouth. Right. Think about it. Pray about it before you say anything. And don't call... Well, I'll just tell you something else.

And Doc knows this from working with me for 12 years. the people who make these gigantic, grandiose pledges almost never come through with their donation but we have received some very big donations over the years and the people who gave it never told us it was coming they just sent it, they just gave it they didn't make a big deal about it. Do you see the difference?

And Rick, we have people that have faithfully given to this ministry since you first launched this ministry. Yes. In Texas. In 1999, and they're still giving. Still giving. Still fulfilling a promise that the Lord laid on their heart to this very day. They don't make a big deal about it. They don't chew their horn.

They don't have a parade or anything. They just give. And, you know, though that kind of support is a support day. the foundation of everything that we do. We've had many people that have made grandiose promises. I'm thinking of one in particular, gentlemen in Europe, once this deal comes through, oh my goodness, we're going to bless you.

Okay, well, we're still waiting three years later. That's right. So, you know, it would just be better to just say, if the Lord opens the door for this, I want to give this. as the word provides, but once you entered that realm where you say, I will do this, that's creating a covenant with your lips. Yes, it's wrong.

Very careful. In the second clause of this verse, the Septuagin's translation talks about repentance, change mind, okay? To repent means to change your mind, to change direction. Repentance isn't saying, I'm sorry, I won't do that again. That's not repentance. Right. Certainly not. Speaking about holy, righteous repentance here, right?

Most people think repentance is saying to God, I'm sorry, I won't do that again. Repentance means change of mind, change of direction. You know, why this is different, God is saying to us about our sins. Okay, I hear you. You say you're not going to do it again. prove it to me. Change the direction you're going. Change the way you think.

Change your mind. And then I'll believe you. Okay? That's what repentance means. So, in this proverb, the order is reverse. True wisdom would have a person consider and pray and repent before binding himself. Okay.

That's the order. The problem is that the person who hastily makes a vow to God only thinks about it later. Well, it's too late. The words have already come out of that person's mouth. Repentance after vowing can mean regret over the financial or personal cause or remorse at realizing that you can't fulfill what was promised. and after the person makes a vow to God, they later think about it

and they consider whether they can fulfill it. And his conscience is trouble. You see, it's too late. You shouldn't be thinking about it after you made a vow. The message of this verse is not saying don't make vows. Let me make this very clear.

Vows are not sin. That's right. What is sin is to make a vow and not keep it. God will honor a godly vow. Yes. He will. Keep the vow. Do what you promised him.

So their reconsideration of what they promised tempts their soul either to break its word to God or to fulfill it and have bitterness in their hearts. Right. deep down they really don't want to do it they're doing it without the joy now listen to this if they back out of the vow

they commit two sins perjury and sacrilege well wait a minute perjury perjury's lying under oath yes you lied to God

you lied to God under oath that's the perjury you swore you were going to do something and you didn't do it that's perjury perjury is lying when you know you're lying or are you telling a lie about something you know

the truth is something opposite okay you're doing it under oath you're doing it under oath under oath okay then sacrilege is treating holy things as common yes those are the two sins that's why people

get in trouble. It's not making a vow. It's treating what you vowed as common, not treating it as holy, and then changing your mind, which is perjury. Right. So this, once again, this proverb underscores that personal responsibility that's involved here. The person that makes a hasty vow, they can't sit back and blame circumstances because they set their own snare. They built their own own trap by speaking too quickly. And so this is a call to spiritual maturity and sobriety. Brothers and sisters and the Lord, we need to watch our tongues. We need to watch our will, especially when it comes to holy things, to sacred matters. I'm sorry if it sounds like we're coming across very hard here, but Rick and I have a bit.

observe this lack in the body of Christ. You know, Matthew Poole, he was a member of the English Reformed Church back in the 1600s. He warned that after vows to make inquiry is justly censored as a sin and snare because it is an evidence of a covetous and religious mind. In other words, you're just plain greedy. Brother Poole also warned that reconsideration after making a vow of God is the first step toward open violation. It's evidence of a mind that values its good more than it does God. Baptist John Gill said,

when that thing is in a man's own hands, he may do what he will. But when he has devoted it to another use, it's no longer in his power. And then William or not said the snare, is of our own making. We speak the word, and then we wish we'd been silent. Wisdom says, count the cost before you build. Piety says, pray before you promise. And one more word on this, Rick, is that I've talked about covenant a lot. Your words create a covenant with God. What does that mean covenant? You've gone into partnership with God. You've made a partnership with God. And then when you go

back on your word, on your promise, you've cut your senior partner out of the transaction. Yes. It's tragic. It could also lead to death. That's the thing. It can kill you. Yes. So, I had two calls to ministry from God in my life.

I got a double call, Doc. The first one, I didn't respond to it. The second one I did. Okay. And there's a 10-year gap. And I call that 10-year gap my missing decade because it was just one of the worst 10 years of my life. Okay.

Now, it wasn't because I didn't desire to fulfill the call, but I, various reasons I ran into opposition. I honestly didn't know how to get started in ministry and I did a long I just went about it wrong okay and there was a point Doc when

when I when I left CBN I worked for CBN in the 80s for Pat Robertson and and you know I was in my 30s I had a lot of had a lot of job offers from big television networks at that time because this was the heyday of the cable television industry.

I mean, if you were in the cable television industry, there were jobs everywhere, okay? And I was being pursued. Headhunters were contacting me, offering me jobs and everything. That's when I was working at at CBN. But then God called me to ministry and I left. and a couple years into a dock, things weren't going well.

And I started to reconsider, I've got to get back to work. I've got to go back. I've got to get back into the cable television industry and get a job going again. And I kept sending out resumes, and they were going nowhere. You know, like, this doesn't make sense.

I used to be pursued by recruiting companies, and now nobody's even returning my calls. And one day, in desperation, I cried out to God. I said these words, what about my career? That's what I said. What about my career? Because I was telling him how bad things were ever since I followed him into ministry.

But hey, I'm starving, okay? And I said, what about my career? And I heard this reply, Doc, dead men don't have careers wherever you taught me that story dead men don't have careers and I said what what do you mean Lord he said do you remember the day you gave your life to me

do you remember the day you dedicated your entire life to me and you said that you are dead in Christ do you remember that day I said I'm dead in Christ I said it he said do you remember the day you said you're dead in Christ I said yes sir he said well you're dead he said dead men don't have careers and he said anything you're going to do the rest of your life is going to be me doing it through you because you're dead

Dawkins that's some hard talking from the Lord but you know what he'll restore you if you fulfill the promise if you fulfill the yes and and what happened it's as if you takes those years that the locust and canker worm hath eaten and restores you yes and what did he do he put me in So I went from CBN, then I had this gap, and then I went to TBN. And then from TBN, he called me into this ministry, and this is the second call.

And on the second one, I said, yes, sir, yes, sir, I'm going to do it. I don't care who's, I don't care, who's against it. I don't care. There was nothing that was going to stop me, Doc. Yeah. There's a different attitude. Right. Okay.

So, making these, see, these promises. This comes in, there's not just money. It's saying, I am going to serve you. I'm going to go on the mission field. I am going to do this. People make pledges to God all the time and they don't fulfill them. And then they wonder why things are going right. Well, this is why.

Okay. So I want to be clear here. Alexander McLaren said, the proverb warns against religion by impulse, a sudden flame of zeal that dead. dedicates without counting the cross will leave only ashes of regret. True devotion deliberates before it dedicates. So I want to clarify the nature of the sin.

It is not generosity that is faulted. It is not making a vow that is faulted. It is making the vow in haste. Promising before praying. There it is. Promising God before you've prayed about it. The Lord desires you to pray before you make a commitment to him. So the early church fathers taught something called spiritual sobriety.

Be sober spiritually. They taught that even good things such as fasting, giving to the poor, making religious vows may become harmful when done without discernment and in the right proportion. And so they taught early Christians not to let their emotions outrun wisdom because a vow made in haste becomes a burden

and a vow made in prayer becomes a blessing. You see the difference? Yes. One person makes a vow in haste, another person makes a vow in prayer. One has a burden, one has a blessing. The message here is spend more time praying and talking to your father.

Talk to him about everything. Adam Clark said, it is a snare to a man hastily to consecrate, for in that case, repentance comes after vowing. The man is entangled. He cannot go back without sacrilege, and he cannot go forward without ruling. Yeah. He sums it up there.

Oh, I've got more stories I could tell, but we're out of time. And we're not going to go on with the other two verses. We'll save the next two verses and see today's Thursday. So it'll be Monday's lesson. You know, Rick, before we're close, you touched on something here about the early church father's warning with that warning on spiritual sobriety.

And I know a lot of people, people that make a vow to fast so many days. Okay. Now, I've fasted a number of times and, you know, extended fast and everything. I'm not going to talk all about it and everything, but I've fulfilled the vow and the fast each time because I take that very seriously. But it seems like that there's an attitude that if you make a vow to what's fast or we were talking about giving a lot of this,

but it could be any religious exercise at all that you are involved with. Don't enter into it hastily unless you are going to follow through all the way with it. If you're diabetic, maybe you shouldn't fast, okay? Or at least get some advice before you do it. You know, consider it. Get information.

on all of these activities, spiritual activities, the Lord wants to have a covenant with you. He wants to be your partner. He wants you to say, Lord, if you help me all fast for five days, he'll, he's with you. He'll partner with you on it. Lord, I'd like to give X amount of dollars to this ministry. You've got a partner in the business.

He'll be your senior partner in that. Whatever you're doing, he'll be your senior partner. But when you start going your own way, you've just cut out the source. You've cut out the one individual in the universe that can help you fulfill the very promise that you made. So when God is not telling you to make a vow,

don't make a vow. Yeah, isn't that pretty simple? I'm glad you brought up fasting. Because, Doc, I think we've all done it. told God, I'm not going to eat food for so many days and then you can't keep it. Right. Okay. Where you could have just said to the Lord, I'm going to fast and I need the help of the

Holy Spirit. That's all you had to say. I need grace. I need grace from the Holy Spirit to fast. That's all you had to say. You didn't have to say, I will never eat this food for 30 days. Don't say it. Don't make those vows.

Now, Doc, I made a vow. 20, oh, my. Again, it's back in Texas. This was the early 2000s, early 2000, 2001, 2002. And the Lord was dealing with me about not drinking sodas, like Coca-Cola and Pepsi. Right. Because my entire life, I drank Cokes and Petscheys. and I mean I guzzled them

and the Lord was dealing with me about it and you know and I so either he was either telling me to stop drinking them for one or two reasons either because it was just he just said this is I'm just giving this to you will you do this for me simply because I'm asking you do it

or he was telling me because he knew that if I continued drinking the sodas I'd drink the sodas Dorado was drinking them, I was going to have health problems someday. He didn't tell me. He just said, I'm asking you to stop drinking sodas. And specifically was Pepsi and Coke. And Doc, I wrestled with it for a year or so.

And one night, one evening, standing in our kitchen in Toler, Texas, I was talking to my daughter, Carissa, and we were talking about health issues, and I told her, I said, the Lord's been talking to me about not drinking sodas, and she said, how long has he been telling you this? I said, oh, over a year. And Carissa gave me one of those stairs, and she goes, Dad, I can't believe you. That's not like you. You've been ignoring God for over a year? I just can't believe what I just heard you say. Doc, it hit me so hard. The reality of it hit me so hard that I had been putting off the Lord for over a year about this issue. And right there in front of Carissa, I spoke out loud and I said,

Father, I vow I will never again drink a Coke or Pepsi as long as I live. And I will tell you, I've kept that vow. I have never had a Coke or Pepsi. In fact, I've had dreams where somebody gave me a glass and I put it in my mouth and I went, this is Coca-Cola and I spit it out in a dream. even in even in the dream I was keeping the vow so but you see

that wasn't that wasn't a hasty vow no that that vow worked through you for a year a year yeah but once you made it then you had a partner in it you had a covenant yes you and your senior partner

the father was in on it now and and he was probably the one that helps you to fulfill that isn't he and in this case doc he was he was prompting me to make this commitment. This was originating from him.

It wasn't something I just came up with one day and said, I'm going to say something crazy. I'm not going to drink Coke or Pepsi anymore. All right. Now, this is a true story. I had gone three or four years

without a Coke or Pepsi. And one day, Susan Susan and I were in a grocery store in Fort Worth, Texas. And I was standing beside this massive display of sodas. And I'm just looking at all these sodas, and I'm thinking, man, I'd like to have one of those, the big old tall glass of ice. And I said, Lord, is there anything on that shelf that you would permit me to drink? And Doc, my eyes fixed on one, but I'm going to give them a commercial.

I'm going to give them a plug of an endorsement. I had never heard of it before. This was years ago. It was Virgil's root beer. And on the bottle, on the label, it said, taste like it was made in heaven. Well, there you go. It wasn't Coke or Pepsi.

I looked at that and I said, Lord, are you telling me I can drink this? And when I looked at the ingredients, at that time, I don't know if the ingredients, are still as healthy as they were then. I mean, it was very healthy, if you consider cane sugar healthy. But, you know, it was basically,

it was old-time natural root beer. And the Lord gave me permission. He gave me grace and said, yes, you can drink this. You can drink Virgil's root beer. But I've never, ever drank a Coke or Pepsche. That was a vow I made, and I kept it. I wish I'd done it as well. with Mama Zellma, but I didn't.

Bless her heart. I can't wait to see her someday. And you're going to. You know, I just want to encourage everyone today. We're certainly not speaking against vows, and we're certainly not speaking against giving or anything along that line. But I like that phrase, spiritual sobriety.

Enter into these promises that you make to God with open eyes and open heart and consideration. Don't deal with things for decades that later you have to deal with and everything. Rick, when I was called to the ministry shortly afterwards, I felt a call to the mission field. It wasn't specifically in medical missions or anything like that. That's the route I thought God wanted me to go.

But you know what? I didn't go to the mission field. in my early pastoral career. Why? I gave into pressure from not my family. My family didn't care, but from my wife's family. They didn't like the idea of their little girl being on the mission field

or their grandkids being raised on the mission field. And so, you know, I compromised. I did. That's no other way to put it. I should have put my foot down. to know that it was just what we're doing.

We're going to go to the mission field. It wasn't until 2007, Rick. Life had completely collapsed. Marriage was on the rocks. It was done. And one night I cried out, Lord, I'm ready now. Simmons is a mission field. And Rick, within 90 days, I was in South Korea.

Within 90 days. that's how quick God acted on that vow being fulfilled once I said, yes, Lord, yes, yes. And so when you make a vow, ladies and gentlemen, do it.

Don't do like I did for nearly for 25 years, even though I had a great ministry, had pastored churches, planted churches, but I could have done that on the mission field. You know? and how much different would my life be today? I don't know.

I'm glad to be where I'm at right now. But where I'm at right now is an extension of that obedience back in the early 2000s. So, Doc, I had a very similar situation that are going into detail. But I got opposition from family members. And so it calls me to stall, going into ministry and fulfilling what the Lord it called me to do. And the years went by, and then I found myself in the same situation. Everything I was trying to do didn't work.

And I was in total frustration, and I cried out to God. I promise you, and this is a vow. I did. I said, Lord, I promise you right now. If you open up another door, I will go through that door. I don't care where it's having it. and I don't care if I have to go alone. I will go.

And I meant it, Doc. And I, you know, I love my family with all my heart. But at that moment, I was like, if I have to leave my family in order to obey the Lord, I'm going to do it. Right. And I got up on my feet from that prayer, and I heard in my head call TBN. I didn't know.

This is 1994. I didn't know anybody at TBN. The only thing I knew was I saw them on television. And the Lord opened the door. And when I called TBN, they had a job opening for the skill that I had. Amen. And that's how.

And the next thing I know, I was in Texas. And there was nothing. There was nothing. George S. Patton couldn't stop me from going to Texas. All right. Because I knew, Doc, if I didn't go, I wasn't going to get another opportunity. I knew it. See, God can close the door on you.

You'll never get another opportunity. And life will pass you by. This is serious stuff. It's very serious. And I think there are people watching right now, and this is talking to you. You know what's happened in your life. You know why you're going through. something because you didn't fulfill a vow. Well, here's, here's the beautiful thing about it.

You can fulfill it. You can do it. God takes late payments. That's right. Thank God he does. He accepts late payments. Yeah. Just do it before he stopped breathing. That's right. That's right. Just do what you promised him. Praise God. Do what you promised him. Oh, Doc, there was a man in Belize. I was in St. Kitts on a ministry trip. Susan called me and she said, there's a man that called and he says he's going to give you a 1,400 acre ranch in Belize. And I'm like, what? She goes, you're supposed to call him.

Doc, this man said, Rick, God spoke to me to give you my ranch in Belize. 1,400 acres. It has a resort on it. I'm like, are you for real? This is for real? He goes, yes, come down to Belize and meet me. And I did. I flew down there and met the man.

And I'm standing at his kitchen, Doc. He had this big, it was big, you know, we're in tropical forest or a tropical, you know, area. And his house had a fatch roof. And we were in his kitchen. and he was over in the corner making coffee and I was seated at a little table and he's talking to me

and he points up in the ceiling and he says you see that? It looks just a true story I looked up and he asked what is it? I see it was big hole in his roof. I said you get a hole in your roof I mean I'm talking to folks a big hole I said you got a hole in your roof

he goes yeah a lightning boat lightning boat he goes yeah lightning bolt came through here, right here in this kitchen. I said, what was going on? He said, I was listening to you on a shortwave radio. I said, okay. He goes, I know exactly when the lightning bowl showed up.

I said, when? He goes, I know exactly what you said. You were talking about fulfilling your vows to God. In a lightning boat came through my ceiling. and I cried out, oh God, don't kill your servant. I said, what did you promise? He said, I promised God I'd give you this ranch.

Dr. Man never gave it to us. Yeah. To this day, he never gave us the ranch. And God said, lightning bolt to remind you. Lightning came through his ceiling, and it still didn't get him to fulfill his vow. You know, honestly, I didn't care about his ranch. I cared about the man's soul.

Yeah. I cared about that man's soul. God's speaking to you. He loves you so much. He sent a lightning boat. Yes, that lightning boat was love. He's trying to get your attention. That was love lightning.

See, people don't understand that. How could that be love lightning? Because God loves his soul and that man wasn't saved. But God was dealing with him. And God was dealing with that man to do. He knew the right thing. He still did do it, dog. I don't even know if he's still alive.

Then there was a man in Costa Rica that promised to give us a, I think it was about a thousand acre of ranch in Costa Rica. He didn't do it. But he did get saved. I went down to Costa Rica and he didn't get saved when I was there, but he got saved later. He was an atheist. Maybe an agnostic. Okay.

But he was going to give us this ranch, but he didn't do it. See, I've seen this, folks. I've seen these things over the years. I've seen people make these big, audacious, braggadocious, pledges, and not fulfill it. And the Lord doesn't forget about it. No, he doesn't. He keeps excellent records. Yes, he does.

So what promise have you made God that you have. having kept. Get serious with him. When this lesson is going to end right now, you get serious with the Lord about the promises that you've made and you haven't kept them. Don't be afraid to talk to him. He desires to reconcile and to bring this to conclusion. Because the main thing he's trying, he's not after, he doesn't need your money, he doesn't need your land, he made your land. Yeah. He made your land. He doesn't need it. What he needs is your obedience. What he's after is a change in your character so that your character is in alignment with his kingdom.

It's not like he needs your money and your land. He needs you. He needs you to be in alignment with his kingdom. Praise God. Yes. Okay. Let's wrap it up. Thank you so much. All right. Well, just a quick reminder. tomorrow was Faith Friday. And so we want to encourage you that on Fridays, not only do we talk about faith, but we also participate in the Lord's Supper, the communion. And we invite everyone to participate. If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, believe God raised it from the dead, and you've been baptized in water according to the scriptures, name and Father, Son, the Holy Spirit. we invite you to participate in the Lord's Supper tomorrow.

And we now do the Lord's Supper at the beginning of our lesson to allow more people to participate. Because we know sometimes your schedules are very busy and you can't stay with us the entire lesson. And we're trying to get as many people to participate in the Lord's Supper at the same time that we can. I'd love to break the world's record someday, Rick, having communion, having the Lord's separate served. Wouldn't be great? A million? I don't know what the number is. Let's set the record, right? Amen. I like the idea. Amen. That's tomorrow. So be prepared. All right, everybody. Be blessed. Talk to the Lord about your past vows and promises. Work it out with him. He's not angry. You're not angry. He just desires you to keep your word. Okay. And it's not that he's after what you have.

he's after who you are. Glory. He's getting us ready to live in his kingdom. We have to change. We have to change in order to live properly in his kingdom. Amen. Praise God. If not, we'll be illegal aliens in the kingdom.

And there aren't any illegal aliens in the kingdom. That's right. That's the problem. So there's a praise God. We've got to go. Love you. See you tomorrow. Love you.

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