TRUNEWS with Rick Wiles - Morning Manna - August 21, 2025 - Proverbs 10:4–5 - Diligence or Disgrace: You Choose

Episode Date: August 21, 2025

In today’s Morning Manna, we explore the stark contrast Solomon draws between the diligent and the lazy. Proverbs 10:4–5 reveals that our daily choices carry consequences—not just materially, but spiritually. Laziness brings shame, while diligence brings promotion and purpose. Join us as we unpack how wise labor honors God and sets a course for lasting fruitfulness. Teachers: Rick Wiles and Doc BurkhartYou can partner with us by visiting FaithandValues.com, calling 1-800-576-2116, or by mail at PO Box 399 Vero Beach, FL 32961.Get high-quality emergency preparedness food today from American Reserves!AmericanReserves.comIt’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!Amazon.com/Final-DayApple users, you can download the audio version on Apple Books!books.apple.com/final-dayPurchase the 4-part DVD set or start streaming Sacrificing Liberty today.Sacrificingliberty.comThe Fauci Elf is a hilarious gift guaranteed to make your friends laugh! Order yours today!Trunews/faucielf

good morning everybody welcome the morning manna we're delighted to have you here with us today this is where we study the word of god verse by verse we may spend a whole hour in one verse depends on what the holy spirit says to us each day uh we took an entire year to get through the book of matthew and we uh it's worth it too it was worth it too we we mind as many gyms and uh precious metals as we could find in the book of Matthew, and if we revisit Matthew in the coming years, I'm sure we're going to find more nuggets. We'll just drill down deeper. So anyhow, we're glad to have you here. It says a lot about you, that you would set aside one hour, five days a week to study the Word of God. You are in the upper, I don't even know

what percentage of Christians in the world. I'm going to guess the upper 1%. You know, if there's over a billion Christians in the world, how many today spent one hour in the Word of God? Five days a week. How many? Is it more than 1%? I don't think so. so you're very special and you need to be commended you need to be pat it on the back and this will change your life and because it changes your life it will then change other lives because you won't be able to contain it and we'll be able to keep it inside you that's what the word does it's alive it grows inside of us and then it it affects the people around us so I'm I'm going to pray and then Doc will read verses 4 through a chapter 10 book of proverbs.

Almighty God, our precious father. Father, thank you for this wonderful day. And Father, we received a word today that you brought home Dr. James Dobson during the night. And so, Father, he deserved the rest. He deserved the rest. Welcome him into your kingdom and refresh him, Father. And Father, we pray for the Dobson family that your grace and mercy comforts them. And, Father, we pray that your spirit raises up a new Dr. James Dobson to carry his mantle because new generations need the wisdom that he has.

So, Father, we thank you for this day. We are gathered here to be taught your word. We ask for the Holy Spirit's presence, anointing, inspiration to understand the Word of God. We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. Amen. God bless you. Thank you for being here with us on the live edition of Morning Manana. We have people from all of the world to check in with us as far as Europe and Africa, Central America,

Asia and across the U.S. and Canada. Welcome here to Morning Manah. We'll continue our study in Proverbs chapter 10 today, and we're going to pick up back up at verse number four and read through verse 8. So if you have your Bibles, read along with me, and I encourage you to read out loud whenever you can. And I'm reading from the King James this morning. Verse four, he becomes poor that dealeth with a slack hand, but the hand of the diligent makeeth rich. He that gathers in summer is a wise son, but he that sleepeth and harvest is a son that causes shame. Blessings are upon the head of the just, but violence coverth the mouth of the wicked. The memory of the just is blessed, but the name of the wicked shall rot.

The wise and heart will receive commandments, but a prating fool shall fall. Now, I don't know if everyone noticed as you read along there, this is a particular style of proverbs that Solomon is putting out now, where it compares one thing with another. You're going to see a lot of that here throughout chapter 10. And that's one of those features of Eastern wisdom. When I say Eastern, I mean, like Middle East, but they'll compare one thing with another, usually extremes. and you know it's a lesson for us that we can compare things within the real world and say is this a good choice or is this a bad choice and all comes down to choices and decisions doesn't it Rick it does this theme runs throughout the scriptures there are two ways two choices two paths two roads

So verse four, he becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand, but the hand of the diligent makeeth rich. Modern English, he becomes poor who works with a lazy hand, but the hand of the diligent brings wealth. So divide this verse into two parts, and we'll start with, he become with poor. that dealeth with a slack hand slack hand the the Hebrew word is remia for slack it means obviously slackness slothfulness idleness negligence but docket also this word the Hebrew word also implies something that's false, something that's deceitful, something that has guile. And there's an old English word that few people use today and know the meaning of it, guile. One of these days, I'm going to do a whole lesson on guile. It will just blow you away when you study guile.

Jesus there is no guile. So we ought to find out, we ought to find out what it is. Because he didn't have any, I don't want any either. Yeah. So he we would say back in Western Mary, he ain't got none. Jesus doesn't have any guile. But a slack, a person with a slack hand has guile is deceitful now isn't this interesting doc that deception is paired with laziness i had never thought about it until i prepared this lesson i never connected deceitfulness with laziness. A slack hand is a limp hand instead of a

that works with purpose. The poverty that's talked about here is not poverty caused by circumstances. People have financial difficulties because of things beyond their control. You know, you're in an auto accident and you're crippled. Or, you know, you're recovering for six months to a year. Or worse, you're in a wheelchair.

I mean, you can have severe financial problems. You can have, you know, suffer a heart attack, a stroke. And you could have financial problems because it impairs your ability. ability to work a job so there are things that happen that have nothing to do with your moral character but that's what this verse is not talking about poverty financial lack brought about by circumstances right you can have a flood that wipes away your house there's all kinds of things that happen this is a poverty that's brought about by the habit of laziness and neglect.

These two go together, laziness and neglect. You know, I'm starting this week to quote, you know, some of the Bible commentators that I study. Because, you know, if you're wondering, where do I get this information? Where do I get this insight? It's from studying the writings of theologians from centuries ago. I really can't think of any modern-day theologian I'd want to study.

That's not to say. I'm not saying that they're not out there. I just don't know of any. But the ones I study, they lived either in the late 1600s. the 1700s sometimes into the early 1800s and others that lived you know some of them lived you know through the late 1800s you know into the early 1900s but you see as you get into the 1900s you start to see error slipping into the church and new new doctrines started to appear but anyhow i want to go back matthew henry there's somebody you're going back to

what the early 1700s he said the slothful man wrongs himself he becomes for excuse me he becomes poor for he starves his own harvest that's an interesting phrase doc he starves his own harvest john gill he said such a man instead of managing with diligence trifles away his time his poverty is not accidental but deserved adam clark a slack hand idle careless negligent ruins the estate and brings beggary charles bridges the sluggard deals with a slack hand letting opportunities slip he is poor not only in estate but in soul listen to this talk for he trifles with his salvation ah too lazy even to take his salvation seriously.

That's that's something people should ponder today. Yeah. So lazy, you don't even take care of your salvation. So what this verse is teaching us is that poverty is moral before it's physical.

That's a good point. Okay. It begins in character of the lazy person. Poverty starts in the mind and the heart before it moves to the hands and the feet. But as Doc said at the opening of the lesson, we have this contrast. So you have the slack hand compared with the diligent hand, the industrious hand. The industrious hand produces cultivation, stewardship, faithfulness. The poverty here

obviously includes money, but it also includes the lack of influence in society. It includes spiritual barrenness. Again, because of the laziness hinders the person from Eden studying the Word of God. And it also includes wasted opportunities. I know people that I have watched in my lifetime

over several decades. And I saw them And where they're at now, they're at now, they're struggling financially. I can tell you, I'm not going to, obviously, I'm not going to give names. I have, I have personally made offers to young people who have great talent, great skill, great potential. And I've said, if you'll make an effort to enroll in college to get a career, I mean, to get a training in a career.

And I think one of them I talked about a degree in law enforcement. Another person, a young person said to be, I'd like to be an airline pilot. Okay. And, Doc, I offered, I said, I will personally help fund your education if you do it. If we can, you know, but I will do what I can do,

whatever I can afford. If you make the effort, I will do everything I can to find, finance your education and none of them took advantage of the offer I see where they're at now and they're struggling yeah what happened they missed an opportunity because they were too lazy they didn't they didn't want to do the work that would take to get a college degree this is what it's talking about here laziness the laziness misses opportunities and then years ahead the person came figure out why am i broke because opportunities came by and you didn't take the opportunity yes you got to seize opportunities you got to grab them

They don't come by every day. You have to have to have the discernment to say, this is an opportunity that's going to change my life. So the lazy person says, I'm not, you know, I'm not going to bother. That sounds like too much effort. And then years later, they can't figure out why they don't have enough money to live. So what happens is that people that make, make offers to help years later, they're like, well, that offer expired a long time ago, right? But there's also, remember I said poverty starts in the morality of the person first, because there's slackness in prayer. slackness in Bible study slackness in in obeying the Lord there's just slackness

they're not taking it seriously and over time you have spiritual poverty and the spiritual poverty spills over into material poverty we'll talk this this Hebrew word for slack it also So, as I mentioned, it carries the sense of deception of guile. So the slothful person, the lazy person, actually deceives himself or herself. Yeah. They think. One thing's for sure, one thing's for sure, laziness is not accidental.

Yes. You're purposefully lazy. And in that, that's deception. You're deceiving yourself. Right. They think that they can coast without cost. Coasting through life costs you. It's expensive to just coast through life with no plan, no objectives.

No goals. You're just floating, you're just coasting. That is laziness. Now here's the irony, Doc. Idleness, now listen to what I'm gonna say. Idleness is not lazy. Idleness actively produces poverty. the person may be idle but the spirit of idleness is not idle it's working to produce poverty

idleness is working hard to make you poor yes i like that but the hand of the diligent maketh rich the hebrew word for diligent is car roots i think if i lived in is israel i'd speak hebrew with a southern accent you i'd say car roots you got to do a lot of throat clearing and everything in hebrew it's there's some tough consonants in there yes car roots this word it carries a sense of sharp, sharpness, decisiveness, industrious, determined. I looked in Strong's concordance to see if I could get a better understanding of this word. So it's incised. It means a trench as digging a trench.

It means as mining gold, as a sharp tooth threshing sledge, something pointed, something sharp, a threshing instrument, a wall. I never thought of the word diligent, meaning those things. of me having sharpness I always interpreted diligent it's just meaning the person you know is is faithful industrious gets the job done but the Hebrew word says it's it's it's that pointed teeth it's it's like a threshing tool right well that to me gives it gives this word a different meaning so the hand of diligence is the hand that acts faithfully steadily with perseverance it's threshing it's it's it's it's got it's got sharp teeth like a threshing tool use the threshing tool for to gather the harvest so what's the diligent hand doing moving through the field harvesting yes now it makes sense doesn't it that's right all right let's see what

the old timers had to say about it Matthew Henry Presbyterian those who are diligent in their business, increase what they have, and God blesses their industry. John Gill, English Baptist. All these guys are from the late 1600s, the 1700s, the 1700s. John Gill Baptist, the diligent in temporal things, grows rich in spiritual things. their souls prosper industry and grace makes rich toward god yes adam clark methodus it is not genius but diligence that makes men useful and wealthy so a hard-working man or woman will perform a lazy genius i believe that i absolutely believe that i've seen i've seen a lot of good old boys good

old girls that were loaded and you never would have imagined it but they just outworked everybody else that's right don't outsmart everybody but you can't outwork them That's right. Charles Bridges, Anglican, diligence in riches not only the purse but the heart. Diligence in the vineyard of the Lord gathers an abundant harvest. So what we're seeing here is riches can mean material blessings because diligence, leads to stability and growth but it also includes

spiritual riches wisdom, virtue, fruitfulness. But it's not limited to spiritual riches. Right. The principle is the same. Diligence brings more. Yes.

That's it. Diligence and raise more. Shouldn't Christians be the most diligent people as it comes to money and business as anybody yes we ought to be diligent in everything in our work in our business and in our spiritual growth right but the principle is remains the same diligence produces a harvest right you you receive more whatever you are diligent in sure you're being diligent in the right things right because it's going to produce more amen if you get

that into your head what are you being diligent about whatever you're you're applying diligence to in life will produce more is it what you want more of right and this isn't just an old testament principle this is a new testament principle too paul writing to the romans roman chapter 12 verse 11 said this not slothful in business, but fervent and spirit serving the Lord. So obviously that was maybe a correction or warning or an encouragement. Who knows what it was, but it certainly was an instruction. You can't deny that. Not slothful in business.

And yet, Rick, it seems like I would say the majority of believers cannot get a handle on just the business of their own home. when it comes to money there it's out of control it's they have no idea where their money is what it's going where the bill you know money's coming in money's going out that's not you know that's not good management that's lazy i mean it really is it's it's lawful and paul says don't be slothful in business how about cleaning your house amen um how about cleaning your car You know, are there six months worth of water bottles and McDonald's cheeseburger wrappers in the back seat of your car?

Just there's that spirit of laziness will grip people and they don't understand how much it's affecting them. Be diligent. Be diligent in everything. It doesn't mean OCD. Don't go that far. But you're right, Doc. Apostle Paul, he made a recommendation to the church in Rome.

Whether he heard something or whether the Holy Spirit inspired him, hey, they need to hear this. Right. Don't be slothful in business. Proverbs. We're going to get to. in a few weeks chapter 13 Proverbs 13 verse 4

The soul of the sluggeth Desireth and hath nothing But the soul of the diligent shall be made fat Hallelujah The lazy person desires a lot of stuff But gets nothing But the diligent person Is enlarged in their

in their affairs of life the lesson here is that diligence leads to increase laziness leads to loss because lazy you they got to work hard at just staying even in their in their poverty level It produces loss. They're actually going backwards. Right. Spiritual diligence produces rich character, deep faith, treasures in heaven. And your bank accounts, you think you've got a bank account in heaven.

What are you storing up in that bank account? move to verse five he that gathereth in summer is a wise son but he that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causes shame what is summer summer in this verse means the appointed time it's the appointed time the appointed time for what what is it what is it appointed for to gather in the harvest amen so this the one who gathers in the summer in the appointed time is wise but the one who's sleeps in the summer in the appointed time is a son that causes shame we go back to this concept of opportunities the wise man and woman recognizes the season of opportunity they

Consider the times. Consider the times. I mean, it's no accident that you and I and everyone that's on with us in our Bible site today that we're alive at this time, not in any other time in history, but right now. And for, in God's purposes, he's chosen for us to live this life at this time. But this is our time. This is our opportunity. And each day is going to be filled.

with opportunities and times and sometimes you have to be in the right place at the right time yes you could be in the field but it's not harvest time you missed it because you slept through it the harvest is where it passed you by so there's a time and a season for all things and it's going to be until the Lord returns okay I'm going to say something um you know if you get your ears on to hear, depending where you're at in life, where you're at in your life cycle, this will have different meaning to you and importance. If you're young, if you're, well, I would say this applies to everybody, but particularly if you're young or you are still very active in the workforce and you plan to be active in the workforce for years to come you and I are living

through the biggest greatest most spectacular transformation of human civilization since the Garden of Eden what what did I just say it is artificial intelligence and I know a lot of Christians are, you know, and for good reasons, very concerned. I am too. But I'm watching what's happening. And I'm, like, I've got to deal with this. This is reality. I can't wish it away.

This is our time. This is our time. Jobs will disappear in the next 12 months. New jobs will appear. will you recognize the season that you're in will you grab the opportunity will you apply yourself to learn a new skill so that you stay productive in the new season that we're in if you are employed as a secretary if you are employed as a secretary if you are employed as a a data entry clerk your time to be employed is dwindling at a mind-boggling speed right millions and

i'm telling you millions of those jobs are going to vanish in the next two years there won't be anybody hiring secretaries and data entry clerks there won't be anybody hiring secretaries and data entry clerks there won't be anybody hiring supervisors of data entry clerks and supervisors of other positions that are working with paper and numbers and why look you're going to see CPAs disappear bookkeepers bookkeepers will disappear you're like are you serious yes i'm serious on a massive level globally over the next two years this is a season this and there's an opportunity for you to avoid being sent into the buzz saw you got two things here avoid being in the carnage meaning your career your income taken away from

you avoid it and number two the opportunity to flow with something new you've got to think out what river is going to dry up what what what what stream are you in that's going to dry up and which new ones going to flow yes and and make a choice on what you're going to do with that information but don't be idle about it don't don't don't just well that's the way it is that's the way of the world you know I'm just going to float along like a leaf on the water no you need to be aware of the season if for no other reason than the gospel And that's what motivates me, Rick, if for no other reason than the gospel, if I had a, you know, I can shout over a crowd, but if I've got a megaphone, I can get my voice out there further.

If I've got a microphone and a speaker, I can get my voice out there further. I'm looking for a bigger voice for the gospel. And so, and if I can do that with a tool that is usable, then I want to do it. Would Paul? I think Paul absolutely would. But at the same time, when we have these advances in technology, society changes. You know, Eli Whitney, when did he do the cotton gin back in the late 1700s, you know, 1794, Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin. With cotton gin, suddenly cotton became a global commodity. I mean, it had been before, but there was no easy way to separate all the seeds out of cotton.

Cotton gin came along, and suddenly cotton became a major commodity. And because of that, cotton plantations sprung up all over the south, and slavery became common in the southern part of the United States. And so here was a technological advancement, which was a good thing, but it ended up leading to some bad things like slavery as a result of that technology advance. But people made course about that along the way. But it also led the good things, which is like nice cotton shirts, right? Right. Nice cotton clothing, right? The good things were done.

So that's bad and there's good, okay? And then society corrects what's bad. Eventually, society got rid of slavery. Doc and I were at a – we were at a business conference last week, and, you know, there were various statements that we heard that stuck in our mind. The one was, AI is not going to replace people. AI is going to replace people without AI, meaning – companies are not going to fire you carte blanche they're going to eliminate the people who cannot work with AI that's a lesson to you you have to learn what's taking place

it's going to move to society whether you like it or not okay and dog i was thinking this morning about, you know, all the things that we heard over the last six, eight years about the internet of things. You and I were going to IOT conferences back in 2018, 19, and we were hearing about the internet of things, that everything will have a microchip in it. Everything will be connected to the internet. And we were thinking, well, how is this going to work? Well, I was thinking this morning, Doc, well, now I know how it works. AI. AI is what's going to be talking to all those microchips, you know. So how is your refrigerator going to order food for you?

It has to have a communication method, right, which is AI. This is how it's going to move down through society. All I'm saying is, I want you to put this verse to work today. you are in the biggest change in human civilization since I would say since Noah's Great Flood and it is going to change everything and everybody I mean this is big this is bigger than electricity it really really is I know that may sound like I'm being superlative there. But we kept hearing that over and over and over that this will change society more

than electricity change society. Think of the changes that took place. And there were people who to this day don't use electricity on purpose. And there will be people who don't navigate in this new world that we're entering in. But yeah, so people that don't use people who don't use electricity or the Amish and people travel to Lancaster, Pennsylvania to see the Amish without electricity. It's a vacation. I don't want to be somebody that people come to see me like I'm in a zoo. I want to get back to this verse. He that gathers in summer is a wise son. This is not about farming. This is about discerning seasons of opportunity in life and acting promptly while the opportunity is present. Amen. I can look back over my life and I see

opportunities that I seized and I see opportunities that I missed. I often tell people I feel like I've gone through life like Mr. Magoo, as of you who remember, Mr. Magoo, the blind man that would just, somebody was watching out for Mr. Magoo. And God did that for me. I look back now and I see how he led me to jobs that increased my income, increased my knowledge, my skills. and I also see how I missed the opportunities that he presented. I now look back and go, oh, that was the Lord, and I totally missed it. It was an opportunity to be blessed, and I didn't seize it, or I allowed somebody else to talk me out of it.

That happened to me a lot. Other voices. No, you don't want to do that, Rick. that's not going to work or that's not and then years later i looked back and go well that was a if i'd gone in that door it would completely change my life so this is what this is talking about the seasons of opportunity matthew henry the summer is the proper time wisdom is to take the season when it offers and improve it to the best advantage John Gill, he is a wise son that observes the proper season of harvest and improves it for his family's provision, both body and soul.

Adam Clark, the work of life must be done in life summer. The opportunities of youth, health, and vigor should not be lost. See, there's another one. Sees these opportunities when you're young, when you're older, you don't have the physical strength and energy like. you did when you were young to to take advantage of those opportunities they those opportunities prepare you and move you along on the journey of life i've told young people before in your 20s you're trying to figure out what you're supposed to do in your 30s you figured it out and you and you do it all right and you become good at it in your 40s you become good at it in your 40s you become

you become a professional in it. In your 50s, you're managing people who are now in their 20s and 30s doing the same work. When you're in your 60s, you're teaching courses about it. You're writing books about it. There's the path.

Adam Clark, no, I read Charles Bridges. The wise son gathers, not only the corn of the field, but the treasures of the word, the means of grace, the opportunities of salvation. Spiritally, the summer represents the season of grace. That's when God gives light. That's when he gives access and understanding to the word. See, we've learned in.

past morning man of studies, that God withdraws light and revelation from people who are too close-minded, too stubborn, too proud to receive that knowledge. And so he withdraws it. And now they can't even get it on their own. Yes. There are seasons of grace when God is saying, I am blessing my people who are seeking me right now. I'm giving revelation in these particular topics. Again, patch yourself on the back for showing up here five days a week. There's timeliness. Diligence without discernment of time is

useless. Wisdom means knowing when you should act the action can be right and the time is wrong wisdom tells you the season the time to act i've made that mistake in life i i've seen things i i could see this is something i should do but i did it in the wrong time either too soon or too late If you try to harvest before the crop has matured, or are you going to get our stems? If you wait too long, you're just going to get, you know, withered dry crops. There's a timing. You can't do it too soon.

You can't do it too late. You have to do it in the season, in the harvest. what does this say about salvation today is the day of salvation what does that mean when the holy spirit visits you with the offer of saving your soul that is your opportunity and if you continue to resist it the door will close yes and your soul will be lost talk to him about being saved me well you know I'll think about that and you know I've got some things I'd like to do in life and maybe later I'll I'll take you up on that offer you don't know

if you're even going to be live later that's right and you don't know if the Holy Spirit's going to come back and visit you you grab the season at that time Jesus said lift up your eyes. The fields are white unto harvest. I think about that scripture all the time. My view is hey, I'm not the best one here on the workforce.

But I show up every day. There are people out there in the kingdom of God. They got a lot more skill giftings and education, talent, they beat me in all those things but they don't show up hey god knows i punch the clock every day he knows that i show up all right there might be other brothers and sisters in the kingdom that could outwork me outperform out produce but they don't show up i show up if i got anything going for me i show up for work

God will bless you just for the fact that you show up. An employer, you know, you look, you got this star employee. Oh, this one can do anything. This one's brilliant. This one's great. But he or she's always taking personal time off. Then you got this other one, not so great, but shows up every day. which one does the employer going to rely on the one who shows up eventually he's going to push

out the one that is always taking time off oh I've had employees in the past man that they could oh they could work the system you know vacation time PTO holidays they could work it oh they could just work that system They'd scheduled their PTO around holidays and, you know, I'd be here working. Hey, I'm, I got to show up. True news has got to go out. I got to show up and work. But you know what?

Those people aren't here anymore. The people who show up are here. Because I like people who work. That's who I'm comfortable. with. I'm comfortable with people who work. But he that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causes shame. Harvest is the busiest time. It's the most urgent season in a farmer's life. To sleep in the harvest is the highest level of foolishness. So a farmer, let's say he's got six sons.

It's harvest time. The farmer is up early in the morning. The sun's up. The roosters have already crowed. The field is full of crops that have to be harvested. He's ready to go out and get on the combine. opens the bedroom doors three beds are empty those sons are already out at the breakfast table they're getting ready they're dressed there they're putting their boots on they're ready to go to

work he opens up another bedroom door and three sons are sleeping sons get up get up we got work to do and they pulling the covers up over their head look you can sleep later you can sleep into winter right now the harvest is ready now sleep in in the winter. Not now. You don't sleep in during the summertime. Maybe the father, the farmer, father would give them some slack to be slackful in the wintertime. Because there's no harvest. But there's no justification to be sleeping in when the fields are ready to harvest. Matthew Henry, it is not merely unwise.

It is shameful to be idle when so much depends upon diligence. John Gill, the slothful son sleeping in harvest, brings famine on himself, disgrace upon his family, ruin upon his soul. hand off these guys didn't cut anybody slack did they no how'd you like to be sitting in their churches adam clark harvest loss through sloth is irreparable so the neglected season of grace may never return charles bridges what did this old anglican say sleep in harvest is not only idleness but but madness. The harvest is the crisis of the year. So is the day of salvation, the crisis of the soul. So the son, the daughter, who sleeps, shames not only himself or herself,

but his or her entire household. Their honor, I mean, their idleness dishonors their parents. burdens the family bring shame upon the family in the community you know dog there was a day when people shamed laziness now you have political parties that defend it yes so this also applies spiritually to those have we talked earlier those who neglect the call of salvation they waste the season of conviction it applies to christians who who neglect the season of revival when the spirit of god is moving in a church or a community bringing forth revival and you have you have church members who don't enter in see that's spiritual laziness i i used to belong to a church in my younger days had a we had a fantastic pastor

that man worked so hard he was on fire for god but his congregation they were like the fire brigade to spray water on him he's too on fire what was what was wrong he's convicting them he was convicting them of their laziness they just wanted to go to church on the sunday they didn't want all this other stuff but he was burning for the lord and that's what attracted me to him and his church he was on fire for god and i was attracted to it but the longer i stayed in the church i realized his his congregation was a was at war with him they had fire stingers they had water trucks they're trying to put out the fire of that pastor they were spiritually lazy they eventually chased him off they broke the

man. They literally broke him. His ministry diminished over years. They broke him. They broke that fire. They broke that zeal. They broke his wife. She didn't want anything to do with churches anymore. He broke them. Why? Because the majority of the people in that church were spiritually lazy and he was convicting them of their laziness. Right. I'll give you examples. He bought a school bus to haul children in. It's a Sunday school and a Wednesday night church. The church, he couldn't raise the money.

He couldn't raise the money to buy the bus. So he bought the bus himself with his own money. You know what he did, Doc? what he did doc he got a part-time job and at night he was an insurance salesman and he used the commissions to buy the bus that's the kind of manning us so after he got the bus and now there's a bus in the parking lot with the church's name on it you know he defied their unbelieve they couldn't believe that he actually did it without their help then he said i need a a driver for this bus. I need

some people who will become drivers and take this bus out every Sunday morning and pick up the children. Take it out every Wednesday night and bring the children. Nobody would raise their hand. Nobody would volunteer to be a bus driver. Eventually, Doc, he brought

a coat rack in. Put the coat rack in the center of the church in the aisle and hung the bus keys on the coat rack. He says, you're going to look at these bus keys every Sunday until somebody picks them up. Any wonder they wanted to get rid of that man? They were spiritually lazy. Doc, he drove the bus.

And I went with him. I was his, you know, shotgun. rider in the bus he went around the the poorest neighborhoods and gathered up to children he had that bus packed and he brought children from the projects the housing projects and you know subsidized housing community he he filled that church up with with children and you know what that congregation griped about it and they I remember them saying they're messing up the carpet.

We've got new carpet in this church. You people, are you even saved? Are you even saved? You're worried about the carpet and the church? You got all these little kids. Oh, they spilled their void on the carpet. And you're really upset about it. You know what they did when they got right now?

They shut that bus ministry down the first week. Nobody went out and picked up those children. Those children stood on sidewalks waiting on that bus to show up and nobody came. God have mercy on those people. They allowed children to stand on the sidewalks waiting on a church bus to take them to church and it didn't show up because they were so lazy right you see the side i'm i'm giving you the view of life from the side of a pastor this is what that's right okay this is what we deal with spiritual laziness now he could have gone along with the flow and kept doing the

same things that maybe the past three pastors had done and he could have stayed and retired yeah he was still young guy at that time he was in his 40s he could he could have wrote it out for 20 years they would have been just as happy as anything but you want to you want to know the ending the story that church doesn't even exist anymore it went out of business guess who put it out of business the lord set that church down because it was dead it was just a it was just a shell so to sleep in harvest symbolizes a Christian disciples failure to seize opportunities for service in the kingdom see

that example I gave you that's decades ago seems like yesterday I can see it all in my mind there was an opportunity for harvest those little children were lining up on the sidewalks to go to church it was an opportunity but nobody in the church

was willing to seize the opportunity because it was inconvenient to them right Paul go back to Romans Romans 13 verse 11 it is high time to awake out of sleep for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed you know why not only is it the day of the Lord is closer but your day to meet the Lord is closer a harvest missed is a harvest lost

you can't you can't reconstitute a spoiled harvest It's gone. Every farmer knows it. Every gardener knows it. Grain ungathered rots and opportunities neglected vanish. When grace is resisted, the heart is hardened. Neglectfulness brings shame, and it's twofold. Shame before men and women because you're seen as a useless person who won't work, and shame before God as one who squanders your blessings. So I'll end with this.

Neglected duties have scars. They leave scars. Lazyness leaves scars. and produces sorrows that diligence and hard work could have prevented. All right, tomorrow's Faith Friday, isn't it? That's right. Sure is. I want to keep going with this.

I love teaching Proverbs. This is great. Well, we'll pick up verse 6 on Monday. All right. I don't know what tomorrow will be, but I went off talking about that church. But that gives you an example. And God sees this all the time. Thank God.

It's not like that, okay? Thank God you're in an active church. But there are, there are church. churches that unfortunately are lazy. Yes. And if you're in one, I hope that you don't even try to change them. Just get out of it. Right. I also hope that you picked up some practical applications for decision making along the way here. And you're going to see a lot of those contrasts, as I mentioned earlier here in chapter 10. So I hope that you'll glean a lot from it.

As Rick mentioned, tomorrow is Faith Friday. We also celebrate the Lord's supper on Fridays. And so if you have bread and either red wine or grape juice, and you're a confessing believer in Jesus Christ, been baptized in water according to scripture, you're welcome to participate with us. Fellowship with us tomorrow. Be prepared for that. We do that every Friday. And it's a unique feature of morning manna. We appreciate you and your willingness to participate in that as well. So be prepared for that. And thank you so much for those of you who are sharing these lessons with others. We really, really appreciate it. We're doing our best to try to get this out to as many people as possible, and you can help

us out by doing that. Any of the thoughts, Rick, before we say goodbye for today? Well, I was just imagining that this Sunday, there'll be a lot of churches that if a pastor said, hey, I've got bus keys here. Anybody want to be a bus driver? It'd probably be a stampede of people from morning man i hope so you have one opportunity to be effective for the word amen and that up that time is now it's today so make the best of today make the best of today find somebody that you can minister to you can bless there's there are ministries everywhere and there are many active churches i don't want i don't want to imply that what I describe is typical. It's not. But it does exist. Okay. And you need to be aware of it.

So bless you. We'll be back here tomorrow morning for Faith Friday. God bless you. We'll see you tomorrow.