TRUNEWS with Rick Wiles - Morning Manna - October 22, 2025 - Proverbs 15:1-5 - The Wisdom of a Gentle Tongue

Episode Date: October 22, 2025

In Proverbs 15:1–5 we see how the right word calms wrath, how the tongue becomes a tree of life, how God watches all places, and how honoring instruction yields prudence. Through the Hebrew, the Septuagint (LXX), and the Peshitta tradition we discover that wisdom begins in speech and obedience—and that the power of words reveals the condition of the heart.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.aMEGA 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.worldGet high-quality emergency preparedness food today from American Reserves!www.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!www.Amazon.com/Final-DayApple users, you can download the audio version on Apple Books!www.books.apple.com/final-dayPurchase the 4-part DVD set or start streaming Sacrificing Liberty today.www.Sacrificingliberty.com

Well, good morning, everybody. Welcome to Morning Manna for this wonderful, beautiful Wednesday morning, October 22nd. We are very honored that you have made an appointment to be with us here today. People all over the world gather every morning at 8 a.m. at faith and values.com to be in a live Bible study class. I'm doing it for me. It is the most satisfying thing I've done in my lifetime. I could do this all day long. I could just sit here and talk about Jesus and the Word of God and interact with brothers and sisters around the world.

I should just bring a pillow and just, you know, get some sleep through out today, but come back on and start talking some more. I truly love doing this. And maybe sometime we'll have a, a morning manna teach-a-thon and we'll go 24 hours just teaching the word of God. Well, today we start a new chapter in the book of Proverbs. We're in chapter 15. And I think we'll have at least seven lessons, possibly more. But if we stay on track, we'll have seven lessons, which means it'll take us over two weeks because we really only have four lessons.

each week because we have Faith Friday and so this is stretch out over two weeks and it's going to be a very interesting two weeks in the 15th chapter of Proverbs I'm going to pray invite the Holy Spirit doc's going to read the word we're going to jump into these verses Father God our Father in heaven Father, Father, thank you. for this beautiful day. We are grateful to be alive, grateful to be saved, grateful to be in your kingdom. Father, we humble ourselves before the Holy Spirit and ask the Holy Spirit to lead this morning man of Bible study and teach all of us the greatness of your kingdom, the greatness of your son, the greatness of your word, all for the glory of Jesus Christ in His name.

We pray. Amen. Amen. Doc, we're going to be looking at verses one through five today, chapter 15, verses one through five. Yes, and I'm reading from chapter 15 here. I'm reading from the King James this morning, so follow along here with me. A soft answer turneth away wrath, but grievous words stir up anger. The tongue of the wise use the knowledge of right, but the mouth of fools forthout foolishness. The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil,

and the good. A wholesome tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness therein is a breach in the spirit. In verse five, a fool despiseth his father's instruction, but he that regardeth reproof is prudent. Our theme today is the wisdom of a gentle tongue. The wisdom of a gentle tongue. And it's something we all need lessons on, right, Rick? Amen. Amen. So, So it's about speech, humility, family instruction. These are the themes we're going to be talking about today. King James in verse one, a soft answer turneth away wrath, but grievous words stir up anger. And the same translation in the pashita, the Septuasion, the soft answer turns away wrath,

but a grievous word stirs up anger. So this first proverb in chapter 15, it reveals a core principle. Gentle speech has power to dissolve anger and to prevent conflict. Anytime you talk to somebody who is trained in conflict resolution, possibly a counselor or a police officer, they will tell you that they're trained not to raise their voice and shout over the angry person that's causing a threatening scene. They're trained to lower their voices to get the other person to calm down. and you know sometimes they lay down their weapon

you know police officers sent into a situation where somebody's holding a knife or a gun I mean they have to get that person to to put down the weapon well you don't do it by shouting and yelling this is a soft answer a gentle answer this does not mean a weak wimpy reply

it means words that are seasoned with grace and peace, words that are measured, prayerful, calm. So, because a calm tone disarms hostility far more effectively than threats and belligerence. I mean, some people, that's the way they deal with a hostile person. I'll just show you. I'll get up in your face and I'll threaten you I'll break your I'll break your arm okay right but that's not the right way to do it it's speak with calmness

so you have to be under the influence of the Holy Spirit in order to remain calm when everybody else is angry because at angry spirit it's it's contagious. And when you're in a room that's lit up with emotional anger, it's very easy to be pulled into it. Somebody's shouting. People are ready to throw fists at each other. It takes a very disciplined person to speak calmly and try to diffuse the situation. So you've got a person to give a soft answer has to be rooted in self-control. They have to have a mastery of their own spirit. Right.

When they are under provocation, but a calm speech that it mirrors God's gentleness, you know, More people are led to Christ by the goodness of God than the Lord's threats that they'll end up in hell. It's the goodness of God that leads people to righteousness. And so the spirit of the Lord desires to make the tongue an instrument of healing instead of harm. So now we look at the second part, the harsh words. Harsh, grievous, angry words ignite pride.

Yes. And inflame a situation. What begins as just a spark of tension can become fiery wrath when provoked by sharp words right it doesn't take much to get fist flying

or pocketbook swinging before you know it people are fighting but it usually begins with words it does and doc it extends to nations yes

words are what calls us nations to go to war. So that tongue, and the same tongue, can either cool the fever of anger or feed its flame. That's why our words are so powerful. But the key to it is having a calm heart. The tongue is simply expressing what's in. in the heart. Yes.

And so if there's no calmness in the heart, there's not going to be in calm words coming out of the tongue. Right. Out of the lips of this person. And I don't know how other translations are using this word, but in the King James it's using the word grievous. And it just, it doesn't seem to have that kind of meaning here in the 21st century,

the word grievous, mainly because we don't use it very much. But it's harsh. That's what the right translation is. Harsh words provoke conflict. Harsh words. Now, people understand that. And I tell you, Rick, it's just about impossible to engage on social media today without somebody issuing a harsh word to you. I mean, you could be as gentle and teaching about the most beautiful things in the world and some Yahoo!

is going to come up and issue a harsh word, or as the King James says, a grievous word. There's just a lot of people who are angry in recent years. And the irony is that social media has made people unsociable. Yeah, anti-social. It's the opposite effect. They've become nasty. Because they can sit in their office or their car or their home and just throw out mean-spirited statements to somebody that's 500 miles away, a thousand miles away.

They don't care. You're never going to see me. I'll say what I want to say. Well, Adam Clark said the tongue is both sword and salve. One sharp word cuts deep. One gentle word may heal a wound made years before. Wow. Yeah.

Albert Barnes, the wise man's speech is a bomb. The fools is a spark. Every quarrel lives on, excuse me, every quarrel lives or dies by the words it feeds on. Alexander McLaren, gentleness is strength at rest. the quiet word of one who fears God can quench fires at rage between men gee Campbell Morgan

the gentler the answer the nearer it lies to the heart of God whose own word of mercy turned away his wrath from man William are not the soft answer is grace in motion it wins without wounding and then Charles Spurgeon

harsh words are a battle axe kind words are the oil of peace the Christian speech should turn wrath to wonder right Rick just one observation here on this verse from the Septuagint

and the Septuagint does this every once in while it will throw in an extra phrase and the reason why it does is provide clarity on a particular passage or on a particular verse. And we have a perfect example here in verse 1 of chapter 15. In the Septuagint, it reads, anger destroys even wise men, yet a submissive answer turns away wrath, but a grievous word stirs up anger. So the Septuagint actually puts in that phrase at the beginning, anger destroys even wise men. and then

translates the verse and I guess they were trying to get a point across here in that or to provide clarity for this because it just seems like it's adding a different layer, another layer of

context to this and what's interesting is Jesus quotes from Proverbs chapter 15 in his ministry and when he's quoting he's quoting from the Septuagint And so, you know, I have to take, you know, that with a grain of salt and say, hey, I think, you know, maybe the Lord inspired that extra phrase in there.

That may rock some people's mind a little bit, but there's some reason why the Lord put that in there. So how would you interpret it, Doc? Oh, the entire phrase? It's a warning to the wise. You can lose your reputation as wise. man in an instant in one instant just one instant an angry word can destroy years of wisdom yes and unfortunately for the wise person that you know spouts off in a situation there's somebody there in the room

who is just provoking and provoking and provoking. Yes. There's a person there who agitates, who makes people angry. And the sad thing is that once in a while, a wise man or woman will just let go and just say, you know, I've had enough of you. Yeah.

And then that wise man, man or woman later, you know, is regretting that that belligerent troublemaker succeeded in making the wise man or woman explode. Yes. Anger destroys even wise men. So that's why we must constantly be submissive to the spirit of God. We're going to be held accountable for every word that we speak. That's right.

Well, let's take a look at verse two. Verse two says, King James, the tongue of the wise useth knowledge or right, but the mouth of fools pourth out foolishness. The Septuagint translation, the tongue of the wise knows what is good,

but the mouth of the foolish tells evil things. So the tongue of the wise is a, a disciplined instrument. It's guided by reason. It's ruled by love. It's directed by reverence. It's not just doing and saying whatever the mind of the person wants to say. It's a tongue. It's an instrument of a soul who is calm. reasoned. So uses knowledge or right. It means that truth is not only known, but it's skillfully used. It's applied skillfully and kindly. Uses knowledge or right. It means a person knows how to use truth the right way.

Again, you have people say, well, I'm going to tell the truth, and if it hurts, it hurts. Well, you already know where they're going, Doc. Right. It's going to hurt. It's going to hurt. And it's your fault if it hurts. No. It's the fault of the person who lets go with a mouthful of venomous words. And you knew in the beginning that you were going to hurt somebody.

That's a person who's not using knowledge the right way. Scripture says, uses knowledge a right. So wisdom governs our speech the same way that a craftsman governs his or her tools. Every word's got to be measured, fit it. useful has a purpose a craftsman just doesn't pick up tools and start swinging and pounding what would you have

they carefully pick up tools and they use they put the amount the proper amount of measured force with the tool so knowledge that's divorce from discretion is nothing more than arrogance. If there's no discretion, it doesn't matter

how much knowledge you have. You're just speaking arrogantly. Right. So your knowledge has to be connected to humility for it to become light, for it to be useful to the kingdom of God. So the Wise understand that truth, raw truth without tenderness, can wound and hurt and damage people. You might be telling the truth, but you're not using the truth as a tool. You're using truth as a weapon instead of using it as a tool. Right. I like the way the Pashita puts it, Rick. It says that the tongue of wisdom adorns knowledge and the mouth of fools vomits a curse. Vomits a curse. That's an interesting translation. So Doc, our words have to instruct people without humiliating them. We have to correct people without crushing them.

to advise people without embarrassing them. Right. You can speak truth to somebody and you can speak it in a way that humiliates them. You can speak truth in a way that crushes them. You can speak truth in a way that embarrasses them. It may be truth, but it's the delivery that's wrong. You get to think through. What are you doing? What is the purpose of your words? Are you getting even? Are you saying, well, I've got the truth and I'm going to use the truth to hammer you? Well, it may be truth, but it's not wise. If somebody's being hurt, somebody's being damaged. The second part says, the mouth of fools.

It means that the mouth of fools is undisciplined. It flows with whatever just comes to mind, things that shouldn't be spoken. It just comes out their mouth. You can identify a fool because he or see or we'll say, well, I just say whatever I think. Well, you don't think much, do you? Doc, when you hear somebody say that, what do you think's coming next? A curse? Yes.

I don't hold back. I just say what I think. It's never anything good, is it? No. It's a criticism. It's a complaint. It means whatever I've got inside of me, I'm going to let it flow out, and I don't care what people think about it. Don't care the damage.

it does, don't care how much division it calls, I just say what I want to say. That's typically the mouth of a fool, because a fool's mouth's mouth pours out. Impulsive, uncontrollable babble. a heart that's unfiltered by grace and love and gentleness this babble out just gusts just out of their mouth and there's no gatekeeper on the heart there's no governor on their mouth there's no device that's controlling their lips and their tongue and they're quite proud of it.

Oh, yeah. They think it's something to brag about. But it actually makes them look foolish. It reveals their foolishness. The fool mistakes abundance of words for abundance of wisdom. usually a person who speaks with the abundance of wisdom says little and the person who speaks with the abundance of foolishness speaks a lot so folly foolishness it seeps through our lips because it's it's what's bubbling up out of the heart

and it's just going to come out of the fool's mouth no matter how hard they try. They're eventually just going to burst forth with foolishness. Matthew Henry said, the wise man considers both matter and manner speaking in truth and love, speaking truth in love, the fool unbridled,

in passion, let's folly run out as from a broken vessel. John Gill says the wives make use of their knowledge for the good of others. The fool spreads as ignorance to hurt his own, to his own hurt and theirs. Charles Bridges, knowledge is precious metal. The tongue of the wise is the graver that engraves it usefully. The fool melts it into worthless shapes. Albert Barnes, the fool's speech is a torrent, noisy and shallow. The wise man's words are a well, deep, and still.

G. Campbell Morgan, the use of knowledge is the true test of wisdom. The fool weighs truth, the wise applies it. Charles Spurgeon says, the wise man weighs his words in God's balance. The fool throws his. into the air to see which way they fall. Verse three, the eyes of the Lord are in every place beholding the evil and the good. Subturgent, almost identical, the eyes of the Lord behold both the evil and the good in every place.

So we'll start with the eyes of the Lord. It's a figure of the of God's complete awareness of all things in all places He sees all the eyes of the Lord He can see in dark Doc

Yes His eyesight's not dim in darkness People can go into the darkness to do evil deeds but God still sees it. He still sees it. He can see through walls and roofs. He can see through bunkers. Doesn't matter where people go, the Lord can see.

His eyes, the eyes of the Lord, have complete awareness of all things in all places. God's sight is not limited by distance, or light or darkness or disguise, every act, every word, every thought is made bare, visible before him. As we learned months ago in earlier chapters of Proverbs, he studies the ways of a person. He studies their ways. how they act over time. What's the pattern of their behavior?

He studies their ways. His gaze upon mankind, he's not a passive observer. Remember, Doc, many decades ago, Bette Nidler, she had a hit song. about God being far away. From a distance, yes. From a distance, from a distance.

It's a nice song to listen to sing and listen to, but it wasn't biblical. No. Because it was saying, from a distance, God's, no, God's eyes are right here. He's not at a distance. He sees and hears now. So the veil that hides people from people cannot hide a person from God. There is no covering, nothing. His eyes pierced through walls, through veils, through shadows, through hearts.

and the hidden motive is as visible to God as the open deed. Yes. Now, the same truth. To the wicked, it's terrorizing. But to the righteous, it's comforting. It's the same truth. God sees all. He hears all. He's present everywhere. That's terrifying to the wicket. Yes.

But if you're righteous, you're saying, this is wonderful. He sees everything. And if you're living for him, then you know he sees it. The second part, beholding the evil and the good. What this means is that he is impartial. There is divine justice without favoritism. God's sight does not rest more kindly upon a palace, a mansion, than a prison. He's impartial. He's fair.

he he observes evil for the purpose of restraining it for punishing it and he observes good to protect it and nourish it and and reward it yes that punishment is just being unrewarded it's just the opposite of being rewarded you want to be punished or want to be rewarded. So no wickedness escapes his notice. I have to remind myself of that truth. When I see evil people doing horrible things in the world, I have to tell myself, they're getting away with it now. But God observed every single evil deed that that person did. Yes. And in God's time, God will deal with it.

And I just have to trust in the Lord that as the all-seeing judge and the one who is just and cannot do anything that's unfair, he will at some point execute judgment and justice. So his all-seeing eye, think about this, Doc. God's all-seeing eyes are both the witness and the judge. Yes. When God, as the judge, calls a witness, he calls his eyeballs. The Lord himself is the witness. Yes.

What did you see? So his own eyeballs tell the judge what they saw. Right. Rick, I may be dating myself, but do you remember that old hymn? They used to sing in church called Watching You. Do you remember that song? What was it called? Watching You.

No, why don't you sing it for you? So all along the road to the soul's true abode, there's an eye watching you. Every step that you take, this great eye is awake. There's an eye watching you. And then the chorus goes, watching you watching you every day mind the course you

pursue watching you watching you there's an all seeing eye watching you we sing that in church I never heard it now they sing it at the NSA

there's an eye watching you an all seeing eye watching you yeah And isn't it strange that that's what Satan tries to do, too. He wants to watch everything you do. But he has to use technology to do it.

That's right. John Gill said the eyes of the Lord are not of flesh but of spirit, beholding all at once, not by report, but by immediate intuition. Adam Clark said, his eye is upon every human being, not as a spy, but as a father who watches both their conduct and their need. Right. Alexander McLaurin said,

To live as though unseen is practical atheism. Faith sees the unseen God seeing all. Yes. Faith sees the unseen God seeing all. Oh, all. G. Campbell Morgan, men sin most when they forget the eye that never sleeps. Consciousness of God's presence sanctifies life. William are not.

His eyes are windows of mercy to his children and flames of fire to his enemies. Yes. Isn't it interesting in the revelation that Jesus' eyes are described as flames of fire? Yes. So, verse four, a wholesome tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness therein is a breach in the spirit. The Septuagin translation says, a healing tongue is a tree of life, but he who keeps it inconsiderate shall be crushed by it. Yes. The Aramaic Pashita says,

a healing tongue is a tree of life but perverseness in it breaks the spirit so we'll start with the wholesome tongue this is a tongue that speaks speaks truth in love we're expected to speak truth what we're being taught is speak truth in love don't be like the person just says, well, I say whatever I want to say.

I'll tell the truth that the shoe fits wear it. But is it in love? But it's not in love. And, Doc, over time, I've had to learn that because, you know, I grew up in western Maryland, and that's the way people talked. I'll say what I mean. That's right. If the shoe fits, wear it, I'll just tell the truth.

I mean, that was the way I grew up. And a man spoke like a man, you know, had to say those things, whether they hurt or helped. You just said it. But for me, Rick, you know, Proverbs really gets at me because I'm reminded, life and death are in the power of the tongue. And there are things, thoughts that cross my mind,

that get into my mouth and they almost come out. They almost come out. but love keeps it from going out yes yes so the original Hebrew used in Proverbs is actually conveying

the thought of healing yes speech that restore speech that revives the wounded revives the weary there's a tree of life imagery here right a tongue a healing tongue is a tree of life yes well where was the tree of life in the

bible in the garden of eden right isn't it interesting that the healing tongue is a tree of life and then in revelation where we encounter the tree of life again what does it say about the tree of life that its leaves were for the healing of the nations think of about that? That there's that peacefulness, the healing of the tongue at the beginning, in the course of our life, and then at the

end of time. There's healing in words. Doctor, I've often thought about that verse in Revelation. Does it imply that after Christ returns and he establishes his kingdom, that it's going to

take time for the nations to be healed to love one another? Or that it's the practical application of love because we're in the presence of God. Because there's

going to be a new heavens and new earth. And so will there be a need for geographical boundaries and nations or all the nations combined together before the Lord? That's the healing. The words of healing that come from

being around the throne. A couple different ways to look at it there. Yes. But the main thing is it's telling us that just as a tree yields fruit, wholesome speech yields blessings. It produces fruit that is nourishing to people. And so our tongue should be producing fruit that's nourishing to people. And what does the tree of life produce?

What is its ultimate fruit? Eternal life. Yes, eternal life. Our words hold the power of eternal life. It puts a lot of onus on us in watching what we say. The second part of verse four is, but perverseness therein is a breach in the spirit. A wholesome tongue is a tree of life,

but perverseness therein is a breach in the spirit. Perverseness therein. We've learned in the book of Proverbs that perverse means twisted. It doesn't mean perverted. It means to be twisted. They'd be bent away from the truth. Do you see truth as a wall, an upright wall?

perverseness would be a tree that's bending way to the left of the wall. It's like, why aren't you in alignment with the wall? Why are you bending away from it? See, that's perverseness. It bends away from the truth. It's twisted. It's crooked. It's words that distort truth.

Words that wound people. words that are poisoned in the bloodstream of families and friends and workplaces and communities and perverse words come from a perverse heart our nation America we are just

saturated in perverse words people can't talk to one another anymore if they disagree families are divided over politics people disown their relatives over who they voted for it's perverseness so

perverse twisted corrupted speech not only hurts the person who hears it but it's actually hurting the soul of the person who speaks it because they don't understand that they're corroding within we learned us in

chapter 14 the decay that's within inside a person so a perverse tongue alienates people from God alienates people from their neighbors

creates strife and division and what we're being taught is that the same mouth that could be a fountain of life that same mouth can become a channel of death if that mouth is not ruled by the Holy Spirit John Gill said the wholesome tongue conveys sound doctrine which feeds the soul

but the perverse tongue corrupts the heart and breaks the spirit yes Charles Bridges says the healing tongue is Christ's image in his people

every gracious word is a branch of the tree of life perverse speech spreads death in the soul Adam Clark

a wholesome tongue is a continual blessing. Every good word is a leaf from the tree of life. Perverseness is as a worm in the root. G. Campbell Morgan, wholesome words are sacramental. They are outward signs of inward grace. Perverseness rins the fellowship of spirits. And Charles Spurgeoning The tongue is the pulse of the soul. If it beats falsely, the heart is diseased. If it beats with truth and grace, the whole man is alive under God. Okay, one more verse.

Verse five. King James, a fool despiseth his father's instruction, but he that regardeth reproof is prudent. The Septuagent translation, A fool scorns his father's instruction, but he who regards reproof shall be me wise. So this verse exposes the root of folly, the origin of foolishness, pride that refuses guidance, especially to refuse guidance from men and women appointed by God to teach his word.

It's one thing for a fool to reject guidance from unsaved people, but it's spiritually dangerous to reject guidance from people appointed by God to be teachers. So this phrase despises his father's instruction This is not This is not just ignorance This is rebellion This is the rejection of spiritual authority

Yes They despise a father's instruction This doesn't mean just biological father can be spiritual fathers. Absolutely. They despise it. Why? Because they're rebellious.

The fool treats wisdom as though it's bondage. And they see correction as insulting. And they misinterpret independence as maturity. Right. So to despise instruction is to dishonor the divine order of learning, first from parents, then from God himself. Where is the main classroom of the soul? The first classroom. The first classroom of the soul is the home. It's the crib, yeah. The crib.

It's in the home where lessons are given to shape the conscience of the child, to develop humility, respect, the way you should treat others. So to refuse discipline begins with small acts of disregard towards instructors. right but it eventually ends in spiritual blindness might be a lifetime so they get to that point but they've been rejecting wisdom consistently over years right here in western society here in Western society that's one of our biggest I was negatives is that we really don't honor fathers and mothers. We really don't honor the wisdom of older folks. People are elders, if you will. We're a nation born in rebellion. We have a rebellious streak. We think we're supposed to fight against the man, authority all the time. But, you know, I thank God that he sent me to South Korea to serve him.

there because it was in the Korean culture that I really learned respect for authority and respect for elders. I mean, that is drilled into every child starting in preschool to respect elders. You bow, you honor those who are older than you. You receive correction even from people who aren't your parents you know so and they will honor that those that don't they're man they're out

you know they're ostracized I mean really they're ostracized and so there is a cultural issue here especially in Western culture because we're taught to to fight authority

but as I said I thank God that I had the opportunity to live and work and serve the Lord in South Korea I needed it I needed it, Rick. I did. Because I needed the idea of God as a true spiritual authority in my life.

Not my buddy, not my co-pilot, not my surfer buddy or anything like that, but as God who is in control and that we are to be submissive to him. Submission is a bad word in the West. I've not spent a lot of time in Asia. culture but I have doc in in Africa and I've seen and in Latin America and I saw obvious differences in the way Latino cultures and African cultures treat their elderly I don't know how it is in Europe I've been to Europe a number of times but I do know the way it's become in America yes and it's

changed over the decades and there's and the culture has become extremely um disrespectful and hostile towards older people yes yeah i i don't like the atmosphere i don't like the attitude that is building growing in the united states towards uh grandparents and great grandparents you can you can sense the disrespect in people. So this is teaching us, though, that a wise person, he that regardeth reproof is prudent. This is the second part of verse five. It's that the wise value correction as a treasure,

that this is good that somebody is correcting you. So reproof, even though it's uncomfortable, it's not pleasant, it's proof of love. Its purpose is not to destroy, but to direct. So prudence means discernment in practice, the ability to apply wisdom rightly in real life, the practical application of wisdom. so a teachable spirit transforms correction into growth and humility and understanding and the wise man or woman listens even when corrected by someone that might be beneath them yes

Regard reproof means to weigh it carefully, to accept it humbly, to act upon it. John Gill said, The fool's pride disdains correction as if he knew better than his father. But he who humbly receives reproof becomes wiser by it. Charles Bridges says, Instruction from a father is a channel of divine discipline

to reject it is to rebel against God himself. Submission to reproof is the first proof of prudence. Albert Barnes, teachableness, is the seed of wisdom. The full scorn springs from self-conceit. The wise man's prudence grows from humility. Alexander McLaren, no man is truly wise who cannot bear to be told his wrong. pride is the enemy of progress we are not

correction is the wet stone of wisdom the fool throws it away and stays dull wow I like that the wet stone of wisdom in other words that correction sharpens the blade yes

wow but the fool throws it way and stays dull. Charles Spurgeon, he who cannot bear to be told his faults will never mend them. The wise man thanks the hand that heals, excuse me, the wise man thanks the hand that wounds to heal. All right, well, that's it for today. Five verses, basically about the tongue.

And what is, what is, what, what did we learn out of the, of these five verses, that the spirit of wisdom is teaching that godly speech, divine awareness, humble teachability is what forms the pillars of a righteous life, a soft answered disarms wrath, a wise tongue blesses others, A pure heart lives under God's eyes. A teachable spirit grows in prudence. It's teaching us to be gentle and word, to be transparent in our conscience, to be humble in our heart.

All right, well, we'll pick this up tomorrow, verse 6. Amen. I want to encourage you, just encourage everyone who's watching today. day. Maybe you've had a problem with your tongue. We all have at one time or another. I want to encourage you that God can get control of your tongue. He can get control of your lips. He can do it. If he can do it with me, he can do it with you. Because I really had to work in submitting to the

Lord, my tongue. And I'm telling you that there are times that sarcasm, I'd like to joke around, sarcasm is a love language for me. But it's really not. Sarcasm really is a weapon. And I really have to submit to the Lord in the things that I say. And I want to encourage you as well. You may say to yourself, I can't control my tongue. Yes, you're right. You can't. it takes the Lord to do it but it can be controlled but more important than your tongue is your heart

because the words are coming out of your mouth are only proceeding from what's already in your heart and allow the Lord to correct your heart allow the Lord to search your heart and find those things that are spewing that venom and that poison out of your mouth

listen to it your salvation is on the line with this It really is. There's no way we can confess that Jesus is Lord and then speak evil words about a brother or sister in Christ. You can't do it. Pure water and ugly water can't come out of the same spring. So submit to the Lord and allow him to tame your tongue in Jesus' name.

Amen. Amen. And even, Doc, you know, Sometimes we use humor as a way we justify humor as saying, well, I just said it to make people laugh. But really, we can use humor to be sarcastic, to put somebody down. And then that's your cover.

Oh, I just said it to be funny. Right. But really, what was in your heart? Why did you really say it? You know, there was a comedian, a lot of people in our audience, our audience a little bit older, but they'll know the name Don Rickles, right? Oh, yeah. And Don Rickles, he was the master of the insult.

But even in delivering an insult, you knew he didn't mean it. Right. You knew it. You knew there wasn't the sting behind it. That's right. There wasn't the heat, if you will, the poison behind it. it. You went in knowing. In fact,

people would go, insult me. That's great. Please do it. And they would laugh about it. They would laugh about it. But today, a lot of the late night comedians, they are vicious.

Yes. They have a sting. They have a knife. They want to jab in and twist. That's right. So what do you get out of it? What do you get out of doing that with your mouth? I'm evaluating you know things that I say what's the motive behind the things that I say is it is it driven by love and that's

that's really where I'm at right now in my life I want to make sure that everything I'm saying is driven by love it's motivated by love praise God I've spent enough years saying things that were not doesn't mean I meant harm by it but i can't say that it was necessarily driven by love yeah but when the light of the word is held up and compares your words man you realize how small you really really are that's right

so let's all of us change our speech become more loving kinder gentler that's it for today thank you so much we'll be back here tomorrow with another edition of morning manna god bless you. God bless you. We love you. We'll see you on Thursday.