TRUNEWS with Rick Wiles - Morning Manna - October 7, 2025 - Proverbs 14:1-5 - Building Homes, Walking Straight, Speaking Truth

Episode Date: October 7, 2025

In today’s Morning Manna, we study Proverbs 14:1–5, where Solomon shows how wisdom builds strong homes while folly tears them down. We see that upright living reflects the fear of the Lord, while crooked paths despise Him. Words, too, carry power: the foolish tongue becomes a rod of pride, but wise lips preserve life. Finally, Solomon reminds us that truth in testimony strengthens society, while lies unravel it. These verses call us to be builders, walkers in integrity, and witnesses of truth. 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.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.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, Tuesday, and we begin our study in a new chapter of the book of Proverbs. Today is chapter 14, verses 1 through 5. There's a variety of proverbs in this set of verses, and we're going to cover a lot of a lot of territory. You're going to be blessed, and you're going to have a different understanding of the book proverbs when this lesson is over. So let's invite the Holy Spirit without him. There's no point

in even meeting. If he's not here, why are we here? So let's ask him here. We know he's in us. He dwells in us, but let's recognize his presence. Father Almighty God, we pray in the name of your holy son, Jesus Christ, who is the only way to you, the only path to salvation. Father, we humbly request the presence of your spirit in this morning manna Bible study. Teach us the truth of your word for the glory of your son and the edification of your church. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. And good morning, everyone, no matter where you are in the world today.

And we have class members, Rick, from as far away as Russia and Australia today. We have folks in Ireland today, and of course, Philippines, South Korea, Malaysia, Brazil. We welcome you. And, of course, all across the U.S. and Canada, God bless you. Thanks for joining us today on this live edition of Morning Manah. And I pray that you're blessed as we studied the Word of God together. We're starting Proverbs chapter 14 today, and we'll be reading the first five verses.

So if you've got your Bibles, and of course you should always have your Bibles, Bible a notepad and a pen handy always ready to take notes because I and I do during the lesson because even though I prepare there are things that we come across us I got to look that up I got to go back through and dig deeper on that and so I hope that you're doing the same thing I hope that this study is encouraging you to dig deeper into the word all right proverb chapter 14 verses 1 through 5 verse 1 king james version of the bible every wise woman buildeth her house but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands he that walketh in his uprightness feareth the lord but he that is perverse in his ways despises him in the mouth of the foolish is a rod

of pride but the lips of the wise shall preserve them this is a great verse here verse 4 i've preached on this several times. Where no oxen are, the crib is clean, but much increases by the strength of the ox. In verse five, a faithful witness will not lie, but a false witness will utter lies. Okay. All right. Let's get into this today. Okay. Well, Doc, I'm eager to hear what you have to say about verse four. So about the ox and the crib, the stall. We will begin with verse one, the King James Version, Every wise woman buildeth her house, but the foolish plucket down with her hands. The Septuagint is almost identical.

A wise woman builds her house, but the foolish pulls down her house with her own hands. Many of the proverbs talk about foolish men. chapter 14 verse one is going to focus on foolish women and these are these are wives who destroy their own house their own home their own family and uh it happens it's going on today throughout the world you have you have wives who are building up their homes uh in in the fear of the lord they're walking in wisdom and then you have foolish women who are tearing down their homes. And that's what this is about.

So this is introducing the theology of domestic wisdom. What is the theology of domestic wisdom? I like that. It's a theology that says that the home is a sacred structure that is built by virtue or, destroyed by folly so the house represents more than a physical dwelling it represents the family the household the legacy the moral order the emotional and spiritual atmosphere of the home it it represents a person's entire sphere of life and infirm of life and

influence the house this is the theology of domestic wisdom in the house the house of your family so the word buildeth implies deliberate sustained labor you're building continuously building always strengthening always improving wisdom constructs a home slowly through faithfulness but folly can destroy a home quickly on impulse

this is really important what I'm going to say the next two statements the wise woman acts as a biblical steward of divine order within her home her strength is not in her

domination but in her discernment her wisdom her discipline her devotion her service to God in the home but by contrast the foolish woman is in rebellion against the divine order she operates

with moral perversity she's opposed to the will of God she's opposed to the order of God God god of order and where you find disorder you'll find the devil's work wherever there's strife and division there's all kinds of evil works the the foolish woman's wound is self-inflicted with her own hands she destroys the divine order of her home

brings down her family brings down her husband brings down the family's reputation and legacy she does it with her own hands that's what makes her foolish you are destroying the very thing God has given you to bless you that is a definition of a fool

yes in many homes you have a godly wife and an ungodly husband and the godly wife is doing her best to serve the Lord to obey the Lord

but she's dealing with an unruly ungodly husband but then in this situation you can have a godly husband who is serving the Lord who is

truly seeking to have a God-fearing home and the wife is in rebellion against that divine order she doesn't want to submit to God's order it's not submission to her husband

this is a matter of submission to God right because God's order is Christ is submitted to the father the husband is submitted to Christ and the wife is submitted to the husband that's the divine order and in modern Western societies the culture says no the woman cannot submit to anybody this the woman must dominate the woman must rule yeah not even submit to christ that's right so where women today are taught from very early age to be independent to do your own thing it's your body your choice you know all these different things that wrap around it whenever it goes directly against the divine order that god has a

established. You know, motherhood is diminished. The value of motherhood is diminished. We can choose whether to carry a child to term, right? We have the choice. You have the, really, you have the choice to kill. That's the choice that's been given to you, the false choice. But all these things, this foolishness at the root of it is I'm going to rebel against the divine order. and it could be masked in a lot of different ways it could be masked in a lot of different ways it could be masked in a wife choosing a career over her family uh or to the expense of her family it's you know motherhood's not valued being a wife is certainly not valued it's not honored anymore. Marriage itself is diminished. The value of marriage is diminished in our culture.

So all these choices that we've made as a culture have repercussions. And the biggest repercussion is we've created a nation that's in rebellion against God. And if we want to restore it, it's got to start back in the home and getting the husband submitted to Christ and the wife submitted to the husband if that's politically incorrect today then brand me that but that's what the bible says it's biblically correct yes so doc you go back to uh genesis after the fall and and god pronounced um his judgment on adam right they adam and eve were evicted from the garden they had everything everything was provided for them

Adam didn't have to make the food grow all he had to do was harvest it right he didn't have to deal with thorns and thistles or nothing nothing everything was abundant so they got kicked out of the Garden of Eden because Eve twisted the word of God and believe what Satan said

and her husband went along with it and so he could have dealt with it and said you're wrong that's not what God said and I'm not going to allow this to happen but he didn't he went along with Eve and so he got kicked out of the garden too

what would have happened had Adam stood his ground when God had made Adam a new wife I don't know. But Adam failed the test. He went along with Eve. Right. And so God pronounced the judgment on Adam and said, all right, from now on, buddy, you've had it easy here in the garden.

Now you're going out in the wilderness and you're going to work. Your back's going to hurt. You're going to sweat. You're going to have sweat running down your forehead. You're going to be tired. trying to make something grow in that barren land. But what did he say to Eve? The Lord said, unto the woman, he said,

I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception. In sorrow thou shalt bring forth children, and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. In the Garden of Eden before the fall, Eve did not experience labor pains this labor pains

came after the fall right Adam did not rule over her in the garden she was complimentary she was at his side but God said now because of this your husband shall rule over you. And what's been going on for thousands of years

has been women deciding, I'm not going to follow what God told Eve. And we're in a society now that openly teaches it, promotes it, and drives this rebellion, which is bringing disorder

and divorce and split marriages and all of the chaos that we have in the society now. And Rick, I recall going through, you know, marriage seminar courses and churches back in the late 80s and early 90s. And when you're a young man, young preacher, you know, you're trusting the wisdom and the guidance of those that are in authority over you. right but as i look back now i can see that even then there was the compromise that was taking place in teaching young christian couples married couples about divine order and everything and even then they were making excuses they were saying you know well you're equal partners it's 100

for both of you uh you know i and and all of that but looking back now looking back years of wisdom that would certainly whether you want to call it unbiblical or not it was certainly a compromise to the culture around us because you know it was prevalent in that women can have careers and and i'm not saying women can't have careers they certainly can but women need to find their calling in god just like men do women need to find their calling and for some women who have chosen not to follow God's calling, they're foolish. They're in rebellion against God's divine order. God is, I believe God has called a lot of women to be mothers and to manage a home, but they've instead chosen to either not have children or to abort children in order to have a

career. And my biggest argument against abortion, you know, really when you get right down to it, it's a matter of greed because what we're doing is saying it costs too much to have a child it's going to cost me my personal choice it's going to cost me an income it's going to cost me my personal freedom to do whatever i like so it's really selfishness it is i'm going to kill my baby because the baby's going to be inconvenient yes the the highest calling for a woman is to build her home building a home it goes beyond the the basics of of having a nice a nice house building the home refers it includes more than more than the physical appearance of the home it's the spiritual

atmosphere of the home what spiritual atmosphere do you bring to the house that's that rests primarily on the wife and the mother

the wife and the mother can destroy the spiritual atmosphere of a home the wife and the mother can create a spiritual atmosphere even when the husband is in is not serving the Lord.

That strength is in the wife. Doc, I think about our lesson. We go back some chapters of Proverbs 9. Wisdom builds her house. Remember, it's her. Wisdom builds her house. Folly tears down her house through seduction and chaos.

So we see that that the moral worlds mirror each other. One creates, the other consumes and destroys. There is an order and a disorder. God brings order, Satan brings disorder. Do you have disorder in your home? Then Satan is present. Satan has a foothold in your home.

there is a responsibility to uphold the covenant the wise woman covence has a covenant with god to preserve and enhance his moral order she does not oppose it to oppose it is foolishness building her house includes building up the soul of her husband, the soul of her children, the soul of her grandchildren, actively nourishing the souls of the people in her home. Using her home for God's glory. Is your home a place of hospitality? Do you invite other people into your home so that you have an opportunity to love on them and to share the gospel? Or are you one who says, I don't want anybody in my house? See, that's a selfish attitude.

A wise woman is building up her home. And, you know, you can look at this spiritually as the church. as the wise woman who is a servant of christ is obedient to christ and building up her household for the glory of christ right so what do we see there's a spiritual law wisdom builds folly destroys The wise woman mirrors God's creative purposes By enhancing and nurturing and growing divine order in her household. The foolish woman rejects the divine pattern, says, I will be my own person.

I am not going to study the Word of God. I'm not going to obey the Word of God. I'm not going to submit to my husband. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. not it's rebellion and god says you will unravel your home you will bring it down with your own hands there'll be a day you have nothing left and you'll wonder what happened

how did i get to this place where the whole thing has fallen apart john gill said she builds not merely the outward structure but the family's peace and virtue By her example, she establishes her house in righteousness. Cheryl's Bridges says the wise woman builds. Her hand is ever occupied in promoting her households good. Folly, by contrast, marries her blessings, undermines her home, and quenches her joys. I like that. The wise are busy in building a home.

You get it right down a nutshell there. Yes. If you're busy building a home, you don't have to talk. time for foolishness to pluck it down. If you're constantly opposing your husband, if you're constantly causing division and strife, you are undermining your own home and there will be a day it will collapse.

Albert Barnes, I guarantee a doc, he's going to use the word contrast in this sentence. That man, he saw, he looked out of left eye, right eye, Everything was left or right, okay? Albert Barnes said, the picture is domestic but universal, the contrast between constructive virtue

and self-destructive folly. Wisdom creates order. Folly breeds chaos. Charles Spurgeon, her hands are her testimony. By them, she builds, comforts, nourishes, and strengthens. But the foolish woman's hands,

busy in mischief bring her own ruin and g campbell morgan wisdom is the architect of permanence folly is the vandal of peace oh i like that folly is the vandal of peace yes what a picture it's it steals away the peace is there no peace in your home it means there's foolishness there one or both members of the marriage are foolish if there is this division, strife, argument, chaos, disorder. One or both members of that marriage is in rebellion against God. But it only takes one to bring that division in strife. right you can have one person doing his or her best to be in order with god and the other person

undermining everything that the spouse is doing and yet on the other hand too a wise woman a godly woman in a home can only save her children in her home but also her ungodly husband yes how many times have you witnessed that over the years it might take decades but at the same time a godly woman or someone coming to know the Lord and living a godly life, well, many times bring the husband to the Lord as well. Does the opposite work? Can a godly husband eventually lead an ungodly wife to the Lord? You know, that's a great question. That's a great question. And I pastored for a number of years. And Rick, I'm trying to recall a single instance in my life where a godly man brought a godly wife to the lord i and maybe i haven't been exposed to enough people

but i have pastored churches and i've seen godly wives bring ungodly men to christ but i cannot recall a single time that a godly man brought an ungodly wife to the lord now that doesn't mean it doesn't happen i'm just saying that there are much might be something to learn from that experience there yes let's get a verse two king james he that walketh in his uprightness feareth the lord but he that is perverse in his ways despise of him the subtuagent translation is he that walks in his uprightness fears the lord but he that is perverse in his ways shall be dishonored yes so this verse unveils the link between conduct and creed

the creed being the order that the concept by which a person lives everybody has a creed they all have their own personal creed there's a link between creed and conduct behavior is the confession of belief I think people confess creeds with their mouth but the truest the most accurate confession of belief is a person's behavior

so he that walks in uprightness is speaking about a person who's moral path is directed by divine law, divine order, by a fear of God. The fear of the Lord, again, this is not being terrified of God. This is reverent submission. You are in awe of Almighty God. he's beyond our words to describe just try verbally to describe to describe almighty god he has no beginning

he has no end who nobody made him he's always existed how does that how how does that happen because he's god i can't even comprehend it I look at his attributes, the goodness, the truth, the mercy, the grace, the faithfulness, the fidelity, the strength, the power. It's beyond my comprehension. That's my fear of him. It's not being terrified. It's saying, you're beyond my ability to comprehend what I can't. comprehend is it your must sweet papa yes that's what i can comprehend so that's the fear of the

lord it's it's being in all of him how often little little children are they're in awe of their father okay they're just in all okay that's my dad okay that's the way we we must be with our heavenly father uprightness uprightness and godly fear their their mutual companions the one who truly fears God will walk uprightly

the one who walks uprightly has a true fear of the Lord they go together now perverse in his ways we've talked about perverseness before it's not perverted as we think about sexual immorality,

it's perverse. It means twisted, crooked, bent away from the truth. What is perverse in his ways? This is a person who is bent away from the divine order, leading away from the divine order, which gets back to this foolishness, rebellion. King James says such a person despises the Lord, not openly blaspheming, cursing, but by quietly living as though God is irrelevant. Yeah.

So conduct is not neutral. It either honors God or it despises God. Amen. to act as though God is not relevant is the same as saying I have no honor for you. Whether you exist or not is immaterial to my life. That's the same as despising God.

I mean, if a son or daughter said to his or her father, I don't care whether you live or die, I don't care. you're meaningless to me what is that that's how god sees humans who do not fear him do not honor him do not walk in all of him yes so the fear of the lord is the inner compass perversion is the loss of and it leads to spiritual disintegration we go back to this this theme that is throughout the bible there are two paths two choices in life in this case one path is illuminated by reverence the other one is darkened by pride and rebellion amen so the righteous one walk uprightly because they fear

and love the Lord. The wicked walk perversely because they do not fear him. They actually despise him. That's right. This fear is feel.

It's not serval. It's meaning as springing from a love springing from a son or a daughter it it's love it's not dread it's not servitude like a slave you love god because he's your father you are a daughter or a son it's not that you're a slave a servant so there's a for the righteous men or woman their lifestyle is shaped by a constant awareness of God's holiness and his presence.

It shapes their lives. I want to look at the commentators. Albert Barnes, the verse sets reverence against rebellion. the one walks before God with all the other despises God by the deceitfulness of his hearts Adam Clark the man who fears God is the only upright man fear is the guardian of virtue

the sentinel at the gate of the soul gee Campbell Morgan to fear the Lord is to live in perpetual recognition of his sovereignty to walk perversely is to cast off his rule and enthrone self that's that that it goes to the heart of it I like that who is on the throne in your heart Christ or you self pride

that's really what it comes down to verse three king james in the mouth of a foolish is a rod of pride but the lips of the wise shall preserve them all the other translations are almost identical so verse three is is depicting speech as an instrument of judgment and a means of salvation so the rod of pride has a dual meaning it may mean a rod that strikes others or it may mean a rod that strikes yourself yeah self-punishment yeah but both ways it's done through speech through the tongue because death are in the power of the tongue a foolish person's words will injure other people but a foolish person's words will injure himself or herself their own speech becomes the

the means of their chastisement they wound themselves with their own words they go around wounding other people and not realizing they're beating themselves if they if they understood it they'd stop hurting other people with their mouth so the fool's mouth manufactures his or her punishment his or her words are their own scourge but the righteous the wise they use their lips as a guardrail they see their lips not as something to flap and send out mean-spirited words they see their lips as guardrails you can bite your lip and not say something so pride provokes ruin wisdom preserves life the mouth is the window of the heart it reveals inward arrogance or inward grace you're going to see what's in a person whether it's arrogance or grace by the words that they speak

this speech has moral energy when you speak out words you've released energy every word has energy and these words when we release them from our mouth see we're made in the likeness an image of God how did he create everything he spoke it he spoke it into existence

he spoke words he released energy divine energy came out of his mouth so our words build or destroy they heal or they harm they uplift or they condemn but the fool's rod is his or her tongue they are they're whipping themselves with their tongue the lips of the wise reflect discernment they speak with gentleness with truth with kindness

the wise will train themselves to not respond when they are insulted when they are attacked but to hold their peace um um look at john gill the fool's mouth is his own chastisement his pride is the rod that smites him the wise whose lips are governed by grace are preserved from snares and from the wrath of men adam clark the fool's tongue is the instrument of his own punishment his insolence brings him under correction the wise speaks peace and thereby are delivered from strife Alexander McLaren Pride fashions its own penalty The very weapon It lifts against others

recoils upon itself Yes, words recoil on the speaker The wise man's tongue Is the shield of his soul Praise God G. Campbell Morgan Speech is never neutral It either exposes folly

or expresses wisdom, the tongue of the fool becomes his executioner. Verse four. Here we go, Doc. This is your verse. Yes. King James, where no oxen are,

the crib is clean, but much increase is by the strength of the ox. Well, Doc, go for it. All right. this one of my favorite verses in the bible uh now i preached on this several times because it uh as a young preacher it always puzzled me what this verse meant it sounds kind of cryptic doesn't it what you mean where no oxen are the crib is clean of course it's clean uh but there's a lot of meaning in this

so what's going on here is solomon is contrasting two realities here he's saying first of all a clean, empty stable, that symbolizes convenience, tidiness, but also symbolizes the absence of any burden as well, right? No responsibility. You've got a clean crib, you know, you don't have to clean it, right? But on the other hand, a stable or barn filled with oxen symbolizes, hey, there's hay everywhere, there's manure everywhere. You have to take care of the oxen. There's responsibility in involved. But there's also productivity and abundance in having oxen as well. So what this, get right down to what this particular proverb is teaching is that fruitfulness in our life means that we've got to embrace disorder that we encounter. Embrace the difficulties

that we come across. Embrace responsibility that we encounter in life. Listen, if you've got life or ministry that's free of struggle and everything it may appear neat but it's probably also barren as well harvest or messy if you want to harvest there's going to be a mess that's probably going to be generated doesn't mean disorder it just means that if you're living for god life is going to be messy and if you want a mess-free life do nothing with your life abandon God's call on your life. If you don't want to mess in your life, just don't do anything. And your crib will be clean, but you won't have a harvest in your barn either.

And so that, to me, that's at the heart of this message here, Rick, is that we need to embrace the things that God provides for us. If it's oxen, if it's a calling in our life, embrace it. And I have a friend from back in Bible college, a very good friend. I love him dearly, but today he's not serving the Lord in ministry. He's a good, honest guy and doing, you know, taking care of his family and everything. But at the heart of it, he abandoned his calling. He abandoned the call of God on his life because he didn't want the trouble.

of ministry, the responsibility of ministry, the responsibility of being a pastor or an evangelist. Because let's face it, it's hard, it hurts, it's not all fun and games. And he said no to it. And his crib is clean, but he has no harvest either, no spiritual harvest. So that to me is the heart and intent of this verse, Rick. Yes, you hit it. You absolutely hit it. Doc, this verse is for people with OCD. If you have an obsessive, compulsive disorder, you need to study this verse. Because a tidy, stable is a sign not of success, but of sterility, of inactivity.

Yes. so the crib is the stall right it's the place of provision and labor so as doc said an empty stall is clean but it is unproductive right so it's teaching us that the wise wise people accept the mess of life that comes automatically with the meaning with meaningful work Right Psalm is contrasting a life of ease without fruit

and labor with abundance but labor brings a mess and doc you said something that's really important messiness is not disorder right

god is a god of order but he expects us to be messy now i know people with oCD are going no we can't do that you can't do that yes you can yes you bring order you bring order to the disorder yes you can't be productive

without creating a mess right now you you maintain order. Disorder is not messiness. That's where the people with OCD get all messed up. They would rather do nothing and have everything spotless

than to be engaged in something productive. Right. And create a mess. So modern day example, men, you know, don't want to get married because they don't run the responsibility of caring for a family. They like their freedom. They like to do their own thing. They like to go and hang out with the boys and do whatever. Likewise, women. They don't want to have children or the delay having children until their later years where the risk to their health and their life

is greater. And they, they, because they don't want the responsibility of caring for a child early in life, the no oxen in the crib. They got a clean crib. They got a great career, but they pay the price for it later on in life. So that applies to family. It applies to the call of God in our lives, where, you know, some people say, well, I don't want to listen too closely to the Lord, because he may call me to go to Africa. Well, yeah, going to Africa might be a little bit messy but it would be within the purview of god if you call by the way it's not likely he'll call you to africa uh he'll probably call you to your own town but we don't want that either and so the issue the issue is submission that's right that's at the heart of it here submission to the call

of god whether it's family relationships uh the call of god on your life uh there are so many people that abandoned the call of their life and settled for second best in the kingdom i want first best in the kingdom whatever it costs i want first best and yeah i might have a dirty stable but i'll shovel the manure okay i'll get it out of the barn so going back to ocd doc i went uh if if i cook anything at it at home like once a while i'll make something on a weekend uh spaghetti sauce or chili or black eyed peas which you're really good yeah but i got to tell you um the first thing i do is put on a raincoat and then i spread a tarp over the the counters in the floor i can't cook I can't cook and stay clean.

I don't know how to do it. I just don't know how to do it. But I do clean it up when it's over. So it's back to being orderly. But during the process of cooking, making something, it's messy. Yes. That's what this is teaching. Yes.

Now, the disorder would be that I would leave the kitchen messed up after I'm finished. that would be disorder but to a person with oCD the disorder is creating the mess while you're making something the oCD person says don't even make anything it is better to have nothing produced than to have a mess this proverb thousands of years old solomon use the ox as his example what does an ox represent strength a strength that a farmer uses to make his fields productive right so what this is teaching us is it's about productive that we should embrace the inconvenience that are necessary that automatically come when we apply our strength to produce something good there's going to be a mess that's what is teaching there is no harvest without the noise the smell the labor of the stable that's right no ox no harvest no

No ox, no harvest. I have cleaned out more than one stable in my lifetime. I have shoveled a lot of you know what. It's what you have to do. If you're going to have livestock, you're going to clean stables and barns. If you don't want to clean stables and barns, don't be a farmer. Right. so true faithfulness demands tolerance for the messiness of the process right i have a feeling

that we we have some people in the class who've oCD and they're just getting smelling salts right now i can't do it i can't do that all right i'm not making fun of you i'm not but oCD is a It truly is OCD, a disorder. Your way of thinking is disorderly. OCD, disorder. You are not to be disordered. You need to pray and ask God to deliver you from OCD. Don't say, I was born with it.

That's the way I am. No, it says disorder. I mean, the very word, obsessive, compulsive disorder. Why would you keep a disorder in your life? Ask the Lord to deliver you, heal you, heal your mind, your thinking from this disorder. Right. Don't go around telling people, yeah, that's just me, I'm OCD.

Stop it. Okay, it's a disorder. Right. And you can be delivered. This proverb says that people with OCD would rather produce nothing and be clean and orderly in the appearance of everything than to produce something good. Right. And there's another message in here too. If you don't do anything, you can't fail, right?

That's right. So I encourage you if you're watching or listening today, maybe you've made a choice in your life to do nothing. or rather to delay it, whatever it might be. But you've avoided what God has been telling you to do because you think you're going to fail. I would just go ahead and say, expect failure. Embrace the failure. Embrace the manure.

Embrace the manure that comes with the oxen. Don't be a do-nothing. Get your oxen teamed up and start plowing the field. Yeah, you're going to feed them. yeah you're going to water yeah you're going to have to take care of them and everything but you're going to have a harvest if you have no oxen you have no responsibility yeah and you can't fail until harvest time comes when harvest time comes you're going to find out how big of a failure you truly were because you'll die from lack of food and ultimately in the eternal we all have

to stand before the Lord and give account for our lives as well the ultimate harvest in our lives and that the Lord's going to hold us responsible for what he is granted to us in this life and said what did you do with your life nothing i to me that would be the greatest embarrassment to stand before the Lord in eternity and Lord said what did you do well Lord i hit my i hid my coin in the soil because i knew you were a hard task master i did nothing i did nothing and the condemnation from the lord was why didn't you just even my little investment i gave you why didn't you just invest invest it let it grow a little bit but you did nothing when it decreased in value because you did nothing and the longer you wait to use or to obey the call of god in your life the the more diminished

it becomes start today do something do something use it use it or lose it when it comes to your gifts your talents use it or lose it so doc a clean crib symbolizes the life of a person who avoids risk as you said they're afraid of failure they do nothing that way there's no failure they avoid risk they avoid risk They avoid responsibility. They avoid involvement activity. They want a clean, save, sterile lifestyle. I have a clean crib, no ox. A clean crib.

I have a crib. Why even have a crib? For the appearance of being a farmer. Yes. So the wise man or woman accepts imperfections. as the price of growth the fool prizes tidiness over transformation

the OCD fool says being tidy everything in order nothing out of place that's more important than productivity Amen Okay. At the heart of this, Doc, the OCD tidy queen or tidy king, because men have OCD just as much as women. It's actually a disguise for laziness and rebellion.

preach it okay yeah we believers are called to a life of holy messiness in fruitful obedience the stable

the stables that smells of oxen testifies to act the empty stable testifies to neglect back over the weekend i i spent some time mentoring some young genzy preachers who are online and i did this just privately on my own reached out to them and just give them a word of encouragement. And the one young man, I would say he's probably in his late 20s, you know, heavily tattooed, ex-military, God called into ministry.

He stepped out. He's nervous. You know, I could just see it online. He's nervous. But I desire to encourage. him because he said in some recent videos I watched that he was

being attacked and you know the slander the vicious things being posted online about him he didn't know how to respond to it and I I know what to tell you okay and what I told

him dog I said you know because he's he was ex-military military veteran I said look no warrior ever fights a battle and comes out of it in a clean uniform yes how can you clean uniforms or four parades yeah how can you fight a battle and keep your uniform clean you're going to come out of a battle your your uniform is going to be tattered and ripped and soiled and bloodied and a mess but you're victory

The people with the clean uniforms never step into the arena. They're watching the warriors fight and then criticizing them. Hey, your uniform is dirty. Isn't that what the mockers and scoffers are doing on social media? The ones who call themselves Christian, religious, they're going after people who are really out. there in the arena serving for Christ and they're they're sending these postings on online saying your uniforms ripped your uniform is dirty you've got you got dirt on your face well yeah I'm out

here in the fight and you're sitting in the bleachers eating popcorn this verse is telling us life is messy yes it stinks life stinks it's part of it's just the way it is if you're going to be strong for god if you're going to use the strength of the oxen he gives you you're going to clean the stable matthew henry said those that would have the increase of the field must not mine the soil of the stable cleanliness is good but fruitfulness is better Charles Bridges where there is life and service there will be trouble and disorder yet this is the path of blessing a quiet untroubled life is often barren of good adam clark it is better to have a laboring ox though it fills the stall with dung than to have none and perish with hunger the abundance of the harvest compensates the

labor. Albert Barnes, The moral is clear. A little trouble for much profit is better than an idle cleanliness, which yields no reward. Amen. Alexander McLaren,

the parable teaches that the conditions of increase are toil and patience. The mess of the stall is the price of the abundance of the field. Charles Spurgeon, where there are no workers, the work is tidy. but dead. God's barns are full because his servants are content to soil their hands.

G. Campbell Morgan, the measure of power is not in the neatness of the stall, but the strength of the ox. True life is costly and crowded, yet abundant. All these men did great things in their lives. But they had critics, they had enemies, they made mistakes, they made mistakes, they failed, failed, but they did great things. Verse five, a faithful witness will not lie, but a false witness will utter lies. Septuagint, a faithful witness will not lie, but an unrighteous witness kindles falsehoods. So there's a contrast between two moral natures, not two momentary acts.

as though hey that these are incidents no this is talking about nature the nature of people a faithful witness describes a person whose whole life is governed by integrity the false witness is not simply mistaken he or she willfully deceives uses words as instruments of deception utter lies that means this is a lifestyle this is repetition they utter lies not a single untruth but utter lies plural they breathe out lies they breathe out lies deceit is natural it's as natural as breathing you know we have a saying how do you know if that politician is lying his lips are moving right that's what this is talking about people who just lie so speech is sacred to corrupt it is to profane the god of truth

see the faithful witness reflects God's divine character God is not a man that he should live numbers 23 verse 19 john 8 44 satan is a liar in the father of lies um the commentators matthew henry a faithful witness cannot dare not and will not lie for he knows he speaks in the presence of god falsehood is the trade of the wicked whose breath is deceit John Gill The faithful witness abides in the truth As God is true The liar utters lies as naturally as he breathes

It is his element and his shame Charles Bridges Truth is a holy principle To lie is to wound conscience and dishonor God The faithful witness fills the weight of eternity upon his tongue Charles Spurgeon The faithful witness stands before God's bar

a false witness stands before his own destruction truth builds the throne of god falsehood props up the scaffold of hell oh wow what a picture leave it just leave a dispersion the scaffold of hell yeah if a liar's lies hold up and build the scaffold of hell Oh, you have that image in your mind, won't you? Yeah. Okay, that's it for today. Thank you, everybody. We're all been running on chapter 14 tomorrow,

6 through 10. So looking forward to it. We're going to be getting a lot of practical wisdom here over the next several weeks as we continue through chapters 14 and 15. So 13, 14, 15 have a similar practical theme of the contrast of wisdom and foolishness. So we're going to receive this pattern reflected over and over again. You want to be wise today and what's going on in the world? And I encourage you to get Rick's book, Megafire, America's next fourth-turning crisis,

if you haven't done so already. And we appreciate the comments and reviews that folks have been giving us. As I shared with Rick the other day, several times people have written me and said I would get, I would start reading the book or picking up the book to continue reading and just start weeping and start crying because they knew that the Lord was speaking to them through this book. So it's not your standard what you'd call run of the middle Christian prophecy book, not at all. This is examining the trends and the cycles that are occurring in the world around us. And I encourage you, if you want some insight into what's happening economically, politically, geopolitically, even weather cycles, it's in this book, Mega Fire, America's Next Fourth Turning Crisis. And what you'll learn from this is that we're seeing a number of cycles coincide in this period of time between now and 2030 that the believer needs to be aware of and to be able to prepare adequately for. If you saw a storm on the horizon and you knew it was going to be a rough storm, you would prepare.

I'm telling you, there's a storm on the horizon. So you need to prepare. Just as you would prepare with emergency supplies. This is going to be your emergency supply spiritually. I encourage you get Megafire, America's next fourth turning crisis. Get it at megafire. That's megafire, all one word, megafire. dot world W-O-R-L-D world to get it today so and doc if I'd encourage you if you did

not read my newsletter I sent out yesterday please take time today to read it it's a very sobering synopsis of very recent news events I'm talking most of within the past 48 hours right okay it shows you how close we are to um a use of nuclear weapons I'm concerned we're not going to get through 2025 without at least one nuclear weapon being used it's that serious folks it's going to wake up people if it's only one nuke if it's only one city it's going to wake up people they're suddenly going to realize the world has changed and we are racing into a big war um i back it up everything it's in the newsletter heck it's all backed up all right so read it and then share it with people all right send it to

send it to people in your contact list tell us you got to read this amen Yeah, sure. I mean, Doc, we were getting response immediately yesterday. People were writing back saying, I had no idea this is going on. Thank you. Well, you're not going to know about it by watching Fox News or CNN or BBC. They're not going to say any of this stuff. So it's a very accurate snapshot of what world leaders are planning for war.

And as the President of Serbia said, everybody is preparing for war. I have that quote in, I have his quote in the newsletter. President Serbia, he said, everybody is preparing for war. Yes, he said those exact words, everybody is preparing for war. Except the common people because they're not told. The world leaders aren't going to tell people, hey, we're going to blow things up. you're probably going to die we're going to go into our bunkers we have food and water and you know we're we're gonna hide so read the newsletter yes and then

share it with 10 20 people and I see Carl said he didn't receive it look in your look in your spam and you drive mail okay those of you who've asked to sign up for I'll send you a link after morning manna today so that way you can sign directly up for it some of you aren't receiving it because you haven't signed up for it so i'll send you the link and uh so you can have it if you're having problems receiving the newsletter once again check your spam folder especially if you have google or yahoo uh those two mail services sometimes the newsletter gets sent over to what they call either their promotions folder or their social folder and so check

over there because oftentimes people are receiving the newsletter just not showing up in their main inbox so check and then and then click that this is not junk now right yes send it into your inbox so and Leslie I yes I have been thinking about December Christmas every Christmas I start thinking is this to Christmas well here we go again and it's shaping up this is going to be one of those Christmas seasons that this could happen right be aware don't be afraid but be aware hey we may all meet in heaven for New Year's Day I'd be okay with that yeah the new year with Jesus yes so I'm not going to be afraid thank you we'll see you tomorrow all right God bless you everyone we love you we'll see you on the

Wednesday edition of Morning Nana.