Proverbs 10:6-32 the story of life from the mouth that's mute

4/22/10

Time Spent: 25 min

Main Idea: The speech of a person and their visible testimony will be the determinant of whether he is wise or a fool.

What I learned about God: James brings up the following contradiction; how can one praise God with the same that he curses his brother? God knows the power of the tongue and will hold it against you if you use it in an unworthy manner.

Summary: One should never neglect the power of words. This passage in Proverbs show a correlation between words and lifestyle. The mouth used in this passage to denote a man's desire or for speech. Thus, the one that fails in doing this is walking the path of the fool. These are clear indicators of the doom in which God will bring; either for their judgment or for their praise. Understanding the blessings of the wise; who restrains his lips (v.19), feed others with his wisdom (v.21), and will bring forth wisdom (v.31). However, the errors of the fool will use words leading up to sins (v.19), will die because of "word malnutrition (v.21), and will eventually find its ruin for their errant tongue use (v.31). These are to provide cogent warnings towards the people to not err in using words; but to remember the weight that words have.

Application: After preaching my first sermon for school, I got a lot of praise but some criticism to go along with it. One of the major complaints was my choice of language that was used. I thought it was "academic", but the professor wanted me to use conversational language because that's what communicates better. This made me a little annoyed because I hate being pigeon-holed into a specific time of pragmatic process in which I am the one which has to change; not the people. However, after giving thought about it, I should make my language clear so that everyone has a chance to hear God's Word for what it is. I realized that language is the key communicator for understanding and meditating upon God's Word. Faith comes by hearing, and so how can one gain faith when the message doesn't come out as clear as the speaker had planned? This is the key in making a good message.

I have failed in manuscripting my sermons as of late, which has lead to me either reading off of my notes or just speaking to the congregation off the top of my head. I realize I need to spend a little less time in study and more time in preparation for this week's sermon.