A Man's Gift

PROVERBS 18:16 A man’s gift maketh room for him, And bringeth him before great men.

21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue: And they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.

To begin with I speak the words of the text 21  Death and life are in the power of the tongue: And they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof. It’s a matter of how you see things, experience things assess things accept things process things evaluate things and implement things. And everybody may not see things the same way you do. And sometimes that’s good, and sometimes that’s bad. A glass of water for some people is half empty, but for others that same glass with the same amount of water is half full. If you round off numbers and you say $12:40 cents. Round off numbers say that it $12 . But if you add 10 cents to $12:40 and make it $12:50 cents then you round up to $13.00. I personally try to view life at the $12:50 mark some God can round me up to the $13 dollar mark. Brothers and sisters it’s a matter of how you view things in life. You will never catch me singing the tune nobody know the trouble I see nobody know but Jesus. No No NO Listen to me I don’t care how bad it’s gotten I KNOW beyond the shadow of a doubt that ONE WORD from God can turn things around in an instance. God can come in in the nick of time and bless you. I know it’s true that He may not come when you want Him but He’s always on time because He’s an on time God.. On Yes He is. The text says 21. Death and life are in the power of the tongue: And they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof. Sometimes You have to encourage yourself. Sometimes you can’t wait for other people to approve you, you’ve got to know within yourself that you cream of the crop, top notch, that you’re above not beneath, the head not the tail that you’re worth having rather that worth discarding. 21  Death and life are in the power of the tongue: And they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof. I was at the convention and the professor said Preachers you’ve got to study to shew yourself approve unto God and you can’t alter you sermons to fit an unfit people. He said that’s why God sent you there to speak what thus saith the Lord. And Preachers you’ve got to be sure of how you are before standing before anybody and telling them to straighten up and fly right. Not only is life and death in the power of your tongue preacher but It’s also in the your walk with God. Talk is cheap because you’ve got to walk the walk that you’re talking. You’ve got to live what you preach about. Or sure enough Life and death will be in your mouth. Jeremiah said Lord I ain’t talking for you no more!!! Every time I tell them folks what you said they beat me whip and put me deep down in the dirty dungeon. Jeremiah said I Quit..3x And Jeremiah 20 say that the word of God became Like Fire shut up in his bones. In other words life and death are in the power of your tongue, so as the overseer of this church, as the pastor of this church, as the ekklesian over the ekklesia I’m duty bound to speak the words of the Holy Bible and tell the truth the whole truth so help me God. In this verse analogy of Proverbs 18: 21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue: And they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof. I’m reminded that, I’m merely the mailman delivering the message to meet the masses on behalf of the Master. And I said Lord I want to speak about a man gift will make room for him. The Lord say to me in a small still voice. Fine talk about it but the emphasis this morning will be on Death and Life are in the power of your own tongue. And the Lord said and somebody there knows I’m talking to them. I don’t argue with God over a text or a message that seems to me to be disjointed and out of the normal orthodoxy of what I’ve been preaching about. And so Look at verse 1. the axioms and maxims of this verse suggest that Unfriendly people are selfish and hate all good sense. Life can’t be just about you we live in a world with all kinds of people.

Then verse 2 says Fools do not want to understand anything. They only want to tell others what they think. That means it bad when you love the sound of your own voice more than sacred solid sound doctrine from God.

Solomon the writer said in verse 3  Do something evil, and people won’t like you. Do something shameful, and they will make fun of you. He speaking of foolish people.

4  Spoken words can be like deep water, but wisdom is like a flowing stream. I can learn something from anybody but when I want to know stuff that regular folk won’t know I call up Memphis and Pops at 97 years old has been through every scenario of pastoring that black folk can put you through.

In Verse 5. Solomon says "It is not good to accept the person of the wicked, To overthrow the righteous in judgment”. And what that means is “It is not good to uphold and honor wicked people and then be unfair unrighteous and unbecoming to innocent folk. And make wrong look right and right look wrong.

Solomon said in verses 6 &7 “A fool’s lips enter into contention, And his mouth calleth for strokes. 7 A fool’s mouth is his destruction, And his lips are the snare of his soul. I found out that this really means that “The words of fools start quarrels if you starting arguments the bible says it’s foolish. Solomon says and They make people want to beat them.Solomon says in verse 7  The words of fools will ruin them; their own words will trap them. My momo use to say close you mouth because a open mouth attacks flies. Some things I ain’t got nothing to say nothing about.

Because All that Gossiping is dangerous. 8. The words of a talebearer are as wounds, And they go down into the innermost parts of the belly. Some stuff I just don’t tell. Some stuff I just keep and it’s going to my grave with me. Because as a pastor I’m not going to be out in the streets gossiping about Shiloh, It’s counter-productive. It’s against the rules from heaven.

Solomon says in verse 9 He also that is slothful in his work Is brother to him that is a great waster. And I said woe woe Solomon why is laziness coupled on side of gossiping. And I read then re read and I found that both verses 8&9 are destructive Verse 8 The words of a gossip are like tasty bits of food. People like to gobble them up. Then verse 9 says   A person who doesn’t work hard is just like someone who destroys things. Both are tearing things up. the gossiper and the slothful lazy person are almost one in the same because the outcome are very similar.

Then verse 10 The name of the LORD is a strong tower: The righteous runneth into it, and is safe. I ask the question from a literally point of view, from an English teacher’s prospective from a student of the study of words and phrases point of view Why jump from gossipers to lazy men to Talking about the Awesome Might of God Almighty? Why Solomon? Then verse 10, 11, & 12 gives you the answers. The LORD is like a strong tower; those who do right can run to him for safety. They can talk about you all they want but God is on your side and rich people don’t bit more care about what you’re saying than the man on the moon because the bible says Rich people trust their wealth to protect them. They think it is like the high walls of a city. 12  and then Proud people will be ruined, but the humble will be honored.

I use to only read proverbs for one liner answers to difficult question but now days I want more of the word of God because the world has gotten more wicked than ever before.

Then it’s got scenarios like this look at verse 13.  He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, It is folly and shame unto him. Half truth are worse than lies because knee jerking to a few facts without know the conclusion of the whole matter is like a self inflicting wound. Because Solomon says Anyone who answers without listening is foolish and confused. Don’t jump in the koolide without knowing the flavor it is!!!

Then verse 14. says “The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity;But a wounded spirit who can bear? And sometimes church wounds are the deepest I heard somebody once tell me It would be alright if they did something and didn’t do no more but Rev it’s when they do wrong then do more wrong and then do more wrong … and Wrong seems right and that’s why when old people are sick I leave them alone I don’t add fuel to the fire because Solomon is saying that your will to live can get you through sickness, but no one can live with a broken spirit. Some people can die of a broken Heart. I don’t want to ever be the cause of that kind of trouble. Not me Look at verses 15 & 16 The heart of the prudent getteth knowledge; And the ear of the wise seeketh knowledge. 16  A man’s gift maketh room for him, And bringeth him before great men. In other words, The mind of a person with understanding is going to get knowledge; and a wise person is going to listen to learn even more. And when you do so Your gifts talents and abilities will bring you in rooms of power rooms of influence and rooms of God’s blesseth favor.

Then look at verse 17 He that is first in his own cause seemeth just; But his neighbour cometh and searcheth him. And what this means is there are at least three sides of every story . Your side your neighbor’s side and the truth. Everybody thinks they’re right until the other side of the story is told properly. Yeah because sometimes to settle the argument Solomon says Throwing lots can settle arguments and keep the two sides from fighting. And brothers and sisters keep in mind that verse 19 says that  “ A brother who has been insulted is harder to win back than a walled city, and arguments separate people like the barred gates of a palace. If you start arguing it’s going to separate the church. So don’t argue.

Because Solomon goes on to say in verse 20&21 People will be rewarded for what they say; they will be rewarded by how they speak. 21. What you say can mean life or death. Those who speak with care will be rewarded. What comes out of your mouth could literally be life or death so speak positive, things, Speak positive things, speak positive things. And the church said Amen.the word of power says 21. Death and life are in the power of the tongue: And they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.