Before Google Part 5 Series

Before Google Part 5, by Pastor Rob Ketterling

Well, Proverbs is loaded with wisdom, but how many know Nick in the city of San Francisco, not so much. We are enjoying this. We are having fun with this series. There have been several surprises. I've just enjoyed what Proverbs is speaking to us as we look at the series Before Google.

But I did have a surprise this last week. If you remember, I used a tree illustration about Proverbs 22. We talked about parenting. If you missed it, I would just encourage you to go back online and look at that. But we talked about Proverbs 22; Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it. And I used the illustration of the crooked tree in my front yard that was growing into the driveway, and said there is no hope but for it to be dug up. And I came home this week. We were at work and I came home, and I want to show you a picture of what was happening in my front yard. So go ahead and show the picture up there about what was happening in my front yard. Here is picture of the tree in the front yard. I think we have it. The tree was perfectly straight, it was trimmed, it was staked, it was all perfect. And I came home and I said, "Becca, did you do that?"

She said, "No, I thought you did that."

I said, "I have no clue." We looked around. We started talking to people. And somebody heard the sermon and straightened up my tree. So I have been responsible for increasing sales at Dairy Queen. I've been responsible for my tree getting straightened. And it is just a neat surprise. Whoever did that, thank you so much for straightening my tree and making my front yard look good.

And I want to say this, as I saw that tree straightened up, I realized this; there is always hope. How many know there is always hope? Your child may be going crooked, but you raised them in the ways of the Lord. And here is what I just feel with that illustration is there is always somebody that is better with it than you are. There is somebody who has a skill set or time or passion or a burden or has proximity to your child. They may be a long way away from home, they may have wandered far away, but there is somebody that can help get your child back on the straight and narrow. If you have a wayward child, just, again, grab hold of that right now and say, God, please, wherever they are, let someone come along and care enough to pull them back to straight, pull them back to loving you again. And it's never too late. So grab hold of that.

And, again, thank you to whoever did that for us. We appreciate it so much that you took care of that. And have I ever told you about my desire to spend a month in an Italian villa? Just thought I'd share. All right. Too soon. Okay.

Anyways, today, words, the power of words. Let's look at wisdom. And I want to let you know I read the entire book of Proverbs this week. I went through it verse by verse looking to see which ones talked about our words, the power of our words and good words, bad words, all the different things. And there is so much to say, so much to say, so much to say. In Proverbs 30 and all the 31 chapters there is so much there. So I'm going to try to stick with Proverbs as much as possible as we talk about this today.

But I'm going to give you a summary. If you didn't have time to read it all, I want to give you a summary. There is three things I can just tell you to remember about your words that come from Proverbs. Number one, say less. Say less. Number two, speak life. And number three, slander and gossip are a no no.

All right, so if I could just give you the summary, 31 chapters, say it with me. Say less. All right? Say less. I'll say it, you repeat. That's easier. Say less.

"Say less."

Speak life.

"Speak life."

Slander and gossip are a no no.

"Slander and gossip are a no no."

All right, that's the way it is. If you want to know what is there, we are going to look at those three things as we look at it today. Starting with say less. Now I'm going to ask you, what do you need to repent of more often, the things you say or the things you don't say? Things like sins of commission, things that you do with your mouth, or sins of omission times, times that you should have spoken up? And if you are like most people, you have to repent a lot more of the things you said rather than the things you don't say. As you look through Proverbs, you'll see over and over again it is like say less, say less say less, say less. That is great advice.