Welcome to Wisdom Today with Bill Kelley. Today we will be going over Proverb 26. I will then key in on verses 20-22: Where there is no wood, the fire goes out; And where there is no talebearer, strife ceases. As charcoal is to burning coals, and wood to fire, So is a contentious man to kindle strife. The words of a talebearer are like tasty trifles, And they go down into the inmost body. Friends, these three verses tell us to not begin gossiping about other people, and to not involve ourselves with gossip if at all possible. These verses go very well with our study of James, Chapter #3. Today I will go over the first six verses in this chapter. After reading these verses in their entirety, I will ask the audience to ponder three things: 1. Speak the truth - verse 1 of Chapter 3 tells us that teachers will be held to a higher account than those who are not teachers (teachers here could mean pastors, or simply people who share the Word of God with their friends or family members). 2. It is easy to stumble in the words we speak (Proverbs 18:21 tells us that Death and life are in the power of the tongue). We can bring forth life (in the words we speak) and encourage people, or we can bring forth death (and depress people). We can, and should choose carefully the words that come out of our mouth. 3. We need to tame our tongues (verse 6 of the 3rd Chapter in James) is critically important to understand the power of the words we speak. We should consider carefully the words that we will be speaking and not take them lightly.
