Think Before You Speak: Proverbs 18:1-24

You're listening to the Bible guys, a podcast where a

couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun in

practical ways.

Hey, everybody, we want to welcome you formally and delightfully

formally welcome. Yes, well officially, okay, officially, that's what I meant.

Yes, I didn't mean necessarily.

If we couldn't through the screen or through your radio

speak shake your hand, looking in the eye and say welcome.

That be fun.

It is our privilege to have you here.

Yes, that's some Star Trek kind of thinking right there,

there you go.

That's right.

I would love for the world to be like Star Trek. Okay,

in terms of travel and and you know, beaming.

Well speaking of your favorite movies.

Oh, yeah, for sure.

So today is Trivia Tuesday. Oh that's what I've heard,

or trivia whatever day it is.

You're listening to the like sixty seconds ago.

Yeah, but so we know that Chris knows this movie quote.

Yeah, well some of them.

But let's test his overall movie trivia knowledge.

Oh, you're you're reading with desire, wrote yes, okay.

So can you answer these trivia questions correctly?

Before the segment started, By the way, when we were.

I was reading through them.

Yeah you were. You were saying, it's hard, these are hard.

I wouldn't know these, okay. And I wouldn't know any

of these, okay, and I oh really yeah, and there's

five yeah, but I don't know most of the movie quotes.

You do either, so that doesn't matter. But okay, ready, okay.

What is the name of the boat in Jaws?

It's easy orca?

Oh wow.

Everybody knows that.

Everybody. Everybody knows it except Jeff. Jeff doesn't know this. Okay,

I can't.

You didn't know that.

I did not. Yeah, you know.

It's if you ever met somebody who like knows so

much about football, you're.

Like, dude, just study a bibble verse.

Yeah yeah, yah, yeah right, that's me. Or guys that

know movies. Yeah yeah, right, Okay, here we go. Which

Disney movie was the first full length animated feature produced

in the United States.

Okay, this is not hard.

Come on snow White in the Seven Doors. Yeah that

he risked really, yeah, he risked everything that was like

nineteen thirty nine or thirty eight or something like that,

and he risked.

Everything on snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

So he was about to be bankrupt, and had snow

White not done well, he would have claimed bankruptcy.

Wow, yeah, I had no idea. Yeah, okay, what is

the very first animal scene in Disney's the Lion King

at the beginning?

Yes, yeah, whatever it is?

Okay, First of all, I'm not going to get this,

but I'll take a guess. Let me process it out loud.

So I see gazelle's there's like the meer cats who

come up. There's a rhino, there's giraffe. There's elephants that

eventually come over. I know that the elephants come later.

There's ants.

I could see the.

Whole thing before you before you guess. Yes, you've already

said what the first animal was.

Oh, it's in that group. Yeah, okay, so what is first?

What is first? There's zebra, that's.

Not You've had already said zebra, and I know I know.

Okay, okay, yeah, you're right. Okay, So it's hard. I'm

gonna say the little meercats that pop up.

Nope, ah, but you want to keep going, it's rhino

rhino y according to Dez, I don't know. I don't know.

It's just what's on the shape in front of me, that's.

Right, because it starts off with that low yeah, and

then he and then he starts marching in.

That's right.

In what year was the film Forrest Gump released?

Oh?

Gee, is I'm usually really good at this. I know

it's mid nineties.

I'm I'm gonna say.

It was ninety four. Okay, so two and two? This

is it right here? This is the majority.

Okay, oh, this is the majority.

Yeah. So either yeah, no pressure, no pressure. Which Indiana

Jones film sparked the controversy that led to the creation

of the PG thirteen rating.

First of all, wow, yeah, I did not know that

piece of trivia one of the Indiana Jones led to

controversy that invented the.

PG The creation of the PG thirteen rating, well, obviously,

I'm just gonna.

Have to talk this out.

It's either a the ending of part one, because it

was the only controversial part where his face melted off,

which I wouldn't think would be that number two. Oh,

there's a lot of number two templa doom. There's a

lot there with reaching into the heart and pulling out

the heart and the voodoo, the evil that's that's that's

monkey brains, monkey brains is comical but yet creepy. Then

number three was not controversial at all.

The Holy Grail.

It's more Nazi or Nazisi.

But but there was nothing creepy at all about it.

So I'm gonna have to see the Temple of Doom.

It was the Temple of Doom.

There you go.

You worked it out. I worked it out like that.

You worked for that win.

Hey, I I did not realize that, did you.

I didn't know. I told you. I didn't know any

of these, so so that was a mystery to me too.

Hey, but but but Indian Jones are some of your favorite.

Oh yeah, I like the Indian Jones movies.

Huh.

It's not like I study them.

I just well, but you hear something and you remember it.

Well, I'll remember that forever now, you think. So yeah, absolutely, yeah,

next time I watched, I'll go, did you know? Because

that's that's me. I have. My head's full stupid little

trivia things.

It's like Oscar on the on the Office. He's he's

the he's the guy that's known to be Actually yeah, actually, actually, okay,

that was fun. But I missed almost half of them.

No, no, you got three, right? You got sixty percent correct,

All right, almost half better than half, better than half,

better than half.

I missed almost half.

You're a winner.

That's a winner.

You would have won an election with sixty percent of

the vote.

There it is, Yeah, you said it.

Yeah, you would have won. Okay, So I have no

no transition Oh yeah, transition transitions. I'm trying. I can't

find one.

Hey, speaking of speaking of winning, winning of facts that

we don't normally think about, Solomon Pepper's the Book of

Proverbs with these facts that we should always try to remember.

Yeah, that one works. Or I was going to say,

speaking of winning, Solomon tells us how to win it.

Life of Proverbs? Is that a good one? That's okay? Good?

Good, good, that's better.

So if you don't know when you're new to the show,

we're trying to figure out how to do the cheesiest

transitions into.

Yeah, and by the way, this is a new thing.

Yeah, this is only a couple yes, weksl okay. So

we are in Proverbs eighteen. Now we're just going chapter

after chapter, and we're looking at these little slogans. They're

all one liners of wise sayings that are usually true

in life. And so Solomon says in chapter eighteen, verse one,

unfriendly people care only about themselves. They lash out at

common sense. Fools have no interest in understanding. They only

want to air their own opinions. Doing wrong leads to

disgrace and scandalous behavior brings contempt. Wise words are like

deep waters. Wisdom flows from the whys like a bubbling brook.

It is not right to quit the guilty or deny

justice to the innocent. Fool's words get them into constant corals.

They're asking for a beating. The mouths of fools are

their ruin. They trap themselves with their lips. Rumors are

dainty morsels that sink deep into one's heart. A lazy

person is as bad as someone who destroys things. The

name of the Lord is a strong fortress. The godly

run to him and are safe. The rich think of

their wealth as a strong defense, and they imagine it

to be a high wall of safety. Haughtiness goes before destruction.

Humility precedes honor. Spouting off before listening to the facts

is both shameful and foolish. The human spirit can endure

a sick body, but who can bear a crushed spirit?

Intelligent people are always ready to learn. Their ears are

open for knowledge. Giving a gift can open doors. It

gives access to important people. The first to speaking court

sounds right until the cross examination begins.

Wow.

That's a good one, isn't it.

Yeah.

Flipping a coin can end arguments. That settles disputes between

powerful opponents. An offended friend is harder to win back

than a fortified city. Arguments separate friends like a gate

locked with bars. Wise words satisfy like a good meal.

The right words bring satisfaction. The tongue can bring life

or death. Those who love to walk talk will reap

the consequences. The man who finds a wife finds a treasure,

and he receives honor from the lord. The poor plead

for mercy, The rich answer with insults. There are friends

who destroy each other, but a real friend stick closer

than a brother. That's good, and well, there you go.

The word friends is in quotes.

There are quote unquote friends who destroy each.

Other, right, but a real friend sticks close to the brother.

Did we do a thing at heritage? I'm struggling with

my throat today. Did we do a thing at heritage

where we.

Couldn't tell me? Yeah? Yeah, yeah, people who act like

your friends but.

Aren't yes, frenemies Yea. So yeah, there's a lot there

isn't there.

Yeah, you know, So this would be a good time

to reference this idea whenever you do. Whenever I do

a basic study of any kind, like a devotional thing,

I like to use the soap acronym. Right, soap sap

s means you start with the scriptures. So the scripture

in front of us here today is Proverbs eighteen, right,

and we read it and so we just read that

and we read it all the way through. It's always

a good I to read out loud. Sometimes you hear

it in a different way. Whatever. So if you're with

a friend like I, let's say you wanted to do

this show, but you're hanging out at Starbucks, a good

way and around the world. This is what we teach

people is you read it out loud. Have your friend

read it out loud, so both of you are hearing

it out loud. There's something special about that. I don't

know why, but you just remember more. So start with scripture,

and then the O is observations. And what you're observing

is what does it say about God? What does it

say about people and what really just jumps off the

page and captures my attention? Right? So there's only one

phrase in here that talks about God, and that's the

name of the Lord is a strong fortress? Right is

that the only one?

I think?

So? Yeah?

I think so yeah.

So these are life principles that have to do with

others and yourself?

Yeah, yep.

And so then the other side is what does it

say about people? Well, man, the whole chapters about people?

Right then, like you and I like to do, will

often go so what jumps off the page at us

and the front of me? Thing jumped off the page

at you or whatever? Right, there's several of those things then,

So s is you start with the scriptures? Oh, you

start with observations? What's to say about God? What does

it say about people? And what really jumps off the

page or captures my attention? And then the a is application?

So then is there a command to obey? Is there

a sin or a behavior to avoid? Is there something

I should begin doing? Is there a promise to claim? Right?

Those kinds of things? What does this mean to my life? Really?

How do I apply this to my life? Who should

I tell this to? Those things? And then p you

just wrap it up with prayer. Right, God, Hey, this

is what I learned today, This is what I feel

like you taught me. And you go through what you

learned about God, what you learned about humanity in general,

the things that really captured your tension, and then God,

I see this, you know, this thing to avoid, I

should be careful about letting my words get me into chorls,

or I should be careful about, you know, talking too

much when I really don't know what I'm talking about. Whatever,

you know, because I see these things, and so then

you tell God what you saw, and then you're tell

him as a result of that, this is what I

want to do over the next day or two or three.

Help me with those things, you know, as you go

on and the rest of your prayers. So soap is

a really great acronym. And really that process is really

how you and I filter through all these chapters.

Anyways, right, yes, yeah, really, yeah, you know, so observing

and then what jumps off of the page at you? Yeah, thirteen,

spouting off before listening to the facts is both shameful

and foolish.

So here's a question.

Already, know what you can say? No, but that's good,

that's good.

No, I was just gonna say, do you have a

tendency to do that?

Do you think yourself or do you think that's something

that other people do to you?

Yeah? No, I do that. I very quickly get to

the end of what you're saying sometimes and I wind

up saying dumb things. And do you think that that

particularly hurt my wife with that a lot? Yeah?

And do you think that that's just like a part

of a personality wiring.

I mean, obviously it's something that could.

Be learned, right, No, it's just because I'm a fool,

of the Bible says, and we've already talked about it, the fools.

You know, you can't fix a fool, So no, no,

it is. It's one of those things. The reason why

Solomon has to tell us all these things is a

wise person reads those things and goes, oh, I should

work on that, and a foolish person goes, that's dumb, right, right, right.

So I think a wise person would say, yeah, I

think I struggle with that. I'd jump into an answer

too quickly sometimes rather than hearing the whole story.

And that's part of the teachability thing that we talked

about was it yesterday?

Yep, Yeah, that's that's really good. That's really good.

Well, it says in two verses later, intelligent people are

always ready to learn.

That's right, and their ears are open for knowledge.

So the idea that, like, you know, because the reason

why I asked that question, by the way, is because

there are certain personalities that want to get to the end,

you know, like, don't give me that. In fact, I

had lunch with somebody yesterday and he said, he said, yeah,

he goes, I'm not a detailed person. He said, don't

give me the labor, just give me the baby.

Well, I think for men in general, we tend to

be fixers. We want to fix a thing. Yeah, that's

a really generalized statement, but it seems to be true.

And so I am that. So if not everybody, lots

of people, I go into meetings you've been in meetings before,

where I go in and I just I'll ask a

probing question and sit back, just let somebody talk for

twenty minutes, trying to figure out what are they thinking,

why are they doing, what they're doing whatever, Let them

talk it out, and then I'll jump in sometimes. So

you see me do that too, but particularly if somebody

comes in. And I'm not super fond of problems, but

I like solving problems. Probably the first really really good

job I've ever had in my life, I was working

for Marriott Hotels and I've been there about six weeks

and my boss comes in, a boss. He wasn't even

my boss, but a boss. We had twelve hundred and

eighty rooms. We had nine hundred employees at our one hotel.

I'm Michigan Avenue in Chicago, nine hundred, so it was

a big hotel. And so this boss comes. He says, hey, Jeff,

keep coming in to my office. I said sure. He says,

you like the talk and I said yeah. He said

you like interfacing with people? I said sure. So I

noticed the job that you have is behind the scenes

all the time. He said, are you good at problem solving?

I said yeah, I think so. He said, can I

run you through a battery of test? I think I

have a cool job for you. I said sure. So

they ran me through this battery of tests and it's

all problem solving, tests, quick problem solving, and how do

you delight people? But I just didn't realize that was

the thing. And so then they put me in charge

of I answered every single complaint from all twelve hundred

and eighty rooms every night. That was my job. I

had thirty people that would just run and go solve

all the problems from every single complaint in the hotel.

That's what I did, and I loved it. What Yeah,

you know that I loved that job.

I knew everything about you working at Marritt Hotels except

for that that was your job descript.

Yeah yeah, like wow, So complaints all night? Now did

you talk with the people who complained or did y?

Yeah? The phone? So this was really cool. This was

back in you know, nineteen ninety color Ide was like

brand new. So I had a phone on my desk

and I knew every single room, and then I would

print off a manifest of everybody that was in the

in every hotel room. And then I went to booking

and I discovered what the codes were, and then I

would figure out how many nights a year did you

stay in one of our hotels and were you traveling

on a business expense or your own personal expenses? And

so then I would make highlights, make notes so I

knew who I was talking to. So then you call

from room twelve eighty five, and i'd be able to

see twelve eighty five. Oh, he's a high roller. He's

traveling with a business account and he stays sixty five

nights a year. Well, buddy, i'd back off, you know,

bend over backwards for your your pillows not fluffy, and

you want to tell me off, I'm going to send

you to out for stake in the Blue Man group

and a limousine. Right. Oh, I could spend fifteen hundred

dollars to keep you happy per person per room. Yeah,

for the high rollers. Yeah, if you've been in our

hotel for fifteen nights a year, I could do almost

anything to make you happy. Wow. So it was fantastic, right,

So because I was highly empowered, I delighted in solving

people's problems. It was famb because it turned into a game.

So instead of me getting mad, shut up, you're an idiot.

That was a fluffy pillow. Instead I was like, oh, sortain,

I'm so sorry. What can't I do to make you happy?

You know what I'm going to send up, you know,

six pillows. You'll be able to test them all out.

But in the meantime, you should not have to suffer

through that kind of stuff. We delight in providing better service.

Why don't I just give you and your wife a

fifty dollars gift card to our steakhouse downtown or downstairs?

Yeah?

What right? So I'd send in ten extra pillows, let

them pick them all out, because you know, different pillows

have different fluffiness to them. We had all these different

styles or blankets or whatever. I'd send them four extra

boxes of chocolates, the whole nine yards. And you know,

if you stayed there forty nights, fifty nights a year.

So for me, that that problem solving thing was a

delight in that, and that became a big part of

my life, just trying to solve people's But because of that,

my wife comes sometimes she wants to talk to me

about how she feels about a thing. Yeah, And I go, yeah, yeah,

I hear you. Here's what you should do. Yeah, And

she's like, wasn't looking for an answer, didn't need you

to fix it. I want you to feel it with

me for a minute.

Yeah.

And that's where that's where I would say that spouting

off thing comes from. Because I'm quick to try to

solve a problem and she's not want me to solve

the problem, She's want me to feel the problem for

a minute.

Yeah. So us a clip yesterday with Family, Modern Family

and Phil. You know, he's my favorite character almost on

any TV show ever created ever. Okay, he he's married,

you know, uh, with the with the family.

There family, But anyway, so he's but he's he's.

Sitting there with like a green mask on, with a

bunch of women at some salon or something, right, because

he has these like tendencies and he goes, what, ladies,

what are you trying to tell me? He goes, you're

trying to tell me the next time. My wife says, oh,

I got stuck in traffic. He goes, I shouldn't say,

why don't you try leaving half an hour earlier?

No, so what you're saying is I should just say,

oh that that's too bad, honey. They're like, yes, it's hilarious.

Yeah yeah, And he's and and then and then I

get more ridiculous, he goes, and then she's trying to

tell me the next time that she says, uh that

that uh, the water this waiter that I had was horrible.

I shouldn't look at her and say well, hey, why

don't you try ordering something on the menu for once?

That shouldn't say that.

Yes, So usually when I'm spouting off before listening to

the facts, it's it's with my wife. Yeah right, it

seems like so twenty two says the man who finds

a wife finds a treasure. There it is, Isn't that true?

Yeah?

It is true.

Gracious, ye I.

Tell Bonnie all the time, she's the best thing in

my life, best person in my life, my favorite human

on the planet, right, because it's just she is. She's

a treasure in my life. That's awesome, and it's a

favor from the Lord. That favor is Jeff, you're going

to screw up your life if you don't have a

good woman in your life. Here you go. There, It

is right, That's what it was.

Yep.

And and Liz, you're my treasure too, baby.

Oh yeah, but Liz, I just want to point out

I said it about Bonnie first, so Chris is just

copying that.

I just had to I just had to match it.

That's what I did, Okay, first time a twelve Haughtiness

goes before destruction.

Humility precedes honor.

Haughtiness is such a gross word.

Yeah, it's it's actually hard to understand.

Yeah, oh it's pride, right right, but it's like a

worse word than pride.

It feels worse. Yeah.

Yeah. But but humility procedes honor. I love that. That's

a that's a rule for life, isn't it.

Yeah?

You know you it's it's like George Costanza and Seinfeld.

He's the one that wanted to give himself a nickname.

Do you remember that? And they called him Coco. The monkey.

Ride goes before destruction, humility proceeds.

My point is is that is that you others bestow

upon you honor, right, and so so you can't bestow

honor upon yourself. You can try the people who are

self important and try to demand respect, right, But that's

not what.

It's talking about.

It's talking about, Uh, you know, if you if you

live your life and humility, and by the way, it's

even you get more honor the higher higher up you go. Right,

So the higher the more influence you have, the greater

role you have. If you stay humble, the more honor

will be stowed upon you, right right.

Yeah, So you can't demand honor, but you can be

an honorable person. Yeah, right, and eventually people will notice

that you can't demand respect, but you can decide to

do respectable things. And so it's really a behavior thing

that captures people's attention, and then people bestow honor and

respect on you. It's something that's earned, it's not something

that you can demand. And yeah, so in this one,

humility precedes honor. When you choose to be humble, people go,

that's the kind of person I want to be a wrong yeah,

And then and then.

I think the last thing that I that really jumped

out of me is it says the mouths of fools

are their ruin. They trap themselves with their lips. And

there's something to be said about all the other places

in the scripture that talk about, you know, to be

slow to speak and be quick to listen in the

Book of James, because it talks about the tongue is

so powerful and it could set the forest on fire

and everything else. But but actually it says here that

there are mouths that actually lead fools to ruin, and

you trap yourself with your lips because have you ever

met somebody who talks out of both sides of their mouth?

Oh?

Yeah, and they'll say something.

To somebody, and then they'll turn right around to the

other party and say what that person wants to hear, right,

and they and they'll they'll they'll trap themselves without even

realizing it because in their own little bubble, you know,

they're they're they're fine. But what they don't realize is that,

you know, the world connects, and when the when the

dots connect, you know, they've they've basically sealed their fate

with their lips.

Well, that's Solomon says in the verse rate before it. Fools,

get fool's words, get them into constant carols. They're asking

for a beating. Yeah, and sometimes that's the only solution

for a fool. Several times in the Book of Proverbs

it says the only answer for a fool is a beating. Right.

So yeah, And by the way, I'm not suggesting that,

I'm just saying life is going to be way harder

for a foolish person who's not careful with their words.

And by the way, you know, you know a lesson

I learned at my second church. So I've only been

at like four or five churches in my whole career,

but my second church that I worked at, I learned

this lesson. Actually, I learned the lesson that whatever you

share with anybody, regardless of whether it's in complete confidence

or anything else, it will always, always, always, always make

itself back to either that person or somebody close to

that person.

And so it's like, no matter what you.

Say about anybody at any time, it is always going

to come back around. Yeah, yeah, right, So there's almost

nothing unless unless it's more like a leadership employee kind

of discussion, right, Like like if you and I were

talking about an employee in confidence but for the right reasons, right,

not for the bad reasons, but for right now reasons,

and we had to do like an assessment or something

like that, and we can share on a leadership level

type confidence. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm not

talking about those kinds of leadership.

It's a whisper. The gossiping, Yes, that'll always come back.

It is the sharing of opinions about somebody, how you

feel about somebody, your opinion about somebody. It doesn't matter

whether it's a boss or whether it's an employee. If

you think it's in confidence, you just know if you're

on a staff, it will always.

Go back to You got to be careful what the

kind of friends you have. If your friends like hearing gossip,

they also like sharing gossip. Right, that's true, Right.

That's true. Yep.

Hey, well that probably wraps up our time and so

hopefully we will see you next time on the Bible. Guys,