Put Up and Shut Up

Scriptures: Proverbs 13:3, 18:21, 23:15-16, 11:13, 16:28, 18:8, 26:22, 20:19, 10:19, 29:20, 28:23, 15:28, 10:32, 25:11-12, 18:4, 17:27-28, 17:9, 12:25, Ecclesiastes 5:2

In a lifetime of fifty years that we speak, the average person speaks enough to make 12,000 volumes of 300 pages each. If that is the average, just think about the libraries some of us are leaving behind! No wonder Solomon took so much time and poured so much thought into this vital topic. In this message, Dr. Merritt navigates through proverbs to glean important teaching about how we should manage and control our tongue.

"How often we have had to eat words carelessly thrown about on the floor of everyday living. I am referring here to the gossip, to the loose cannon, to the person who indiscriminately goes about spreading rumors like wildfire. People cannot be judged by what others say about them, but they can be judged by what they say about others." --Dr. Merritt

Keywords: Tongue, talk, Solomon, gossip, hear, listen, speech, speak, Eugene Peterson, words, flatter, Richard Nixon, George H.W. Bush, Leslie Stall, confrontation, guide, lips, wise, wisdom, Supreme Court, Miranda, Calvin Coolidge, Royal British Navy, mailman