Silver Tongue

A Wholesome Tongue a Tree of Life
Proverbs 15:4
A wholesome tongue is a tree of life: but 
perverseness therein is a breach in the spirit.

When the tongue is guided by the Spirit of God 
and by the words of Holy Scripture it may impart 
truth and express and elicit thoughts which may be 

salutary to those who
 come under their influence. 
Then it is as if a man, in hearing the words 
spoken, did eat the 
fruit of the tree of life in God's primitive 
and undesolated garden.

I. WHAT TOPICS OF DISCOURSE WILL MAKE 
OUR TONGUE A TREE OF LIFE?

1. It is no tree of life when it lies. God is a 
God of truth, and if the tongue speaks 
falsely it is an instrument of 
unrighteousness.
2. It is no tree of life when it defames and 
utters scandal, whether this proceed from 
the thought of your own mind 
or whether it be taken from a neighbour.
3. It is no tree of life when it blasphemes. 
There are irreverent speeches respecting 
God which are a shame and dishonour for
 a man to utter, and which are painful and 
injurious to the auditors.
4. It is no tree of life when it propagates 
error; when it teaches and preaches false 
doctrine.
5. It is no tree of life when the words are 
vicious or unholy. If conversation is false, 
defamatory, foolish, 
irreverent, you grieve the Holy Spirit of God. 
There are four great regions of 
truth in which the tongue may do its duty to 
man and glorify God; 
so that, according to the metaphor of the text, 
the tree may open its 
ample branches, presenting fruit so luscious and 
refreshing that all who pass 
by may eat and regale themselves.

(1) It has liberty when it speaks of the 
works of God in creation.

(2) The second great region is the providence 
of God, or the government of God, in His 
watchfulness over the affairs of men.

(3) Then there is the Word of God. 
There is not a verse or sentence 

from the beginning to the end which may not be the 
subject of investigation and of discourse.

(4) A tongue may be wholesome when we 
speak of things that are especially suitable 
to the circumstances of the people whom 
we are addressing, such as those who need 
comfort and those who are exposed to temptation. 
It may be added that the tongue is a tree of 
life when it speaks of the world before us and 
of the life to come.

II. THE TIMES AND SEASONS OF THE FRUITFULNESS 
OF THE TONGUE AS A TREE OF LIFE.

1. In the sanctuary the tongue of a righteous 
minister is a tree of life.
2. Our tongue may be a tree of life in our 
families, at our morning and evening repast, 
and daily, as we meet at table.
3. When we teach the young.
4. In our ordinary intercourse with one another. 
Every sentiment we advance is a seed that 
will go elsewhere.
5. And at the bedside of the sick and dying. 
The tongue is a small member, but it boasteth 
great things. It may be the instrument of great 
evil or of amazing good. 
The tongue of man is the pivot on which the 
whole system of human society moves.
 Then ask for wisdom, that the tongue may 
utter knowledge. 
Ask for a renewed mind, that there may be 
sanctified speech. - James Stratten

When you Pray...

Dear Father, Your Spirit is at work in me mightily, 
causing me to be more effective in my works of 
righteousness! I am a tree of righteousness, 
producing other trees of righteousness. 
I am empowered to do things beyond the ordinary, 
and I am accomplishing great feats by the Spirit, 
and through the power of Your Word, to the glory 
of the Name of Jesus, Hallelujah. 
The glorious Gospel of the blessed God has been 
committed to my trust, and I am diligent in 
making it known to those in my world, and in the 
regions beyond. My Passion for the Gospel is 
constantly refueled and my enthusiasm undying! 
Through me, many are coming to the knowledge 
of Christ, and into their inheritance in Him, in 
Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Your Words defeats human limitation!

The human body is a limitation of divinity. 
Let me explain this to you. 
When Jesus was tabernacled in human flesh, 
there were things He couldn't do, because 
He was in the human body, even though 
He’s Himself God. 
For example, He couldn't continue every day, 
every hour, without getting tired; 
He had to sleep. Once, He was in the boat, and fell
 asleep, because He was tired.
By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; 
and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth 
(Psalm 33:6).
How Jesus wanted to be free from that body, 
through the Holy Ghost! That's what He got 
for us, letting the Spirit 
loose in us. He couldn’t even minister beyond 
Israel, as much as He loved 
the whole world; He was limited because 
He was a Jew. 
Even the Samaritan woman wouldn't want 
to listen to Him. 
She said, “How can you ask me for water! 
You're a Jew and I'm a Samaritan; we have no 
dealings with each other...” (Read John 4:9). 
Think about the Romans; they would 
have treated Him in like manner.
The limitation of the human body is the 
limitation of divinity in you. 
Jesus was the Word; yet, when 
He was sleeping, the “Word” wasn't sleeping. 
The only reason He had to sleep was 
that the body was tired; the body needed rest. 7
So what does that mean? 
It means that the essence
 of the human spirit
—the human personality—is not the 
physical body, 
because of the body's obvious limitation. 
God, however, designed divinity to be released 
through words! Words are illimitable, 
because they go into the 
realm of the spirit. You can speak from where 
you are and have things 
happen all over the world.
 That's the power of words! 
You can speak from your closet, and it will
 have impact in Heaven.
Words! 
How important your words are! When your 
spirit is in sync with the Holy Spirit, your words 
become spirit and life, 
like the words of Jesus. So, when you have 
a situation to deal with, 
when you have changes to effect, meditate 
on the Word; soak your spirit 
in the Word until only the Word comes out 
of your mouth!

Materialistic Believers
Whenever I read FOXE'S BOOK OF MARTYRS 
(a book which contains stories of fellow believers 
in history who had to willingly suffer terribly or 
die grievously for the gospel of Jesus from the 
apostolic age until this century), I always ask 
myself what would I have done if I was in their 
shoes.
After thinking through this so much I have come 
to conclude that no one can willingly die painfully 
unless he has 
a passionate conviction in his heart stronger 
than the pain in his body 
and more valuable than everything life on 
earth can offer him.
It dawned on me that any pastor who focuses 
too much on earthly and temporary well 
being of life on earth in 
his preaching is doing much harm to those 
listening to him. 
He will never be able to produce believers with 
sterling faith stronger than 
pain and more valuable than earthly pleasure.
It's shocking the number of believers today 
who think the main reason of serving God is 
long life and prosperity. 
The focus of many sermons today is always 
around 'Financial breakthrough', 
'Deliverance from follow-follow spirit', 
'Your marriage is this 
year', etc. 
Many see God like He exists to make them happy.
That's not the faith that was delivered to us.
Those things are good and fine but pastors 
must also teach believers to treat earthly 
things very lightly because 
what we have in Christ is spiritual in nature 
and eternal in value.

LOSE THAT SELF
To think that God allowed trouble to happen 
to another person because they didn't agree 
with you or didn't do 
something you wanted them to do, borders 
on having a mindset of witchcraft. 
You are not the center of the universe and 
God is sovereign and loves 
all, He is not anyone's personal enforcer. 
When people don't know the true nature of 
God, vain imagination takes over.

LEADERSHIP

Leadership can be lonely. It is largely about 
seeing the future before anyone else does 
and acting upon the yet unseen to make it a reality.
Noah built an ark by being warned about 
things which were yet to come. 
God sends warning signals about an emerging 
new order, a world to come which is totally 
different from today's reality.
In leadership you must predict the unintended 
consequence of any decision you make.
If the choice you make today shapes out 
into negative events 10years down the line 
you cannot make the excuse 
that this is not what I intended to happen.
Worst events have emerged from decisions 
made with good intentions but void of wisdom. 
As they say the road 
to hell is paved with good intentions. 
Leadership requires sincerity 
but to that you add wisdom.
Every decision in leadership is a seed and 
it is better to appear wrong today than in 
10 years. - Poju Oyemade