PRUDENCE 3: SPEECH, People And SITUATIONS

Colossians 4:6New International Version (NIV)

6 Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

Matthew 12:34-37Amplified Bible (AMP)

34 You brood of vipers, how can you speak good things when you are evil? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. 35 The good man, from his [inner] good treasure, brings out good things; and the evil man, from his [inner] evil treasure, brings out evil things. 36 But I tell you, on the day of judgment people will have to give an accounting for every careless or useless word they speak. 37 For by your words [reflecting your spiritual condition] you will be justified and acquitted of the guilt of sin; and by your words [rejecting Me] you will be condemned and sentenced.”

Romans 13:8Amplified Bible (AMP)

8 [a]Owe nothing to anyone except to [b]love and seek the best for one another; for he who [unselfishly] loves his neighbor has fulfilled the [essence of the] law [relating to one’s fellowman].

1 Peter4:8GNT

8 Above everything, love one another earnestly, because love covers over many sins. 1 Peter 4:8 GNT

1 Corinthians 13New King James Version (NKJV)

The Greatest Gift

13 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned,[a] but have not love, it profits me nothing.

4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8 Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part. 10 But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.

11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.

13 And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

God’s Love and Ours

7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 

8Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 1 John 4: 7-8 NIV.

PRUDENCE 2: Speech, People And SITUATIONS

Matthew

7:1-6GNB

Matthew 8

1 “Do not judge others, so that God will not judge you, 2for God will judge you in the same way as you judge others, and he will apply to you the same rules you apply to others.3Why, then, do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, and pay no attention to the log in your own eye? 4How dare you say to your brother, ‘Please, let me take that speck out of your eye,’ when you have a log in your own eye? 5You hypocrite! First take the log out of your own eye, and then you will be able to see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye. 6 “Do not give what is holy to dogs — they will only turn and attack you. Do not throw your pearls in front of pigs — they will only trample them underfoot.

Ecclesiastes 7:15-18New International Version (NIV)

15 In this meaningless life of mine I have seen both of these:

the righteous perishing in their righteousness,
    and the wicked living long in their wickedness.
16 Do not be overrighteous,
    neither be overwise—
    why destroy yourself?
17 Do not be overwicked,
    and do not be a fool—
    why die before your time?
18 It is good to grasp the one
    and not let go of the other.
    Whoever fears God will avoid all extremes.

Psalm 37:23-24New International Version (NIV)

23 The Lord makes firm the steps
    of the one who delights in him;
24 though he may stumble, he will not fall,
    for the Lord upholds him with his hand.

30 "The mouths of the righteous utter wisdom, and their tongues speak what is just. 

31The law of their God is in their hearts; their feet do not slip. 

32The wicked lie in wait for the righteous, intent on putting them to death; 

33 but the LORD will not leave them in the power of the wicked or let them be condemned when brought to trial. 

34 Hope in the LORDand keep his way. He will exalt you to inherit the land; when the wicked are destroyed, you will see it. 

35 I have seen a wicked and ruthless man flourishing like a luxuriant native tree, 

36 but he soon passed away and was no more; though I looked for him, he could not be found. 

37 Consider the blameless, observe the upright; a future awaits those who seek peace. 

38 But all sinners will be destroyed; there will be no future for the wicked. 

39 The salvation of the righteous comes from the LORD; he is their stronghold in time of trouble. 

40The LORD helps them and delivers them; he delivers them from the wicked and saves them, because they take refuge in him" Psalm 37: 30-40 NIV. 

Psalms 120

 9Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word. 10With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments. 11Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.

Psalm 119: 9-11 KJV.

Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.

Psalm 119: 105 NIV.

Psalm 119:130New King James Version (NKJV)

130 The entrance of Your words gives light;

It gives understanding to the simple.

Psalm 32:1-2New King James Version (NKJV)

The Joy of Forgiveness

A Psalm of David. A Contemplation.[a]

32 Blessed is he whosetransgression is forgiven,

Whose sin is covered.

2 Blessed is the man to whom theLord does not impute iniquity,

And in whose spirit there is no deceit.

Romans 4: 4-10 GNT (GNB).

4 A person who works is paid wages, but they are not regarded as a gift; they are something that has been earned. 5 But those who depend on faith, not on deeds, and who believe in the God who declares the guilty to be innocent, it is this faith that God takes into account in order to put them right with himself. 6 This is what David meant when he spoke of the happiness of the person whom God accepts as righteous, apart from anything that person does:

7 “Happy are those whose wrongs are forgiven,
    whose sins are pardoned!
8 Happy is the person whose sins the Lord will not keep account of!”

9 Does this happiness that David spoke of belong only to those who are circumcised? No indeed! It belongs also to those who are not circumcised. For we have quoted the scripture, “Abraham believed God, and because of his faith God accepted him as righteous.” 10 When did this take place? Was it before or after Abraham was circumcised? It was before, not after.

1 John 4:15New Living Translation (NLT)

15 All who declare that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God.

1 Corinthians 12:3New International Version (NIV)

3 Therefore I want you to know that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.

Romans 10:10-11New International Version (NIV)

10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. 11 As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.”

1 Peter 2:6New International Version (NIV)

6 For in Scripture it says:

“See, I lay a stone in Zion,
    a chosen and precious cornerstone,
and the one who trusts in him
    will never be put to shame.”

2 Corinthians 13:12-14New American Standard Bible (NASB)

12 Greet one another with a holy kiss.13 All the [a]saints greet you.

14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.

PRUDENCE 1: Speech, PEOPLE and Situations

Intro: 

Colossians 4:6King James Version (KJV)

6 Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.

Body:

Proverbs 19:2King James Version (KJV)

2 Also, that the soul be without knowledge, it is not good; and he that hasteth with his feet sinneth.
New International Version
Do you see a person wise in their own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for them. Proverbs 26:12.

 Proverbs 26: 17-28 GNB

17Getting involved in an argument that is none of your business is like going down the street and grabbing a dog by the ears. 18-19Someone who misleads someone else and then claims that he was only joking is like a mad person playing with a deadly weapon. 20Without wood, a fire goes out; without gossip, quarrelling stops. 21Charcoal keeps the embers glowing, wood keeps the fire burning, and troublemakers keep arguments alive. 22Gossip is so tasty! How we love to swallow it! 23Insincere talk that hides what you are really thinking is like a fine glazeon a cheap clay pot. 24A hypocrite hides hatred behind flattering words. 25They may sound fine, but don't believe him, because his heart is filled to the brim with hate. 26He may disguise his hatred, but everyone will see the evil things he does. 27People who set traps for others get caught themselves. People who start landslides get crushed. 28You have to hate someone to want to hurt him with lies. Insincere talk brings nothing but ruin.

Proverbs 6: 12-15 ESV
12A worthless person, a wicked man,
goes about with crooked speech,
13winks with his eyes, signals^c with his feet,
points with his finger,
14with perverted heart devises evil,
continually sowing discord;
15therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly;
in a moment he will be broken beyond healing.

James 1: 21-25 ESV

21Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

22But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror.24For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.