A Word Fitly Spoken Prov. 25:11-13 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO

A word fitly spoken is a beautiful thing – v.11 – to be able to speak a fitting word, two things must be true:

You must be a wise reprover – v.12

You must be a faithful messenger – v.13

In both cases you only need to say a word – in other words, your reproof or your message should be short and to the point.

The wise reprover should first look for an obedient ear – otherwise you will be wasting your words – in witnessing we don’t go on if the person is obviously not obeying what God is showing him.

After finding an obedient ear, the wise reprover needs to reprove – to reprove means to criticize, blame, refute, dress down or scold – Jesus did this extremely well – and you don’t hear very much wise reproving today – Bro. Roloff was good at it.

A wise reprover will use the word of God – not to pick a fight but to stir up the man to righteousness – he’s not afraid to tell a man that he’s a sinner – or that sinners go to hell – or that all men are liars – or that he is a fool to reject Christ – or that a sin in his life is an abomination to God – or that God hates some things – he will also tell him of God’s love and that salvation is by grace – and that the gift of eternal life is free – and that he must receive Jesus Christ by faith in order to be saved.

A faithful messenger is as refreshing as the cold in time of harvest – by comparison, many of us get to work in the A/C – so a faithful messenger refreshes them that send him – by being faithful messengers of the gospel we refresh Jesus Christ who said, “So send I you” – the Holy Spirit sent Paul and Barnabas and he was refreshed by their faithfulness to deliver the message of salvation – to refresh your masters [Jesus and the Holy Spirit] you must be a faithful messenger.

To be a faithful messenger you must – deliver the message [know what the message is, know how to say it, go to the people for whom the message is intended, and tell them] – live your life as a living testimony of what you say [ensample] – continue this until you die or the Lord returns – Paul said that he kept the faith and finished his course – God would be very pleased knowing that he can count on you to tell whom he wants, what he wants, when he wants – He should be able to count on you.