SLBC Ministries

🌿 Wise Advice — A Biblical Thought
📖 Proverbs 11:14
“Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety.”
✨ 7 Wise Pieces of Advice from the Bible
1️⃣ Put God First
📖 Matthew 6:33
👉 Seek God first in every area of life.
2️⃣ Trust God Completely
📖 Proverbs 3:5-6
👉 Trust the Lord more than your own understanding.
3️⃣ Guard Your Heart
📖 Proverbs 4:23
👉 Your thoughts and desires influence your actions.
4️⃣ Choose Friends Wisely
📖 Proverbs 13:20
👉 Wise companions help you grow; foolish companions can lead you astray.
5️⃣ Be Quick to Listen
📖 James 1:19
👉 Listen carefully before speaking or reacting.
6️⃣ Walk in Humility
📖 James 4:6
👉 God gives grace to the humble but resists the proud.
7️⃣ Live for Eternity
📖 Colossians 3:2
👉 Focus on things that have eternal value.

🌸 Conclusion:
Wise advice is not merely human opinion—it is truth rooted in God’s Word. Following biblical wisdom leads to a life that honors God and blesses others.

🙏 Challenge:
Ask yourself: Am I following God’s wisdom or merely my own ideas? ✨📖🙏

WHY EVERY PREACHER SHOULD WRITE

James L. Melton

Since a false balance is abomination (Pro. 11:1), I suppose it's fair to say that one of the greatest imbalances and abominations among preachers today is their obsession with videos versus their neglect of good, old-fashioned writing. While both mediums have their place, it is quite clear that most of our fundamental Baptist preachers favor videos. This is a huge mistake, for reasons that I've given before, but I'd like to spend a few words today stressing why writing is a very good practice for anyone, especially preachers:

1) WRITING MAKES YOU THINK. When you have to write or type out your words, you have more time to think about them and be sure that you're saying the right thing the right way. Usually in a video this isn't the case, and you end up saying things that you wish you could recall.

2) WRITING PERFECTS YOU. Since writing makes you think, it allows you to think of better ways to say things and perfect your skills. For instance, when preaching a live-stream sermon, you might say, "While reading my Bible yesterday, I seen an ambulance speed past our home . . ." That's incorrect grammar, and you'll look foolish for using it, but once you've said it in a video, it's probably not going to be corrected, and you might not even have the opportunity to notice the error. But when writing, you always see each sentence right in front of your eyes, and you can make corrections before publishing anything. You can even run online grammar checks. Some of the brethren will mock this and say that they don't care about "proper grammar," but apparently God does care about it, since we don't see Peter, Paul, James and John using a hillbilly vocabulary.

3) WRITING MAKES BETTER CONNECTIONS. People who say, "I learn more from watching something than from reading" are speaking in ignorance. That's like a baby thinking that he can move faster by crawling than by walking. That's only true, if he never learns to walk. Anyone can walk faster than they can crawl, and anyone can learn more from reading than from watching, IF they become good readers. But the lazy and carnal mind would rather not make the effort, so the myth prevails. If you want to reach smart people with your message, then you will spend some time writing, because smart people READ. They always have and always will. If you want only a dumbed-down audience, that's your business, and you can do only videos, but if want to reach smart people, then spend some time writing, because smart people read.

4) GOD SAID TO READ AND WRITE. I won't take cheap shots here by overemphasizing the fact that "God never made a video," since the technology wasn't available before the twentieth century, but the reality is that he COULD have allowed the technology to exist thousands of years ago, but he didn't. Instead, he WROTE A BOOK and then commanded us to READ the Book, and he put no drawings or paintings in it, only words. Reading and/or writing are mentioned over 500 times in God's word, so it must be of greater importance than some of the brethren think.

5) WRITING PRODUCES BETTER RESULTS. Many like to argue that "Lots of people watch my videos and enjoy them." Well, lots of children will eat cake and ice cream all the time, if you let them, and they'll praise you highly for it, but SHOULD YOU DO IT? The simple fact is that literature, not imagery, produces great minds and great people. Jefferson and Madison were great readers. Limbaugh was a great reader. Spurgeon and Talmadge were great readers. Clarence Larkin was a great teacher because he was a great READER. It is quite ironic that so many of Dr. Ruckman's followers watch his videos, instead of reading his books, since over 99% of his own intellectual learning came from READING, not watching! Folks, I'm not condemning videos, for they certainly have their place, but the gross imbalance that we have today among believers is truly an abomination (Pro. 11:1).

Furthermore, it's interesting that nothing at all is said in Revelation of the Antichrist's followers ever reading anything; they just worship the IMAGE of the beast. That's something to think about, if you still know HOW to think.

There are other reasons for preachers writing, but those are five brief ones. Please consider them prayerfully. Thanks for READING. 😁

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