Proverbs
A woman who fears the LORD is to be praised!
Form Wise Friendships
Let’s just say it: forming friendships as adults is hard, and forming quality ones is even harder! But, the Bible (and specifically the Psalms) repeatedly tells us of the importance our friendships hold for our spiritual health and, ultimately, our lives so it’s of the utmost importance that we fight the temptation to isolate or settle for anything less than the best. The BIG IDEA Pastor Paul unpacks this week is: Form Wise Friendships and as we unpack this, we’re going to see essentially three ways, according to Proverbs, that we form wise friendships:
Choose wise friends
Exchange wise counsel
Stick together
Quit Before the Quarrel Breaks Out
Use Your Words to Bring Life, Not Death.
Cultivate Happiness
Giving is Better than Keeping.
Gluttony is Godless
Gluttony: it’s more than we’ve been taught to believe and actually reflects a sinful heart posture that’s completely devoid of God’s presence.
Build Wealth Righteously
A Slack Hand Causes Poverty, But the Hand of the Diligent Makes Rich
Proverbs teaches that God has created the world such that certain ways of living generally pay off and other ways of living generally don’t; these statements are not promises but rather generally true principles and as we continue our journey through this book of wisdom, this week we’re looking at Proverbs on Work. Fortunately, scripture is pretty clear on this one and what Proverbs has to say on work can be mostly summed up in this:
BIG IDEA: A slack hand causes poverty, but the hand of the diligent makes rich (Pr. 10:4).
How can we apply a diligent hand to the word that God has given to us so that we can truly prosper? And, to take it a step further, how can we apply a diligent hand to the whole of our lives?
1. Work hard at the right time
2. Work skillfully in a distracted world
3. Live with the mess without exaggerating it.
Justice is the Lord’s delight.
What does the Bible say about justice? This question feels especially poignant in the days of catchy hashtags and lawn signs; so, how does God feel about this “buzzworthy” concept? Graciously Scripture is abundantly clear here, and the answer is the Big Idea of Proverbs on Justice: Justice is the Lord’s DELIGHT! We want to delight him, but we have questions. This morning, God, through the Book of Proverbs, will help us answer three questions so that we can, as the prophet Micah says, do just, love kindness, and walk humbly with our God:
1. What is justice?
2. How do we do justice?
3. Why does justice matter?
Pattern Your Parenting After the Fatherhood of God
Our parenting is downstream from the Fatherhood of God, which brings us to the big idea of Proverbs on parenting: Pattern your parenting after the Fatherhood of God.
How do we do that? Three words capture Proverbs’ vision for parenting:
1. Delight
2. Disciple
3. Discipline.
Honor God With Authority and Honor God Under Authority
Proverbs assumes that God has delegated authority into this world and that the presence of this authority should be treated as the hunter safety course treats the rifle. Proverbs also provides extensive instructions about how to honor God when you have authority and how to honor God when you’re under authority because authority is an incredibly powerful gift for accomplishing great things in this world, but when authority is misused it’s as deadly as a rifle. That brings us to what Pastor Matt unpacks the big idea of Proverbs on the topic of authority: Honor God with authority and honor God under authority. Honor God with authority and honor God under authority. This morning we’ll take that big idea in two parts: 1. Honor God with authority 2. Honor God under authority.