Aug 30, 2020
Pursuing Wisdom Pt. 6
Practical Wisdom
By Louie Marsh, 8-30-30-2020
Intro. 4 pictures
1) Use money wisely, don’t CO-SIGN any loans.
1 My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor, have given your pledge for a stranger, 2 if you are snared in the words of your mouth, caught in the words of your mouth, 3 then do this, my son, and save yourself, for you have come into the hand of your neighbor: go, hasten, and plead urgently with your neighbor. 4 Give your eyes no sleep and your eyelids no slumber; 5 save yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the hand of the fowler. Proverbs 6:1-5 (ESV)
26 Be not one of those who give pledges, who put up security for debts. 27 If you have nothing with which to pay, why should your bed be taken from under you? Proverbs 22:26-27 (ESV)
1 The earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein, Psalm 24:1 (ESV)
2) Give God my all by working HARD.
6 Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise. 7 Without having any chief, officer, or ruler, 8 she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest. 9 How long will you lie there, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep? 10 A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, 11 and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man. Proverbs 6:6-11 (ESV)
23 Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. Colossians 3:23-24 (ESV)
3) I need to know how to RECOGNIZE a con man (or woman).
12 A worthless person, a wicked man, goes about with crooked speech, 13 winks with his eyes, signals with his feet, points with his finger, 14 with perverted heart devises evil, continually sowing discord; 15 therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly; in a moment he will be broken beyond healing. Proverbs 6:12-15 (ESV)
24 But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people 25 and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man. John 2:24-25 (ESV)
9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? Jeremiah 17:9 (ESV)
4) Seven activities I must AVOID.
16 There are six things that the LORD hates, seven that are an abomination to him: 17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, 18 a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, 19 a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers. Proverbs 6:16-19 (ESV)
The purpose of this kind of numerical pattern (x and x + 1) is not to give a complete list. Instead it is to stress the final (x + 1) item, as the culmination or product of its preceding items. - The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures by Dallas Seminary Faculty.
19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Galatians 5:19-21 (ESV)
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1) Aside from tithes, offerings & charitable giving, how can I use my money to honor God?
2) Why is hard work valuable to God, what does it do for us?
3) How can I learn to discern a “worthless person” or con-person?