Week 1

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Week 1

• Introduction

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Dont just sit there!

• Well come across this idea later
• There are four types of people in Proverbs
• Wise, scorners, fools, simple
• For now, know that
• Youll have to READ
• Youll have to THINK
• Youll have to CHANGE
• or Proverbs is of little use.

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What is a proverb?

• A ___ and his ___ are soon ______.
• Short
• Memorable
• They give principles, not promises
• They dont explain they assume

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Hebrew Poetry

• The genre of the book of Proverbs
• Based on parallelism
• Generally, this is Idea 1, idea 2
• Each proverb takes two thoughts and
• Equates them (synonymous ? AND)
• Contrasts them (antithetic ? OR)
• Emphasizes them (synthetic ? AND)
• Illustrates them (comparative ? SO)

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Wisdom Personified (81-912)

• Depicted as a woman crying out
• To all men
• Especially the simple and the fool
• Three aspects
• Her message and words
• Her qualities
• Her purpose

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Next week The Foundation of Wisdom

• The Purpose of Proverbs (11-17)
• Wisdom Personified (81-912)

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Week 2

• The Foundation of Wisdom

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No pain, no gain?

• Unless you learn from someone else
• Proverbs is a book of experience
• You can learn from Solomons experience
• Or you can make your own mistakes
• Guess which one is more painful?

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Why study Proverbs

• Its the word of God
• Its a book of Wisdom
• Rules about living and relating
• Based on the Law
• What is wisdom?
• Its teachable
• Its rooted in fear of God

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Why seek wisdom

• For skill, knowledge, and correction
• Four characteristics of Godly wisdom
• It is rational
• It is moral
• It makes distinctions
• It is impartial

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Four types of people in Proverbs

• We will see these types over and over
• The wise willing to learn be corrected
• The scorner unwilling to be corrected
• The fool unwilling to learn
• The simple he just plain doesnt know
• Keep these types in mind!
• Well be seeing them again and again

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Next week The Search for Wisdom

• Seek Wisdom (120-222)
• Keep your Heart (423-427)

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Week 3

• The Search for Wisdom

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Wheres the battle?

• If its between you and the world
• Youre going to loose
• The world is bigger, stronger, nastier
• It doesnt have to be that way, though!
• What if it was God vs. the world?
• Proverbs puts Gods wisdom in our hands
• Which puts God in our corner!

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How should we seek wisdom?

• We must be open
• To Gods truth
• To Gods correction
• We must be fearful
• Of the consequences of refusing
• Of the consequences of disregarding
• Of the consequences of ignoring

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Keeping active, keeping fit

• What to do with wisdom?
• Receive it
• Use it
• Seek it
• Value it
• Internalize it
• Express it
• Exercise it
• Contemplate it
• Stand firm in it

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Pressing toward the mark

• Covet Gods rewards for wisdom
• Peace
• Knowledge
• Protection
• Direction
• Understanding
• Deliverance
• Direction

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Next week The Benefit of Wisdom

• The Benefit of Wisdom (31-326)
• Be Kind to Others (327-335)

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Week 4

• The Benefit of Wisdom

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Worldly wisdom

• Worldly wisdom vs. Godly wisdom
• Opposed to one another
• Man focused vs. God focused
• What does worldly wisdom get you?
• Well, a pictures worth a thousand words
• So what does Godly wisdom get you?
• Im glad you asked

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Conditional benefits

• Some benefits have conditions
• Obedience to God is a given
• These must be benefits of exemplary obedience
• This depends on that
• Life ? study of Gods word
• Favor ? mercy and truth
• Guidance ? eyes on God
• Health ? humility
• Material blessings ? giving to God
• Relationship with God ? accepting correction

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Unconditional benefits

• Seem to be a byproduct of wisdom
• Happiness
• Pleasant life
• Eternal life
• World knowledge
• Safety
• Peace
• Absence of fear
• Confidence

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Kindness to others

• More conditional promises
• A set of related conditions and consequences
• Do all this or youll get all this!
• Do good to others
• Avoid delay
• Avoid evil
• Avoid arguments
• Avoid envy
• Consequences
• Cursed or blessed
• Scorned or favored
• Shamed or glorified

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Next week Godly Labor

• Avoid Financial Entanglements (61-65)
• Do Not Be Lazy (66-619)

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Week 5

• Godly Labor

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Working hard, or hardly working?

• Enthusiasm without ability
• Think of a little kid with a hammer
• Oh, I just need to hit it harder!
• How we work
• Just as important as how hard we work
• We dont want to be lazy
• We certainly dont want to be ineffective

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Dealing with money

• Why is money a problem?
• Timothy 610 love of money
• What are we to do?
• Avoid financial entanglements
• With friends
• With strangers
• If you cant avoid, alleviate!

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Alleviating financial problems

• How to get yourself out of a money jam
• Dont get in one in the first place!
• If youre already there, though
• Be decisive
• Admit the problem
• Find the resolution
• Fulfill your obligation
• Make every effort to free yourself

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Dealing with work

• Go to the ant
• Foresight thinking about what youre doing
• Economy no wasted effort
• Industry enthusiasm and endurance
• The caution
• Ignoring the example leads to poverty
• Poverty leads to perverse wickedness

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Next week Godly Friends

• Avoid Bad Company (110-119)
• Avoid the Wicked (414-422)

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Week 6

• Godly Friends

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Who influences you?

• When were in a group
• We do things we otherwise might not
• Theres a desire to fit in
• Friends can build up or tear down
• If groups can do dumb things
• Then think before you join a group!
• Make sure theyll hold you up
• Instead of tossing you out the plane.

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What does God say

• About who to associate with?
• Not a whole lot
• The implication is obvious other wise men
• About who to avoid?
• Certain groups of people (bad company)
• Certain individuals (the wicked)
• You have to be concerned about both

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Evil groups bad company

• How to identify them?
• Their words will be enticing
• The inclination is to spread the blame
• How to avoid them?
• Dont put yourself near them
• Know about their traps and snares
• Know their final end self-destruction

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Evil men the wicked

• Compare the two warnings
• Bad company keep away
• Wicked men keep far away
• Identifying the wicked
• Their character betrays them
• Evil and violence are their pleasure
• They are the opposite of the wise man

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Next week Godly Family

• Stay Faithful in Marriage (515-523)
• Wisdom for Women (3110-31)

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Week 7

• Godly Family

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Bliss or bluster?

• What is a marriage?
• The most unique relationship
• Two people who choose one another
• Why is marriage important?
• Gods first ordained institution
• A picture of Christ and the church
• Why do marriages fail?
• Bitterness, anger, faithlessness
• What makes some love, and some leave?

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The blessings of fidelity

• Proverbs 515-23
• Water essential for physical life
• Fidelity essential for marital life
• The way to fidelity
• Rejoice in your relationship
• Exclusive
• Permanent
• Delight in one another
• Spiritually
• Physically
• Emotionally

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The danger of infidelity

• What infidelity costs you
• Joy
• Delight
• Companionship
• What infidelity gets you
• Sin before God
• Willing entry into self-slavery
• The character of a great fool

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The Godly woman

• Psalm 31 woman
• A picture of a Godly woman
• Intended as advice for a young man
• Provides a guide for young women
• The fortunes of a godly woman
• She is respected (in and out of the home)
• She is praised (publicly and privately)
• She is blessed (spiritually and materially)

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Next week Ungodly Women

• Avoid the Strange Woman (51-514)
• Avoid the Evil Woman (620-635)
• Avoid the Harlot (71-727)
• Avoid the Foolish Woman (913-18)

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Week 8

• Ungodly Women

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Water hazards

• How do sailors handle reefs and rocks?
• They know how to recognize them
• They plan to stay well away from them
• They stop and turn back if they have to!
• Sexual immorality
• Reefs and rocks in the sea of life
• We must plan to avoid them
• or we will become a warning to others.

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Strange women

• Who are they?
• Anyone you should not be with
• Immoral persons (1 Corinthians 59)
• Unbelievers (2 Corinthians 614)
• Imagination and reality
• An illusion of pleasure
• A reality of pain
• What you loose honor, joy, wealth, labor, life
• What you gain rebellion and the scorn of God

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Evil women

• Is there a difference?
• No an evil woman is a strange woman
• You should not be with her, period.
• What is the danger?
• The visual aspect of desire
• We must be careful what we see and show
• Job 311 I made a covenant with mine eyes

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The foolish woman

• Her character
• Vain, empty, noisy
• Silly, gullible, foolish
• Also called a harlot (Proverbs 7)
• Her activity
• Idle, a busybody
• Impudent, distracting
• Her price
• Innocence, folly, and death

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Next week Godly Separation

• About the Godly and the Wicked (101-1533)

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Week 9

• Godly Separation

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Standing up and standing out

• You will conform to the ______
• TV, Movies, music, reading
• Work and hobbies
• Where you live, what you wear
• Who you hang out with
• What fills in the blank for you?
• If it the world, or the Bible?

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Godly communication

• The righteous man
• Sure in his speech
• Blessings and life
• Protected and prospered
• The wicked man
• Violence and perversity
• Pride and provocation

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Godly correction

• The righteous man
• Concerned with correction
• On course and intelligent
• Humility and honor
• The wicked man
• Wandering and ignorant
• Hubris and humiliation

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Godly certainty

• The righteous man
• Knows what fear of God brings
• Extension and confidence
• Life and satisfaction
• The wicked man
• Condemnation and extermination
• Striving and death

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Next week Godly Attitude

• About Godly Living (161-2216)

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Week 10

• Godly Attitude

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Whats at your core?

• A pearl is beautiful
• to us but not to the oyster!
• Life can be very different from another POV
• Out attitude affects others profoundly
• We can be soothing, or irritating
• We can be gloomy, or grinning
• We can be angry, or amiable

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Prepare your heart

• First step
• I want to have the right attitude.
• How God prepares you
• His purpose is perfection
• His counsel is for consolation
• His chastisement is for correction

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Prepare your spirit

• Second step
• I will have the right attitude.
• How you prepare yourself
• Be humble
• Be in control
• Be convicted

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Prepare your soul

• Third step
• I will learn to have a right attitude.
• Seeking proper attitude
• Prefer solutions over sacrifice
• Prefer wisdom over wealth
• Prefer reputation over riches

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Next week Godly Emotions

• About Lifes Situations (2217-2434)

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Week 11

• Godly Emotions

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Youre one in a million!

• There are two ways to read that
• Youre unique
• Youre common
• Both are true
• Everybody is different
• But there are a lot of ways we are similar
• Emotions are the common denominator
• What are good/bad emotions? Why?

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Envy

• An overdeveloped sense of self
• Rooted in pride
• Results in insecurity
• Removes our reward
• Warning signs
• Lack of fear
• Love of schadenfrude

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Greed

• Unhealthy concern over earthly possessions
• Rooted in pride
• Seek the eternal, not the material
• Warning signs
• Easy gain
• Deceptive gain
• Overwhelming opportunity
• Temporary treasure

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Anger

• A hot displeasure
• Rooted in pride (Do you see a pattern here?)
• Happens when our self-worth is attacked
• Warning Signs
• Forget where real worth comes from
• Associating with angry people
• Acting to gain revenge

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Next week Godly Relationships

• About Relationships (251-2628)

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Week 12

• Godly Relationships

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You are the weakest link!

• No man is an island
• We all relate to other people
• We all have other people relating to us
• Regardless of other people
• We all relate to God in some way
• That is the main relationship
• It is demonstrated in our earthly relations

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Good and bad relationships

• Good relationships
• Pleasing to God
• Profitable to us and others
• Bad relationships
• Displeasing to God
• Destructive to us and others

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Good relationships

• Reasonable
• Willing to give and take advice
• Friends who want resolution, not restitution
• Faithful
• Honest and willing to serve
• Christ is our ideal and example
• Patient
• Characteristic of sacrificial love
• Gods patience with us is our ideal

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Bad relationships

• Without conviction
• Given over to appetites and passions
• Directionless and defenseless
• Without faith
• You cannot take confidence in them
• They will betray your trust
• Without truth
• Foolish, conceited persons
• Liars, flatterers, gossips

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Next week Godly Deeds

• About Activities (271-2927)

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Week 13

• Godly Deeds

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I will break you.

• Thats the attitude of the world
• Its a dog eat dog world!
• Youve got to step on some fingers
• Those who want to see us fail
• How can we prepare for their attack?
• What can we do to disappoint them?

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Understanding

• Doctrine teaching whats right
• Fear of God
• Results in wisdom
• Leads to certainty
• Focus on self
• Results in ignorance
• Leads to uncertainty

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Rebuking

• Reproof telling you its not right
• Censer, admonish, convict, reprove
• A true sign of love and respect
• Proper rebuke
• Always based on scripture
• Done out of love
• Done privately
• Reserved for the wise

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Planning

• Correction how to make it right
• You know where you want to be
• Now, how will you get there?
• This is the whole point of Proverbs!
• The wise man will walk in Gods way
• The wise man will plan
• To do good
• To avoid evil

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Debating

• Instruction how to keep it right
• The idea is one of profitable discussion
• The implication is a discussion about God
• Characteristics
• Based on Scripture
• Repeated exploration and discovery
• An encouragement to those involved

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What to do with what you know

• Ecclesiastes 1213 Let us hear the conclusion
  of the whole matter Fear God, and keep his
  commandments for this is the whole duty of man.
• James 417 Therefore to him that knoweth to do
  good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.