'Proverbs' Tagged Posts
An Overview of Our Summer Study in Proverbs
We have spent twelve Sundays over the course of the summer taking a good look at the book of Proverbs. You may not have spent much time in this book of the Bible before this summer, but I do pray that the series has helped opened up a wealth of wisdom for you. If it has, then mission accomplished! If you missed any of these summer services, you can find them in the sermon archive (or in the list below).…
What to Do With Proverbs?
As we continue in our study of the Book of Proverbs together this Sunday, I wish to teach you a new word: Paremiologist. You and I are not Proverbians or Proverbers. You and I are paremiologists. Paremiology is the study of proverbs and a paremiologist is someone who dedicates himself to the study of proverbs. There, my work is done here. Please don’t be impressed. I just learned it recently myself. What would you say about the Book of Proverbs?…
Iron Sharpens Iron
Have you ever worked with a dull tool? I have a chainsaw. In fact, I have had many chainsaws in my life. My friend always warned me to be careful to keep the chain away from the dirt because it will grow dull quickly. I have struggled with heeding his warning. The last time I used the saw, it seemed like it took forever to cut through a piece of firewood that normally would have taken me just a quick…
Making Plans: Does It Really Matter?
If we have learned anything over the last 17 months, it’s that when we make a plan of any kind, we’d better be prepared for the reality of needing to change those plans. Just about every plan you’ve made over the course of this year and half has probably needed to change. We’ve changed vacation plans, financial plans, school plans, work location plans, wedding venue plans, and more. Our summer study in Proverbs is all about learning to merge God’s…
Wisdom and Wealth
How impressed with money are you? Imagine for a moment that you are at a large gathering of people—a wedding, or some kind of party. Then a wealthy person walks into the room, someone famous and super-rich! (Insert a name here.) Would you notice? Would you be impressed? Most of us would. But why? I think it is because we are impressed with money and those who make lots and lots of it. Somehow we equate wisdom and success with the accumulation…
God’s Wisdom in My Parenting
We are continuing to study Proverbs all summer, which is a merging of God’s wisdom with our real lives. Many of the proverbs we have highlighted are not well known at all. I encourage you to continue to read through the book of Proverbs for the summer, and highlight some that stand out to you. Some you will find interesting—and a few you will even find odd-sounding. But this coming Sunday’s focus verse is actually one of the most famous…
Talking in the Proverbs
There are more than 7.7 billion people living on this planet, but as you know, there is not one culture. There are many different cultures, and this makes our planet a most interesting place to live. Because there are many different cultures, we do many things differently, of which one is how we talk to each other. Did you know that not everyone talks in the same way Americans do? People from different parts of the world talk with each…
Gossip
In a 2019 study published in a journal named Social Psychological and Personality Science, 467 adults were asked to wear electronic devices on their bodies that recorded their verbal conversations over the course of several days. The researchers listened to the recorded audio files and hunted for conversations or anything that could be identified as gossip. The results were very interesting. Practically everyone engaged in some form of gossip. Only 34 individuals showed no evidence of gossip at all. Seventy-five…
Integrity in the Proverbs
One day, a mother brought her young boy to an old man, and asked him to tell her boy how he was never to eat sugar again because of its harmful effects on his teeth and overall health. The old man didn’t say anything to the little boy that day. However, he asked the mother to bring the boy back again to him one month later. When she returned with her boy, the old man did what he was asked…
A Proverb of Personal Alignment
Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. I have many, many Bible passages that I review, pray through, think about, and from which I apply truth at different times in my life’s journey. But this passage, Proverbs 3:5-6, ranks in the Top 2 for me. (The other is 1 Peter 5:6-11.) This proverb is a cornerstone. It seems to…
Merging God’s Wisdom with Real Life
Merging God’s Wisdom with Real Life: Our summer study in the Proverbs Have you ever read the book of Proverbs in the Old Testament? There’s lots of quotes and sayings that go all over the place. But do you know why Proverbs is in the Bible? Here’s how the book opens to help us understand why this is here for us: Proverbs 1:1-7 (NIV) The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel: for gaining wisdom and instruction; for understanding words of insight;…
Lessons in Humility
It was a quiet Saturday evening. Elena was reading to me and I was playing with my long Covid hair. I had been feeling anxious to cut it for quite some time. As she was reading, I was grabbing locks of my hair and pretending to cut it with my fingers. I interrupted her reading and said, “I think I’m going to cut my hair tonight.” She just nodded as if to say, “Sure, that sounds like a good idea.…