“Wisdom Regarding Work & Wealth”

Proverbs 10:2-5,15; 18:11,23; 19:4,6-7,17; 20:21-23

INTRODUCTION

The Bible says a great deal about money and work. It speaks about earning, spending, saving and giving. The Book of Proverbs in particular discusses issues related to work, money, wealth, and generosity. It also warns about the dangers of money and wealth.

WISDOM REGARDING WEALTH

WISDOM REGARDING WORK

WISDOM REGARDING GENEROSITY

THE DANGERS OF WEALTH

· Money has the power to corrupt your integrity.

· Money can make you distracted.

· Money can make you proud.

APPLICATION

· Be rich toward God (Luke 12:21)

· In Christ you are truly rich. (2 Corinthians 8:9)

CONCLUSION

Beloved, with the help of God’s Word you can have wisdom regarding work and wealth. With the blessing of the Lord, we can experience both: Wealth that comes from honest labor, and generosity that springs from a merciful heart. May the Lord give us the wisdom and grace to use our wealth for His glory and the spread of the gospel.

"On Friendship”

Proverbs 18:24; 27:6,9,10,17

INTRODUCTION

According to the U.S. Surgeon General’s 2023 advisory, America is experiencing an epidemic of loneliness and isolation. Yet, the Bible teaches that we were created by God for companionship, fellowship and friendship. In His Word, and especially the Book of Proverbs, God has provided the wisdom necessary to do that.

THE COUNCIL OF A FRIEND (vv.5,6,9)

THE COMFORT OF A FRIEND (v.27:10)

THE COMPETENCE OF A FRIEND (v.27:17)

APPLICATION

Friends you do not want, and friends you do want.

You have a “Friend” who “sticks closer than a brother.”

CONCLUSION

Beloved, properly applying the wisdom of God found in His Word can ensure that we enjoy the blessings of good friends in this life. We can also look forward to enjoying these dear friends in life eternal! But of all the friendships we could possibly develop, none can excel the one we can have with the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you know Jesus as your Friend who laid down His life for you?

Pastor aaron cavanaugh, associate pastor at bethel baptist church will be joining us and sharing from the pulpit this week.

"Accepted in Christ: Cornelius and the Outpouring of the Gospel to Gentiles”

ACts 10

Religious devotion apart from Jesus is insufficient. God sends his messenger to a religious Gentile Roman centurion named Cornelius who doesn’t know of Jesus’s substitutionary atoning sacrifice. So today, our neighbors, friends and family that may seem to be upstanding citizens must come to know the Lord Jesus Christ, or else they are separated from God.

          The God who can do miracles sovereignly chooses to use the apostle Peter to bring the good news about Jesus to Cornelius’s Gentile family. So today, God is omnipotent, yet He chooses to use you and I as His instruments in bringing our families and neighbors to Christ. When is the last time you gave the good news about Jesus to a lost sinner?

          God cleans what was considered “unclean” as He brings Gentiles into the people of God, shifting Old Testament laws as well as the strategic direction of Acts. As Jesus welcomed tax collectors and sinners to repent and come to God, let us delight in how God welcomes broken sinners and outsiders like us to join in the riches of his grace and kindness through Jesus!

          Whereas the indwelling Holy Spirit had been poured out in a post-conversion experience in Acts 2, a transition occurs where the Holy Spirit now indwells believers from the very moment of salvation. Believers today are not to seek a secondary giving of the Holy Spirit after salvation, but we are to seek to daily and regularly abide in Christ, in his Word, in his love, and in prayerful, Spirit-empowered obedience to his commands.

“Use your words wisely”

Proverbs 10:18-21

Introduction

The book of Proverbs has much to say about speech. Our speech has the power to be used for both good and bad, to tear down and to build up. Each day we make many choices. One of the big choices we make constantly is our choice of words. We choose what kind of words we are going to use. God places value on our words, and our text tells us that our words have consequences.

REPULSIVE WORDS ARE FOOLISH (v.18)

RESTRAINED WORDS ARE WISE (v.19)

RIGHTEOUS WORDS ARE VALUABLE (v.20-21)

APPLICATION

• Negative: Destructive use of speech

  • Lying

  • Flattery

  • Gossip

• Positive: Constructive use of speech

  • Good words

  • Grace-giving words

  • Even-tempered and timely words

CONCLUSION

Beloved, from Proverbs learn the value of being careful with your speech. It will protect you from much harm to yourself and to others. And it will do much good to yourself and to others. This is why Paul wrote to the Ephesian Christians saying,

“Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.”

Ephesians 4:29

“Fidelity in marriage”

Proverbs 5

INTRODUCTION

The Bible, and especially the Book of Proverbs, has a lot to say about adultery and sexual folly that destroys marriage and family, and about sexual wisdom that builds up marriage and satisfies.

THE PRICE OF INFIDELITY (vv.1-14)

THE JOYS OF MARRIAGE (vv.15-20)

THE WATCHING EYES OF THE LORD (vv.21-23)

APPLICATION

• Love your spouse

• Love your Lord

CONCLUSION

Beloved, the price of adultery and infidelity is terrible, which too many learn the hard way. You can avoid it by heeding God's Word. Therefore, love the Lord with all your heart, and love your spouse as Christ loved His bride, the church.

“Trust in the Lord”

Proverbs 3:5-7

INTRODUCTION

Two Sundays ago, we began a series in the book of Proverbs. Today as we continue, we come to the most famous verses of the book. Here in these verses, God has given us straightforward words of wisdom for navigating our lives

LEAN ON THE LORD (v.5)

LEARN FROM THE LORD (v.6) 

LIVE FOR THE LORD (v.7)

· Don’t be conceited about your own wisdom

· Fear the Lord

· Turn away from evil

APPLICATION

· Trust in the Lord with all your heart

· Lean on the Lord for understanding

· Listen to the Lord’s voice in everything you do

CONCLUSION

Beloved, these verses are teaching us that our trust is not in some impersonal ethic (belief) but in the Lord Jesus Christ himself. He requires wholehearted trust. Are you trusting Him with all your heart? Or are you being wise in your own eyes? 

“the preeminence of the beloved son”

Colossians 1:15-23

INTRODUCTION

This week in our VBS we learned that God is Creator, that God knows everything, that God is our safe place, that God is love, and that God is forever. Today, we will see that Jesus is the beloved Son of God who occupies first place in everything.   

PREEMINENT AS CREATOR (vv.15-16)

· Supreme by virtue of His deity

· Supreme as the unique Son of God

· Supreme over all things

· Supreme as the goal of creation

PREEMINENT AS SUSTAINER (vv.17-18)

· Supreme as sustainer of creation

· Supreme as head over His body, the Church

· Supreme as the precursor of Creation

PREEMINENT AS RECONCILER (19-23)

CONCLUSION

Beloved, Jesus is God and is our Creator, Sustainer, and Savior. Therefore, turn to Him and believe in Him. If you are a believer, “continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you have heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven…” (Colossians 1:23).

“The Beginning of wisdom”

Proverbs 1:1-7

Today we begin a short summer series in the Old Testament wisdom book of Proverbs. A proverb is a short, pithy, poetic, thought-provoking saying. It is neither an absolute command, nor an absolute promise. It is a general observation about how life works.  

THE PURPOSE OF THE BOOK (vv.2-6)

• To know wisdom, instruction, understanding, and insight

• To receive instruction in wise dealings, righteousness, justice, and equity

• To give prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the youth

• To give the wise man increased learning and guidance

• To help solve difficult problems and some of the riddles of life

THE FOUNDATION OF WISDOM (v.7)

APPLICATION

• How do you get wisdom?

a) Personal experience

b) Others’ experience

c) Artificial Intelligence (AI)

d) God’s Word 

CONCLUSION

Beloved, the height of wisdom is to fear God, and to know Him through His Son, Jesus, who is Wisdom itself. Without Jesus in your life, there is no way to be truly wise. Have you been saved by confessing your sins and believing in Jesus?

Growing By “Going Back”

2 Timothy 1:1-7 Pastor Jason Coplen

1. A Proper Discussion of Spiritual Growth Must be  Rooted in the Gospel (vv. 1:1-4)

2. We Grow from a Specific Point in Our Lives (v. 5)

3. We Must Feed the Flame of Faith in Our Lives (vv.6-7)

What “Flame” are You Feeding in Your Life?