Lesson 8
Money, Possessions, & Eternity
The Book of Proverbs
Part 2
Did you know that’s what we’re all doing all through life? Our conscience is God’s ally. It’s inside of us.
When we’re running to do something, for just a moment, that little voice inside of us says, you sure you should be doing
that? Is that good? Do you think God would like that? That is our character. God wants us, in our character, when our
parents aren’t watching, or our boss isn’t watching, or our pastor, or whoever, our supervisor, we want to say, I want
God’s way. That’s the wise way.
Then, there are three major themes in Proverbs. The reason I’m giving you this is to see these answers are scattered
across ten classes, and you may never put them together if I don’t remind you. One of the three major themes is fearing
God. What is fearing God? It’s not thinking He is going to hit you. I haven’t done this slide yet, but I’ll tell you now.
Do you remember Joseph and Potiphar’s wife? All of you know that story, right? Joseph and Potiphar’s wife. Joseph was
in a room, and Potiphar’s wife was in the room, Potiphar’s wife grabbed his clothes and started tearing them off of him.
What does Joseph say to her? How can I do this evil in the sight of God? Potiphar’s wife goes like this and looks around.
She says, where’s God? It doesn’t say that in the Bible, but that’s what was going on with her mind. She was not aware God
was there. Joseph was aware God was there.
Being aware that God is watching is what the fear of God is. It’s not being afraid. Joseph wasn’t saying God’s going to
hit me. God’s going to slap me. He’s going to hurt me. He’s saying God is watching me. Knowing God is watching you is
the fear of God. It’s very healthy. It makes us, when we’re serving Him, rejoice because we know He’s watching. It makes
us, when we’re not serving Him, feel bad because we know He’s watching, and we don’t want to displease Him. Trusting God
and obeying God. So, the three major themes of Proverbs are fearing God, knowing He’s watching, trusting God, knowing He
does what He says, and then making that choice. Like I said, my children would turn and look at me and they had that
instant to obey me, God wants us to obey Him. So, we’ll cover those in every class, but I just wanted to do that now.
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God’s Way+=Wisdom ———- Man’s Way=Foolish
Wisdom (1:7)—————- Foolishness (1:29)
Saved (Narrow Way)———- Lost (Broadway)
Mind of Christ————– Empty Minds
Spiritually Alive———– Spiritually Dead
Sensitive——————- Callous
Worship God—————– Worship Sell (12:15)
Flee Sin——————– Mock Sin (14:9)
Being Saved—————– Perishing (20:24)
Path Brighter Each Day—— Path Darker Each Day
(4:18-19)
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Again, this chart I’ve shown you every time. You can keep adding to it like we’re going to talk today about a work ethic.
God’s way is that we are hard workers. Man’s way is that we are lazy. We get away with as much not working as possible.
This is our 8th Lesson. God wants us to be stewardship-minded. Steward, that’s an English word. Do you know what a
steward is? Someone who takes care of property that belongs to someone else. God wants me to look at everything in
life as belonging to Him and I’m God’s steward. Okay? Then you’ll see the other Lesson we’re going to be covering
today. Boy, we’re covering all the good stuff today. We’re covering money, work, and electronica, the gaming world.
Here we go. This Lesson I call Money, Possessions and Eternity. Proverbs 8, let’s turn there in our Bibles. Proverbs 8
starts in verses 18 through 21. Read Verses 18 to 21.
Proverbs 8:18-21
18 Riches and honour are with me; yea, durable riches and righteousness.
19 My fruit is better than gold, yea, than fine gold; and my revenue than choice silver.
20 I lead in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of judgment:
21 That I may cause those that love me to inherit substance; and I will fill their treasures.
So, Proverbs 8, here we go, verses 18, 19, 20, 21. My fruit is better than gold, even fine gold, and my yield than
choice silver. I walk in the way of righteousness, in the paths of justice, to endow those who love me with wealth,
that I might fill their treasuries. Wow. It might surprise you to know that money is a big topic in the world. The
world revolves around money. In fact, I read the news from Bloomberg. Bloomberg is the premier financial authority
in America. In fact, Mr. Bloomberg himself is worth 60 billion dollars. Do you know how he made it all? By building
a little device that sits on the desk of stockbrokers that shows them everything going on in the world affecting the
markets. It shows the market in India, the market in China, the market in Korea. He put it all in one place, he was
the first one to really do this. It’s the Bloomberg service so that they can see when a storm keeps the Korean
fishermen from fishing, or when a frost causes the bananas to die in Honduras, or when some terrorist event cuts off
an oil pipeline. It was just news that helped money traders.
Money is big. So, guess what? The Bible talks a lot about money. What it says is money is an indicator of our spiritual
heart. How you look at your money determines your spiritual condition. Jesus, talked about money more than anybody else
in the Bible. Most of His stories, most of Jesus’ stories were about money. If you think about it, the parable of the
talents, that’s money. Jesus is always talking about money.
It might surprise you to know that Jesus said more about money than anybody else in the Bible, and He said more about
money than any other single subject.
Money is an index to a person’s character.
It is a measure.
It is a manifestation of the heart.
We cannot fully survey everything that Jesus said about money obviously, but, briefly, this lesson will put you in touch
with the most important things that He said. Which help us to understand the importance of money and how it is that measure
of our spiritual life.
Here’s what God explains in Proverbs about Money, Possessions, and eternity.
And all God’s people said, Amen. Now that’s a Greek word, you know that. Amen. Jesus said that. Verily, verily, I say
unto you. In the New Testament, in the gospels, when He says that, He’s saying the Greek word, Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen
in English means truly or that you agree.
Okay. All of Proverbs is about living life God’s way. All of Proverbs reflects the wrong way to live, man’s way. Now
remember, Proverbs is going back and forth between Solomon remembering how David raised him, and Solomon talking about
how he raised his own son, Rehoboam. Do any of you know how Solomon did in raising Rehoboam? How did Rehoboam, Solomon’s
son, turn out? Not good. He was a spoiled brat, which is what we would call him in America. A rich kid, spoiled. Proverbs,
God’s way is wisdom. Living life God’s way.
So, as we go through Proverbs.
Proverbs teaches us about our relationships, but with whom? I’ve summarized it so that you can see everything in one
place. It talks about how we relate to our parents, how we relate to children, how we relate to friends. So, think
about that. Think about it. It’s all relationships, and I’ve covered parent, child, husband, wife, worker, employee,
and all that. But I want you to think about just the broad spectrum. Our relationship with our parents, whether we’re
a parent to our children or our parents with our children or as children and with our friends.
Proverbs teaches us God’s will for our character. By the way, what’s character? Character is what you are
when no one’s watching you. It’s your default setting. It’s like when your phone goes crazy and there’s something wrong,
you restart it. I don’t know. Apple phones, you have to restart them, and they go back to their default settings.
Character is our default setting. Proverbs says God has a will for what I’m like when no one’s watching. Okay?
Our relationships. God has a will that He’s revealed in Proverbs for how I relate to people.
How I talk.
How many chapters are in Proverbs?
31.
How many days are in most months? 31. See, Proverbs is a great book to get in the habit of reading a chapter a day,
so you go through it every month. Read Proverbs everyday. A chapter a day exposes to this
wisdom.
I talk all the time about the fear of the Lord as the beginning of wisdom. That verse is in two places, but
the first time in Proverb Chapter 1 it says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.
1The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel;
2To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding;
3To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity;
4To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.
5A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:
6To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings.
7The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
The second time is in
Chapter 9:10.
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.
The end of Lesson 8 Part 2
“Only one life to live and soon is past
Only what’s done for Christ will last!”
Hoping to make the time I have left count for the glory of God.
Lesson 8 Money, Possessions, & Eternity The Book of Proverbs Part 2