SCRIPTURE: Proverbs 5:1-23 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: 1. “The adultress” symbolizes all sexual sin. This is not just the problem of immoral women, in fact many who have turned to prostitution have done so because they could not otherwise survive in a male-dominated world, and because men were perversely asking for this kind of pleasure. 2. “Drip honey… bitter…
Author: Norm
Mar 27 — Proverbs 4:1-27
SCRIPTURE: Proverbs 4:1-27 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: 1. “Listen to a father’s instruction”. The father expresses his heart concern for his son, please heed this advice! He then shares how his own father (David) had done the same thing to him (“when I was a boy”). 2. The advice is twofold – seek wisdom with all your heart, and…
Mar 26 — Proverbs 3:21-35
SCRIPTURE: Proverbs 3:21-35 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: 1. Solomon gives examples of God’s kind of wisdom: “Do not withhold good from those who deserve it”; “Do not plot harm against your neighbour”; “Do not envy a violent man”. He follows these observations with reasons against these examples of folly. 2. “My son, preserve…” This suggests that we cannot passively…
Mar 25 — Proverbs 3:1-20
SCRIPTURE: Proverbs 3:1-20 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: 1. “Bind them around your neck”. Solomon urges us to cling to wisdom and truth, love and faithfulness, to bind ourselves to them, to let nothing get in the way of our living according to them. 2. “They will prolong your years and bring you prosperity.” If we seek wisdom first we…
Mar 24 — Proverbs 2:1-22
SCRIPTURE: Proverbs 2:1-22 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: 1. Solomon believes that the person who humbly, honestly, sincerely and seriously seeks wisdom and truth will find out how right and good God and His ways are. 2. Wisdom and truth (intergrity) is more important than wealth and happiness. People often pursue wealth and happiness, but do so in a way…
Mar 23 — Proverbs 1:20-33
SCRIPTURE: Proverbs 1:20-23 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: 1. Wisdom (common sense) is not hard to discern, but we have to stop and listen. Solomon describes wisdom like a loving, concerned friend, calling out, warning and pleading with us to pay attention. “Stop, can’t you see, don’t go there!” 2. If we persist in ignoring wisdom, we will eventually pay…
Mar 22 — Proverbs 1:8-19
SCRIPTURE: Proverbs 1:8-19 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: 1. Many times the young feel that they know better, especially than their parents. Solomon urges us to pay attention to what our parents (and others with life experience) have to say. Even if not everything is said in a helpful way, there is wisdom contained in their words. 2. At the…
Mar 21 — Proverbs 1:1-7
SCRIPTURE: Proverbs 1:1-7 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: 1. Solomon wrote these words to help people gain wisdom – not information. We can know a lot of things, yet be very foolish. 2. Wisdom is something like common sense for daily living, for helpful, healthy and successful living. 3. Parables and proverbs capture in simple yet profound ways, in ways…
Mar 20 — Joshua 21:1-45
SCRIPTURE: Joshua 21:1-45 OBSERVATION: 1. The levites, whose task is to serve as spiritual leaders in the community, have their practical needs addressed by begin given towns for their families and pasture for their flocks. They lived among the other tribes, as a visible reminder to the rest of the people of the centrality of their…
Mar 19 — Joshua 20:1-9
SCRIPTURE: Joshua 20:1-9 OBSERVATION: Cities of refuge, places where people could find protection and a fair trial. There were no police, so when crimes occurred, people might take the law into their own hands. I do sometimes wonder how much of this law is Moses, and how much is God’s design. I am referring to Matthew 19:1-9…