
Avoid the Five things that will Wreck your life Part 1
Part of Sunday Messages & Discussion Questions
September 8, 2024
Proverbs 8:1-3
Does not wisdom cry out,
And understanding lift up her voice?
She takes her stand on the top of the high hill,
Beside the way, where the paths meet.
She cries out by the gates, at the entry of the city,
At the entrance of the doors:
Spurgeon
“When the ungodly smile upon us their flattery is cruel; when the righteous smite us their faithfulness is kind.”
Proverbs 6: Avoid the Five things that will Wreck your Life
-Avoid Unwise Financial Entanglements: Proverbs 6:1-5
-Avoid Laziness by Choosing Diligence: Proverbs 6:6-11
-Avoid the Schemers (Square Rooters): Proverbs 6:12-15
-Avoid the 7 Pillars of Wickedness: Proverbs 6:16-19
-Avoid Sexual Sin: Proverbs 6:20-35
Avoid Unwise Financial Entanglements: Proverbs 6:1-5
My son, if you become surety for your friend,
If you have shaken hands in pledge for a stranger,
You are snared by the words of your mouth;
You are taken by the words of your mouth.
So do this, my son, and deliver yourself;
For you have come into the hand of your friend:
Go and humble yourself;
Plead with your friend.
Give no sleep to your eyes,
Nor slumber to your eyelids.
Deliver yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter,
And like a bird from the hand of the fowler.
Avoid Laziness by Choosing Diligence: Proverbs 6:6-11
Go to the ant, you sluggard!
Consider her ways and be wise,
7 Which, having no captain,
Overseer or ruler,
8 Provides her supplies in the summer,
And gathers her food in the harvest.
9 How long will you slumber, O sluggard?
When will you rise from your sleep?
10 A little sleep, a little slumber,
A little folding of the hands to sleep—
11 So shall your poverty come on you like a prowler,
And your need like an armed man.
“The activity of any individual ant seemed to have little impact. Nor was it apparent how a single grain of sand had much to do with the big picture of what was forming.”
“Breakthrough results come by a series of good decisions, diligently executed, and accumulated one on top of the other.”
“I am resolved never to lose one moment of time, but to improve it, the most profitable way I possibly can.”
Matthew 6:19-21
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.”
Discussion Questions:
- King Solomon wrote Proverbs 2900 years ago. In Proverbs 6 he gives some very sound financial advice which is wise in our day. Solomons warns that we should not be surety for another person. What does that mean? Have you ever put yourself in that position?
- Solomons advises that we avoid laziness by considering the ant. There are at least three things that ants do that would certainly serve us well if we imitated them. Ants are diligent…they don’t have to be told what to do. Ants know how to prepare for the seasons. Ants leave a trail to success. Explain how each of these disciplines relates to our lives
- Solomon says that Ants store up their food in the summer. That is to prepare for the coming winter. We live in a system of constant and predictable change. If we understand that, we will not be caught unprepared. What season are you in right now, and what are you doing to prepare for the next?