Pastor Rob Wheeler

April 11, 2010

Financial Wisdom

Proverbs 6:1-11

I. Loans that you cosign for can ensnare you

A. Agreeing to cosign for others can be a trap

Prov 11:15 He who puts up security for another will surely suffer, but whoever refuses to strike hands in pledge is safe. NIV

Prov 17:18 A man lacking in judgment strikes hands in pledge and puts up security for his neighbor. NIV

Prov 22:26 Do not be a man who strikes hands in pledge or puts up security for debts;

27 if you lack the means to pay, your very bed will be snatched from under you. NIV

Prov 20:25 It is a trap for a man to dedicate something rashly and only later to consider his vows. NIV

B. Ask to be released from cosigning if you’ve agreed hastily

Prov 27:1 Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth. NIV

II. Laziness leads only to financial ruin

A. Ants know more than some people

Gen 2:15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. NIV

Col 3:23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, 24 since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. NIV

Deut 15:11 There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land. NIV

Unreliable and lazy

Prov 10:26 As vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, so is a sluggard to those who send him. NIV

Unwilling to work for what he wants

Prov 13:4 The sluggard craves and gets nothing, but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied. NIV

Unwilling to take care of his own needs

Prov 19:24 The sluggard buries his hand in the dish; he will not even bring it back to his mouth! NIV

A procrastinator

Prov 20:4 A sluggard does not plow in season; so at harvest time he looks but finds nothing.

An excuse maker

Prov 22:13 The sluggard says, "There is a lion outside!" or, "I will be murdered in the streets!" NIV

Doesn’t keep up what he has

Prov 24:30 I went past the field of the sluggard, past the vineyard of the man who lacks judgment; 31 thorns had come up everywhere, the ground was covered with weeds, and the stone wall was in ruins NIV

B. Avoiding work leads to poverty and scarcity

Prov 24:33 A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest — 34 and poverty will come on you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man. NIV

Lev 23:22 "'When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the Lord your God.'" NIV

2 Thess 3:10 For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: "If a man will not work, he shall not eat." 11 We hear that some among you are idle. They are not busy; they are busybodies. 12 Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the bread they eat. NIV