Stupidity Prevention Week 3
Notes
Transcript
Intro:
Intro:
Review: A few weeks ago when we began talking about the book of Proverbs, we said that the book takes Wisdom and Folly (stupidity) and makes them like women who are trying to get your attention. You have to pick which one you will follow.
Biblical Background: But the book of Proverbs also has another theme running through it, and that’s this - a Wise Father speaking to His son. In other words, someone older is passing down wisdom to someone younger. Someone who has been there before is passing down wisdom to someone who hasn’t been there yet.
It’s like this - If you wanted directions somewhere, it’s a good idea to get them from someone who has been there before. When we went to Belgium a few years ago, we had the missionaries show us around and drive us around. Why? Because they had been there before. They knew where to go and what to do - the rest of us would have wandered around aimlessly trying to figure out where to go and what we should see.
If you want wisdom about life - it’s a good idea to get it from someone who has lived a little while!
Text: Let’s look at a few of these proverbs tonight
Proverbs 1:8-9
8 Hear, my son, your father’s instruction, and forsake not your mother’s teaching, 9 for they are a graceful garland for your head and pendants for your neck.
1 My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you,
Proverbs 3:1
1 My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments,
Proverbs 4:1
1 Hear, O sons, a father’s instruction, and be attentive, that you may gain insight,
Proverbs 5:1
1 My son, be attentive to my wisdom; incline your ear to my understanding,
Proverbs 6:1
1 My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor, have given your pledge for a stranger,
Proverbs 7:1
1 My son, keep my words and treasure up my commandments with you;
Notice - Chapters 2-7 in proverbs all start out with “My Child, my son, or my children.” I think he’s trying to get a point across!
Discuss: What’s the best advice you’ve ever received from your parents?
Remember our Verse from last week? Proverbs 13:20
Bridge: This verse begs the question - who is wise? If hanging around wise people makes you wise, how do you know if someone is wise? If I have questions about life, who should I ask?
Tonight we want to talk about gaining wisdom from others - especially those who are older than us.
Why would we want to do this?
Remember that wisdom is learning how to and knowing how live life well.
Part of it is learning from experience - and what if you could learn from the experiences of others so that you didn’t have to learn from your own stupid mistakes?
This is why it’s important to gain wisdom from those who are older - They’ve been there and they see things and understand things that you and I don’t understand or see.
I want to point out a few things tonight:
Age doesn’t always equal wisdom!
There are a lot of older people who go to jail for stupid stuff.
There are a lot of older people who have no sense.
There a a lot of older people who have ruined their lives and aren’t worth taking advice
Wise people are those who have learned how to make right decisions in life. They learned this by learning from their own successes and failures and by watching and learning from the successes and failures of others. The reason older people are generally wiser is that they have had more time and more experiences from which to learn from.
So when you want to learn wisdom from someone, what should you look for?
How is their relationship with God?
How is their prayer life? (Illustration - Al Force has shared this story with me a couple of times - He said when he first got saved and he wanted to learn how to pray, he would go to church and he would find this older lady who had been saved for years, and he would kneel down beside her at the altar and he would listen to her pray - and he would pray like her.
How well do they know and follow the Bible? Find someone who knows the word of God!
How is their worship?
Find someone who has been walking with God steady for a long, long time. Steady growing and becoming closer to Jesus. These are the type of people you want to follow.
Find someone who has loved Jesus for a long time, through a lot of ups and downs and learn from them!
Application - Some of you in this room may struggle with prayer and with reading your Bible and with growing closer to Jesus - There is a church here full of people who have been there and have pulled through it - These are the people you should find some help from. Listen to them - they’ve been there!
Discuss: Who in your life do you look up to when it comes to their relationship with God? Why?
How is their relationship with others?
How do they react to others when they disagree with them?
Do they get angry easily?
How do they treat their family?
Are they pleasant and fun to be around?
Application - Some of you in here have struggles with parents or with relationships with friends or dating relationships - There is a Church here full of people who have been there at one point or another - and pulled through it in the right way. Listen to them!
Discuss: Who do you admire for the way that they treat others?
How is their relationship with stuff?
How do they view money? Do they spend, spend, spend? Are they stingy?
Do they value all their stuff more than people?
Application - Many of you who are getting older are getting jobs and cars and trying to figure out how to manage all of this - there is a church here full of people who have been there and have incredible perspective on this - listen to them!
Closing
Closing
Tonight we want to close and remind you of this idea - The quality of your life is determined by the quality of your decisions. Make wise choices by learning from the right people.
What are some ways you learn from them?
Watch and observe their lives!
Ask Questions!
Listen!
Put what you learn into practice!
Discuss:
If you could ask someone older than you anything about the way the world works - What would you ask them? Why?
Who is an older person in your life that you would like to spend more time with and learn more from?
