Study on Proverbs 31. Nov 11 th - Introduction to prov. 31, and verses 1-9 Don t give yourself to many partners

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1 Study on Proverbs 31 Nov 11 th - Introduction to prov. 31, and verses 1-9 Don t give yourself to many partners Nov 18 th - Review and now verses A woman who is trustworthy. (With his money, his family, his name, with his love) Nov 25 th - verses A woman who works hard Dec 2 nd - verse 20 A woman who is selfless Dec 9 th - verses A woman who is modest Dec 16 th - verse 26 A woman who is wise Dec 23 rd - verse A woman who knows her roll Dec 30 th - verse A woman who fears the Lord

2 Proverbs 31:1-9 When reading the Bible for yourself ask yourself 2 questions, SO WHAT? And NOW WHAT? So What is God Saying? Intro Who wrote the book? Proverbs is compiled of many sayings by many different people. While the majority was spoken by Solomon, I believe one of his scribed actually penned the Book. King Hezekiah s scribes wrote a lot of this book. Proverbs 31 was spoken by Kin Lemuel, and one of his scribes wrote it down. What is the original audience? Every person who is striving to be wise When was the book written? Solomon began his reign in 971 B.C. and there s evidence that shows proverbs was still being compiled at the time of 686 B.C., the end of King Hezekiah s reign. Where was the author when he wrote the book? Many different settings, for many different occasions. What was the purpose of the Book? The book of Proverbs contains a series of discourses and proverbs on wisdom and wise living in order to convince the readers of the value of wisdom so that they would seek it and apply it in their daily lives. Proverbs is a group of saying that are good things to go by, but not concrete promises of God. Like a proverb of today is an apple a day, keep the doctor away. It helps, and may be true, but its not a certain promise. How does this Book pertain to the rest of the Bible? Now What do we do about it? Look for 1) Lesson to Learn 2) Sin to forsake 3) Promise to claim 4) Example to follow Lets read Proverbs 31

3 Verses 1-9, focusing on verse 3 Verses 1-9 is a poem that King Lemuel s mom told him on how to be a successful king, and it starts out (verse 3) warning him about pursuing woman. The opposite sex is the fall of many great leaders, and can be the fall of us as well. Be A one-woman man, and A one-man woman Be exclusive in dating Verse 3 says Give not thy strength unto women, nor thy ways to that which destroyed a king. This sentence is not separated, women can destroy a man, and vise versa. The time, energy and strength you put into a relationship can never be bought back. Be exclusive when dating look for someone who does not give their strength to multiple people. 1) Doesn t give their strength to someone else (Proverbs 7:5-27) a. Doesn t flirt with anyone else (verse 5) b. Doesn t spend alone time with someone that flirts with them (verse 8) c. Runs from the thought of being unfaithful (verse 25) i. Bad always happens when people are unfaithful (23-27) Think of the goodman (verse 19) who was hurt.. and then she was hurt because she hurt the person she cared about, then he was hurt because he was involved in it all.. 2) Does give their strength to you, and you alone. a. Proverbs 31:3 say women being plural if you are in a relationship, or seeking a relationship, you need to be singular and look for someone who is okay being exclusive,

4 Discussion Questions? Do you know of any famous people who have been destroyed because they were not exclusive in their relationship? How do you see that having multiple partners can be hurtful? Where in Proverbs 7 did the man first go wrong? (Going where the temptation was in verse 8) What does verse 8 look like today? we shouldn t go by their way (snapchat, texting, instant messenger and so on )

5 Be Trustworthy in Dating (Proverbs 31:10-12) Take up prayers Go over scripture we re memorizing before the New Year (Proverbs 31:26-31) Review last weeks material : Proverbs 31:1-9 main verse was verse 3.. Don t spend your energy on women.. women being plural so we should be exclusive in dating This Week, Be trustworthy based off of Proverbs 31:10-12 especially verse 11, the heart of her husband trusts in her First and most importantly, is the person you re thinking about dating, trusting in God? If they are making decisions based off of God leading them, then you have found someone you can trust. Second, can you trust them with your love? Are they someone that s going to be sneaking behind your back, crossing boundaries with other people, are they someone who has cheated before? Can do leave them alone with your friends without worrying? Third, can you trust them with your time/energy? When they are present, are they really present? When you meet with them do you feel better or worse after your time together? DO they always expect you to come meet them at their location, or do they meet you at yours also.. It requires give and take, or the person always giving is going to give out. Fourthly, can you trust them with your money? Are they someone who is an impulse buyer? Are they someone who will spend money on unnecessary things? If you re tight with your money, and they re not, you re going to have a world of problems, and vise-versa. Money problems cause the most issues between married couples. Before you marry, you need to find out if you can trust them with your money. DO they have a consistent job? Do they pay bills on time? Do they have bad credit? You may not ask these things in highschool, but need to be prepared for that later in life. Don t let someone s spending habit surprise you. Where someone spends their money, that s what they find important, are they spending any money on you? Lastly, can you trust them to help you in your relationship with God? It s important to find someone who is trustworthy in more than one area. If this person is bringing you closer to God then they are more than likely bringing you closer in all the other areas. If they are living in any type of sin that is a habit for them, whether foul language, disrespecting parents, disrespecting school authorities, or whatever, if they re pointing you away from God, you need to point yourself away from them.

6 Discussion Questions What are some positive characteristics of a healthy relationship you see of couples here at the church? How have you seen your trust been broken in your life? Maybe not just with dating relationships, but with any relationships. What does it look like to have trust in someone with your money? What does it look like to have trust in someone with your time and energy? What does it look like to trust that someone is going to point you closer to God?