BY: John Goodliff
DATE: Sunday 23 July 2023

‘BIBLE PASSAGES: Read online
 Proverbs:
# Chapter 3, verses 27-31
# Chapter 17, verse 9
# Chapter 17, verse 17
# Chapter 18, verse 24

EXCERPT:
“A diminishing circle of friends is the first terrible diagnostic of a life in deep trouble.” (David Whyte)

In an age of isolation and online connection, true friendship can be tricky. And yet, perhaps we need friendship more than ever. In Proverbs we catch a glimpse of the perils of unwise friendship, and the huge befits of friends who bring life.

TRANSCRIPT:
Please scroll to the bottom of this page. 

No youth (ROC SOLID) resources will be available during this series. However, if you have need help or have questions you can find all the relevant contact details from the youth page of our website.

During this series, which is over the summer, we will provide one general set of discussion questions for your Life Group, or to simply use them on your own.

GENERAL DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
These are some questions to provoke discussion together over the summer weeks, on the back of the Sunday talk (ideal if you are watching our Sunday Service online with others in your group):

1 | Was there anything that particularly helped you during the talk?

2 | Was there anything that you didn’t necessarily agree with, or found difficult to understand in the talk?

3 | As a result of the talk, what:

a. Changes do you want to see?

b. Truths do you need to remember?

c. Actions do you need to take?

COMMENTARY:
‘Proverbs’ by Tremper Longman III

With Proverbs, veteran Old Testament scholar Tremper Longman III offers an accessible commentary on one of Scripture’s most frequently quoted and visited books. With his deft exegetical and expositional skill, the resulting work is full of fresh insight into the meaning of the text.

In addition to the helpful translation and commentary, Proverbs considers theological implications of these wisdom texts, as well as their literary, historical, and grammatical dimensions. Footnotes deal with many of the technical matters, allowing readers of varying interest and training levels to read and profit from the commentary and to engage the biblical text at an appropriate level. This built-in versatility has application for both pastors and teachers.

COMMENTARY:
‘The message of Proverbs’ by David Atkinson

Despite the centuries which separate us from the authors of these proverbs, the everyday realities of human existence remain: making friends, coping with sexuality, handling money, responding to poverty, making a living, learning through loss, muddling through difficulties, facing death. David Atkinson shows how Proverbs addresses all these issues. Wisdom, he argues, is about helping to cope; about seeing the world in a fresh way to five new resources for living; about working out what living for God means in the very ordinariness of daily life. These sayings, he explains, bring such concerns to life in vivid, imaginative, often humorous pictures, linking the cosmic and the homely. The ancient book puts a mirror up to our behaviour, and asks: ‘Are you like this? Is there not a better way to live?’ The Bible Speaks Today series covers every book of the Old and New Testaments, as well as Bible themes that run through the whole of Scripture. These revised editions are updated with contemporary language and Bible translations to help you to follow and to teach the Bible in today’s world.

VIDEO:
‘Proverbs’ by The Bible Project

Watch this overview video on the book of Proverbs. It breaks down the literary design of the book and its flow of thought. The book of Proverbs invites people to live with wisdom and in the fear of the Lord in order to experience the good life.

Coming Soon