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Life under the sun Ecclesiastes 1-2 Prayer Through your word we might know you. knowing you we might know wisdom for life. I pray that you might give us ears to hear, eyes to see, and a softened heart to see the reality of our lives and the wonderful truth of your Word. Introduction Ah… another day.…

Solomon was a prolific author. If he lived today, he would be on the New York Times best seller list, multiple times. People would be lining up to read his next book. His songs would be on the top of the charts, just because of the amount of things he wrote. He spoke three thousand proverbs and his songs…

Introduction Ecclesiastes represents man’s best conclusions as he searches for answers “under the sun.” It sets forth deductions based on observations and on logic but not on divine revelation. Ecclesiastes is what a wise man might think if he did not have a Bible. Transition As he wrapped up chapter…

Pre-Introduction Introduction They were vastly outnumbered, and they were out of time. The year was 1529, the Ottoman Empire, now at its peak, had a force of at least 100,000 soldiers marching to the gates of Vienna, a city that had only 21,000 defenders. They were outnumbered 5 to 1. The official in…

Solomon is discussing wisdom and folly in this passage. We gave the first part of this sermon two weeks ago, and basically covered the main point of the whole thing. We find our joy not in our circumstances and how we can manipulate them, but in the God who loves us. Solomon continues discussing wisdom…

Today we are wrapping up this six part study of the Good News called, “Life in 6 Words.” We get these six words by using the word “Gospel” as an acrostic. As a way of review, let’s walk through these six words one final time… G - God created us to be with Him. ( Genesis 1-2 ) O - Our sins separate us…

1 Now it happened, when David and his men came to Ziklag, on the third day, that the Amalekites had invaded the South and Ziklag, attacked Ziklag and burned it with fire, 3 So David and his men came to the city, and there it was, burned with fire; and their wives, their sons, and their daughters had…

God’s not dead… transforming people’s lives, healing hurting people and reconciling relationships. Today, He’s blessing people’s lives and families… Some families live expecting great blessings while others need to experience great blessings. A child asked his father, "Dad, How were people born?" So…

Meaninglessness of Work Without God

Wisdom and Unpredictability Intro Throughout our studies in Ecc. we have taken a look at God’s desire for his creation to live wisely. How God has created this world with certain rules and how it is better if we live within those rules. God is dedicated to helping his people. Those who are devoted to…

Wisdom and Limitations Have any of you heard of something called Decision paralysis? This is something that I witnessed when I worked in restaurants. Specifically, when I worked at The Cheesecake factory. If you don’t know, The Cheesecake Factory boasts a menu of more than 200 items and 30 cheesecakes.…

Wisdom and Joy When God created humanity he created us with the capacity to gain knowledge and to put that knowledge into action. That is wisdom. As we talked about a few weeks ago there are really two types of wisdom: General worldly wisdom, like knowing a tomato is a fruit but not putting it in a fruit…

20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. 22 And on some have compassion, making a distinction; 23 but others save with fear, pulling them out…

We’ve been working our way through the book of Ecclesiastes, a book of 12 short chapters that sits in the midst of the books of wisdom within our Bibles. Ecclesiastes is one of the books we don’t know specifically who wrote it. We do know the author intended to sound like Solomon to whom much of Proverbs…

Can life have any meaning in a naturalistic universe? Physicist Steven Weinberg doesn’t think so. He writes: “The more comprehensible the universe becomes, the more it also seems pointless.” Similarly, Richard Dawkins says: In a universe of electrons and selfish genes, blind physical forces and genetic…

Introduction I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Warrior, Runner, Steward of the Faith The Good Fight Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many…

6 For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that…

Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care…

11 Again I saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift, or the battle to the strong, or bread to the wise, or riches to the discerning, or favor to the skillful; rather, time and chance happen to all of them. 12 For certainly no one knows his time: like fish caught in a cruel net or like birds…

2 “Absolute futility,” says the Teacher. “Absolute futility. Everything is futile.” 3 What does a person gain for all his efforts that he labors at under the sun? 8 All things are wearisome, more than anyone can say. The eye is not satisfied by seeing or the ear filled with hearing. 9 What has been is…

In Ecclesiastes, Solomon adopts an "under the sun" perspective on life. He recognises that life in this world is inherently unfair--rewards don't match effort. How can we handle this? Solomon suggests several responses, but none of them are satisfying. But what if we take an "above the sun" perspective? Does that make a difference?

You would think that we really don’t need to be taught anything about fairness because at least some of us were taught to be fair in kindegarten and Sunday school. share your toys… games… popcorn… when it comes to pie, everyone gets the same amount But as adults we kind of need to look at the issue of…

Welcome Good morning everyone! This morning we are going to jump ahead in Ecclesiastes. Last week we finished chapter 5 but today we are going to skip some chapters and begin to look at chapter 9. This doesn’t mean that 6,7, and 8 are bad chapters, but purely for our times sake, (and so we aren’t going…

Greediness: Having a keen appetite For.... 10 The one who loves silver is never satisfied with silver, and whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with income. This too is futile. 11 When good things increase, the ones who consume them multiply; what, then, is the profit to the owner, except to gaze…

Anointing someone with oil is not a custom we continue in our time, but the meaning behind this cultural ritual is still a part of our world today.