Church Family,
It felt good to gather together this past Sunday and kick off our fall sermon series through the book of Ecclesiastes. Whether you were joining us for the first time or returning after a busy summer, I am glad you were with us. This series will run approximately 11 sermons, and I want to encourage you to commit to attending each week, as Ecclesiastes is a book that builds on itself in ways that are easy to miss if you step away for a few weeks. This past Sunday’s sermon is above for you to listen to. Let me encourage you to share as well!
The sermon introduced the book of Ecclesiastes and its central question, found in chapter 1, verse 3 -- what does a person truly gain from all of their labor under the sun? The teacher, likely Solomon or someone writing in his voice, opens with the striking declaration that everything is absolute futility. Through vivid illustrations drawn from the sun, the wind, and the rivers, the text paints a picture of a world that cycles endlessly without arriving anywhere. The text pressed us to be honest about how much of our happiness depends on our circumstances, how often we chase after things that cannot satisfy, and how quickly we are forgotten by the generations that follow us. But the sermon did not leave us there.(praise the Lord!)
The great turning point is this: Christians do not live life only under the sun. The One who made the sun has come to rescue us, redeem us, and give us everlasting life that begins at conversion, not at death.
Ecclesiastes is ultimately a book about wisdom -- the God-given ability to live a beautiful life in a broken world.
Takeaways:
Life under the sun, lived apart from God, is fleeting and empty. .
The things we grasp after cannot make us happy.
Wisdom is the gift that changes everything.
As we move through this series together, my prayer is that God would use this ancient book to do a fresh and real work in each of our hearts. I am not your tour guide on this journey -- I am walking through it right alongside you. But our guide, God the Holy Spirit, is more than sufficient for everything we will face.
I love you and I am thankful for each of you and I cant wait to see you Sunday for sermon #2 going from 1:12-2:26!
On the Potter’s Wheel
Pastor Chris