Your Stuff, Your Savior, Your Satisfaction: Ecclesiastes 5:8-20
Continuing in the Ecclesiastes series, Pastor Mark Driscoll is preaching out of Ecclesiastes 5:8-20 on the class conflict between the rich and the poor.
Continuing in the Ecclesiastes series, Pastor Mark Driscoll is preaching out of Ecclesiastes 5:8-20 on the class conflict between the rich and the poor.
he world is filled with people, and it is tough to figure out which ones you should befriend, allow access to, take advice from, and do life with.
Do you think you’ve ever worked a day in vain? Do you think you’ve ever shed a tear in vain? Do you think you’ve ever read a Bible verse in vain? Do you think you’ve ever confessed a sin in vain? Do you think a bullet has ever been fired in vain? Do you think a meal has ever been eaten in vain? No. God makes everything beautiful in its time. When? In its time! In HIS time!Do you think you’ve ever worked a day in vain? Do you think you’ve ever shed a tear in vain? Do you think you’ve ever read a Bible verse in vain? Do you think you’ve ever confessed a sin in vain? Do you think a bullet has ever been fired in vain? Do you think a meal has ever been eaten in vain? No. God makes everything beautiful in its time. When? In its time! In HIS time!
If you stop to think about your work, what it’s accomplishing, and why you should keep working, you will likely end up very discouraged, start wearing black, and listening to bands fronted by people whose dad did not hug them enough. But, this kind of reflection on “why we do what we do” is rare because we are so stressed out by our work that we lay awake at night, so overwhelmed by what we have to do that we don’t even have the time or energy to ask if we should be doing it.
Something has gone terribly wrong and no matter how many organizations we start, elections we hold, wars we fight, dollars we spend, attempts we make, protests we hold, medications we prescribe, bad guys we lock up, or tears we shed, the world is hopelessly crooked and cursed. This bothers us, so we want to straighten it out. The problem is that not only is everything on the earth crooked, so is everyone on the earth. We are all crooked. Every one of us.
The ungodly rich have abandoned Jesus’ instructions, and now James has some strong words for them. This sermon examines how individuals become the type of people James rebukes and what happens to their understanding of stewardship and their view of God.
The ungodly rich have abandoned Jesus’ instructions, and now James has some strong words for them. This sermon examines how individuals become the type of people James rebukes and what happens to their understanding of stewardship and their view of God.
What are you looking forward to, hoping for, dreaming about? Visions lead to plans. These can be God-willed; sometimes, however, they leave out God completely (“Godless”) or are so vague it’s hard to tell whether they involve God at all (“God-light”). James warns us that life is too uncertain, brief, and important to abandon our priorities.
What are you looking forward to, hoping for, dreaming about? Visions lead to plans. These can be God-willed; sometimes, however, they leave out God completely (“Godless”) or are so vague it’s hard to tell whether they involve God at all (“God-light”). James warns us that life is too uncertain, brief, and important to abandon our priorities.
What comes to mind when you think of your father or mother? For some, the thought is uplifting. For others, it’s devastating. Yet the Bible says, “Honor your father and mother” and provides no exception clause for those of us who have had horrific experiences at the hands of our parents. So what does it means to honor them? How do we do this?
Jesus says that people are prone to worship God or money. Money, perhaps along with sex, is the most pernicious, pervasive idol in our culture today. Despite whatever the Bible has to say about it, it’s a topic that’s met with the greatest resistance. This sermon looks at what God’s word has to say about issues of stewardship, and greed versus generosity.
The most important person in your life is your father. He has more power than anyone to influence you—for good or for evil. Hearing the word “father,” does it conjure up amazing memories, or does it cause you to sense loss because he has abandoned, betrayed, failed you? What kind of father are or will you be? Strive to become like Father God and bless your children the way he has blessed you.