In Western culture, the adults have invented a new game that I like to call “Climb the Ladder.” In Climb the Ladder you look at those people who are above you on the rungs of success. You spend so much time looking at life on their rung – such as the car they drive, house they live in, clothes they wear, food they eat, and social events they enjoy – that when you look down at your rung beneath them you find yourself unhappy.
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.
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!
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.
Some of us worship our work, while others of us love being lazy. Keeping the Sabbath keeps us from those twin idols, and reminds us that Jesus’ has finished his redemptive work, allowing us to enter into his rest. This sermon explores 7 reasons we Sabbath and 7 ways we kill it.
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.
Jesus is in heaven, serving the church and giving gifts. He gives us himself, the Holy Spirit, and other people. To each Christian he also gives spiritual gifts to be cultivated (1 Cor. 12; Rom. 12; Eph. 4; 1 Pet. 4). Some have multiple gifts and different levels of a gift. God gives gifts to equip the saints and build up the body of Christ. Your gift is not your identity, but how are you gifted?
Mordecai and Esther aren’t perfect, but they’re making progress and changing. Mordecai’s faith is activated in mourning and weeping. He trusts that God is always with his people, and that God is in control. Esther’s faith is action in the face of opposition and possible death. Only she can serve as mediator to reconcile Xerxes and her people, just as Jesus is the one mediator between God and men.