Introducing Ecclesiastes, Morning Praise (3)
April 21, 2013 · Ecclesiastes
Scripture referenced 5 passages
The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
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Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 read before the offering as the conclusion of the whole matter: fear God and keep his commandments
13 This is the end of the matter. All has been heard. Fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man.
14 For God will bring every work into judgment, with every hidden thing, whether it is good, or whether it is evil.
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Keep this verse
1 Kings 3:5-13
read to show how Solomon received his wisdom, God appearing to Solomon in a dream and granting his request for a discerning heart
5 In Gibeon, Yahweh appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, “Ask for what I should give you.”
6 Solomon said, “You have shown to your servant David my father great loving kindness, because he walked before you in truth, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with you. You have kept for him this great loving kindness, that you have given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is today.
7 Now, Yahweh my God, you have made your servant king instead of David my father. I am just a little child. I don’t know how to go out or come in.
8 Your servant is among your people which you have chosen, a great people, that can’t be numbered or counted for multitude.
9 Give your servant therefore an understanding heart to judge your people, that I may discern between good and evil; for who is able to judge this great people of yours?”
10 This request pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing.
11 God said to him, “Because you have asked this thing, and have not asked for yourself long life, nor have you asked for riches for yourself, nor have you asked for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern justice;
12 behold, I have done according to your word. Behold, I have given you a wise and understanding heart; so that there has been no one like you before you, and after you none will arise like you.
13 I have also given you that which you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that there will not be any among the kings like you for all your days.
World English Bible · Read it in another translation
Ecclesiastes 12:8
quoted as the near-end declaration that everything is meaningless
8 “Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher. “All is vanity!”
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Ecclesiastes 12:13
quoted directly as the conclusion: fear God and keep his commandments for this is the whole duty of man
13 This is the end of the matter. All has been heard. Fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man.
World English Bible · Read it in another translation
Exodus 3:5
cited as the mission team verse about standing on holy ground, take off your shoes
5 He said, “Don’t come close. Take off your sandals, for the place you are standing on is holy ground.”
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Recap
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
Pastor Ray opened a new short series on Ecclesiastes, one of the harder books to sit with, and used it to speak honestly about a week that had left a lot of people shaken. He tied the book's central question about meaning directly to what he sees happening in Jackson and at First B right now.
What was said
The setup for the whole message came from a true story. Pastor Ray had recommended Ephesians to a friend who wanted to grow spiritually. The friend remembered only that the book started with an E, went looking in the front of the Bible, and landed on Ecclesiastes instead. He came back reporting that it was not short, not easy to understand, and not encouraging. That mishap turned out to be the perfect entry point, because the week the church had just lived through, with bombings and explosions and hard questions, felt exactly like that.
Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes from a position of unmatched experience. God had offered him anything, and he asked for wisdom. He received wisdom, along with wealth and honor he had not even asked for. That background matters, because when Solomon calls something meaningless, he is not guessing. He has actually tried it.
The two phrases that repeat all the way through the book are the key to reading it. "Vanity" appears 35 times across 29 verses, and "under the sun" appears 29 times across 27 verses. Pastor Ray argued that "under the sun" is not just a poetic phrase. It describes a worldview that leaves God entirely out of the picture, taking into account only what can be naturally observed. When you read the book with that in mind, the relentless sense of meaninglessness is not Solomon despairing. It is Solomon describing, accurately, what life looks like to someone who has cut God out of the equation.
That worldview, Pastor Ray said, only leads to two places: despair or hedonism. If nothing ultimately matters, a person either collapses inward or decides to grab whatever pleasure is available before it is all over. Both of those roads are visible in Jackson. Teton County, Idaho carries the highest teen suicide rate of any county in the state, and the valley's deeply earth-centered culture pushes hard in both directions. That is not background information. That is the reason the book matters right now for this congregation.
The conclusion Solomon lands on, after working through all of it, is Ecclesiastes 12:13-14. Fear God and keep His commandments, because that is the whole duty of man, and because God will bring every act to judgment. Pastor Ray pointed out that the two great commandments Jesus names, loving God with everything you have and loving your neighbor as yourself, are exactly what keeping those commandments looks like. That framework is also where First B's own motto comes from, and it is what should be driving every ministry the church runs.
With that in mind, Pastor Ray gave an honest picture of where things stand at First B. Men's ministry is strong. Women's ministry is growing in several directions. Monday night church has grown to around 65 people. Awana is full of kids learning scripture. But the one place that is not flourishing is the youth ministry, and he did not soften that. Four families with youth-group-age kids had left in the past year, and Carl, who has been carrying that role, is moving more naturally into an associate pastor position. The elders have been praying through what comes next, and Pastor Ray asked the congregation to join them in that prayer, specifically for an effective ministry to teenagers in a valley where the stakes for that age group are visibly high.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
- Pastor Ray described Ecclesiastes as long, confusing, and discouraging, and said that without God in the picture, everything under the sun appears meaningless. Where have you seen that kind of hopelessness play out in the lives of people around you?
- Pastor Ray said that leaving God out of the equation ultimately leads to one of two places: despair or hedonism. Do you think that is true, and have you seen either of those patterns in your own life or in people you know?
and 3 more questions in the guide
Read the full transcript 6,079 words
0:29
How deep the father's love for us, how fast beyond all measure, the man upon I will not boast in reward? I cannot give an answer. But this I know with all my heart. His wounds have paid my ransom. Why should I gain from his reward?
3:51
I cannot give an answer, but this I know with all my heart. His wounds have paid my ransom. His wounds have paid my ransom. You may be seated.
4:30
As we get ready to take the offering, I just wanted to read a verse. Ecclesiastes twelve thirteen and fourteen. When all has been heard, the conclusion of the matter is this, fear God and keep his commands because this is for all humanity. For God will bring every act to judgment, including every hidden thing, whether good or evil. Let me pray.
4:53
Heavenly father, we love you. It's all about you. We're here for you today. Would you help us to calm our hearts and minds and hear from the word that you wanna bring us? And we know that everything we have comes from you and it all belongs to you.
5:06
Would you help us to give with with cheerful hearts knowing that you would do with that money what what it is that you would have done to bring you glory. In Jesus name, amen.
6:46
Amen. Can you all hear me? Yes. I would like that little thing.
6:53
Thanks.
6:57
This has been a heavy week. Really, really heavy week. Welcome back. That's a bright spot right there, brighter than the tulips up here. Thank you very much.
7:06
Doug and Becky are back from their trips to the parts unknown, all over Africa and some in Europe too. Right? No? Not quite. At just Africa.
7:16
Alright. Well, welcome back. I didn't see you come in. This is a big bummer too. This Wednesday evening, there is an evening of remembrance at the Wirt Hotel for the Holocaust, and I just could not figure out where to put this.
7:33
I didn't want for Dan to have to announce it in the announcement. Hey, welcome, and then this because this is horrible. It's a terrible, terrible thing to have to remember but the kind of week that we've had this week with bombs going off and earthquakes and explosions and all kinds of questions to God as to why. This is probably the biggest of this past century. This is the biggest question of why that there could be.
7:57
There's going to be a thirty eight minute long film with a story intertwined in it of love and even a hint at redemption. At the Wirt Hotel, 06:00, I want to point out something though. That sign over the over the that's over a concentration camp. They put that sign up over every concentration camp and it's Arbeit Macht Frei and it means work will make you free and it is a lie. It is a lie.
8:27
But this Wednesday evening at 06:00, the Jewish Society who if you all know Christine Schuler is a member and she is a messianic Jew and so it is a good bridge to Israel. Alright. From that, moving on. What book should I read to grow spiritually? The Bible, that's fairly obvious.
8:51
I had a guy out here one time that called me. I had worked with him in construction. He called me and he said, Ray, I just want to tell you, man. I'm reading the life application Bible and I said, cool. Man, that's awesome.
9:02
Well, what book are you reading? He goes, the life application Bible. And so, I was like, that's awesome. That's great. Well, you know, I didn't even explain.
9:13
That's if he started at the beginning, that's wonderful. I had another fellow out here, same thing, the summer that I came out to do the pastoral internship and the day before I left, we had breakfast at the Virginian and we were sitting there and he said, I'm a Christian. I love Jesus. I've read the gospels. I know Jesus but what book should I read to grow spiritually?
9:37
And so, I answered him, Ephesians. He was talking about getting in the church. He had become a Christian outside of the bounds of the normal church. He had become a part of the capital seat church without ever really attending very much the little sea church but people had ministered to him through different means and he knew Jesus. So, I told him, Ephesians, that will get you into the body because for one thing, he didn't seem to be so much of a reader.
10:03
It's short. It's very short. It's really easy to understand. It's plain spoken. When Paul wants for people to stop stealing, he says, you who are stealing, stop stealing.
10:13
It's that simple and it's very very encouraging and so, I told him, read Ephesians. It's short, it's easy to understand, and it's very encouraging. So, read Ephesians. That's what will help you grow spiritually. So, the day went by.
10:28
I said, and then call me back. It's only four pages long. It's not a big deal. Call me back and let me know how it went. We didn't call back the next day and he didn't call back the next day and he didn't call back the third day.
10:38
We're already in South Carolina but this time I called him back and I said, hey, man. What's going on? How did it go? He goes, I didn't like it. Dude, it broke my heart.
10:50
I was slump shoulder. I said, didn't like it. Ephesians? What in the world? And I said, why didn't you like it?
10:56
I had given him the three reasons why it would be the book to grow spiritually. He said, it wasn't short. It wasn't easy to understand and it wasn't encouraging. I thought, how in the world can you read Ephesians and not be encouraged as a Christian? What happened?
11:12
He read Ecclesiastes. That is a true story. He had read Ecclesia. He remembered it started with an E and he started in the front and he got to Ecclesiastes and he read it and it wasn't short and it wasn't easy to understand and it was not at all encouraging. In fact, it was depressing.
11:40
It's long. It's confusing and it's discouraging. So, that's what we're going talk about today. This week was long. It was confusing and it was discouraging.
11:50
I heard about the news. I don't watch the news very much but I heard about the news from these two right here. These are my rovering reporters. Eugene Morningstar and Aaron Howley told me about the Monday bombings at Monday night church last week and it was tough. It was really really tough.
12:05
I was going over in my head the fact that April 15 was Monday and April fifteenth, a year ago was the day that we came here to have the vote as to whether or not I would be the next guy to handle this job and so, I was already planning on preaching on Ecclesiastes because we've been in that long series on John, New Testament. I thought I'd go back and pick up some of the Old Testament. I went into the wisdom literature and Ecclesiastes means, literally, it means the preacher and since for one year here, I have been the preacher, the one who talks to the assembly most often. More often than not, it's me. So, that's where I started.
12:44
This is a ridiculously small print but this is the way that Solomon got to write this particular book. Solomon was the wisest man ever. That's the story of it. I'm not going to go through it. Basically, God asked him what he would have.
12:56
He's David's son, Solomon. Solomon, when he said, well, maybe I will read it. Why not? Gibby and the Lord at Gibeon, the Lord appeared to Solomon during the night in the dream and God said, ask for whatever you want me to give you and Solomon answered, you have shown great great kindness to your servants. So, Solomon believed in God, okay?
13:17
This is important. You've shown great kindness to your servant, my father, David, because he was faithful to you and righteous and upright in heart. You have continued this great kindness to him and have given him a son to sit on his throne this very day. Now, lord, my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father, David, but I'm only a little child and I do not know how to carry out my duties. Your servant is here among the people you have chosen, a great people, two numerous to count or number.
13:44
You give your servant a discerning heart. So, he's asking for wisdom. You give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours and the Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for wisdom. So, God said to him, since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself nor have asked for the death of your enemies which is commonplace.
14:11
But for discernment and administering justice, I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart so that there will never have been anyone like you nor will there ever be. He's the wisest man ever. Moreover, I will give you what you have not asked for, both wealth and honor so that in your lifetime, you'll have no equal among kings and if you walk in obedience to me and keep my decrees and my commands and keep my decrees and commands as David your father did. I will give you a long life.
14:40
So, that is the basis for how Solomon got the wisdom in the first place. How did he become the preacher? Ecclesiastes is tough and you need a key or it's going to be long and confusing and depressing, discouraging. There is a lot of poetry in this book and there's a lot of repetition for effect and I think that the main repetitive features of the book are the key to it. Vanity.
15:07
Vanity of vanities. Everything is vanity. He starts on the very first page and he keeps beating that drum the whole way through. It's used 35 times in 29 verses and vanity really, it means, if you've got the NIV, it means meaningless, meaningless. It all appears to be meaningless.
15:26
Futility, uselessness, meaninglessness. You know where it gets to be depressing? Can you see it already? What is said to be vanity? Oh, he gives the list.
15:36
Please, no. These are in order. Pleasure, vanity. Industry or labor, vanity. Human wisdom, vanity.
15:47
It's Debbie Downer. This is awful. It just keeps going. It all appears to be vanity. All life is vanity.
15:54
Leaving an inheritance, vanity. Because they're just going to spend it and forget about you anyway. Earthly existence, acquiring riches over family, political popularity. He knew all these things too. Solomon, having been given wisdom and having been given opportunity with money and position, he had a reason to know this.
16:15
He had, I I think of the saying, been there, done that, and got the T shirt. He had done all of this stuff. Made a lot of mistakes. He learned a lot from his mistakes and it's a very wise person that can learn from the mistakes of somebody else. So, that's why he wrote it.
16:32
Many dreams, many words, love and abundance, wealth without God given enjoyment, wandering desire. Foolish laughter, injustice in this life, the days of darkness, childhood, and youth. My goodness. He does actually address the book to the youth though and that's something that's very particularly important right now, right here, I think. And near the very end of the book, when you think, oh my goodness.
17:00
Can't get any worse. He says, everything is meaningless. It's hard to say that with a smile. Everything is meaningless. That's Ecclesiastes twelve eight.
17:10
They're only 12 fourteens into the book. Dan read twelve thirteen and fourteen. The other thing for the repetition for effect that he uses is under the sun. He says, vanity of vanity is always vanity under the sun. Under the sun, always meaningless.
17:25
Under what, for what shall a man gain for all his labor under the sun. Everything is under the sun. He uses that 29 times and 27 different verses over the course of those 12 chapters and it emphasizes and I think this is the key to the book is it emphasizes a worldview that leaves God out of the picture altogether. It is everything under the sun. Everything under the sun is meaningless.
17:50
If it doesn't have God involved and it emphasize complete earthly point of view and it leaves God out of the equation altogether. Takes into account only what can be naturally observed. When he observes something like, oh, the good man perishes while the wicked man prospers. That's tough. That's hard to watch.
18:09
People who detonate bombs get away sometimes. I'm glad they didn't get away this time but there may be others. Under the sun, it seems to make no sense. Now, think about this. Solomon's not only the guy who wrote Ecclesiastes which is basically acknowledging to the rest of the world who sees things under the sun that it does appear this way but he has nods all throughout to point them back towards God.
18:37
Remember the creator in the days of your youth. It does make a difference. Everything will come into judgement. He says that throughout. There are lots of different places.
18:46
Over the next, not twenty one weeks or forty something weeks, we're going go for three weeks. We're going to look at Ecclesiastes. There are two main points that I see in this book that everything, absolutely everything is vain and pointless and meaningless under the sun if you leave God out of it. And nothing is vain if it's done in loving reverence to an obedient God. Those are the two points and they're the opposite sides of the same coin.
19:13
If you leave God out of the mix, it's all pointless but if you've got God in there, then everything that you do becomes an act can become an act of worship. Absolutely everything. So, what book should I read to grow spiritually? Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. I wanna start there because you can start there.
19:35
You can keep a smile on your face. It's hard if you just starting off straight out of the book and you go, unless you just love poetry which I do. There are a lot of poetic things in here that are they seem hyperbolic. It seem to be overstatements of things but I think that he got that very very honestly. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter.
19:56
Verse twelve thirteen says, Listen, hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God and keep his commandments for this is the whole duty of man. The whole duty of man is to fear God and keep his commandments. Even though it looks like everything else around is meaningless and then, I want you to consider this, the people around you that do not know God, That's what it appears to them. It appears like everything is meaningless, that God doesn't care.
20:30
Put yourself in that position for a moment just to empathize with those around you that cannot figure out the rhyme or reason to this world. Imagine how hopeless that is. It ultimately leads to one of two places and Solomon discusses both in this book. If you feel that there is no god and that everything is vain and meaningless under the sun, then it will either lead you to despair which we see often time depression is at record levels all around the world or hedonism. Hedonism is the pursuit of pleasure because as the grateful dad said, I don't quote them very much but we may be going to hell in a bucket, babe, but at least we'll enjoy the ride.
21:14
That's those are the ways that it can go. It's either going to go to despair, a hopeless nihilism, a hopeless nothingness, or it's going to go to hedonism where we might as well eat, drink, and be merry because tomorrow we die. But let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. After you've considered absolutely everything, you fear God and you keep his commandments. What is it?
21:35
There is no excuse for love if nothing matters, right? He doesn't say that love doesn't matter. He never says that love doesn't matter. Fear God and keep his commandments for this is the whole duty of man. Keep his commandments.
21:51
The 10 commandments? Yes. Absolutely. The first four of the 10 commandments are about loving God. The next six are about loving one another.
22:05
That makes sense? Jesus sums it up. He says, love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength and love your neighbor as yourself. Those are the two commands right there that if you fear God and you keep those commands, you can avoid despair and you can avoid hedonism. You can avoid those two extremes if you will actually do this because most hedonism is awfully selfish and so is despair.
22:40
You're not considering anybody except for yourself and how you feel. So, loving the Lord your God will ground you with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength and it will have an outlet. If you love God, it will have an outlet and that needs to be your neighbor as yourself. Whether they're Christian, non Christian, believer, or not. Fear God, keep his commandments for this is the whole duty of man.
23:02
First B's motto comes from Ecclesiastes, a super depressing, super depressing, discouraging book. Really, it comes out of molding together that the whole duty of man is to love God and love people through Christ. Consider that Solomon was writing this book in nine forty five BC. It was before Christ. Now, he was looking forward to him and he trusted him and you can see in Proverbs and you can see in in other things that he's written in even in Ecclesiastes, if you're looking close, you can see that he is looking forward to Christ but can you imagine how depressing it would be to just see the injustice that's go was going on and not have Christ to look at and see that's ultimate sacrifice that was made.
23:54
The only way that we can love God and love people is through Christ. When I plan out this sermon last night, this was a thirty minute sermon already. Look at that. That's it. That's the whole sermon.
24:09
Actually, it's the whole sermon about Ecclesiastes but I do want to talk for a few minutes about first B. Everything that we do here should be tied to that. The whole duty of man. As God has sent it to us through Solomon. The whole duty of man is to fear God and keep his commandments.
24:30
Now, there's lots of other happy stuff in there and we're going to pick through next week. We're going to pick through and see some stuff. First of all, Solomon starts out with a search for meaning in life under the sun and then, he gives his observations from life under the sun and then, he gives counsel for life. So, we've got search, observations, and counsel and we'll talk about those over the next three weeks but I want to talk about first B. Right now, right here, I see God doing amazing things and I was talking to Diane this week and I was saying, I don't know if anybody else in the church can see all of what's going on.
25:08
She can. She she can. Diane's the secretary in the church and she sees all the different asset the facets of ministry that are going on and I do but we have a very unique vantage point. You don't get to see that. A lot of y'all don't see everything that's going on.
25:24
Men's ministry is very strong right now. A lot of guys are stepping up. The elders are in a position right now where there's there's a lot of unity in the body and they're looking to this. They're looking to see how can we effectively love God and love others as our self. That's our motto.
25:44
That's what we want for every program to be about. I I took this Ecclesiastes study and and looked at it and thought, everything that you do in church can be pointless. It can be. We know that. You've been to that before.
25:59
You've been to church before where it was just a drain. It wasn't uplifting. There was not a whole lot of mention of love. It was just academic. It was just a problem that didn't seem to have any solution.
26:11
It's a lot like Ecclesiastes. It seemed bad but right now, I don't think that that's what's going on. We've got like I said, men's ministry is flourishing. The women's ministry is flourishing on a lot of different levels, a lot of different ways. During the summers, we have a women's Wednesday worship.
26:30
They come together for an hour here on Wednesdays. During the first Friday fellowship, just as an organic grassroots kind of thing that's growing up. There are some services that have started up like Monday night, started up last October and it's growing by leaps and bounds. It's four or five more people each week, it seems. About 65 people that come on Monday nights now which is awesome and it's good to see that God is working and people are centering themselves on loving God and loving people.
26:59
That's what I'm seeing. I don't know if all of you would agree about everything but I'm going to focus the as best I can on preaching the word. I don't take a whole lot of time out for household items. I almost never do but this is. Since our since I've since I finished twenty minutes early, might as well.
27:21
I woke up in the middle of the night on Tuesday night and I could not go to sleep. I woke up at 01:07 and all I could think about was the state of the church address, state of the church address and I was like, what in the world? That's not from the Bible. Well, it kind of is. Our motto is that we will love God and love people through Christ.
27:45
It's the whole duty of man. Whatever we do here, whatever programs we have here, it should not just be the activity bus where we just get on an activity and we're just going to do it. It should be about loving people into the kingdom. It seems like every sermon in John was, Jesus is the central part of this message. His unique life as the savior, God, man.
28:07
How that affects you and then as soon as it affects you, how you affect other people with that message? Every week, I got to thinking, oh, wow. That's the way it is but we're seeing it played out. We're seeing new people coming in and I think that that's fantastic. There is one area though and this is the reason I stuck with Ecclesiastes after I had the state of the church address on mind.
28:27
There's one area where we're not seeing that kind of growth. We're not seeing that kind of enthusiasm and I think it's really really important for this church and for this valley. This valley among teenagers has the highest suicide rate of any county in this state. Teton County, Idaho has the highest of any county in Idaho. The incredibly earth centered view of this area, I think, is an under the sun sort of situation.
29:02
Not acknowledging God, not acknowledging him leads to either despair which ends in death, suicide, or hedonism. Have you all seen that in Jackson? I see it. It's depressing. I hate to be Debbie Downer but I see it but I know what gets through to that.
29:21
I know what gets through to that is fearing God and keeping his commandments. If we love people recklessly, we can break through to em. We can. God will reach people if we will do what he's told us to do. The only thing right now that's not flourishing at first B is the youth ministry.
29:39
It's just not. Now, that's not through the fault of anyone in particular. If y'all hadn't noticed, we've lost four families in the past year. Past year and a couple of months. We've lost four different families.
29:51
All of them had multiple kids that were youth group age. So, that kind of and they were core members of the youth group and so that kind of lets the wind out of your sails a little bit. Carl is downstairs, I assume right now, teaching the youth and Carl does a great job. Y'all know him. You love him.
30:07
His ministry here is coming alive on Monday nights. Absolutely fantastic. The music y'all have experienced while Renzi was gone. You've experienced that and you saw that God's growing him up. Well, as elders, over the past six months, especially, we've been considering his dual role here.
30:25
He's picking up more and more and more as associate pastor really. He's made hospital visits this week with me. Went I to a funeral and couldn't get somewhere else. He did that. He's coming up with music.
30:35
He's doing all this this this work that's in addition to youth group but he has not let his hands off the wheel but he can't do both. He can't continue with both. So, as elders, we've been praying through how are we going to effectively love our teenagers? How are we going to effectively love the fourth and fifth graders that will eventually be teenagers? We see a huge crowd.
30:58
This is another thing to praise God for. On Monday nights, the Awana crowd in here on this little helicopter landing pad running around. There are tons of em. They're just all in here having a ball, learning scripture. You know, the Solomon story I read?
31:12
Paschal can quote that. Oh my goodness. I I had to look it up and put it on the slide like that to read it. She knows. Solomon asked for wisdom and she knows it because of Monday nights because the kids ministry here is flourishing.
31:24
Iwana is going great. But about the age of TNTers, when things start to seem like, they're teaching me one thing at school and they're teaching me something else here. There's that place. Remember the creator in the days of your youth. It matters.
31:39
It makes a difference. We want to be effective ministers to the youth. We want to be. Right now, we're struggling through it. So, I would like for y'all.
31:49
Y'all are looking at me every Sunday. I would like for y'all to commit to pray. This week, next week, until we see that ministry among the youth flourishing here. We have ideas. The elders have some ideas.
32:03
We've taken them to the youth team. We've taken them to the board of trustees. We're considering how we're going to do this. Carl seems to be moving more into an associate pastor role and it's opening up the possibility for maybe a youth director and we're just laying it out there before the church. Would y'all please pray with us that we would effectively minister and effectively love teenagers in particular and those who are about to be teenagers in specific and grow up a new little band of people who love Jesus and are called into the schools, into this nihilistic, hedonistic community to fear God and keep his commandments.
32:45
That's probably the weirdest sermon y'all ever heard. That's what I've got though. I think that the next couple of weeks, we're we're going to squeeze some hope out of Ecclesiastes. That's what we're going to look to do but if you would, Renzi, y'all can come on back up. Fearing God and keeping his commandments and the two commandments like Jesus sums them up are love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength and love your neighbor as yourself.
33:14
Let's do that. We're going to sing. I do want to remind you. I'll just do it after the song, okay? Would you stand up?
33:23
The invitation is to pray and if you would, I know it's Southern Baptist and it's probably part of my heritage but if you will commit to pray, would you do something and just signify that you will, you can come down the aisle, you can turn around backwards, you can raise a hand. I don't care what you do. Just do something so that you can remember that today, you committed to pray for the youth of this valley. Praise God.
35:10
God. I wanna see how great how great is our God. How how great is our God all names. Worthy of all praise. My heart will sing how great God.
37:13
And I will see how great how great is our God. The name above all names. He's the name of
38:31
the choir of the fire team. If y'all are here, youth that are going on the choir of the fire, would you come up here right real quick and I will say a prayer to end the service. So, anybody that's going up to the choir of the fire, jump up here on the stage and I will remind you too that Discovery Class, today is the day. I call it amnesty day. There are a lot of us here who are not, there are a lot of y'all here who are not members yet and so, if you're not and you mean to be and everybody thinks you are and you want to come on in today, don't be ashamed.
38:57
Come on in. Lot of us. Alright. 70. Hey, man.
1:50:41
Would you stand with us and worship the Lord this morning? They're all sitting down. Y'all are standing up. We're going to sing hymn number five zero two In My Heart, There Rings a Melody. I went to the beach in 1991 as a member of a a missionary team called Fun in the Sun ninety one and we used Deuter use Exodus three five as our the we're standing on holy ground.
1:51:07
Take off your shoes for the place where you stand as holy ground. We went around barefooted all summer. So, that was one of our verses. We're gonna sing in my heart that rings a melody. Hymn number five zero two.
1:51:24
I have a song that Jesus gave me it was sent from heaven above there never was a sweeter melody tis a melody of love in my heart there rings a melody there rings a melody with heaven's harmony in my heart there rings a melody there rings a melody of on the second love the Christ who died on Calvary for he washed my sins away. He put within my heart a melody, and I know it's there to stay. In my heart, there rings a melody. There rings a melody with heaven's harmony. In my heart, there rings a melody.
1:52:27
There rings a melody of love 'twelve be my endless theme in glory with the angels I will sing it will be my song with glorious harmony when the courts of heaven ring in my heart there rings a melody there rings a melody with heaven's harmony in my heart there rings a melody there rings a melody of
1:53:04
love amen that's a fun one to sing We're going to sing now hymn 118. His name is wonderful. The name of Jesus. His name is wonderful.
1:53:29
His name is wonderful his name is wonderful his name is wonderful Jesus my lord he is the mighty king master of everything his name is wonderful my lord he's the great shepherd the rock of all ages love adore him his name is wonderful Jesus my
1:54:41
Amen. Would you be seated? Dan, you can come on up and
1:54:51
Good morning. Good morning. Welcome to First Baptist. We're really excited that you're here to worship with us today. If you're a visitor here for the first time, welcome.
1:55:01
There's a white card in the seat in front of you. We'd love to have you fill that out and let us know you're here or if there's any prayer needs, if you're hurting or would like us to pray for you, we'd love to do that too. So, definitely communicate with us frequently and openly. I'm here to just give a couple announcements. We will be having Monday night service.
1:55:21
Again this week. That's a great opportunity for a meal and fellowship and music and reverend Carl preaching the word. Also, great time to come and join in Awana for the kids. Happens here at 06:15 on Monday nights. We've got a great group right now at Awana.
1:55:37
So if you know of anybody, pass the word there. In the 09:00 service, we prayed for the youth group. They're gonna be going to Denver for Acquire the Fire on Friday. How many would you say that are going there?
1:55:51
I think they're 10 or 12.
1:55:52
10 or 12 kids and they're going to be driving down and this time of year, roads are always a little bit questionable but we pray that they would light a fire down there and bring em back to Jackson and spread it. That's a great opportunity for our youth. So, be praying for them and also between services today was a discovery class for new members. Every third Sunday of the month is an opportunity for people looking to be joining the church to to take that class. So, if that's something that interest you next month, third Sunday.
1:56:22
And I just wanted to make a quick update on our men's ministry. I know that a lot of people probably don't know what we do because we meet in the wee hours of the morning and then go to work and, you know, we go on with our day. So we just completed three years of of a program called men's fraternity, and it was a really, rewarding opportunity for a lot of the men. And two Fridays ago, we we had a a final ceremony. If there's any guys that were here that night could just stand up.
1:56:52
I don't know if most of them were in the 09:00 service, but, thanks, Ray. Oh, and Aaron, did you stand? Okay. Good. The the man that went through that, they're they're they're authentic men now and they took they they took courageous steps to do to do some hard work to to search their hearts and and decide who they wanted to be and the stand that they wanted to take and on that Friday night, we got, we gathered here, we had a meal together and and everybody prepared and brought a commitment or a mission statement that they they then read to their families and and kinda committed to in a ceremony and it was a really, it was a really good evening.
1:57:34
So we brought some slides, just a quick, like, one minute slideshow to recap that and when it's over, just stand up and greet each other. If you know of anybody that wants to be involved in our men's ministry or if you would like more information about it, I would love to talk to you more about it and there's info on the website as well but there's a lot of stuff going on all year long. So, we'd encourage you to get plugged in there. Stand up and say hello to somebody you don't know.
1:59:42
Scanning the place.
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