The more you seek pleasure, the more of it you have to have to feel satisfied. This "Pleasure Paradox" will not lead you to satisfaction, but rather to slavery. But this pleasure seeking is the worldly wisdom referred to in Ecclesiastes 2. Godly wisdom shows us that we will only be satisfied when we submit our desires to God instead of trying to satisfy them ourselves.

In Ecclesiastes, the author is searching for the meaning of life. The book takes us on a journey through the author's search for meaning and all the things he tried and all the places he looked to satisfy the deepest longings of his existence. It opens with his great question: "For what does a man gain for all his toil under the sun?"

There is an unavoidable despair you can feel as you read it, but that's good. You're actually supposed to feel that way, that's why the Lord gave us this book. Because Ecclesiastes is part of the wisdom literature of the Bible, and true wisdom begins when our hope in the things of this world ends. 

That's a hard lesson to learn, but Ecclesiastes is a wake up call to not have to learn that lesson the hard way. 

While the author invites into the depths of life's heaviness and hopelessness, Christ meets us in those depths. In each chapter, Ecclesiastes will help us see Jesus in a new light and come to him in a new way. For while there is nothing new under the sun, the incarnation is God introducing something new. Meaning itself took on flesh and blood, and it's in him the search comes to an end. 

What does it mean to "Bless the Lord"? Do you ever just pray without asking God for anything? Just simply a prayer of adoration? We so easily forget the good things God has done for us. And so it's easy to forget to adore him. So remember what Christ has done for you and "Bless the Lord".

Is God there when you don't feel him? When the life you expected disappears, can you still say "you are my Lord, I have no good apart from you"? How would David pray Psalm 16? How did Jesus pray Psalm 16? And how should I pray Psalm 16?

Waiting is quickly becoming extinct. Everything has become instant. In your own life you may have a hard time waiting on the Lord. David encourages us in Psalm 62 to not seek an "instant savior" but rather to actively wait for the Lord. examine your heart, what instant saviors do you seek when times are hard or lonely? Don't give in to them! Wait on the Lord. He will deliver you!

What does it mean for God to bless his people? What is God’s blessing?Why would he bless me?

The fruit that is born from living a life rooted in delight for the law of the Lord does not wither, and is always in season, because his roots drink the deep rivers of water that is the spirit of the living God. A river of blessing that never runs dry!

Reading is hard, reading poetry is harder! And when it comes to prayer we'd rather turn to almost anything else other than pray the psalms. It feels like we're reading someone else's prayers. Prayers of men from another age. But they were the prayers of Jesus. He speaks and praise the psalms repeatedly. As we dive into the Psalms in this sermon series we find the answer to why Jesus prays the Psalms, and why we should be doing the same!

We often hear "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me". A popular verse in this final sermon in our series on Philippians. A popular understanding of this verse might lead you to believe that if you succeed in an endeavor it must be God's will. But to think that this is what Paul meant as he writes this letter from prison is an obvious mistake. If you look at the letter as a whole, it's about un-circumstantial faith. Paul closes his letter with a thought on "contentment" and it's the real meaning behind this often misunderstood passage in scripture.

Once we were at war with God, but now we have peace with God. How do we live in this world and age of anxiety and experience that peace? Usually we try to remove things that destroy our peace or numb ourselves to our anxiety with medicine. But the only way to experience the peace of God is to "Stand firm in the Lord". And how you "Stand firm in the Lord" is what this sermon on Philippians 4 is all about.

Paul was an elite in his culture he was born in the right country. He was born to an affluent family. He had power and influence. And here in this passage Paul makes one of the most offensive statements in the word of God. Paul says that all these things are worthless in comparison to knowing God.

Paul encourages a weary and discouraged church to continue in faith, love and obedience. God is at work in us as we work out our salvation with fear and trembling under the weight of Christs Love for you!

The church must face suffering together in unity and love. This requires rejecting selfish ambition and the hunger for personal glory, humbly valuing others and attending to their interests. Jesus provides the supreme pattern: although God, he emptied himself, became a servant, and endured death on a cross.

His humiliation, however, was not the story’s end; God highly exalted him.

Those united to Christ likewise share both his sufferings and his future glory. Therefore, believers can embrace humble service, face trials together, and surrender their plans with hope. Remembering their promised resurrection and exaltation gives them courage to follow Christ’s pattern: humble yourself before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

This sermon explores how Christians develop an uncircumstantial faith rooted in Christ rather than changing conditions. Paul models this faith while imprisoned, declaring that living is Christ and dying is gain. His confidence rests in union with Jesus: God is transforming believers into Christ’s image, not apart from life’s circumstances but through them.

Therefore, hardship is neither meaningless nor evidence that God has stopped working. Even opposition and suffering can become instruments of grace, shaping Christians to share Christ’s story and likeness. Paul calls the church to live as citizens of the gospel, standing firm and striving together without fear.

The sermon challenges a comfortable, diluted gospel that treats belief as a path around suffering, reminding listeners that following Jesus includes taking up their cross. Believers can face each circumstance by trusting God’s ongoing work, surrendering to his purposes, and praying, “Help me live Christ.”

It's a strange wisdom from Paul to say "This will turn out for my deliverance by life or by death" It seems wrong to think of our deliverance via death but there's a lot more going on in this story than we might think. Is he foolish? How is this even a question for Paul?? Paul sees a different world than we do. O Lord may we see the world like Paul. May we be fools for you. Spiritual people with a mind like Christ.

How does Paul speak of an uncircumstantial joy while locked in a Roman in prison? It's because of how the gospel has taught him to see his circumstances and trust that God put him there. Paul's joy was not tethered to his comfort. Rather then asking God "why is this happening to me?", he learned to ask, "How can I be a part of what God is doing here?" So if you want joy that isn't tied to your circumstances, then we must learn to say: "Lord use me today, my life is at your disposal."

Paul writes to a struggling church and encourages them that God is at work in them in the midst of their hardship. He urges them to see beyond circumstances, to move towards one another, and trust that God is going to finish what he started.

Jesus is the Vine. We are the branches. The Cross is the trellis. We can only find life if we are in the vine. What does it mean to abide in Christ the vine and bear fruit? What does that fruit look like?

There's a volume war going on. The "Thief" is trying to fill your ears with voices that will steal, kill, and destroy. Do you know the voice of the "Good Shepherd"? Can you tell the difference? Listen closely, Jesus is calling.

Paul’s letter to Philemon tells a great story with a greater message. And It's all about reconciliation. Like Paul, we are called ministers of reconciliation. So how do we reconcile ourselves to those who have wronged us? And who do we need to reconcile with?