[Ecclesiastes] Is Life Worth Living? | Benny Ho

[Applause] thanks god good morning everyone uh thank you everyone for tuning in to the to the webinars i've been having a lot of fun doing doing the webinars actually and uh always had a lot of fun just talking to the guy who is hosting and you know just engaging with the online community and we were really pleasantly surprised at the take up rate and last week i think almost 900 people devices were watching this thing and we really hope that you'll be a blessing to each of you now for those of you who are wondering about this coming one which is about choosing a live partner some of you may think i'm already married so don't do you know so but uh think of it this way you should come in uh just to get information and and get the biblical perspective and then you can help a lot of other people make their choices what about our children our children's children you know and helping other people are who need to make that decision so even though you're old like me you can still come okay and we trust that you will all learn something together all right so please join me if you can and we'll have fun together now uh just one more thing before i bring you the word this morning thank you so much for your response after last week's announcement about the booking of tickets and i'm glad to see that those who booked in and then early and then they find that they couldn't come for whatever reason they are beginning to actually take the responsibility to cancel it so that others can pick it up and that's good but the major change that has come out of that announcement basically is that from four hours which is what it took to sell the tickets now is one hour so that's really not the long term solution that we are looking for but but it's really a testament that people who really want to come to church and that's good but the long-term solution really is this and this is where i want to invite all of us to pray together with with with the church because on the 22nd of september which is another couple weeks from now we will be meeting with jay deck which is the the authorities that will be approving our usage of the space and so this would be kind of like the uh the the final meeting uh in which we can get the we can get the approval then i think we can begin to have multiple services and once we can have multiple services on sunday it means that we can have two services on sunday and that will cater for more people to come and we don't have to worry too much about space and and all that so that really would be a good long-term solution so 22nd of september is a crucial meeting for the church so can i invite all of us just to be in prayer for this yeah yeah so be in prayer for this whether you're here on site or city campus or online you know pray for us that god will give us favor 22nd of september okay and i'll keep you updated on the outcome amen are you ready for god's word this morning yeah so we are going to be starting a new series in the book of ecclesiastes and i'm going to invite you now to go with me to the book of ecclesiastes chapter one i'm going to read for you verses 1 to 11 and then i make an introduction to the study of this very very interesting book okay go with me now to the christianity chapter one i read for you from verse one mine is the niv translation here it goes the words of the teacher the son of david king in jerusalem meaningless meaningless says the teacher utterly meaningless everything is meaningless why do people gain from all their labors at which they tall under the sun generations come and generations go but the earth remains forever the sun rises the sun sets and hurries back to where it rises the wind blows to the south and turns the north round and round it goes ever returning on its course all streams flow into the sea yet the sea is never full to the place the streams come from there they return again all things are wearisome more than one can say the eye never had enough of seeing not the years is field of hearing what has been will be again what has been done will be done again there is nothing new under the sun is there anything of which one can say look this is something new it was here already long ago it was here before our time no one remembers the former generations and even those yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow them father i pray that this morning you allow your word to become a source of inspiration to us god i pray that as we we join the seeker we join the searcher we joined this wise man in the pursuit of the meaning of life that god you will speak to us week after week and giving us a re re-engineering of the way that we look at life so we commit this time to you now we pray for your holy spirit to come and speak to us even as i'm speaking to your people so come lord speak as your servants heareth in jesus name we pray amen amen now many christians have a kind of a love-hate relationship with this book uh some of us even have problems pronouncing the book ecclesiastes you know and there's so much in this book that seems to make very good sense but there are also many parts of this book that seems to contradict our christian beliefs you read through this book and you'll find statements that seem to have a humanistic slan to it that brings us a little bit of discomfort sometimes as we read it through the lens of a christian for example you will eat you will start to read statements like eat drink and be merry for these are the best things in life that sounds very humanistic doesn't it eat drink and be married for tomorrow we die you know man is no better than animus that's what the wise man said i hated life he said in another portion he wished that he was never born in another it's another statement that you will find from there meaningless meaningless everything is meaningless you know when i said this some of you already want to shout amen meaningless meaningless everything is meaningless and ironically with all these difficult sayings and strange conclusion both jews and christians concluded that this book must be compiled as part of the inspired word of god they still think this book should get into the word of god and this alone i think is reason enough for all of us to study this book and my prayer is that after we go through this book after we study this book you will agree with george worther who is the founder of operation mobilization or om who once made this statement you go through this book and this book will go through you and i think i hope that this book will become a source it's like a searchlight that will shine into our hearts and give us a way in which we should view life so my challenge to all of us whether you're online or on site join me and allow this book to go through your spirit over the next few months and god will surely transform our hearts and our minds in jesus name and in this first session what i seek to do is to introduce the book of ecclesiastes to you and then lay a foundation for the rest of our studies so i'm going to answer a few very important questions okay and those of you who are whether you're young or old this book is for you okay i'm going to ask i'm going to answer a few key questions number one is this who is the author of this book ecclesiastes chapter 1 verse 1 introduce the author to us with this word the words of the teacher son of david king in jerusalem now from internal evidence the author is most likely king solomon he seems like the best person to write this book and even if solomon is not the alter he would have been the subject of the book okay even if it's not the altar he would have been the subject of the book a rich famous but dissatisfied king it was a journal if you like that the king kept as he sought to understand what life is all about so when you think about the books that are that that has the writings of solomon you would think of it this way i think he wrote proverbs from the point of view of a wise teacher then he wrote song of songs to the eyes of a passionate lover so if you read the summer songs wow it's really very romantic okay but he wrote ecclesiastes from the vantage point of a preacher okay the hebrew word that is described there for the word teacher is the word kohilath which is translated as preacher or teacher but this is a title actually given to an official speaker someone who calls for an assembly okay only a king has that power to do that call for assembly and then speak to them and this word called hilar is also gives the idea of engaging in a debate okay someone who's engaging in a debate and in this case it's not so much him the the speaker having a debate with the listeners it's not so much that but it is more of him having a debate within himself as part of his quest for the answer to life are you with me so he's he's got people listening but it's not so much he's having a debate with them but rather he's having a debate within himself as he go on this search for the meaning of life and he's arguing within himself what is all this about and that's why i think eugene peterson in his message bible calls him a question a question someone on a quest okay and and here perhaps a more nuanced translation would be a searcher okay he's not just a speaker not just a debater but he's a searcher someone who is on a search to answer the question what is life is life really worth living and throughout the entire book of ecclesiastes king solomon i want you to know asked all the right questions but unfortunately i think he gave rather incomplete answers he gave all he asked all the right questions questions that you and i should be asking but he gave all the incomplete answers and i'll explain to you why as we go along number two second question we need to answer what is this book all about i think this book records the honest observation of solomon as he studies the issues of life and we need to understand by the time solomon penned this word he was already an experienced uh old man so you you gotta read it from this perspective that now as an elder as an older person he's writing to young people so kinetics listen to this okay he's writing as an old man like me writing to you as young people and sharing with you the perspective on life that's what he's doing came from an older person's point of view after examining life he is now telling the younger generation this is what i've discovered about life and his wisdom and his insights actually cover every aspect of life including the meaning of life he talked about times and seasons he talked about politics and wealth he talked about justice he talked about social issues he talked about religion about faith about relationships et cetera he covered whole gamut of life giving us his wisdom and perspective in fact he was preaching to us if you like through the book of ecclesiastes on the subject of life that's what this book is all about okay third question what was his conclusion after going on this search now if you are looking for motivation in life this morning you have come to the wrong book because solomon had a rather depressing view of life you don't have to read too far into this book before you discover this because you know why in the hebrew style of writing he actually tell us his conclusion right from the start and then he tell us why so he put his conclusion of his whole search at the beginning and then he tell us why now it is directly opposite the western styles of writing western styles of writing would expect you you got to read the whole book right read to the end to find out who's the murderer you got to read to the end to find out so what's happening here to really uncover the plot that's western style of writing but jewish style of writing they tell you what the answer is and then after that they explain to you why so he recorded his conclusion about life in ecclesiastes one verse two and three right from the start of the book and what was his conclusion here's his conclusion meaningless meaningless says the teacher utterly meaningless everything is meaningless what does man gain from all his labor at which he talls under the sun oh my goodness are you still with me vanity vanity all infinity meaningless meaningless and you need to know why okay listen to the word this word that expressed his pathos the word he uses meaningless sometimes translated useless pointless vanity worthless empty this word meaningless of vanity appears 35 times in this book meaningless meaningless 35 times it came up this is the hebrew word havel h-e-v-e-l meaning emptiness or futility it means futile empty the idea or meaningless of vanity is so vividly captured by eugene peterson when he translated this word havel meaningless he translated it as smoke it's just vapor it's just smoke uh okay let me try and paint a picture for you okay my wife can help me here ever seen this as in this your little kids love this you know right you get all this bubble and then you get the kid to go around looking for it and every time they grab it what happened it's gone that's what happens now that's the picture of this book it's meaningless meaningless everything is meaningless it's like chasing after the wind it's like trying to grab a bubble and the moment you grab it boom it's gone it's almost like that the sense where you you get this sense like you have just got a goal after the game is over then you score a goal it's futile it's like walking up have you ever tried this you're walking up an escalator that is going down ever tried that and then you just keep walking you keep walking and you never get to the top futile that meaninglessness it's like trying to climb a ladder that's leaning away from you leaning and leaning towards you leaning away from the wall that's the feeling you get futile but you got to bear in mind that this are the words of king solomon we all know king solomon now he's the one who built the temple of god no he was the one who succeeded david the greatest king of israel he was the one who saw the glory of god descend right in first kings chapter eight he saw all these things so why should he come to this sad conclusion now ladies and gentlemen if you want to understand and and really grasp the significance of this book there are two keys that you need to bear in mind in order to interpret this book and on the outline immediately these two keys so that you can see where solomon is coming from there are two limitations that solomon said as he studied life okay he set the limitations for uh two limitations and here they are number one under the sun under the sun which is an earthly perspective one of the phrases that keeps coming up in this book is the phrase under the sun under the sun it came up about 29 times you know i begin to study life under the sun under the sun this implied that solomon was looking or observing life from an under the sun perspective in other words he was looking at life from an earthly human perspective he was applying if you like his own wisdom and experience to the complex human situation from an earthly perspective and trying to understand it trying to make sense of it and he found himself ending in despair that when you look at life from an under the sun perspective an earthly perspective you can end up in despair the second limitation he said was this as long as i live as long as i live which means what up to the grave until the grave as long as i live and it's a temporal perspective in other words he was looking at life from a temporal view with no perspective on eternity so the concept of the book of ecclesiastes is a man who is observing life from under the sun as long as i live perspective okay it is earthly under the sun earthly temporal as long as i live perspective so how many of you agree if you actually look at life from under the sun as long as i live perspective it's easy to end up concluding that life is meaningless am i correct if you look at life just purely from an earthly perspective and then you only look at life up to the point of death how many of you agree it is actually quite meaningless in other words really the context of the book of ecclesiastes is this a man observing life from under the sun as long as i live perspective and that is why you find statements and conclusions in a book that appears very humanistic and earthly but please remember that solomon came to this conclusion not because he did not believe in the existence of god he believed if not he wouldn't have built the temple of god in fact it was precisely because he believed in god that he could keep on going even though he has such a depressing view of life the only problem was that he saw god listen carefully to this i think he saw god as one who is above the sun high and lifted up but uninvolved and uninterested in the affairs of man under the sun he was viewing it from that perspective that here we are all under the sun living life until we die but if we don't if we see god as someone above the sun and someone uninvolved in our life it is very easy to end up concluding that is really quite meaningless i see i see i see no end inside it's just i live and then i die that's it that's why lord tineson i think this is what he had in mind he wrote a book this guy called lord tennyson wrote a book called eastern deities and his picture of god you know how when we think about greek gods eastern gods we often think of gods they are lying on a sofa there's a picture you get lying on the sofa with all the angels around and then they're all eating grapes they're lying down and then people are feeding them grapes and there's a kind of picture of a god that is up there in heaven you know lying by the river enjoying himself and then just watching what goes on on earth but uninvolved and lord tynesson in his book eastern deity actually paints us a picture of gods in heaven and he reads like this listen to this lying there besides the rivers of sweet waters totally untouched by the crying of the people on the earth below while raging fires burning towns sinking ships plagues famines pestilence and even going to the extent of praying hands lifted up crying out to the cosmos the gods are lying there besides the rivers of living water totally untouched by the human predicament that's the picture they get of their gods all just up there enjoying eating grapes while the earth is burning if that's the picture you have of god then really life is quite meaningless and thankfully brothers and sisters this is not the god we serve how many of you know we serve a god who is touched by our human predicament we serve a god who is concerned about what you and i are going through a god who is personally and intimately involved with our lives we have a god who is concerned about how we react when our car breaks down we have a god who is concerned whether you are sewing your your washing machine can't spin or when your children catch the flu you have a god who is a personal god a god who is independently involved with you and wants to be involved with you we don't serve a god sitting by the river eating grapes we have a god who is concerned but solomon was viewing life from this two key perspective under the sun as long as i live and now we can appreciate how solomon ended up with this depressing and often hopeless conclusion about life until the end in fact if one does not take god in an eternity into account when we go through life it is completely logical to conclude that life is meaningless an exercise of futility john paul said uh the the french existentialist put it this way there is no exit from this meaningless existence and john paul doesn't believe in god that's why he ended up with this conclusion there is no exit from this meaningless existence now let me bring you to the last question and that will set us up for the study going forward what were the findings of king solomon what was what did he find before solomon tells us how he come to this depressing conclusion he first outlined his general observations about life in ecclesiastes one verse four to nine can i read this for you one more time uh and then you notice how cyclical it is notice how it goes in circus right generations come generations go but the earth remains forever the sun rises the sun sets and hurries back to where it rises the wind blows the south turns to the north and then round and round it goes ever returning on its course all streams flow into the sea yet the sea is never full to a place where the streams come from they return again all things are wearisome more than one can tell that the eye never had enough of seeing nor the years is few or hearing what has been will be again and what has been done will be done again there is nothing new under the sun listen from his under the sun as long as i live perspective the wise men observed that life seems to be like an endless cycle it's like a circle you know we go round and round in this treadmill of daily existence things just keep going round and round so you read verse four tonight right the sunrise the sunset wind blown off and then it blows south now the streams go to the sea the sea returned to the stream round and round it goes even reading it makes you feel like a sense of monotony did you it's almost like you can do what the chinese scholars do as they read you know you can go wrong wrong literally just everything just goes round and round and round and solomon describes so vividly the monotonous treadmill of human existence life just seems to be going round and round no fixed destination no perceivable end there's no sense of ultimate purpose ladies and gentlemen i think this if we were to be painfully honest if we don't know god we can come to this same conclusion what do we do with our life the average person right we wake up brush teeth eat breakfast go to work come home take a shower eat dinner watch tv go to bed next morning wake up brush teeth go to work right eat breakfast go to work then come home take a bath eat dinner watch tv and then we sleep next morning we wake up what do we do yeah we rusty eat breakfast go to work then come home take a shower watch tv eat dinner go to it and it goes round and round you get that feeling that thing seems to be going round and round somebody at some point have to ask the question so what is life what's the meaning of all this what's the purpose of life is life worth living and many times we actually don't ask these questions you know why because we are so caught up in the race we never stopped to examine you know i was talking to this young man once you know and just having a conversation so i asked him you know he's in uni so i asked him why do you study he said i want to get a good education why do you want to get a good education so that i can make a good living oh i want to get a good job she said and i said okay why do you want to get a good job so they can make a good living what do you want to live huh [Laughter] but we never really asked what's the meaning of it what's the meaning of it all and i think we need to ask a question sometimes we're so caught up you know to make a living we don't really know why we are even alive now if we live with this under the sun as long as i live perspective life can become futile life can become meaningless and when we go on this treadmill a monotonous existence going round and round heading nowhere everything seems to be repetitive nothing new under the sun every invention is either an improvement or perversion of what is already in existence and then we go round and round and this pandemic lockdown all these become even more real now i'll tell you why in this print blaming lockdown when we can no longer travel you know for a lot of us we need to travel i'm one of those sometimes i feel like i should just take a drive to the airport you know and then come back i heard the last thing in singapore airlines have offered is flight to nowhere that means people just hop on a plane flight three hours and come back just to eat aircraft food what is this but why do people do that i'll tell you why because there's something very deep in us there's an inner need you know for us to engage in something external there's a restlessness inside all of us and when we get this locked down and everything is shut up and we cannot have that freedom to fly somewhere you know go meet people and all that then you know what happens something we become very restless inside so restless that oh i just need to go somewhere i just need to go meet somebody i just got to go and try a new restaurant i got to go and do something we just feel this restlessness and then we just want to go out and do something but tell you what the real issue is the real issue is not that we are tired from all this the real issue is that we are restless inside where did that restlessness come from it is rooted ultimately not in the fiscal condition not in the fact that we are locked down i'll tell you whether the problem is the real issue it is rooted in the sense of purposelessness i think it is rooted ultimately in a sense of inner emptiness and because we are empty inside we don't have a clear sense of purpose about our life that's why we feel restless after a while we just gotta fly somewhere and see something new and then it gets even more and more needful after you have seen the eiffel tower now you got to see something else that is even better than the eiffel tower and so we go from one place to another we do one thing after another but ultimately it is rooted in a sense of emptiness inside and we got to come to this understanding in the end solomon could only conclude in ecclesiastes 1 two meaningless meaningless teacher utterly meaningless everything is meaningless can you understand why solomon came to this despairing conclusion but praise god her today as new testament christian listen to me brothers and sisters here's where we turn the table today as new testament believers we need not conclude with solomon in hopelessness because as you move through the book of ecclesiastes we hear the heart cry of those who are living without jesus christ but the good news is this if you keep on reading we will come to another book in the bible it's called the book of colossians and in this book we find the answer to the meaning of life in colossians 1 verse 15 to 23 there's such beautiful verses we find an answer that is above the sun and beyond this life and in this we have our dreams can be fulfilled in this we find our satisfaction our search can end the answer is in the person of our lord jesus christ he is that missing peace in this jitsaw in the old testament i read for you now colossians chapter 1 verse 15 uh to 23. listen to this this is the writing of the apostle paul beautiful verse and he's talking about jesus and he said this be inspired with this the sun is the image of the invisible god the first born of all creation for in him all things were created things in heaven on earth visible and invisible whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities all things have been created through him and for him he is before all things and in him all things hold together he is the head of the body the church he is the beginning and the firstborn from amongst the dead so that in everything he may have the supremacy somebody ought to shout an amen for god was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him and then through him to reconcile himself to all things whether things on earth or things in heaven by making peace through his blood shed on the cross and once you are alienated from god and were enemies in your mind because of your evil behavior but now he has reconciled you by christ's physical body to death to present you holy inside without blemish free from accusation that if you continue in your faith establish and firm do not move from the hope that is held out in the gospel this is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven and of which i paul has become a servant hallelujah you know what paul informed us that in christ we were all created by god and for god and therefore our search for meaning must begin in god it is in him that we will find our meaning not only were we created in christ but we are also sustained through christ in him all things hold together but unfortunately men choose to rebel against god through sin and then we lost our moral bearings and we ended up alienated from god as a result we got alienated we become a people lost without hope and without god and we lose our sense of meaning and purpose but the good news is jesus came in ephesians 2 verse 12 and 13 he tell us this remember that at that time you were separate from christ how many of you know we were once separated from christ without hope without without god we were excluded from citizenship in israel foreigners to the covenants of the promise without hope without god in this world but now hallelujah through christ jesus you who are once far away has been brought near by the blood of christ somebody say amen this is the gospel that has taken us from lostness to life it takes us from alienation to reconciliation with god from meaninglessness to hope and today we can have hope in this gospel we can have hope in who jesus is to us you know this week is a special week this week is a national suicide prevention week across the world australia too this week is national suicide prevention week and in this coving 19 season many many are suffering from mental health issues how many of them know that it's escalated to a huge level the number of street sides is rising all across the world many people are seeing taking their lives as the ultimate door of escape do you know more than 3 000 australians end their life each year to suicide you know how many that is it's eight people every day we lose more people to suicide than traffic accidents why it's a sense of hopelessness aboriginal and torres strait islanders people they have twice the suicide rates compared to the general population this is what we're dealing with suicide do you know is also the leading cause of death amongst young people that's about in 2017 suicide accounted for more than one third of the deaths of people between 15 to 24 that's 36 percent 36 percent of young people between 15 to 24 in australia lose their life to suicide and this morning i am challenging all of us choose life instead choose life instead but let it not be a life lived by trusting in ourselves but let it be a life that is found in jesus christ the giver of life you ask me what is the most significant thing that's happened to your life i tell you my answer will be this after coming to christ i have found a new meaning to life a whole new purpose for living it's too bad you know that king solomon grew up in the days before jesus christ he didn't know that solomon believed in god but he didn't know that the day will come when god himself will come down from heaven and actually bring meaning purpose and eternity into the hearts of men hallelujah we are privileged to be living in the days after christ so now we know and we are bearers of this gospel ever since i came to jesus i tell you what my life is no longer a circle going round and round it has become a straight line this line begins to the day when i know christ and it will continue until the day i meet him face to face my life is no longer a circle it is now a straight line it started the day when i met him and it will end in the day when i see him face to face and what a difference jesus had made in my life and i know what a difference he can make in yours you know i like what the hymnist wrote you know when he came to christ he wrote these beautiful words he says heaven above is softer blue earth below is sweeter green something lives in every hill christless eyes have never seen birds with sweeter songs overflow flowers with newer beauty shines since i know as i now know i am his and he is mine the day when you meet christ suddenly the bird swings sing sweeter the grass seems greener you know why because your eyes are open now you see and with jesus life can take on a whole new perspective g.k chesterton the catholic theologian put it this way without christ life has no beginning it moves towards no end without christ it's really a circle it starts at no beginning it goes towards no end you know but with christ it's no longer a circle it's a straight line and solomon says meaningless or is meaningless but with jesus we can have divine purpose for living how many of you amen that and what is my purpose today you know i told you right since the day i met christ my life is no longer a circle it's become a straight line it starts from the day i know him and it will end with the day i see him face to face and what is happening in between what am i doing with this eternal life that i now have with christ the best thing i can do what is this purpose that i have found i think it's john 17 3. listen to these beautiful words that jesus said now this is life eternal how many of you know if you have come to christ eternal life has already begun for you you know that today you are already living the eternal life you're not waiting for christ you're not waiting to die then you start living your eternal life you're already living it now but what am i doing with the life that i live now is basically this now this is life eternal that they may know you the only true god and jesus christ whom you send you know now every moment whatever happens whether it's good bad or ordinary it has become an opportunity for me it is an adventure for me to get to know god and to get to know jesus christ his son this is what i'm living my life for whatever may happen to the ups and downs of life i'm getting to know god and i will know him fully when i see him face to face and here's the thing listen people if you know god in him you will find your purpose and in purpose we begin to find meaning you see you got to know the master then you can know your mission and then you can find meaning you see people try to find meaning how true mission and then but if your mission is divorced from your master then it is not god's mission for you it's your mission that you want to fulfill for yourself it becomes ambition are you with me it's just your ambition but you know your master and in your master he reveals to you your mission and then when you find your god-given mission you do it in a god-given way in god's time you will cultivate a life of meaning a meaning that is not rooted in ourselves a meaning that is rooted in god but where is the starting point you got to know him know your master and then you will know your mission and when you know your mission you will find your meaning my question for all of us this morning is this is your life a circle or is it a straight line and you listen to the words of the prophet jeremiah in jeremiah 9 verse 23 and 24 this is what the lord says let not the wise bows of their wisdom or the strong both their strength or the rich both their riches but let the one who both bows in this that they have the understanding to know me to know the master for i am the lord who exercises kindness justice and righteousness on earth for in this i delight if you know your master you will find your mission and that's where you find meaning let me end with this there's a young american soldier i was told it's a true story young american soldier who went to fight the vietnam war he was a he was a non-christian so the first few days of the war they have engagement and so he when this young american soldier went into the foxhole an atheist he came out the next morning a believer because they said there are no eighties in foxholes when you face death everything changes and when he came out he wrote this candid poem that i liked very much and this is what he wrote this american soldier wrote this lord god i've never spoken to you but now i want to say how do you do you see god they told me that you didn't exist and like a fool i believe all this but last night from the foxhole i saw your sky and i figured right then that they told me a lie had i taken time to see the things you have made i'll be the only one calling a spade a spade i wonder if you would hold my hand somehow i know that you will understand funny that i had to come to this hellish place before i had time to see your face i guess there isn't much more to say but i'm sure glad god that i met you today i guess zero hour will soon be here but i'm not afraid since i know you're near the sickness well i have to go i like you a lot and i want you to know but now it's going to be a horrible fight who knows i may come to your house tonight though i wasn't friendly with you before i wonder god if you would stand at your door look i'm crying i'm shedding tears i have to say i have to go now goodbye then p.s strange now that i met you i'm not afraid to die strange now that i met you i'm not afraid to die brothers and sisters that's perspective i think that's hope that's life when you know your master you will suddenly find your mission and when you know what your life is meant to be lived for you will find meaning i think that's where we must begin our search for hallelujah which above your heads with me for just a few moments this morning wherever you are just bow your hearts in powerheads with me whether you're watching online or over in city campus would you do that just by your hearts for a little while i think the only way and all of us are on the search for the meaning of life but i want you to know that we can never find meaning just in mission alone because mission there is divorce from the master it's really just our own ambition but you know when you know your master he will tell us what is our mission and once we know our mission that's where we find meaning and we are here this morning and you still do not know jesus christ as your lord as your master as your savior the one who came 2000 years ago to reconcile you back to god if you still don't know him as your personal lord and savior before i close this morning in this first segment i want to just pray a prayer for you now if you are here this morning and you don't know jesus as your personal lord and savior i'm going to invite you to pray this prayer after me and make this your prayer so would you bow your hearts with me if you are not yet a christian but this morning you want to know jesus would you pray this prayer with me and he said lord jesus i am a sinner my life is full of sin but this morning i thank you that you came and you died on the cross you shed your blood so that my sins can be forgiven and i come to you this morning and i turn away from all of my sin and i look to you and i trust you thank you for dying for me on the cross thank you for forgiving me of my sin give me a new beginning give me your love your peace [Music] and help me to live a new life in you i thank you for the promise in your bible that if i believe in my heart and i confess my mouth that jesus [Music] is lord then i'm safe i declare this morning that you are my savior and my lord thank you for saving me help me from this day on to know you [Music] in jesus name i pray amen if you prayed that prayer i want you to know that jesus come into your heart and make you a new person amen

Channel: Faith Community Church Perth

Views: 6,235

Rating: 4.8461537 out of 5

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Id: ZNLaDtzs7JQ

Length: 47min 58sec (2878 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 16 2020