The goal of this site is this: to help you become formed and shaped by Gods Word to the point where you can test everything that you see and hear and hold on only to that which is good.
TV has a lot to say about Christmas: what we should buy, the food and candy we’ll want, not to mention all the Christmas specials we need to watch.
TV also makes fun of the various struggles the Christmas season presents: family gatherings, work parties, buying the right gifts, and holding to the “correct” traditions.
Throughout this series, we want to highlight the funny things we see on TV. But more importantly, we want to encourage and equip you to make the most of your Christmas Season.
Part 1
This week our Lead Pastor Bart Wilkins begins our new teaching series by telling us that in order to really appreciate the peace and joy of the Christmas season, we need to plan first.
Filed under: Chasing Time — Flatland Research Team @ 5:00 am
To steal a quote, what a long, strange trip our study through Ecclesiastes has been. The Teacher has challenged us in many ways, in how we look at wisdom, knowledge and the world around us. Hopefully it has been a profitable trip in that light has been shed in the darkness of your understanding and thinking about just what true wisdom and knowledge are and how they need to be applied to the everyday world in which you live.
It is hard to put where we are any better than the Teacher himself. “Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter.” (12:13a NIV)
When I was a kid, I would help my grandfather brand cattle on his farm in northeastern Colorado. We would load the cattle into a chute that led them to where they needed to be for the branding operation. When any of the cattle didn’t want to cooperate, Grandpa would apply a goad, a long stick with a ‘firmly embedded nail’ on the end, to get them to move along. The point to his application of the goad was to cause the stubborn steer just enough discomfort to keep it and all the cattle behind it moving in the direction that Grandpa intended.
We have been in the home stretch and now we are driving to the wire. These verses are the conclusions that the Teacher has drawn from his life. There are several contrasting themes running through these verses; light and darkness, good times and bad, youth and old age and, of course, the meaninglessness of life.
As you study through these verses, keep an eye out for what the Teacher seems to be pointing to that has meaning and what does not.
Today’s passage is dealing with what we have been given, the ‘portion’ or ‘lot’ assigned to us by God Himself. The word translated as the ‘portion’ we are to ‘give’ (NIV) or ‘divide’ (NASB & NLT) to seven or eight in v.2, is a word the Teacher has used seven times previously and now uses for the last time. From the context of those uses is it apparent that what the Teacher is dealing with has a specific economic aspect, the business and stuff of this world but also runs far beyond just economics to all that He has given to us and our lot in life itself.
God has a purpose for your life and when you don’t know your purpose, you are just chasing time. Pastor Jeff Baker concludes our teaching series through the book of Ecclesiastes with a message entitled, Purpose.
We are back to dealing with the king in these last verses of chapter 10. While we, as Americans, may not understand all that it means to live under a king, we do live under authority and our brand of democracy may not necessarily breed the most respectful attitude towards that authority and the men and women who wield it.
Textually, v.16 is a bit of a wild card as can be seen from the various translations (NASB, NLT). The upshot appears to be that when the king is unable to properly wield his authority, for whatever reason, those under him begin to devour what is rightfully his.
