BETHEL MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH
SUNDAY 03JAN10
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From: LifeTruths (Holman) & LifeWords (KJV)
Text: Ecclesiastes 1:1-11; 12:13-14
Wrestling With The Meaning Of Life
Is Life meaningless?
Is Life Wearing You Down?
What Is The Answer?
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From: Explore The Bible
Mark 6:6b-56 (esp. 6:35-52)
How To Be Courageous
In Overwhelming Need
In Obeying God
In Obvious Stress

In this world we need Purpose & Power & Persistence
JESUS Brings Us Purpose & Power & Persistence
He Lifts Us, He Leads Us, & He Loves Us

We Need Purpose

“1:1 The words of the Teacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem:
1:2 “Futile! Futile!” laments the Teacher,
 “Absolutely futile! Everything is futile!”

1:3 What benefit do people get from all the effort
 which they expend on earth?

1:4 A generation comes and a generation goes,
 but the earth remains the same through the ages.

1:5 The sun rises and the sun sets;
 it hurries away to a place from which it rises again.

1:6 The wind goes to the south and circles around to the north;
 round and round the wind goes and on its rounds it returns.
 1:7 All the streams flow into the sea, but the sea is not full,

and to the place where the streams flow, there they will flow again.
”

Solomon uses the term “benefit”; advantage, effects, good, worthwhile are also acceptable.
Long ago God, through King Solomon, put the lie to modern claims that man can meaningfully impact the earth – climate change or otherwise – we are simply too-tiny of a variable.

“1:8 All this monotony is tiresome; no one can bear to describe it:
 The eye is never satisfied with seeing, nor is the ear ever content with hearing.
”

The finite details of the endless cycles of nature can keep our eyes and ears busy to explore, record, and retell – witness the Nature Channel and National Geographics and others – though they add a lot of imagined meaning not always justified by scientific observation and testing.

“1:9 What exists now is what will be,
 and what has been done is what will be done;
 there is nothing truly new on earth.
”

More popularly rendered “... under the sun”.

“1:10 Is there anything about which someone can say, “Look at this! It is new!”?
  It was already done long ago, before our time.
”

Solomon is not referring to technology but to the ebb and flow of fallen creation.

“1:11 No one remembers the former events,
 nor will anyone remember the events that are yet to happen;
 they will not be remembered by the future generations.”

Solomon is still addressing the minute details of the natural cycles of water and air, the interactions of land and sea, and now he adds the machinations of economics and politics and relationships

“12:13 Having heard everything, I have reached this conclusion:
 Fear God and keep his commandments,
 because this is the whole duty of man.
”

When our priorities are defined by the world we are wasting our time – literally.

“12:14 For God will evaluate every deed,
 including every secret thing, whether good or evil.”

Solomon learned this from his father, King David who wrote in Psalms a plea to God to search him for any dark places and to cleanse him, and Job to whom God allowed calamity to come as to both affirm his essential faith and to purge him of one area of confused thinking.

Jumping ahead to several places in the NT, and even in Revelation, we hear the same message again – don't even think that you can hide anything from God, or that there will not be consequences for sin!

We Need Power
------------------------------------

Read Mark 6:30-44, Matthew 14:13-21, John 6:1-15

Commentary

	Jesus, on His way to rest and review with the Apostles is greeted instead by over five 
	thousand people.  They are “without a shepherd” so He taught them.  Then it was 
	dinnertime and no food, so He performed a miracle and multiplied the few pieces of fish 
	and bread into the thousands of each needed.

	The NET translator's notes observe that the text identifies “five thousand men” which 
	either refers to generic-gender or to only the men by number, to which must be added 
	the probable population of women and children (Matthew 14:21 specifically references 
	the uncounted but present multitude of women and children).

	John adds the interesting clarification that Jesus, of course, knew that He would perform 
	a 
miracle to feed the masses but challenged Philip to get the food in order to create a 
	teachable moment.

	John amplifies the telling of Mark and Matthew, noting that the feast of Passover was 
	approaching and that the Galileans wanted to physically press Him into the role of a 
	political King and leader of political independence.  Because that was not His purpose 
	and 
because such an act would cause a violent reaction from the authorities Jesus quickly 
	relocated to the seclusion of the mountainside.

Questions

	When God presents us with an opportunity to teach those “without a shepherd” do we 
	turn away from things we can postpone and seize the moment?

	When confronted with the need for a miracle do we react with powerlessness or do we 
	look to God to provide?

	When people try to pressure us into roles we do not believe that God has called us to play 
	do we set boundaries and separate ourselves from them or do we linger and find 
	ourselves 
improperly manipulated?

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Read Mark 6:45-52, Matthew 14:22-33

Commentary

	Mark provides a somewhat terse report of the miracle of Jesus walking on the water; keys 
	there are that Jesus wanted to “pass by” (come alongside or to present Himself to them in 
	a miraculous way), they responded with superstitious fear, and they were still clueless 
	about the miracles of the loaves therefore were shocked that He both walked on water 
	and calmed the storm.  Because of their confusion “their hearts were hardened”.

	Matthew adds the story of Peter walking out across the water to meet Jesus; keys in 
	Matthew are the initial faith of Peter, the approval of Jesus to walk to Him, the 
	consequence of the doubt of Peter once on the water and faced with winds of the storm, 
	the rescue of Peter by Jesus, the challenge to Peter by Jesus for his lack of faith, and the 
	overt worship of Jesus by those in the boat “Truly you are the Son of God.”

Questions:

	Jesus comes alongside those whose attention He desires to get, do we respond to Him 
	with 
hearts hardened by confusion for lack of knowledge of His Word, or hardened by 
	preconceived notions that distort His message?

	When we greet Jesus with hearts of faith does our faith fade when the world attacks us as 
	Jesus warned us that it would?

	When Jesus does a miracle in our life or in that of others do we stop right there and 
	worship Him?

He Lifts Us
--------------------------------------------

Remember from our prior study in James 4:10 “Humble youselves before the Lord and He will exalt/lift you up.”  In football we often see one player help a team-mate up.  When a little child falls we rush to help them up.  When an injured or very elderly person is rising from a soft chair or sofa we help them up.  Jesus in Mark 9:25-27 modeled this.

Spiritually, we are that player on the ground, that child on the floor, that injured or elderly 
person sunken into the soft cushion of laziness or lust – Jesus lifts us up!

He Leads Us
-------------------------------------------

John 10:3
 “The doorkeeper opens the door for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.”  Sheep are very timid and not terribly bright creatures, 
they will follow a leader off a cliff, and they will not lay down unless assured they are safe.

We also can behave in not-so-bright ways, offending the very God Who has provided for our 
salvation through the terrible humiliation and suffering of His Son Jesus, and we also tend to 
either freeze or panic when challenged for our faith.

Just as sheep learn to recognize the voice of their shepherd, so also must we lern to better recognize – and follow – the voice of the Lord, our Shepherd.  

In Matthew 24:32, after His Resurrection Jesus walked and talked with some men along the road but He did not allow them to immediately recognize Him.  After He showed Himself and vanished “They said to each other, “Didn’t our hearts burn within us while he was speaking with us on the road, while he was explaining the scriptures to us?””

In John 18:37 Jesus declared “Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”

He Loves Us
-----------------------------------------

The children sing “Jesus Loves Me This I Know, For The Bible Tells Me So” and we smile.

Ephesians 2:4	
teaches us ”But God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us,”

We remember from our studies leading up to the Birth of Jesus that when Zechariah spoke God's prophesy about Jesus to his son – who would become John the Baptist, he is quoted in Luke chapter 1:78-79 as saying “Because of our God’s tender mercy
 the dawn will break upon us from on high
 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
 to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

IN CONCLUSION

In this world we need Purpose & Power & Persistence
JESUS Brings Us Purpose & Power & Persistence
He Lifts Us, He Leads Us, & He Loves Us

Invitation

As we sing our closing song please come forward - and pay no attention to anyone or any thing but the Holy Spirit Who is encouraging you right now to come.  If you are shy - please catch one of us afterwards - we will stay as long as necessary to serve you. 

Prayer of Dismissal