Mercy Fellowship Sermons

How are we significant? We can often wonder what makes us valuable or gives us purpose in a world where meaning and importance seem fleeting. When we look to other people for our sense of worth, we experience shame when we are met with rejection rather than received with honor and affirmation. Individual dignity is essential for flourishing, but our significance is exponentially greater when our i...

How do we grow and change? Few of us are satisfied with who we are, all of us want to see positive changes in our lives. We know old, ineffective ways of being will not birth what we need to become. Good news for eternity should be good news for today. We are made new to be new. Gospel proclamation, with Holy Spirit power, leads us to a new life of purity. Our conduct matters to God, but it is a r...

Hope is the anticipation of a better future than our current reality. We desire better futures because our present does not satisfy. Without hope we can easily fall into despair, especially in difficulty. When we are rooted in a living hope it can give us real joy and greater endurance in all situations.

Who am I? This is an existential question of identity we all wrestle with. It is essential to understand who we are first for us to effectively navigate what we do and how we respond to the world around us. While we grow and change during our lives, our sense of identity must remain rooted in something or someone greater than us.

The Preacher is closing out his sermon. Because there is a creator God we are being called to faith in Him. Life under the sun is not to be engaged with tepid insecurity, but rather dive in and BE BOLD and rejoice in the good life God has given as early in life as possible.  

Urgency is dialed up to 11 because life is short and the time to dive into greater life is now. Engage your life with a mission and purpose. To enjoy something good and valuable requires a bit of an adventure. There are storms at sea and you can get off course. You experience anticipation, disappointment, resolution, excitement and celebration.

Chapter 10 can feel like a trip to a chaotic farmer’s market where different booths are all connected but sometimes in ways that don’t easily make sense but can lead to clarity and hope.  

In light of our limited ability to understand the world there comes a point when you have to look beyond what you can see and begin to explore a faith in something greater. Even when we assume a baseline belief in a God who is in control of all things, the world can still be difficult to understand. 

When we have questions and seek wisdom, we expect answers to both satisfy our curiosity and fulfill our desire for everything to make sense. Yet, wisdom has limits requiring us to be comfortable with the uncomfortable tension of not understanding everything.

Beginning with a popular proverb, “a good name is more valuable than riches or luxury” looks beyond our reputations to consider the underlying nature of what it means to have a truly authentic life. Two showcases are highlighted helping us remember the fragility of life contrasted with our desire to forget there is an end.

What happens in our lives when we put our hope in wealth? This section is not linear but flows beginning, middle/end, and beginning again. So it flies over the topic of wealth and satisfaction at 20,000’ then it drops down circling the city to get a more detailed account, before finally landing at a place of joy.  

We are typically centered on ourselves at worst or others at best but here The Preacher wants our attention hyper focused on our relationship with God the creator. Specifically warning us how we approach God matters because He is creator, ruler and judge of all things.

While life “under the sun” is actually more like a dark basement there is light that penetrates the darkness. As bright as the light is coming in, every basement still has its shadows. In our basement world there is still the question of what to do with all the injustice we see and how to respond to constantly feeling alone and isolated. 

As God shines bright the light into our basement laboratory there can still be dark shadows. In our basement world, there is still the question of what to do with all the injustice we see. Where can we go to appeal for justice? If God is sovereign over time and seasons why does he allow injustice? Where is hope? 

The curtains in the dark basement laboratory have been pulled back and now things can be seen clearly for what they are. The light illuminates and warms our experiences. 

There is some gain under the sun to wisdom when compared to mad folly. Wisdom received and applied has its benefits in this life. It is better to live wisely than like an immoral foolish idiot. One has vision to navigate this world the other is blind. The problem is the path of the wise and the fool lead to the same destination. Death. Wisdom isn’t valueless; it is just not valuable on its own to...

When the pursuit of wisdom led down a path that ended with more knowledge and wisdom leading to greater sorrow; and much study leads to weariness, it is time to get out of the library. Get past things of the mind and start experiencing all the good pleasures life has to offer. We’re going to see experiments carried out to their fullest conclusion in the most well-appointed laboratory imaginable.