North Valley Baptist Church

In the final chapter of Ecclesiastes, the preacher calls for the young, probably specifically his son, to remember his creator in the days of his youth. The time to turn to the Lord and commit our ways to Him is when we are young. Then we will have the most days to live for Him, and be able to put to use our greatest strengths and abilities, for His glory. But even if you have not remembered your...

The only way to avoid risk in this life is to not live at all. In everything we do there is risk, because the future in unknown to us. But even though we do not know the future and so take risks as we live and make decision, we must recognize that is not true of God. He does know the future. Whatever will be, will be, because he preordained for it to be. Therefore, we must entrust our lives to Him...

Very often we live presumptuously, as if our plans are going to succeed. But the truth is we have no idea how things will turn out. Life is full of uncertainties and tragedy can fall on us at any moment. With all that is uncertain in our lives, one thing that is certain is death. Therefore, we should live in light of death. We should live with wisdom, trusting our lives to the God who is sovereign...

As we jump back into our series in the book of Ecclesiastes, we see the preacher teaching on wisdom once again. Proverbs 9:10 tells us that the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and in Ecclesiastes chapter 8 the preach demonstrates that we are to fear God above all else, and this will determine how we response to our circumstances and how we live in this fleeting life. Death comes to us...

In his letter to the Philippians, the Apostle Paul was calling for unity in the church. In chapter 2 Paul describes the unity and the conditions that would prompt unity among them. In order to accomplish this Paul points them to the example of Christ, who was in His very nature God yet took on the nature of a slave and took on the fullness of humanity, in order to humble Himself to death, even dea...

Christmas Eve 2021

Our sovereign God had set the stage, according to His purposes and will, for His Son to come into the world. The birth of Jesus means that the savior of the world had come, and Jesus the Savior, is Christ the Lord. He is our Lord, and He is your Lord, and He saves all who trust in who He is and what He has done for our salvation. As James Montgomery Boice says, "By far the best and greatest way to...

In the book of Hebrews the author is warning, his Hebrew audience, not to turn from Christ in the midst of the persecution they were facing. In order to encourage them to persevere, he shows them that Christ is far superior to everything they left behind in the form of Judaism they left in order to follow Christ. In this sermon, the first in this year's Christmas series, Pastor Scott explains the...

There are those, who in desperate situations have bargained with God, and have tried to bend His will to their desires, promising to do all kinds of "righteous acts" if God will get them out of the trouble they are in. There is also the prosperity Gospel, which at the heart of it, is an attempt to manipulate God by giving to a certain preacher's ministry, or by having enough faith, to get health a...

We all go through things in this life that we would never choose to go through, but the Bible tells us that God has sovereignty brought these things into our lives for His good purposes, and He is growing us, whom He has saved, in Holiness through these things (Romans 8:28-29). In Ecclesiastes 7:1-14 we find that one way God uses adversity in our lives, to grow us, is by using it to causes us to r...

We all have a tendency to feel entitled, to be selfish and ungrateful for what we have. Yet, the Christian should be growing in putting off their selfishness and ingratitude, having been saved by God's grace through faith in Jesus Christ, and so live a life characterized by gratitude. All that we deserve is wrath from God, because of our sin, yet if we are in Jesus Christ, then we only have all th...

Very often we can be tempted to see how others seem to have so much, and we do not. Others seem to be well off, while we feel like we are struggling to get by. And it can be tempting for us to say, "if I only had just a little bit more", but the truth of the matter is when this is our attitude. "just a little bit more" will never be enough. Enough will always be, as John D. Rockefeller said, "just...

In chapter 4 of Ecclesiastes we saw that God has made us to be in relationship with others. We saw that there are great benefits to relationships and isolation is foolish. But if we try to find our ultimate satisfaction in those relationships we will find our search for satisfaction is no better than chasing the wind. We were made for God above all else. Our relationship with God, through Jesus Ch...

Having been made in God's image, we were made to be in relationship with God and with one another. In Ecclesiastes 4:9-16 the preacher shows the benefits of companionships with others, and the foolishness of isolation. But even when it comes to our relationships these were never meant to be our ultimate satisfaction in this life. But even our relationships are for the glory of God.

In Ecclesiastes 4:1-8, Solomon discusses the oppression that happens under the sun, and how due to mankind's sinfulness he corrupts his power and authority. Therefore, sinful man commits injustices against his fellow man. Then the preacher turns his attention to the motivation of envy for ones’s toiling, and how such motivation is just striving after wind. Yet laziness is not an option either. Bot...

To live life under the sun is to live apart from God. And when we live life under the sun, pursuing the fullness of justice in this life, then we pursue what is vanity. Because as Solomon points out, in the place where justice is meant - namely the law courts - instead, very often, wickedness is found. Also, in the place meant to uphold righteousness - namely governments - instead, very often, wic...

When life seems chaotic, and things are going wrong, it is only natural that we would want to try and take control of our lives. But no matter the season of life or whatever our circumstances are, whether good or bad, the truth is we are never the ones who are in control; God is. He is in control of all the experiences we face, in the time we face them, for His purposes. So in everything we must r...

There is a natural inclination to not want to think about death. Most of us would rather live as if death is not a reality for us. But that is not really an option. Pretending as if we will never come to the day of our death will not prevent the day from coming, so instead we should live in view of that day. What we see in Ecclesiastes is that Solomon accepted the reality of death, and he saw the...

Solomon is clear that everything done under the sun, life lived apart from God, is vanity of vanities. There is no meaning to life, no fulfillment apart from God. Many, living apart from God, try to fill the void of their life by the pursuit of pleasure. They live to enjoy life and fulfill their desires, but in chapter two of Ecclesiastes Solomon makes it clear that there is no satisfaction to be...

In this sermon Winston Cannon discussed, from 2 Peter 1:2-4, how if we have been saved by God's grace, by that same grace He has given to us all we need to live our lives in a way that reflects His character for His glory.

A part from God there is no purpose in life. The atheist my claim there is purpose, but they can only arbitrarily make such claims. Because if life is the result of chance and happenstance, with no creator to create for a purposes, then there can be no purpose in life. The Christian knows there is a Creator, and He is the one revealed to us in the Bible. And since there is a creator life does inde...

In the book of Ecclesiastes, which Pastor Scott argues was likely written by King Solomon, we find that everything that is done under the sun is vanity of vanities. Every pursuit and work is utterly worthless when they are sought apart from recognizing God and His proper place as judge over all. But when we live this life in the fear of the Lord, recognizing His proper place in our lives, then we...

Proverbs 28:1-9 is a series of short pithy proverbs, by King Solomon, in a section where Solomon is contrasting the wicked with the righteous. This is important to understand God's standard of righteousness. As followers of Jesus Christ the only righteousness we have, as we stand before God, is the righteousness credited to us by Jesus Christ. But for all of us who have been justified in God's sig...

The Bible tells us that wisdom is living a moral life to please God. Therefore, those who continue in rebellion against God are fools and have evil in their heart. In Proverbs 26:18-28 we see how dangerous a fool is, and especially when he tries to hide the evil of his heart with his words.

When we fall into sin where does that come from? When we find ourselves acting in anger, jealousy, greed or lust; where does that come from? The Bible tells us whatever we find in the outliving of our lives comes from our inner person, from our hearts. If we want real change in our lives, and true repentance, it must start in the heart. Many people aim for behavior modification, and outward change...