Sunrise Church

Finding belief in a culture of elusive truth

The aim of the church and the gospel message we’ve been given is simple: go call sinners to repentance in order that they may be found.

Through examining three vignettes of encounters with Christ we see there are those who who fear Him and those who desire to follow Him.

Sin within the church is much more dangerous than persecution from without and, yet, we seem more concerned about the threats from without than the threats from within.

No society can stand when the values of the individual trump the values of the greater society. The church, though, is to be an answer to this individualism. The church is the ultimate alternative community.

Jesus is the messenger of God sent to proclaim the good news of peace who will judge the nations. As such, anyone who believes in him received forgiveness for their sins.

Even thought the Holy Spirit can work in ways that surpass our understanding, Scripture suggests that the Holy Spirit's work is always concerned with the glory of Jesus and the advance of His kingdom, not to highlight the self. We must ground our understanding in what God’s Word says and trust that God works more regularly through common means of grace, i.e. the Word, the ordinances and prayer.

The Great Commission is the heart of the mission of the church globally and Christians personally.

Our delight should be in the law of God which roots us in Him and makes us fruitful for His kingdom.

Jesus the Son of God, came to the earth with one simple mission: to live His life perfectly in order to fulfill the holy demands of God, to offer Himself willingly as a substitutionary sacrifice for our sinfulness in order to satisfy God’s wrath against sin and to rise from death in order to declare the end of death’s reign and provide eternal life for all that would trust in and follow Him.

In conclusion, Solomon seeks to help God's people to think rightly about life by sharing God's truth as instruction on living life under the sun with eternity in view.

Don’t wait until it’s too late and you're too broken to live a meaningful life for God, but remember him in your youth.

The unpredictable nature of life has many looking for answers somewhere. No one isn’t searching for answers, but the places that many are looking are just simply the wrong places. 

Everyone dies and, while we may not know what holds, we can be prepared for the certain day of our death.

The wise, free of the undue interruptions of ruling authorities, can rest in God’s justice, whether at His own hand or by the hand of worldly rulers and, therefore, may give themselves to joy and celebration in their time under the sun.

Life is full of challenges, but God is still in control whether we understand or see it or not.

Before embarking into the second half of the book and the shift in thought structure, a recap may be helpful.

A society, rightly ordered, fears God, honors the king/ruler/emperor and holds money in its rightful place which allows us to live life as the gift that it is with a heart occupied by joy.

The church gives us a corporate context where the world's values fade away and are replaced with mutual care instead of competition, communion instead of isolation and deference and service instead of popularity seeking.

Solomon seems to be saying, “you do what you’ve been given to do and let God do His part.” Man toils but God’s work is already accomplished and everlasting.

Christians, living this life, with all its despair and worry, cannot allow ourselves to be troubled by that which is out of our control, but must, instead, live this life in pursuit of the pleasure of God.

Solomon, though hating life and feeling the exhaustion of chasing after and trying to grab the wind, teaches us that, though life is vexing, it is still worth living, though we will all die, in the pursuit of wisdom and the rejection of folly.

Solomon came face to face with his insufficiency to undo what Adam had done for he was not the promised victor over the serpent, but merely a member in the line of the seed of the woman.

Solomon puts our lives in the proper perspective as we consider our lives, the natural world and history in the scheme of His sovereign plan.

God is deserving of our thanks as the sovereign deliverer and victorious One. In all of the grandiosity of His glory, He still remembers His children in their lowly estate and fulfills His promises.