Let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall. –1 Corinthians 10:12 The Persian king Cyrus wanted to conquer the city of Sardis. But the city was located on a ridge surrounded by steep cliffs. The residents of Sardis were convinced no one could overtake them.
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I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. –1 Corinthians 5:5-6 Though the Corinthian Christians would not deal with the sin of immorality that was threatening their church,
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The flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. –Galatians 5:17 True or false: Christians have more struggles in this life than non-Christians. Interestingly, that statement
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If you want to develop the quality of persistence, you first have to appreciate the value of persistence. Second, you have to begin regardless of how you feel. Remember how Solomon described the sluggard? “The sluggard says, ‘There is a lion in the road! A lion is in the open square!’” (Proverbs 26:13).
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Thomas Edison once said, “Most of life’s failures are people who didn’t realize how close they were to success before they gave up.” Edison was talking about the quality of persistence. You may think people are successful in life because of their family connections, inherited wealth, talent, or good luck.
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Why do bad things happen to good people? Solomon realized the bad things in life are not necessarily bad–it is all a matter of perspective. Yesterday we saw four “bad” things in Ecclesiastes 7 that Solomon said are actually good; today we are going to look at three more.
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God has a divine plan for everything in life. But it is only when we are in a right relationship with God that we can really trust His plan. That is the second point Solomon made in Ecclesiastes 3. He said a right relationship with God is the key to trusting His plan. Look at verse 11: “He has made everything appropriate in its time.”
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A lot of Christians today have an extreme idea about work. Some absolutely hate their jobs. Look at what Solomon said in verse 18: “I hated all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun, for I must leave it to the man who will come after me.”
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In the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon started with his conclusion–that life under the sun is meaningless. To illustrate that point, he then gave a poem about the endless cycles we see around us, starting in verse 4 with the endless cycle of life. Solomon wrote, “A generation goes and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever.”
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A winning church is characterized by worship, instruction, and nourishment. That is the kind of church God uses to pour His power into our lives. And a final ingredient of a church that generates God’s power is sharing the gospel.
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