WEBVTT 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:01.439 Thanks, Sarah. 00:00:01.919 --> 00:00:03.279 Good morning, everyone. 00:00:03.520 --> 00:00:05.599 Thank you for that warm welcome. 00:00:05.759 --> 00:00:07.519 Your checks are in the mail. 00:00:08.560 --> 00:00:11.519 Open your Bibles, please, to the Book of Ecclesiastes. 00:00:11.679 --> 00:00:18.079 The Book of Ecclesiastes, if you let your Bible just sort of fall open in the middle, it usually lands on the Psalms. 00:00:18.399 --> 00:00:29.760 Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, cell phone Bible users, you can just drop your phone on the floor and make a note to purchase a real Bible. 00:00:31.199 --> 00:00:32.799 I'm just serious. 00:00:33.119 --> 00:00:39.679 For those of you who have arrived this morning expecting to see Josh Thompson, he has not grown old, neither has he grown any hair. 00:00:40.000 --> 00:00:42.000 I am a substitute. 00:00:42.240 --> 00:00:43.439 Ecclesiastes. 00:00:43.679 --> 00:00:47.600 You look at Ecclesia, the first part of the word, it's the Greek word for church. 00:00:47.920 --> 00:00:50.079 Church simply means assembly. 00:00:50.320 --> 00:00:52.320 We are an assembly of believers. 00:00:52.479 --> 00:00:54.960 We are the assembly of God, as it were. 00:00:55.200 --> 00:01:02.320 And to be fair, the same word is also used for a group of rioters in the book of Acts, but that's a different story. 00:01:02.560 --> 00:01:09.200 Ecclesiastes, the title of the book, is from the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible known as the Septuagint. 00:01:09.359 --> 00:01:12.480 And the Hebrew word for assembler is Kohelet. 00:01:12.719 --> 00:01:18.719 Solomon was the assembler, and he assembled the Jewish people to hear words of wisdom in his old age. 00:01:19.200 --> 00:01:27.280 The approach to life as we live it is marked on the one hand by some who are falsely or vaguely optimistic. 00:01:27.439 --> 00:01:34.000 Like the guy who fell off a multi-story building when passing the 20th floor was heard to remark, So far, so good. 00:01:34.480 --> 00:01:41.200 And some people who make their way through life have some kind of vague hope that it's all going to pan out in the end. 00:01:41.439 --> 00:01:44.400 Others are chronically pessimistic. 00:01:44.560 --> 00:01:49.200 Like the young man on top of the bridge over the Hudson River who's standing there about to jump. 00:01:49.359 --> 00:01:51.439 When a policeman caught him and said, What are you doing? 00:01:51.599 --> 00:01:53.680 To which he replied, I'm going to end my life. 00:01:53.840 --> 00:01:55.120 It's a miserable affair. 00:01:55.359 --> 00:01:58.640 The policeman said, Don't be so rash, let's take time and talk. 00:01:58.799 --> 00:02:01.840 I'll give you 10 minutes and you can tell me why you should end your life. 00:02:02.000 --> 00:02:05.680 And you give me 10 minutes and I'll tell you why you should continue living. 00:02:05.920 --> 00:02:09.120 And so they stood together on the bridge for 20 minutes. 00:02:09.280 --> 00:02:12.479 And then both of them jumped into the Hudson River. 00:02:13.919 --> 00:02:22.159 Solomon calls us neither to a false optimism or a chronic pessimism, but to realism. 00:02:22.719 --> 00:02:39.680 To use our minds, to engage our faculties, to examine the evidence, to think things through, to stand, as it were, square with the world, with a humble heart, seeking God, believing that he will reveal himself to those who earnestly cry out to him. 00:02:40.159 --> 00:02:48.560 And that is what Solomon opens with here in the words in the opening book of Ecclesiastes, and I want to look at it with you here this morning in chapter one. 00:02:48.879 --> 00:02:53.360 And if you are able, would you please stand with me for the reading of God's word? 00:02:54.879 --> 00:02:58.800 I'm starting in chapter one, verse one. 00:02:59.680 --> 00:03:04.240 The words of the preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. 00:03:04.560 --> 00:03:10.560 Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher, vanity of vanities, all is vanity. 00:03:10.879 --> 00:03:15.039 What profit hath a man of all his labor which he takes under the sun? 00:03:15.599 --> 00:03:21.520 One generation passes away, and another generation comes, but the earth abides forever. 00:03:21.759 --> 00:03:26.879 The sun also rises, and the sun goes down, and hastens to its place where it rose. 00:03:27.120 --> 00:03:30.800 The wind goes toward the south and turns about unto the north. 00:03:30.960 --> 00:03:36.319 It whirls about continually, and the wind returns again according to its circuits. 00:03:36.560 --> 00:03:44.319 All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full, unto the place from whence the rivers come, there they return again. 00:03:44.639 --> 00:03:46.639 All things are full of labor. 00:03:47.120 --> 00:03:48.639 Man cannot utter it. 00:03:48.879 --> 00:03:53.439 The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. 00:03:53.680 --> 00:03:58.960 The thing that has been, it is that which shall be, and that which is done is that which shall be done. 00:03:59.199 --> 00:04:01.840 There is no new thing under the sun. 00:04:02.319 --> 00:04:05.520 Is there anything whereof it may be said, see, this is new. 00:04:05.759 --> 00:04:09.680 It has been already of old time, which was before us. 00:04:09.919 --> 00:04:17.759 There is no remembrance of former things, neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come with those that shall come after. 00:04:18.160 --> 00:04:29.040 I, the preacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem, and I gave my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom concerning all the things that are done under heaven. 00:04:29.360 --> 00:04:34.959 This severe travail has God given to the sons of men to be exercised therewith. 00:04:35.279 --> 00:04:42.319 I have seen all the works that are done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit. 00:04:42.560 --> 00:04:49.360 That which is crooked cannot be made straight, and that which is lacking cannot be numbered. 00:04:49.600 --> 00:04:51.040 Thanks be to God for his word. 00:04:51.279 --> 00:04:57.759 Shall we bow for a moment and ask him to speak to us through his word, as we have the privilege of opening it together? 00:04:59.360 --> 00:05:04.399 Lord, there is so much that crowds our minds by way of distraction. 00:05:04.800 --> 00:05:07.360 We ask for your help to deal with that. 00:05:07.839 --> 00:05:14.959 So much that clutters our hearts by way of interference, so much that provides stumbling blocks on the pathway of faith. 00:05:15.199 --> 00:05:27.360 We pray that we may be open and ready to receive your truth, and ask that you will straighten a pathway of obedience before us, that we might walk in the footsteps of Jesus, in whose great name we pray. 00:05:27.600 --> 00:05:28.079 Amen. 00:05:28.240 --> 00:05:30.240 If you would be seated, please, thank you. 00:05:31.199 --> 00:05:44.639 One of the accusations, which is continuously leveled against Christianity, is that it is an escape from reality, that in order to come to terms with biblical truth, one has to disengage one's brain. 00:05:44.879 --> 00:05:49.519 That to live a Christian life of any worth at all involves an ostrich-like existence. 00:05:49.759 --> 00:06:01.199 And many will say that those of us who have staked our lives in the veracity of God's Word on the historical data of the New Testament and the risen Lord Jesus are somehow misguided. 00:06:01.439 --> 00:06:06.959 But far from Christianity being an escape from reason, it is a call to reasonableness. 00:06:07.120 --> 00:06:15.439 And as I mentioned early, to use our minds to think clearly, to feel deeply, and to live wisely. 00:06:15.680 --> 00:06:20.160 The Book of Ecclesiastes is apropos for where life is being lived. 00:06:20.240 --> 00:06:22.879 It is a solid dose of reality. 00:06:23.279 --> 00:06:27.199 The famous author, poet, Nobel Prize winner in literature, T. 00:06:27.279 --> 00:06:27.360 S. 00:06:27.519 --> 00:06:35.519 Eliot, way back in 1936, wrote this: Men and women cannot handle a large dose of reality. 00:06:36.000 --> 00:06:41.519 And that is why men and women feed on a constant interference of fantasy and mirage. 00:06:41.680 --> 00:06:47.199 If I can just get out of here, if I can just find the answer somewhere else. 00:06:47.519 --> 00:06:57.839 Solomon, unlike a university professor waxing eloquently about some subject he's quite distanced from as he speaks to his students, is involved in the questions he raises. 00:06:58.160 --> 00:07:04.000 As one person put it, he's built an observation tower at ground level. 00:07:04.399 --> 00:07:14.399 And while we try to understand this book, it's important to note that this book understands us, that it turns the searchlight on our own lives. 00:07:14.639 --> 00:07:20.079 And as you read through its pages, you get the funny feeling that the author knows me. 00:07:20.720 --> 00:07:27.759 He articulates the longings and deep thoughts of my heart, which for the most part I may never share with anyone else. 00:07:28.000 --> 00:07:36.800 Now, just as in much Jewish writing, which puts the most important point up front, Solomon puts his conclusion up front in the opening verse of chapter one. 00:07:37.040 --> 00:07:41.199 Look at it with me and continue to glance at your Bible as we work through the verses. 00:07:41.439 --> 00:07:44.000 Verse 2, Vanity of Vanities. 00:07:44.160 --> 00:07:45.360 Notice how he begins, right? 00:07:45.439 --> 00:07:48.800 It's a Hebrewism for the most utter vanity. 00:07:48.959 --> 00:07:51.439 The repetition increases the force of the statement. 00:07:51.680 --> 00:08:01.360 The Hebrew word is root of the word is havel, and it means breath, puff, vapor, smoke, or futility, depending its context. 00:08:01.519 --> 00:08:12.639 Five times in this verse, the Latin word vanitas means empty, and that explains why some of your English translations probably have the word meaningless, and that's a fair translation. 00:08:12.879 --> 00:08:18.959 But it is critical to note that the things that Solomon talks about are not vain in themselves. 00:08:19.199 --> 00:08:22.720 The Bible speaks to the fact that God has made nothing in vain. 00:08:22.879 --> 00:08:23.839 Well, what then? 00:08:24.160 --> 00:08:29.040 They are vain when put in the place of God and made the chief end. 00:08:29.600 --> 00:08:30.800 Let me repeat that. 00:08:31.040 --> 00:08:36.080 They are vain when put in the place of God and made the chief end. 00:08:36.559 --> 00:08:49.840 If you don't understand the phrase under the sun, and you probably saw it when we read it, and fail to see that in its context means under the sun apart from God, then you will never understand this book. 00:08:50.080 --> 00:08:52.639 Let me show you a couple of them if you look in your Bibles. 00:08:52.879 --> 00:08:56.320 Chapter 1, verse 3, we read, under the Sun. 00:08:56.639 --> 00:09:05.120 Chapter 1, verse 14, I have seen all the works that are done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit. 00:09:05.360 --> 00:09:07.039 Chapter 2, verse 11. 00:09:07.200 --> 00:09:17.200 Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, on the labor that I had labored to do, and behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and then there was no profit under the sun. 00:09:17.759 --> 00:09:18.639 Verse 17. 00:09:19.039 --> 00:09:27.279 Therefore I hated life, because the work is wrought under the sun is grievous to me, for all is vanity and vexation of spirit. 00:09:27.440 --> 00:09:31.679 Verse 18, yes, I hated all my labor which I had taken under the sun. 00:09:31.840 --> 00:09:39.840 Verse 19, at the end, I have rule over all my labor wherein I have labored, whereas I have shown myself wise under the sun. 00:09:40.320 --> 00:09:41.200 This is vanity. 00:09:41.360 --> 00:09:48.879 Verse 20, therefore I went about to cause my heart to despair of all the labor which I took under the sun, and on and on and on it goes. 00:09:48.960 --> 00:09:50.080 You get the idea. 00:09:50.320 --> 00:09:51.919 So we move through chapter one. 00:09:52.159 --> 00:09:58.720 The question for us is this Do the facts of life bear out Solomon's thesis? 00:09:58.960 --> 00:09:59.919 Well, let's look at them. 00:10:00.080 --> 00:10:01.039 Verse 3. 00:10:01.360 --> 00:10:03.039 He says, What profit has a man? 00:10:03.120 --> 00:10:03.840 Just stop there. 00:10:04.000 --> 00:10:06.159 In other words, what advantage? 00:10:06.399 --> 00:10:08.960 Or what's the point, we would say? 00:10:09.279 --> 00:10:18.320 Whether you are a mother, a teacher, an executive, an engineer, a pilot, or a driver, number one, there is an inherent monotony to life. 00:10:18.559 --> 00:10:20.559 An inherent monotony to life. 00:10:20.799 --> 00:10:22.720 Children get this right away, you don't have to tell them. 00:10:22.799 --> 00:10:25.120 You hear it echoing through the halls of your house. 00:10:25.440 --> 00:10:27.440 Mom, I'm bored. 00:10:28.399 --> 00:10:33.200 And many of our lives are possessed of that same kind of monotonous feeling. 00:10:33.440 --> 00:10:42.480 Listen to what this sociologist said, and I quote, by and large, people seldom enjoy their work, nor do they enjoy traveling to and from it. 00:10:42.720 --> 00:10:51.519 Most jobs are repetitive, require very little personal initiative, and for the most part, people are incapable of fulfilling their full potential through them. 00:10:51.759 --> 00:11:02.960 People go to work that they do not enjoy, spend a considerable portion of their working hours getting to and from it, and thus it looms large in a life that is not very pleasant at the outset. 00:11:04.639 --> 00:11:07.039 Incidentally, this explains road rage. 00:11:07.360 --> 00:11:18.559 A pent-up frustration of being late, to go somewhere to do something you don't want to do, punch in, punch out, and do your best to make sense of it all? 00:11:18.960 --> 00:11:20.240 And finally die? 00:11:20.960 --> 00:11:22.159 What's the point of that? 00:11:22.399 --> 00:11:23.039 Monotony. 00:11:23.200 --> 00:11:24.159 Verse 4. 00:11:24.480 --> 00:11:29.600 One generation passes away and another generation comes, but the earth abides forever. 00:11:29.840 --> 00:11:31.120 It's a comparative. 00:11:38.799 --> 00:11:39.759 It's number two. 00:11:40.000 --> 00:11:42.480 Life is marked by transience. 00:11:42.799 --> 00:11:44.720 Life is marked by transience. 00:11:44.960 --> 00:11:46.960 This isn't even expounded upon here. 00:11:47.120 --> 00:11:50.559 The frailty of your life is not even in question. 00:11:51.200 --> 00:11:54.639 Verses five through seven, if you look at it, there's three nouns here. 00:11:54.879 --> 00:11:58.879 Verse five, the sun, verse six, the wind, and verse seven, the rivers. 00:11:59.039 --> 00:12:00.399 And there's a very key word. 00:12:00.559 --> 00:12:03.039 Look at it, find it, the word again. 00:12:03.440 --> 00:12:07.519 Solomon lists these things because life mirrors them. 00:12:07.919 --> 00:12:10.639 Number three, life is repetitive. 00:12:10.879 --> 00:12:12.240 Life is repetitive. 00:12:12.480 --> 00:12:14.320 Children get this right away too, right? 00:12:14.480 --> 00:12:16.080 Why do I have to make my bed? 00:12:16.240 --> 00:12:19.360 I'm just gonna, you know, you know the rest of it. 00:12:19.679 --> 00:12:21.519 We'll jump to verse eight. 00:12:21.759 --> 00:12:25.120 It says, all things are full of labor, man cannot utter it. 00:12:25.279 --> 00:12:30.320 The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. 00:12:30.639 --> 00:12:33.679 Fourthly, life is insatiable. 00:12:33.919 --> 00:12:35.759 Life is insatiable. 00:12:36.159 --> 00:12:41.039 There's not a person in this room who can't finish this Rolling Stones mantra. 00:12:41.279 --> 00:12:42.720 I can't get no. 00:12:44.240 --> 00:12:45.600 I can't get no. 00:12:46.240 --> 00:12:46.639 Right? 00:12:46.799 --> 00:12:51.120 And I've tried and I've tried and I've tried and I've tried. 00:12:51.519 --> 00:12:57.279 Which of course is followed by those deep and meaningful lyrics, no, no, no, and hey, hey, hey. 00:12:59.360 --> 00:13:04.000 Just when you find the perfect vacation, someone sends you a better-looking brochure. 00:13:04.240 --> 00:13:07.759 You find the perfect brunette, along comes that blonde. 00:13:08.080 --> 00:13:13.279 Solomon observes that life is a huge appetite that can never be satisfied. 00:13:13.600 --> 00:13:14.960 We always want more. 00:13:15.279 --> 00:13:20.720 Sports, concerts, songs, meals, vacations, you know, fill in your blank. 00:13:21.039 --> 00:13:29.279 Singer-songwriter Paul Simon, in his 1960s hit song called Slip Sliding Away, wrote these lyrics. 00:13:29.519 --> 00:13:33.759 You know, the nearer your destination, the more you're slip sliding away. 00:13:33.919 --> 00:13:38.960 It's a catchy little tune, depressing lyrics, but it spells out exactly what Solomon says. 00:13:39.200 --> 00:13:40.879 Life is insatiable. 00:13:41.120 --> 00:13:44.720 All the stuff slips right out of your grasp. 00:13:45.039 --> 00:13:55.440 And if you've been trying to unscramble your life by filling it with relationships, there is no one on the face of the earth that can deal with the deep longings of your life. 00:13:55.679 --> 00:14:03.440 If you've been trying to satisfy it with intellectual pursuits, there's not a theorem you can ponder that will ultimately satisfy your intellectual curiosity. 00:14:03.600 --> 00:14:16.559 And if you've been looking for it along the lines of an emotional trip, there's not a journey you can take or a drug you can ingest that will answer the insatiable longing that is built into the very core of your being. 00:14:16.879 --> 00:14:22.639 And the sooner you own up to this, the sooner you're able to make sense of your life. 00:14:23.120 --> 00:14:28.799 Well, verse 9 and 10, and just glance at it with me, number five, there's nothing new. 00:14:29.039 --> 00:14:30.399 There's nothing new. 00:14:30.639 --> 00:14:33.840 It's like when you ask the average person, hey, what's new? 00:14:34.000 --> 00:14:34.879 What's the answer? 00:14:35.120 --> 00:14:38.080 Same old, same old, right? 00:14:38.639 --> 00:14:40.720 Or worse yet, the shrug. 00:14:40.960 --> 00:14:42.080 Hey, how are you doing? 00:14:42.240 --> 00:14:42.559 Huh? 00:14:42.879 --> 00:14:44.159 What's up for the weekend? 00:14:45.120 --> 00:14:46.399 Did you have fun at that point? 00:14:46.720 --> 00:14:47.120 Oh, great. 00:14:47.200 --> 00:14:48.000 Nice talking to you. 00:14:48.080 --> 00:14:50.480 We must have this conversation again soon. 00:14:50.879 --> 00:15:00.879 May I suggest to you that the real burden of life from the point of view of the human secularist is not so much that it is tragic, but that it is trivial. 00:15:01.200 --> 00:15:05.600 And the shrug is the saddest commentary on life of all. 00:15:06.399 --> 00:15:12.720 Solomon says that ultimately there are no surprises, no breakthroughs, nothing new. 00:15:13.120 --> 00:15:18.639 Well, moving to verse 11, number six, life is marked by insignificance. 00:15:19.039 --> 00:15:21.039 Life is marked by insignificance. 00:15:21.279 --> 00:15:24.000 What you do will not be remembered. 00:15:24.320 --> 00:15:27.840 Everybody thinks that someone or something will be immortal. 00:15:28.080 --> 00:15:34.080 Famous people, actors, singers, business titans, people who put their names on plaques and on buildings. 00:15:34.240 --> 00:15:35.039 Well, guess what? 00:15:35.200 --> 00:15:36.559 It doesn't last long. 00:15:37.279 --> 00:15:44.480 Apart from God, as one person put it, all you can do is launch into acts of silliness. 00:15:45.759 --> 00:15:48.399 So, is this pessimism? 00:15:48.720 --> 00:15:49.840 Is this all there is? 00:15:50.080 --> 00:15:50.399 No. 00:15:50.639 --> 00:15:54.879 This is life under the framework of the sun apart from God. 00:15:55.679 --> 00:16:01.840 Solomon sets up and asks the essential question: is there life before death? 00:16:02.480 --> 00:16:06.320 Or is it the limit of our senses simply to survive? 00:16:06.720 --> 00:16:15.200 Because if it is monotonous and transient and repetitive and insatiable and trivial and insignificant, then what else is it? 00:16:16.000 --> 00:16:22.240 Well, verse 12, if we move there, Solomon takes a pause, as it were, and ponders out loud. 00:16:22.399 --> 00:16:23.679 He contemplates life. 00:16:23.840 --> 00:16:30.159 And it is critical to understand, if you look with me at verse 13, that his wisdom remained. 00:16:30.720 --> 00:16:33.120 Solomon's wisdom remained. 00:16:33.679 --> 00:16:42.240 Solomon was not the Hugh Hefner of his age with his Playboy mansions and bunnies and purely hedonistic pleasure-chasing lifestyle. 00:16:42.399 --> 00:16:45.519 No, Solomon was putting these things to the test. 00:16:45.919 --> 00:17:03.840 And at the end of verse 13, what he essentially says is this ultimately the burdens of life have been laid upon men for their rebellion against God, seeking to make things that are listed in chapter 2 and the rest of the book their chief end. 00:17:04.640 --> 00:17:15.359 And so concluding, he reads, he says in verse 14, I have seen all the works that are done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit. 00:17:15.599 --> 00:17:22.640 That which is crooked cannot be made straight, and that which is lacking cannot be numbered. 00:17:23.039 --> 00:17:29.440 Putting it in the vernacular, life is like a Rubik's Cube with two blocks missing. 00:17:29.839 --> 00:17:38.000 No matter how many times you spin the thing, you can't get all the reds, the blues, and yellows where they need to be, because it is inherently flawed. 00:17:38.319 --> 00:17:39.759 Like you and me. 00:17:40.720 --> 00:17:48.400 Anyone here been able to put the Rubik's Cube of their life together in such a manner that you can answer the whence, the whither, and the whys of your life? 00:17:48.640 --> 00:17:55.599 Well, cutting over to verse 18, Solomon concludes that what you learn brings grief and sorrow. 00:17:55.759 --> 00:17:57.039 You can see it there. 00:17:57.359 --> 00:18:10.640 And what he learned is what he's been talking about: that life is monotonous, it's transient, it's repetitive, it's insatiable, it's trivial, it's an insignificant apart from God under the sun. 00:18:11.279 --> 00:18:20.319 And thus he forces you to ask yourself this question: Are you still so proud to hold on to these dead-end streets apart from God? 00:18:21.519 --> 00:18:25.680 Incidentally, attending services will never fill this void. 00:18:26.000 --> 00:18:29.119 Religious exercise will never fill this void. 00:18:29.359 --> 00:18:33.200 An interest in the well-being of others will never fill this void. 00:18:33.440 --> 00:18:41.200 Perception in all manner of activities can never answer the deep, insatiable longing of the human heart. 00:18:41.519 --> 00:18:46.400 That God-shaped void may only be addressed by God Himself. 00:18:48.240 --> 00:18:51.599 So, is there life before death? 00:18:51.759 --> 00:18:52.319 Yes. 00:18:52.559 --> 00:18:53.680 Yes, there is. 00:18:54.079 --> 00:18:58.880 It is in He who said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. 00:18:59.359 --> 00:19:04.960 Same one who said, and I am come that you might have it more abundantly. 00:19:06.319 --> 00:19:08.160 One thought and I'm done. 00:19:08.880 --> 00:19:16.000 It may be that you are here today and you are probing, as it were, along the fringes of faith. 00:19:16.240 --> 00:19:26.799 I encourage you to consider that nothing else will ever satisfy in the journey of life apart from a living, breathing relationship with God the Father through our Lord Jesus Christ. 00:19:27.119 --> 00:19:32.079 You will remain forever dissatisfied until you come to know Him. 00:19:32.480 --> 00:19:44.640 You are far better off to give your life in the full bloom of opportunity than to straggle into His presence, offering Him the remnants of your dead-end journeys down the dead-end streets of this dead-end world. 00:19:44.960 --> 00:19:52.079 The Bible says that you and I, created in his image, were actually made for eternity. 00:19:52.720 --> 00:19:58.640 It should not surprise us then if we choose to live in the dark that we cannot see. 00:19:59.680 --> 00:20:03.519 Would you bow your heads with me as you sit here for a moment? 00:20:05.680 --> 00:20:20.720 Lord, some of us may just want where we sit to acknowledge our sin and rebellion before you, to acknowledge the wonder of your dealings at Calvary, opening up a door of forgiveness and faith. 00:20:20.960 --> 00:20:29.440 And from our hearts cry out, Oh God, take me off these dead-end streets and put me on the one-way street with Jesus at the head. 00:20:29.759 --> 00:20:33.440 Turn me around, turning from all that I know to be wrong. 00:20:33.759 --> 00:20:48.000 Fill my life and make me all that you desire me to be, that I too may go out to cry and cry out on the pathway of life, that others too may come to follow Jesus, in whose great name we pray. 00:20:48.319 --> 00:20:48.960 Amen. 00:20:49.279 --> 00:20:52.240 Pastor Aaron is going to lead us our time of communion.