The Town

Has there ever been a time in your life where you just didn't feel ready? Maybe something or someone caught you off guard or you just didn't prepare well. Christians are to be prepared for every good work that God has in store for them. Preparation comes through understanding the Gospel. As Paul is wrapping up his letter to Titus he begins to insist that Titus pay attention to the conduct, service and obedience of the people in the church. He exhorts the church to be ready for every good work. A church that is maturing will grow in it's readiness to do good work as a natural response to the good work that God has done in them. When the church is maturing there will be a willingness to obey God and His commands, community will flourish, the testimony of the church will be bright and people will be changed. But this change is not the result of trying harder or humanistic effort. Maturity to readiness happens when a church is gripped by the Gospel and the extravagant love of God.

The Church is book-ended by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus on one hand, and the anticipation of his glorious return on the other. As Christians living in the middle of these two events, we are called to wait for this "blessed hope" to come. But we don't wait passively. In the reality of living in this "present evil age," the same grace that provided redemption is the same grace that trains us to renounce sin in our lives and turn toward righteousness. And the promised return of Christ spurs us on with confidence, knowing that he will finish the work he started.

Now that Paul has addressed the leaders in the church, he turns his attention to the members of the church. He paints a picture of what a godly member looks like in various stages of life, from the older men to the younger women. Paul encourages their doctrine to be sound in contrast to those he previously described in Crete. He goes on to encourage a healthy spiritual life in Christ that flows out of that healthy doctrine. But he does not only describe the character traits he desires to see in us; he also gives us the motivation of transformation of grace.

In Crete a crisis had been brewing for a long time. A church was growing but there were those inside the church who sought to make much about themselves rather than Jesus. They were teaching things that weren't lining up with the teaching of Jesus or his Apostles. To combat the false teachers and their insubordination, Paul instructed Timothy to identify, train and equip leaders who would be more committed to Jesus than anything else. In this sermon, Pastor Dan takes a look at a passage that gives instruction to churches on how to choose leaders and grow leaders from within the congregation. A church that is growing will need leaders that are willing to grow along with the church, protect the church, and look out for the purity of the Gospel that goes out from the church.

Titus is a letter written by Paul to a maturing church on ancient Crete. In it, Paul identifies what a maturing church looks like. A maturing church possesses the Gospel and is possessed by the gospel which leads to godly living. Churches that want to grow must have sound doctrine pursue sound living.

As Solomon ends his journey to find the meaning if life he sums up the whole meaning of life - we are to worship God and live in obedience. Only Jesus gives us the power to live in obedience and the reconciliation we need to live a life that is glorifying to God. Jesus is our Lord who gives us all we need to have purpose in this life.

In Ecclesiastes 11, Solomon is beginning to close his journey as he reflects on the strength of youth and the joys of old age. Through a beautiful poem, Solomon expresses how the human life begins to reach it's twilight. But even in those years, years that our culture tries to ignore, we can rejoice because this life is preparation for the life to come.

Even the best of intentions can lead us to a life lived in foolishness, derailing our good intentions, relationships, and our goals. Solomon defines what foolishness looks like and how the wise not only identify foolishness when they see it but strive after wisdom so that they can be all that God desires for them to be. Ultimately, every person born into this world will act foolish on a daily basis. That is why Jesus teaches us that wise men do not build their life around their own desires, works, and goals, but rather around the work of Jesus and God's goals for their life. The difference between wisdom and foolishness is the object of our faith.

Though God is sovereign life sometimes seems random and confusing. Additionally, it doesn't always seem fair. In the end, like a bunch of chess pieces after a game, everyone, no matter what their rank and role in life will end up in a box, or in an urn if you want to go that way. If our lives are going to bring glory to God we must live like we're dying. Solomon gives us incredibly practical advice on how we can enjoy life even in light of death. We have to live like we're dying to the glory of God.

There are times in our life when we can't make much sense of what is going on around us. Solomon demonstrates how we can live in light of things we don't understand by growing in grace. When we grow in grace we will grow in our trust of God's sovereignty and love for us.

Ecclesiastes 7:1-14 is a series of wisdom sayings from King Solomon as he reflects on all that he has done and his all encompassing search for meaning under the sun. It's as if an old wise man is sitting down with the reader to share with them in a few sentences everything they know. What we learn is that grace makes us wiser. The human life is a journey either under the sun or with Jesus as Savior. With Jesus as Savior we walk with wisdom personified and Solomon tells us what life will look like when we are growing in grace.

Ecclesiastes 7:1-14 is a series of wisdom sayings from King Solomon as he reflects on all that he has done and his all encompassing search for meaning under the sun. It's as if an old wise man is sitting down with the reader to share with them in a few sentences everything they know. What we learn is that grace makes us wiser. The human life is a journey either under the sun or with Jesus as Savior. With Jesus as Savior we walk with wisdom personified and Solomon tells us what life will look like when we are growing in grace.

Life without God is like a person on a treadmill. When we exercise on a treadmill we will often try to distract the monotony and meaninglessness of the treadmill by watching a movie, listening to music or turning on the TV. We try to distract ourselves so that we forget that we are on a treadmill that leads to nowhere. Solomon turns the TV off and removes the distractions of life to show us that the treadmill is actually in a room painted white and has no meaning - that is, when life is viewed under the sun alone. There is no amount of success, stuff, or pleasure that can bring meaning unless God's glory is our meaning in life. But Jesus tells us that when our idols are laid bare and we trust Him as Savior that everything matters. Only Jesus can rescue us from the meaninglessness of life without God.

In this message, Pastor Dan preaches from Ecclesiastes 5:8-20 as Solomon considers the issue of power and wealth. Once again, Solomon demonstrates how loving something such as money or power is meaningless in that money can never satisfy us, save us, or have a meaning beyond death. However, when money is used to the glory of God, and Jesus is the source of our love rather than the acquisition of more stuff and money to maintain the stuff, everything changes. Solomon challenges the idol of money and wins.

There are times in our lives where we think we know the Scriptural answer to our issue, we know we need to trust God, we know that God has promised to never forsake us, and yet we feel like God is silent, the only voice we hear is our own, we don't trust God and we feel forsaken. How do we worship God when we disagree with God? Solomon has some answers for us in Ecclesiastes 5:1-7. In this sermon Pastor Dan preaches from Ecclesiastes 5:1-7 where we learn that while in a spiritual desert we must tread carefully, listen loudly, quiet down, and trust in the finished work of Jesus.

The world is broken. People are broken. Our motives are impure. We desperately need one another, we need community, as we navigate through trials, temptations and moments of faithlessness. Solomon knew the value of friendship and community and he expresses it here in the context of pain and suffering. Pastor Dan preaches on why community is necessary and how to go about building community within the church.

What happens when we die? That is a big question that every human being longs to understand. No matter what your religious belief or lack of religious belief the answer to the question is one of faith because no one but Jesus has ever died and live to tell about it. In this sermon, Pastor Dan takes us on a journey through the Scriptures to show us how God has answered the question is even now calling you to have faith in Jesus so that you will know what happens when life ends.

We often take credit for the good things in life and blame God for the bad. But the Bible teaches that God is to be credited for joy and sorrow, laughter and tears, birth and death. He is sovereign over every aspect of life. God plays the notes of life both on the black keys and the white keys, making a divine symphony of sound for He makes all things beautiful in His time.

One of the biggest questions we ask is why we are here. In our most profound moments of thought we realize that there has to be meaning bigger than us. Solomon takes several journeys to find meaning and comes up empty on this side of the sun. In the end he realizes and the Bible teaches that Jesus gives new meaning to everything we do.

Every human being has been haunted by the question, "Why?" Why do bad things happen? Why do good people die? Why is there sadness? Why do people do stupid things? Why don't I feel like I have any purpose? Why is happiness so fleeting? Solomon, a man who had at it all asked the same question and did not come up short in his memoir, "Ecclesiastes." Pastor Dan begins our journey through this book as we take a look at the futility and frustration of the human existence when it is devoid of God's meaning, love, and salvation.