Surviving Evil Under The Sun
About This Series:
This eight-part sermon series, "Surviving Evil Under the Sun," draws insights from Solomon's journal in Ecclesiastes to provide guidance for navigating life in a fallen world. It explores common human struggles and misdirected pursuits—such as the quest for power and possessions, the problem of loneliness, and the nature of true worship; offering practical wisdom to achieve balanced contentment, build meaningful relationships, and find genuine satisfaction by prioritizing God's will and presence over fleeting earthly desires. The series encourages a re-evaluation of life's "rules" to ensure one is following God's path and ultimately "making it safely home" to eternal purpose.
Sermons In This Series
Listening to the Right Voice
(Ecclesiastes 4:1–8) This lesson examines how mankind often pursues power, applause, and material possessions, or prefers to be served rather than serve, leading to misery. It encourages believers to live and work differently, seeking balanced contentment by listening to God's voice and working for His glory rather than being driven by oppression, competition, laziness, or blind ambition.
Ministers of Loneliness
(Ecclesiastes 4:9–16) This message emphasizes that God designed humanity for community, not isolation, and addresses loneliness as a growing societal epidemic. It highlights that believers are called to combat loneliness by prioritizing people over possessions, offering assistance, encouragement, support, and reinforcement through godly relationships and serving others in the church and the world.
Some Warnings About Worship
(Ecclesiastes 5:1–7) This lesson asks whether God cares how we worship, stressing the importance of approaching Him with a correct, God-centered heart attitude in a corporate setting. It provides warnings against treating God's presence with casual disregard, attempting to deceive Him with words, speaking rashly, making promises without intent to keep them, and demanding personal dreams instead of surrendering to God's desires.
How to Get a Good Night's Sleep
(Ecclesiastes 5:8–12) This sermon explores the difficulty of achieving restful sleep, connecting it to one's attitude toward money and God. It advises trusting God's sovereignty over monetary security and pursuing contentment with His provisions, as the love of money leads to dissatisfaction, worry, and sleeplessness, while a laborer's sleep is sweet whether they eat little or much.
Learning the Hard Way or the Better Way
(Ecclesiastes 5:13–20) This lesson contrasts two types of individuals: one who guards riches to their hurt and loses them, and another who accepts and enjoys what God has given. It highlights four gifts from God—the gift of life, enjoying possessions, accepting one's lot, and enjoying one's work—encouraging believers to redeem and honor God with these gifts rather than living with regret or chasing more.
Revising the Rules of the Race
(Ecclesiastes 6:1–6) Solomon presents two seemingly successful individuals—one with immense wealth and honor, the other with a large family and long life—who are ultimately losing in the "race of life" because their souls are not satisfied. The lesson reveals that true success isn't measured by worldly metrics but by a redeemed heart and a personal walk with God, which brings joy and purpose.
Chasing a Carrot on a Stick
(Ecclesiastes 6:7–9) This message describes the human condition of perpetually chasing desired things that remain just out of reach, likening it to a "carrot on a stick". Solomon warns against being deluded by a busy life, deceived into equating success with status, or becoming discontented by desiring what one does not have, emphasizing that true satisfaction comes only through Christ and God's will.
Making it Safely Home
(Ecclesiastes 6:10–12) Using the analogy of climbing Mount Everest, this lesson stresses that the ultimate goal in life is not just to reach "summits" of achievement but to make it "safely home" by walking with God. It reminds listeners of God's authority over the past, His caring sovereignty in the present, and His comprehensive wisdom for the future, encouraging trust and submission to Him for a purposeful life and secure eternity.