In the way of your testimonies I delightas much as in all riches. Psalm 119:14 ESV Continuing this stanza’s theme of how we are to guard our way with God’s Word that we may not wander from His commandments, the psalmist has declared his resolution to seek the LORD, to store up His Word within …
Continue reading In the Way of Your Testimonies I Delight | Psalm 119:14
A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. Proverbs 17:22 ESV We all know the feeling. When someone is steeped in joy, it radiates from them. It illuminates rooms with more than mere light. We are drawn to it like moths. But it also repels. Nocturnal creatures hide from …
The following sermon was originally preached in 2015. Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you …
In chapter one, Ecclesiastes’ author, the Preacher (most likely Solomon), wrote us a poem about the vanity of everything under the sun. He observed the endless repetitions of the sun, wind, and seas and realized that we are same. Like the sea never fills, so our ears never hear enough. Like the sun continues to …
The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity. What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun? A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever. The sun rises, and …
Back in 2012, I taught through the books of Ecclesiastes and Philippians together, attempting to show how they both present that true joy is only found in Christ. Since I am now preaching through them again (finishing Ecclesiastes this Sunday), I'm sharing the essay that I wrote in 2012 to explain the connection between these …
Continue reading Depressing Joy: a thousand year search for meaning
SUGGESTED VERSES FOR MEMORIZATION & MEDITATION Ecclesiastes 9:1 | But all this I laid to heart, examining it all, how the righteous and the wise and their deeds are in the hand of God. Whether it is love or hate, man does not know; both are before him. Ecclesiastes 9:7 | Go, eat your bread …
Continue reading The Vanity of Death Under the Sun | Ecclesiastes 9
Read the sermon here. SUGGESTED VERSES FOR MEMORIZATION & MEDITATION Ecclesiastes 3:1 | For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven Ecclesiastes 3:11 | He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what …
Continue reading The Vanity of Time Under the Sun | Ecclesiastes 3
Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity. What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun? Ecclesiastes 1:2-3 (ESV) In these verses, Solomon proclaims that all is vanity. Or using other words, everything is meaningless. That statement is true, but there is a problem. …
Read the sermon here. SUGGESTED VERSES FOR MEMORIZATION & MEDITATION Ecclesiastes 2:11 | Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun. Ecclesiastes 2:24-25 | …
Continue reading The Vanity of Pleasure Under the Sun | Ecclesiastes 2
B. C. Newton 