Prepare for Sunday morning worship by using the guide below
Adult Education
We will have a church-wide fellowship at 10:00am instead of Adult Education and Sunday school on Sunday, February 23. Coffee and muffins will be served in the lobby for you to enjoy.
Worship Songs
O Worship the King
And Can It Be
God Over All
How Sweet and Aweful is This Place
Jesus You Are Worthy
I Will Glory In My Redeemer
Unreached People Group
In our Sunday gathering this week, we will be praying for the Ingush, Galgai in Russia.
Ecclesiastes 5:1-7
Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil. Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few. For a dream comes with much business, and a fool's voice with many words.
When you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you vow. It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay. Let not your mouth lead you into sin, and do not say before the messenger that it was a mistake. Why should God be angry at your voice and destroy the work of your hands? For when dreams increase and words grow many, there is vanity; but God is the one you must fear.
Summary
In the first few chapters of Ecclesiastes we have been instructed that pursuing wisdom, wealth, and pleasure as a meaning to life is vanity and a chasing after the wind. In the next few chapters, the preacher has reflected on life in exile, the struggles, the challenges and the joys of this life under the sun. Now in chapter 5, the preacher wants to give us instruction on right worship under the sun. He wants us to come to God wisely by reminding us that God is transcendent and majestic. Coming to God is no trivial matter. Coming to God in worship and prayer is to be wisely and in a right fear.
Review and Apply
How intentional/prepared do you come to God in worship and prayer?
Why is coming to listen better than coming with a sacrifice?
How well do you listen? What can help you grow in this?
What is the preacher's point in saying that God is in heaven and we are on earth?
Why are many words usually vanity?
Have you made a promise to God before? Why? Did you keep it? Why or why not?
How would you explain what it means to 'fear God'?
How can you grow in rightly fearing God?
How can you make God the center of your worship?