Eternity is in our heart. We know we are meant for more. But we don’t know how to get there. By ourselves, we can’t figure out who God is or what he is doing.
Gerrit Dawson
"Eternity in Our Hearts"
Ecclesiastes 3: 1-15
Chasing After the Wind
June 11, 2017 • Rev. Dr. Gerrit Dawson
Solomon asks the question, “Is there a thing of which it is said, “See this is new?” (Ec. 1: 10). He means it as a rhetorical question. He doesn’t expect a reply. For there is nothing new under the sun. The world grinds on same as it ever was. It is what it is. And he was weary of the game. BUT several hundred years later, the LORD would answer with a tantalizing hope through the prophet Isaiah:
Behold, I am doing a new thing;
Now it springs forth.
Do you perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness,
And rivers in the desert (Is. 43: 19).
In Jesus, everything changes.
Gerrit Dawson
"Chasing After the Wind"
Ecclesiastes 1: 1-14
They Turned His Head
June 4, 2017 • Rev. Dr. Gerrit Dawson
Just like Solomon, our hearts have appetites for some awful things. We are prone to seek life in "dead" things. We are deceived into thinking that lesser things can deliver what only God can give. We need to guard our hearts.
Gerrit Dawson
"They Turned His Head"
I Kings 9: 1-9, 11: 1-8
Dedicating a Church
May 28, 2017 • Rev. Dr. Gerrit Dawson
The Temple is three things:
The Building,
Jesus Christ,
The Congregation.
Solomon on Solomon
May 21, 2017 • Rev. Jim Solomon
"Solomon on Solomon"
Proverbs 28: 13-14
Rev. Jim Solomon
True confession requires vulnerability and can feel very risky. But listen to what Solomon says:
Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper,
but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.
Blessed is the one who fears the LORD always,
but whoever hardens his heart will fall into calamity.
The Way to Life
May 14, 2017 • Rev. Dr. Gerrit Dawson
The Way to Life
Proverbs 3: 1-12
These are the words of life and peace: do not let steadfast love and faithfulness get away from you. The steadfast love and faithfulness of God extends from his character to the story of our lives. When we live intentionally in covenant with this God, we discover that the paths of our lives are taken into the paths of God. The right roads, of course. As we love and live by God’s Word we feel a sense of peace. We have the wholesome sense of being on the right path. But for those who belong to our covenant keeping God, even the wrong roads we take lead us back to him. God weaves our mistakes and our sins into his deeper, greater work in shaping us by his covenant, faithful love. As Paul said, “Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more” (Romans 5: 20). Though we pay with the coin of tears and regret, we yet reap the riches of God’s mercy even through our sin. For our steadfast God leads us in his paths as he keeps covenant with us down the long road of our life.
Wise Rulings
May 7, 2017 • Rev. Dr. Gerrit Dawson
Solomon did not demonize nor did he minimize. He believed that a mother’s heart for her child is a fierce love shared by women across every descriptive category. He also knew there are some bad mothers, people who give in to jealousy, panic, rage and envy. People who would rather see you fail with them than let you succeed. Solomon knew that human beings are sinful. He knew that human beings are capable of great love. He just needed to cut beneath the rhetoric so the hearts could be revealed. He needed a deeper comprehension than simplistic answers from the right or the left.
Wise Rulings
The Wisdom and Folly of Solomon
I Kings 3: 16-28
Gerrit Dawson
The Right Thing to Ask
April 30, 2017 • Rev. Dr. Gerrit Dawson
The heart of wisdom is very simple. We give ourselves wholly to the Lord Jesus Christ who has called us to himself. He is the king, and we bow to him. We ask to be commanded. Then we give ourselves to those he places in our midst. We do our work. We live our lives. We trust his guidance to emerge as we are yielded to him.
