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390 N 400 E Bountiful, UT 84010

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In this reflective sermon from Flourishing Grace Church, Pastor Benjer walks through Ecclesiastes 3:1–15 and invites the church into a rare and needed pause at the turn of the year. As one season closes and another begins, this message speaks to the universal experience of looking back on what has been and looking forward to what is unknown. Grounded in the famous words that there is a time for everything under heaven, this teaching offers a thoughtful and pastoral framework for engaging the joys, sorrows, and hopes of the year behind us and the year ahead.

Pastor Benjer explores the often misunderstood phrase that God has made everything beautiful in its time. Rather than suggesting that every event is pleasant or easy, this sermon explains how the biblical meaning of beautiful also carries the sense of fitting or purposeful within God’s larger story. For those who feel skeptical or wounded by painful experiences, this message creates space for honesty while affirming God’s sovereignty, goodness, and mercy. It acknowledges that some moments feel deeply unbeautiful while still trusting that God is at work beyond what we can see.

The sermon moves through three intentional movements that shape how believers are invited to process the year. First, it calls listeners to look back in praise, not by pretending circumstances were easy, but by making God’s goodness and character known regardless of how the year felt. Drawing from the Psalms, Pastor Benjer reminds the church that praise is not denial but remembrance, and that worship helps reorient hearts toward who God is and how He works. Even when personal strength is lacking, the gathered church carries one another through shared praise.

Second, the message invites the congregation to look back in mourning. In a culture that avoids grief and distraction, this sermon affirms that Scripture commands God’s people to mourn, weep, and bring sorrow honestly before Him. Referencing Ecclesiastes, the Psalms, and Jesus’ words in Matthew, Pastor Benjer emphasizes that mourning is not weakness but faith. Vulnerability with God deepens intimacy with God, and lament becomes a pathway to comfort rather than something to avoid. This portion of the sermon speaks directly to those carrying loss, disappointment, and unresolved pain from the year.

Finally, the message turns toward looking forward in hope. Acknowledging the fear and uncertainty that come with an unknown future, Pastor Benjer anchors hope not in circumstances improving but in the unchanging nature of God. Ecclesiastes reminds us that whatever God does endures forever, and that truth both humbles and stabilizes us. While humans long to control outcomes, this sermon gently redirects that desire toward trust, prayer, and persistence. God is already in the future, and because He is already there, believers are invited to pray boldly, hope deeply, and refuse to give up.

This sermon culminates in a moment of quiet reflection and prayer, offering space for worshipers to name gratitude, grief, and longing before God. It is a message for anyone standing between seasons, carrying both thankfulness and ache, and wondering what comes next. With pastoral warmth and theological depth, this teaching reminds us that our hope is anchored not in what we can predict, but in the God who holds time itself.