Some people love their work, others hate it. The first group has a skip in their step and a smile on their face when they leave home for work. The second drags themselves into the office with thoughts of dread or boredom.

However you feel about work, it's something we're destined to do. For about fifty years or so. That's why the message focus this week in Ecclesiastes can have immense value for all of us. The sooner we learn what Solomon learned the hard way, the better off we'll be when it's off to work we go.

Many of us have lives that are full. Compared to those living in other parts of the world or at other times in history, we have full pantries and full bellies, full closets, full calendars, full trash cans, full purses and wallets, and full email inboxes. So why is it that many of us, despite being so full, feel so empty?

If you’ve ever longed for something more. If you’ve been plagued by dissatisfaction. Gone through the motions. Felt empty, exhausted, hopeless, or bored. This Sunday is a can’t miss at Bridges.

The Chase, a new teaching series, begins this Sunday morning. Yes, the Chase. The chase for more. The chase for a better life. The chase for satisfaction. The chase for meaning in a meaningless world.

If ever there was a man who struggled with this chase, it was King Solomon. This week we will dive into his journal of regret, Ecclesiastes. What we’ll see will give us much-needed help in a world that’s on the chase for more.

We love it when things are perfect. Probably because achieving a state of perfection is so rare. The odds of pitching a perfect game in baseball are 1 in 18K+. In professional bowling the chances of scoring a perfect 300 are 460 to 1. It’s no wonder a perfect game makes headline news.

And when it comes to a life of faith, what are the chances of living a perfect life? Well, unless you’re Jesus Christ, the answer would be zero. Which means every single person who would like to live with perfect faith, won’t. It’s just not going to happen this side of heaven.

But that isn’t a cause for depression or for giving up and deciding to simply “eat, drink, and be merry.” Actually, it can give one the perspective needed for progress in faith. Perfecting faith. The kind we’ll be focusing on this Sunday as we look at the life of faith that Abraham lived.

We all have fears sometimes. What will happen with my job? Will my marriage survive? Will my kids be okay? Are world tensions going to escalate? Or maybe our biggest fear could be acting on something we know we are supposed to do.

Then there is God, who is always reminding us to trust Him…have faith in Him.

In this message, we’ll see how to let go of our fears and turn to the God who can carry us through any circumstance.

There’s a big difference between someone who only has professing faith and someone who is actually practicing their faith. All talk and no action isn’t commendable in God’s eyes. Taking a “be warmed, be filled” approach toward someone who is without clothing and food isn’t faith at all.

This week we once again dive into the matter of faith by learning from Daniel, someone who not only professed faith but practiced it too. He is among the ones noted in the Hall of Faith in Hebrews with exemplary faith. There is much we can learn from this man of faith who spent a night in a Lions’ Den… and survived. That experience would certainly elevate one’s faith. It did his, as it can ours the next time we find ourselves in a death-like situation.

If you’re a person of faith, it’s just a matter of time before your faith is tested. Problems, hardships, trials, and scary situations are going to hit you like they hit everyone else.

That’s when faith can make all the difference in the world. Especially strong faith. The kind that stands firm when faced with gigantic life-threatening fear-producing situations that come your way.

The Israelites faced their share of circumstances that could have easily freaked them out. Like the one at Jericho – a city that stood between them and the Land of Milk and Honey. What they learned and did, not only led to a better outcome in their day, but it could do the same in ours.

It’s always easier to have faith in God’s ability to solve somebody else’s seemingly unsolvable problem. However, it’s much more difficult to have faith when you’re staring at your own dilemmas, when those little seeds of doubt begin to take root in your mind and blossom into a whole forest of questions about God’s ability and/or willingness to take care of them. Maybe you can relate.

If you’ve begun to lose, have already lost, or have never had, confidence in the power, goodness, and wisdom of God, you’re not alone. This week’s message is a much-needed reminder that God is a God who cares, and He’s a God who is “able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us” (Eph. 3:20).

Everyone has faith to some degree. Some more than others. In something or someone. Be that person a doctor, pharmacist, cook, teacher, pilot, or babysitter, faith inevitably comes into play when we rely on them for something.

It’s the same in our relationship with God. Or at least it should be. A relationship with God demands faith. But not just any faith. The right kind of faith. Saving faith and commendable faith. Both are essential.

This Sunday our focus is on the kind of faith God commends. The kind of faith each of us should want to have. Daring faith is commendable faith, like the faith of those we’ll be reading about and learning from this week in our 40-day Daring Faith focus.

At the start of this New Year, some of us would like to see some things shrink. Like our waistline! That’s why a lot of people this month are watching what they eat and heading to the gym.

Faith, on the other hand, is probably not on your “things I’d like to see shrink” list. But if you’re not careful, that’s exactly what could happen – often in the midst of hard times, when a faith increase is needed.

Shrinking faith is certainly not the path to pleasing God, nor will it benefit our lives or those we connect with. How we can help our faith grow instead of shrink is our message focus this coming Sunday.