God's heart for humanity extends to every single corner of the globe. He longs to see his glory spread and his salvation extended to every tongue, tribe, people, and nation. As his children, we get the privilege of participating with him in the spreading of his glory and the inviting into his salvation. The announcement of his hope is the greatest movement taking place on the face of the planet, and he invites us to be a integral part of it. The question for each one of us is not whether or not we will participate, but simply how.

Application Questions

1. How do you see the two greatest commandments and the great commission fitting together?
2. In what ways might your life be different if you more fully embraced the opportunity you have to participate with God in the spread of his glory to every tongue, tribe, people, and nation?
3. How do you make your decisions of if/where to“go” in your life? How would those decisions be different if you treated how“reached” various communities were with the gospel as a leading factor in your decision making?
4. How are you currently participating in the sending of others to spread the gospel of God to every tongue, tribe, people, and nation? How else might God want you to participate in sending?
5. Why are you currently living in LA? Why are you staying? How might your time here be different if you stayed for the purpose of spreading the gospel of God to every tongue, tribe, people, and nation?

Christmas isn't just about God coming to earth, it's about the eternal Son of God becoming fully human. As fully human, Jesus experienced life on the earth in a way that means he can sympathize with us, be our example, and suffer for us so we might be forgiven. Understanding the doctrine of the incarnation brings real hope and joy to the Christmas season.

Application Questions

1. Do you struggle more with the idea that Jesus was fully God or the idea that Jesus was fully human? Why?
2. What does it mean to you that Jesus can sympathize with your struggles, challenges, and temptations? How can that be an encouragement in your life now?
3. When you think of the best kind of life you could live, do you think of a life like Jesus's? Do you look to Jesus as a practical example for your life now?
4. How does the idea that Jesus was fully human help you appreciate his death on the cross for your sins? How does it inspire you to worship him by following his will in your life?

Celebrating Christmas is about more than thinking about Jesus towards the end of December. Christmas is about the doctrine of the incarnation: Jesus is fully God and fully man. It's this doctrine that inspires the greatest Christmas songs of hope and joy, because caught up in the incarnation is the great truth of the Christian faith that sustains us in our lives.

Application Questions

1. Is the idea that Jesus is fully God new to you, a struggle for you, or an encouragement to you? Why do you think it is the motivation for so many powerful Christmas songs?
2. Jesus is how we know what God is like. What is encouraging about that? What is challenging about that?
3. How does it affect you to know that God came“in person” to forgive you at such a personal cost?
4. Does Jesus function as your ultimate authority? Are there any ways you are pulling back from what he wants for your life?

The last section of Ecclesiastes summarizes the book as a whole and leaves us with parting words to reflect on. In the midst of a life that we can't control, the Preacher tells us to remember our Creator, the giver of all good gifts, and rejoice in what he gives us daily. When we put the book together, we find that this lifestyle is what it means to fear God: knowing his power, knowing his goodness, we center our lives on him under the sun.

Application Questions

1. What has stood out to you the most as we've worked through Ecclesiastes? How have you seen your life change as a result of the truths in this book?
2. How can you actively seek to remember your Creator and rejoice in his gifts as we move on from this sermon series? What practical steps would help you?
3. Where has Ecclesiastes been“words of delight” for you? Where has it been challenging (like a“goad” ) for you? How have you seen God shepherd you in both?
4. Why is“fear God” the main takeaway from a book like Ecclesiastes? How can you carry the message of Ecclesiastes with you by fearing God in your daily life?

Life has too many decisions to know how to make them all perfectly right. But that doesn't stop us from trying. The problem is, when we analyze decisions and try to figure out the outcomes ahead of time, it leaves us paralyzed and often unable to actually make a decision. In our passage today we are reassured that the way to make good decisions is not to be able to control their outcome or even be able to see the future. Good decisions aren't made from fear. Good decisions are made in love as we simply step out in faith and just do something.

Application Questions

1. What are the decisions that you have the hardest time making?
2. What are you afraid of when it comes to decision making (big and small)?
3. What aspects of God's secret will do you try to know when you can't? What aspects of God's revealed will do you neglect when you shouldn't?
4. How would your life and decision making be different if you were to“just do something” and“enjoy life,” leaving the results and the outcomes up to God?
5. What is an area in your life in which you have been paralyzed by fear? What might faithful action in that area look like?

This week was a Unity Sunday service, so the sermon audio is in both English and Spanish. After explaining that life is a vapor, the Preacher teaches us what wisdom looks like as a human being who isn't in control. He shows us that wisdom is extremely valuable, but easily overlooked. To prove the point, he spends an entire chapter detailing the different aspects of foolishness: its destructive nature, its tendency to prize volume over wisdom, and more. After reading the chapter through, we see our need to be wise. The rest of Scripture points us to Jesus Christ as the way to have hearts that incline towards wisdom.

Application Questions

1. How have you seen the different aspects of foolishness at work in the world around you?
2. How have you seen the different aspects of foolishness at work in your own life?
3. Is there a particular area in your life that you think foolishness is at work? How can you address that area with the gospel to pursue wisdom, even when it's hard?

In one of his last sustained meditations on death, the Preacher forces us to deal with the reality of our own death: its certainty, its evil, its finality. And he does it to point us to the kind of joyful life that stops pretending we can be God and starts enjoying the gifts of God right in front of us. As the great humiliator, death reminds us that we are human and dependent on God for things we don't deserve. This turns entitlement into gratitude for things as simple as a meal and our next breath. What's more, it points us to the ultimate gift, Jesus Christ, who changes our relationship to death forever.

Application Questions

1. Do you think you have reconciled yourself to the fact that you are going to die?
2. What are some ways that the realities of death tempt you to“madness of heart” ?
3. How might the reality of death help you enjoy the gifts of God in your life? What are some things you could actively seek to enjoy today and tomorrow?
4. How has Jesus changed what death means for us? How has that affected the way you live your life?

Jesus exemplifies for us as Christians exactly what wisdom looks like in real life. This sermon explores how Jesus embodied the wisdom that Ecclesiastes teaches- wisdom in humility, patience, and vindication.

Application Questions

1. How does Jesus embody the Wisdom of the Book of Ecclesiastes?
2. What would it look like in your life to embrace Christ's wisdom of humility?
3. How can you grow in your wisdom of patience?
4. How does the vindication of Christ give you eternal perspective?

Our quest to understand life is often frustrated by the fact that we simply don't have the capacity to understand all that God is doing and why. He is in control, he is working things according to his perfect plan, but why doesn't it seem to make sense to us sometimes? In our complex passage today the Preacher of Ecclesiastes identifies the real problems in life and reminds us of the few fundamental truths in life wecanunderstand.

Application Questions

1. In what ways do you see your circumstances as creating your most significant problems in life?
2. How do you treat life like a system to be manipulated for your benefit?
3. When you realize that the most significant problems in life are internal, where do you turn?
4. What can help you remember God's overwhelming grace in the face of life's problems?

The Preacher wants us to face up to the uncomfortable realities of life: death, grief, suffering, and more. And in order to help us do that, he highlights the ways we often try to avoid uncomfortable realities, turning instead to distractions. But living life avoiding reality has costs that we need to understand. And facing up to reality has benefits that we don't often realize. Ultimately, the realities of life push us to consider the work of God, that we see most clearly in Jesus Christ.

Application Questions

1. What are some ways you try to escape the realities of life? What examples from the sermon do you see in your own life?
2. What are some experiences you've had encountering death, suffering, or struggle? How did you respond to those experiences? What impact have they made on you?
3. What would it look like for you to choose to look at the realities of life and“lay them to heart” ?
4. How does considering the work of God in Jesus Christ open you up to face the realities of life instead of running from them?