This Sunday we are joining King Solomon again to search for the meaning of life in Ecclesiastes chapter 3:9-22 with the sermon title "Made for More."

Leaders are important in the life and in the health of any nation. Since our last encounter with Amos much has happened. He has moved from speaking to the nations around Israel to addressing the nation of Israel and now he is in the process of delivering the bad news from God to the influential leaders of the people. Leaders are influential in any walk of life. Leaders lead people, a business, or a country in the right direction or in the wrong direction. Who leads us is of great importance and how they lead will impact many now and even in the future. Decisions taken on borrowing by the chancellor will be there for the next generations to pay off. Brexit will impact how we trade and do business for many generations. The response to climate change will impact future generations.

Following on from the analysis of everything under the sun by Solomon where do we go? If wisdom can’t supply meaning; if pleasure can’t supply meaning; and work can't supply meaning; what then? He starts here in Ecclesiastes chapter 3 by saying, “To everything, there is a season. A time for every purpose under heaven. What is different is that in chapter 1 verse 3, Solomon was looking under the sun. Today in Ecclesiastes 3:1 he says. “To everything, there is a season. A time for every purpose under heaven.” Spot the difference. He brings us to think about time in the sense that there is a time or a season for things to happen. This message centres on God’s ultimate authority in heaven and on earth. Humans have mastered many things in this world, but some elements of our existence are beyond our control. We have not, we cannot and we will not conquer time. God is the one who appoints each moment and His plan is being worked out.

Today we following a man in the Bible called Amos. We’ll call our talk, “Delivering bad news.”  When I worked for Pfizer we had the end of year reviews or appraisals. They were never something I looked forward to or enjoyed even though they were meant to be a rewarding experience. They were meant to encourage you where you were doing well and draw your attention to areas of work that needed to be addressed or improved on. It is easy to hear and even deliver nice messages. It is much more difficult to deliver the bad news and often in companies and in life we fall down when it comes to delivering bad news. Generally, we don’t do that well. We don’t want a row, we don’t want to cause offence, we don’t want people taking offence. Amos was a person who was equipped to deliver bad news. In his part-time job as a prophet, he delivered a criticism of Damascus, Gaza, Edom, Ammon and Moab.

Today we are turning to a man in the Bible called Amos who also has a book named after him. We’ll call our talk, “Part-time Workers.”  We live at a time when more and more employees do not have full-time permanent employment. There is an increasing number of people who construct a week’s work by joining the hours from two or even three different jobs together. In the world of agriculture, farmers have been no stranger to this way of working either. For generations, many have worked their farm and worked part-time somewhere else or developed a business side-line such as engineering or building etc depending on their skills.

This week Solomon takes us on the journey of exploring pleasure only to reveal to us at the very start in verse one, “But that also proved to be meaningless.” Solomon declares that pleasure is vanity, meaningless and empty.

We learn more about Daniel, the den of lions, and prayer. We look forward to you joining us as we explore how together we can put the Bible back into business.

We move on from the general conclusion of Solomon in the opening verses of 1-11 that everything is meaningless or empty and goes around in circles to examine the subject of wisdom.  Solomon wants to explore if wisdom will satisfy the inner longing of human beings. As an introduction Solomon to v12-v18 we are reminded that as author he is the Teacher/Preacher and that he was king over Israel in Jerusalem. He was saying to his audience give me some credit here as he says in verse 16, “Look I have grown and increased in wisdom more than anyone who has ruled over Jerusalem before me.” He has had the time and the money and the means to explore the subject of wisdom more than most people. In the Bible, teaching on wisdom goes hand in hand with Solomon. He asked God for wisdom in 2 Chronicles 1:10. Much of the Book of Proverbs with its wise sayings is attributed to Solomon. In Proverbs 9:10, the fear of the Lord is called the beginning of wisdom. In Proverbs 8:22–31, wisdom personified is described as being present with God before creation began and even taking part in creation itself. In the book of Ecclesiastes Solomon wants us to see the world as it truly is so that we might avoid the temptation to make creation or created things our ultimate treasure or indeed our god. Jesus took the same approach when He said, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. (Matthew 6:19-20). The wise person might well say, “How do we lay up treasure in heaven?” The answer from Scripture echoes back, ‘Fear God and keep His commandments’.

Today we are thinking about the leadership of a young man called Daniel and our title is, The Plot Against Daniel We will read from Daniel 6:1-10

We live, we work, we die and that is the end of story. Where is the lasting satisfaction from our work? There is none. We just keep doing it.  No Profit in our labour 3-4 No Purpose in our labour 5-7 No Progress 8-11 V4-7 give a list of circular events or cycles in life. The writer means that our work is of no lasting significance and of no benefit. We use the term rat race or on the treadmill. We have in our minds eye that there is no end to this, we just keep on going. What for? There is no lasting benefit from a lifetime of labour because labour does not satisfy the human being. Work, careers or business will never be able to supply or fill the inner cravings of humanity. You will never be able to achieve enough, own enough, buy enough to be satisfied. Work is like an addiction and work needs to be managed. Work by itself will prove to be like a mist or a vapour on a frosty morning. The only work that carries any eternal value is that which is done for the Lord. The work we do for the Lord on earth will be factored into our reward in heaven.