Text: Ecclesiastes 2:18–23

Speaker: Tony de la Riva

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Why is work so hard? For most people, work is a constant pressure point. Studies show that nearly half of Americans say that their job is stressful, and a quarter say that it's the number one source of stress in their lives. Even as a king who lived in the eastern world 3,000 years ago, Solomon could relate: 'I hated my work,' he writes. However, what we learn from the Word of God is that our real problem—not just in work, but in every other sphere of life—is not the wrong circumstances, but the wrong perspective.

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Woodland Park Bible Church is located in North County, San Diego. Listen, read & learn more at ⁠wpbcSanMarcos.org⁠.

Text: Ecclesiastes 2:12–17

Speaker: Tony de la Riva

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Wisdom is obviously preferable to foolishness. All of us will choose a wise man over a fool ten times out of ten. Yet, there are many kinds of wisdom that never reach full maturity, because they aren't attached in the mind and heart to faith in Christ. After all, 'The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom' (Proverbs 9:10).

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Woodland Park Bible Church is located in North County, San Diego. Listen, read & learn more at ⁠wpbcSanMarcos.org⁠.

Text: Ecclesiastes 2:1–11

Speaker: Tony de la Riva

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At the beginning of Ecclesiastes chapter 2, Solomon recounts his own pursuit of four specific types of pleasure—sensual indulgence, personal achievement, possessions, and fame, "the delights of the heart of man," as he calls them in verse 8. But what did he gain from a life lived in the pursuit of pleasure? What was his return on all those experiences? Most importantly, what can we learn about living rightly from Solomon's pursuit of pleasure?

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Woodland Park Bible Church is located in North County, San Diego. Listen, read & learn more at ⁠wpbcSanMarcos.org⁠.

Text: Ecclesiastes 1:12-18

Speaker: Tony de la Riva

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Wise people recognize that the world is a hard, and often discouraging place. In fact, the wiser a person is—the more honest they are about reality, and the more clarity they have about the true nature of life—the more pessimistic they may very well be. But if someone is truly wise, they won't stay pessimistic. Because, while wisdom leads a person to the bad news, true wisdom will always lead them beyond that to the good news.

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Woodland Park Bible Church is located in North County, San Diego. Listen, read & learn more at ⁠wpbcSanMarcos.org⁠.

Text: Ecclesiastes 1:3-11

Speaker: Tony de la Riva

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The world keeps doing what it’s always done, and time forgets every name and every development. Ages come and ages go. The sun rises and sets and rises again. The wind keeps blowing, the waters keep flowing to the sea, and human nature never changes from generation to generation. But if this is all there is like secular science tells us, it's a pretty hopeless life we're all living. Where can anyone find hope in a world like ours?

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Woodland Park Bible Church is located in North County, San Diego. Listen, read & learn more at ⁠wpbcSanMarcos.org⁠.

Text: Ecclesiastes 1:1-2

Speaker: Tony de la Riva

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For all of human history, human beings have been incurably plagued with one towering question that they have never been able to answer: What is the meaning of life? The mind of Solomon in the book of Ecclesiastes, God has given us the answer: It depends. Either your life and everything that happens to you is meaningless, or everything has meaning and nothing and is wasted, and it all depends on one crucial factor—namely, your relationship to Jesus Christ.

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Woodland Park Bible Church is located in North County, San Diego. Listen, read & learn more at ⁠wpbcSanMarcos.org⁠.