As Darrell walked us through last week, God desires to give us gifts in His kingdom. We want to take what God’s given us to fix brokenness…but wait, that’s not what God wants? Solomon shows that God’s gifts help us pursue Him by rejoicing in His restorative work over fixing brokenness ourselves.

As we consider whether or not we're glorifying God, we need to know what we should be aiming for. Guest minister Darrell Cook (Director, Baptist Collegiate Ministries @ VT) connects the wisdom of Solomon from ch.5 to Jesus' Sermon on the Mount in Matthew to show how God's design for what His people look like has always been Him!

So, if we’re made to joyfully bear God’s image in all things & to trust Him in His work (like ch.3 reveals), how do we know if we’re doing this well? Solomon gives us two truths & calls us to hold them together as our standard: God calls us to consider how what we’re doing impacts others & lines up with God’s nature.

// Closing Prayer: Valley of Vision, "Fifth Day Evening: Protection"

Okay, maybe now we get God made us for His presence: but what exactly do we do with this? What does it look like to live in the presence of God? Solomon dives into this question in Ecclesiastes 3 to show how God made us to joyfully bear His image in all things and to trust Him in His work.

Now, as we get to know God in all things, what does He expect of us? What do we do with our faith? Should we focus on getting things done or doing them correctly? Ch.2 shows how our purpose & meaning isn’t tied to production or perfection because it’s not about us; God made us for His

What are you working toward in your faith? Getting things done? Gaining in knowledge? Guest minister Dr. Stuart Quartemont shares from Ezekiel 47 about how God's desire is for His people to go deeper with Him, & what that looks like for us.

When we say we have faith, we mean we trust that something is worth our lives; but is that what faith looks like in the church today? We often struggle in faith because we don’t trust that God is worth it. This is where Ecclesiastes starts in ch.1: that God made us to know Him in all things over knowing HOW all things work.

What do we make of Christ's resurrection? This was a struggle for the Corinthian church, who often downplayed Christ being raised-to-life in their life & theology. It might sound crazy, but as we dive into the first half of 1 Corinthians 15, we're not that different! Paul challenges us in 15:1-34 that we live united in Christ by our hope in the gospel as He resurrects us into His life.

How do we use our spiritual gifts? Our traditional model has usually been to, A) figure out what they are, and B) look for ways to exercise them as much as possible. But Paul's letter to the Corinthians places a discussion on using the gifts AFTER discussing love & in context of unity: could our model of using spiritual gifts need an adjustment. 1 Cor. 14 shows how unity in Christ means we

Paul finishes up his letter by bringing it full circle: he started by showing the Corinthians how they divided on how to invest their faith. Now, he clarifies how unity in Christ drives how we live out our faith: we invest Christ’s life by giving missionally in the church, encouraging others, & following those imitating Jesus.