Theme: if we desire the lost to be saved, we must pray for God would make us bold. 

 

Boldness and Missional Praying:

1. Bold missional prayers spring from the Scriptures (4:24-26).

2. Bold missional prayers expect God’s  answers (4:29-30).

3. Bold missional prayers empower  obedience (4:31).

 

Cultivating Gospel Boldness:

1. Pray for it.

2. Act the miracle. 

3. Celebrate gospel boldness wherever you see it.

Theme: if we desire the lost to be saved, we must pray for God's rule in their lives.

Missional Praying means…

1. We pray for God to be known (Your kingdom come).

2. We pray for God to rule (Your kingdom come).

3. We pray for God to reign forever (Your kingdom come).

Theme: if we desire the lost to be saved, we must pray Jesus sends us to the lost.

Missional Praying

1. Missional praying grows from realizing the need (10:1-3).

2. Missional praying focuses on sending, not just saving (10:2).

3. Missional praying requires dependence on God alone (10:4-12).

4. Missional praying rejoices in God’s answers (10:17).

5. Missional praying never loses sight of grace (10:20).

Theme: if we want Jesus to hear us, we must be cleansed.

Confessional Praying

1. Confessional praying requires we crucify self-exaltation and comparison (18:9-12).

2. Confessional praying requires we are honest and humble before God (18:13).

3. Confessional praying basks in God’s grace and favor (18:14).

Ecclesiastes 12:9-14

9 Besides being wise, the Preacher also taught the people knowledge, weighing and studying and arranging many proverbs with great care. 10 The Preacher sought to find words of delight, and uprightly he wrote words of truth. 11 The words of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings; they are given by one Shepherd. 12 My son, beware of anything beyond these. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh. 13 The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. 14 For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil. Ecclesiastes 12:9-14 (ESV)

 

“The End of the Matter”

 

1. The preacher closes with a recognition: all wisdom is rooted in God’s grace (12:9-12).

2. The preacher closes with an instruction: fear and obey God (12:13).

3. The preacher closes with an admonition: know that God will rightly judge all deeds (12:14)

1 Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, “I have no pleasure in them”; 2 before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened and the clouds return after the rain, 3 in the day when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men are bent, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those who look through the windows are dimmed, 4 and the doors on the street are shut when the sound of the grinding is low, and one rises up at the sound of a bird, and all the daughters of song are brought low 5 they are afraid also of what is high, and terrors are in the way; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags itself along, and desire fails, because man is going to his eternal home, and the mourners go about the streets 6 before the silver cord is snapped, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is shattered at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern, 7 and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it. 8 Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher; all is vanity. Ecclesiastes 12:1-8

On Wisdom and Getting Older

1. Remember your Creator when you can.

2. Remember your Creator while you can.

3. Remember your Creator before you can’t.

1 Dead flies make the perfumer's ointment give off a stench; so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor. 2 A wise man's heart inclines him to the right, but a fool's heart to the left. - Ecclesiastes 10:1-2

On the Wise and Fools

1. Avoid the fool’s trajectory (10:2). 

2. Avoid the fool’s tendencies (10:1-20). 

-Fools spoil what is good (10:1).

1 Dead flies make the perfumer's ointment give off a stench; so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor. Ecclesiastes 10:1

-Fools endanger themselves (10:3-11).

3 Even when the fool walks on the road, he lacks sense, and he says to everyone that he is a fool.  Ecclesiastes 10:3

-Fools create havoc with their words (10:12-15, 20).

13 The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness, and the end of his talk is evil madness. 14 A fool multiplies words, though no man knows what is to be, and who can tell him what will be after him? - Ecclesiastes 10:13-14 (ESV)

-Fools avoid moderation and discipline (10:16-19).

17 Happy are you, O land, when your king is the son of the nobility, and your princes feast at the proper time, for strength, and not for drunkenness! 18 Through sloth the roof sinks in, and through indolence the house leaks.- Ecclesiastes 10:17-18 (ESV)

3. Follow the path of the wise (11).

-The wise plan ahead (11:1-4).

1 Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days. 2 Give a portion to seven, or even to eight, for you know not what disaster may happen on earth. - Ecclesiastes 11:1-2 (ESV)

-The wise know their limitations (11:5).

5 As you do not know the way the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything. -  Ecclesiastes 11:5 (ESV)

-The wise work diligently (11:6-7).

6 In the morning sow your seed, and at evening withhold not your hand, for you do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good. 7 Light is sweet, and it is pleasant for the eyes to see the sun.  - Ecclesiastes 11:6-7 (ESV)

-The wise count their days (11:8-10).

8 So if a person lives many years, let him rejoice in them all; but let him remember that the days of darkness will be many. All that comes is vanity. 9 Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Walk in the ways of your heart and the sight of your eyes. But know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment.  - Ecclesiastes 11:8-9 (ESV)

 

17 The words of the wise heard in quiet are better than the shouting of a ruler among fools. 18 Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good.

Ecclesiastes 9:17-18 (ESV)

On Living Wisely

1. Wisdom pleads for us to embrace the unpredictability of life (9:11-12).

11 Again I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to those with knowledge, but time and chance happen to them all. 12 For man does not know his time. Like fish that are taken in an evil net, and like birds that are caught in a snare, so the children of man are snared at an evil time, when it suddenly falls upon them. - Ecclesiastes 9:11-12 (ESV)

2. Wisdom demands we remember our deliverances (9:13-15).

13 I have also seen this example of wisdom under the sun, and it seemed great to me. 14 There was a little city with few men in it, and a great king came against it and besieged it, building great siegeworks against it. 15 But there was found in it a poor, wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city. Yet no one remembered that poor man. - Ecclesiastes 9:13-15 (ESV)

3. Wisdom warns of the undoing of good (9:17-18).

17 The words of the wise heard in quiet are better than the shouting of a ruler among fools. 18 Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good. - Ecclesiastes 9:17-18 (ESV)

How do we live wisely?

Ask for wisdom

Recount your blessings

Build safeguards