Ecclesiastes 12:1-8 / David VanAcker

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.

Our passage for this morning most likely contains the last words of the Preacher in Ecclesiastes. It’s hard to imagine a more fitting way to end a book like Ecclesiastes than this. After eleven chapters of describing life “under the sun” in all its mystery and confusion and frustration and beauty, the Preacher closes with a truly exceptional poem on the nature, certainty, and proper preparation for the hardships that come with aging and death.

What we have, then, is primarily a charge to young people to consider where life is going in order to best prepare themselves for what’s to come. But it’s also a charge to older people to take stock of whether or not you’re rightly “remembering God” in your old age.

Service Order

Welcome
Baptism
Exhortation
Assurance of Pardon
    Come Praise And Glorify
Reading – Psalm 68
Offering
    Christ Our Hope In Life And Death
    The Solid Rock
Sermon
    I Am Not My Own
Communion
    The Solid Rock
Benediction

Memory Verse

Psalm 77:13-14 – Your way, O God, is holy. What god is great like our God? ¹⁴You are the God who works wonders; you have made known your might among the peoples.

Service Times

Prayer
8:30-8:45am
Sunday School
9:00am-10:00am
Worship Service
10:30am-Noon

Berea

In Berea, the adults will study the gospel of Luke. Sunday School (kids ages 2-12) and Berea (kids 12+ and adults) take place at 9am on Sunday.