Book of Ecclesiastes - The Pattern of Sound Teaching

MESSAGE FOR PEOPLE TODAY FROM THE BOOK OF ECCLESIASTES

Please watch the Video Before Reading the Lesson Plan

Church: Pergamos                                     Lesson 19 of 39                         Theme: Repent

Background Information:

We asked in 1 Samuel, “How can the creation know how to repent?"

In Ezra, we were awakened to learn how the world will try to confuse the message of Jesus’ sacrifice with lying vanities.

Statement of Faith to Say Amen to for the Book of Ecclesiastes:

I can be a witness who learns how to repent by listening to a preacher and not the world.

Essential Question:

Can I be a witness who teaches the meaninglessness of the world?

Book of Ecclesiastes

Have students read pages 75-83 in The Pattern of Sound Teaching.

After students read the information ask them, "What do you want to talk about?"

Remember the Issue:

Living the life of a preacher bears witness to accepting God’s spiritual gift of forgiveness. A preacher prays for his enemy with love, and it is a burden to bear witness with love to enemies who are mentally and physically persecuting the believers of the Lord. By putting on the armor of God, we can build an internal temple on the foundation of faith that the church of Laodicea formed on The Rock of Faith. We need to remember God’s armor includes a defense of the (3) Helmet of Salvation. Ecclesiastes 10:2 explains how a wise man will hold his heart in his right hand while a fool will hold his heart in his left hand. A fool is someone who lacks spiritual knowledge and only looks at the agenda of the world. This is why we should put on the helmet of salvation. We should use this weapon to stay in control of our mind, and to bear an inner witness to the world about the spiritual gift of forgiveness that God offers for faith:

(1) The world teaches us to set our heart on fixing the vanities of the world. Trying to fix the sins of the world is the vanity of vanities because we will focus on other people’s sins and ignore our sins. Fixing the world is an endless quest that will never be accomplished. A preacher will bear witness to the world by teaching that there will be statutes and judgements for abominations. When people ignore us, we need to dust them off and move on. There are always going to be people who move forward with the worldly agenda to ignore God’s agenda.

(2) The world teaches us to set our heart on changing the work ethic of an overachiever or an underachiever. A preacher will bear witness to the world by living a life that is satisfying.

(3) The world teaches us to set our heart on solving the injustices of the world. We need to understand that justice will be administered in God’s time. A preacher will bear witness to the world by living a life that acknowledges that there will be a time to judge the righteous and the wicked. There will be a time to judge inverse actions.

(4) The world teaches us to set our heart on solving the oppressions of the world. We need to understand that a preacher will bear witness to the world by living a life that reaches out to a friend to lift their spirit.

(5) The world teaches us to make the sacrifice of fools. A preacher will bear witness to the world by living a life that does not value their life as more important than other people.

(6) The world teaches us to acquire or store up wealth because the world’s happiness comes from owning stuff. A preacher will bear witness to the world by living a life that demonstrates how many material possessions will not quench the soul’s cry for eternal immortality with God.

(7) The world teaches us to be full of laughter and in the house of a party. A preacher will bear witness to the world by putting on a sad face and praying for those who persecute others.

(8) The world teaches us to expect everyone will obey laws because the world says, “If they can get away with this, so can I.” A preacher will bear witness to the world by living a life that is satisfied with God’s laws and commandments.

(9) The world teaches us to expect a reward before death. A preacher will bear witness to the world by not taking anyone for granted because of the realization that everyone has an unknown appointment with death; therefore, they focus on God’s promise of rewards after death.

 (10) The world teaches us to try and fix the foolish behaviors of people who say they were made this way or it is in their genes to be foolish. People who say God made them to sin are going to continue in sin. A preacher will bear witness to the world by choosing wisely based on the foundation that they are going to have to account for every word they say; therefore, people need to guard their mouths and not say foolish things. Imagine a little bird who carries every little thought to God, and the enemy will be more than pleased to use this against you in the battle of judgment.

(11) The world teaches us to hoard possessions and to be selfish. A preacher will bear witness to the world by living a life that shares resources with those in need.

Remember the Truth Jesus Brought:

Realizing that the world’s agenda will teach us lying vanities about God’s judgements and statutes is important. God’s agenda is true. When the two agendas are compared, it is easy to see that the world's agenda is meaningless because God’s agenda provides life and the world's agenda provides death. We should pray for our enemy to repent, so they will be able to see the meaninglessness of the world.

Remember the Rock God Established:

As it is written in Ecclesiastes 12:13-14, “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep His commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.” Jesus is coming back to judge everyone in and on the Earth. We need to realize that everything under the sun is useless, and we will all be judged. When we share God’s agenda, not everyone will fear the Lord and look to God’s statutes and judgements. What happens when we are living in the world and not being a part of the world? Persecution. We are to continue to be a witness. We are to pray for our enemy with love when the enemy persecutes us.

Activity:

Do the BLOG below.

Conclusion:

The world will be against us when we are living in the world but not being a part of the world.

Next Lesson:

In the next lesson, God's promise is how He gives us a way to escape what we cannot endure when we are being persecuted mentally, emotionally, or physically by the enemy with fear and lies. We are to live in the world without being a part of it. In the next lesson, Daniel prays for his enemies with love. A righteous behavior that will bear good fruit will pray with love for an enemy to understand God’s statutes and judgments so they can repent. Praying for an enemy who is persecuting us mentally and physically is a defensive way to fight back without empowering what we are fighting against.

BLOG: Write a statement of faith on how the Spirit of God will fill and sanctify your heart by cultivating and conditioning the good green fruit of the spirit that prays for an enemy with love to know that God's agenda has statutes and judgements, and the world's agenda is vanity that looks at God's agenda and refuses to repent. A preacher advises with piety that is embedded with righteousness. The Spirit of the Lord provides a prepared witness defense with piety that is embedded with advice that aligns with the righteousness of the Lord to pray for an enemy to know that God has statutes and judgments. Piety is a prepared witness defense provided by the Spirit of God to cultivate and condition the good green fruit of the spirit to fill the second spiritual stone pillar of sanctification in the church of Pergamos.

PROMP STARTER (optional)

My statement of faith to be sanctified through love, with the second foundational spiritual stone pillar of sanctification is defined as not what I take up, but what I give up that is valued as important, such as a spirit that fights with a ______________ for the sake of having a spirit that fights with an ___________, as being regarded as more important. The armor of God is an essential part of my prepared witness defense which is the ______________________. I will accept the prepared witness defense of a spirit like ________________________________ that ________________________________________ prepared for me.

Melody's Statement of Faith (I modeled my statement of faith; you can use it for yours and tweak it if you want):

Sanctification is a work in progress where my spiritual gift will grow into being more sanctified through witnessing to the world with God’s spiritual gift of a new heart with God’s commandments written upon it. Christlikeness develops into having a spirit like a preacher who puts on the helmet of salvation and fights to defend the good fruit of the spirit with the Lord’s prepared defense that includes piety of the Lord. I will continue the process of sanctification to be more Christlike. Through witnessing, my good fruit of the spirit is beginning to ripen, and this is how Christ is growing in my heart to make me more Christlike.

Because your statement of faith is an important part of salvation, please write a statement of faith on how the Spirit of God will cultivate and condition your green fruit of the spirit into ripening to fill the second stone pillar of sanctification in Jesus' Church of Pergamos, in the comments section below.