Emmanuel Baptist Church Sermons

How should we respond when God writes hard chapters into our stories?

Nothing is harder, or more beautiful, than loyal love.

This is Ecclesiastes' last word. Thankfully, it's not God's last word.

None of us are getting out of here alive. How can we face this reality with hope?

Good friendships are absolutely crucial among brothers and sisters in Christ. But how does a couple move beyond the "friend zone" with integrity and courage?

Even though Ecclesiastes recognizes that wisdom is temporary, it's still better than foolishness. So, we're encouraged to be wise and choose the better way over alternatives that seem easier.

So far, Ecclesiastes has treated everything as meaningless... So what about politics?

Relationships are unavoidable as we live under the sun. How do we do them well?

Passage: Ecclesiastes 7:13-18 | Message By: Chris Hutchison | Series: Bittersweet SymphonyAn old man turned ninety-eight He won the lottery and died the next day… A traffic jam when you're already late… It's a death row pardon two minutes too late… And isn't it ironic? Don't you think? 1"Ironic" by Alanis Morissette, Glen Ballard Those are some lines from Alanis Morissette's 1995 smash hit, "Ironic," a song that recounts all of the ways that life doesn't make sense. How the world doesn't work the way we want it to. How powerless we are in the face of circumstance and how often Murphy's Law tends to work against us. I wasn't allowed to listen to Alanis Morissette in 1995, and for good reason. Don't take what I'm saying here an an endorsement. But it is interesting to me that, 30 years later, her song captures an aspect of life on planet earth that was almost totally missing from the Christian music that I was allowed to listen to in 1995. A lot of CCM music from that era can be summed up like this: Life is hard, but it's okay because I'll quote a Bible verse and/or a Christian catchphrase, and you'll feel fine by the second chorus. But life doesn't work like that. Three minutes and a cliche don't make everything better. Life is hard. Planet earth is a tough place to live. Bad things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people. Things so often don't make sense. And that's why I'm so grateful for the book of Ecclesiastes. Qoheleth, the preacher of Ecclesiastes, is relentlessly realistic about life under the sun. In our time today, we'll be looking at a whole bunch of passages in Ecclesiastes that talk about the way that life so often makes no sense and things so often don't work out the way we expect and how there's very little we can do about any of that. And then we'll see how Ecclesiastes helps us to have a truly authentic faith in the midst of this messy and broken world. 1. A World That Doesn't Make Sense Let's start with Qoheleth's reflections on a world that doesn't make sense. And we'll start with his reflections on injustice and oppression, picking up with a single verse in chapter 3. Injustice & Oppression Verse 16: “Moreover, I saw under the sun that in the place of justice, even there was wickedness, and in the place of righteousness, even there was wickedness” (Ecclesiastes 3:16). As Qoheleth looks around, he sees a world that isn't working the way it's supposed to. And a key example of that is the way that wickedness had taken root in the place of place. "The place of justice" or "the place of righteousness" is perhaps a reference to the courts, where cases were tried. In many Israelite towns this happened at the city gates where the elders of the place would decide on cases together. Their job was to make sure that righteousness and justice was upheld. They were to speak up for the innocent and make sure that the vulnerable was protected. But instead of justice, Qoheleth sees wickedness. The judges were condemning the innocent and protecting the wicked. Perhaps taking bribes, favouring their buddies, protecting their own. You've no doubt had the experience, or know someone who had the experience, of going to seek a decision from a court or a government official or someone with some power over you, and you're looking for righteousness or justice, and instead a decision is made that is just wrong. It's wicked. And there's nothing you can do about it. Surely, this is one of the greatest examples we can think of for a world that is not working the way it's supposed to. We see more examples of a similar experience down in chapter 4, starting in verse 1. “Again I saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun. And behold, the tears of the oppressed, and they had no one to comfort them! On the side of their oppressors there was power, and there was no one to comfort them” (Ecclesiastes 4:1). Powerful people using their power to oppress the vulner...

In the Lord, all of our work has eternal value and purpose. As we labour, we are planting seeds that will burst to life in the New Creation.

Treasures in heaven are not less real than treasures on earth. It's the opposite. Eternal treasure is infinitely more real and lasting and substantial than any vapoury treasure we can touch in this life.

Pursue pleasure, and end up with nothing. Pursue the giver of pleasure, and you end up with a life that matters and an eternal hope that can't be stolen from you.

If life is pointless, then what's the point of knowing a lot?

Jesus is not an extra on a nice little life. Without Jesus, there is no nice little life. There is only misty meaninglessness.

What are some practical ways we can share the good news with those who need to hear it?

Whose job is it to tell others about Jesus?

Sharing the gospel can feel really hard. Why? And why should we still do it anyways?

Passage: Isaiah 27:1-13 | Message By: Damian Neudorf | Series: Lord of the Nations

How do we wait well? By knowing who we are, what we really want, and what time it is. Isaiah 26 helps us on all counts.

Passage: Isaiah 25:1-12 | Message By: Tim Fehr | Series: Lord of the Nations

Passage: Isaiah 24:1-23 | Message By: Dylan Hamata | Series: Lord of the Nations

This morning, we get to practice humility as we reach out to take the bread and the cup, remembering that Jesus gives us a salvation he worked for, he bought and paid for, and we do nothing but receive with an open hand.

Passage: Isaiah 22:1-25 | Message By: Jordan Dudgeon | Series: Lord of the Nations

God's powerful word determines the future of these nations. This will all come to pass because the Lord, the God of Israel, has spoken.

Passage: Isaiah 21:1-10 | Message By: Damian Neudorf | Series: Lord of the Nations

We get to participate in the fulfillment of the future Isaiah foretold in this passage: one world, one people, one God.

There is no other saviour but the Lord—and He is willing to go to great lengths to make that point.

The master is coming. What will he find us doing?

Passage: Isaiah 17:1-18:7 | Message By: Jordan Dudgeon | Series: Lord of the Nations

Passage: Isaiah 15:1-16:14 | Message By: Josh Lees | Series: Lord of the Nations

It's better to be one of God's poor, needy and afflicted ones who get cared for by Him, than to try and take care of ourselves on our own and meet the fate of the Philistines.

Passage: Isaiah 13:1-14:27 | Message By: Chris Hutchison | Series: Lord of the Nations

What can we learn from a chapter like this?

Why did Jesus choose the cross as the way to die?

History is not just a series of short stories that each end in death. Christ's resurrection guarantees Isaac's resurrection—and your resurrection.

Jacob's follow-through only meant something because there was a faithful and gracious God waiting to bless Him at Bethel.

Passage: Genesis 34:1-31 | Message By: Austin Dyck | Series: Blood Brothers1. Recap  Today we come to Genesis 34, where a lot happens that seems out of the blue after the happy events we saw in the last chapter. In chapter 33, after returning from 20 years in Paddan-aram, Jacob reunites with his brother in an unexpected reconciliation. Instead of wanting to kill him, which had been the whole reason Jacob ran away in the first place, Esau wants Jacob to come and live with him. But Jacob can't do that. And one of the reasons is because God told him to go back to the land of Canaan—the land of his people, the land God promised him. The land God promised to bring him back to. But God's promise to bring Jacob back to the land isn't the only promise on the table. There's also a promise that Jacob made to God. On His way out of the land, after God met him and promised to bring him back to the land, this happened: “Then Jacob made a vow, saying, ‘If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, so that I come again to my father's house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God, and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God's house. And of all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you'” (Genesis 28:20–22). If God keeps His word—which is almost a dare, given that God promised to do this—then God will be Jacob's God, and Jacob will set up that stone to be God's house. Perhaps he means to make a temple for God there, or even just build an altar. The point is, He's promised to come back to this place when God brings him back to the land in peace. And look what God has done. He's brought him back to the land—and He's done it in peace. He's given him peace with Laban, peace with Esau. So what should Jacob be doing next? I mean, he knows how kind God has been to him. Before he met Esau, he said, “I am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps” (Genesis 32:10). He should be heading straight for Bethel. But instead, he seems to be dragging his feet. We saw last week that after Esau leaves him, he settles for a time in Succoth, on the far side of the Jordan, not even in the land of Canaan officially, and he stays there long enough to build a home and booths for his animals. He was in no rush. And then we were told he came peacefully to Shechem, in the land of Canaan (33:18). A step closer. He buys some land and builds an altar, which is good, but he still hasn't come all the way back to Bethel. It seems like he's on his way there. But he's taking his time. God has kept His promises to Him, but He's not showing any urgency to keep his promise to God. And it's here, on the outskirts of Shechem, almost-but-not-quite where he should be, that a terrible thing happens to his daughter. 2. Conflict •           Dinah & Shechem  “Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to see the women of the land.” (34:1) Besides their births and meanings of their names, none of Jacob's children have been mentioned to this point. Now, we're reintroduced to Dinah as the daughter of Leah. We've already seen that Jacob didn't care much for Leah and didn't care as much about the children that Leah had borne to him. In this time in history, for a young woman to go out alone was dangerous. Remember how Boaz told Ruth to stay close to his servants so that nothing bad would happen to her? So why is Dinah, with a dad and twelve brothers, going out by herself? Does this suggest some neglect from her family? Whatever the case may be, we do know that she is seen by Shechem, who we read to be the son of Hamor the Hivite, and prince of the land (34:2). In verse 2, we read that when Shechem (who was a young man—34:19) saw Dinah (who was a young woman—34:3) ...

Unexpectedly, Esau represents God in this passage: running to meet us, eager to reconcile, happy to forgive, zealous to save.

As we watch God and Jacob wrestle, don't marvel at Jacob's audacity—marvel at God's humility.

Passage: Genesis 31:1-55 | Message By: Victor Kuligin | Series: Blood Brothers

Just because God blesses us does not mean He approves of our actions...

God continue to keep His promises through Jacob's dysfunctional family.