Is That Your Final Answer?
Ecclesiastes 12
Skip Heitzig
Ecclesiastes 12 (NKJV™) | |
1 | Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth, Before the difficult days come, And the years draw near when you say, "I have no pleasure in them": |
2 | While the sun and the light, The moon and the stars, Are not darkened, And the clouds do not return after the rain; |
3 | In the day when the keepers of the house tremble, And the strong men bow down; When the grinders cease because they are few, And those that look through the windows grow dim; |
4 | When the doors are shut in the streets, And the sound of grinding is low; When one rises up at the sound of a bird, And all the daughters of music are brought low; |
5 | Also they are afraid of height, And of terrors in the way; When the almond tree blossoms, The grasshopper is a burden, And desire fails. For man goes to his eternal home, And the mourners go about the streets. |
6 | Remember your Creator before the silver cord is loosed, Or the golden bowl is broken, Or the pitcher shattered at the fountain, Or the wheel broken at the well. |
7 | Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, And the spirit will return to God who gave it. |
8 | "Vanity of vanities," says the Preacher, "All is vanity." |
9 | And moreover, because the Preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge; yes, he pondered and sought out and set in order many proverbs. |
10 | The Preacher sought to find acceptable words; and what was written was upright--words of truth. |
11 | The words of the wise are like goads, and the words of scholars are like well-driven nails, given by one Shepherd. |
12 | And further, my son, be admonished by these. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is wearisome to the flesh. |
13 | Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man's all. |
14 | For God will bring every work into judgment, Including every secret thing, Whether good or evil. |
New King James Version®, Copyright © 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved.
Solomon has run his course. His journey is completed. Years have passed since he began his search for meaning in life. After wearing several well-trodden paths of experimentation he now gives his final conclusion-his final answer as to the purpose of life. Boiling all of life down to its unavoidable terminus he leaves us with a few salient truths of guide our course through life.
In Ecclesiastes, Solomon delves into the hard issues of life, and attempts to find satisfactory answers that avert despair. Pastor Skip Heitzig examines Solomon's search for meaning.
FREE - Download Entire Series (MP3) (Help)
|
Buy series
| Buy audiobook
Date | Title | Watch | Listen | Notes | Share | Save | Buy | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
11/5/2000 completed
|
What's The Point Of It All Ecclesiastes 1 Skip Heitzig |
Info Message Summary In the book of Ecclesiastes written by Solomon, the bell of disillusionment tolls over and over again. It is a book often quoted by unbelievers because it strikes a chord of familiarity. The deepest questions about life are probed by one of ancient society's most brilliant thinkers. Modern men and women would do well to consider this man's journal and especially his conclusions so as not to make the same mistakes. |
Watch Watch and take notes |
Listen - Mini Player Listen and Take Notes |
Outline Transcript |
Facebook |
Video (MP4) Audio (MP3) |
Buy CD |
11/12/2000 completed
|
Common Paths On A Frustrating Journey Ecclesiastes 1:12-2:11 Skip Heitzig |
Info Message Summary "The pursuit of happiness" is written into the script of the American dream. As a culture we take it literally and go for it wholeheartedly. Have you ever stopped to observe those on that pursuit? Have you ever met someone who stopped pursuing it because they found it? Solomon, the king of Israel was able to create and finance his own dreams. He walked down many roads to find the illusive golden pot of happiness at the end of the rainbow. But what was it he found? |
Watch Watch and take notes |
Listen - Mini Player Listen and Take Notes |
Outline Transcript |
Facebook |
Video (MP4) Audio (MP3) |
Buy CD |
11/26/2000 completed
|
How An Uplook Can Change Your Outlook! Ecclesiastes 2:12-26 Skip Heitzig |
Info Message Summary Solomon didn't have a sight problem as he looked around at his world to find fulfillment. His was an insight problem. He saw a world full of allurements that all promised to satisfy but could never produce. For a long time Solomon failed to gain the needed insight, because things on the horizontal plane aren't the source of enjoyment. It was then that he momentarily turned his eyes upward and, with a flash of perception, had balance brought to his pessimistic perspective. |
Watch Watch and take notes |
Listen - Mini Player Listen and Take Notes |
Outline |
Facebook |
Video (MP4) Audio (MP3) |
Buy CD |
12/3/2000 completed
|
Caught Between Time and Eternity Ecclesiates 3 Skip Heitzig |
Info Message Summary "Man is the only animal that worships." one observer noted. Have you ever wondered why people always seem to be groping for more than they have? No matter what our lot in life, no matter where we find ourselves, we want to know what's on the other side of the wall! Is there more? We have the strange predicament of living in time and yet longing to outlive it. Here we discover one of the great truths of Scripture - God is sovereign over both time and eternity. |
Watch Watch and take notes |
Listen - Mini Player Listen and Take Notes |
Outline Transcript |
Facebook |
Video (MP4) Audio (MP3) |
Buy CD |
12/10/2000 completed
|
How's Your View? Ecclesiastes 3:12-22 Skip Heitzig |
Info Message Summary Solomon was a torn and conflicted individual. He spouted a cynical glumness as he observed life, then he would lapse moments of optimistic spirituality in his journal. Perhaps that's nowhere better seen than in these paragraphs. Within the span of a few verses his divergent viewpoints can be seen. What Solomon faced is what we all face how to maintain a spiritual outlook while living in a skeptical world! |
Watch Watch and take notes |
Listen - Mini Player Listen and Take Notes |
Outline Transcript |
Facebook |
Video (MP4) Audio (MP3) |
Buy CD |
12/17/2000 completed
|
The Case For Companionship Ecclesiastes 4 Skip Heitzig |
Info Message Summary God said it from the very start and it's still true today: "It is not good that man should be alone" (Genesis 2: 18). Loneliness and isolation are formidable forces in our fast-paced culture. Separation is easier than integration. Seclusion is easier than assimilation. But these are not better! God created us to be comfortably knit together n meaningful relationships, sometimes in marriage, and at other times as friends. |
Watch Watch and take notes |
Listen - Mini Player Listen and Take Notes |
Outline |
Facebook |
Video (MP4) Audio (MP3) |
Buy CD |
1/7/2001 completed
|
You've Come To Church...Now What? Ecclesiastes 5:1-7 Skip Heitzig |
Info Message Summary Think about it: Its 2001, and here you are in church...again! Why? What are you doing here? Now, I'm not trying to discourage you from attending, nor do I want you to turn on your heels and high-tail it out of here. But I do want you to think about why you're here, what happens to you while you are here, and what happens afterwards. The beginning of this New Year is a good time to consider the value of commitments we have made. |
Watch Watch and take notes |
Listen - Mini Player Listen and Take Notes |
Outline |
Facebook |
Video (MP4) Audio (MP3) |
Buy CD |
1/14/2001 completed
|
Money Matters Ecclesiastes 5:8-20 Skip Heitzig |
Info Message Summary Look again at the title, Money Matters. Most of us would say a hearty Amen to it. Money does matter to us: it pays the bills and buys us food to live. But how much is enough and how much will bring us happiness? Can we be trusted with money? Will we use it for the right purposes? In the end what will money profit us? |
Watch Watch and take notes |
Listen - Mini Player Listen and Take Notes |
Outline Transcript |
Facebook |
Video (MP4) Audio (MP3) |
Buy CD |
1/21/2001 completed
|
All That Glitters... Ecclesiastes 6 Skip Heitzig |
Info Message Summary Living in a prosperous country has its advantages. It also has its problems. Solomon understood this since his own nation was experiencing economic growth through free trade and low unemployment. But he was willing to see both sides of the economic coin. Today we consider the personal problems that prosperity can bring and solutions to those problems. |
Watch Watch and take notes |
Listen - Mini Player Listen and Take Notes |
Outline Transcript |
Facebook |
Video (MP4) Audio (MP3) |
Buy CD |
1/28/2001 completed
|
Seven Ways To A Better Life Ecclesiastes 7:1-14 Skip Heitzig |
Info Message Summary Steven Covey, the guru to the business community, wrote his best-selling book Seven Habits of Highly Effective People and outlined a strategy for making life count. King Solomon wrote his own list, but by balancing over it you can readily see that the majority wouldn't accept these biblical directives. Let's follow along with this wise king as he takes us on a tour of these seven ingredients: |
Watch Watch and take notes |
Listen - Mini Player Listen and Take Notes |
Outline Transcript |
Facebook |
Video (MP4) Audio (MP3) |
Buy CD |
2/4/2001 completed
|
Building A House Or A Home Psalm 127 Skip Heitzig |
Info Message Summary The reason this psalm is important to us today is because of its author-notice Solomon was the one who wrote it. Here, the master philosopher-builder-entrepreneur reflects on the central core of human life-the home. The Christian leader John Henry Jowett wrote, "Anyone can build a house: we need the Lord for the creation of a home." I believe Solomon penned this psalm during the upswing in his outlook described in the second half of Ecclesiastes. |
Watch Watch and take notes |
Listen - Mini Player Listen and Take Notes |
Outline |
Facebook |
Video (MP4) Audio (MP3) |
Buy CD |
2/11/2001 completed
|
Life: A Realistic View Ecclesiastes 7:15-29 Skip Heitzig |
Info Message Summary Solomon has graduated: Rather than tipping the scales completely towards pessimism, he balances out with realism. This is a realistic view at one of man's most puzzling problems. we will explore the nature of man with undiminished realism and find out what it means to us here and now. |
Watch Watch and take notes |
Listen - Mini Player Listen and Take Notes |
Outline |
Facebook |
Video (MP4) Audio (MP3) |
Buy CD |
2/18/2001 completed
|
Are You Getting Along With Uncle Sam? Ecclesiastes 8 Skip Heitzig |
Info Message Summary In one of the most insightful writings about the working of human government, King Solomon shows the problems of it, the power of it, the failure of it, and the believer's relationship to it. We are citizens of God's kingdom, but we also have an earthly address. This means we are to be model citizens attracting others to our heavenly destination. |
Watch Watch and take notes |
Listen - Mini Player Listen and Take Notes |
Outline Transcript |
Facebook |
Video (MP4) Audio (MP3) |
Buy CD |
2/25/2001 completed
|
A Matter Of Life And Death Ecclesiastes 9:1-10 Skip Heitzig |
Info Message Summary You are alive! You will die! Those two absolutes are as basic as it gets. But how many people really live well? And how many really die well? Solomon's deep probing of the human condition and plan of God drives him to consider these two irreducible certainties. Concerning these two absolutes, there are some things we can't change but some that we can: |
Watch Watch and take notes |
Listen - Mini Player Listen and Take Notes |
Outline |
Facebook |
Video (MP4) Audio (MP3) |
Buy CD |
3/4/2001 completed
|
Certain Truths For Uncertain Times Ecclesiastes 9:11-18 Skip Heitzig |
Info Message Summary Have you ever felt like life is a violin solo and you're wearing mittens? Things can get pretty frustrating from time to time, can't they? In fact how often have you heard (or said), "It's just not fair"? With this seemingly precarious nature of things we must bank on the certainty of other things-divine sovereignty and biblical authority. |
Watch Watch and take notes |
Listen - Mini Player Listen and Take Notes |
Outline |
Facebook |
Video (MP4) Audio (MP3) |
Buy CD |
3/11/2001 completed
|
Four Common Follies Ecclesiastes 10:1-10 Skip Heitzig |
Info Message Summary The old saying goes, "Man is pretty much a fool: when it's hot he wants it cool; when it's cool he wants it hot-always wanting what it's not!" That might sound simplistic but folly is simply think of and living for the short-term. Solomon in his unique and pithy style points to several areas where folly is demonstrated in life: |
Watch Watch and take notes |
Listen - Mini Player Listen and Take Notes |
Outline |
Facebook |
Video (MP4) Audio (MP3) |
Buy CD |
3/18/2001 completed
|
Watch Your Mouth! Ecclesiastes 10:11-20 Skip Heitzig |
Info Message Summary An old proverb reads: "The ability to speak several languages is an asset, but the ability to keep your mouth shut in one language is priceless." There are times when that is true. The tendency to let our mouths rule, whether in a conversation or at a meal, can get us into trouble and harm others. Solomon, in poetic style, considers three foolish ways our mouths can be used: |
Watch Watch and take notes |
Listen - Mini Player Listen and Take Notes |
Outline |
Facebook |
Video (MP4) Audio (MP3) |
Buy CD |
3/25/2001 completed
|
What Are You Doing With Yourself? Ecclesiastes 11:1-6 Skip Heitzig |
Info Message Summary When Dr. Karl Menninger was asked, "What advice do you have for someone feeling a nervous breakdown coming on?" Astonishingly he replied, "Lock up your house, go across the railway tracks, find someone in need, and do something to help that person." I think Solomon would agree. In this section he is winding down his journal with this advice: Give yourself away! |
Watch Watch and take notes |
Listen - Mini Player Listen and Take Notes |
Outline |
Facebook |
Video (MP4) Audio (MP3) |
Buy CD |
4/22/2001 completed
|
Living Life To The Brim! Ecclesiastes 11:7-12:1 Skip Heitzig |
Info Message Summary A wise pundit once wrote, "Your life is like a coin. You can spend it any way you wish, but you can spend it only once." Each of us is assigned just one shot at this thing called life. There is an eternity that we are all moving toward. So much of that eternity is shaped by how we live our lives right here and now, and that is one of the sobering thoughts with which Solomon chooses to close his journal. His theme is: Life should be enjoyed to the fullest-within proper boundaries! |
Watch Watch and take notes |
Listen - Mini Player Listen and Take Notes |
Outline |
Facebook |
Video (MP4) Audio (MP3) |
Buy CD |