In the classic film, The Wonderful Life, some of you know, probably some of you watched it during December, George Bailey struggles in his hometown of Bedford Falls. He doesn't believe that it has enough to sustain him. He has big dreams, he has big desires, and he doesn't want to be in this shabby little town any longer. This idea of living in this old house and one woman and a little place and the same old job with the same old enemies, seeking this old neighborhood, the good of this local neighborhood. George Bailey kind of fidgets with what's repetitive and mundane, and he's restless to leave it behind. The conversation with his dad, he says, I couldn't face being cooped up for the rest of my life in a shabby little office. I want to do something big, something important, all right? He's from Kentucky, so I should be able to impersonate him, all right? And so that's what he says, and it's incredible. And some of you know the back story there of him suffering PTSD from the war. There's just moments in there that he really just encapsulates that character so well. The reason that story kind of continues year after year is there's something that resonates with all of us. There's two assumptions that George Bailey has that we all feel. George assumes that if he's going to do something important, if he's going to gain something in life, he's going to have to travel to a different patch of earth or go somewhere or do something different than where he's presently at. That little town is not going to do it. It's too small for him. He also believes that once he finds that place in life, he'll become satisfied. He'll be a happy man. He'll be content. He'll be experienced. He'll be honored. He'll be fulfilled. He'll be no longer restless in this world. And so this is a good time of year for us to be in the book of Ecclesiastes, and it's a good time for us to talk about this, all right? This isn't the New Year's message I would preach for you, but I do get to choose the books, but I don't get to choose what the books say, all right? And so in Ecclesiastes 1, it's a good time for us to talk about this here. Last year, you may say that you had a lack of self-discipline in some area and that affected your health, and this year you plan to make some changes. I won't ask you to raise your hand or come to the altar or go to the gym immediately. That's up to you, okay? Last year, you lived rushed, so this year you plan to live unrushed. Last year, you didn't do something or another, but this year you're going to. This year, you're going to have a breakthrough financially or in golf or in pickleball or whatever different area of your life. You need to know that all this is good, but in them alone you will never find the satisfaction that you desire, that nothing under the sun was designed to meet the needs that only a life with the Son of God will meet for you. I'm not promoting a discontented life. I'm not promoting a joyless life. But what I'm telling is that many of you are looking for too much out of this world. You're expecting too much from this world. It is not going to meet your needs. Those goals that you've set are not going to change you on the level in which you desire to be met. One of the things, Sean, that I love about Walmart, and I'm sure you do as well, is that they, their return, yeah, we're from the same part of the world, even though different places, all right? And that is, their return policy is crazy, all right? You go to some places, they ask all these questions, you know, about returning something, not at Walmart, all right? They're like, do you have a receipt? No. Did you get it here? No. All right, does it work? It did, I broke it. Well, we can't give you any money back, we'll give you store credit. It's Walmart, that's cash, all right? It's as good as cash, all right? I mean, sometimes when we're hard up on money, I return pine cones. I just gather them up, go to Walmart, and get money back for them. They don't care, all right? Their return policy is fantastic, all right? Well, some of you have this life, and it's just not giving to you what you thought it ought to give you. And you just need to return it. And you need to say, this is not producing. The thing that I thought that I was going to get now that I have it, it isn't working for me the way that I want it to. What we have in Solomon is a person that says, you know that thing that you're wanting to get that will make you happy? I got it, times 10. I had it in a way that you'll never have it and it still didn't do the job. Well, most of us won't have the opportunity to live the life that he did. So we need to hear his words as the divine inspired words of God for your life. God wants to speak to you the day in this way. So what we need to do is we need to slip into that room for a moment. with Solomon and that gathering of people. So let's try to do that. And so here's the question, they'll put this up on the screen, but here's the question, Ecclesiastes 1.1, the words of the preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. And so let me give an introductory with this being the first in the series, is where are we at? Well, it looks like that we're going to be in Jerusalem. Ecclesiastes, it relates to the word of ecclesia that we have in the New Testament. It's a gathering of people. And it could have happened in the temple, and I tend to think it's probably where Solomon lives in his home there, because Ecclesiastes 5, 1, it gives instructions of what they do when they go to the house of the Lord. So first you need to know it's probably in Jerusalem, and we need to see who's speaking. So it's Solomon. In verse 1 it says, the preacher. And there's different thoughts, but most people I'd read after you would see this to be Solomon, because the description that it gives, it really can't be anybody but him. The preacher was king over Israel, it says in verse number 12. Verse 2-4 tells us he makes great works. He built houses and he planted vineyards. So here's Solomon, he began the rule and reign when he was 20 years old, and he does it for 40 years, and so now it looks like he's at the end of his life after he's built these things and he's experienced some life, he's now talking to a gathering of people, and probably around 60 years of age at this time. So not near as old as John when we're in the book of 2 John, but he's at the end of his life here after experiencing many things. Chapter 12, some of you that know the book, it gives a pretty humorous description of what it's like to be old. Like remember where it says, when the grinders cease because they are few, when you're out of teeth and you have to gum your food, right? That's what he talks about. So it appears that he's speaking about what it's like to feel the aging in his life. And then we ask ourselves, who is he speaking to? Well, in short answer, the people. In 12.9 it says, moreover, because the preacher was wise, he still taught the people, knowledge, the people. He gave good heed and sought out and set in order many proverbs. Solomon had written other proverbs. Here we have him writing to the people. And he's addressing the Israelites that are there. And this is a new day. for the people that are there. They're no longer just living a quiet farming life where they depend on the Lord from their crops. Things have changed. They're now at a crossroads of this booming international trade and between Egypt and Asia and Europe and fortunes could be made or lost overnight. The Israelites are scrambling to get rich. Some of them are investing in Bitcoin. No, I'm just kidding. All right, but it's just that it's a different world than you would imagine. It's more like the way in which you would live than you might think. All right, you can't just picture them on a small farm. You got to picture them with an opportunity to be ambitious and to become greedy. And so the preacher is going to give them a warning. The preacher or the teacher, Solomon, that describes the role that he did, description of a role that a person would have. There in the Old Testament, a prophet, a priest, a person that he doesn't just teach, but he gathered the people together, that ecclesiastical people, a gathering of people. And there, he's going to tell them that apart from God, you can gain nothing from all your labor. Apart from God, there is no gain. At least part of this intended audience, Brother Doris, is young people. Because remember in 12-1, He's going to tell them, you need to remember your Creator in the days of your youth. So this is how I imagine it, and I would encourage you to use your imagination as you read the Bible. And if I was to set this out as a movie, it would start off with a young man, a young Israelite man, and he's looking there in the mirror and he's getting really he's getting ready but as he moves through the living area of his home with his family you can tell that this is a very driven and best ambitious young man but he's late for something and what he's late for is he's been invited to a home he's invited by the royal family to because there's going to be a talk given by King Solomon, and he's going to share some wisdom. And so he has the invitation in his hand. He goes into the home. You see the marble floors. The door is beginning to close as everybody's in there, and he kind of slips in, and he sits down. And when he does, comes an aged Solomon out, and he says, hey, I want to talk to you. I wanna shoot straight, I wanna tell you how life is, and hope you will learn. So that's the where and the what, but the question is, what is it they're speaking about? And we're gonna need about 15 weeks to talk about that, all right? What is it that he is saying? So Solomon here, it says in 1210 that the preacher Solomon sought to find out acceptable words that was written, was upright, even the words of the truth. So now I'm picturing that as him having written it out in advance, and Him reading it, and Him praying and choosing the words in which He is going to give. And in the words that He's going to use repetitively is this, under the sun, which refers to living in a world without taking God into account. Under the sun refers to living in this world without taking God into account. He's very introspective. I don't know how many of you would define yourself as that, that you often find yourself lost in your thoughts. And like in Ecclesiastes 1.16, he says, I communed with my own heart. Let's put that verse up there. I communed with my own heart, saying, Lo, I have come to a great estate and gotten more wisdom than all they that have been before me in Jerusalem. Yea, my heart had a great experience. of wisdom and knowledge." That expression there, that great experience of wisdom and knowledge is what he had in his life. And so that's what he's explaining to them, is that experience, what God had done, and he's reflecting on that. As you read through the book of Ecclesiastes this week, I'd really like to encourage you, if you're underlining in your Bible, in 116 it says he communed with his own heart, 2.1 it says I said in my heart, and then in 2.15, then I said in my heart, then later on in the verse he says it again, then I said in my heart, this is all vanity. therefore I went about to cause my heart to despair, my heart, my thoughts." When you go through Ecclesiastes this week, I'd encourage you to underline and to look at those passages as he's given this kind of introspection. And then we find, and we have this verse as well, 1211, it gives us the intent of what he is going to do. In Ecclesiastes 1211, it says that the words of the wise are gourds, or as nails, fastened by the master of assemblies." That word gourd, it means like a cattle prod, all right? And so his words here, the words are like prodding you to think, for your heart to be changed, for you to make decisions. There is a intent in which God has given you his word, and it ought to fasten some things down, like a master carpenter in your life. And so that's what we're looking for. Solomon is claiming that in this letter, in this book, in its contents, they're from God and they're intended to sink into your mind and into your memory and that they're going to prod you into action and it should affect your life. And so we want to come to this book with obedience. We want to come and say, God, whatever you do during these 15 weeks for my personal study, as our study as a church, I'm going to give you yes in that area. So let's look here. In verse number two, an answer is given before the question. Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher. Vanity of vanities, all is vanity. Kind of like in Jeopardy. You know, in Jeopardy, they give you the answer before the question. They give an answer, and then you've got to form it into a question. So here's the answer. And what is the question? What gain do we have from all of our labor? All right? And so that is the question. Vanity of vanities. And the question is, what gain do we have from all of our labor? He's wanting this reality of death to sink into you on a deep level, into your heart, because He's writing a book about what it means to live. But if you're going to, you need to live your life backwards. You need to understand about life is going to come to an end. You need to look for His return. You need to be able to think about the end of your life and live it backwards. And so the question is, what are you going to get out of your life if you live it with no awareness of God? And the answer is emptiness, futility, nothingness. And so he's going to give you a hard confrontation with truth. And this is where we feel the darkness of the situation. So I have here for you, I have four things. And so the first one here is life is like a game, number one, life is like a game of musical chairs. Verse four, one generation passes away and another generation cometh, but the earth abideth forever. You kind of might think that it would have been said the other way around, but it notices that one passes and then another one comes. In spite of constant changes, nothing really changes. One generation comes, and then another goes away. Mark and I were sitting at our family's home at Christmastime, and I believe there was like 25, 30 people in the room. And we're sitting on the couch, and we're just talking about how full the room is. And Mark says, I don't know how we're all going to fit in this room if it continues to grow like this. And I thought, well, that is wonderful. And then I looked at him, and I said, well, here's how it's going to work, Mark. is that we're going to move out of the way and we're going to make room. That the seat that I'm in right now is somebody else is going to sit into. And the response you have is what Mark had as well. Like, well, man, it's Christmas. That's heavy. And I'm like, yeah, good point. But that is the truth of the matter. It will continue to grow. But at a certain point, it's going to reach its peak, right? and then we will begin to replace, people will come in. The chair that I sit in, the pulpit that I stand at, all the things that I have in my life, someday somebody will come in and they'll replace. And that's just the constant cycle of life. And it shouldn't cause depression, but it certainly should direct your heart. It shouldn't depress you, but it certainly ought to cause you to consider, as Ben said, the path that you're currently on. Another way that it says it, so we have four different analogies that help you feel the same thing, help you think the same thing. The next one is found in verses five through seven. The sun also rises and the sun goes down and hastens to a place where he arose. What a picture there. It's like you picture the sun rising in the morning and then the sun runs all the way to the highest point that it can. and then it turns around and it runs back. I'll remind you that this is poetry. This isn't your science textbook. Don't be arguing with me about what the sun does, all right? That's what we see the sun do on a daily basis. It gets up, it runs to the point, then it runs back and it does it continually. You can even set your watch by it. That's how consistent it is, all right? Some of you understand that maybe better than I do, all right? But that's how you set your watches, the way you watch the sun. And so the picture here of the sun running into circles. Then it goes on and says, the wind goeth towards the south and turneth towards the north and it whirls about continually. Well, this is interesting because you're like, well, the sun has a pattern that we follow, but the wind, it's just wild. It gets to do whatever it wants. It's just wild and crazy. Okay. But it says, don't you even know? that the wind has a circuit, it has a circuit about it, that there's a plan, that there's a structure to it, that there's things that you can see here, that it has a route, that it's going to run, and then even the water you see, it flows and it's going and it seems out of control and unstoppable, but it the same, it never, that part you want to see, it just never rests. it just continually goes and it fills up things and then they go, but it never continues like this into the same places. And so what you're supposed to feel here is this unchanging cycle express the unchanging monotony of life. Some of you feel it in there. Some of you say, I feel that in my life. I feel this monotony, this repetition that I'm just stuck in this vicious cycle of life. but it's going to take us a little bit further. And it says, all things are full of labor, and man cannot utter it. It says that the mouth cannot say enough about the wearisome repetition and the futile cycles of nature. Our mouth cannot say enough to describe it. Even though I'm trying, I could not do it, all right? There's not enough that I can say. And all the activity in nature gains nothing, and so all the human activity, speaking, seeing, and hearing, it gains us nothing as well. Then it goes on, make it even farther, it's going to say, don't you know, there's nothing new under the sun. The things that have been is that which shall be, and that which is done is that shall be done, and there is no new thing under the sun. Is there any new thing wherever it may be said? See, this is new. It has already been of time, which was before us. The preacher here anticipates an objection. When I read this to the kids, Selah had the same objection. She said, well, dad, babies are new, right? Never had that baby before. That's true. That baby is new. But having babies is not new. All right. That is continually happening here. And that's what Selah said. Oh, I got something and it's new. That's not new. We have 8 billion of them. All right. Doesn't mean if you have a baby, it's very precious. I'm not taking away from that. But there are 8 billion of us, OK? And we were all babies once, too, all right? That's what Solomon is saying here, that there's nothing new that is here. And so we're unsatisfied with this repetition in our lives because we like to pretend that things shouldn't be like that. For human beings, we want some infinite change, in other words, to gain something. We want something out of this life. We want to gain something. But this pleasure of novelty, of something being new all the time, it is subject, more than anything else, to the law of diminishing returns. Solomon will say like this, when your goods increase, they are increased to eat them. And what good is there to the owners thereof saying the beholding of them with their eyes? Is that the new thing very quickly begins to lose its value. And it's just you see it and what good is it other than just looking at it and saying that you have it. So the preacher is going to show us what we should and should not expect out of life. And some of you, it's going to be a confrontation, because as I said, you're wanting more out of life than life is going to give you. He is not just saying there's no gain after we chase the wind. He's insisting there's no need to chase it in the first place. And no matter how much you consume in all of your labors, man cannot utter, your eye will not be satisfied, nor your ear will be filled. Remember the last time that you heard a song that was so beautiful and you said, I'm done listening. I don't want to hear anything else in all of my life. Or the last time you saw something beautiful and you thought, I'm done seeing. I'm going to close my eyes. I'm completely satisfied with seeing. It's an insatiable desire. great song wants to make you I heard that song and I think that's awesome I want to hear it again and I want to hear it again and then I went then when I'm listening to that there's gonna be another song that will it will remind me of and I want to hear another one and I want to see it you see a beautiful sunset you think I can't wait to get back to this place at this time and see it again but your eyes and ears will never be filled with that because we all long for change we'll put this quote on the screen we long for change in a world of permanent repetition and we dream of of how we can interrupt it. We long for a world, in a world of permanent reputation, and we dream of how we can interrupt it. We need something new. I need to feel something different. I just don't feel like this is enough. In most of our lives, we're living, playing, pretend. Recently, when we were in Kentucky on our break, the kids' school break, we went to like a bargain bin. Any of you ever been to that? It's like where something's priced a certain thing on one day, and every day it gets a little bit less, and everything's in a bucket, and you think it's got to be cheap because it's not organized. Everything's thrown around. You're like, it's got to be a bargain, all right? And so we went in there, and I told the kids, I said, to the boys, I said, if you see anything you need, it's probably going to be priced right, that we should probably look at getting it. However, if you see something that you want, that you didn't know you wanted until you saw it, then we should really consider if we should buy it. And one of them did better than the other, all right. And so. as we're leaving there and we see all these things. I mean, we're running right at the beginning, like we found the treasure chest, just picking up stuff and like, oh, there's chargers and there's cases and there's just everything. And you just thought we just found like this gold mine. All right. And we're just so excited. But the more we were there and the more we looked at it, we're like, I don't really need this. It doesn't matter if it's two ninety nine. I don't need it. I wouldn't even take this if they paid me. You know, you just keep putting it down. And so we walked out with just a few items. And I won't say what they are, but we may need them or we may not need them, all right? And it's nothing in there. It's like the Five Below store, right? You go in there like, it's all $5, but you realize I don't need any of this stuff, all right? And so we left there and we see that, but there's other people when we left there that just keep on pretending as they fill their carts. So this is what we do as adults. We pretend if we get the promotion or if we see our business grow or if we bring up good children, we'll feel significant and have a lasting legacy. Let's pretend if we change our jobs, we won't experience the boring ordinariness of life. Let's pretend if we have a new house, we'll be happier and we'll never want to move again. Let's pretend if we end this relationship and start a new one, we're never going to feel trapped. Or let's pretend if we were married, if we weren't married, we'd be content. Or pretend that if we had more money, we'd be satisfied. Or let's pretend that if we get through this week's pile of laundry and shopping lists and school events and busy evenings, next week will be better and I'll be content. Or let's pretend that this time is, that time is always on our side to do the things we want to do and become the people that we want to be. Let's pretend that if we break the cycle of repetition and finally arrive in a world that is free of weariness. Little kids on occasion play pretend, but the vast majority of adults play pretend all the time. We're about to enter into one of the most depressing times of the year, because at the end of the year, you get all these things and you begin to desire more than you ever had. And then it's a fresh start. And you tell yourself, all those things that I desired that I didn't get last year, I can now go and get them. And so week one goes by and week two goes by. And then you begin to realize that for everything that I get, I have to set something else down. That I don't get everything. That every decision, every decision of discipline requires this. Yes, you can get up and run at 5 o'clock, but you don't also get to wake up and sleep, all right? One of them has to be sat down to pick up another one. That is constantly the decision about trying to reach and to gain something in your life. And so, I want to encourage you that as you feel these things, let it direct your heart to Jesus. Pat Riley was the coach of the Lakers, like also the Knicks and the Heat. But when he was at the Lakers, there's a story that was told that at halftime of the basketball game, and they were losing, he goes into a room, and he has a big bucket that's just filled with water. And during the halftime, he sticks his head underneath the water, and he holds it there for an astonishing three minutes. And during that time, he comes up just gasping for air, and he says, When you desire to win as much as I desire to breathe, we will be unstoppable. There's going to be times in life where the repetition, where you feel like you're underneath water and you're just gasping and you just need something. And I want to tell you that during those times, that needs to erect your heart. It does not need to depress you. It's okay that this world has not made to satisfy our needs because this world is not all that we're offered. We're offered Jesus Christ. And so when you feel that, remember when you get frustrated and sad and angry or disappointed with everything in life that's getting broken and it's falling apart and it's going wrong, remember this when you feel overwhelmed and when you're tempted to wonder why you should even bother with your work and with your relationship and with your faith, you were made for a new and better world. You must recognize the limitations that the world has to satisfy you. Charlotte, if you would come to the piano and play, and as she does that, I just want to talk to you a moment and look at this question. I want to talk to you about that moments where we feel like we're gasping for air, where we need something that's different, where we just feel all the things that Solomon talked about, and life is just not enough. It creates an anxiety to us, and we feel like we just have to break out of it. I want to encourage you, first of all, I want to encourage you this. Recognize the limitations that this world has to satisfy you. Just go ahead and acknowledge it, alright? You're asking it to do something that it was not designed to do. And then we listen to the words of Jesus. Jesus says, in full agreement, because the Word of God is written by God, the Holy Spirit, without contradiction, well Jesus will say, for what is a man profited if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul? For what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? If you're in here today and you do not have a relationship with Jesus Christ, you're not a believer of God's Word, I want to tell you that you have a soul to lose. That in your chase of this world, as you're reaching and reaching, you may gain many things in this world, but at the end of it, you're going to see that you've lost your soul and that all of it was worse than nothing. It was worse than nothing. And so the day you need to ask yourself, what is the great pursuit of your life? Because those things in this world, the shame is you're not going to be like Solomon. So you're not going to get it all and get the look at it and say, well, this isn't enough. Now I'm interested in Jesus. No, what's going to happen to you is you're going to spend your whole life chasing it and never attaining it and then find yourself in a Christless eternity. and it's going to be nothing. But it also reminds us as believers in here that in gaining Jesus, we have gained everything and that there's nothing to be added to. There is no gain in this world outside of Christ. And so what we need to do is we need to realize that accepting death is the first step in learning to live. If our labor is not in the Lord, if our work is apart from God, we're gaining nothing. Jesus goes on to tell in Matthew 6, he says, don't store up for yourself treasures on earth, but store up yourselves treasures in heaven. If you're made for another world, so live like it. Live for the world to come. Verse number 11 that we read tells us at the end of our lives, there'll be no remembrance, and we need to embrace that. No personal legacy. I just pray that there's a generation of people that come after us that know Jesus, but our names will be quickly forgotten. You know, many of the names and monuments you know, and you know the names, but you don't even know they were named something before that, before they changed their names. It's just a matter of time before all of our names will disappear. But that's okay. It doesn't depress us, right? What does it do? It directs our hearts. And so keep your head above the sun. No philosophy, no thought, no human action can do what God can do for my heart, and Jesus is the one that makes that relationship possible. You know, the world's even in agreement. This is where this is the greatest philosophy book in the world, because the world even feels that and knows that. The four points that I made today No logical person is going to argue with me that we all feel that repetition in life. In 2 Peter chapter number 3 it says, Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers walking after their own lust and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation. All things continue. Unbelieving people say, it's always been like this and it's always going to be like this. You just need to make the most out of it. Life is never going to get any better. It's just a broken cycle. It's always been like that, but make the most out of it. But then Peter is going to tell you that you need to turn your eyes upon Jesus. When these actions come, when you feel the realness of the world's emptiness, you need to look to His second coming. Stop looking underneath the sun for happiness, but look to Him. And then you can find something that is better than life. In this dark heaviness, I want us to read together Psalm 63, verse 3. I hope they'll put that on the screen for us today. Psalm 63, verse number 3, and we'll read this together. Would you read this with me? Psalm 63, verse 3. Because thy loving kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee." His loving kindness is better than life. How can I look at a book like Ecclesiastes and say, you're right, this world is not satisfying. How can I leave that and not just be overwhelmed, depressed, and fatalistic? Because here's the reason, I've been given something that is far better than life. It's His loving kindness. It's His mercy. It's the covenant that He's made with us. It's His thoughts towards me. It's far better than all of these things in this world. It says there's nothing new under the sun, but thankfully, as followers of Jesus that are born again by God's Spirit, we don't live with just the realities underneath the sun. Because you see, in me, there's a new name written in heaven. Among us, this is a new community. There's a new commandment. There's a new covenant. We have a new nature. We're new creations. And 2 Corinthians 5.17 says this, by being a new creature, all things are passed away and behold, all things become new. That is the new thing that we get to rejoice in. So I want us to sing this song together, okay? And I want you to promise, we're not going to sing this like a funeral dirge, okay? We're not going to sing this looking down upon our feet. It's an invitation-type song that we have in a closing, but I want us to consider, because it takes us to the darkness, but it brings us to where we need to be. We sing this song where we say, O soul, are you weary and troubled? No light in the darkness you see. There's light for a look at the Savior, and life more abundant and free. And then what are the next words? Say it with me. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, and the light of His glory and grace. What a blessing, isn't it? What a blessing. All those things in those four cycles of life, everybody feels it. But as God's people, we get to look above it, and we get to see the Son of God, and what a blessing. Take that into our new year, and let's live for His honor and glory, and let's share that with everybody we can. We understand where they're at. We understand what this world feels like underneath the sun. Let's pray together, then let's stand and sing at a time of response, okay? Heavenly Father, I thank you for your word. It's so precious, the most precious thing to us, Lord. And all of these things that we can find, things of this world, Lord, they don't fill any more than just trinkets and a box at a bargain store. But your word, it lasts forever. It's eternal. That through the study of it, we hear from you that in this vicious repetition of life, Lord, that is just so depressing that we want to escape. We have found that in you, we found something new. that in you, Lord, we have been made new. And Father, I come to you. I pray a prayer of confession. I have looked to this world. I have looked to your creation to meet a need that was only made to be met by you, the creator. In this new year, Lord, I want to spend my time in knowing you in a more meaningful and real way. As you're praying, we do this every Sunday. I just want to encourage you to consider this. If you don't know Jesus Christ, today is the day so that you can know something new. You can know Him. And with everything in us, we want to show you Jesus Christ. We want to show you how you can escape that vicious cycle of meaninglessness and find something that is worth giving your life to. Heavenly Father, I pray for the believers and unbelievers among us today. May we take heed to your word. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.