Photo Cred: (1) | Updated: 7/21/2024
Sermon Prep
I’m usually not one for the charismatic wing of Christianity, but on October 31st of 2022 I journaled a prophetic dream I had the night of the 30th. I’ve had dreams from God like this before, but very rarely. Maybe less then a handful of times in my life where I see what will happen and yet it feels like déjà vu all at the same time.
In this dream, here’s what I remembered and jotted down on Halloween morning:
“Had a beautiful dream this past night. Glory and I were in a hospital. She was in the bed restfully watching me cradle our newborn daughter, Willow. I was standing and rocking her to sleep. As I did that, I sang her a lullaby. It went like this:
My Willow bee, my Willow tree.
Dancing in the wind with me.
Then the dream abruptly ended. It felt so real. I can’t wait to dance with my Willow.”
Fast forward to now and my wife is nearly 28 weeks pregnant with our baby girl who is due October 17th. It’s almost to the day that God gave me that initial dream 2 years ago. It’s so strange seeing how things have played out so far and we cannot wait to meet our baby Willow.
In the everyday of this season, we had immediate big changes in life too. On November 1st, we signed for our very own apartment for just the two of us. We didn’t mind having my best friend Daniel be our roommate, but we needed our own space for our own family and found one.
It’s ironic posting this given the nature of the world right now and how foolish everything seems. I remember this was one of those messages where I felt foolish for trying to tell everyone what wisdom was in life. What would a guy like me know about wisdom when I haven’t wised up myself? Regardless, here’s the notes I had for this one below.
Sermon Notes
Opening Line
- CFS story of terrible writer succeeding
- Dropped out to help youth group; gave up
- The fool prospered, but the upright lost
Intro
- Read Psalm 92 out loud together
Transition to Main Point
- What’s wisdom in a meaningless world?
Main Point
- 1) God has a design for everything
- Read Ecclesiastes 10:2
- There’s a right and wrong way to life.
- Read Ecclesiastes 7:12
- “Privilege isn’t money, it’s info.” – Nathan Smith
- Wisdom is knowing God’s design and living well within that way of life.
- 2) Sin leads to brokenness/meaninglessness
- Read Ecclesiastes 7:29
- All people have chosen evil over good.
- Read Ecclesiastes 9:11-12
- No good you do can overcome an evil world.
- 3) The Gospel is the answer
- Read Ecclesiastes 9:13-16
- This passage parallels the life of Jesus.
- Wisdom is a person and we trust him.
- 4) The Gospel allows us to recover and pursue God’s wise design
- Read Ecclesiastes 8:12-13, 15
- Evil will have its end eventually, so live well within God’s wise design.
Why It Matters
- The Gospel is our guide to a good life.
- For those of you who don’t know it:
- 1) God made everything good.
- 2) We made everything bad.
- 3) Jesus has made and will make everything better.
- 4) Now we believe in what Jesus did and trust him with what he’s going to do for our best.
- In order to live by God’s wise design, we have to accept the Gospel.
- Once accepted, you’ll find the right way and a wise life.
Final Thoughts
Conceptually, I see what I was going for here. The ingredients are there for something interesting, yet the mixture is a bad batch. I often do that when I don’t know what I’m talking about, I go broad with the vague concept and only reach a few. But if I went specific with the idea and really lean into the applicability of it, then many would have been reached by this message.
Like with any communication, universal appeal is found in the specific reveal. Again, I just wasn’t at a spiritual maturity to share this message and provide that specific reveal of truth. With that, Godspeed and Jesus bless.
Footnotes
- Community College of Aurora, Lowry Campus
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