Randall Church Podcast

Can we find meaning in life through wisdom and pleasure? What happens when we seek ultimate meaning outside of relationship with the Creator God? What happens when we're desperate for the answers to life but can't seem to find any? What happens when our souls get wearied from the constant pursuit of pleasure and possessions? These are enormous questions of life and meaning that Ecclesiastes grapples with in the timeless complexity and messiness of reality. In the end, the ancient philosopher recalibrates our hearts, minds, and lives to pursue meaning in the Ultimate God because God alone holds the key to the meaning of life.

Can we find meaning in life at all? What happens when we seek ultimate meaning outside of relationship with the Creator God? What happens when we're desperate for the answers to life but can't seem to find any? What happens when our souls get wearied from the constant pursuit of pleasure and possessions? These are enormous questions of life and meaning that Ecclesiastes grapples with in the timeless complexity and messiness of reality. In the end, the ancient philosopher recalibrates our hearts, minds, and lives to pursue meaning in the Ultimate God because God alone holds the key to the meaning of life.

As believers and followers of Jesus, we are to live in voluntary submission to His lordship, but also to employers and spouses.

As believers and followers of Jesus, we are to live harmonious lives. Conflict is inevitable. When more than two people come together the potential for disagreement increases. Resolution glorifies God.

Those who come to faith in Christ have an eternal inheritance in heaven, a salvation that is the basis on which one can live in hope for the future with joy in all things in the present

As believers and followers of Jesus, we are being built as His people, full of mercy, for the purpose of reflecting His glory to the world.

We who have a genuine faith in Christ are to live our lives in holiness because God the Father is holy, and this includes loving one another, ridding ourselves of the impure and unholy, and feeding on God's word.

God the Holy Spirit has given spiritual gifts to each believer. Those gifts vary in combination, in effect and in service; but all are for the same purpose, namely to accomplish the work of the kingdom through the church. The key in the working of spiritual gifts is oneness - there are many "parts" in the church body, but they are all to work together under the Head, namely Jesus Christ. And they are to be ruled by love.

Marriage relationships must be brought under the Lordship of Jesus Christ, including those where one is a believer and the other is not.

How should worship be handled when believers gather together? Propriety, consideration of others, humility and order should rule, as well as the centrality of Jesus.

In Corinth, the believers faced the problem of what to do with meat that had been offered to idols. Should they eat it or not? Believers today don't have the exact same problem, but there are other cultural things, customs, traditions and approaches, that present the same problem, including the effect that one's approach has on other believers.

The Corinthian believers had been saved out of a pagan, immoral culture. They needed to break from their past and live knowing that their bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit.

The Corinthian believers were divided; they formed factions. they needed instead to be united in mind and thought.

The Apostle Paul writes to the church at Corinth which is beset with problems and issues, but which loves Jesus. It is a "real" church, with the good, the bad and the ugly; but it is part of the Church of Jesus Christ, and its people need to learn and grow into Christlikeness.

Moses, the Jewish baby brought up in Pharoah's home as his son, came back to his people, called by God to deliver them; and in God's power he did so. Jesus, likewise, came to the earth to deliver mankind from their captivity to sin.

Ruth the Moabitess went to Israel with her mother-in-law, Naomi, both widows, returning to Bethlehem. Boaz, the kinsmand of Naomi, redeemed Ruth, buying the family land and taking Ruth as his wife. Jesus, likewise, paid the price to redeem all who come to Him in faith.

David was anointed by Samuel at God's direction to reign after King Saul, and David ultimately did take the throne and ruled. God promised that his kingdom would last forever. Jesus, likewise, as David's heir, was the fulfillment of this covenant, and He will take His throne and reign forever.

Joseph's brothers had sold him into slavery, treated him as dead, and feared for their lives when in his presence in Egypt years later. Yet, Joseph forgave them when they came to him (Gen. 50:18). Jesus, likewise, forgives those who come to Him (Luke 23:40-43).

Isaac was to be the sacrifice at the direction of his father, Abraham; but God provided the actual lamb for the sacrifice. Jesus, likewise was the Lamb provided by God as the sacrifice for our sin.

Mankind was wicked before the flood, but Noah was righteous and became the one through whom God saved the remnant. Jesus, likewise, is the One through whom God by His grace is saving the remnant of believers.