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INTRO & OVERVIEW


Beloved church family,

 

For many books of the Bible, the “why” behind our collective study is more obvious than others. For example, studying the Gospel of Mark (a biography of Jesus life) makes logical sense as we are a collective group of disciples (apprentices) of Jesus. That said, the “why” behind our study through Ecclesiastes is not as obvious. Considered one of the most peculiar books of the Bible, Ecclesiastes exposes the emptiness of our vain pursuits in this life and begs the question with a bit of cynicism… What is the point? Rest assured; the goal of our study is not to foster cynicism and leave us more depressed by the absurdity of life.

 

So, why Ecclesiastes? As we attempt to name a couple preliminary reasons for this study, let’s also leave room for many more to arise as the Holy Spirit reveals throughout our journey together. That said, here are a couple reasons we can name as we begin:

  • Ecclesiastes exposes the illusion as to what really won’t matter at the end of life, so we can gain wisdom and give our lives to what really does.
  • In a culture of individualism and self-absorbed pursuits, Ecclesiastes leads us to the end of ourselves and invites us to live into the larger story God is writing.


Metaphorically speaking, Ecclesiastes has the ability to clear the field of our heart of all the weeds that look like life, but in the end are choking out true life leaving room for the Gospel (The Good News of Jesus) to grow in and through us.  Therefore, each week we will use the portion of Ecclesiastes we are studying to point to an aspect of the Gospel.

 

Whether you come into this study feeling full of purpose, empty on the inside, or somewhere in-between - all are invited into Solomon's grand experiment and beautiful invitation to surrender control and put our trust in our loving God again and again and again and…

 


Welcome to Chasing After the Wind,

 

Open Door Teaching Team

In this introductory video to the book of Ecclesiastes, Dave Brickey & Ronn Johnson take us into the history behind the book and where we'll be heading as we deep dive into this interesting piece of scripture.

LOADING PLAYER…

  • weekly handouts

    We put together a folder that includes a letter from the Teaching Team, a syllabus for our study and note taking pages for each week of our study. You can get one in-person at Open Door. If you are joining us online or watching these sermons after the fact you can download that resource here. 


    DOWNLOAD RESOURCE FOLDER CONTENTS


  • Ecclesiastes RESOURCES

    As we study Ecclesiastes, here are some resources we would recommend to help you further your study / understanding of this book.


    VIDEO RESOURCE


    BOOKS

    • The Message of Ecclesiastes, book by N.T. Wright
    • The Book of Ecclesiastes, commentary by Tremper Longman (from the New International Commentary Series)
    • The NIV Commentary on Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs, by Iain W. Provan