Sermon Central
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Overwhelmed
Contributed by Michael Mccartney on Oct 19, 2005 (message contributor)
Summary: Many today in our society are chasing after the wind and ending up overwhelmed and stressed in their lives. The result of this state is that many are robbed of their joy in life.
Overwhelmed!
On the lighter side: FOR THOSE WHO TAKE LIFE TOO SERIOUSLY......
* Save the whales. Collect the whole set
* A day without sunshine is like, night
* On the other hand, you have different fingers.
* I just got lost in thought. It was unfamiliar territory.
* 42.7 percent of all statistics are made up on the spot.
* 99 percent of lawyers give the rest a bad name.
* I feel like I’m diagonally parked in a parallel universe.
* You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say will be
misquoted, then used against you.
* I wonder how much deeper the ocean would be without sponges.
* Honk if you love peace and quiet.
* Remember half the people you know are below average.
* Despite the cost of living, have you noticed how popular it remains?
* Nothing is fool-proof to a talented fool.
* Atheism is a non-prophet organization.
* He who laughs last thinks slowest.
* Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm.
* Eagles may soar, but weasels don’t get sucked into jet engines.
* The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.
* I drive way too fast to worry about cholesterol.
* I intend to live forever - so far so good.
* Borrow money from a pessimist - they don’t expect it back.
* If Barbie is so popular, why do you have to buy her friends?
* My mind is like a steel trap - rusty and illegal in 37 states.
* Quantum mechanics: The dreams stuff is made of.
* The only substitute for good manners is fast reflexes.
* Support bacteria - they’re the only culture some people have.
Thesis: Many today in our society are chasing after the wind and ending up overwhelmed and stressed in their lives. The result of this state is that many are robbed of their joy in life.
Video Illustration: Illustrate 6 from Bluefish TV- The story of Brian and Margaret and the stress they find themselves trapped in.
Phrases to catch:
“We do it because everyone else is doing it!”
“We say we have to stop but we do not!”
It’s as if they are swept along in the wave of chasing after the wind of some future success!
T.S. – Now listen to the Book of Ecclesiastes and see that when our focus is on the wrong direction then we discover life is racing along dragging us with it and we have no control to stop it so it seems like we are just chasing after the wind. But there is hope!
Scripture Text:
17So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. 18I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me. 19And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the work into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless. 20So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun. 21For a man may do his work with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then he must leave all he owns to someone who has not worked for it. This too is meaningless and a great misfortune. 22What does a man get for all the toil and anxious striving with which he labors under the sun? 23All his days his work is pain and grief; even at night his mind does not rest. This too is meaningless. 24A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, 25for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment? 26To the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
Ecclesiastes 4: 1-8:
1Again I looked and saw all the oppression that was taking place under the sun: I saw the tears of the oppressed—and they have no comforter; power was on the side of their oppressors—and they have no comforter. 2And I declared that the dead, who had already died, are happier than the living, who are still alive. 3But better than both is he who has not yet been, who has not seen the evil that is done under the sun. 4And I saw that all labor and all achievement spring from man’s envy of his neighbor. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. 5The fool folds his hands and ruins himself. 6Better one handful with tranquility than two handfuls with toil and chasing after the wind. 7Again I saw something meaningless under the sun: 8There was a man all alone; he had neither son nor brother. There was no end to his toil, yet his eyes were not content with his wealth. “For whom am I toiling,” he asked, “and why am I depriving myself of enjoyment?” This too is meaningless—a miserable business!
