The Treadmill of Life
Download MP3We begin a new series this morning, on that warm and fuzzy book known as Ecclesiastes found there in the middle of your bible. Some have called it the Eeyore of scripture. It's there in your worship guide. I encourage you, though, to look in your bibles. If you don't know where it is, just go to the middle of your bible and then turn, turn, turn.
Jeffrey Heine:I was wondering if anyone would get that this morning. My kids will be in the next service, and they will groan. I've actually never preached through Ecclesiastes, and honestly, I wasn't sure if I ever would. It took me over 20 years before finally deciding to preach through Romans, and then Ecclesiastes was the last book out there. And I was like, I I didn't know.
Jeffrey Heine:I just don't know. It's not because I didn't think it was, you know, God's inspired word. It wasn't that. I I knew it was God's inspired word. It's just honestly I could not understand it.
Jeffrey Heine:Despite my best efforts, I never really felt like I could get a handle on Ecclesiastes. I mean, last summer we were also in the wisdom literature and we looked at the book of Proverbs, which I thought was fantastic series for us. And Proverbs is all about getting wisdom. You know, Proverbs chapter 4, get wisdom, Get insight. Do not forget and do not turn away from the words of my mouth.
Jeffrey Heine:Do not forsake wisdom, for she will keep you. Love her and she will guard you. And then you flip over just a few pages to Ecclesiastes 2 and you read, why then have you been very wise? I said in my heart that wisdom is meaningless. How the wise person dies just like the fool.
Jeffrey Heine:So I hated life because what is done under the sun was grievous to me for everything is meaningless and striving after the wind. I mean, like, can somebody just give this guy a hug? I mean, what are you supposed to do with that? And how can both of those things be in our Bibles and not just in our Bibles, but smack dab in the middle of them as part of our wisdom literature. It's it's unbelievable to me.
Jeffrey Heine:To me, Ecclesiastes, he was kinda like that irritable opinionated friend that you can only take in small doses? You know the one who you happen to find yourselves at the same party together, they're all alone in the corner, People are kinda scared to get near that person, but you know you should go over there and talk to them. But you kinda gotta brace yourself because you know it's gonna be so draining. And so for these reasons, this is why I just kinda left Ecclesiastes alone. I'd only talked to Ecclesiastes once or twice a year when my Bible reading plan told me I had to, forced me to go over and visit for a while, And then, I was always glad to kind of get out.
Jeffrey Heine:But then, about a year ago, for some unknown reason, one morning when I sat down, with my bible and my coffee, I had this strange impulse to read Ecclesiastes, which was not part of my bible reading plan at the time. So I wasn't being forced to do it. I just had this irresistible urge to read through Ecclesiastes. And perhaps it's just me getting older. Perhaps it's going through midlife and struggling my way through it.
Jeffrey Heine:I'm not exactly sure why, but I just felt irresistibly drawn to read it. And then when I did, I couldn't stop. For the next 4 to 5 months, Ecclesiastes became the only book in the Bible that I read. Couldn't get out of it. My family will be so happy when I'm done with this series, because they are so sick of me talking about Ecclesiastes every day for months months on end.
Jeffrey Heine:But but I found this book. It was so honest, brutally honest about life. Brutally honest about the questions I was having and I know others have as well. Questions that you're afraid to even whisper to yourself, let alone say out loud to your home group. Questions about the deepest meanings of life, about God.
Jeffrey Heine:You know, questions that you've probably suppressed over the years. Questions like this, does anything we do actually matter? Or am I really any different than an animal? I mean, after all, for all of my education, all of my labors, all of my bible studies, in the end, we both just die. And and when I die, how do I know that the lights don't just go out and that's it?
Jeffrey Heine:I mean, what if all of this faith talk was really just a coping mechanism to help me avoid thinking about the horrors of death? What what if I'm just being delusional every time I go to church? And we don't like to acknowledge we have those questions or ask them. I mean, we're not gonna ask at our next home group, hey guys, hear me out. But what if we just kinda stop doing this?
Jeffrey Heine:What if we just kinda gave up on our faith and you know, maybe did whatever we want, drank whatever we want, had sex with whoever we want, used our body, and our our money and everything to do whatever we want with it? What if we just kind of, you know, quit fighting temptation and instead saw temptation as a invitation to a better life? What if we do that? Just just putting it out there. I mean, we're not gonna ask that question at a small group, but Ecclesiastes is gonna ask it for you.
Jeffrey Heine:Ecclesiastes is going to help you explore the questions you've been afraid to say out loud or even to admit you have. This book is for those who have doubts about God. And yet for some reason, can't stop thinking about him. Now spoiler alert, I still don't have Ecclesiastes figured out. But we're getting on this plane and we're gonna see where it goes.
Jeffrey Heine:But I but I don't have it all figured out. I mean, there's times I think I do. Now I'm I'm I'm there. I'm listening to Solomon. I'm tracking with him.
Jeffrey Heine:I'm like, okay, Solomon, I get you. I see where you're going. And then he just, he just hits me sideways with with seemingly saying the opposite thing or or right when I think I finally understand his thinking, he comes to a completely different conclusion than me. And if this isn't confusing enough, the structure of the book is going to drive you mad. I mean, it jumps all over the place and it seems so random.
Jeffrey Heine:I mean, Solomon can jump from talking about the satisfaction of a job well done to then talking about the pointlessness of work. Or how we need to be pursuing wisdom to how wisdom doesn't matter. To how we need to be enjoying the wife of our youth, but also how everything is meaningless. I mean your head is just gonna It's gonna spin as he is just jumping everywhere. But but I've come to realize this, that actually might be the point in how Ecclesiastes is written.
Jeffrey Heine:It's it's written about real life. And if we know anything about real life is that it's not simple, it's beautiful and it's complex and it's messy and it's random and it's hard to get a handle on. And Ecclesiastes is written that way. It's a it's a book that actually honors your life. Knows that your life is not that simple.
Jeffrey Heine:It's written for the person who has never fully figured out what's happening in their life because they're not really gonna figure out how Ecclesiastes is being written. I've come to realize that no one ever really gets a full handle on this book. Instead, this book is going to get a handle on you. That's what's gonna happen. It's gonna be again to get a grip on you.
Jeffrey Heine:The more and more you read it, the more and more it's you're gonna realize it's just got its its hands in you. And it's not gonna let you go. It gets you. It understands you better than you understand yourself. So I would you to read through Ecclesiastes, then read it again, then read it again, and read it again.
Jeffrey Heine:And for the record, I think that it gets a bad rap as the Eeyore of scripture. Because this book is ultimately gonna lead us to joy. It's what it did for me. It's what I hope it does for you. One of my favorite theologians, j I Packer, who died just a few years ago, in the last letter that he ever wrote to be published, he wrote about Ecclesiastes.
Jeffrey Heine:The last letter he wrote to the church, he he wrote about Ecclesiastes and he said how it was his favorite book in the bible. He said how many long years ago, it is the book that God used to pull him out of a youthful cynicism and to give him a life of joy that remained with him even as he was approaching the end. And I think if you open yourself up to this book, God will use this book in the same way. So you guys excited? Okay.
Jeffrey Heine:I'll take it. You should be. So let's get started. Wanna wanna go through it a little different than when I do, other books in which I I typically, at least for chapter 1, usually I read through the whole thing and then talk about it. We're just gonna kinda read through a verse.
Jeffrey Heine:I'm gonna tell you a little bit about it, read through a verse, and we're just gonna kinda work our way and we'll see how long how far we get. Alright? So let me go ahead and pray before we read verse 1. Lord, in your kindness, through your spirit, would you open up this great book for us? Would you use this series in the weeks ahead, to give us joy, to give us a life of meaning, to show us that we are a new creation in Christ.
Jeffrey Heine:I pray that my words would fall to the ground and blow away and not be remembered anymore. And, Lord, may your words remain and may they change us. We pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen. Alright.
Jeffrey Heine:Verse 1. The words of the preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. Alright. Stop right there. The word preacher there, that word translated in Greek is the word Ecclesiastes.
Jeffrey Heine:It's where we get the book. It's the preacher. But the preacher is obviously not the one who wrote the first words here. We have this unnamed author who has been compiling for us the teachings of the preacher. So he's compiled these words and he's gonna let the preacher give his unfiltered thoughts for 11 straight chapters, and then the author is gonna step in in chapter 12 and give his concluding thoughts.
Jeffrey Heine:A lot of people when they're preaching through Ecclesiastes actually start in chapter 12, just so you know where we're going, and then they read starting in chapter 1 through, we're not gonna do that. We're gonna hear Solomon's unfiltered thoughts for 11 straight chapters, and then we're gonna get the conclusion to it all. But there's 2 voices in this book, which is one of the reasons it could get a little confusing. Now since this preacher is the son of David and he is a king and he's gonna go on to claim that he is the wealthiest and the wisest of all the kings in Israel's history, you really only have one person this could be. King Solomon.
Jeffrey Heine:And it's important for us to know this because this means that the preacher is more wealthy wealthier, has more power, has more fame, has more wisdom or education than you ever will. If you were to spend your entire lifetime pursuing any one of those things, you would never have more than Solomon. And the reason that this is so important for us is because we can believe the lie. We all have believed this lie at times that all we need to truly be happy is just a little bit more. Just just If I could just get a little more.
Jeffrey Heine:It's why we're always placing our happiness in a future event. We rarely live in the present. We're always focused on once this happens, once I finally get this promotion, once I finally get this degree, once I finally get this house, once I finally could go on this vacation, once I finally get these things, then I will be happy. We're always looking to the future and we're rarely content just being in the present. And Solomon, what he's gonna do in the pages ahead of us, he goes, trust me, I've done all of that.
Jeffrey Heine:All of it. Way more than you could ever even dream about. You're thinking a promotion is gonna make you happy. Do you know how much money I had? Do you know the meaningful work that I did?
Jeffrey Heine:We should listen to him because he has gone before us. And so how does this wise, wealthy, powerful, educated preacher begin his sermon? Verse 2. Vanity of vanities, says the preacher. Vanity of vanities.
Jeffrey Heine:All is vanity. Some of your translations might, instead of vanity, have the word meaningless. Meaningless, meaningless, Says the preacher. Meaningless. Meaningless.
Jeffrey Heine:All of life is meaningless. How about that to start a sermon? I mean, could you imagine? Like, you've never been to redeemer before. You see me come up here for the first time.
Jeffrey Heine:It's like, I just wanna start off by saying everything is meaningless, people. I don't even know why you're here. I mean, it's a remarkable start to a sermon. It's also not quite true, is it? I mean, for starters, why would anyone who actually thought that everything was meaningless, then take the time to write a sermon about it?
Jeffrey Heine:Because a sermon is done to convince you of something, to get you to live a certain way. Why do you wanna convince anybody of anything or get them to live a certain way if you think nothing matters? And it's all meaningless. So so meaningless isn't quite accurate. Is it?
Jeffrey Heine:The word that's translated as meaningless or as vanity is the Hebrew word hevel. Say that word with me. Hevel. Some would pronounce it hebel or hevel, we're gonna use hevel. And that word is going to be used 38 times throughout Solomon's sermon.
Jeffrey Heine:It is the theme of his message, hevel. And rather than give you a a definition of hevel, I first just want to show you what hevel is. So I haven't had a sermon prop and, you know, ever since I used that poster board one time. So here's Hevel. Plus, I get to play with fire with this one.
Jeffrey Heine:Alright. Y'all watching? Can you see it? It's really faint, but can you see it? That's hevel.
Jeffrey Heine:It's a it's a puff of smoke. Just just a little wisp. It's a vapor. I I guess I could have vaped, but, like every commercial and advertisement down Third Avenue North tells me not to. But but that's what it Hebble.
Jeffrey Heine:Let's look at it again. Can't even do it. Alright. Here we go. What is it?
Jeffrey Heine:Like, it's it's elusive. If you try to like, you try to grab it, you you can't get a handle on it. You kinda see through it. It's doesn't have that much substance and and then it's gone. It was it was just here for a moment and then it just kinda fades away.
Jeffrey Heine:It's all those things, hevel. And sometimes the metaphor is gonna change. Sometimes Solomon is gonna be talking about how life is just really elusive. Sometimes he's gonna be talking about how it's very brief. Sometimes he's gonna talk about the things you do don't really have any substance.
Jeffrey Heine:You can't Or you can't get a handle on. It's gonna be all of those things. And so it's best to think of whenever we come across that word vanity, I want you to instead just think, hevel. As a matter of fact, we're no longer gonna use the word vanity. I'm gonna leave the ESV, which I know is gonna cause a panic attack for a number of you.
Jeffrey Heine:But trust me, I mean you're not going to hell if you events. We're gonna use the Hebrew word hevel every time. 38 times as we go through this, but I want you always thinking when you see that word vanity, it's hevel. It's a puff of smoke. Hevel hevel, says the preacher.
Jeffrey Heine:Hevel hevel. Everything is hevel. So Solomon, he gets he gets a sermon started off with, like, you know, the serious gut punch. Doesn't he? And let's see where he goes from there.
Jeffrey Heine:Verse 3, what does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun? So here's Solomon, he's talking about the work that we do in this world, and this work is full of toil. This is the language of the fall found in Genesis chapter 3. It's gonna be one of the major themes throughout this entire book. We do not live in a perfect world.
Jeffrey Heine:We live in a world full of toil. And Ecclesiastes is gonna say, the sooner you accept that fact that we do not live in a perfect world, but we live in a world of toil, the happier you will be. Actually, you know, I had this this brief thought about naming this series, Ecclesiastes, every day is a bad day. Every day is a bad day. This isn't a pessimistic message, it's actually a really honest one.
Jeffrey Heine:The sooner you accept that every day is a bad day, the happier person you will be. Because you see, if you do not believe that every day is a bad day, you're gonna walk out into the world and you're gonna hope and expect that it will be perfect. It will somehow be ain't untainted by sin, that there is not a evil out there and you are gonna be blindsided. No. But how does that happen?
Jeffrey Heine:Let's not supposed to happen this way. I'm just gonna knock you to the ground. And Ecclesiastes is gonna tell you, well of course you should expect bad news because we live in a fallen world. We do not live in the perfect world that God created before the fall. We messed it all up.
Jeffrey Heine:So we live in a world that has now been cursed because of our sin. We live in a world full of toil. And the sooner we accept this fact, the more stable of a person we will become because bad news doesn't rock us and the more joyful we will become. Because we're not gonna waste our time and energy looking and hoping for something that does not exist, a perfect world. Instead, what we're going to be able to do is to enjoy the little gifts that God has given to help us endure this broken world.
Jeffrey Heine:Things like enjoying a fresh breeze through an open window Or the delight of, you know, reading a book to a child. Or how that bite that you just had of your turkey sandwich that had, you know, the perfect amount of mustard and mayo on it. And it just tasted so good because you were hungry. Or just how comfortable laying down in your bed is after a long hard day and you get to pull up those cool clean sheets. You're gonna begin to enjoy those those little things.
Jeffrey Heine:You're you're gonna start realizing these are God's generous gifts that he has given to me to help me along as I make my way through life in this world of toil. But we're getting ahead of ourselves. We're gonna we're gonna dig deep into that next week. 1st, we need to realize though that we do labor and toil in this world, and all of these labors and toils profit us nothing. This word that Solomon uses gain here, It's a it's an accounting term.
Jeffrey Heine:It means profit. At the end of spending your entire life working, laboring, he's asking the question, what will you have to show for it? His answer is gonna be nothing. Absolutely nothing. You profit nothing.
Jeffrey Heine:Verses 4, we'll go ahead and read all the way through 9. A generation goes and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever. The sun rises and the sun goes down and hastens to the place where it rises. The wind blows to the south and goes around to the north. Around and around goes the wind.
Jeffrey Heine:And on its circuits, the winds return. All streams run to the sea, but the sea is not full. To the place where the streams flow, there they flow again. All things are full of weariness. A man cannot utter it.
Jeffrey Heine:The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. What has been is what will be. And what has been done is what will be done. And there is nothing new under the sun. What Solomon is saying here is that nothing ever changes.
Jeffrey Heine:Life is like running on a treadmill. That's what life is. It it's hard. You're working hard. You're toiling.
Jeffrey Heine:You're sweating. But then in the end, have you gone anywhere? No. You haven't gone anywhere. You haven't really done anything.
Jeffrey Heine:Life is just like being on a treadmill. I mean, he's out there, he's observing the world and he's like, you know a generation comes? They're born, they live, they die. Another generation is born. They live.
Jeffrey Heine:They die. And they mourn. And they live. And they die. The sun rises in the east and goes down in the west, comes up and it goes down, and it's this endless cycle.
Jeffrey Heine:The wind just keeps on blowing and blows and blows and goes around the world and just keeps on blowing. He looks at the rivers and he's like the the the river just it keeps flowing down from the mountains and it's going into the ocean, but the ocean's not getting any, you know, more full. And the river's not being exhausted. It just doesn't change. It just keeps going and going.
Jeffrey Heine:He's saying it's just the same old same old. We all know this to be true. I mean, we labor doing our laundry. Know what happens when you finish your laundry? Do you ever get done.
Jeffrey Heine:I have forever finished laundry. No. You you do laundry and then there's just more laundry. You you put the dirty dishes in the dishwasher. You take them out and you put them up.
Jeffrey Heine:To put more dirty dishes in the dishwasher. To take them out and put them up. You put more dirt it it just it just keeps going and going. Every morning I wake up, I grab my coffee, I go stumble down the steps, you know, and and go out on the front porch and read and pray. And then I go and work out and then I go to the office.
Jeffrey Heine:Then I stare at a computer forever. Email after email after email. Have lunch in which I'm either going to have, you know, a salad, a a turkey sandwich, or let someone else order for me. But it's gonna be some variation of those every single day. I'll go home, do some chores, spend time with the family, go to bed, wake up, do it all over again.
Jeffrey Heine:And, yeah, there might be some small departures from that small, but essentially it's the same cycle over and over. And Solomon, he looks at it, he goes, aren't you weary? Some of you are so young, you're like, I'm not weary yet because you got your whole life in front of you. This is written to show you where life is going. Solomon is like, let me do all this thinking for you.
Jeffrey Heine:The next week is gonna say, let me do all this living for you so you can learn from me. For those of you already older in life, it's just gonna explain why it is the way it is. That makes sense. But there's just this weariness, this weariness. He goes on to say that, the ear is not satisfied with seeing nor the or the eyes not satisfied with seeing or the ear filled with hearing.
Jeffrey Heine:And what he means by this is yes, there might be some new show on Netflix that enthralls you for a bit. Or maybe it's on Apple TV. You know, Ted Lasso just came on and you are locked in loving every minute of it. And then what do you do when it's over? Start scrolling.
Jeffrey Heine:You weren't satisfied. You you you gotta find the next thing. It's wearisome. He goes on to say in verse 10, is there a thing of which it has said, see, this is new. It has been already it has been already in the ages before us.
Jeffrey Heine:In other words, some people are gonna try to deny that everything's just a cycle. They're gonna try to deny that things are are new or can't be new. And then I try to deny this by trying to do or buy something truly new. And And they'll say, look look, see, this is new. I'm not in a rut.
Jeffrey Heine:Look, you know, I just bought some cool new shoes. Yes. They're, you know, a remake of the Air Jordans from 30 years ago, but but they're new. And when we get those Air Jordans, they do bring a little bit of happiness, don't they? I don't wanna deny that.
Jeffrey Heine:Me feel pretty good as you're walking around and those you like the way they feel, you like the comments that people make as you're walking around in them. You get this little shot of dopamine. I mean, right that you put those on, it's like, oh, feel pretty good. New things do that. Or when you get a new phone, you know, you love looking at it, playing with it, cool new camera, all those things.
Jeffrey Heine:All those things give you this little bit of pleasure, this little shot of dopamine, nothing wrong with that. But then what happens? Does it stay in you? Does the feeling last? No.
Jeffrey Heine:You you wanna move on to something else. You gotta buy another pair of shoes. You gotta buy another purse. You gotta go and get another phone. You gotta go on another vacation.
Jeffrey Heine:It's the same old, same old, same old. There's nothing new under the sun. People have been buying little trinkets ever since man walked this earth. Verse 11, there's no remembrance of former things, nor will be there nor will there be any remembrance of later things yet to be among those who come after. Solomon knows that there's always gonna be some, you know, enthusiastic visionary go getter out there.
Jeffrey Heine:It's like, well, you don't know me. I need to do something so brilliant, so amazing, they will be talking about me for generations and generations. I will forever be remembered. And Solomon just goes, no. No, you won't.
Jeffrey Heine:Anyone here? Can anyone name all 8 of their great grandparents? Anyone? Just 3 generations removed your own family and you don't even know their names. You're gonna be forgotten.
Jeffrey Heine:You can't remember your own family, where you came from, let alone know their hopes and their dreams, what the person, you know, your your your great granddad's laugh was like, the things that made him cry, the things he loved to do. You can't remember what what hobbies he had. The best you can hope for is that someday in the generations ahead, somebody's gonna walk by your tombstone, see your name and for about 2 seconds, just read it before moving on. It's the best you could hope for. But the truth is no one will know you.
Jeffrey Heine:You will be forgotten. Solomon gives his summary statement verses 12 through 15. I, the preacher, have been king over Israel and Jerusalem, And I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under the sun. It is a unhappy business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold all is hevel and striving after the wind.
Jeffrey Heine:What is crooked cannot be made straight And what is lacking cannot be counted. So Solomon's summary of everything is the crooked life we have in front of us, we can't make it straight. And all of life is hevel. Now you're probably thinking right now, Joel, you said this book was gonna lead me into a life of joy, and you lied, you straight up lied, We will have more joy in the weeks ahead. We will.
Jeffrey Heine:But before getting there, Solomon needs you to realize the harsh reality of the world we live in and and needs you to realize that you're on a treadmill. Because if you do not realize the futility of your life and that you are indeed on a treadmill, then you will not be open to the possibility of getting off and you can get off. Ecclesiastes is gonna show us like you can get off. Life doesn't have to be this treadmill for you, But you need to realize that all your labors, all your trinkets, all the books that you read, all of your relationships, all of your wealth, those things lead you nowhere. And once you realize that, you might be open to something new.
Jeffrey Heine:And now there's 2 hints here, and they're just hints, of how to get off this treadmill. We we see them in the verses we just read. 1st, I want you to notice this in verse 13. That it is a unhappy business that God has given the children of man to be busy with. So when he says this, notice this unhappy business, he notices that God has given it to us.
Jeffrey Heine:This is the first time God is mentioned. And this isn't said out of bitterness here. He's letting us know that there actually is a God behind this all of this. That the world is the way it is not by chance, but that there actually is a God in control. Paul would later write about this in Romans 8:20 when he says, for the creation was subjected to futility not willingly, but because of God who subjected it.
Jeffrey Heine:In hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. Paul understood that God was the one who made this world full of its toil. He did this because of our sin, but he made it full of toil in order for hope. He did it in hope knowing that he would someday redeem it all. It would not forever be this way.
Jeffrey Heine:Freedom and glory are coming. But until then, God will give us some good gifts to enjoy along the way to help us along. The second hint of hope we have and here's this. Over and over again, Solomon is going to use the phrase under the sun. I forgot how many times you will find that phrase, but it's all throughout Ecclesiastes, under the sun.
Jeffrey Heine:This is his way of just saying the world. We toil under the sun. There is nothing new under the sun. Everything is hevel under the sun. Under the sun is how we view the world, but it opens up the possibility that another viewpoint exists, doesn't it?
Jeffrey Heine:Another viewpoint that is not under the sun, but perhaps there can be a viewpoint over the sun or a heavenly viewpoint on things. There might actually be more going on than we can see or that we can hear. Remember Solomon wrote this before Jesus. So that was his world view before Christ. But we now know and we can experience something that Solomon never did.
Jeffrey Heine:We know that someone actually came from heaven down and lived a life under the sun. And he lived under the sun in order to truly do something new. He broke the treadmill. Through Jesus, God has made a new covenant with us. When Jesus rose from the dead, He brought new life to us.
Jeffrey Heine:Through his spirit, we read that he gives us a new heart. And in second Corinthians 5 17, we read that he makes us into a new creation. In Revelation, he will say, behold he is making all things new. There's a newness that comes with Christ. When Jesus came into this world, he said he would give us, life and that he would give us life to the full.
Jeffrey Heine:He would give us his spirit. He would give us this new heart, this new life. He is the only one that could get us off the treadmill. Ecclesiastes is ultimately an invitation for us to find true meaning by opening ourselves up to a different perspective, a perspective that isn't under the sun. If you can't be open to that, then you're gonna forever be on the treadmill.
Jeffrey Heine:Would you open yourself up to that different perspective, to the possibility that there is a hope out there that is not under the sun? If you'll open yourself up to that, you might just find true meaning and joy. Let's pray. Jesus, thank you for coming and living in this toilsome world. Not abandoning it, but living amongst us.
Jeffrey Heine:And thank you for doing something new. For giving us the ability to get off the treadmill and to have a new life and may we have it to the full through you Jesus. And we pray this in your strong name. Amen.
