Fred Thompson

One of the most used words in the Bible is the word "return." God is always appealing to His children to return to Him since we have a tendance to leave Him as our first love. This message examines what it means to "return."

After going through everything "under the sun" - wealth, power, entertainment, etc., and demonstrating that you can't find purpose or meaning in those things, Solomon finally gives us the answer. Purpose and meaning can only be found in God.

Since Solomon has been unable to find meaning and purpose in life "under the sun," he instructs us how we should live. In this section he tells us to live life fully regardless of our age.

Solomon has examined everything "under the sun" to try and find purpose and meaning in life. He couldn't find it. That brings up the question that if meaning and purpose can't be found "under the sun" then how should we approach life?

If a part of living a successful life comes from surrounding yourself with the right people, then you want to be sure you can recognize the right people. Solomon paints a verbal picture of what a fool looks like and what a wise person looks like so you can recognize them.

To be successful, one must make wise decisions. In this section of Ecclesiastes, Solomon contrasts the differences in wisdom and foolishness.

Every person desires to be successful in some areas of our lives. The question is how we define success. The world defines success one way while God defines it another. Solomon gives wise advice about success although he never uses that word.

If you came the realization that you are facing certain death, what would you do? We'd certainly spend time focusing on the important things of life and less on the trivial.

Everyone lives with some type of authority over them. What should our biblical response be? We are told to be obedient to our authorities but at the same time we aren't to put all of our trust in them.

When life brings adversity, it is always a temptation to make quick short-cut decisions. Solomon offers advice on how to make wise decisions.