In this sermon, we explore three questions:1. âDoes work give us ultimate satisfaction?â 2.âWhat happens as a result of all of our work, and all of our daily toils in the end?â 3. âWhat is the answer to fulfillment in life?â You may be frustrated with your life, with the work that you do. You may look back on your life and wonder what it was all forâââor you may wonder why you just canât seem to find fulfillment, why it is alwaysâjust around the cornerââonly to find that it is not around the corner as you thought....you need more.  As we focus on the days activities and live each breath with God, in all that we do, as we seek to apply Godâs wisdom in our livesââ.to live a life in communal existence with God, in loving Him, in loving others around us......in living our lives ethically and morally pure, we find a contentment in spirit,ââââ we find peace in our heartsââ. and we find a love that surpasses all understanding.  My hope is that you will serve God in all that you, as a homemaker, as an employee or any combination of these. My hope, and I believe Solomon's hope, is that we will realize that our ultimate fulfillment doesnât come from the work itselfââ. but from the daily ability and blessing in all that we do. Weâll find that we have a reason to work hard (and in an ethical and moral manner) because weâre not merely serving a companyââ. weâre serving God. God bless you!

2 Corinthians 4:16-18

One evening a few weeks ago I was arriving home late at night and as I stepped up into the alcove to our front door I noticed a blue flashing lightââ.I turned around looking for a police carâI couldnât see any at all. I looked around dumbfounded. No problem. This happened three nights in a row. I could not figure out for the life of me where this blue flashing light was coming fromâ..it wasnât constant, it flashed every ten seconds or soââ.. was it the flash off my neighbors TV shining through their front window across the street? Was it someone taking pictures of me, spying on me? It obviously wasnât a police officer because there was none in sight.

Finally, I asked my wife, Kelly, to come outside. Every time we would get ready to go in we would see the blue flashing lightââ and we would turn quickly to try to find the sourceâ.but none could be found. We stepped out in the yard and looked everywhere, we crouched down and hidââ.but we couldnât find where this light was coming from. Then we would start to go in the houseâ.and there it was again! Kelly went out in the yard and I turned around in the alcove by the doorâ..âTHERE IT WAS! DID YOU SEE IT!âââ.Kelly started laughing so hard she almost fell over. Here we were, two adults, sleuthing around the front yard trying to figure out where this blue light was coming fromââ..and Kelly saw it as I stood there in the alcove puzzledâ.it was the blue flash of my Bluetooth earpiece letting me know it was still thereâ. doing itâs job as it had promised!

Is God ever like that to you? Do you wonder where he is? Are you like meââ.is it sometimes hard to find Him because you have a hard time seeing Him? Well, I am here to tell you that He is thereââ. working in your lifeâ.if you let Him.

I want to share with you three things to help develop your âSpiritual Eyesâ, three things to help lead you to a better understanding of the beauty of that which we cannot see and the treasure in that which is often hidden from our sight.

The first thing we can do is focus on the invisible renewal of our hearts as we follow Jesusââand the treasure that lies inside us through Christ, not the visible decay of all that is around us.
2 Corinthians 4:7-12
2 Corinthians 4:16

The second thing that we can do to help develop our âSpiritual eyes" is to focus on Godâs invisible glory by following Christ, not on the visible troubles and hard times in our life.
2 Corinthians 4:17
Isaiah 40:31
Colossians 3:7-10

The third thing we can do to help us see life through âspiritual eyesâ is to focus on the eternal things in our lives rather than the temporary.
2 Corinthians 4:18
Matthew 6:19-20
Colossians 1:15-17

My hope is that you will seek God, that you will focus on following Christ by living in His will, that you will experience a renewal in your life and that you will see the
eternal things that do not pass away. God bless you!

1. Living in God's will means making the best of bad situations.

2. Living in God's will means maintaining your principles even when inconvenient.

3. Living in God's will means recognizing the presence of God in your life.

4. Living in God's will means recognizing God is in control.

May YOU be humble each day and look to God for all things in your life........may YOU rejoice in His presence and trust in His wisdom ...... may YOU live a life in God's will and...... May YOU receive peace and comfort in all that is offered you.

And then for a time He separated Himself from the Father, so that men would never have to be separated. But death would not hold Him. He rose again, and He returned to His father's side.

But before He did, He gave His follower's his message of hope, so that they could share with the world what He had done. And thus, the church was born.

The church, a group of people who had accepted the creator's forgiveness. A group of people who would be placed upon a rock, and the gates of Hell would not prevail against them. They would be his light. And they would pursue the world with His message of hope, of forgiveness and of love.

I believe that we cannot be Christians alone. We must function with others, in community. We cannot fulfill our mission in life separated from a church. We must be close enough to others to exercise our gifts by loving and serving them. We must he united by a shared commitment not only to Jesus but also to one another.

Though told that she, a virgin, would bear a child....Mary TRUST in God, ACCEPTS His grace and favor, BELIEVES and has FAITH. God so very often uses what we consider the "insignificant", insignificant places,insignificant people, to do such highly significant things......to fulfill His will....to change the world. The great truth is....nothing is impossible with God!

"What defines your life, obligations or opportunities?" Think about this question awhile............is your life defined by obligations, things you have to do because you have no choice, or by opportunities? Did you know that Webster defines "opportunities" as "a favorable juncture of circumstances......... a good chance for progress "When we live through the "lens" of obligations.........we do just what is required ............we focus on all the energy we expend and the time that we spend to get there. When we live through the "lens" of opportunity, we act with strength, joy and determination, because opportunities are fulfilling by the vary nature of the definition. I would note here that as I study the life of our Lord and Savior, Jesus lived a life of opportunity, not obligation. Additionally,  "If we were to focus on God instead of ourselves, what would it look like?" I believe that we can gain insight into both these questions and their answers in the story of Jesus feeding the 5000 found in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 9, verses 10-17.

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The principal theme, especially in the synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) within Jesus' message was and is "The kingdom of heaven / The kingdom of God". The Gospel of John refers only once to the kingdom expressly. But in the synoptic Gospels, this is the primary focus of Jesus' theology and His teaching. Jesus taught about the kingdom of heaven 32 times in the New Testament, all in the Gospel of Matthew. The Kingdom of God is taught about 69 times in the New Testament, predominately in the gospels of Mark and Luke.

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