"ETERNITY IN OUR HEARTS"

Eccl 3:9-11

9 What does the worker gain from his toil? 10 I have seen the burden God has laid on men. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. NIV

We are eternal beings

From our text we see Solomon recognizing this fact when asking the question, AWhat does the worker gain from his toil?" Eccl 3:9....

You are missing something very valuable if you think that all you gain from your working for a living is a paycheck.

‑‑ Vincent T. Lombardi said this:

"The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will."

We can recognize eternity in life and pursue it in the immediate or the “now” by an act of our will.

Prov 16:3

3 Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed. (NIV)

Prov 21:5

5 The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty. (NIV)

There is an eternal realm we must deal with

Jesus spent a great deal of time dealing with this subject. Jesus worked wonders and miracles for the soul purpose of moving our thinking from the natural to the supernatural. He used the miraculous in the immediate the “now” to prove the existence of the eternal yet to come. Yet in the final analysis this course of action only further establishes faith already held and can cause deeper darkness for those who refuse to believe.

If you’re waiting for a miracle before you allow yourself to believe, it will never come. One reasons for this:

A. Miracles are seen by everyone but only faith can see beyond the miracle to the purpose and source of that miracle.

Philip dealt with this problem.

John 14:8‑11

8 Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us."

9 Jesus answered: "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'?

10 Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.

11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. (NIV)

Jesus and the Holy Spirit

John 14:15-17

15 "If you love me, show it by doing what I've told you. 16 I will talk to the Father, and he'll provide you another Friend so that you will always have someone with you. 17 This Friend is the Spirit of Truth. The godless world can't take him in because it doesn't have eyes to see him, doesn't know what to look for. But you know him already because he has been staying with you, and will even be in you!
(from THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language © 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved.)

Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit. Jesus was lead by the Holy Spirit. Jesus was dependent upon the Holy Spirit. Jesus is the one who baptizes us in the Holy Spirit.
If Jesus was so dependent upon the Holy Spirit it seems only right that we too should seek and be dependent upon the Spirit of God.

One day our church copier broke down. I am mechanically minded, but I called the repair shop to see if they could tell me what the problem was and if I could do anything about it. I quickly discovered, however, that I didn't even know how to describe what was broken. I didn't know the names of the parts or what was specifically wrong. I just knew the copy machine didn't work.

So the repair shop sent out a technician. While working on our machine, he also called the shop. Unlike me, he knew how to describe what was needed. He used words I didn't understand, but the person at the shop did, and soon the copier was repaired. My need was met because someone came and communicated to headquarters in words I could not express. The apostle Paul teaches in Romans 8 that this is also what the Holy Spirit does for us. When we don't know how to pray, the Holy Spirit knows precisely what we need and prays in a language the Father perfectly understands.

Ask Jesus to fill you to day with his Spirit. I believe there is a new life a new experience for you to find and fill you today.

Eph 6:18

18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. (NIV)

Mark 16:17

17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; (NIV)