Read:  

Ecclesiastes 11:9-12:8

Focus:

Growth in our individual practice of fasting requires us to feast at the Lord’s Table in community. Join the church family at one of our campuses to study the book of Ecclesiastes together and hear God’s word for us.

Pray:

As you prepare to gather with the church today, pray that God would give us personally and corporately the willingness and ability to receive what is good for our walk with Him today.

CONVERSATION STARTERS:

These questions help us dig deeper, connecting Sunday’s sermons with our Monday lives. These prompts have been designed to help Community Groups grow in their relationship with God, with one another, and with their neighbors. Please know that these questions are meant to be a resource for you as you think about the Sunday sermon.

In Ecclesiastes 11:9-12:8 we read about the futility and fleeting nature of youth. Youthfulness comes with certain blessings, but our passage highlights the liabilities of youth. Using powerful imagery, we are given a picture of a person growing older while they witness the breakdown of their body. But in the midst of this, the book of Ecclesiastes points us back to God.

1. What stood out to you from the sermon?
2. If you could go back in time, what advice would you tell your younger self?
3. Why do we drive ourselves into the ground trying to preserve our youth when we know that we cannot get it back?
4. In the end, the Teacher says youth is meaningless. How does this reorientation give us freedom from cultural expectation?
5. READ 2 CORINTHIANS 4:16-18 How does this change and redeem the ways that we see aging?

Prayer Prompt:

Thank God for His sustaining grace. Ask God to forgive you for the ways you have idolized youth or loathed aging. Ask God to give you wisdom so that you may faithfully walk with Christ for a lifetime.