Thank you. The Bible is clear that proper worship is first and foremost God focused, not self-focused.

So how can we make sure we're doing this at the heart level, not just going through the motions when we come to worship?

We'll hear the answer today on Truth for Life.

Alistair Begg is teaching from the opening verses in Ecclesiastes, Chapter 5.

That is how you need to understand, loved ones.

What happens when we come together in worship?

Any holiness that attaches to the place comes and leaves with the presence of the holy ones, namely those who have been set apart in God's service. So the

family is what makes this place what it is. That is why the place would become special to us

in our reflection and in our anticipation, not because of the special nature of the structure,

but because of the unique nature of what takes place within the structure. So Ecclesiastus

5, the picture of the Solomon Temple, Ephesians Chapter 2 allows us to get a grasp of what we're

dealing with today.

Now, in light of that, we can then observe the instruction carefully.

Four words, four statements will help us get through this little section of the text.

The first one is the opening phrase of the chapter,

Guard your steps.

Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. For the preacher,

he's thinking of Solomon's temple. For us, we're thinking, in particular terms, those of us who are

the Parkside family, about our gathering here, not only in this room, but definitely in this room,

regularly and purposefully in this space.

And to guard our steps demands a certain perspective in our approach to the occasion.

Do you think that you can spend all of Saturday on yourself and idle pursuits?

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