Hey guys, my name is Johnny Artivannis, and this is Dialin. You're listening to a series on the book of Ecclesiastes,

and in this episode we find ourselves in Chapter 9. This podcasting series is essentially the condensed version of my preaching notes,

as I've been preaching through this book in our Bible study on Thursday nights for our church in Los Angeles, California.

This has been both a challenging and enriching study for me, and I hope it has been for you as well

if you've been following along.

Solomon is presenting to us an honest assessment on life, not the fantasy of what life could be,

but the unvarnished reality of the way that life

actually is I don't know of a book in scripture that could be more relevant for us

today than that of Ecclesiastes I'm particularly excited and thankful for the

truth presented in this section of Ecclesiastes 9.

So I encourage you as we approach God's word to view it as such and dial in.

Okay, we are picking up in chapter 9 as we will cover the themes of chapter 8 in this chapter

and in the remaining chapters of the book.

In chapter 7, if you recall, we looked at the reality of death.

This is a major theme throughout the book because Solomon is an old man and he's grappling

with the reality that no matter how wealthy or powerful he becomes,

he will eventually die. So Solomon, like you and I, has a date with death. But this appointment

he has with the Grim Reaper, he explains, it's a mentor, if you will, a friend to help us live

our life in light of the end. Solomon says, our death teaches us how to live.

Morning is better than feasting because coffins preach the strongest sermons. And they proclaim to

you and to me our own mortality in the face of the disillusion tendency to think that we will never die.

Okay, so stay with me here because maybe you're thinking,

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