Presence

Worship Folder

Outline

Hook: Do you ever find it hard to just be in the moment? Why?

I. TODAY!
"For everything there is a season” (Ecclesiastes 3:1).

II. TIME-TRAVEL
"Say not, ‘Why were the former days better than these.” For it is not from wisdom that you ask this.’” (Ecclesiastes 7:10)... “Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come” (Ecclesiastes 12:1)

III. TRUST
"Whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken away from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him” (Ecclesiastes 3:14).

Takeaway: Live now in light of then.

Resources

• Oliver Burkeman, Meditations for Mortals
• David Gibson, Living Life Backward
• Douglas McKelvey, Every Moment Holy
• James K.A. Smith, How To Inhabit Time

Discussion Questions

1. What tends to pull you away from the present—anxiety about the future, regret or nostalgia about the past, distraction, busyness, desire for control?
2. Read Ecclesiastes 3:1-8. What season do you feel like you are in right now? What would it look like to receive this season from God rather than resist it or rush through it?
3. Where are you tempted to “time-travel” into the past through nostalgia, regret, or comparison? How might that keep you from faithfulness and gratitude today?
4. What does it mean to “remember your Creator” in ordinary daily life—not just in crisis or at the end of life? How might remembering God reshape the way you inhabit your time?
5. How does trusting God’s enduring work free us from anxiety, control, or striving? How does this connect with Jesus’ words in Matthew 6:25-34 about not being anxious for tomorrow?