WEBVTT 00:00:00.180 --> 00:00:01.600 All you flower children out there. 00:00:01.620 --> 00:00:04.920 I've been trying to tell your parents for years that music is godly, right? 00:00:05.920 --> 00:00:06.960 And now you know. 00:00:08.340 --> 00:00:09.830 I don't know what you should take from that. 00:00:11.460 --> 00:00:13.680 maybe hippies love the Bible, I don't know. 00:00:14.940 --> 00:00:16.280 Or maybe God loves hippies. 00:00:16.480 --> 00:00:18.170 I don't I don't want to go too far this morning. 00:00:18.220 --> 00:00:19.210 No, I'm just kidding. 00:00:20.480 --> 00:00:21.080 It's good. 00:00:21.240 --> 00:00:23.920 Last week, Mick Jagger, this week, the Byrds. 00:00:24.040 --> 00:00:25.360 It doesn't get any better, does it? 00:00:26.420 --> 00:00:31.520 Well, let me start with another game this morning. 00:00:32.140 --> 00:00:33.550 It's called a review game. 00:00:34.080 --> 00:00:34.260 All right. 00:00:35.820 --> 00:00:37.140 who? 00:00:37.160 --> 00:00:38.200 Well, let me just ask you this question. 00:00:39.720 --> 00:00:43.750 who, after last week's sermon, took this past week and read the book of Ecclesiastes. 00:00:44.180 --> 00:00:46.150 Anybody read the book of Ecclesiastes this week? 00:00:46.320 --> 00:00:46.720 Sweet. 00:00:46.840 --> 00:00:49.540 You get a book since you are a reader already. 00:00:50.340 --> 00:00:50.860 Let's not. 00:00:50.900 --> 00:00:51.980 Let's hope this doesn't go off. 00:00:52.600 --> 00:00:54.180 Your sermon was so good. 00:00:54.280 --> 00:00:54.500 Yeah. 00:00:54.660 --> 00:00:54.800 It was. 00:00:56.880 --> 00:00:59.660 All right. 00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:00.360 What's this one? 00:01:01.240 --> 00:01:01.660 Can I watch this? 00:01:01.860 --> 00:01:02.200 It's going to go quick. 00:01:02.660 --> 00:01:03.020 Who's this? 00:01:04.920 --> 00:01:07.020 Nathaniel. 00:01:08.660 --> 00:01:10.970 You know, Mick, you don't get another one. 00:01:11.940 --> 00:01:13.340 Here, I'll give you one to give somebody else. 00:01:13.520 --> 00:01:15.460 This is, David Platt's new book. 00:01:15.760 --> 00:01:16.000 Follow Me. 00:01:16.360 --> 00:01:16.660 Okay. 00:01:17.700 --> 00:01:18.110 There you go. 00:01:19.460 --> 00:01:21.460 So we're keeping it in the family this morning. 00:01:22.860 --> 00:01:25.560 If you guys want David Platt's new book. 00:01:25.560 --> 00:01:25.840 There it is. 00:01:26.600 --> 00:01:28.140 After Stephanie reads it, you can borrow it. 00:01:28.560 --> 00:01:29.120 One last one. 00:01:30.820 --> 00:01:35.400 Who can tell me how the sheep know to follow the right shepherd? 00:01:37.610 --> 00:01:38.820 I heard I had Frankie. 00:01:39.280 --> 00:01:41.280 That row is just lucky. 00:01:41.360 --> 00:01:47.730 So, Frankie, you get Francis Chan's book because always in the back, man, I should have just carry these out. 00:01:48.620 --> 00:01:49.760 Francis Chan's book, Crazy Love. 00:01:50.440 --> 00:01:51.860 Here we go, here we go. 00:01:52.560 --> 00:01:53.640 Great reading there for you this morning. 00:01:54.580 --> 00:01:55.820 See, now, if you pay attention, you win stuff. 00:01:56.300 --> 00:01:56.420 So. 00:01:57.000 --> 00:01:57.740 So there you go. 00:01:58.020 --> 00:02:00.260 But you take notes this morning, who knows? 00:02:00.260 --> 00:02:01.800 Next week I could give $100, right? 00:02:02.580 --> 00:02:03.260 That's not happening. 00:02:03.720 --> 00:02:04.240 I'm just kidding. 00:02:05.580 --> 00:02:06.500 Unless it's monopoly money. 00:02:09.500 --> 00:02:16.620 This week we're going to be in the book of Ecclesiastes in chapter three predominantly, and a little bit of chapter four, and we'll touch 00:02:16.620 --> 00:02:18.420 on chapter two for just a moment. 00:02:18.500 --> 00:02:25.500 But the reason we're looking over such a large gamut of scripture, normally we don't cover such a large portion of Scripture, but the reason that we're doing that is because 00:02:25.690 --> 00:02:27.530 of the nature of the book of Ecclesiastes. 00:02:28.620 --> 00:02:31.440 The book of Ecclesiastes is considered wisdom literature. 00:02:32.020 --> 00:02:33.740 It's written in and it's written. 00:02:33.880 --> 00:02:34.810 It's written in poetry. 00:02:35.660 --> 00:02:37.830 And I always happens to me. 00:02:37.980 --> 00:02:38.100 Hold on. 00:02:38.580 --> 00:02:39.320 After all that singing. 00:02:39.320 --> 00:02:40.110 Got to get my lips ready. 00:02:40.980 --> 00:02:42.690 It's written in poetry. 00:02:43.960 --> 00:02:45.120 And so a lot of it is repetitious. 00:02:46.300 --> 00:02:52.010 And Solomon repeats some of the themes throughout the book, and it's also written in the form of what we call proverbs. 00:02:53.180 --> 00:02:55.960 And the idea of a proverb is that a proverb isn't always true. 00:02:57.420 --> 00:02:59.560 So when God gives us promises, we know those are true. 00:02:59.580 --> 00:03:02.940 When God writes his laws, those are always true because God's truth doesn't change. 00:03:03.200 --> 00:03:08.790 But when God inspires people to write Proverbs, the way a proverb works is that they're mostly true and correct and pertaining to life. 00:03:08.940 --> 00:03:14.640 It's wisdom for godly living, but they don't always necessarily fit in every area of our lives. 00:03:14.940 --> 00:03:17.880 And so you've got to walk wisely as you make the application to Proverbs. 00:03:18.220 --> 00:03:25.260 And so the reason that we're looking at a few portions of chapter two, three and four is because there's some major ideas and themes that Solomon is 00:03:25.320 --> 00:03:28.620 writing throughout those portions of these chapters in the Bible. 00:03:29.500 --> 00:03:36.700 And the theme that we learned in the book of Proverbs this past week was the phrase under the sun and 00:03:36.700 --> 00:03:37.400 vanity. 00:03:37.460 --> 00:03:40.170 Depending on what translation you have, they're going to use those words differently. 00:03:41.000 --> 00:03:45.130 Some translate the word vanity as vapor, especially if you like the King James. 00:03:45.320 --> 00:03:47.220 Others translate it as meaningless. 00:03:48.560 --> 00:03:52.360 But the idea is when life under the sun is lived, it's vanity. 00:03:52.380 --> 00:03:57.180 Or when life lived is lived apart from God, it's meaningless. 00:03:58.900 --> 00:04:01.860 And Solomon's conclusion that we saw last week in the end of chapter two. 00:04:01.880 --> 00:04:03.180 And it's really or excuse me, chapter 12. 00:04:03.980 --> 00:04:11.060 And it's really throughout the entire book as he continues to remind us that while life apart from God is meaningless, God created you 00:04:11.060 --> 00:04:15.080 to enjoy him and live life to the fullest. 00:04:16.200 --> 00:04:23.600 And so the idea of the book of Ecclesiastes, if you if you read it, you'll kind of walk away from this book feeling a little uneasy about life, 00:04:23.760 --> 00:04:27.280 a glass half empty kind of statements that Solomon gives throughout the book. 00:04:27.520 --> 00:04:34.560 The tone throughout the majority of this portion of Scripture is somewhat negative, and the idea that Solomon wants to carry for 00:04:34.560 --> 00:04:41.520 all of us when we read this book is that we learn to engage our own ability to think, to ask the important questions of life. 00:04:42.060 --> 00:04:43.800 Why are you even doing what you're doing? 00:04:43.800 --> 00:04:49.640 Because what our tendency is as people is we oftentimes we don't like to always make long term plans. 00:04:49.740 --> 00:04:52.360 And so sometimes because of that, we plan to fail. 00:04:52.360 --> 00:04:52.460 Really. 00:04:53.060 --> 00:05:00.100 And so what Solomon's idea is we need to consider the great questions of life, not just the day to day things that we encounter, but the motivation 00:05:00.100 --> 00:05:03.340 and the force for why we choose to live life the way that we do. 00:05:04.180 --> 00:05:05.830 And so he asks these uneasy questions. 00:05:06.180 --> 00:05:13.220 He gives these somewhat negative type of thinking to spur within our own minds and answer questions for ourselves, to 00:05:13.220 --> 00:05:14.000 ask our own selves. 00:05:14.560 --> 00:05:19.770 How can I live my life for the glory of God and experiencing his goodness in my world? 00:05:21.280 --> 00:05:28.680 And so Solomon comes to this book, and the Bible tells us that he writes this book somewhat as a, as a journal entry. 00:05:29.080 --> 00:05:31.540 The book of Ecclesiastes literally means the preacher. 00:05:32.380 --> 00:05:35.000 And about the life of Solomon, we understand as we study. 00:05:35.080 --> 00:05:36.780 Solomon is the King of Israel. 00:05:36.880 --> 00:05:39.780 He lived during the time of Israel at the height of its prosperity. 00:05:40.640 --> 00:05:41.650 You know, it's the American dream. 00:05:42.120 --> 00:05:43.610 We have no need to depend on God anymore. 00:05:43.940 --> 00:05:45.420 We have everything that we need. 00:05:46.440 --> 00:05:48.640 And for 40 years Solomon lived this life. 00:05:48.640 --> 00:05:53.600 And it tells us in the book of Ecclesiastes, whatever he thought would bring him pleasure, he pursued it. 00:05:54.780 --> 00:06:02.040 Whether it would be money or fame or power, or women or home, or any type of security, anything that looked good 00:06:02.040 --> 00:06:05.660 to Solomon and pleased his eye, he went after it. 00:06:06.640 --> 00:06:10.560 And after those 40 years, he concludes with this book of Ecclesiastes. 00:06:12.260 --> 00:06:13.400 Life under the sun. 00:06:14.340 --> 00:06:15.750 Or apart from God is meaningless. 00:06:17.180 --> 00:06:19.360 In the beginning, those things may seem like they satisfy. 00:06:20.980 --> 00:06:22.740 But in the end, they leave you empty. 00:06:24.980 --> 00:06:28.700 Solomon were to write the book of Ecclesiastes today. 00:06:28.940 --> 00:06:34.440 He writes about every experience that we could really have or the majority of experiences we have in life. 00:06:35.320 --> 00:06:41.880 And if he were to write it today in our culture and thoughts, I can't help but think that maybe, maybe he would sum it up like this. 00:06:43.200 --> 00:06:44.670 Life is like a box of chocolates. 00:06:45.620 --> 00:06:47.340 You never know what you're going to get. 00:06:48.980 --> 00:06:51.320 Life is full of seasons and opportunity. 00:06:51.340 --> 00:06:52.340 You guys know where that came from, right? 00:06:52.700 --> 00:06:53.100 I have 100. 00:06:53.240 --> 00:06:53.720 I'm just kidding. 00:06:53.840 --> 00:06:56.180 I'm, um. 00:06:56.900 --> 00:06:57.400 Forrest Gump. 00:06:57.500 --> 00:06:58.840 He's brilliant. 00:06:59.540 --> 00:07:00.880 Life is like a box of chocolates. 00:07:00.960 --> 00:07:02.880 You never know what you're going to get. 00:07:02.880 --> 00:07:05.400 And Solomon describes life this way. 00:07:05.400 --> 00:07:09.160 When you sang The Birds as a kid jumping through the lilies of the field. 00:07:09.160 --> 00:07:09.260 Right. 00:07:09.700 --> 00:07:10.100 This is it. 00:07:10.420 --> 00:07:11.020 Chapter three. 00:07:11.020 --> 00:07:11.460 And verse one. 00:07:11.600 --> 00:07:13.760 For every everything there is a season. 00:07:13.760 --> 00:07:15.580 A time for every activity under heaven. 00:07:16.340 --> 00:07:23.400 A time to be born, a time to die, a time to plant, a time to harvest, time to kill, a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build up. 00:07:24.200 --> 00:07:27.700 I should probably explain what a few of these scenarios that he sets up to us. 00:07:28.140 --> 00:07:29.520 A time to kill and a time to heal. 00:07:29.840 --> 00:07:32.170 I'll tell you when you when you when you study that within the Bible. 00:07:33.020 --> 00:07:36.900 no one, no one knows for sure what this means, according to commentaries. 00:07:37.040 --> 00:07:41.040 Because I think the reason is people are uncomfortable with the thought of killing people, killing each other. 00:07:41.360 --> 00:07:45.480 And so commentaries will say, well, it may not actually mean killing each other. 00:07:45.480 --> 00:07:45.940 It may not be. 00:07:46.200 --> 00:07:47.700 It's not talking about murder, but it could. 00:07:47.800 --> 00:07:49.560 It could be talking about going to war in battle. 00:07:49.640 --> 00:07:50.580 It could be killing in battle. 00:07:50.640 --> 00:07:55.220 It could be government coming upon people because they've broken the laws. 00:07:55.220 --> 00:07:56.320 And so there's capital punishment. 00:07:56.380 --> 00:08:03.530 It could be those things some other people say, well, it could also be harvesting, like you're getting ready for a winter and you kill an animal and you slaughter it, and there's a time to kill. 00:08:03.620 --> 00:08:05.440 And then after winter, there's a time for healing, right? 00:08:05.640 --> 00:08:06.440 We're coming out of that. 00:08:06.440 --> 00:08:07.660 Thank God for recovery today. 00:08:07.900 --> 00:08:08.620 It's beautiful outside. 00:08:09.300 --> 00:08:10.280 No one knows for sure. 00:08:10.280 --> 00:08:13.860 There's speculation as to what it means, but there is a time things die and a time things heal. 00:08:14.720 --> 00:08:16.820 Time to tear down and a time to build up. 00:08:18.500 --> 00:08:20.800 a time, a time to cry and a time to laugh. 00:08:22.040 --> 00:08:23.730 Time to grieve and a time to dance. 00:08:24.860 --> 00:08:27.440 A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones. 00:08:28.400 --> 00:08:29.440 I don't want to do either of those. 00:08:30.680 --> 00:08:33.500 A time to embrace and a time to turn away. 00:08:33.679 --> 00:08:37.440 I just want to say scatter stones and gather stones. 00:08:38.220 --> 00:08:45.380 In Israel's time when anyone went into battle the way that an army would really destroy a city after it went through and 00:08:45.860 --> 00:08:52.940 defeated everyone through military strength, it would then come behind with the wagons full of rocks, and it would literally litter the 00:08:52.940 --> 00:08:55.220 fields, the farming fields with rocks. 00:08:55.220 --> 00:08:55.260 So? 00:08:55.560 --> 00:08:59.920 So if anyone tried to live there and habitate the land and farm the land, they would have a difficult time in doing it. 00:09:00.340 --> 00:09:06.760 And so that would really secure for them that nation was going to be unstable for quite some time because they had no agricultural ability to feed themselves. 00:09:07.920 --> 00:09:14.240 And so there's a time when they scatter those stones to defeat nations, and there's a time when you gather the stones so that a nation can thrive. 00:09:15.840 --> 00:09:21.320 This is a time to embrace, the time to turn away, a time to search, and a time to quit searching for your keys. 00:09:21.840 --> 00:09:22.980 That applies every day. 00:09:23.060 --> 00:09:24.970 A time to keep and a time to throw away. 00:09:25.440 --> 00:09:26.440 That happened to me this week. 00:09:28.120 --> 00:09:33.960 Every once in a while, as may or may not believe this, but I still have clothes from high school and I can still fit into them. 00:09:34.260 --> 00:09:34.880 It's amazing. 00:09:34.880 --> 00:09:36.200 I wore a pair of that this week. 00:09:36.260 --> 00:09:38.390 My wife would say, that is something you need to throw away. 00:09:38.720 --> 00:09:41.900 Daniel, that was a long time ago and I would say I love these pants, right? 00:09:42.240 --> 00:09:45.120 But there's a time to time to keep and a time to throw away. 00:09:46.220 --> 00:09:48.240 A time to tear and a time to mend. 00:09:48.460 --> 00:09:51.270 A time to be quiet and a time to speak. 00:09:52.440 --> 00:09:54.660 Time to love and time to hate. 00:09:55.160 --> 00:09:56.140 A time for War. 00:09:57.280 --> 00:09:58.140 A time for peace. 00:10:00.400 --> 00:10:04.340 Well, Solomon describes for us in this passage of Scripture is just the seasons of life. 00:10:06.400 --> 00:10:13.400 He's saying to all of us in a poetic way, if you look in your own Bibles at chapter three, if you've got particularly a study Bible, you'll know 00:10:13.400 --> 00:10:13.600 that. 00:10:14.000 --> 00:10:20.480 You'll note that beginning with this, these verses, that there's an indentation when Solomon describes this in some Bibles, you'll see it. 00:10:21.220 --> 00:10:27.130 And what it's signifying for us is this is a poetic insert to the wisdom that Solomon is declaring for us in the book of Ecclesiastes. 00:10:28.760 --> 00:10:33.560 And he's poetically described for us that all of us go through seasons of life. 00:10:34.920 --> 00:10:37.860 Go to high school and learn what it means to fit in. 00:10:38.100 --> 00:10:38.460 You. 00:10:38.740 --> 00:10:42.160 You go to college and you learn to pick a career. 00:10:42.220 --> 00:10:44.900 You get married and you learn what it means to be married. 00:10:45.140 --> 00:10:45.140 You. 00:10:45.520 --> 00:10:48.360 You get a job and you learn what it means to be an employer. 00:10:48.880 --> 00:10:55.960 You have kids and Lord help you and you retire and you have grandkids and seasons of 00:10:56.000 --> 00:10:57.500 life we all go through. 00:10:57.520 --> 00:11:00.250 You can't stop it. 00:11:00.260 --> 00:11:01.560 It happens. 00:11:01.780 --> 00:11:03.690 You know what's funny is about the seasons of our lives. 00:11:04.140 --> 00:11:04.940 They're really unique. 00:11:05.020 --> 00:11:07.520 We can kind of determine what are some things that are going to happen to us. 00:11:07.660 --> 00:11:09.060 Like we're all going to live. 00:11:09.380 --> 00:11:10.400 We're all going to be born, right? 00:11:10.400 --> 00:11:10.580 We're here. 00:11:11.080 --> 00:11:12.580 You had no ability to control that. 00:11:12.720 --> 00:11:15.020 You're here, you're going to die. 00:11:15.020 --> 00:11:16.360 You have no ability to control that. 00:11:16.940 --> 00:11:17.440 The Lord knows. 00:11:19.820 --> 00:11:20.960 You look at the life of. 00:11:22.720 --> 00:11:25.380 Other things that God created, like the life of a bee. 00:11:26.180 --> 00:11:29.480 We could pretty much describe the life of a bee, right? 00:11:29.840 --> 00:11:31.040 He lives, he makes honey, he goes. 00:11:31.380 --> 00:11:32.780 See you later, I enjoy that. 00:11:34.320 --> 00:11:35.340 When it comes to human life. 00:11:35.480 --> 00:11:38.720 We all go through these seasons, but for many of us, some of our seasons are unique. 00:11:41.120 --> 00:11:48.340 And the thing that Solomon adds to this scenario is he begins in chapter three and verse nine, what do people really get for all their hard 00:11:48.340 --> 00:11:48.660 work? 00:11:49.540 --> 00:11:52.420 I have seen the burden God has placed on us all. 00:11:53.340 --> 00:11:56.420 Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. 00:11:57.320 --> 00:12:04.560 He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God's 00:12:04.560 --> 00:12:06.770 work from beginning to end. 00:12:08.200 --> 00:12:15.320 So Solomon adds to the thought that we all go through these seasons, and he says, we go through these seasons and we recognize that God is with 00:12:15.320 --> 00:12:15.660 us. 00:12:15.660 --> 00:12:21.700 And God has put within our own hearts this longing for eternity, this longing for something greater to be a part of. 00:12:22.840 --> 00:12:25.840 But even still, we can't see what tomorrow holds. 00:12:27.260 --> 00:12:30.220 We are creatures created from the time of birth to live forever. 00:12:31.160 --> 00:12:33.630 And the only thing that we can deal with is today. 00:12:36.200 --> 00:12:41.380 Knowing that we're going through seasons in life and knowing that we're created for eternity. 00:12:41.920 --> 00:12:43.580 What does tomorrow hold? 00:12:43.600 --> 00:12:45.940 It's filled with uncertainties for us and some of us. 00:12:45.940 --> 00:12:52.240 We gather our lives with anxiety, just curious over these things, and we can't even focus on the moment because. 00:12:52.580 --> 00:12:54.120 Because what does tomorrow hold? 00:12:57.080 --> 00:13:00.980 And Solomon takes the idea of this poem of us going through these seasons of life. 00:13:02.340 --> 00:13:07.140 And he takes the idea of this verse that we only know what can happen for the day. 00:13:08.600 --> 00:13:10.660 And he gives us opportunity as people to learn. 00:13:12.120 --> 00:13:12.860 To enjoy the Lord. 00:13:15.100 --> 00:13:16.300 To learn to enjoy life. 00:13:18.980 --> 00:13:23.860 So Solomon reaches this conclusion that what you surround your life with matters. 00:13:25.720 --> 00:13:33.220 And Solomon goes through the entire book of Ecclesiastes, and he lists item after item that we seek to please and satisfy ourselves with, and 00:13:33.500 --> 00:13:36.560 recognizing for us that what it ends in is vanity. 00:13:38.120 --> 00:13:39.860 What it ends in is meaningless. 00:13:42.460 --> 00:13:49.700 And so his desires that you live a life worth living, that we learn to discover for 00:13:49.700 --> 00:13:56.860 ourselves what it means to live life to the fullest, and whatever season you may be enduring, how to 00:13:56.860 --> 00:14:00.300 experience the joy of the Lord and his presence around you. 00:14:00.300 --> 00:14:03.430 What you surround your life with matters. 00:14:04.540 --> 00:14:06.580 It'll determine. 00:14:07.890 --> 00:14:08.820 What you're full of. 00:14:11.510 --> 00:14:12.600 The joy of the Lord. 00:14:14.000 --> 00:14:15.960 Or emptiness. 00:14:17.540 --> 00:14:22.300 If I were to take this phrase for us this morning and tell Forrest Gump about the Lord. 00:14:23.900 --> 00:14:24.920 I think you would end it like this. 00:14:26.260 --> 00:14:27.600 Life is like a box of chocolates. 00:14:28.080 --> 00:14:29.640 You never know what you're going to get. 00:14:30.740 --> 00:14:31.350 But God does. 00:14:33.880 --> 00:14:36.780 And regardless if you know your future or not, God does. 00:14:36.840 --> 00:14:37.850 And that's far better. 00:14:39.100 --> 00:14:41.690 There's times in my life where I wanted to know what tomorrow holds. 00:14:42.280 --> 00:14:49.040 But I start to think about, if the Lord just explained everything to me in the in the midst of the trial that I'm in, I don't know that I could handle it. 00:14:52.120 --> 00:14:55.860 Bible tells us that we can only carry the burdens of today upon our shoulders. 00:14:55.860 --> 00:15:01.580 And so if life is like a box of chocolates, you don't have to know what you're going to get because God does. 00:15:01.780 --> 00:15:05.500 He's there for you, to strengthen you and encourage you. 00:15:06.520 --> 00:15:10.040 Matter of fact, Solomon says this in the beginning of Ecclesiastes chapter two. 00:15:10.120 --> 00:15:17.160 If we looked at that conclusion of that verse for just a minute, just before Solomon gets to the point where he starts explaining to us all the seasons of life that 00:15:17.160 --> 00:15:20.300 people go through, recognizing that we endure certain seasons. 00:15:20.360 --> 00:15:22.700 He says in chapter two and verse 24. 00:15:22.700 --> 00:15:28.340 So I decided there is nothing better than to enjoy food and drink and to find satisfaction in work. 00:15:29.620 --> 00:15:33.740 Then I realized that these pleasures are from the hand of God. 00:15:33.900 --> 00:15:37.600 For who can eat or enjoy anything apart from him. 00:15:38.640 --> 00:15:42.960 God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy to those who please him. 00:15:42.960 --> 00:15:47.300 But if a sinner becomes wealthy, God takes the wealth away and gives it to those who please him. 00:15:47.620 --> 00:15:50.790 This too is meaningless, like chasing after the wind. 00:15:52.280 --> 00:15:55.020 Solomon leaves us in a predicament of life where it gives us a choice. 00:15:55.180 --> 00:15:55.320 Do we? 00:15:55.620 --> 00:15:59.320 Do we act wisely and pursue the things of the Lord, or do we act foolishly and. 00:15:59.760 --> 00:16:03.480 Pursue things of our own pleasures, which in the end, in verse 26, leaves us empty? 00:16:05.480 --> 00:16:10.560 And he says in verse 24 that God has given us these things to enjoy. 00:16:12.120 --> 00:16:14.080 Or it has brought the joy into our lives. 00:16:14.600 --> 00:16:21.600 I should say in verse 25, he goes on and says that not only does God give you the things to enjoy, he gives you the joy to enjoy them. 00:16:23.460 --> 00:16:24.120 You think about that? 00:16:25.240 --> 00:16:27.120 What does that look like in your life? 00:16:28.340 --> 00:16:35.240 Not only does God give you the house to live in, but he gives you the opportunities to enjoy the presence of him as you enjoy the home for which you live. 00:16:36.780 --> 00:16:39.200 Let me tell you how it changes and transforms your life to think that way. 00:16:39.560 --> 00:16:41.180 For instance, I get a car. 00:16:42.060 --> 00:16:42.830 I thank you for the car. 00:16:43.440 --> 00:16:43.540 Right? 00:16:43.940 --> 00:16:45.520 You gave me that to enjoy. 00:16:47.020 --> 00:16:51.960 But if I'm enjoying it the way that Lord talks about it, it's not just about the joy or the gift that God's given to me. 00:16:51.960 --> 00:16:54.140 It's about the opportunities for which I experience in that. 00:16:54.140 --> 00:16:55.240 So the prayer could go like this. 00:16:55.760 --> 00:16:58.880 Lord, thank you for the joy of having a car and God. 00:16:58.880 --> 00:17:01.600 I was able to enjoy my journey to work this morning. 00:17:02.460 --> 00:17:03.560 God, thank you for my kids. 00:17:04.180 --> 00:17:05.170 God, thank you for my kids. 00:17:07.700 --> 00:17:09.000 But God thank you. 00:17:10.260 --> 00:17:11.079 For the joy of my children. 00:17:11.440 --> 00:17:14.619 And as I was just in my home that you gave me, thank you for that joy as well. 00:17:15.420 --> 00:17:20.920 And thank you for the laughter that we were able to hear and the experiences that we were able to share. 00:17:20.940 --> 00:17:26.650 It's not just about the joy of having the gifts that God has given you, but it's about the enjoying of the gifts through which God has given you. 00:17:28.020 --> 00:17:32.620 Salemme's going through all this motion of his life, and he's beginning to realize, you know what the one thing that I forgot is? 00:17:32.760 --> 00:17:34.580 The presence of the Lord is imminent in all these things. 00:17:36.440 --> 00:17:42.930 And understanding how to practice his presence in the seasons of life is important for all of us. 00:17:44.320 --> 00:17:47.480 So we talk about the joy that God gives us and enjoying the things that God gives us. 00:17:47.780 --> 00:17:51.580 May I ask you, how do you typically respond to the seasons of life that you go through? 00:17:54.480 --> 00:17:57.440 So the tendency is us as people, and maybe even me in general. 00:17:58.840 --> 00:17:59.660 When things go well. 00:18:00.920 --> 00:18:02.330 Things are going well. 00:18:03.360 --> 00:18:03.960 I don't need the Lord. 00:18:05.020 --> 00:18:05.540 It's just good. 00:18:06.160 --> 00:18:07.240 I call on him when I need him. 00:18:08.260 --> 00:18:08.780 But it's enjoying. 00:18:10.580 --> 00:18:16.080 And then when things go bad, rather than call on the Lord, I complain. 00:18:18.180 --> 00:18:19.400 God when the world. 00:18:19.400 --> 00:18:19.560 Man. 00:18:20.040 --> 00:18:20.620 This is horrible. 00:18:21.380 --> 00:18:22.040 Call my friends up. 00:18:22.060 --> 00:18:23.230 Do you know what just happened? 00:18:24.540 --> 00:18:25.750 Oh, man, I should probably pray. 00:18:28.380 --> 00:18:33.700 So when we talk about enjoying the Lord, it's about learning to carry his presence in our lives. 00:18:36.200 --> 00:18:43.900 Reality is, when we think about the goodness of our lives and the things that we're going through and the joy that we experience if we're not taking the thankfulness to God 00:18:43.900 --> 00:18:49.870 and just pouring out praise to him for what he's done, we're living life like atheists. 00:18:52.320 --> 00:18:55.800 I mean, we may acknowledge him with our lips, but we've not really invited him into our lives. 00:18:58.340 --> 00:18:59.680 And when things go bad. 00:18:59.680 --> 00:19:01.670 And the first thing I think about is complaining. 00:19:03.300 --> 00:19:05.190 Or telling someone about it. 00:19:06.740 --> 00:19:08.220 It's living life like an atheist. 00:19:10.780 --> 00:19:15.680 Rather than calling upon the one who oversees everything first and foremost. 00:19:16.640 --> 00:19:18.560 Life's like a box of chocolates. 00:19:18.580 --> 00:19:21.060 You never know what you're going to get, but God does. 00:19:23.760 --> 00:19:27.720 And so Solomon goes on at the end of that portion of chapter three, if we're to pick up there, it says. 00:19:28.200 --> 00:19:33.680 So I concluded, there is nothing better than to be happy and enjoy ourselves as long as we can. 00:19:34.960 --> 00:19:36.880 So you can't worry about the stress of tomorrow. 00:19:37.100 --> 00:19:38.220 Only God knows what it holds. 00:19:38.460 --> 00:19:40.300 You can't carry the burdens of the past. 00:19:42.340 --> 00:19:46.160 God's created you to enjoy the moment, he says. 00:19:46.200 --> 00:19:51.180 And people should eat and drink and enjoy the fruits of their labor, for these are gifts from God. 00:19:52.400 --> 00:19:54.800 And I know that whatever God does is final. 00:19:55.660 --> 00:19:57.720 Nothing can be added to it or taken from it. 00:19:58.800 --> 00:20:01.280 God's purpose is that people should fear him. 00:20:02.460 --> 00:20:09.480 What is happening now has happened before, and what will happen in the future has happened before because God makes the same things happen over 00:20:09.480 --> 00:20:10.700 and over again. 00:20:12.720 --> 00:20:15.820 And what he's saying to us is there's nothing new under the sun. 00:20:16.800 --> 00:20:18.720 Your situation isn't unique to God. 00:20:18.840 --> 00:20:19.820 I don't know what I just did. 00:20:20.360 --> 00:20:23.120 Your situation isn't unique to God. 00:20:24.400 --> 00:20:27.900 God understands all things, and there's nothing new that exists. 00:20:27.980 --> 00:20:29.240 You can't control when you're born. 00:20:29.360 --> 00:20:30.660 You can't control when you die. 00:20:30.800 --> 00:20:32.100 You can't control when you harvest. 00:20:32.280 --> 00:20:38.660 You can't control when you reap in joy the day because the Lord has made it for you. 00:20:40.120 --> 00:20:41.380 Life is like a box of chocolates. 00:20:41.800 --> 00:20:45.050 You never know what you're going to get, but God does. 00:20:47.860 --> 00:20:49.720 The challenge that thought this morning. 00:20:51.040 --> 00:20:53.030 How do you really know that God is in control? 00:20:54.400 --> 00:21:01.600 And when you're going through adverse situations and sometimes it feels like God is distant or things are going well, but his presence isn't 00:21:01.600 --> 00:21:02.020 there. 00:21:02.180 --> 00:21:04.280 How do I really know that God cares? 00:21:04.760 --> 00:21:06.430 How do I know that God is in control? 00:21:06.760 --> 00:21:09.520 How do I know that God even wants to be a part of your life? 00:21:13.200 --> 00:21:13.940 Portions of the Bible. 00:21:14.240 --> 00:21:16.920 Just share the thought of Jesus and concern for you. 00:21:18.420 --> 00:21:19.460 Jesus actually said this. 00:21:19.700 --> 00:21:23.560 He says, for this reason I say to you, don't be worried about your life. 00:21:24.500 --> 00:21:30.280 As to what you'll eat or what you'll drink, nor for your body as to what you'll put on. 00:21:30.640 --> 00:21:33.520 Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? 00:21:33.880 --> 00:21:35.230 Look at the birds of the air. 00:21:35.420 --> 00:21:39.200 They that they don't do not so they do not reap or gather in barns. 00:21:39.220 --> 00:21:41.160 And yet your heavenly father feeds them. 00:21:41.200 --> 00:21:43.160 Are you not worth much more than they? 00:21:44.360 --> 00:21:49.990 And who of you, by being worried, can add a single hour to his life. 00:21:52.260 --> 00:21:54.660 It does no good to carry concern for those things. 00:21:55.680 --> 00:21:57.690 Just to recognize the presence of the Lord. 00:21:59.060 --> 00:22:06.200 And I could say this morning to those who might doubt that God's concern and care is reigning over your lives, to figure 00:22:06.200 --> 00:22:13.260 out how God specifically does that for each individual, we would have to get to know each individual and try to recognize the hand of the Lord has moved in your 00:22:13.260 --> 00:22:13.460 life. 00:22:14.860 --> 00:22:15.620 But here's what I do know. 00:22:16.940 --> 00:22:20.780 We ask the question just corporately this morning, how do I know that God really cares? 00:22:21.100 --> 00:22:23.140 How do I know that my tomorrow is taken care of? 00:22:23.440 --> 00:22:27.680 How do I know that Jesus has interest in my life and everything that's going to happen? 00:22:29.980 --> 00:22:30.520 The answer would be this. 00:22:31.740 --> 00:22:33.360 Romans chapter five and verse six. 00:22:35.380 --> 00:22:36.160 God's already seen your needs. 00:22:38.600 --> 00:22:39.630 God's already met them. 00:22:41.520 --> 00:22:42.160 It's just for a while. 00:22:42.280 --> 00:22:43.050 We were still helpless. 00:22:44.840 --> 00:22:45.620 At the right time. 00:22:47.000 --> 00:22:48.140 Christ died for the ungodly. 00:22:50.440 --> 00:22:52.240 Saying this to us as individuals. 00:22:53.280 --> 00:22:55.860 Jesus was looking at the needs of the worlds and the season. 00:22:56.100 --> 00:22:57.160 Of life in general. 00:22:59.000 --> 00:23:05.320 And the pervading thought of coming into your world and providing what your need was, what was heavy upon his heart. 00:23:06.740 --> 00:23:10.740 So much so that at the right time Jesus came for. 00:23:11.040 --> 00:23:12.600 Insert your name right there. 00:23:13.800 --> 00:23:18.160 Jesus saw your need and Jesus gave everything to meet that need. 00:23:20.200 --> 00:23:27.480 So when we look at the passage of Ecclesiastes, while we can walk in confidence in what Solomon is saying this morning, because God has already 00:23:27.480 --> 00:23:28.960 begun to meet needs in your life. 00:23:33.060 --> 00:23:36.100 God doesn't carry the stress of your past to the cross of Christ. 00:23:36.400 --> 00:23:38.680 He's removed it and forgiven you that you may enjoy him. 00:23:40.020 --> 00:23:44.020 God's not worried about the concern of your future because he holds it in his hand. 00:23:45.700 --> 00:23:46.230 And so today. 00:23:48.160 --> 00:23:48.980 You get to enjoy today. 00:23:51.360 --> 00:23:52.990 With his presence in your life. 00:23:54.420 --> 00:24:01.660 Jeremiah said it like this, for I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for your calamity, to give you a 00:24:01.660 --> 00:24:03.520 future and a hope. 00:24:05.700 --> 00:24:10.840 See the scary part of life when you consider seasons is we don't know what tomorrow holds. 00:24:13.060 --> 00:24:13.960 It's like a box of chocolates. 00:24:16.060 --> 00:24:16.850 But God does. 00:24:18.660 --> 00:24:25.820 My favorite story in the Bible, or one of my favorite stories, I should say, when I first became a believer and I wanted to 00:24:26.020 --> 00:24:33.060 boldly follow after Christ, I remember I started telling family and friends and went on these mission trips and lived overseas for 00:24:33.060 --> 00:24:36.860 a few months and started thinking about following after Jesus. 00:24:36.880 --> 00:24:42.450 And there was a little reservation in my life and I thought, man, Lord, I don't, I don't I don't know that you're going to meet my needs. 00:24:42.480 --> 00:24:44.020 I don't really know experientially. 00:24:44.320 --> 00:24:45.200 I know the Bible says it. 00:24:45.920 --> 00:24:47.680 I don't know what it's going to look like for me. 00:24:47.760 --> 00:24:48.130 I've got concern. 00:24:48.520 --> 00:24:50.020 I see other people follow after you. 00:24:50.020 --> 00:24:51.680 It looks great and their lives are full of joy. 00:24:51.940 --> 00:24:55.530 I'm going to do this thing, but I'm a little concerned with the way it's going to work out for me. 00:24:57.120 --> 00:24:58.100 Let's turn to the Book of Joshua. 00:25:00.120 --> 00:25:00.550 In chapter one. 00:25:02.100 --> 00:25:04.220 Book of Joshua starts after the life of Moses. 00:25:04.420 --> 00:25:05.580 Could you imagine following Moses? 00:25:06.940 --> 00:25:07.300 I know. 00:25:07.380 --> 00:25:11.160 Thank you for the guy who follows after Moses. 00:25:11.540 --> 00:25:12.160 That ain't for me. 00:25:13.840 --> 00:25:14.820 But Joshua comes in. 00:25:14.820 --> 00:25:16.700 He follows after Moses, the children of Israel. 00:25:17.180 --> 00:25:19.900 They estimated as high as 2 to 2.5 million people. 00:25:20.140 --> 00:25:21.400 Wandering through the wilderness. 00:25:21.700 --> 00:25:23.160 Joshua comes in and control. 00:25:23.160 --> 00:25:26.860 He's supposed to lead these children of Israel into the Promised Land. 00:25:28.420 --> 00:25:31.000 Could you imagine the burden of responsibility? 00:25:31.340 --> 00:25:33.380 A people just nomads wandering around. 00:25:34.600 --> 00:25:35.960 And Moses with the people. 00:25:35.960 --> 00:25:36.320 Literally. 00:25:36.320 --> 00:25:37.680 They'd failed for 40 years. 00:25:37.680 --> 00:25:38.700 They wandered in wilderness. 00:25:39.420 --> 00:25:40.310 How am I going to top Moses? 00:25:40.720 --> 00:25:45.780 I mean, the man turned, turned the river into blood and a and a staff into a snake. 00:25:45.980 --> 00:25:46.540 How do you top that? 00:25:48.700 --> 00:25:51.130 And all these concerns are filling his mind. 00:25:52.380 --> 00:25:54.080 Got the season of life that I'm going through. 00:25:56.160 --> 00:25:57.680 I don't understand it. 00:25:58.560 --> 00:25:59.300 It's looking difficult. 00:26:00.840 --> 00:26:02.840 And then God comes into the life of Joshua. 00:26:04.420 --> 00:26:05.060 The very beginning. 00:26:06.500 --> 00:26:07.120 It says in verse nine. 00:26:09.200 --> 00:26:10.080 Have I not commanded you? 00:26:12.000 --> 00:26:12.680 Be strong. 00:26:13.720 --> 00:26:14.380 Be not afraid. 00:26:15.740 --> 00:26:20.260 Because the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. 00:26:22.900 --> 00:26:27.060 I think about the idea of what Solomon shares this morning. 00:26:27.060 --> 00:26:30.160 Not because I don't understand it or don't realize it. 00:26:32.460 --> 00:26:33.270 It's because an honesty. 00:26:33.340 --> 00:26:34.730 I don't practice it. 00:26:38.740 --> 00:26:41.220 To learn to trust in the Lord in all things. 00:26:43.120 --> 00:26:44.520 Solomon shares it with us. 00:26:44.560 --> 00:26:45.360 Like this. 00:26:45.680 --> 00:26:46.180 Enjoy the Lord. 00:26:47.560 --> 00:26:48.990 You have no power over the future. 00:26:49.320 --> 00:26:51.120 Enjoy the Lord. 00:26:51.280 --> 00:26:54.280 God knows what's in store. 00:26:55.580 --> 00:26:58.160 And God has the strength to provide. 00:26:59.900 --> 00:27:01.000 They also adds this last thought. 00:27:03.800 --> 00:27:04.960 He starts talking about community. 00:27:08.260 --> 00:27:11.840 He ends chapter three, talking about these horrible things that happen to us in individuals. 00:27:12.320 --> 00:27:12.340 He. 00:27:12.620 --> 00:27:16.760 He then begins chapter four, talking about the loneliness that we can experience in life. 00:27:17.700 --> 00:27:24.700 But then Solomon says to us, as we go through the seasons of life, one of the opportunities that we have to encourage ourselves as we 00:27:25.060 --> 00:27:30.720 endure different seasons that we go through, the delight of different seasons, is that God has given us community. 00:27:33.020 --> 00:27:35.680 God himself even lives in a triune community. 00:27:35.740 --> 00:27:40.400 And it says in verse nine, two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. 00:27:40.580 --> 00:27:45.660 If one person falls, the other can reach out and help, but someone who falls alone is in real trouble. 00:27:46.980 --> 00:27:50.160 Likewise, two people lying close together can keep each other warm. 00:27:50.180 --> 00:27:52.260 But how can one be warm alone? 00:27:53.200 --> 00:27:57.920 A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back to back and conquer. 00:27:58.340 --> 00:28:02.940 Three are even better for a triple braided cord is not easily broken. 00:28:05.360 --> 00:28:11.320 So keep in mind, as Solomon wrote this passage of Scripture, the New Testament church hadn't come into existence yet. 00:28:11.700 --> 00:28:13.680 Christ said, I will build my church, and the spirit came. 00:28:14.160 --> 00:28:18.020 And so Solomon doesn't typically talk in community in terms that we do today. 00:28:19.460 --> 00:28:20.320 But here's what we know about community. 00:28:21.960 --> 00:28:29.460 When you read about the Bible and you begin very early on in just the book of Genesis, you discover in the very first chapter that God created 00:28:29.460 --> 00:28:31.760 you, breathed His Spirit into you. 00:28:31.820 --> 00:28:35.740 His spirit exists within you, that you may have community and life with him. 00:28:35.740 --> 00:28:40.940 God created you for a relationship with him, that in that relationship you reflect his glory. 00:28:41.160 --> 00:28:43.080 God is all about community. 00:28:43.140 --> 00:28:44.380 God is a triune being. 00:28:44.420 --> 00:28:46.680 The Bible tells us that God is love. 00:28:46.760 --> 00:28:53.220 The reason we know that God is love is because we've seen that love exercised and father, son and spirit and loving and honoring one another. 00:28:54.240 --> 00:29:01.620 Bible tells us as soon as he made man, he created spouse because he said, it's not good for you to be what alone God 00:29:01.620 --> 00:29:05.060 created community for you to pour into in the seasons of life. 00:29:05.120 --> 00:29:12.550 Because if you live seasons of life for personal pleasure seeking after things apart from community, it ends hopelessly for you. 00:29:13.020 --> 00:29:20.300 If your pursuit is money and fame and power and home, and you don't do that with community, you do it meaningless because eventually 00:29:20.460 --> 00:29:24.140 you'll die and everyone else will fight over it and they'll take it and they won't even think about you. 00:29:26.160 --> 00:29:29.420 No one gets to the end of the life and says, you know that life was well lived. 00:29:29.420 --> 00:29:30.560 Thank God they worked a ton. 00:29:31.860 --> 00:29:34.240 Thank God they're always at work and made a ton of money. 00:29:34.500 --> 00:29:35.830 Their work, they were really good at work. 00:29:37.800 --> 00:29:42.020 Thank God they were so busy and pursuing their pleasures and activities in life that they always left me. 00:29:43.620 --> 00:29:44.280 Thank God for that. 00:29:46.080 --> 00:29:47.440 When someone passes away. 00:29:47.480 --> 00:29:52.340 The things that we reflect on is the relationship and the time and the experience that we have with them in this world. 00:29:54.280 --> 00:29:55.630 I thank you for them. 00:29:56.880 --> 00:29:59.200 God, thank you for the way they bless my life. 00:29:59.280 --> 00:30:01.470 God, thank you for what they taught. 00:30:01.480 --> 00:30:03.900 God, I grieve in the season of life. 00:30:04.080 --> 00:30:05.960 But Lord, I know these things are in your hand. 00:30:09.980 --> 00:30:12.560 Your job can replace you on a dime. 00:30:15.020 --> 00:30:15.740 But your kids. 00:30:17.300 --> 00:30:18.380 Well, we have one, dad. 00:30:20.060 --> 00:30:22.760 One, mom. 00:30:24.060 --> 00:30:25.820 Your spouse could have married anyone. 00:30:27.920 --> 00:30:28.660 But they chose you. 00:30:31.920 --> 00:30:35.100 God created you in the seasons of life to enjoy. 00:30:36.220 --> 00:30:37.780 This time of community together. 00:30:39.640 --> 00:30:42.720 In addition to that community, God also created the church. 00:30:44.500 --> 00:30:46.920 It's God's plan to reach the world. 00:30:50.680 --> 00:30:53.780 If you want to see God's glory reflected most powerfully. 00:30:55.700 --> 00:30:57.140 It happens in the life of his people. 00:30:58.940 --> 00:31:01.140 God implanted His spirit in you and I. 00:31:01.500 --> 00:31:06.180 And so the place where God should move most powerfully in this world is in us and through us. 00:31:08.300 --> 00:31:14.620 And so when we gather in community, it becomes significant for us to seek the glory of the Lord. 00:31:17.800 --> 00:31:19.280 God is about community. 00:31:21.440 --> 00:31:29.280 And Solomon says to us in this passage of Scripture, unless you seek community and you seek it appropriately, life is meaningless. 00:31:31.500 --> 00:31:38.870 And take these areas of community that God has created for us, the church and the family and these relationships. 00:31:39.380 --> 00:31:46.940 And we seek to honor and glorify him and bring Him and His presence and all of those things that we may learn to enjoy him in every season 00:31:46.940 --> 00:31:47.700 of our lives. 00:31:50.060 --> 00:31:55.020 I want to be careful when I talk about the church's community, because this was this is what was taught to me as a young kid. 00:31:55.040 --> 00:31:56.200 You may already know this, right? 00:31:56.200 --> 00:31:56.940 I'll show you real quick. 00:31:57.740 --> 00:31:58.190 Here's the church. 00:32:00.600 --> 00:32:01.050 Here's the steeple. 00:32:01.960 --> 00:32:02.300 Right. 00:32:02.640 --> 00:32:03.480 Open the church. 00:32:04.260 --> 00:32:05.320 And you see all the people. 00:32:05.620 --> 00:32:06.660 I see this one. 00:32:06.860 --> 00:32:07.520 It's great. 00:32:08.860 --> 00:32:11.670 But here's the method that was taught, or the thinking that was brought to me as a kid. 00:32:12.700 --> 00:32:13.940 This is the church. 00:32:15.360 --> 00:32:19.580 And in reality, when I think about church like that, I do not want to worship there. 00:32:21.200 --> 00:32:26.460 It's a liturgical all about the structure and nothing to do with relationship with the Lord. 00:32:26.540 --> 00:32:27.320 We just look at it as a building. 00:32:29.260 --> 00:32:33.260 But the reality of what church is the phalanges, right? 00:32:33.380 --> 00:32:33.920 It's the people. 00:32:35.100 --> 00:32:36.520 That's what makes the church. 00:32:36.520 --> 00:32:37.940 That is where the beauty is. 00:32:37.940 --> 00:32:40.020 That's where God's presence is made known. 00:32:40.020 --> 00:32:44.020 And so when I talk about the church, I'm talking about people that are real. 00:32:44.060 --> 00:32:51.500 I'm talking about people who are with you for the worst of times and see the best in you during those times, the ones that open 00:32:51.500 --> 00:32:58.140 up to you and just share their struggles as you share yours and their thoughts are because the presence of the Lord is with them. 00:32:58.160 --> 00:33:02.260 You know I'm praying for you, I love you, I want to see the best happen in your life. 00:33:02.260 --> 00:33:04.920 When I talk about community, that's what I'm talking about. 00:33:06.040 --> 00:33:07.920 Because apart from that, it's really meaningless. 00:33:09.300 --> 00:33:10.060 Just a building. 00:33:10.360 --> 00:33:10.820 It's meaningless. 00:33:11.520 --> 00:33:13.820 Got no interest in investing in each other. 00:33:14.000 --> 00:33:14.580 It's meaningless. 00:33:15.900 --> 00:33:23.460 God's about the community, the struggles and the seasons and the challenges and the joys. 00:33:23.720 --> 00:33:25.260 And we bring that with his presence. 00:33:26.040 --> 00:33:27.650 And we just enjoy that in community. 00:33:27.760 --> 00:33:30.620 And we say, God, we don't know what tomorrow holds. 00:33:30.620 --> 00:33:37.380 But here now we practice your presence and we seek to worship you and experience that joy in all things. 00:33:39.540 --> 00:33:41.040 There is a season. 00:33:41.460 --> 00:33:43.280 Turn, turn. 00:33:44.820 --> 00:33:46.820 What you surround your life with matters. 00:33:50.310 --> 00:33:53.370 God's concern is that you be about community. 00:33:55.940 --> 00:33:57.160 You be about his presence? 00:33:58.860 --> 00:34:03.630 You understand his presence is important through all seasons that you go through. 00:34:04.480 --> 00:34:06.920 And that you experience that with one another. 00:34:08.820 --> 00:34:10.260 So here's what I learned is the older I get. 00:34:11.620 --> 00:34:13.120 We go through all these seasons in life. 00:34:14.400 --> 00:34:20.920 And every time I go through a new season, I have to relearn what it means to experience the presence of the Lord in my life. 00:34:22.500 --> 00:34:29.699 Meaning when I when I was a young kid going to school, I have to learn what it means to experience the presence of the Lord, going through 00:34:29.699 --> 00:34:33.170 the tragedy of high school and then into college. 00:34:33.300 --> 00:34:34.100 How do you do that in college? 00:34:34.380 --> 00:34:34.560 Lord? 00:34:34.560 --> 00:34:34.880 Who knows? 00:34:34.880 --> 00:34:35.560 Mothers, pray for your kids. 00:34:36.159 --> 00:34:36.460 You know college. 00:34:36.840 --> 00:34:37.710 It's a wild place. 00:34:37.860 --> 00:34:39.860 How do you follow the Lord and you get a job? 00:34:40.480 --> 00:34:41.159 How do you do that? 00:34:42.120 --> 00:34:42.860 And you get married? 00:34:43.000 --> 00:34:44.040 What does that even look like? 00:34:45.540 --> 00:34:46.139 Can imagine. 00:34:46.560 --> 00:34:48.380 We had a kid a few years ago. 00:34:48.380 --> 00:34:50.060 We're about to have another baby here soon. 00:34:50.300 --> 00:34:57.680 And when I, when that child was born, were in the hospital, and I'm about to walk out and I'm thinking, they want me to take care of this. 00:34:57.680 --> 00:34:59.660 It was the manual on this kid. 00:34:59.660 --> 00:35:00.020 What is it? 00:35:00.120 --> 00:35:00.440 Okay. 00:35:00.440 --> 00:35:00.980 I'm leaving. 00:35:00.980 --> 00:35:01.160 You sure? 00:35:01.540 --> 00:35:02.060 Okay. 00:35:02.180 --> 00:35:02.820 I'll take care of it. 00:35:03.100 --> 00:35:04.040 What does that look like? 00:35:06.000 --> 00:35:07.000 The challenges in my own life. 00:35:07.180 --> 00:35:09.740 You start having these floods and these seasons of your life. 00:35:09.840 --> 00:35:11.820 You know, my dad wasn't around a whole lot as a kid. 00:35:11.820 --> 00:35:12.000 What does. 00:35:12.060 --> 00:35:12.970 What does it mean to be a dad? 00:35:14.760 --> 00:35:16.220 God, am I even going to be able to do this? 00:35:18.180 --> 00:35:21.340 How do you love and some of you, even in your own lives, going through your own struggles? 00:35:21.720 --> 00:35:27.700 If parents weren't around or they had horrible marriage relationships, the modeling of that in your life, Lord, how do I do this? 00:35:28.040 --> 00:35:28.960 I want to follow you. 00:35:28.960 --> 00:35:30.680 But God, what does that season look like? 00:35:32.640 --> 00:35:34.840 And you retire or grandkids. 00:35:37.360 --> 00:35:38.860 You've got to relearn all this. 00:35:39.000 --> 00:35:43.680 You've finally perfected this one way of life and this one season of following God. 00:35:43.700 --> 00:35:45.040 And now it just changes. 00:35:46.980 --> 00:35:47.620 How do you do that? 00:35:50.840 --> 00:35:51.660 And that's the point. 00:35:54.780 --> 00:35:59.760 Solomon leaves us with those questioning thoughts that we can stop within our own mind and recognize. 00:35:59.880 --> 00:36:00.300 You know what? 00:36:00.700 --> 00:36:01.720 I am going through a new season. 00:36:02.520 --> 00:36:03.130 I've just moved. 00:36:03.740 --> 00:36:04.620 I just got a new job. 00:36:06.140 --> 00:36:08.360 What's it going to look like for me to follow the Lord? 00:36:11.460 --> 00:36:12.120 Ecclesiastes. 00:36:14.620 --> 00:36:15.320 It's about wisdom. 00:36:16.820 --> 00:36:22.270 Encouraging you to ask the questions to stop you living foolishly, to challenge you in the new seasons of life. 00:36:22.600 --> 00:36:27.240 That the presence of the Lord can be made known and you can live that out in community. 00:36:29.140 --> 00:36:30.440 Here's the valuable resource of a church. 00:36:30.760 --> 00:36:34.180 We all go through these seasons and some of us have been there before. 00:36:34.300 --> 00:36:35.480 Others have gotten there. 00:36:36.500 --> 00:36:39.900 And so it gives us the opportunity to gather together and realize, you know what? 00:36:40.120 --> 00:36:41.280 We just came out of that. 00:36:41.280 --> 00:36:42.120 And what's their face? 00:36:42.840 --> 00:36:43.960 That's a good family in our church. 00:36:45.380 --> 00:36:46.320 They need some encouragement. 00:36:48.120 --> 00:36:48.280 Man. 00:36:48.320 --> 00:36:49.320 Let's bring them over. 00:36:49.540 --> 00:36:51.730 And let's be real in community. 00:36:51.780 --> 00:36:56.460 Let's stop living like an island and start living like the way the Lord has called us to. 00:36:58.360 --> 00:37:00.700 To everything there is a season in. 00:37:00.700 --> 00:37:05.100 Our Lord has called us to experience his presence and not live like an atheist. 00:37:05.100 --> 00:37:07.000 And so let me just end with this. 00:37:07.040 --> 00:37:09.550 At the bottom of your page it says this stop and think. 00:37:12.440 --> 00:37:14.700 Ecclesiastes is a time where it just says stop and think. 00:37:15.740 --> 00:37:18.800 Just talked about three areas of life where we stop and experience the Lord. 00:37:19.560 --> 00:37:23.700 and it gets us to stop doing one thing so we can start doing something else to experiencing. 00:37:23.940 --> 00:37:27.180 It says I can't meet with the Lord because what is your excuse? 00:37:27.300 --> 00:37:29.640 It gives you a tiny blank that you can't even fit it in there. 00:37:29.660 --> 00:37:30.280 So you got to think it. 00:37:30.720 --> 00:37:30.880 What? 00:37:31.260 --> 00:37:32.870 Why is it I'm not meeting with the Lord? 00:37:33.700 --> 00:37:38.840 I mean, is it something that my season of life that's that I just haven't quite learned how to fit with God in this. 00:37:40.440 --> 00:37:41.180 So I'm going to start doing this. 00:37:43.300 --> 00:37:45.900 I'm not trusting in the Lord in the season of life. 00:37:46.060 --> 00:37:47.220 And I'm going to miss out. 00:37:47.220 --> 00:37:47.830 It's going to be meaningless. 00:37:48.220 --> 00:37:50.460 And so, Lord, how can I trust in you in this? 00:37:50.460 --> 00:37:52.580 And I'm not investing in godly community. 00:37:52.660 --> 00:37:53.500 And here's my excuse. 00:37:53.940 --> 00:37:55.040 And whatever it is, it's not good enough. 00:37:55.500 --> 00:37:56.500 But God. 00:37:57.000 --> 00:37:58.390 How can I discover you in this? 00:38:00.920 --> 00:38:02.200 Ecclesiastes ends here. 00:38:02.200 --> 00:38:06.420 It says this in chapter three and verse 22. 00:38:06.520 --> 00:38:11.820 I saw that there is nothing better for people and to be happy in their work. 00:38:12.580 --> 00:38:14.410 That's why we're here. 00:38:14.840 --> 00:38:19.830 No one will bring us back from death to enjoy life after you die. 00:38:22.020 --> 00:38:23.500 You get a season of life to get it right. 00:38:25.420 --> 00:38:27.320 You get one season of life to enjoy the Lord. 00:38:29.080 --> 00:38:31.320 So I don't have the magic wand to make you stop complaining. 00:38:34.160 --> 00:38:35.720 I don't have a magic wand to make you be happy. 00:38:37.600 --> 00:38:38.240 I think the Lord. 00:38:39.320 --> 00:38:40.700 The Lord holds the joy for you. 00:38:42.160 --> 00:38:42.840 You only get one shot. 00:38:44.980 --> 00:38:48.250 Solomon says to us, live life to its fullest.