Ecclesiastes 11

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Pastor Mike preaches Ecclesiastes 11.

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What a good reminder that all our sins have been paid for by the blood of Christ.
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It would be a horrible thing if we had to pay for our own sins, but God has taken care of that, and He has provided the remedy.
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In almost all other religions, you have to try to somehow assuage or placate
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God's wrath by giving Him something or denying yourself, and of course, Christianity, it's
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God Himself who makes that satisfaction through the Lord Jesus Christ. So I'm thankful for that, and I know you are as well.
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What will happen tomorrow? What will happen next week?
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What will happen next month? What will happen in the next year? What's going to go on in West Boylston, Middle East, China?
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The answer is, we don't know. We could die, could be a nuclear bomb, there could be wars, power grid could go out, more pandemics.
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We have no idea. We simply don't know, and since we don't know, what shall we do?
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Lay back and let God, build a bunker, become
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Amish, isolate, quarantine, monasteries,
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Montana? What are the Christians in Montana who are live streaming now do?
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Since we don't know, what do we do? And the slant on this is, is that encouraging or discouraging when we don't know the future?
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Life has fallen, difficult things are happening, there will be trials, there will be troubles in the future, and we don't know what's going to happen, so what do we do?
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I guess we could consult the media, we could consult mediums, we could be very well versed in international politics, or we could say, you know what, it doesn't even matter to me, we're just left to our own devices and whatever
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I think's best. Or we could turn our Bibles to Ecclesiastes 11 and see what
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God's wisdom says for us to do when we don't know the future.
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Turn your Bibles to Ecclesiastes chapter 11, and today we're going to say to ourselves many things, including it's okay to say in some regards,
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I don't know, I have no idea. So not knowing what's going to happen in the future, what do we do?
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We can't control our life, we can't control destiny, we can't control the future, what do we do when we don't know what's going to happen?
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We're in the book of Ecclesiastes, Ecclesiastes means preacher, probably Solomon writes it, and he gives us all kinds of wisdom.
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He doesn't want us to be foolish, he wants us to be wise, and to be more direct, Christian, he doesn't want you to be foolish, he wants you to be wise.
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There's the way of the fool, and there's the way of the wise, and we would like to walk wisely. I read some quotes about Ecclesiastes in general,
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I thought some were interesting, Herman Melville who wrote Moby Dick, the truest of all men was the man of sorrows,
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Jesus, and the truest of all books is Solomon's Ecclesiastes, I mean just the grit in Ecclesiastes.
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One lady wrote, Ecclesiastes speaks to people in tough binds, people with vendettas, a bone to pick, no dog to kick, the sour grapers, the hurt, and those who've never shucked off their adolescence angst.
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John Donne said, Solomon shakes the world in pieces, he dissects it, and cuts it up before you, so that you may better see how poor of a thing, that is particular whatsoever it be, so that you do not set your love upon this world.
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In general, Solomon says this in chapters one through ten, that a life spent consuming oneself with life is going to lead to despair, that's the fool.
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But a life that's spent pursuing by faith the Lord and giver of life, well then, meaning and satisfaction come.
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With an eye toward fearing God, with an eye toward, and when I say God, I'm saying God the Father, God the
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Son, and God the Spirit. When we look at the world through the lens of God, we're going to be okay.
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And then actually we could enjoy life from this God. Jesus said the thief comes only to steal and to kill and destroy,
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I came that they might have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd, and the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
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And while Solomon starts off this book with vanity of vanities, most things are vanity.
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Does he start that way? I saw an eyebrow go up. Vanity of vanities, vanity of vanities, all is vanity, everything's fleeting, everything's temporal, everything's fading fast, how do we act?
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Is there a right way to act? And we're coming down to the plane is landing now in chapters 11 and 12.
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Can you believe we only have two more sermons on Ecclesiastes? I didn't know whether this book was going to kill me or encourage me.
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And of course, life under the sun, looking at things without God, it's pretty depressing.
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It just might kill you, as it were. But we remember there's a God who's above the sun, a transcendent
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God, a God who lives and reigns. Then things are different.
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Very simple this morning, Ecclesiastes 11, 1 through 10. When you don't know, what should you do?
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Number one, trust. Number two, rejoice. When you don't know the future, and you at least know bad things are going to happen, because it's a fallen world, certainly good things are going to happen, too.
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But knowing, bracing ourselves for impact, but we just don't know what's going to hit us, we respond with faith and with joy.
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Now before I look at this first response of trust or faith, let me show you why I keep harping on, we don't know.
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Look at chapter 11, verse 2, for you know not.
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Chapter 11, verse 5, as you do not know, later in the same verse, so you do not know.
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And in chapter 6, right there in the middle, for you do not know.
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Would it be fair to say one of the themes in Ecclesiastes 11 is you don't know? And it's okay to say,
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I don't know, and here God is saying to us, you don't know. We don't know what's going to happen, so what do we do?
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And the first thing we do in response to God is trust
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Him. To trust the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, not to lean on our own understanding but in all our ways acknowledge
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Him and He will, what? Make our paths straight. Solomon wants you, dear
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Christian, to walk by faith and not by sight. Habakkuk 2, the just shall live by faith.
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Romans, Hebrews, Galatians, I almost forgot the reference in Romans, that's why
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I paused. Romans 1, the just shall live by faith. Hebrews 10, the just shall live by faith. Galatians 3, the just shall live by faith.
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We have to walk by faith and not by sight. Since we don't know what's going to happen, we can't see it even if we wanted to, how do we respond?
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We respond with Paul who says, I've been crucified with Christ, it's no longer
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I who live but Christ who lives in me and the life I live now in the flesh
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I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.
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So let's take a look at what's going on here with very kind of flamboyant language in verses 1 and 2.
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We want to walk by faith. Cast your bread, verse 1, upon the waters.
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You'll find it after many days. Give a portion to seven or even to eight for you do not know what disaster may happen on earth.
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Well, when you don't know what's going to happen, when you don't know what disaster is going to happen, what do you do? You cast bread on the waters.
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Now, when I first read that, I thought, what do you mean bread on the waters? I mean, I just imagine going down to the stream and getting some beloved wonder bread out and just flinging it like Frisbee under the water.
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Sometimes I do that if we get bread that's old. I know some of you, you know, you make sourdough and all your homemade bread and all that stuff so you'd never have sliced bread like I would have in the pantry, but my wife's out of town, so it gets old and so then
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I step out on the deck and I just start flinging it like a Frisbee to just see how far I can fling that bread.
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There's a little pond there, what if I, a little water thing there, what if I hit the water? I mean, it would hit the water, it would become saturated with water and it would sink.
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That must not be what it is, some kind of wonder bread flinging contest. Of course, if you start to think about the kind of bread they would have back then, what kind of bread would it be?
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It starts with a P. Pita, that's right. If you don't understand what pita bread is, we also call it peter bread and Peter has pita bread, right?
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Kind of a little cake. Now people have wondered what kind of interpretation this might yield and there's a few,
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I'll give you the two wrong ones and then the right one. The first wrong one, although it's a true principle but just not from this text, it's basically share your bread.
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Be kind to people, don't hoard things, the world's coming to an end, life is difficult, you don't know the future, so you want to be generous and share.
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And certainly we should be generous and share, I'm not so sure that's what he's after here. Some Jewish people thought that, some
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Christian people, even Arabian Proverbs said, do a good deed and throw some bread into the river.
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Okay, another option would be if you were in the Nile River by the Nile and you would throw bread onto the top of the water, you would say to yourself, you know what, it's at the lowest point of the river,
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I throw the water in and the river is going to come up a little bit, there's some kind of seeds in the bread because it's not wonder bread back in those days, it's 10 grain seed, right, you have all kinds of grains in there or maybe it's
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Ezekiel 4 -7 bread, 4 -9 bread, whatever it might be. You ought to re -read
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Ezekiel chapter 4 before you eat that bread, that's another sermon. But most likely it has to do with international trade.
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Let me read something to you from 1 Kings, King Solomon built a fleet of ships which is near Eloth on the shore of the
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Red Sea and Hiram sent with his servants seamen who were familiar with the sea together with the servants of Solomon and they went to Ophir and brought their gold, 420 talents.
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Chapter 10, the king had a fleet of ships, Tarshish at sea with the fleet of Hiram. Every year they brought back gold, silver, ivory, apes and peacocks and what the writer is most likely saying is you want to be wise in your investments, you want to be involved in various kinds of trade and as the old proverb used to be, nothing ventured, nothing gained.
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Hey, the world's coming to an end, what do I do? I'm just paralyzed, I do nothing? No, no, you invest in trade, you step out in faith.
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Even one commentator said, casting one's bread on the water probably refers to commercial transactions involving the transportation of commodities by ship not to charitable acts.
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So whatever he's saying, you ought to be all in, you say, well I disagree with your interpretation, well here's what you should agree with and we all can agree with this.
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We need to step out by faith, we need to be totally committed, we can't just lay back and let
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God, we can't just say the world's going to Hades in a handbag and I'm not going to do anything about it.
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Of course, for us, we know as Christians, right, in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, there's a resurrection of the body because there's a resurrection of Jesus and it says in 1
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Corinthians 15, 58, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not what? Vanity of vanities, all is vanities, but here's something that's not vain, working for the
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Lord. I mean, if you send some ships out for international commerce and maritime travel and trade, maybe three go out, at least if one comes back, you're going to be set.
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And kind of in the same realm, verse two, this is wisdom literature, this is poetry, and so this is not walking on all fours like Romans, so we have to get kind of a sense of what he's saying, give a portion to seven, or even to eight, you have that in Proverbs a lot, six things the
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Lord hates, yes, even seven, kind of a numerical formula for the WPI students, this is
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X comma X plus one, got it? Pretty simple, that's all
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I know, I know the word factorial, that's about it, that's when
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I quit chemical engineering, when I had to take a bunch of math classes in organic chemistry,
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I thought, hmm, I think God's calling me into ministry, most likely, and it's hard,
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I mean you read it and you go, huh, what do you do with that? Most likely, give a portion to seven or even eight, you don't know what's going to happen, most commentators are saying there needs to be some diversity in your business adventures, most of them are saying diversification, most of them are saying don't put all your eggs in one basket, no matter what he's saying,
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Solomon is wanting people to work, Solomon is wanting people to walk by faith,
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Solomon is not after paralysis analysis, Solomon is not just after, we're just going to lay back and do nothing,
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Martin Luther said, if I knew Jesus was coming back tomorrow, I'd plant a tree today, because what you do for the
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Lord matters, even though in the future it might be all wiped out, I mean I think of the times when the men would leave
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France in the reformation, Roman Catholic France, and they would come to John Calvin right there on the border in Switzerland and learn at the seminary that Calvin and other men taught at, and it was called the school of death, because they would leave the seminary and within a year they would be persecuted to death by Rome and France, why even bother?
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Something bad is going to happen, I mean why study, why sweat, why Hebrew, why
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Greek, why talking about all this stuff, because today matters, what you do today before the
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Lord matters, and it's not, oh tomorrow could be something bad, I'm not going to do anything, no we can be brave because the worst thing that can happen to us as Christians is what?
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We die and go to heaven, because it would be absent from the body, present with the Lord, and there's nothing that can take us home before that day, not one thing, and we don't have to be afraid, we're supposed to be fearing
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God, I used to say many times in my own mind, preaching to myself, the fear of COVID is not the beginning of wisdom, the fear of some other problem in the future is not the beginning of wisdom, the fear of oh this could happen and that could happen, and now the respiratory issues, and the flu issues, and the bomb issues, and the nuclear issues, and the other issues, so what do
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I do? You walk by faith, because you can trust in Jesus because He's alive,
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He sought you, He's bought you with His redeeming love, and so you're engaged, nothing ventured, nothing gained, don't put your eggs in one basket.
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Well He goes on, in verse 3, think agricultural, think there could be bad weather predictions in the future, if the clouds are full of rain, and they empty themselves on the earth, there's going to be some kind of flood, if a tree falls to the north or south, in the place where the tree falls, there it lies, he who observes the wind will not sow, and he who regards the clouds will not reap,
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I'm sitting around looking at my weather app so much, I don't get anything done, as a matter of fact, let's see, what's that Thursday storm, 9 inches, yeah, might as well just stay in, okay, big picture, future's uncertain, don't be lazy, future's unknown, work unto the
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Lord, minister unto the Lord, you look at the clouds and you think, you know, it's going to be an awful rain storm, maybe
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I should delay sowing, maybe I should delay planting the seed, maybe something else should happen first, well, will ideal circumstances ever come about, and if you wait for perfection in circumstances, you're never going to do anything, but you can trust in the
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Lord, and so you go, you know what, I'm going to venture out, I'm going to take that risk, what's the worst thing that can happen, because I want to honor the
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Lord, and by the way, this is no reason to sin, but even if I do sin and presume on God, last time
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I checked, Jesus died for our presumptuous sins too, I don't want to sin, but it's a sin to do nothing, so I better do something,
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I better not do anything, because if I do something I might be sinning, well stop that, because doing nothing's sinning,
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God doesn't need your good works, your neighbor does, right, that's more Luther, we live by faith in his word, and we trust
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God to bless, even though we might miscalculate, we might not look at the clouds right, and read the weather app rightly, but we think, you know what, we can trust him, the farmer says, you know what, sooner or later,
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I've got to plant those seeds, and I'm just going to do it, trust the Lord, one writer said, just face the facts that things may go wrong, but get out there and do your work anyway, because God's in control of you, your circumstances, the weather, and he says work, he says, walk by faith, if you never plant, you never harvest, if you never sow, you never reap,
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Derek Kidner the theologian said, if there are risks in everything, it's better to fail in launching out, than in hugging one's resources to oneself,
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I'm not going to go do anything, I'll just snuggle up with all my own resources, ok, interestingly verse 5,
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I've been waiting for this, been waiting to talk about Amos for three weeks now, my little grandson, did you know he's famous?
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Verse 5, remember big picture, we don't know the future, we don't know what's going on, we still need to trust in the
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Lord, we still need to work, we need to do the one and others, we need to evangelize, we need to act like Christian husbands and Christian fathers and Christian mothers, and you do not know the way the spirit comes in the bones of the womb of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything, you can put a little camera in the womb, you can talk about science in the womb, but do you have any idea,
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Mr. Scientist, Mrs. Scientist, how the spirit, how the soul goes into the body of a baby in the womb?
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We have no idea, we don't know, and if we don't know that, there's a lot of other things we don't know, no matter what our medical advances are, we have no idea, here's what
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Solomon is saying, Solomon is saying, you don't know, Solomon is saying,
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I don't know, Solomon is saying, if we can't figure out that, there's a lot of other things we can't figure out, and we just need to theologically say,
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Uncle, I don't know. I had one child, and every time
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I tried to instruct this child about to do something a certain way, and the best results, and with the best attitude, this particular child,
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I almost said, the gender of the child, this child would say, I know, I know,
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I know, I know, I know,
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I know. Here's what God is saying, the incomprehensible God, the all -wise God, the
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God who says, if I were tired, I wouldn't even tell you. God says, you don't know the future, you don't know what's going to happen, you don't know the timing of anything, and you don't even know what happens in the womb.
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So why don't you just walk by faith, why don't you just say, I can trust God, I trusted the
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Lord Jesus with my eternal soul, I think He can take care of me in this particular case. Yeah, but you don't know my trials, you don't know what's going on.
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Well, I don't know, but God knows. What a great little analogy. We hardly know anything.
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Do you remember the Lord Jesus when He meets the teacher of Israel, Nicodemus? As some call it, because Nicodemus went out at night, they call it
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Nick at night. And Steve Cooley said,
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I've heard it 50 times. And he's saying, you know what,
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Nicodemus, you need to be born again. You came out of your mother's womb the first time.
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You didn't crawl out on your own, you didn't bury yourself, you were born. It was done to you, the passivity of birth.
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You birth a child, you don't birth yourself as a child. And Nicodemus couldn't figure out, because that's the same thing when it comes to eternal salvation.
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We don't birth ourselves. We are born again. God does the work. We receive the work of God as the
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Spirit convinces us of sin, and regenerates us, doing and applying the work of what the
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Son was sent by the Father to do. And remember what Jesus said to Nicodemus, the wind blows where it wishes.
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You hear it sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.
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So it is with everyone who's born of the Spirit. You just don't know. Where's the wind going?
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What's going to happen? We don't know. We see its effects, but we don't know what's going on. The work of God, dear
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Christian, is beyond your understanding. The mystery of the womb makes us think,
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God, in your creation, in your providence, in the future, I don't know what's going on.
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I don't even figure out what's going on in the womb of a mother with a child, so I'm going to have to trust you for that.
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I'm going to have to trust you for everything else, too. One writer said, faith flourishes in the mystery of providence.
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I don't understand the future. It's a mystery, but I'm going to trust the
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Lord. Don't you love this hymn? I know not how the Spirit moves, convincing men of sin, revealing
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Jesus in His Word, creating faith in Him, but I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which
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I've committed unto Him against that day. I have no idea what's going on.
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It really is past my pay grade. I saw a teacher one time on television, a very prominent evangelical preacher.
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They asked him about homosexuality and hell and all these other things, and he said, that's beyond my pay grade.
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And I thought, no, no, your pay grade is coward. Answer the question. If you ask me about hell or any particular sin, that's not above my pay grade.
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But the future, it's above all of our pay grades. And we just have to trust in the
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Lord and say, I want to control the world. I'd like to control the world.
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I try to control my world, but I'm a creature, not the
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Creator. I have to solve the future.
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I have to figure out the stock market. I've got to figure out every Bitcoin issue. Fine, sometimes you have to work and invest and all that stuff, but if it takes your mind off of who the
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Lord is, remember what Colossians chapter 3 says, set your mind on things above.
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Not on things that are on earth, for you've died, and your life is hidden with Christ and God. When Christ, who is your life, is revealed, then you will be revealed with Him in glory.
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In other words, don't let mysteries just make you go in on yourselves, and you never get really anything accomplished.
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When you take your eyes off the Lord Jesus, who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, when you take your eyes off the
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Lord Jesus, for by Him, Jesus, all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities.
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When you look at the world, and you've got to figure it out, and you take your eyes off of the one who all things were created through Him and by Him and for Him, you say,
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I've got to figure out what tomorrow is going to bring so I can function, and then I'm not walking by faith, living and trusting in the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, the
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Lord Jesus, then there's a problem. I have to say to myself, I don't know.
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And I leave the two words, I know, to the triune God alone. Mike, get in line.
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Half the time I preach, I have to preach to myself. You're driving down the street, and I'm just talking to myself. People think
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I'm crazy, but I'm preaching to myself. Mike, you try to run the future, don't, you don't know. I know,
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God knows alone. I mean, He said it back in chapter 8, remember, go to 8 .16,
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when I applied my heart to know wisdom and to see the business that is done on earth, how neither day nor night do one's eyes see sleep.
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Then I saw the work of God that man cannot find out, Ecclesiastes 8 .17, the work that is done under the sun.
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However much man may toil in seeking, he will not find it out. Even though a wise man claims to know, he can't find it out.
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I don't know, but we know the one who knows the future.
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That makes, that makes the words of Jesus to me so much sweeter. Therefore, I tell you, do not be anxious about your life.
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This is for you, church. Do not be anxious what you will eat or what you'll drink, nor about your body.
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Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds.
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They neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you,
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Bethlehem Bible Church, not of more value than they? And which of you, by being anxious, can add a single hour to his lifespan?
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Therefore, do not be anxious. What should we eat? What should we drink? What should we wear? Or adding in Ecclesiastes, what will tomorrow bring?
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What will the disaster be tomorrow? But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
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Did you know, Christian, God is incomprehensible? Did you know God is other and holy and above us?
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Did you know Psalm 145 says, Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised, and His greatness is unsearchable.
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For my thoughts, Bible says, are not your thoughts, speaking of God. Neither are your ways my ways, declares the
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Lord. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways, and my thoughts, your thoughts.
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So I just leave that to the Lord. Oh, the depths of the riches and the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are
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His judgments. We have to realize, since God is, is
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God, the Godness of God, I think Tozer said, that I just can't grasp it all.
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First of all, God's the creator, I'm a creature. That means God's infinite and I'm finite.
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So how can the finite understand the infinite? I can't. And I know what you're saying, this is just all very pessimistic and things that I can't know.
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No, no. This is the opposite. When you see a God like this in the Bible, the only
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God, it should drive you to worship. It should drive you to, there's nobody like this. There's no one who does this, who is this.
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God alone is without limitations. And plus, number two, we're sinful. So how am
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I, as a finite, sinful person, going to figure out who God is, who's holy and who's infinite?
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And lastly, here's, here's, here's the gut punch, if you will. God doesn't want you to know everything about Him.
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Some things He hides, He keeps secret. You say, what in the world?
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Deuteronomy 29, 29, the secret things belong to the Lord our God. You say, can we know
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God at all if He's incomprehensible? Yes, to the extent He tells us about Himself in Scripture, yes, we can know
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Him. Just because God is incomprehensible, it's not a liability, it's, we want to walk by faith.
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We want to admire Him. We want to look up to Him and worship Him. Verse 6, back to Ecclesiastes 11, 6.
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In the morning, don't do anything, bad things are on their way.
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Oh, sorry, that's the wrong version there. In the morning, sow your seed.
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At the evening, withhold not your hand. You do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good.
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But you do it anyway. You leave it in God's hands. Yes, but I thought the best laid plans of mice and men work anyway.
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You know, if you're able to work, you're supposed to work, and Paul says even in 2 Thessalonians 3, that if you don't work, you shouldn't what, eat?
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And this isn't just for regular work and employment. This is Christian ministry and service and evangelism.
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This humbles us. This makes us say, you know what, I need to keep going. I don't know what the future's going to bring, but I'm just going to be wise.
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Hey, think about it this way. I don't think I've ever said hey in a sermon. Hey, this is like evangelism almost.
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He's talking about temporal issues, but let's talk about evangelism. Okay, God saves.
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God reigns. God's sovereign. I'm supposed to plant seeds. I'm supposed to preach the gospel. I think maybe in Mark 4, there's even a little parable about a sower and some seed.
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And you just keep throwing it out indiscriminately, whoever will listen. You're preaching the good news. Jesus, the risen
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Savior, substitute representative, soon returning King. Trust in Him for your forgiveness, and you just throw it out there.
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And you're like, but I don't know the future. Will God use that word to convict? Will He use it to harden?
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Will He save them? Won't He? And what do we do? We just say by faith, God has told me.
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I believe by faith that God has told me in the scriptures that I'm going to preach the gospel to people, and I'm just going to preach the gospel, and then
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I'll just do whatever I'm supposed to do. Like work, and then go take a nap. Remember Luther?
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I've quoted Luther twice. Let's make it three times for the Luther trifecta. Reformation, how did it start?
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How do you bring down an empire, a political empire, a religious empire? How do you bring it to their knees?
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It was the Word of God, and Luther said, here's how I did the
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Reformation. I preached the Word of God, and I went home and took a nap.
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And the Word of God did its work. You say, Mike, that's the Baptist version.
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Yeah, I know. He really said, I preached the Word of God, I went and had a beer with Philip in Amsdorf, and I went to bed, and the
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Word of God did its work. That's what he said. Spurgeon, there's no attribute more comforting to his children than that of God's sovereignty.
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Under the most adverse circumstances and the most severe trials, they believe that sovereignty has ordained their afflictions, and that God overrules them, and that sovereignty will sanctify them.
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Question, dear congregation, shall not the judge of the universe do right? Hasn't he done right by you so far?
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Can you think of one thing God has done wrong in your life? I mean,
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I get sick of carrying that on my back. My shoulders aren't big enough. I'm not strong enough.
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Matter of fact, I'm the incredible shrinking man. I used to be 6 '2", and could dunk a basketball, and now I'm only 6' with some heels on on these shoes.
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That's it. I'm shrinking. Hunching. I don't need more weight on my back. Control the universe,
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Mike. I read about camels this week. Camels can hold up to, from 240 pounds to 1 ,200 pounds, and the record capacity for an animal called the camel to be put on its back is 1 ,900 pounds.
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Why don't we just repent and say, Lord, forgive me for trying to do that. I know what I can do.
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I can love my wife. I can train my children. I can encourage people in church, and I'll trust you for the future.
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Now, sometimes I read Warren Wearsby, and I like it that he's just a guy's guy, lived in Nebraska for a long time, so he had to be a man's man.
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Here's what Wearsby said. I can't get over it. When I trusted Jesus as my Savior, I married adventure, and that meant living by faith and expecting the unexpected.
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When I trusted in Jesus my Savior, I married adventure. Lord, what will you bring today?
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And the good news is I don't have to handle it alone, because Jesus said, and lo, I'm with you always, even to the end of the age.
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We need to walk by faith, but what else? Verses 7 through 10. When you don't know, trust.
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When you don't know, second, rejoice, found in verses 7 through 10.
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Light is sweet, talking about being alive, and it's pleasant for the eyes to see the sun.
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So if a person lives many years, let him rejoice in all of them, but let him remember that the days of darkness, death, will be many.
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All that comes is vanity. I'm not going to live forever, so while I'm alive,
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I should rejoice. I should be thinking to myself, it's another day that I can have joy in this life, because even if my trials are difficult, the fruit of the
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Spirit is love and joy, and I can anticipate that this day is from God, and that He'll be here with me, and His promises are true, and His love is sure, and that I can say, this is the day that the
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Lord has made. I'm going to rejoice and be glad in it. My grandmother, Evie, great -grandmother -in -law, she'd always say, make it your choice to rejoice.
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I said, Grandma, is that law or gospel? Just kidding. No, make it your choice to rejoice.
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That's true. That's what He's saying. What about tomorrow? I don't know, but today you can rejoice. If you're a
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Christian here today, you're forgiven. Is that enough to rejoice about? If you're a
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Christian here today, do you remember that you deserve to be in hell right now, and your punishment against God was so, your crimes against God were so great, you deserve to be crucified, naked forever in hell, punished by God, and you're like, and now
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I'm a son, now I'm a daughter, now I get to go to heaven, now I have the
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Spirit of God in me, I have His Word to guide me, I'm alive, I'm alive to praise.
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That's what He's talking about. David Gibson said, you ought to be grateful rather than grumpy.
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And then in all my years of theological study, I've never read this, but I'll read it to you. David Gibson said, grumpiness is a sin.
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Anybody elbow in their neighbor there? Grumpiness is a sin. It's a lack of joy. I hate it when
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I'm grumpy. Are you grumpy? Convicted?
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Sometimes we call them around our house, grumpasauruses. You're alive.
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I mean, it's easy for me to see in other people, it's harder for me to see in myself, but when I'm around grumpy people, I'm just like,
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I know, and not just here at the church, but I mean, wherever I am in life, I have friends, and I'm like, I know if I get sucked into the vortex of their conversation, it's going to be doom and despair and agony, deep, dark depression, excessive misery.
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That's a pop culture reference. It's not going to be,
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I'm alive, the light of day is here, I'm looking forward to spending eternity with Jesus, who is light.
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I'm looking forward to the city that has no need of the sun or the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it, and the lamb is its light.
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I'm looking forward to that. God wants you to walk by faith, and He wants you to walk by joy. And don't you like the language?
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Wow. What does He say? In verse 9, rejoice, oh, oh no, excuse me, verse 7, light is sweet and pleasant.
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Not grumpy, not bitter, sweet and pleasant.
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This is especially important for you young people. I address you now. Verse 9, rejoice, oh young man, or certainly ladies, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth.
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Walk in the ways of your heart and the sight of your eyes. He's not talking about follow your heart. The heart is mission control center, so walk wisely, walk with understanding, walk with your mind.
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But know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment. Remove vexation from your heart, put away pain from your body, for youth and the dawn of life are vanity.
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Young people, you ought to walk with joy and not say to yourself, when I'm young I sow my oats, when
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I'm old I'll be about God's business. Is that what He said? No. Young people are searching for joy.
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They think it's on a screen. They think it's with other people. It's with the Lord Jesus and Him alone.
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The Lord is at hand. That's where you get real joy. Young people.
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I mean, you're not like us old people around here. I'm not that old. I'm 62. We have some 80 -year -olds here, 90 -year -olds in the congregation.
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I'm sure if they could go back they would probably say, I should have lived my life with more joy in the
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Lord because that would be my strength. And now
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I'm old and I complain about my health and I complain about two other subjects, my health and my health.
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Don't do that if you're old. That was one of my main convictions this week. Stop complaining about your health.
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He's saying to the young, don't take life for granted. The God of light deserves your praise and your worship.
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The call to be joyful is not just for older people, it's for younger people. The call to obeying
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God out of gratitude because you're a Christian saved by the grace of God is not just for older people, it's for younger people.
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Celebrate that you have the gift of youth but, of course, you don't push it because you want to honor
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God. Don't flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, love, faith, peace. Second Timothy 2,
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Paul charged that young man. There was an English playwright, you know his name, George Bernard Shaw. Here's what he said, youth is a wonderful thing.
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It's a shame to waste it on young people. So learn from us old geezers.
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Have joy. Work hard for the Lord. Walk by faith.
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Rejoice. Yeah, but I'm in middle school now, I'm in middle school and I want to be in high school and then
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I've got my plan for then. I'm going to be in college and then I'm going to be in grad school and then I'm going to get my doctorate and then I'm going to get this.
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You can just rejoice right now. I want to be a youth pastor and then
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I want to be an associate pastor and then I want to be an executive pastor and then I want to be a lead pastor and then I want, just rejoice right now.
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I'm single and I'd like to be married and I'd like to have kids and I'd like to be grandparents. Just enjoy life now, rejoice.
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God sovereignly placed you where you are right now. He says in verse 10, remove this grief and anger, put away pain.
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I think really what he's saying is, in Mike's vernacular, stop stressing out.
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Stop being a worry wart. My kids used to sing a song about worry warthog.
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I don't want to do that. I don't like old crabby people.
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I don't like it when I'm crabby. I can't do much about the age. But to be a young crabby person who's got life and health and the future in front of you, saved by the blood of the lamb, and say, well, you know what?
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I would be happy if I would be married. I would be happy if I would do this. I would be happy if I had that.
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Just friends, stop it. That's not living in light of who you are in Christ Jesus now. God is sovereign, so rejoice.
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I like Exodus 12 about the Passover. You shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord. That's how you should live your life if you're young, as a sweet offering to God.
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Life is a gift, and it's meant to be enjoyed if you realize who the life giver is.
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What about you? Somebody comes up to you and says, I think you're a person filled with faith and with joy.
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Would they say that, I wonder? How about this? Would you like to be known as a person who walks by faith and has joy?
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That's even better, because we all struggle with this. Solomon is landing the plane, and in chapter 12 next week, it's going to be about that day we die.
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And we need to be ready for it. It's a fool that doesn't try to reckon, you know what, I'll die one day.
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So as you're going to that day, that ordained day by God, what do you do?
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You walk by faith. I trust you, God, for my eternal soul. I trust you that you'll give me grace on my deathbed to honor you.
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I trust that you'll take care of my children when I'm gone. I trust you that you'll do everything the right way.
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I trust you. I'm sorry for leaning on my own understanding.
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I'm sorry for trying to control my world. I'm sorry to try to change my circumstances for the good.
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I'm sorry for trying to change my husband, change my wife, control the universe. I saw an appendix the other day in a marriage book, how to change your spouse, and the appendix was blank.
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Trying to control the world? No, no, just let me try to control my wife. I want a simple thing.
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What kind of an idiot talks that way? So then I say, Lord, forgive me.
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We're careening toward death that day, or the Lord's return. I want to walk by faith, and I'd like to have some joy.
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God, will you give me joy? You've commanded me to have joy. Please stop me from being the one who complains about everything, including the weather, to look for any excuse to not do anything positively, and I want to just take down everybody in my lifeboat of grumpiness.
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You get the point? Say, Mike, can you say it one more time? No, I can't, but you can get the tape and listen.
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Dear congregation, I love you, and God wants the best for you, and the best for you is not to walk by sight, so if you are, stop it.
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That's the sermon I had to preach to myself this week. Stop walking by sight, and if you're walking around depressed, down, crabby, grumpy,
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Lord, please forgive me. I ought not to do that in light of a great gift that you've given me, the Lord Jesus. I'm sorry.
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Please forgive me. Thank you for loving me. Help me to walk better by faith, and to be a joyful person.