Introduction:
3 Things I Know for Certain that Allow Me to Enjoy Life:
(Ecclesiastes 8:16-9:10)
- I can't know Everything God is doing. (Eccl 8:16-9:1)
Deuteronomy 29:29 - The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.
- I only get One shot at life on earth. (Eccl 9:2-6)
Romans 5:12 - Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned...
- I have God's Approval . (Eccl 9:7-10)
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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00:48-00:51
Open your Bibles with me, please, to the book of Ecclesiastes.
00:52-00:53
And we will be in chapter 8.
00:56-01:02
You know, it's my birthday this month, and don't applaud.
01:05-01:08
I said that because you didn't, but I've got to be honest with you.
01:10-01:18
I really thought that when I hit this age, I would know a lot more than I actually do.
01:21-01:22
What are you talking about?
01:22-01:24
I'll tell you what I'm talking about.
01:26-01:27
Ratchet straps.
01:30-01:32
You realize I'm 46 years old.
01:33-01:35
I have no idea how to work these things.
01:37-01:41
And look, I know some of you right now are like, Pastor Jeff, that's so lame.
01:42-01:45
That's like Legos, man! That's so easy to use!
01:47-01:48
I can't do it.
01:51-01:54
And it's hard to stand in front of you as your pastor and admit that.
01:56-01:57
I don't know how to use this.
01:59-02:03
And I've tried a couple times privately.
02:06-02:15
But there have been many times that I've been helping someone move or ratchet something down in the back of a truck praying that they just do it, right?
02:15-02:21
That they're not like, "Jeff, here, would you ratchet that?" I'm like, I've managed to dodge that bullet for like 46 years.
02:23-02:31
And then a couple of weeks ago, we got a new couch and I called my good friend, Ben Mall.
02:31-02:32
I said, "Hey, can I borrow your truck?
02:32-02:43
I got a whole couch." And Ben, he says, "Yeah." He goes, "And I threw some ratchet straps in the back for you." Like, you are a pal.
02:47-02:48
I'm just confessing this to you.
02:48-02:56
I didn't, I just couldn't tell him that I didn't know how to use those because I want them to like me and respect me.
02:57-02:58
And I thought that might be the end of the relationship.
03:00-03:02
Like, I can't be friends with somebody so ignorant.
03:02-03:03
So I didn't tell him.
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So I drove to the store and you had to go around back to where the trailers are to get the couch.
03:09-03:14
And we loaded the truck up, or loaded the couch into the truck, and I'll be honest with you, I tried.
03:15-03:21
I hooked the things up to the truck, and I just, I don't know what to do with this thing.
03:23-03:28
And my son's there, he's feeling like his dad's a big failure.
03:31-03:48
And then, I saw this white pickup truck drove by and stopped but I ran to that truck and I'm like, excuse me, like, I'm so sorry to bother you.
03:48-03:49
Do you know how to work one of these things?
03:50-03:56
And of course he did, because he was like, oh yeah, that's all you do.
03:56-03:58
You just hook that up, you know, and then you take this part and you're.
04:01-04:04
And I'm watching him do it and I'm like, well, that looks easy.
04:05-04:06
I'm like, hey, thank you so much for your help.
04:07-04:11
Then I went back to Ben's truck and that couch and I still couldn't get this thing to work.
04:14-04:17
And if you're looking for a resolution to the story, there's not one.
04:19-04:20
I don't know how to work that thing.
04:22-04:29
And the honest thing though is, there's a lot of stuff that I don't know.
04:31-04:35
And there's a lot of stuff that I've been trying to figure out for a long time that I can't.
04:37-04:44
And some things are a lot more important than ratchet straps that I can't figure out.
04:45-04:54
You see, we're going through Ecclesiastes, and we're on Solomon's quest for the meaning of life, and he's told us so many times that there's things that we don't know.
04:55-05:00
There's things that we try to wrap our brains around, the things that we try to figure out.
05:00-05:04
But here, in this passage, I got some incredible news for you.
05:04-05:08
In this passage, here are three things that you can know for sure.
05:10-05:18
And this is so important, church, because these aren't just like factoids, little nuggets of information.
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These are three truths.
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They won't just change your life, OK?
05:29-05:35
Listen, they will change the way that you live.
05:37-05:47
Three truths that if you embrace these three things, you are guaranteed to enjoy your life.
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Let's be honest, some of us are miserable.
05:53-05:54
I have been a lot lately.
05:56-05:57
So this is gonna be good for me too.
05:59-06:06
So on your outline, I'm still trying to work on getting these things shorter and I didn't make it happen this week.
06:06-06:07
So here you go.
06:08-06:11
Three things I know for certain that allow me to enjoy life.
06:12-06:13
All right?
06:15-06:17
So number one, write this down.
06:18-06:21
I can't know everything God is doing.
06:24-06:27
I'm gonna give you a chance to say that out loud.
06:27-06:30
And I know I'm gonna share with you, You know what the text says.
06:31-06:35
But as an act of good faith, I want you to say it out loud.
06:35-06:38
I can't know everything God is doing.
06:39-06:40
Ready? Say it.
06:44-06:44
Amen.
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That's all Solomon has to say about that.
06:47-06:48
Verse 16.
06:49-07:29
He says, "When I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done on earth, neither day nor night do one's eyes sleep. Then I saw all the work of God." That man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. "However much man may toil in seeking, he will not find it out. Even though a wise man claims to know, he cannot find it out." Stop there. The point is this, he's saying life is is too complicated and it's too vast to be able to figure everything out.
07:30-07:36
You see that three times, you can't figure it out, can't figure it out, or find it out rather, sorry, can't find it out.
07:37-07:38
Three times he says that.
07:39-07:48
He says no one can be smart enough, you can't work hard enough, you can't work long enough because you'll always end up with more questions than answers.
07:51-07:52
I mean, think about this, church.
07:54-08:07
So much of your life, the things that have happened to you, it's been determined by things that are beyond your control, hasn't it?
08:09-08:12
So much of your life determined by things that are beyond your control.
08:13-08:13
You're like, what?
08:14-08:16
About where you were born?
08:18-08:20
about when in history you were born.
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Millions of choices over the course of your life that were made by you, and made by other people, some people that you've never even met, but their choices have affected you and shaped your life.
08:38-08:40
It's staggering to think about it.
08:42-08:46
And he says in verse 17, This is the work of God.
08:48-08:57
Everything that's happened in your life has been orchestrated directly by the hand of God.
09:00-09:01
It's staggering to think about.
09:04-09:06
He says we can't figure it out.
09:06-09:07
We can't find it out.
09:08-09:10
He goes on, look at 9:1.
09:11-09:39
He says, "But all this I laid to heart, examining it all, how the righteous and the wise and their deeds are in the hand of God." There it is again. But look at this next phrase. He says, "Whether it is love or hate, man does not know. Both are before him." Okay, so he says again that we're in the hand of God, but what's this love or hate thing that he's talking about? Here's what he means.
09:39-09:42
and I want you to listen very closely because this smacks us all in the face.
09:43-09:54
It is hard to judge solely from the events that happen to us whether we have God's approval or disapproval.
09:54-09:57
I'm going to talk more about that in a second, so just hang on.
09:58-10:10
He's saying if you simply look at life based on the circumstances that happen to you, it's hard to determine just from that God loves you or hates you.
10:12-10:13
Like, well, what do you mean?
10:15-10:16
I've heard this all the time.
10:18-10:24
When something bad happens to a person, they immediately jump to, God hates me.
10:26-10:29
I'm having financial problems, God must hate me.
10:29-10:34
You know what, my marriage is on the rocks and I've tried so hard to save it, God must hate me.
10:36-10:44
Or somebody who's in an accident, Somebody was crippled or killed or so badly injured, and it's, "Well, you know, God hates me.
10:46-10:49
God hates me." That's what Solomon's talking about.
10:50-10:51
You're just looking at events.
10:54-10:59
"Well, if it's bad, then maybe God hates me." But I've seen the other side too.
11:01-11:02
And it's not accurate either.
11:02-11:07
That when something good happens, That means that God really loves me.
11:09-11:11
You know, I got that better job.
11:12-11:13
I got that promotion, God.
11:14-11:15
That just shows that God really loves me.
11:17-11:24
Or, you know, I hear ladies say, "I found a good man, finally found a good man." That just shows that God really loves me.
11:26-11:27
I beat COVID.
11:28-11:29
God loves me most.
11:30-11:30
I beat COVID.
11:33-11:39
Well, I'd like to remind you that prosperity is not always the sign that God is happy with you.
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Because even the most wicked people prosper sometimes.
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And adversity is not always the sign that God is punishing you.
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I'd encourage you to read the book of Job sometime.
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And I just had a sermon on each of those.
11:59-12:09
But Solomon's saying, big picture, "Look, we can't see, we can't know, we can't understand everything that God is doing, which is why we have to be okay with some degree of mystery.
12:10-12:17
We have to be okay with that." That's why one of my favorite verses in the Bible is Deuteronomy 29.29.
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I love this verse. I quote it all the time.
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Look at this.
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"The secret things belong to the Lord our God." Are there secret things?
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Yes or no?
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Yes, there are.
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There are secret things that we don't know.
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Who does?
12:33-12:51
He says, Moses says, "They belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and our children forever that we may do all the words of this law." God wants us to know things.
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Do you realize that?
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God wants us to know things so badly that he says, "Here's what I'm gonna do.
12:58-13:07
I'm gonna write it down and I'm gonna put it in a book and I'm gonna make it the best selling, most widely available book on the planet because I want you to know some things.
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And God's like, here's the things that I want you to know, right?
13:13-13:19
But I love Deuteronomy 29.29 because it reminds us that we can't know everything, we can't.
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Like, why not?
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Well, first of all, we're not capable.
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But the other thing, I was thinking about this this week.
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What if God decided He was going to reveal everything to us?
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God's like, "You know, I'm gonna reveal everything.
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Everything, Jack, I'm gonna reveal everything." How big would the Bible be?
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Come on, nobody would read that.
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It'd be like a trillion pages.
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It'd be several trillion.
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It'd be, who's reading that?
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But listen, this is an important point because some people will not accept Scripture.
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They won't accept the Word of God until they fully understand it all.
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Have you met somebody like that?
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Are you somebody like that?
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I'm not gonna believe it until I understand it.
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Not gonna believe it until I understand it.
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Guess what, pal?
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You'll never believe it then.
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But I would say, if that's your attitude, I would say, with all due respect, that you're a hypocrite.
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Because do you realize how much stuff we do every day that we don't really understand how it works, but we do it and we believe it?
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Because it works, right?
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Like Wi-Fi.
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I don't know how Wi-Fi works.
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I use it every day.
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But I'm never like, you know what?
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I gotta check my messages, but I'm not gonna touch that until I really understand how the whole thing works.
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I don't understand how my car works either.
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You turn the key, it fires up, you push a little pedal, you go vroom, vroom.
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I don't know how all that works.
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Well, that's the sound my car makes.
15:00-15:01
I don't know how that works.
15:03-15:05
You know what it really baffles me?
15:06-15:06
Medicine.
15:08-15:09
I take medicine every day.
15:10-15:16
How do those little ingredients know where to go, to which cell to do what function?
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I don't know how that works.
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I take my vitamins.
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How do the vitamins know where to go in your body?
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How do they know how to do that?
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I take them every day, not knowing.
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I know they work, but I don't fully understand how they work.
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But when it comes to theology, I'm not going to believe until I have all the answers.
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You're a hypocrite, because you're never gonna have all the answers.
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I've shared with you before, my dog thinks I'm God.
15:52-15:54
Food and water, infinite supply out of nowhere.
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"You know something else about my dog?
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"Let me tell you something else about my dog.
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"When I grab the leash, she's ready to go.
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"And she has no idea where we're going.
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"But here's the thing, it doesn't matter, right?
16:08-16:20
"It doesn't matter." She's like, "We're going somewhere." But she doesn't sit there and say, "Until I understand where you're taking me "and why you're taking me there "and how long we're going to be there, I'm not going." She's never done that.
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She's just like, "Hey, I love you.
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I'm trusting you, I'll go wherever you want me to go.
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And I was thinking about that this week, to think, why can't we be more like that with God?
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To say, I don't understand. I don't know everything.
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Where are we going? I don't know.
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But you know what, God, I love you, and I trust you, and I'm just going to follow wherever you lead me.
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But listen, church, you're not going to be free to enjoy your life until you accept this.
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That right now, in your life, the Lord is doing thousands of things that don't make any sense to you, but make total sense to Him.
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As a pastor, you know, and with a lot of people in some of the most tragic moments of their lives.
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Why would God allow this?
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Boy, I wish I had an answer for that.
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People involved in accidents, sudden deaths, heart attacks.
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Why would God allow this?
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I wish that I could just pull out a manual and say, "Well, here's exactly why that happened in your life." And I have to be honest with people and say, "I don't know." because with the Lord there's always a degree of mystery.
17:51-17:55
That even if I think I fully understand everything He's doing, I definitely do not.
17:57-18:17
You know, there's a saying around here that we use, "He is God, and I am not." I'm going to teach you another one today, it's this, "I can't know everything God is doing, and I'm okay with that." Let me take another run at that.
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Let me hear it.
18:19-18:28
"I can't know everything God is doing." That was really bad because you sounded like you had so much more conviction before I preached that.
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No explainer.
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Number two.
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Let's try this one.
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"I only get one shot at life on earth." All right, I'm going to give you a chance to say that one.
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You ready?
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Awesome. The rest of you? Okay, let's do it.
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I only get one shot at life on earth. Say it.
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I only get one shot at life on earth.
18:54-18:56
Alright, look at verse 2 in chapter 9.
18:56-19:10
He says, "It is the same for all, since the same event happens to the righteous and the wicked, to the good and the evil, to the clean and the unclean, to him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice.
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As the good one is, so is the sinner.
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And he who swears is as he who shuns an oath.
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The same event happens to them all.
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What's the same?
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It's death.
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You're gonna see that's where he's going with this.
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But death is the equalizer.
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And it comes to all of us.
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It forces us to face reality.
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Look at verse three.
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He says, "This is an evil.
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and all that is done under the sun, that the same event happens to all.
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Also the hearts of the children of man are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead." In other words, he's talking here about why there is death.
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Why?
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Why is there death?
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There's death because there's sin.
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That's what he's pointing out.
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Remember in the Garden of Eden, God told Adam and Eve eventually, don't eat off this one tree.
20:17-20:20
But he says, the day you eat off of this tree, you will die.
20:20-20:30
But interestingly, in the Hebrew, he says, "Dying you will die." Meaning when you sin, Adam, it will begin a process that will end with something.
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Dying you will die.
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And you realize, church, that's something that we see every day in front of us.
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We're all dying.
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We're all wearing out.
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We're getting older and more wrinkly and grayer.
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Dying, you will die.
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Romans 5.12 says, "Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man," that's Adam.
20:58-21:13
And look at this, "death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sin." We were born dying because we inherited sin and we inherited death from Adam.
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It's a harsh reality.
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But it's still reality.
21:22-21:23
You know what I read last week?
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I read the life expectancy in the U.S. dropped.
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Did you hear this?
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It went from 77.3 years to 76.1 years.
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The life expectancy dropped.
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And I don't know how your mind works, but here's how mine works.
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Okay, so the new life expectancy is 76.1 years.
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And I'm 46.
21:55-22:00
And I was thinking, you know, It's been 10 years since the church launched, right?
22:00-22:03
A little more, but about 10 years since the church launched.
22:03-22:07
And I think of my life from the time that Harvest launched until today.
22:08-22:09
That's a unit of time, right?
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10 years, you with me?
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According to the average, if we're just playing the average, I only get three more of those.
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That's if Jesus doesn't come back first, which I think he is.
22:22-22:28
And that's if I don't die another way, murdered or heart attack or whatever.
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I'm glad that amuses you, the thought of me being murdered.
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Anyways, you're like, he knows.
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Anyways, okay, a Harvest launch until today, 10 years.
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I get three more, I only get three more of those if we're just playing the averages.
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And I don't know why you're laughing because some of you get less than that if we're playing the averages.
23:08-23:17
And some of you are still giggling and clapping, but some of you are over time if we're playing the averages.
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but you can't escape the fact that you're going to die.
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And you're like, well, thank you for the reminder, Pastor Jeff.
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Where are you going with this?
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Here's where he's going.
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Look at 4-6.
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"But he has hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion.
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For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten.
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Their love and their hate and their envy already perished and forever they have no more share in all that is done under the Sun." Now he's not saying there's no life after death because he makes that abundantly clear elsewhere in the book. That's not what he's saying here at all.
24:11-24:55
Like, well what is he saying? Here's what Solomon's saying, listen, you get one shot at life. That's what he's saying. When you die, you can't return. Everything from your life, when you die, everything in your life is forever over. And he's saying that you don't get a do-over when it's done. You don't. Like, you know what, God? There are some things I didn't like. I'd like to change some things around. Let me, you know, let me, let me, let me get, can we give me a mulligan on that life? Let me go back and...
24:56-25:42
That's his point here, is you can't do that. You get one shot. You get one time up to the plate. So what are you living for? Are you, are you using your one shot at life to chase after things that haven't made you happy and never will make you happy but you're going after them. Are you using your one shot at life to constantly complain and bellyache that everything isn't exactly how you like it? Your one shot at life or are you just using it to kill time? I cringe when I hear people say that. What are you doing? I'll just kill in time. They ain't making any more of that. What are you doing man? What are What are you doing?
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Are you racing to the finish line?
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With nothing to show for your life.
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See that's what Solomon's driving at, is the purpose to life must be sought now.
25:57-26:04
And Solomon has showed us over and over and over, purpose only comes from knowing the living God.
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That's the only thing that gives meaning and satisfaction and significance to your life.
26:11-27:05
God. So you need to say it in a sentence. What specific things have you done? Let's just take the past week, okay? Just look at the last week of your life. What specific things have you done to go after that? Knowing God. What have you done? And listen, intentions don't count. Like, well I meant to pray, and I meant to I meant to go to small group, and I meant... intentions don't count. What can you point to in your life that says, "Here is where I'm seeking to know God. Here's what I'm doing to grow in my relationship." Or, "Are you putting God off?" Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I hear what you're saying, Jeff. Someday, someday I'm going to stop this sin that I'm doing. Someday I'm gonna do that. Someday, you know what, someday, Jeff, I'm I'm gonna really start praying.
27:05-27:07
And I've just been kind of saying my prayers lately.
27:07-27:09
Someday I'm really gonna get serious about prayer.
27:10-27:12
Someday I'm really gonna get serious about reading the Bible.
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Someday I'm really gonna get serious about seeking God.
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Well, I got awesome news for you.
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Today is someday.
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I heard somebody say one time that you need to live the kind of life now that you wanna be able to tell God that you lived when you stand before him someday.
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You only get one shot.
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And everything will change for you when you learn to truly embrace, daily embrace this truth.
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I only get one shot at life.
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Say that again with me.
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Ready?
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I'm going to give you a chance, hang on.
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Because I'm only going to give you one shot at this.
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See that's what you call an illustration.
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I only get one shot at life.
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I only get one shot at life.
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Take it.
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Take it.
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Okay, three things I know for certain that allow me to enjoy life.
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The first thing I know for certain is that I can't know everything God is doing.
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I'll be okay with that.
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Second thing is I only get one shot at life on earth, finally.
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This is going to be the hardest sell in the church.
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But we're going after it.
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I have God's approval.
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I'm going to give you a chance to say that.
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And then we're going to see what the text says.
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So, as sort of a deposit by faith, I want you to say it.
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I have God's approval.
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Say it.
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I have God's approval.
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These last few verses that we're looking at today, it's a familiar refrain in Ecclesiastes.
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He keeps coming back to this, but there's a statement that he uses here.
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A very profound phrase is added.
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Look at verse seven.
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Look at this.
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Go.
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Because of all the stuff he just said, this is the charge now, this is the command.
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He goes, "Go, eat your bread with joy "and drink your wine with a merry heart, "for God has already approved what you do." Stop.
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Listen, God has already approved.
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In one sense this is looking forward to the provision of the new covenant, but in another sense you could say it's always been by faith, right?
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Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.
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Listen, church, when you turn from your sin, and you receive Jesus Christ's faith, a whole lot of things happen there.
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The Bible says you're born again.
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The Bible says God's Spirit comes and indwells you, and lives in you, and through you.
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You have the promise of heaven.
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But there's something that happens when you receive Jesus Christ that a lot of Christians just don't really believe or embrace, but it's absolutely true, and it's this.
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When you receive Christ, God pronounces you righteous.
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He says, "You are perfect. You are holy. You have the righteousness of Christ." And trust me, as a pastor for the last 20-some-odd years, I just know too many Christians don't believe this.
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Listen, God has already given you His approval.
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What do you mean by that?
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I mean this.
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You don't have to try to please God.
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You don't have to try to earn God's favor.
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There is nothing that you can do that's going to make God happy with you.
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You don't have to earn it because, like Mark had said earlier, it's not performance-based.
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And I've shared this with you before, but so much of our lives is performance-based.
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I got to, you know, I got to make my, I got to do well in school so my teacher's happy.
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I got to do well at work so my boss is happy. I got to do well at home so my wife is happy.
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I gotta do well, you know, so my parents are happy and so much of our lives, it's performance based and we carry that over to God.
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And say, "I gotta be a good little Christian so God's happy with me." And it's not performance based.
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You have His approval because of what Jesus Christ has done on your behalf.
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Let me put it in human terms.
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If I can get really personal here.
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I never felt like I had my mother's approval.
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Ever.
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I never heard, "I'm proud of you." I never heard, "I'm so glad you're my son." I never heard, "Hey, I listened to your sermon online and I really enjoy that." I never heard that.
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I just never felt the approval.
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And you know, parents, parents, we do not have to parent the way that we were parented.
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And I want it different for my kids.
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Like my son, Cade, who's sitting back there.
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I tell him this all the time.
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You have my approval.
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You wanna shave your head, you wanna have long hair, you have my approval.
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You wanna play guitar, you have my approval.
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You wanna play hockey, you have my approval.
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Someday soon he's gonna be getting a job.
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He knows this.
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If you wanna work for Walmart or the sanitation department or be a doctor or a lawyer or whatever, you have my approval.
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I love him. He is my son and nothing is going to change that. And I tell him all the time, he'll tell you, I say, "Cade, I love you the same on your best day and on your worst day.
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Your performance doesn't change the way I feel about you because you're my son and I love you." Now listen, I want to help him do the right thing and yes, sometimes he messes up because we all mess up and we deal with it and we correct it and we move on but even through that that doesn't change how I feel about it you see and it's the same with God when you receive Jesus Christ the Bible says you become a child of God and yes God corrects us when we're in sin but we never lose his approval as His children.
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You've got to get that through your heads.
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If you're walking around saying, "God..." I'm speaking to Christians now.
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But if you're walking around saying, "God, You must be so disappointed in me." He's not.
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Because you have His approval.
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to Jesus Christ.
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And if he's walking around saying, "Oh, I messed up so bad, God must be so angry with me!" He's not.
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Because of Jesus Christ.
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Do you understand what Jesus did on the cross?
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It wasn't just "Die this martyr's death." He was bearing the wrath of God for my sin, and for your sin, so when God punished His Son, He's not going to turn around and say, "I'm still mad about sin!" And punish somebody who receives Jesus.
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The punishment's been dealt out.
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He's not angry with you.
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He's not disappointed with you.
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If you are in Christ, you're His child, and you have His approval.
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So listen, we don't live under the fear of a God who can't wait to punish us for messing up.
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We live under the love of a God who, thanks to Jesus Christ, has given us His approval.
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You're like, "So, what do I do with that?" Look at verse 8.
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He says, "Let your garments be always white.
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Let not oil be lacking on your head." Those were just things that they did in that hot climate to stay comfortable.
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That's all he's talking about.
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I know some people try to spiritualize this to say, "Well, the garments are talking about, "you know, positional righteousness in Jesus Christ, "the oil is a picture of the Holy Spirit." I don't think so.
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You're gonna see from the rest of the context, I think he's talking about very practical everyday things.
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I think what he's saying is, so be comfortable.
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You have God's approval, so enjoy your life.
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Be comfortable.
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If we were writing this in our day, we would say something like, "So, put on your crocks.
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You get that perm.
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Whatever floats your boat.
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Be comfortable.
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Enjoy your life because you have God's approval.
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Enjoy the things that God has ordained for you." Like what?
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Here's a couple, verses nine and 10.
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He says, "Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your vain life that He has given you under the sun, because that is your portion in life.
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And in your toil, in which you toil under the sun, whatever your hand finds you to do, do it with all your might.
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For there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom and Sheol to which you are going." Sheol just means the grave.
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They didn't have all of the revelation that we have living on this side of history, this side of Jesus Christ, this side of the new covenant.
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So the Old Testament mindset was you die and you go to the grave, shiel, the place of the dead.
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That's all that means, it's just the grave.
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So he says, "Hey, if you're married, enjoy that.
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You have a job, go for it, man, hard as you can.
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Enjoy your life.
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This might sound like a radical concept, but this is exactly what he's talking about.
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God wants you to enjoy the things that He's given you.
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That's not a hard concept, is it?
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He wants you to enjoy the things He's given you?
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How would you feel, parents with kids, how would you feel if you spent all your money and you booked the most perfect vacation in Disney World and you're, you know, you take little Jimmy and little Betsy or whatever, you're at Disney World, and you bought the tickets and you got the fast pass and they're wearing the little mouse ears and you look down and you're like, all this for you, what do you think?
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And they're like, boring.
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How would you feel?
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You're like, I did all of this for you to enjoy.
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And you see, you gotta think in the same way.
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Look, God is saying, "I've given you food, and drink, and comfort, and this spouse, and your job.
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Why are you so miserable?
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Look at all this stuff that I gave you.
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Enjoy this." God meant for life to be enjoyed.
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And there's something so, there's so, we're like so tightly wound as Christians sometimes, even saying that, there's somebody, right now, I guarantee you there's somebody that's blasphemy check.
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God wants me to enjoy life.
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That doesn't sound right, Jeff.
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I don't think God wants me to enjoy life.
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He does!
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He says he does.
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He's given you everything to enjoy life, so enjoy it.
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And there are so many things that we could focus on that would make us lose sight of the fact that God wants you to enjoy life.
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So here's three things to remind yourself.
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Truths to take to the bank.
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Things will maximize your time here on the earth.
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I wanna give you a challenge this week, all right?
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Here's what I want you to do.
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These three truths, now you got your sermon outline thing here, right?
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You got your sermon outline?
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You filled it out?
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All right.
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Here's what I want you to do.
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I want you to keep this handy this week.
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Keep stick it in your Bible, stick it in your pocket.
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I don't care, but keep this thing handy.
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And here's the challenge that I want you to do this week.
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This week, I want you to pray these three truths back to God first thing every morning.
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Before you do anything, I want you to pull this paper out.
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Mine's not filled in.
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I got this one.
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But you need to pull this paper out and pray these things back to God.
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To say, God, I'm about to start my day today, and God, I'm reminded from your word that I'm not going to know and understand everything that you're doing today, and I'm okay with that.
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Let me follow you and trust you no matter what.
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Can you pray something like that back to God?
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And then say, God, I'm about to start my day, and I realize I only have one shot at life on earth, and I wanna make it count.
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I want today to be about seeking You and finding Your purpose in life.
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And the last glorious thing I want you to pray back to God is to say, "God, I thank You that I'm moving forward today already having Your approval.
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God, thank You that there's nothing I have to do today to earn Your love, earn Your favor.
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There's no performing that I have to do to make You happy with me, God.
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I thank You that because of Jesus Christ, I already have your approval.
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So I'm moving forward in victory.
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I'm moving forward today as a child of God.
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I want you to bow your heads and pray with me, please.
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That's your challenge this week.
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Pray these three things.
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First thing, every morning.
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And I want you to see how it's going to change your entire attitude and outlook on your life.
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Can you do that? Can you try that?
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Let's pray.
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Father, we just want to bow before You and we thank You for Your Word.
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And we thank You, Father, as Solomon's walking us through, trying to understand the meaning of life, that we have these three glorious truths to hold on to.
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And Father, these are three things that I think so many people in the church they have completely forgotten.
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We try to have the right systematic theology and subscribe to the right preacher, and we think we know everything that you're doing, but even Moses said there's secret things that belong to you.
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Father, we think that things are going to go on forever.
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There's always time to go back and fix things.
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And Solomon reminds us, we only get one shot at this.
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Father, we thank you for the glorious ministry of Jesus Christ that brings us the very righteousness of God and therefore your approval, just as Solomon says here.
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So Father, I just pray today for this church, that these truths would be manifest in our lives in a way that the world sees this is the difference that Jesus Christ makes in a person's life.
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Let that be our witness to open the door, Father, to share Your Word.
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As we experience Your goodness, perhaps like never before, we pray in Jesus' name, Amen.
Small Group Discussion
Read Ecclesiastes 8:16-9:10
Icebreaker
Share something that you think you should know more about as an adult, but don’t.
What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
Is there anything about God / the Bible that bothers you to the point where you struggle to believe? Is Deuteronomy 29:29 helpful to you? Why or why not?
What does it mean to have God’s approval (Eccl 9:7)? Why do so many Christians struggle with believing God approves them?
Breakout
Pray for one another.