00:00 PR is All Alone

00:37 Pastor PJ's Absence and Prayers

01:41 Recap of the NEC Conference

03:32 Diving into Ecclesiastes 1-6

05:35 The Vanity of Life Explored

10:13 Finding Joy in Life's Simple Pleasures

11:23 The Importance of Timing and God's Control

13:31 The Value of Companionship

14:34 Guarding Your Words and Wealth

18:01 Concluding Thoughts on Ecclesiastes

19:46 The End

Well, it is Tuesday, June 18th, 2024.

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And I'm just going to tell you now.

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I feel different.

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This doesn't feel quite

right because I am all alone.

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I've got no Pastor, PJ, and I'm not sure

how to even act with you guys right now.

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This just feels so foreign.

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Indifferent.

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Uh, but I'm going to give it my best shot.

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I'm going to try to honor pastor

PJ's memory, although he's not dead.

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And let, uh, let him feel proud that I

held down the ship while he was gone.

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So it's me for the next two weeks.

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And I'm sorry about that, but

I'm going to give it my best shot

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for all of you and for my sick.

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So that you guys have a great

podcast experience while he's gone.

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Where's pastor PJ.

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Pastor PJ is.

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Traversing the United States

with his beloved and his family.

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Uh, and, and I don't know,

I'm probably running through

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wildflower field taking trendy.

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Cool photos.

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Uh, he's doing lots of

fun stuff with his family.

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So in fact, if you think

about him, I think about us.

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If you'd pray for him as

he's gone, that'd be great.

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We want him to have safe passage.

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We want him to be healthy and come back

excited and recharged for the ministry.

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And you guys probably know this.

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When you go on vacation, sometimes

adjusting to the vacation

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mentality just takes time.

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You have to kind of decompress and it

just takes a few days to really get into

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the mindset of being on vacation mode.

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And then it takes time

to get back out of it.

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So prayed for those smooth transitions,

pray that he has a great time with

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his family, that he's able to unplug.

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And that there's no emergencies

or issues while he's away.

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Uh, that'd be great.

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He'd be able to come back with an

empty inbox and then having no issues

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to deal with that would be phenomenal.

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Well today, uh, it's a couple days

removed from it now, but we just

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came back from the NEC conference.

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This was a weekend conference

in new Braunfels, Texas.

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And that was amazing.

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We had a great time.

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The whole theme of the conversation

was what is the gospel and what

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are the implications for everything

else that's touched by it, which is.

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Impressive.

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And it's large and it's significant.

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Uh, pastor PJ got to teach

two breakout sessions.

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Uh, I got to teach one

and here's the good news.

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All of those sessions are already

on line and ready to be viewed and

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listened to, to your heart's content.

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So I know that you're

looking forward to this.

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You can go to equipped conference.com

equipped conference.com and you can watch

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or listen to all the sessions, all the

messages, they're all there for you.

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In fact, it's near the

very top of the page.

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You can't miss it.

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And you'll also see that already on the

top of the page is a mark your calendars

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for a 2026 national equipped conference.

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So that's going to be in summer

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at one of our sister churches.

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Uh, at compass HB.

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Huntington beach, California.

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So if you ever need a reason,

To travel to California.

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Here it is.

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You have the NEC.

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Conference, uh, which is a bit redundant.

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I get that coming up

and a couple of years.

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So put it on your calendar would love

to have you there for the next one.

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Okay.

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I want you to think about this.

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You want to buy something expensive,

you know, you want to buy a new

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car or a new house or whatever you

want to buy something expensive.

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You have to put down a lot of money.

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What's one of the things that

you're likely going to do.

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And before you drop a ton

of money on something.

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And if you're like me, They're

going to go look for the reviews.

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You're going to go to the, uh,

you'll go to the Amazon reviews.

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You'll say four stars and above, or

you're going to go to Yelp and look

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up the contractor that you're working

with, or you're going to go to Google

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reviews and see if there's anything

out there about the people that you're

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going to be doing business with.

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You're just going to look for the reviews.

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You want to hear people that

have been there, done that

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and what their experience was.

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With the certain thing that

you're attempting to buy?

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Well, here in the book of Ecclesiastes

is we're going to spend the next

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two days covering this book.

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And this is a, an extended review.

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From who we think is king Solomon.

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There's a potential that it may not

be him, but it's in all likelihood.

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It's got the marks of probably

king Solomon, but it really

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doesn't matter if it's not him.

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Whoever it is, is taking on the

persona of king Solomon and showing

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us what it looks like to take life

by the horns to experience and

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enjoy all that life has to offer.

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And to give a review on it.

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So, if you think about king Solomon's

position here, richest man in human

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history, billions, upon trillions

of dollars, even this guy has

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everything that he wants and needs.

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And so he invest his time and energy.

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Trying to squeeze all

the juice out of life.

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And at the end of it.

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He gives his reflections.

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So we're looking at Ecclesiastes

because we're, we're renting out

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the end of king Solomon's story.

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And, you know, as we're going

through chronologically.

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Uh, king Solomon had a couple

areas where he really struggled.

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And if this is king Solomon writing

Ecclesiastes, it's his sober minded

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reflections near the end of his life.

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As he's thinking about all that he's

done and all that he's accomplished.

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And now.

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Kind of issuing a verdict.

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And saying, here's the result here?

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Here's the conclusions I've come to and

Ecclesiastes is one of my favorite books.

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And I think pastor PGS,

that's something very similar.

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So it's a shame.

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You only get two days in it.

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But you can't make a lot out of it.

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So let's go through it together.

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Ecclesiastes these

starting at chapter one.

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We're going to make our way all

the way through chapter six here.

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Now let's start with the name itself.

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The name actually comes

from the Latin Vulgate.

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Ecclesiastes, these, it means preacher.

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Uh, the Hebrew word that we're

looking at throughout this as Colt co.

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Go hell it co-health, which means

one who brings someone together

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in an assembly kind of situation.

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It's a teacher of sorts.

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And so teacher becomes

preacher and the preacher here.

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Introduces himself.

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Um, and verse one, chapter one, the

words of the preacher, co-health

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the son of David King of Jerusalem.

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This is why we believe it's Solomon or

at least someone who's like Solomon.

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If it's not exactly him that's as

someone who's possessing a Solomon

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like mentality, but probably sell them.

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Let's just stick with that.

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And chapter one, you have the

introduction that he issues and the

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introduction doesn't sound super exciting.

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And in fact, he says in verse two,

vanity of vanities says the preacher

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vanity of vanities all is vanity.

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And that word's going to appear

38 separate times in this book.

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The word vanity is hevel and hevel.

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Um, can really have two, maybe three

different connotations or meanings

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as it's applied here in the text.

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So let's just quickly

pause there for a second.

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Vanity.

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Is the word hevel hevel a

can mean vapor or smoke.

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Pastor PG likes to use the illustration.

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It's the stuff that comes off the top,

that the top of your hot cup of coffee.

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And that's true.

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It's something that you

can't grasp or hold onto.

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Uh, and it has two basic meanings

in the book of Ecclesiastes.

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He's the first one referring to

something temporary or fleeting.

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We understand that as we see

the mist and the vapor, right?

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You can't clutch it.

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It's it's here one

moment and gone the next.

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The second meaning is something

that is closer to the idea

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of enigmatic or paradoxical.

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It doesn't quite make sense.

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There's pieces that don't fit together.

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At least in our limited

short-term understanding.

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And that's going to be key to our

interpretation of the entire book.

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So these two ideas work together through

the, through the whole book to help us

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understand the perplexity and complexity.

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Of life under the sun.

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And so in this extended introduction

here, king Solomon gives us his verdict.

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Everything's vanity a generation

comes a generation, goes.

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All things are full of weariness.

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Is there something new under the sun?

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See it's new.

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It's already been done.

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Been there, done that.

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Kind of reminds me of that song and

frozen two, some things never change.

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It's the idea that really

life is, is, is what it is.

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And you really can't change

it when it comes down to it.

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You don't have the kind of

impact that you long to have.

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He starts here in verses 12, really?

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Through the end of chapter one here.

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He's talking about his search, the way

that he set himself up for this venture.

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And he says, look, I want you to know

what is crooked, can't be made straight.

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And what is lacking cannot

be counted in verse 15.

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He's going to talk about something

that we're going to see a lot, and

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it's the inscrutable ways of God.

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You see the way that God operates

is not always predictable.

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Or formulaic, the way that he works in the

world is perhaps most often hidden to us.

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The inscrutable ways of God means that

we just are left in the dark most of

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the time, even when we're following

his word, even when we're doing what

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he says, There's just a way of living

that says we don't understand why

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things work out the way that they do.

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And the last verse of chapter

one, he says for in much wisdom.

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Is much vexation and he who increases

knowledge, increases sorrow.

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You've likely heard of the term.

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Ignorance is bliss and

it seems like Solomon.

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Is suggesting something similar here.

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And chapter two.

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He approaches wisdom by saying, okay,

look now what I'm going to do is I'm

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going to give it my best shot to.

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Uh, find wisdom or find

satisfaction in life through

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a multitude of pleasures work.

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Uh, joy, the singers, his buildings, and

all the good things that life has offered.

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So he gives himself fully to this.

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And short story.

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Uh, if he finds that hedonism

doesn't satisfy, he finds

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that work in and of itself.

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Doesn't satisfy.

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He says, I'm not doing

this without wisdom.

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I kept my wisdom with me.

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He says, and I tried to, uh,

exploit all that life had to offer.

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And I found that it was.

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There was nothing.

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It was hevel.

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It was, it was vanity.

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And he says, even here

in verses 12 through 17.

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Um, he says, look, one of the

challenges of living wisely, even though

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it's better than living foolishly.

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Is that you're going to

die and be forgotten?

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No, one's going to remember you.

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Uh, even those who love you,

there's a short lifespan on

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how long you'll be remembered.

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Now, maybe.

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The Instagram and Facebook and

photos and, and videos and things

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help us live a little longer.

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But at the end of the day, Solomon's

expecting that everyone's going to die

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and the memory of people will fade.

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I mean, if you just think about a

few generations in your own family,

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can you recall your grandparents,

their names and their dates of birth

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and what they did with their lives?

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Probably not.

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It's gonna be a bit sad.

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Uh, and that's part of the point here.

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He's trying to demonstrate what life

under the sun looks like apart from God.

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He continues in the second

half of chapter two.

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Uh, starting at verse 18.

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I hated all my toil in which I toiled

under the sun, seeing that I must leave

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it to another man who will come after me.

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So he says, look, I can, I can build

a lots of money and build lots of

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wealth, but what happens to me and

what happens to my wealth after

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me is really out of my control.

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That's out of my control.

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I have no choice in the matter.

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At some point I'm going to leave.

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And then what my, my kids, my sons,

my daughters, my grandkids do with

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what I worked so hard to attain.

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Is outside of my control.

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I don't have any power.

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He concludes with something powerful.

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And this is going to be one of

those breaths of oxygen for us.

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He's going to hit is heavy with a

lot of difficulty and vexation and

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our own sorrows and our own hearts.

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And then he's going to offer

these little moments of.

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Fresh air.

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Verse 24.

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He says this, there is nothing

better for a person than that.

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He should eat and drink and

find enjoyment in his toilet.

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And this also I saw is from the hand

of God, for apart from him who can

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eat or who can have enjoyment for, to

the one who pleases him, God has given

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wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to

the center, He has given the business

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of gathering and collecting only to

give it to the one who pleases God.

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This also is vanity and

striving after the wind.

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So one of the conclusions he's

going to draw for us here is to say,

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look, if you want to live, rightly.

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You want to do life well, enjoy your

lot in life, eat and drink and find

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enjoyment with whatever God has given you.

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Whatever it is that is in front

of you, the family, you have the

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job, you have the car you ride.

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I mean, enjoy that because there's

no guarantee that you're going

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to have anything different.

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There's no guarantee that

you're going to have better.

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In fact, what is a guarantee is that

time and death happened to all of us.

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Speaking of time, chapter

three, take a look at this.

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At the beginning of chapter three,

he begins to ruminate or meditate

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upon this idea that there's a

time for everything under the sun.

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And in fact.

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This timing is God appointed timing,

God controls and appoints time.

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He says there's a time for everything.

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There's a season for everything.

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There's a time to be

born at a time to die.

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Time to plant in a time to pluck up

what is planted and do all of this.

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He's trying to get us to

understand and feel the weight of.

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I don't have control over this.

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I just don't.

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I can't.

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Tell my life.

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Oh, it's a time to do this

versus that it's it's this

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season to do this versus that.

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In some ways we do have

the ability to respond.

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We call that responsibility.

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On the other hand.

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We can't control how

God navigates our life.

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We can't control when death occur.

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When death occurs.

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We can't control when war happens.

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We can't control when, when there's a time

to, you know, the time to fight versus a

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time to it, to lay down and be at peace.

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There's so many elements of our lives

that are outside of our control.

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And I think that's part of his

point here, respect the time.

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And respect the fact that God's

the one who controls the time.

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He continues on.

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Uh, versus nine.

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And following here, he says, look,

I perceive that there's nothing

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better for them, people then

that they be joyful and do good.

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As long as they live verse 12.

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Again, you're seeing some of this.

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Uh, some of his conclusions already

developed, enjoy and accept the law.

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God has given you.

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When you have breakfast with your family.

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Savor that.

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When you go out with their

wife or your husband.

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Enjoy that and, and really seek to take

advantage of the fact, drink it all in.

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This is a good gift of God.

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Verse 11.

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I I'd be hard pressed to skip this.

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This is probably one of his

main points in the book here.

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He has made everything

beautiful in its time.

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And it's time.

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And it's time.

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Recognize here.

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It's not our time.

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Not our time.

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God has appointed time and our job

is to respond to it and to accept it

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as it is and not to try to change it.

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He says also he has put eternity

into man's heart yet so that he

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can not find out what God has done

from the beginning to the end.

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There's the inscrutability of

God's operations upon humanity.

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So as you're going to die,

things are going to change.

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Uh, God has his timing, respect

that timing respond to that timing.

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And chapter four, he goes

on to this idea that look.

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Uh, there's oppression.

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There's, there's evil.

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There's things that are happening.

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Um, even with that.

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It's better when you're with

people it's better together.

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In other words, there's, there's,

there's always going to be difficulty in

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trying to cooperate with people because

there's injustice and there's oppression

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and there's all sorts of things.

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And yet he said it's

better to be with people.

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It's better to invest in people.

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He says in verse nine, two are

better than one because they have

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a good reward for their toil.

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If one falls, one will lift up the other.

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But woe to him who is alone when he falls

and has not another to lift him up again.

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If two lie together, they keep warm,

but how can one keep warm alone?

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You need people.

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People are worth the energy.

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People are worth the effort.

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And we see this in the new Testament.

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Jesus says that we're to love our

brothers and sisters and you're

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to love as you want to be loved.

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And that this is part of

your reason for existing.

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To be with people to love

people, to care for people.

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So chapter four is his way to say,

look, this is complicated and this

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is messy and this is painful and

there's all sorts of things happening.

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But people are still worth the effort.

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And chapter five, he reminds us

to guard our words and he has one.

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As one who is bayed to use

his words for a living.

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I feel this, I hope you feel this too.

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Um, he says his guard, your steps,

and you go to the house of God to

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draw near, to draw near, rather to

listen is better than the offer.

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The sacrifice of fools

for, they do not know.

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That they're doing evil.

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Be not rash with your words, nor let your

heart be hasty to utter a word before God.

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So it says that's that Matt

Redmond song and you are God in

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heaven and I'm here on earth.

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So I'm going to let my words be few.

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The idea here is that you don't want

to send with your mouth or words are

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many transgression is not lacking.

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We read into in the wisdom literature.

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That's by the way.

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I don't know if I mentioned this yet.

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The Ecclesiastes, these, the,

the, all the, all 12 of these

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chapters is wisdom literature.

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So it's meant to be read in view

of what you read in Proverbs.

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Uh, and what you read in job and

when, what you read in some of

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the Psalms wisdom, literature

kind of functioning together here.

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Giving you the other side

of the coin as it were.

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Verse six, let not your

mouth lead you into sin.

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And do not say before the messenger,

that was a mistake that it was a mistake.

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Uh, beware guard your words.

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Um, out of the overflow of

the heart, the mouth speaks.

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Jesus says, therefore, you ought to be

judicious about the words that you allow

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to exit your heart and mouth rather.

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Vanity of wealth and honors the

heading in the second half of

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chapter five of Ecclesiastes.

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And this is Solomon's way of saying,

look, money's not going to do it for you.

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Money is in fact a as one.

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As one.

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Uh, person said in the nineties, Mo

money Mo problems, Mo money Mo problems.

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You're going to have issues more money.

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Doesn't resolve all your

problems, although it sure.

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It surely does have an impact.

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But the more money you have, the more,

the more issues you have to deal with.

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I can't say that.

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I know what that's like, but I trust

that what's element is saying is true.

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Uh, so God, the love of money,

he's essentially calling you to.

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Uh, instead verses 18 through the rest

of your says, behold, what I've seen

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to be good and fitting is to eat and

drink and find enjoyment in all the

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toil, which w with, um, with which.

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One toils under the sun, the few days

of his life that God has given him.

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There you go again, except the lot God

has given you the good, the bad, the ugly.

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This is where God has placed you

and it's and it's okay to say,

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man, I wish things were different.

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But in his time and God's time.

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It's not going to be what I want.

403

It's going to be what God wants

and I should be okay with this.

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I should in fact, find enjoyment

in what God has given me.

405

Am I am I rich and powerful.

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Fantastic.

407

I'll enjoy that.

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And I'll use it for the glory.

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God, am I poor and modest?

410

Fantastic.

411

I'm going to appreciate that.

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Enjoy it to the glory of God.

413

Wherever this life finds you wherever

this book finds you find enjoyment

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and the things God has given you.

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Is it everyone also to whom God has

given wealth and possessions and

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power to enjoy them and accept them.

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And accept his lot in life.

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Rather, this is the gift of God.

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It's very possible to have all

that you've ever wanted out of

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life and still not enjoy it.

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I hope that's not you, but recognize

here, he's making a distinction.

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It's possible to have everything you want.

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And not be able to enjoy it.

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Better than is to have what you have,

be content with it and find enjoyment

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and the things that God has given you.

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Last part here, chapter six.

427

Um, he talks about, uh, other people

who don't have the power to enjoy

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the things that God gives them.

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This has vanities, grievous, evil.

430

That's not a good place to be.

431

He causes out here.

432

Um, whatever has come, uh,

whatever has come to be.

433

Has already been named and what did

it, what it is known, what man is, and

434

that he is not able to dispute with one

stronger than he, the more words, the more

435

vanity and what is the advantage to men?

436

What is.

437

What does man gain from that?

438

For who knows what is good for men

while he lives the few days of his life.

439

He doesn't sound very happy there.

440

Uh, Solomon concludes at least in this

section here with this idea of just

441

being content, loving the life that God

has given you, not multiplying words,

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trusting that God has all things under

control and that you can trust him.

443

You can trust that he's got

your best interests at heart.

444

This is hard because if you're,

if you're a Christian, it's often.

445

The prosperity gospel can sneak

into our lives by making us think

446

that we deserve something different.

447

And I'm getting to the church

I'm serving in the church.

448

I'm doing the things that you want God.

449

And yet.

450

You know, Some health issue or you, my

kids aren't saved or some other issue.

451

Uh, Francaise.

452

Our posture.

453

I said, look, I'm going

to enjoy what I have.

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I'm going to pray for things that I want.

455

And I think that the things that I

know God wants me to honor him with,

456

but I'm going to enjoy what I have.

457

Can I seek to bless and honor with what

I've got and not desire to be rich,

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not covet the life of other people.

459

Good except what I have

no joke when I have.

460

I'm gonna enjoy what I have today.

461

I'm not going to wait until some magical.

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End of time where I've got

everything and everything's perfect.

463

I'm at the perfect age.

464

I've got the perfect health.

465

I've got the, all the

money in the bank account.

466

No, I'm going to be joyful today because

I know that God has good in store for me.

467

This is where Romans

eight is really helpful.

468

I know what God's up to.

469

I know what his plans are.

470

And in the meantime, I can trust him.

471

He's worth it.

472

Okay.

473

Ecclesiastes is one through six.

474

This is a great book.

475

And even though we're going through

it pretty quickly for my taste,

476

man, there's so much here for you.

477

And I know that you're not

going to have all your questions

478

answered as you make your way

through the book, but that's okay.

479

Highlight the things that

you love and it speak to you.

480

Underline some things, or maybe put some

question marks on things that, you know,

481

you need to work on or figure out later.

482

Uh, but enjoy the book.

483

And in fact, while you're enjoying the

book and enjoy the fact that you're,

484

you're about to go into the world

today, whatever it is that you're doing.

485

As a mom, as a dad, as an employee

or as an employee, as a manager,

486

as a student, enjoy the life that

God has given you otherwise outside

487

of Christ, man, it's all vanity.

488

And we don't want that.

489

All right.

490

Hey guys.

491

Thanks for joining me today.

492

I hope to be with you tomorrow.

493

For another edition of the daily Bible

podcast until then we'll see you soon.