How Life Works According to King Solomon

turn with me if you would to the book of Ecclesiastes chapter 3 and let me say a little bit about Ecclesiastes Ecclesiastes is one of my favorite books in the Bible it was written by Solomon sometime around 930 BC so you're talking about a book that's over 3,000 years old and I'll be honest with you it's a little difficult to understand unless you understand a little bit about Hebrew you understand how to use reference material because over 3,000 years the way they spoke the way we speak with Hebrew isms which is Jewish figures of speech sometimes it's very difficult to understand so you read through the book of Ecclesiastes and you think oh my gosh I didn't understand anything in the book but really it it's it's quite easy to understand once you know a few things but chapter 3 is a very interesting chapter because this chapter explains how life works and oh how I wish I had known this information when I was younger in fact I wish my dad would have sat me down and explained this to me because it would have saved me a lot of heartache and it would have saved me a lot of time searching for answers and questioning God as to why this happened or why that happened it would have allowed me to obtain success so much earlier in my life because this chapter also explains the role that we play in determining the quality of our life you see sometimes we think that just you know life's just good for some people and it's bad for others and it's not really the case you see to a large extent we determine whether we have a great life or a crappy life believe it or not it's not the circumstances that determine that whether we have a good life for a crappy life it's the way we react to the circumstances that determine whether we have a good life for a crappy life so this is something that I wish I would have known earlier life it's also something I wish I would have taught my children I think it would have given them a better understanding of life in general and it would have taught them the proper way to act and react to things that have been thrown to them or thrown at them in life you see some of the things you can prepare for and even avoid by doing the right things however there are times when you've done all of the right but life still throws you a curveball and it seems everything goes to pot and you're wondering why in the world did that happen to me well I hate to tell you this but that's the way life works and how you act or react when that happens determines the outcome so let's look at what Solomon had to say about life and the way it works and what our proper response should be when things are thrown at us that we really don't understand so let's start with verse number one because verse number one lays the foundation for the rest of the chapter in fact if you misinterpret verse one you missed the whole point of chapter three I can't tell you the number of commentaries I have in my library on the book of Ecclesiastes that are almost worthless when it comes to chapter three because they misinterpreted verse 1 and if you misinterpret verse number one you screw up the rest of the chapter so notice what verse 1 says there is an appointed time for everything and there is a time for every event under heaven now Calvinists claim that this verse proves that God predestined every event that takes place that nothing happens that's not God's will and that he didn't for ordained in fact if you don't mind let me read a portion from Edward Palmer's book the five points of Calvinism and if you haven't figured it out he's a Calvinist if you haven't figured it out I'm not a Calvinist but here's what he had to say this is what he wrote in fact you'll find this on pages 24 and 25 in his book the five points of Calvinism he writes for ordination means God's sovereign plan whereby he decides all that is to happen in the entire universe nothing in this world happens by chance God is in back of everything let me said it again nothing in this world happens by chance God is in back of everything he decides and causes all things to happen that do happen you have a flat tire gun cause that you have cancer God caused that your spouse dies God caused that someone gets raped gone caused that someone gets murdered God caused that listen this is what they believe God predestined everything he decides and causes all things to happen that do happen he has foreordained everything after the counsel of his will the moving of the finger the beating of the heart the laughing of a girl the mistake of a typist even sin so if you screwed up bless your heart is not your fault that was God's will now if you believe that come on up here and I'll slap the fire out of you and don't get mad because that's God's will or I wouldn't have done that now what Calvinists claim this verse is saying is that God predestined every event that happens down to the very second that he is predestined a time for everything but people that is not what Solomon is saying and I can prove it to you you see the Jews had two different words for time mo aid 1/8 mo aid was the word the Jews used to refer to a specific time such as it's now 10:28 or you're gonna go and meet someone for lunch after this at 11:30 - that's what mo aid means it refers to a specific time or specific moment in time in fact let me give you an example of how this word is used in another passage of scripture so you'll understand what mo Aid really means turn with me if you would to the book of 1st Samuel chapter 20 verse 35 if you remember the story David's telling Jonathan your dad's trying to kill me and Jonathan says oh no David he's not trying to kill you he said yes he is and Jonathan says I'll tell you what I'll sit at dinner with him and I'll find out whether he wants to kill you or not and if he's trying to kill you here's what I'll do you meet me at a certain time in this field and if he's trying to kill you I'll shoot the arrow past you and when the guy when the little boy there lag goes out to get the arrows and retrieve them for me I'll tell him oh it's further and that tells you to run if I don't shoot it very far and I said oh no it's back this way you'll know my dad's not trying to kill you all right now that's the story but I'm gonna read one verse this is verse 35 and it says it came to pass in the morning that Jonathan went out into the field at the time appointed with David a specific time not sometime in the morning not sometime in the afternoon maybe right after breakfast he went at the time appointed with David and a little and with him in other words they had a specific time that Jonathan was supposed to go out into the field and that's when Jonathan did 8th on the other hand didn't refer to a specific moment in time but to it but to a situation or an occasion that's right for something let me give you some examples to illustrate what I'm talking about if I said it's time to take out the trash I'm not saying that because every day at 10:30 I take the trash out whether it's full or not no that's not what I'm saying I don't have a specific day in which I do that or specific time in which I do that know what I mean by that is that I need to take out the trash because it's full the circumstances dictate that it's time to take out the trash now some of you live with other people who never know when it's time to take out the trash when my girls lived at home we have the trash bag that you pull out the little counter or a little drawer you pull out the trash cans in it I guarantee you you couldn't push it back in so they wouldn't even do it they just keep piling things on to see how high they could get it before walking and grumbling now that was a sign to dad then it's time to empty the trash to take it out and to put a new trash liner in yeah but I noticed when it was full that it was time to do that that's what 8th means let me give some more examples if I say that it's time to mow the yard what do I mean by that I mean that the grass has grown to the point that it's kind of I and the grass needs to be cut if the grass doesn't grow I don't need to cut the grass it's not time to know how many of you thank God that the friezes come so you don't have to mow the grass anymore yeah well you know I got to get out there and do that last little one I'll wait till everything is dead and then I'll get out there and all one last time we eat and then next year when springtime comes I get up the weed killer in the grass killer and I spray everything and my wife gets so upset because if she come to my house I don't like to weed eat so you pulled into the driveway and instead of me weed eating there's a dead patch about this wide all the way around I don't like to weed eat it's time to spray as my model but anyways what if I say it's time to do the dishes what do I mean by that I mean we're running out of clean dishes they're starting to pile up missing and if you want to clean dish don't just wash the dish you want do the dishes yeah that's what the word eith means now when Solomon wrote there is a time for every event he did not use the word mo8 uh-uh which means he wasn't saying that God has predestined a specific time for every event that takes place now and Stan Solomon used the word eighth so what he was saying was that circumstances determined when a particular event will happen or should happen and then in verses 2 through 8 Solomon gives examples to illustrate his point there's a time to be born in other words certain circumstances determined when it's time to give birth a woman's water breaks her cervix dilates and she starts having contractions and they'll come a time when she wants to push it's time I can't stop it the circumstances dictate the babies about to be born and how many times is the OB gun walk in and said now honey don't push it women what do you want to do just slap him or her right I can't help but I need to push yeah there's a time to give birth there's a time to die and the circumstances will determine that time if you have a heart attack and a section of your heart doesn't receive blood that part of the heart it's going to die and if it's massive enough you're gonna go into cardiac arrest and you're gonna die and that's all there is to it the circumstances dictated the event it was time to die because of the circumstances now if you get to the hospital in time and they realize you've got blockage and they put a stent in ya balloon it you're gonna live a little longer well God predestined no no no this is not my Wade this is the Hebrew word eith circumstances the occasion determines it now in every example Solomon is emphasizing that it's the circumstances that determine when it's time for something to occur which is very important and let me explain why to some degree I can actually control the number of good times I have versus the number of bad times I have by controlling the circumstances yeah I can actually control to some degree the number of good times I have versus the number of bad times I have by controlling the circumstances now let me explain what I mean by that is it possible to control the time of your death oh yes to some degree you can exercise and eat right you can control how safely you drive you cannot smoke you cannot take drugs you can do a lot of things that are healthier for you so you can actually prolong your life and put off the time of your death but you can't control the aging process or your genetics so in essence you can't stop your death but you can't effect the time of your death so the answer is yes to a degree that means you have a role to play in the quality of your life but you can't control it completely and that's what makes life so frustrating yeah there are things I can control but there are things I cannot control in other words I can control certain circumstances but some circumstances are beyond my control so that means that the majority of the time I can control whether times are good or bad but not all of the time so it's possible to have more good times than bad by manipulating the circumstances that I'm able to control but I can't stop all of the bad times because there are certain circumstances that are beyond my control you see sometimes we're just thrown into situations or maybe it's the end that we're dilled where the circumstances are beyond our control and those circumstances circumstances determine what time it is not me and people that's what makes life so frustrating so after he goes through all of these times he gets to verse number nine and in verse number nine he says what profit is there to the worker from that in which he toils now the key word in this verse is toils toils is translated from the Hebrew word a male and it means hard labor now why is man working so hard in the first place well I'll tell you why it's because he's trying to control the circumstances so he'll have good times rather than bad times but after working so hard he finally throws up his hands in frustration and he says what's the use now why is he so frustrated he's frustrated because he found that that you can work your butt off trying to do everything right handling your finances right dating the right person and picking them off the list until you finally find a godly person and you marry them and you treat your family right you help your community and bad things still happen sometimes out of nowhere you're blindsided by circumstances that are beyond your control and you go through a very difficult time it's a horrible season in your life and what would Solomon say about that it's a time to weep yes it's a time to weep and it's so frustrating because there's nothing you can do about it no matter how hard you try but let's keep going because Solomon is not finished remember in this entire chapter he's going to explain to us how life works look at verses 10 and 11 I have seen the task very important word underlying it do you have a different translation highlight that word that it uses I have seen the task which God has given the sons of men with which to occupy themselves he has made everything appropriate another very important word underline it in its time he has also said eternity in their heart yet so which is kind of hard to translate in other words it's kind of like a however that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end now notice that God is given a task to the sons of me and while they're here on this earth to occupy themselves with now before we look at what that task is let's look at who he's given this task to he's given to the sons of men now the word men is not the normal Hebrew word for man which is ish instead it's the Hebrew word for Adam I don't so the literal translation would be I have seen the task which God has given the sons of Adam with which to occupy themselves now why would Solomon use the word Adam rather than the normal normal word for a man which is each well it's because he's alluding to the original problem think about it what started the whole problem in the first place in other words why do bad things happen in this world well bad things happen because Adam sinned and he let alienated himself from God and as a result of his sin he became mortal and he screwed everything up not just his own life but all of creation if you don't believe that just read Romans chapter 8 even creation is groaning waiting for the sons of God to be revealed so it can be redeemed from this curse that was placed upon it because of that in sin yeah you see by introducing sin in the world Adam brought in justices in equities and all types of problems such as sickness disease poverty and catastrophes etc and many of these problems are beyond our control we can't control if the tornadoes coming our what we can't control if there's going to be a hailstorm those things are beyond our control which brings us to the task that God has given to us while we're here on this earth in fact this is very important every one of us has been given a task by God and it's the same task it might be carried out differently depending upon your occupation but we're all given the same task that we're supposed to occupy ourselves with so what is the task that God has given to us while we're here on this earth well our task is to know what time it is in our life and act appropriately let me say that again our task is to know what time it is in our life and act appropriately in other words there's a time to plant so our task is to what plant there's the time to uproot so our task is what to uproot there's a time to weep so our task is to weep there's a time to laugh that's a hard task but we do it we laugh you see we spend our whole life acting and reacting to whatever life throws at us and sometimes we just want to sit down and cry but our task is to deal with each season or circumstance or time appropriately as it comes in fact look at the first part of verse number 11 he has made everything appropriate in its time that's hard to understand but let me try to explain what it means by this he means that there's an appropriate response for each season of life yeah it means that depending upon what time it is there's an appropriate response look back at verses 1 through 8 let's read what it says there's an appointed time for everything and there's a time for every vent under heaven now I didn't use the word mo a he used the word a he's not saying there's a specific time that God's per your day at 10:43 al it's going to lift up his right arm now it means there are pointed times there are certain times when circumstances or an occasion comes now notice he's going to give some examples a time to give birth your wife looks at you says it's time it's a time to die a time to plant a time to fruit which is planted a time to kill you don't just wake up one day and say it's time to kill now someone breaks into your house a home invasion and your life is threatening so as your families let me tell you it's time to kill him or in a war it's a time to kill and a time to heal there's a time for restoration there's a time to tear down there's a time to build up a time to weep and a time to laugh time to mourn in time to dance a time to throw stones and a time to gather stones a time to embrace in time to shun embracing it's not time to hug a time to search at a time to give up as a as lost a time to keep at a time to throw away a time to tear apart at a time to sew together a time to be silent in time to speak a time to love and a time to hate a time for war and a time for peace so what that means is there's an appropriate time for everything now the word appropriate means it's the right thing to do so the task that God has given us is to do the right thing at the right time let me say that again because if I were you I would be taking notes I'd write this down because if you're a parent you want to sit down with your kids and you want to explain this is the way life works and you want to do it as early as possible when they understand ask abstract terms and cut concepts you don't just want them to be when it's just concrete terms and concepts but abstract when they can understand this you want to sit down and you want to explain how life works so the task that God has given to us is to do the right thing at the right time because if we do the right thing at the right time we're going to have more good times than we have bad times if we don't do the right thing at the right time we're gonna have more bad times than good times that's good teaching pastor Allen so when life throws something difficult at us we don't give up we don't take the easy way out we do the right thing we do the appropriate thing because it's our task second Timothy chapter 4 verse number two is a great example of this and it's written to pastors yes it's written to Timothy but you need to understand this principle that he's teaching Timothy applies to every pastor notice what he said and what he wrote he said preach the word be prepared in season and out of season correct rebuke and encourage with great patience and careful instruction I want you to notice what is saying here and most people have no idea what it means he's saying pastors preach in season and out of season now we're gonna talk like that in fact that's a horrible translation let me explain what that means in season is translated from the Greek word you Kairos which literally means good times Kairos means seasons and again it's more like eighth not mo8 it's referring to it's the season for watermelon or it's the season for tomatoes how many of you know is the season for tomatoes we start charcoal in hamburgers because a good hamburger requires a good tomato yeah yeah so you Kairos the prefix you means good Kairos means time so it means in good times bad or out of season is translated from the Greek word a Kairos which means bad times so what this is saying is pastors you be prepared to preach in good times and in bad times now I've been pastoring full-time for 34 years and let me just tell you in 34 years I've seen some good times and I've seen some bad times and it doesn't matter if there are bad times I'm still required to get up and preach and not let anyone know I'm going through a bad time it doesn't matter what I'm going through the appropriate thing to do is preach that's my task to preach the good times in the good times and in the bad times but my mom passed away I did her funeral and I got up and I preached right after it my father-in-law cou he died on a Sunday morning got the phone call went to the nursing home came here didn't say a word about it and preached the gospel do you know why because it was the appropriate thing to do it's my task to preaching good times and preaching bad times to do the right thing at the right time and for preachers the right time is every time you have the opportunity to preach so whether it's a good time or a bad time I'm gonna preach the word that's my task now look at the next part of verse 11 let's go back to Ecclesiastes chapter 3 he says he has also said eternity in their heart now why would God said eternity in our heart how many of you know what that means before I start explaining this what it means is you know there's more to life than just now there's got to be something out there after we die oh yeah only man thinks about that animals don't trust me your dogs not wondering if there's a heaven or hell your dog might be smart but he's not thinking if there's a heaven or a hell but you know God said eternity in the heart of man that's why at heart man is a worshipful creatures because God has said eternity in her heart now why would God do that well how many of you remember the story of Pandora's box do you remember what what she did well first of all she wasn't supposed to open the box but her curiosity got the best of her so being the woman that she was she opened the box okay I thought that was funny and when she did open the box she released diseases sorrows Bice's and crimes that afflicted poor humanity she quickly closed the box but one thing was left in the box that didn't get out how many of you remember what didn't get out hope now eventually being the woman she was curiosity got the best of her Jill put it up again and hope got out hope was there to help to help man deal with the disease of sorrow vices and suffering well here's what's interesting God has set eternity in our hearts for the very same reason with eternity in our heart we have hope eternity not only makes a seat god but it motivates us to do the right thing at the right time regardless of the circumstances it helps us to see that there's more to life than just what we suffer here on this earth yeah it helps us to believe and to see that there's a reward is waiting for us in heaven if we do the appropriate thing if we fulfill our task and do the right thing at the right time now Lou the last part of verse number 11 yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end that's the NIV translation I changed translations on you did you notice that I went from the new American Standard to the NIV we didn't read that we read the new American Standard why because the NIV is a better translation notice what it says yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end in other words we don't know what the future holds but we push on in spite of that we push on and hope and when we start down a certain path we don't always know what the outcome is going to be and that's a good thing because we probably wouldn't go down certain paths if we knew what the outcome would be but in the midst of the pain God is there and he's placed eternity in our hearts now look at verses 12 and 13 I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and do good in one's lifetime moreover that every man who eats and drinks he's good and all his labor it is the gift of God now because of this hope that God has placed inside of us we can enjoy life no matter what it's not that life is not going to be painful at times and the appropriate response at times might be too weak but we can still enjoy life in the good times and in the bad times because God is with us and he has said eternity in our hearts and we know that this is not the end I might be going through a rough time I might be suffering I might have some pain but this is not the end so we just need to keep plodding on you see knowing that there's going to be joy in this life and grief and happiness and sadness fun and disappointment I need to simply enjoy life the best that I can and do good I need to do the right thing at the right time and people that is my task as a person and as a pastor and that's your task - to do the appropriate thing at the appropriate time whether it's a good season or a bad season whether a good circumstance came or a bad circumstance came there's an appropriate response that God wants you to make yeah let me just tell you right up front after 34 years full-time ministry I know my future I know in the future that I will be doing funerals for people I love I know I will be comforting parents with troubled children some parents who have lost their children I know I'm gonna be visiting hospitals because that's my task when those times come the appropriate thing to do is to do that funeral to go visit those parents to go pray for those people in the hospital poppy honest with you sometimes I just want to throw my hands up and despair and say what's the use remember that's what verses 9 and 10 that's what those two verses were saying but I don't throw up my hands and quit instead I continue to do the right thing at the right time the appropriate response at the appropriate time why well look at verses 14 and 15 I know that everything God does will remain forever there is nothing to add to it and there's nothing to take from it for God has so worked that men should fear Him that which has been all and that which will be has already been for God's sakes what is passed by I know that's kind of difficult to understand and that's even the new American Standard but you have to remember this was written 300 years ago and it's considered poetry so let me explain what he's saying here notice that he says God's works remain forever and he seeks what has passed by now I want you to underline that word seeks seeks is translated from the Hebrew word Bock ash and it means to require or to exact in a legal sense so what Solomon was saying is that God will require us to give an account for all of our past actions he will see what has passed by in other words he will judge our works and if our works are good they will remain and will receive a reward if they're not good they won't remain and we won't receive an award now Paul said the very same thing in 1st Corinthians chapter 3 verses 12 through 14 notice what it says now if any man lays on that foundation gold silver precious stones wood hay stubble every man's work shall be made manifest or revealed for the day shall declare it because it shall be revealed by fire and the fire should try every man's works with what sword is if any man's work abide which is built thereupon he shall receive a reward if his works don't remain exactly what Solomon was saying no reward and now that Solomon's on the subject of judgment he begins comparing man's judgment with God's judgment look at verses 16 and 17 furthermore I have seen Under the Sun very important phrase that in the place of justice there's wickedness and in the place of righteousness there is wickedness I said to myself God will judge both the righteous man in the wicked man for a time for every matter and for every deed is there now verse 16 is man's judgment without God in the picture remember what the phrase under the Sun means that phrase is a hebrew ism and it means without god so what Solomon is saying is that man's judgment apart from God is unjust and fair why because we can only judge based on what we see only God sees everything only God sees the motives and intentions of other people only God can see what people are thinking so even if a man is a just judge it's still not gonna be just many times and fair yeah and that's what he's saying man's judgement apart from God is unjust and fair but verse 17 says that God's judgment is coming and guess what it's righteous it is just unfair now look at the last part of verse 17 concerning God's judgment God will judge both the righteous man and the wicked man for a time for every matter and for every deed is there in other words everything we've ever done will be judged and the question will be did we do what was right or appropriate in the good times as well as the bad in other words no matter what circumstances come your way you have a chance to shine and be rewarded by performing your task which is what to do the appropriate thing at the appropriate time when circumstances come and occasions arise whatever appropriate response is if you do it then your works will remain if they don't you'll be judged now in verses 18 through 21 Solomon begins to compare man with beasts showing the similarities and the differences look at those verses I said to myself concerning the sons of men God has surely tested them in order for them to see that they are but beasts for the fate of the sons of men and the fate of beasts is the same as one dies so dies the other indeed they all have the same breath and there is no advantage for man over beasts for all is vanity all go to the same place all came from the dust and all returned to the dust who knows that the breath of man ascends to upward and the breath of the Beast descends downward to the earth now again some people read this by itself not in context of what other things Solomon wrote and they misunderstand it but here's what I want you to see again he's talking about the sons of Adam in other words unregenerate man we know that because the word man is translated from the Hebrew word awdawm not ish now how are the sons of men like beasts because that's what Solomon says he says men are just like beasts how are they the same well we both die and our bodies decompose both of our lives are short-lived and of little consequence but there's one major difference look at verse 21 who knows that the breadth of man ascends upward in the breadth of Beast descends downward to the earth now I want you to underline the word breath breath is translated from the Hebrew word Ruach and it literally means spirit most of you don't know this I'll just throw this in won't prove it right now but the spirit and soul are always joined together there are two different things two distinct things but you can say the spirit goes to heaven when a person dies and you need to understand you can say the soul goes why the spirit and the soul are always joined together now notice what this says the spirit of the Beast descends down and it's gone why because it's not eternal but the spirit of man ascends upward back to God who gave it turned Ecclesiastes chapter 12 verse number 7 and I want you to see where Solomon elaborated on this notice what he said again let's not take it out of context let's put it in the whole context of what Solomon wrote he said then the dust will return to the earth earth as it was in other words your bodies will decompose and the spirit will return to God who gave it what does that mean it means that it goes back to God and he determines whether that spirit goes to heaven or to hell if you've accepted Jesus Christ it goes to heaven if you not accepted Jesus Christ God's in control and it doesn't go to heaven it goes to hell now I want you to notice that verse number 21 chapter 3 is put into the form of a question who knows that the breath of man ascends upward and the breath of the Beast descends downward to the earth who knows this believers yeah we know as believers that there is a god and we know that there is life after death and that's what he's asked who knows this those who believe in God now look at the last verse in chapter 3 which is verse 22 we're going to end with this and I've seen that nothing is better than that men should be happy in his activities for that is his lot underline that we're locked for who will bring him to see what will occur after him now this isn't supposed to bum us out instead this is supposed to give us hope so while we're here on this earth we're supposed to enjoy our life and whatever circumstances come our way we won't complain but we'll face them head-on and we'll do the right thing at the right time why well look at verse 22 he says for that is our locked in other words that's our task now it doesn't mean that I won't work at controlling the circumstances so I can have more good times than bad I will but at the same time when something bad does happen that's beyond my control I'm not gonna blame God no I'm gonna work with him to overcome the circumstances because as the last part of verse 22 says God will bring me to see what will occur after me in other words on the Judgment Day I'll see how my good works affected others and I'll see the consequences of my actions long after I've gone because God will bring me to see them so as I said Ecclesiastes chapter 3 is an explanation of how life works and this is what I want you to see we can manipulate situations and circumstances to a certain degree and so when it's the appropriate time for something our task is to do the appropriate thing or the appropriate response when you're young and you're going to school what's the appropriate thing to do learn learn come to church what are you supposed to do learn yeah you're laying the foundation why it's not so you can have the pinnacle of your life be high school huh you're the captain of the football team you're the homecoming queen now that was going to matter what the matter is what you do in your lifetime and this is only preparation so now you graduate from high school what are you gonna do and you're gonna go prepare for your career it might be a trade school of IB College it might be you're just gonna go out and work do whatever you want to do I want you to understand something how you manipulate these situations in these circumstances will determine whether you have more good times or bad times you pick some type of career that you're not gonna make the money to live the type of lifestyle you want I want you to understand you're not gonna have as many good times as you want to have that's just the way life works so you take you take advantage of the time to do the appropriate thing you get you're prepared the career then you've got to choose who's gonna be your spouse that looks like a five doesn't it we'll do that so you start dating you make the wrong choice let me tell you you can have life hell on earth I just wait yes now you're gonna have more bad times and you're gonna have good times so how you respond during this dating period if you do the appropriate thing at the appropriate time and you see red flags and you send up not going to marry that person but if you're thinking right now man I married this person and they've been a change oh yeah what what's wrong at the appropriate time that you should have been dating and looking for who would make a good night you weren't you fell in love with that person and now you're thinking how the world does I ever fall in love with him yeah but June do everything right you can go to school you can prepare your career you can get the right person to marry you you can have a great job you can be doing good things at that job and then all of a sudden then you go to the doctor you find out you have health problems you can control certain circumstances you can control certain situations but let me just tell you something life doesn't work in a way that you can control everything or maybe it's not that maybe all of a sudden you get a phone call and your mama's dead or your daddy's dead and maybe they didn't prepare so now you're gonna have to financially help take care of your mama yeah but here's what's interesting your task is to do the right thing at the right time the appropriate thing at the appropriate time and here's what's interesting in life if we do the appropriate thing at the appropriate time we will manipulate the majority of circumstances so that we'll have more good times I suppose pretty good then bad times if we don't do the appropriate thing at the appropriate time we're going to have more bad times than good times but here's the thing I want you to understand sometimes life really throws you a curveball I can do this I want you to understand God has said eternity in your heart you know that this is not the end so in the midst of it you do the appropriate thing at the appropriate time and God will strengthen you he will enable you and I promise you when this life ends you're gonna receive a crown and you're gonna receive rewards let me tell you in 34 years of preaching there have been some times I did not want to come up here and preach because of things I was going through things that happened to my children things that had happened in my family things didn't happen in the church and I go before God itself of God I just need to take a vacation maybe I can call someone back then and they have an associate pastor I mean that's one of the elders to preach and God would always bring that scripture back to mind preach the word in season and out of season in good times and in bad times and so I'd suck it up that's alright god I'm gonna do the appropriate thing at the appropriate time and you don't want God that always strengthened me he'd always give me a supernatural ability to get up and preach the word and he'd always blessed me as a result of that and I can promise you even though I've had my share of bad things I've had so many more good times than bad times and I'm looking forward to the time that I go to heaven because I expect to get rewards why because Solomon told me you want rewards then you know that there's a time for everything and God has appointed a time for everything and is it and everything is appropriate in its time in other words God says if you do the appropriate thing at the appropriate time I'm going to bless it and you're going to receive a reward

Channel: Cornerstone Fellowship

Views: 51,645

Rating: 4.7589927 out of 5

Keywords: how life works according to king solomon, according to king solomon, king solomon, king solomon wisdom, solomon wisdom, solomon wise, solomon bible study, solomon old testament, solomon proverbs, solomon advice, solomon, king solomon wisdom stories, king solomon wisdom quotes, king solomon wisdom verse, king solomon wisdom bible verse, king solomon wisdom scripture, king solomon wisdom in the bible, king solomon story, king solomon bible, solomon asks for wisdom, solomon king

Id: hw-YlehJ518

Length: 45min 13sec (2713 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 04 2019