"Understanding the Times" Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

[Laughter] unto you [Music] [Music] is unto [Music] [Laughter] is [Music] [Music] [Music] today [Applause] [Music] is today [Music] you are [Music] oh [Music] there is [Music] good morning welcome to the worship services here from the south side church of christ in orlando florida i'm so glad happy elated thankful uh that you have called time out of your busy weekend schedule on this the fifth sunday in may in the year of our lord 2021. we're glad to have you let's open as we always open south side and beyond one two three when you talk with god no breath is lost when you walk with god no strength is lost when you wait for god no time is lost and when you trust in god your soul will never ever be lost friend of reminder to all who are listening and watching you can access us you can follow us you can worship with us you can fellowship with us you can stay in constant contact with us through our south side facebook south side youtube channel southside website a lot of information there ssclc.org and the south side app listen below we are feverishly talking and praying about reopening plans we do not have a concrete solid date yet but we are uh reopening certainly is in the preview over our horizon so you be prayerful hopefully in the next week or two i can make an announcement even if it's tinted believe what we want to reopen i'll be talking with the elders i do not make these decisions alone the two visionary elders and i are praying talking and collecting data and listening to the members uh about these things that we're following cdc guidelines so be prayerful you'll be hearing something from us soon practically that is at least our plans happy end of may birthday we are segwaying into june but uh this is the last sunday in may kwatrice lewis happy birthday trinette lewis dr bruno gay dr alicia harding max conaway my man max happy 10th birthday chrissy jenkins happy birthday one of my favorite michael copeland he and harold and marcus and michael are leaving and the new uh uh copeland that's still in the oven we'll be relocating the raleigh north carolina area pray for them we love them we're gonna miss them and we know that they know they always have a home here in southside don kinder another favorite happy birthday marvin lewis my good brother praying for him happy birthday marvin noah rich also has a birthday pray for him uh in may we had uh wedding anniversaries again and milton and mary scott glover and tanya young johnny and eunice johnson also graduating uh last week we had eric will eric williams young eric has graduated high school and devin lee oh man we all remember when these were babies i remember when they were yet in heaven not even born and now they're graduating high school we're praying for their success and life and of course malcolm harrell graduated in his masters uh from the university of central florida now we're on the brink and the cusp and the press events of june so i just want to give a couple of people birthday as we open up june nikki mcmillan darius davis aaron scott andrea bolden vivian beckett oh sister vivian oh we love her frank kim ayton bailey young agents turning 10 as well jared newberry my man jared and charlie creighton all at the beginning of june not below for the task at hand if you would be so beneficially kind i want you to turn to the old testament book of ecclesiastics ecclesiastes the third chapter it's an obscure innocuous book in your bible ecclesiastes the third chapter and we'll begin reading in verse number one and we'll terminate in verse number eight you know what i want to discuss preach share bear and care with you today beloved i want to speak from a subject understanding the times do you understand or do you know what time it is here here is our scriptural foundation ecclesiastes the third chapter verse one solomon says to everything there is a season he says any time to every purpose of the heaven a time to be born and a time to die a time to plant and a time to pluck up that which is planted he says it's a time they killed at a time to heal do you all know what time it is he says there's time to break down a time to build up a time to weep and a time to laugh a time to mourn and a time to dance a time to cast away stones the time to gather stones together he says there's a time to embrace a time to refrain from embracing a time to get and a time to lose time to keep and a time to cast away listen to it there's a time to rend and a time to sow a time to keep silent and a time to speak a time to love and a time to hate he captures about saying a time of war and then there's a time of peace i want to discuss do we understand the times we read we study uh we are educated and informed from the pen of the wise man solomon you know by now he's the son of david he's the king of israel solomon had three installations in the archives of the old testament the book of proverbs the book of the song of solomon then this very profound book of ecclesiastes i love solomon possibly inaugurally he's one of my biblical giants because he enrolled in the school of hard knocks he walked away with a phd in wisdom listen beloved the subject i have chosen do you understand the times is one we want to put under the crucible of investigation for a few phonetic moments this morning he opens this discipline by stating emphatically everything has a time and a season and he informs and reminds us that that everything has a purpose in time this ought to become our anthem this or become our magna carta and our constitution below this is our bill of rights that we ought to learn and understand the times see it is vital it is imperative it's essential it's it's it's important it's helpful useful and beneficial to you and i in life to understand the times you don't just need to understand your bible you need to understand the times don't don't run off in the harrison all of us need to understand read study our bible but just knowing your bible and not knowing the time in which to speak teach and share your bible every moment is not a teachable moment that's why he used this text to inform us of the importance of understanding the times paramount to say he's saying you gotta understand your culture you gotta understand your environment your direction you gotta understand the situation and the circumstance you gotta understand the temperament of the people that you deal with do you know what time it is uh let solomon speak again he said there's a time to be born but then there's a time to die there's a time to plant and there's a time to harvest he starts informing us of the different times in life that you and i need to understand there's a time to kill and the time to heal he said every time you tear down stuff and there's a time to build up stuff solomon said there's a time to weep but then there's times you ought to be laughing he said there's a time the mourn a time to dance dance a time to cast away stones and a time to gather the same he said there's a time you'll all be embracing and there's a time you ought to refrain from embracing does the time to gain a time to lose a time to keep a time to cast away a time to speak oh lord and then he says it's a time to be silent he said there's a time to love a time to hate and there's a time for war and a time for peace do you know what time it is and do we understand the times in which we live bad mistakes bad decisions become fatal mistakes when you don't know what time it is you see in life successful people and mature christians understand not just their bible that's baked into the cake we assume we use as a preposition and a supposition that you and i use biblical guidance as the template in which we live but beyond that your bad decisions become fatal mistakes if you don't understand the time oh that's a time you gotta rest and then there's a time you gotta work there's a time to eat there's a time to work and then time to play you can't be playing when you ought to be working and you ought to not be working when you ought to be playing you ought to be understand even in church everything's about timing when we worship together there's a time we pray there's a time we sing it's the time we give that's a time we ought to forgive there's a time to say hello in life and you better learn there's a time to say goodbye life there's a time to say no to people i keep telling y'all all the best gift god has ever given me in the last 38 years of ministry he gave me the gift of goodbye i used to try to hold on to everybody at the church everybody in my ministry i thought it was an indictment when people didn't want to be here and hear me i took it personal and then i realized when folk want to leave let them go ba too many of us trying to hold on the things and people that god wants you to let go i've also learned to say no some people can't say no to people i've learned when helping you is hurting me and diminishing me i haven't learned to say no and that's like not only do i say no i've learned to say heck no preach brother letter oh well i don't have time for that i refer some of y'all to bishop bullwinkle and he'll give you a lesson on how to say heck no ah but love understand me and hear me well when you misunderstand the times it can often have tragic results let me let me help you you can be a man of god called and anointed by god to be a preacher and still miss your assignment if you don't understand the times you've been called to preach here's what i learned [Music] you can be called by god to preach but not sign to preach that preach brother leonard you can be called sister to be a wife but you were never assigned to be his wife see time is everything in life in your ministry your marriage your money your health your wealth your maturity your modernity it's better to understand the times and the seasons of life some of you wait to get when you get old to try to do young folk stuff and some of you are young trying to do all folk stuff because you don't understand the time yeah marriage has seasons and times marriages get mixed up and messed up when man and woman husband and wife don't understand their time yeah there's a difference between your honeymoon stage and your more than mooned in honey stage you see when you're young and amorous and energetic and uh healthy and jump up and stay up all night and run half the next day but there will come a time that you can't exist off the physicalness of marriage you gotta exist off the spiritualness of it you gotta understand the time we even live in times now we're in churches i'm having a consult with a lot of people your i t team is amongst the most important teams in a congregation in 2021 live streaming is the order of the day being online with facebook and instagram and youtube and and all these other entities you can't success succeed and exist if you don't understand the time if you don't have a way to give online your church will die financially you see you no longer understand the times belov you don't need to be building brick and mortar the church needs to be buying computers and cameras you don't need to be set up for seminars you better prepare for webinars you better have internet and it better be working at home and in church you don't watch tv with cable you have to live stream you better understand the times there was a time that live stream and internet didn't matter but you can't live nowhere and get much done without the internet you got to be about 60 not understand me there was a day when i was a dj when zoom was a song by the commodores led by lionel richie but today zoom is how you stay in touch with the world in your living room because with love you better understand the time the kingdom will not grow the church will not succeed your relationship will not flourish there will not be progress in any entry of your life if you operate in the wrong season and in the wrong time i don't know who i'm talking to today maybe i'm just helping myself but you better understand that time you'll miss your airplane if you don't know what time it is you'll miss your train you'll miss your mate in life if you don't understand the time you'll miss your blessing you will miss your anointing you will miss your assignment and you could miss your destiny if you don't understand the times what i'm happy for the devil didn't understand the time he should have sent coronavirus 30 years ago before we had the ability to bring the gospel to you via the internet he misunderstood the time he thought that when corona hit and quote unquote the church's clothes what he didn't know at south side and beyond now we're bigger and better instead of me preaching to almost 400 folk on sunday morning now i'm preaching the 2000 vote because we understood the time but love you can't rush time we struggle with time when you're young you want time to go fast when you're old you want time to slow down you can't speed up time and you can't slow time down i hear people talking about time management you can't manage time what you can't do is manage the events in time but time is set by god then nothing you and i can do to manage time there are times when when it seems time is going slow that's when you're waiting but when you are running behind it look like time is going fast i can't better tell you you gotta understand the time the bible says in galatians chapter four verse number four the bible then reinforces in ephesians chapter one and verse ten that god operates in the fullness of time god is not regulated by your rolex your timex your almanac or your calendar other four seasons you see god can tiptoe and stand flat-footed at the same time god can strike a straight lick with a crooked stick go ahead and preach brother letter god is the creator of time god is so awesome that he was somewhere before somewhere was somewhere god was before there and then god was before when and where god was there before why and where unto there was god everything was created from nothing you see god sees afters and before god is not confined by time as a matter of fact god one day reached up and grabbed the microphone of time god separately said let there be and everything that was not started falling into place you see let fell in love with be and everything that was not started straining to become psalms 90 verses 1 and 2. the lord is our dwelling place in all generations he's from everlasting to everlasting thou art god god does not exist in time god exists outside of time before time was an issue god existed god existed before time therefore he's not affected by time god is not bound by time because god is sooner than at once god is quicker than right now god keeps bumping into himself every way he goes because when he gets where he's going he's still where he was and when he get where he was he's still on his way the way it's going i came to tell you god is not bound by time god is the book ends of time god encloses time god is in the front of time god is behind time that's why he declared i'm alpha and omega he says i'm the beginning and the end he says i'm the first and the last i'm the author and the finisher he does not exist in time he's over time he's outside of time he created time that's why god is never late he uh you can't take he can never take too long there's no such thing as being fascinated with god he exists before the tick tock and the clock god is greater than time i'm not asking god does he know what time it is i'm asking us do we know and understand the time in the fullness of time the bible says in galatians 4 and 4 and ephesians 1 and 10. in the fullness of time god sent his son see we often want to rush time we're urgency minded you're young and you're impatient but what drives this lesson in the text is do you have the patience to wait on god the word in his time in galatians chapter six verse nine you remember that famous uh deposit paul made into the new testament paul said paul said god is not mocked whatsoever man soweth that also shall they reap in verse 9 of galatians 6 paul says don't be weary in well doing in due season you shall reap if you faint not you will get what god has for you if you don't give up if you don't quit on god god will never quit on you but you got to understand god's timing he won't give it to you he won't provide it for you he won't bless you with it in your time do you understand the timing of god you see some of the hindrances we have in life is because we don't understand we have the luxury to choose our actions listen to me well you and i are free moral agents we have the luxury of choosing our actions but we cannot choose the consequences of our actions and that's what's missed a lot of us uh i'm grown i knew you're wrong you know people i'm grown i'm well grown for burning better yeah you ain't too grown to burn yeah you can choose what you do and don't do but what you can't choose is the consequences of your action do you understand the times life is hindered a life is propelled successful people understand the times people who are not so successful do good things even right things but their time is bad in luke chapter 16 verse number eight jesus declared in a parable that the people of doubtless are wiser than the people of light okay y'all listen to me because jesus taught why he tabernacled here in a parable in luke 16 and 8 the people of the world are wiser than the people of the kingdom and here's what he's trying to convey people in the world today understand the times that's why they stop building all these mega malls and shopping centers because the world understands that in generations to come more people shop online than they do in a physical store do you know what time it is you don't just need a debit card you need amazon prime because of the times even in education the world understand the times they're not going to be a mega universities anymore because preponderance is speaking high school and beyond college and graduate school there are more people who will be taking courses online they don't need the building to run up the light bill and you need to understand but love even the law school where my wife works for a year now the kid that the students have been learning online even criminals got better since than christians in in that shame criminals understand the times when's the last time you heard of a man walking in a bank with a gun and robbed with a mass and said give me the money that's not how they rob banks anymore no because of the times they hack into your account in mind they assume your identity they use cyber attack they rob us they don't walk in the bank with a gun and risk being arrested or shot they understand in this time the best way to rob somebody is to go online do you understand the times i see i'm wasting my time let me drop three quick alliterations and i'm gonna send you on the rest of your day and you can understand your time do you know what time it is do you understand the seasonal nature the sickle core nature of life can you time your timing with god you don't need to be doing up when god is in his down and you don't need to be down when god is in his ear that's why solomon said there's a time and a season for everything i understand and my timing people don't understand they they even mock me and i love it when everything god has led me to do in orlando has turned out to be relatively well certain they're not perfect and so when i tell people i'm retiring at 68 years old got nine years he left no you're not no see i understand timing that's my 30th year anniversary at south side been here from the beginning if i stay too long time in now this is the time i can kill what it took me and god 30 years to build up it's all about timing at 68 i need to get out the way that a young man who's young vigorous educated energetic and got patience that i won't have no more cause of losing it now it's all about timing and i want to retire while i still got good health i can enjoy my grandchildren play golf travel with my wife and family it's all about time see you can stay too long and kill what you built up or you can leave too soon and not build it up enough life is all about timing okay here's three quick things and i'm gonna send you on your way time is a concealer time is a revealer and time is a healer okay i wish i had time to stay here all day but i don't time but love is a concealer time can hide the scars of life if you give it enough time over time folk can never guess what you've been through because over time you won't look like what you've been through i was ahead of church time is a concealer see time if you given enough time even though you've been through the fire if you get enough time you won't smell like smoke see because time is a concealer you can have a horrific event in your life that was difficult to get over but time is a concealer you will no longer look like act like seeing light and reflect with you i'm here to tell you if you give god time not that he can't do it instantly but if god blessed us instantaneously we would never appreciate the blessings he sent us time is a concealer it hides stuff that will benefit you and then not only is time or concealer time is a revealer listen to me well there's a king in every kid inside of every kid there's a king inside of every boy little boy there's a king there's a inside of every girl little girl there's a queen listen to me there's a king in every kid yet there's a kid in every king in time if you give it time if you allow maturity and modernity to say the end whatever is in people will come out in time that can be good or bad time not only is a concealer time is a revealer that's why if you give a caterpillar enough time see some of you because you don't like worms you don't like slimy stuff you don't like those mini legs and tentacles you go and step on the caterpillar and kill it but if you would have given that caterpillar that worm that slimy crawling creature uh if you would have given it time one day god would have put it into a cocoon and through the process of metamorphosis it would have come out a butterfly because time is a revealer you don't have to stay a caterpillar in life many of the young people i was a caterpillar you were a caterpillar but thank god nobody stepped on me and killed me and when god got a hope to me and put me in his spiritual cocoon called baptism he allowed me to come out as a beautiful preaching butterfly time is a revealer it's not only high stuff but it reveals stuff that's why when you when you're dating give it time quick quit tall and first of all i don't even understand this i i feel in love don't fall in love love is not what you fall in love is a choice okay you find out about people google them do they find out what their credit score is look at their criminal record their job record watch over as they go to church are they faithful and then you fall in love with them this i don't know about y'all every time i fall it's an accident so when people tell me i fell in love no you don't fall in love you choose who you love give your dating time quit getting so fast i read him last month he didn't want i can see us having cherry i can see us growing old again you just met him no you ain't met him yet you met his representative give it time see you can't act for so long cause time is a reveal time will reveal who you really are and once folks show you who they are learn to believe it some people start well on the job but give it time some people start wearing church give it time that's why the bible teaches the principle paul said to tell me that lay hands uh on no man quickly or suddenly make sure you watch him long enough give it time because time is not only a concealer high stuff time is a revealer that's why jesus said don't rush fakers and people in your life and mine who are not genuine and authentic sooner or later time will reveal them that's why jesus taught in matthew 13 29 and 30. he said allow the wheat and the tabs to grow together give it time he said i'll separate it when i come back he says situations in life often are so delicate and sensitive and you and i may have a hunch a hint that something's not right if you give it time it will reveal itself because time not only conceals time reveals god was straightened out in time god will show you the whole picture in time not only is time a concealer and a reveal you know what else it is time is a healer oh bless my bones i'm about to sneak to my seat cause i'm about to get happy it hides stuff it hides scars of life it's a concealer and then time is a revealer it will show you who people really are and bless my bones time is a healer time does not heal all wounds but all wounds heal in time things get better in time when you lose loved ones you'll never get over it but in time you'll get through it because time is a healer you see below time let me drop these other three quickly time will expose time will educate and time will eliminate you see time exposes who your friends really are you don't know who your friends are when you're riding high tank full of gas got threads on all your tires money in your pocket diamond in the back sunroof top digging in a scene with a gangster length you don't know who your friends are you know what time will expose time exposes your friends not when you're on the mountain but when you're in the valley time exposes time will educate you if that's why wisdom generally comes with old age because time is associated with with education the older you get if you live enough and have enough time the wiser you ought to become and then time will eliminate because in time you realize those factions and people and scenarios and situations you ought to rid yourself of and like the people you've outgrown the situations you're too mature to tolerate and the more you learn it over time the bible says in the last legit in psalms 90 and verse 12 the psalmist said lord teach us to number our days because you want to understand and appreciate the brevity of time one of the biggest mistakes we make in life is to think we have enough time time is free but it's priceless the timing of god is essential to your fulfillment in life you can't own time but you can use time you can't keep it but you can spend it once it's lost you can never get it back that's why we ought to number and appreciate the brevity of time man homo sapien you and i uh the only creation god made that understands time okay let me help you i'm trying to stick to my seat but i'm about to get happy man is the only creation god made that knows he's gonna die we're the only creation god made who has a conscious awareness that death is coming that's why god tells us to prepare for death he doesn't teach animals to get ready to die they're animals like those who are aware of death but they're not conscious that they're gonna die y'all don't hear what i'm saying man it's the only creation that's aware and conscious that one day you're gonna lay down and die that's why you have to be wise enough to number your days and appreciate and understand the time that time is now to establish and maintain a relationship with god the time is now to have a covenant relationship with god through jesus the time is now to be added to the kingdom the lord's church the time is now to be faithful in all of your unrighteous in your living the time is now to give sacrificially to the kingdom the time is now to let penny stuff go forgive and learn to live life on a higher plane the time is now to stop being a gospel and a busy body and immature and and and full of vain glory and lust and all these things we used to do that was a time then but there's a different time now do you understand the times the time is right now to come to jesus hear his gospel his death burial and resurrection uh resurrection believe that with all of your heart repent of your ways of sin degradation and iniquity confess all ability jesus is to christ the son of god the time is right now to be baptized in water for the remission of your sin would you do that even on today shall we pray god our father will might mindful we're glad we're happy to read from your book the bible and see the importance of understanding the time lord help us to number our days and see the brevity of time that you exist outside of time but we have to operate inside of time help us to know the seasons of life the times that we ought to be up and down with our love and hate a time to hug and the times refrain from hugging lord bless us here at south side as we apply these principles bless us here as we study and pray about the timing of our reopening because time is everything lord bless our leaders bless our followers bless our members bless those we love and bless those who love us hide us behind your cross cover us with your blood bless the less fortunate the misfortune it is sick the shed in the doom the damn the destitute and the bereaved whoever and wherever they are bless those who are under my voice and in my vision who are going through the going through now lord as we prepare particularly your son's body and his blood in the holy communion as we remember the horrific price he paid on camera we pray we do it with a clean heart and a pure mind and then god as we give you our tithes our offering the first fruit of our increase and our lay by we pray it is accepted in the spirit we give it and a blessing to the kingdom this is our prayer in jesus name amen god the father has blessed us with his son jesus and his son jesus instructed us while he tabernacled here on planet earth that do this in remembrance of me what do you want us to do jesus in a weekly memorial he taught us and paul reinforced it in the corinthian letters that we remember and memorialize this most sacred event about a particular unliving bread it's bitter to remember how cruel the sacrifice was and the crucifix world he said partake of the unleavened bread because this represents his body and then he said the fruit of the vine the cup represents his coagulated blood and every week the first day of every week the early church would remember put it in the front edge of their mind unless they forgot what god did for us through jesus on catherine and so beloved you and i are commanded as citizens of this kingdom that the first day of every week to remember through the holy communion if you are a resident here in central florida come by our edifice at 4701 raleigh street you can pick up abundance of community supplies they're in a packet convenient to you you can come by here 10 a.m to 1 00 p.m myself three of the deacons are here just about every day if we're not here there's a plethora of packets in the black mailbox outside you can pick up as many as you and your family need if you want to drop off your lay by while you're here you can do so if we're not here you can slide your leg back under the door please do not leave it in the mailbox let's prepare our house of mine now partake of the lord's body through the bread this particular cup amen love is time to give it's a time and a season for everything we were it was a time to preach i'm done with that now it's time to give it it's time for you to show god how appreciative you and i are of his abundant blessing folk it blesses us to give if your timing is right if you give in this season if you let go and let god you will he will unleash blessings that you will have room to receive it's time to hear it's time to be committed time to be sacrificial give till it hurts but love is important vital to you and i to give out of the abundancy of our blessings you can see on our screen to my left and your right at the bottom if you live outside of orlando and not uh particularly safe with online giving if you live here don't want to give online you can mail it to our p.o box we will receive it retrieve it and register it deposit it in your name if you drop it off here no problem uh but don't mail cash please mail checks or certified funds preponters are speaking overwhelmingly because people understand the times there was a time everybody gave cash and then years later there was a time everybody wrote a check and now in this age in this time understanding of time people give online we have provided three opportunities for you to do so i give a five at the top of your screen is most popular it is safe swift and secure our paypal stay swift and secure and our cash app safe swift and secure you understand at times that's how people give in other words folks the bible was way ahead of his time when solomon declared there's a time and a season for everything under the earth do you know what time it is and do we understand the times god bless you god keep you this is our prayer have a wonderful day [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] 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Channel: Southside Church of Christ, Orlando

Views: 1,061

Rating: 5 out of 5

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Id: F_waiIb-7_I

Length: 50min 59sec (3059 seconds)

Published: Sun May 30 2021