Life's Biggest Problems aren't ours to solve

Welcome to this week's message from the Church at Chelsea Westover.

Our core values are vibrant worship, intimate fellowship, fulfilling service, and clear biblical truth.

We pray that this message changes your life.

Let's tune in to today's message and see what God has in store for you.

Ecclesiastes, the writer, King Solomon.

And we said as we started weeks ago, that it's an unbelievable, un should I say, comprehensible, really book.

And it can be negative if you don't look at it in the Enlightenment that Solomon had started out early in his life, writing the book of the Song of Solomon, which uh we called it the romance book.

And then he went to the book of Proverbs, which he wrote, which we call the book of Rules, which is probably one of the greatest books in the Bible, the book of Proverbs for wisdom, godly wisdom, to, and we have a little saying about that.

A proverb of what?

A proverb a day keeps the devil away.

There's 31 chapters in Proverbs, and you read a chapter a day, and it'll give you wisdom for that day, which is very exciting.

So, again, we know he wrote that book, and then in his later years, he wrote Proverbs in his middle years.

He wrote the Song of Solomon in his young years.

He writes the book of Ecclesiastes.

And we call it the book of regrets because Solomon had allowed some negative evil influences to draw him away from an intimate relationship with God.

He did not lose his salvation, but he had been drawn away.

And so he's struggling now as he's getting close to the end of his life.

He's really talking about and thinking about death.

And we know that death is a reality.

Death is real.

And we're going to be looking at that this morning.

I mean, none of us can escape death unless the rapture of the church takes place.

Now, I don't know about you.

I'm praying for the rapture.

Amen.

That he takes the church out.

But if not, we're, hey, there's a time to be born and there's a time to die.

We saw that in Ecclesiastes chapter 1.

Ecclesiastes 1 · chapter mention

So we know that death is a reality.

So he's struggling as he's writing the book of Ecclesiastes.

The Bible says in chapter 1, verse 16, he's the wisest man that's ever lived.

The wisest man that's ever lived then and that will live afterwards.

No one even compared to the intelligence.

I'm talking about the wisdom of Solomon.

He was no doubt a brainiac.

He was no doubt graduated summa cum laud.

I told you I graduated thank the Lord.

Amen.

My wife graduated summa cum laud.

I didn't even know how to spell that until.

But anyway, we see that he was he was this brainiac.

He was the smartest man.

So he intellectually tried to figure life out.

He tried to figure it out.

Then he could no longer figure it out intelligently.

So he decided, you know what?

I'm going to do everything I want to do.

He was not only the smartest, the most wealthiest man in his day, billions of dollars.

I mean, silver to him, they threw silver away because it wasn't nice enough.

They used gold goblets at the tables.

I mean, he was just filthy rich.

So he decided I can't, you know, figure life and God's meaning for life and God's purpose for life.

I can't figure this out intellectually, so I'm just gonna go do everything I want to do.

I'm gonna, I'm gonna take all the amusements and the allurements of the world, and anything I see, I'm gonna, if I want it, I'm getting it.

Anything I want to do, I'm gonna do it.

I said he enjoyed the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.

He did.

He had 700 wives.

Oh, it doesn't stop there.

And 300 concubines.

Good grief.

I can't handle one.

That's right.

Wow.

So this man had it all.

And you know what he said?

He came to the conclusion that after all of his intellectual prowessness and how he sought it, he studied it, and then he did it.

Apart from God, all is vanity of vanities.

Useless, hopeless, meaningless.

Wow.

We've been there.

Many of us have been there.

You've tried the world.

Hey, it's not in your money, it's not in your power, it's not in your prestige, it's not in your position, it's in the person of Jesus Christ.

Amen?

It's in the person of Jesus Christ.

So that's where we saw and we've seen.

And we've seen that he uses three words throughout this 12 chapters.

One, vanity of vanities.

We said useless, hopeless, meaningless.

Then he uses the phrase under the sun, which means a life lived without God.

And then we introduced the other word that we'll see through the rest of the chapter, the word profit.

He says, and basically, I could sum it up with Mark 8, 36.

Here's what he said, for what shall it profit a man or a woman if they gain the whole world and lose their soul?

So when we come now to the end of chapter 3 and chapter 4 that we're going to be looking at, we see, and the title of the message this morning is Life's Biggest Problems Are Not Ours to Solve.

Can I get an Amen?

I have a problem with that.

I am a problem solver.

In our marriage retreat yesterday, I told, I told the couples, I said, Susan, sometimes she comes to me and all she wants me to do is listen.

She doesn't want me to fix anything, but I'm a doer, I'm a choleric.

You bring me a problem, I want to fix it.

Let's go right now.

Fix it.

Fix it.

Fix it.

And so, over all these years, and especially when I was the president at uh uh Tennessee Temple and vice president of Liberty University all those years, my job was fixing problems.

That's all I did.

That's what you do.

Some people say, man, I like, I want to get to the top.

Can I tell you something?

Sometimes it's not as rosy at the top as you think.

Amen.

Best job I ever had was when I was just a professor, minding my own business.

But something's in me, I gotta go fix everybody.

Gotta fix it, gotta build it.

So Solomon says, and here's what Solomon's doing.

He gets in this, starting in verse 16 in chapter 3, and we'll go through chapter 4.

He literally says that the world is in a mess.

Can I get an amen?

Hey, folks, what you're gonna see today that was hundreds of years ago is the same, it's the same today.

He says, hey, now you've got to realize he had reigned for 40 years.

His kingdom was a good kingdom.

No wars, nothing going on like it usually was.

So here was a man in peace.

And you know what he concluded?

Here was a righteous king that I meant leading under peaceful situations.

Then he started looking within his political system and saw that there was a lot of injustice going on.

Could I would we say today there's a lot of injustice going on in our political system?

Hello.

I don't even watch it anymore.

That's the most depressing thing I've ever seen.

It really is.

So, and he says, wait a minute, how can this be?

How can we have problems after problems?

The rich or hey, the rich seem to suppress the poor, the rich don't get their justice, they don't get what they deserve, they seem to pay their way out of everything.

Sound familiar?

That's Fox News.

So this is what he's dealing with in these chapter four and the end of chapter three.

He's just saying he's got all these complex problems going on.

And so we're gonna look at those this morning.

In fact, you know what I've learned over the years sometimes in life, we are guilty of not seeing the forest for the trees.

Amen.

I mean, well, we we don't see God's purpose, and we don't see God's plan because we're so caught up in the right now, the problem, the fire, the the situations that we're in.

I'm very guilty of that.

Really am.

But we see some exciting truths in this passage of script, unbelievable truths.

In fact, it reminds me of a company, a factor was having a problem with stealing.

So they hired this uh um security company to come in and set up to try to catch the people that were stealing.

So they set up these checkpoints as everybody checked out and clocked out at the end of the day.

They had this huge security, kind of like when you go through the airport systems.

And man, they were checking everybody, and every day this man came with a wheelbar and it had trash and and it had all kinds of just trash, you know, uh wrappers, all that.

And they would have to go through that every day.

So at the end of the week, they finally stopped the man and said, Look, look, look, look.

We know you're up to something.

And we won't even press charges if you'll just tell us what you're basically taking out of here.

He said, Are you, will you write that down that I yes?

He says, We found nothing.

We've checked everything.

What are you taking out of here?

He says, I'm stealing wheelbarrows.

I mean, they were looking for everything.

But the thing, the wheelbarrow.

They weren't even thinking about the wheelbarrow.

But that's what he was stealing.

So, we get so caught up in our problems that we don't see the meaning of what God's trying to teach us through our problems.

Can I get an amen?

But Solomon does not allow that to take place here in Ecclesiastes.

So, let's look at what Solomon says.

In this lesson, we're going to discover five aspects of life unbelievable, which Solomon struggled with.

In chapter 3, verse 16, we see he speaks plainly and onlessly four times.

Notice what he says.

Verse 16, he says, I saw.

Then he says in chapter 4, verse 4, I considered.

Verse 7 in chapter 4, I saw.

Verse 15, I considered.

So what he's doing here, he's observing all these things that are taking place.

He's checking them out.

He's trying to figure out these problems, basically, is what he's doing.

He's making observations about life and writing them down, calling them just as he sees them.

And then as he sees them, notice what he says.

In verse 17, he says, I set in my heart, in other words, now I'm understanding.

Verse 22 in chapter 3 says, I perceived, hey, I'm getting it.

And then in chapter 4, verse 1, he says, I return and I consider.

In other words, he's making observations, then pondering what he sees.

In fact, when I was going through this chapter, and I've gone through just reading through it, he's observing these problems, these struggles that he's facing in life.

In fact, you don't want to miss next Sunday.

We're going to look at the four problems you don't want to bring to church.

I've come up with that title.

It's pretty cute.

But but hey, watch this.

I know you say, huh, you're supposed to bring them to church.

Ah, that's what you'd be thinking.

You don't want to miss it.

But now, watch this.

He's struggling with these problems, he's observing these situations.

Everything's going on in his kingdom, and he's asking himself these things.

And then he comes up, and I want you to see this in Ecclesiastes chapter 12, which is really the conclusion of the whole book.

Ecclesiastes 12 · chapter mention

Verse 11, I think I've got that back there, Jeremy.

Chapter 12, verse 11.

Notice what it says.

He says, the words of the wise, the wisdom of the men, the wisdom of the world, are like goads.

And the words of the scholars are like, listen, well-driven nails given by one shepherd.

Now notice the word shepherd there is literally, it is literally capitalized, which means he's talking about God, the shepherd.

Okay?

So here's what he's saying.

This is awesome.

The words of the wise are like goads, and the words of scholars are like well-driven nails given by one shepherd.

Now, your question ought to be, as it was to me, goads.

What's a goat?

A goat was a pointed stick.

Have you ever seen people out by the road?

Or I've I built one, uh, well, actually, my granddaddy built it for me, to pick up trash.

You ever go and you get a little stick and you put a little nail in the end of it and stick the trash?

Ever done?

Anybody else ever done?

Okay.

Well, that's what a goat is.

Shepherds had these sticks with a little nail on the end, not real big nails, but small nails, so they could prod the sheep with it to keep them in line and to get them to go where they needed to go.

Does that make sense?

You with me?

So what Solomon is, now you've got to remember, this is what Solomon's seeing and thinking, and he's the analogy comes to him of a goad.

In other words, he's saying these words of wisdom from men, and then specially the words of wisdom from God, especially from God, the shepherd, capitalized, are like goads.

These are for the purpose of keeping us walking in God's way.

Wow.

Whole different enlightenment now should come into being when you see that.

What?

These problems, these situations, all these trials come into our life for the purpose.

Now listen, to making us walk in God's way because God's got a perfect plan and purpose and meaning for your life, and he uses the good times, the bad times, and even the ugly times to direct you.

Man, that's good.

We only see the good is God's hand.

But see, he allows the other as well.

Can I get a know me?

Amen.

So that's what he's teaching.

So let's look at it.

This is good.

This is real good.

First problem.

Look at what he says.

Verses 16 through 22.

First problem was unfair justice.

Unfair justice.

In other words, Solomon saw injustice in the tribunals of the day.

The guilty went free and the innocent suffered unjustly.

The rich could buy their freedom, and the poor were abused by the system.

If God is good, where's the justice?

Ever said that?

Why, God, don't you kill them?

Why does it seem like the wicked prosper and the righteous are suppressed?

Why does it seem that way?

Am I the only ones that seem that way?

Solomon's asking the same question.

What is going on here?

That's what Solomon saw.

He saw that it seemed like everything was what?

Unjust.

It seems like that the wicked win all the time.

And the righteous lose.

Now, what Solomon said though.

Now that's what he thinks.

Then he said, but let me talk to you about this unjustice.

Look at verses 17.

Solomon observation, he sees three things.

Number one, first of all, judgment is coming.

Solomon believes a time is coming.

Now watch, look at verse 17.

When God shall judge the righteous and the wicked.

Wow.

Just because we don't see justice now doesn't mean it will never prevail.

Amen.

Judgment some, hey, judgment someday.

It's coming.

In fact, look at Ecclesiastes chapter 8, verse 6.

Ecclesiastes 8:6

Look at 8 verse 6.

This gets, oh, it really gets exciting when you see these truths.

Verse 6, he says, Because for every matter there is a time and a judgment, though the misery of man increases greatly.

Sound familiar.

Hey, in other words, even though it looks like the wicked are getting away with it, hold on, judgment's coming.

Judgment's coming.

And then look at verse 11.

In the same chapter, verse 8.

I mean, in chapter 8, look at what he says.

Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set on them to do evil.

In other words, the evil see, hey, the evil think they're getting away with it.

They don't see judgment automatically.

You know what?

You know how we could have America to be straightened out overnight?

You do something, God says, Bam, He brings judgment right then.

You go kill somebody, you walk out, they, hey, God kills you, you're dead.

I think we would see a whole different mentality.

But God doesn't do that.

Why?

Because we have a free will.

And God wants us to lovingly and willingly serve him.

And he knew that the world was going to be wicked.

He knew that.

But he also knew that his church was going to be the light and the influencer in their communities to what?

To ward off the darkness and exalt the light.

And what he's saying is, Christian, you don't give up.

You hang in there.

Even though it looks like the, hey, the ungodly and the evil are winning.

I promise you, judgment's coming.

Payday someday.

It's coming.

So he lets them know.

The lack of judgment now encourages some to think they're going to get away with it.

But the day is coming when the scales will be balanced.

Can I get an amen?

And let me just say, Numbers 32, 23 says, your sins will find you out.

And we talked about the judgments.

We uh this summer we did a whole study on the beam of judgment seat where the Christians will be rewarded.

And we talked about the great white throne judgment where people that aren't saved will be judged.

And those that are at the beam of judgment seat died, they go to heaven.

Those that are at the great white throne judgment, when they died, they go to hell.

Which brings me to the second observation.

Verses 18 through 21.

Look at it.

He says, Death is certain.

If we go back in chapter 3, verses 18 through 21, notice what he says, death is for sure.

I said in my heart, concerning the condition of the sons of men, God tests them that they may see that they themselves are like animals.

Now, what he means like that, man's no different than an animal when it comes to death.

For what happens to the sons of men also happens to animals.

One thing befalls them, as one dies, so dies the other.

Surely they all have one breath.

Man has no advantage over animals, for all is vanity.

For all is vanity.

And then he goes on and he says, All go to one place, all are from the dust, and all return to dust.

Who knows the spirit of the sons of men, which goes upward?

Now he discerns between an animal and a man.

He says, When a man dies, when he knows the Lord, his spirit goes upward, and the spirit of an animal goes back down into the earth.

So I perceive that nothing is better than that a man should rejoice in his own works, for this is his heritage, for who can bring him to see what will happen after him?

Wow.

Wow.

So what is he saying?

Death is certain.

Now critics love this verse.

The atheists love this verse, because they say, Ha! See, I told you, when man dies, nothing happens.

He goes back to dust.

There is no life hereafter.

They love this passage of scripture.

But then, hey, listen, go on and read.

He says, When a man dies, his soul goes to heaven.

Read the whole Bible, don't take one verse.

Can I get an amen?

2 Corinthians 5 8 to be absent from the body is to be what?

For the Christian?

To be present with the Lord.

Okay?

So he's dealing with all these things, and it's exciting.

He said, Death is sure it's gonna happen.

He is saying that while it appears the rich and powerful have the upper hand, when it comes to justice, they will die just like animals.

Hey, and they will be judged.

Let me tell you what death does: it's the equalizer.

Amen.

We're all gonna die.

And as it is appointed unto man once to die, and after this, what?

Hebrews 9 27.

Boast not thyself of tomorrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.

Proverbs 27, verse 1.

Proverbs 27:1

James 4, 14.

Whereas you know not what shall be on tomorrow, what is your life?

Even a vapor that appears for a little time and vanishes away.

And Solomon was concerned about that.

We've talked about that last week.

So we see that right here.

Death is the great leveler for all living beings, man and animal.

The privilege in this life have no privileges at death.

Psalm 49, verse 17 says, For when a man dies, listen, he can take nothing with him.

Psalms 49:17

There are no U-Haul trailers hooked to hearse.

Amen.

So, Solomon, hey, this is certain.

It's gonna happen.

In fact, I love what he says in Ecclesiastes 12:7, the spirit of man goes upward to God who gave it.

Ecclesiastes 12:7

And the spirit of animals go down to the earth.

Now notice the third thing.

Judgment is coming.

Nail number one, nail number two, death is certain.

Nail number three, life continues.

Verse 22.

Now I love this one.

The third goat or nail Solomon drives home is that life goes on in spite of injustice.

Amen.

It goes on.

We're not, hey, we are not here to stop, hey, or we're not to be discouraged and stop living just because we can't fix every injustice in America.

Hello.

Now, I was right before the hippie generation.

Anybody?

The hippies were the 60s, late, early 60s, and made it right to 70.

Well, I was in the junior high in 68.

But some of you were in that hippie generation.

The hippies thought they could change everything.

And they tried for about 10 to 15 years.

Peace, man.

Peace.

No war.

No war.

More they were saying peace, the more the wars were going.

It was really a weird time in America.

Peace and love.

I mean, nobody fights, but everybody killing everybody.

Didn't make sense to me.

Didn't didn't add up.

Now I know why.

Because the only time peace is ever going to reign is when Jesus Christ ultimately comes back to set up his millennial reign for a thousand years.

Amen.

So we see, he says, but look, we've got, here's what he said.

I'm going to put it where we can all understand it.

Life is good.

Life is bad.

Life is ugly.

It's good.

You have the good, you have the bad, and you have the ugly.

Can I get an amen?

But don't give up when it's bad and ugly.

Don't think that you've got to fix all the bad and ugly because you can't.

And you don't have to worry about it.

God's in control, and one day he's going to level the ground at the judgment seat of Christ.

It's coming.

It's coming.

Man, that's good.

And so he says to just work.

Don't try to figure it all out.

In fact, here's what he says: Romans 11.33.

Go to that one, Jeremy.

Romans 11.33.

This will help you.

Put a star by this verse.

Put it in your Bible because when a tragedy happens, when my little baby boy, Susan and our boy, was born dead at five and a half months.

When my wife died in my arms after I just graduated from seminary at age 28, this verse has so helped me in my own life, and for me to be able to share with people like the De Stefano family that's gone through a tragedy now.

Some you have all these questions of why, what?

Just like Solomon did, you can go to verse 33 in Romans 11, the depth and the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God.

And this is what Solomon said.

I've tried to find it out, I've tried to search it out.

I've tried to figure it out.

I've tried to live it out.

But he said, I've come to the conclusion all his judgments and ways are past finding out.

That's comforting.

That's comforting.

You won't understand it.

You won't figure it all out.

But here's what you do now, Proverbs 3, 5 through 8.

But here's what we do in these times.

We trust in the Lord with all our heart, all our heart.

We lean not on our what?

What does that say?

We don't lean on what?

That means we don't try to figure it out.

Hello, help me.

Say that's good, preacher.

We don't try to figure it out.

Why?

We just saw in verse 33 in Romans 11, we can't.

But look at verse 6.

In all the ways.

Say this with in what ways?

In what ways?

Good, bad, ugly.

Acknowledge him, and he shall direct their paths.

Look at verse 7.

Be not wise in thy own eyes.

In other words, worldly wisdom.

Hey, won't work.

It's not going to figure it out.

Can't do it.

Can't do it.

He says right there, be not wise in thy own eyes.

Don't look to the world.

But you fear the Lord and depart from evil.

Verse 8.

And look, here's the result.

What does that mean?

Don't try to figure it out.

That means just put your trust in him when the good comes, hallelujah.

When the bad comes, hey.

O me, help me.

When the ugly shows up, just say, God help us.

And it shall be.

Woo! Look at there.

What does it say?

And it shall be what?

Health.

Mm-mm-mm.

Health to thy neighbor, to thy body, to thy family, to the church, and marrow to the bones.

In other words, God's going to strengthen you and God's going to take you through the bad and the ugly.

Is that not good?

Is that not good?

My God shall supply all your needs according to his riches and glory through Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4.19.

I will lift up my, oh, I'm about to have a spell.

I will lift up my eyes into the hills from when my health cometh.

My help cometh from the Lord who made the heavens and the earth.

If he can create all the stars and he can create this universe in six days, he can take you and me through our tragedies, our trials, the bad times, the ugly times.

Amen.

Amen, church.

And that's good.

That's so good.

Woo! God holds the key of all unknown, and I am glad.

If other hands should hold the key or trusted it to me, I might be sad.

I cannot read his future plans, but this I know.

I have the smiling of his face and all the refuge of his grace while here below.

His grace is sufficient.

His strength is made perfect in our weakness.

Most gladly we can glory in our bad and ugly times.

When we're weak, he is strong.

Somebody say that's good, preacher.

That's good teaching.

That's comforting, isn't it?

Is that not good?

Second problem.

It was the problem of cruel oppression.

Cruel oppression.

Verses 1 through 3 in chapter 4.

Then I returned and considered, there's that observation again, all the oppression that is done under the sun.

And look the tears of the oppressed, but they have no comforter.

On the side of their oppressors, there is power, but they have no comforter.

In other words, the power of the oppressors is so hard and so unbelievable.

Therefore, I praise the dead who were already dead more than the living who are still alive.

Yet, better than both is he who has never existed, who has never seen the evil work that is done under the sun.

Here's what he said.

Now this is really depressing.

But here's what he said.

He says, I've seen so much horrible oppression and evil and wickedness and abuse.

I can't help but think about all the children that are abused and the sex trafficking and the people walking into these schools shooting precious little kids for no real all this evil going on.

It would really be better if you'd never even been born.

Oh no.

No, no, no.

Because God's got a purpose and plan for your life.

And He had that plan and purpose before you were even born while you were conceived in your mother's womb.

He's got a plan.

He knew all this was coming.

Don't give up.

Hang in there.

Yes.

It gets to the point where you listen, Jonah.

Jonah was said, just kill me, God.

Job said, just kill me, God.

David said several times, it'd just be better that I was dead.

Elijah under Juniper tree.

Kill me, God.

Something very important there.

They didn't kill themselves, they told God to kill them.

But that is why we see so much suicide today, is what I'm talking about.

Right here in these four verses.

Right here.

They see no hope.

There's nothing, hey, there's nothing to live for.

They're so oppressed.

They're so down.

They're so out.

They just take their lives.

But I got good news.

There is hope.

And God's here.

And he'll never put on you what he won't take you through.

His grace is sufficient.

Can I get an amen?

And again, that's why you have your church.

And we're going to talk about that as we go.

But look, this is Job said that.

Job expressed the same thing.

But look, when Solomon's father, King David, wrestled with the world, let me show you where David found his answer.

Look at Psalm 73, verse 17.

Psalms 73:17

Here's the answer.

Until I went into the sanctuary of God, then I understood.

Hey, understood, I therein.

In other words, I understood when God told me, you don't worry, you hang in there, you do the best you can.

You let me work through you.

You just be all that I've called you to do and submit to me and be like me.

I'll take care of the enemies.

Amen.

Wow.

That's why David said, I was glad when they said, Let us go into the house of the Lord.

You find rest in the sanctuary.

You find rest in your church and exhortation and comfort and support.

That's why it's so important.

Oh, that's good.

That's good.

Somebody say that's good.

Come on, Sylvester.

Only in the presence of God do we find relief for the tension we're we feel living with the life's unanswered questions.

We can't figure it out.

Life is a mess.

Sometimes.

Amen.

One day you're feeling great, next day you got cancer and three months to live.

Everything's going for you.

Next thing you know, a car runs through an intersection, hits a car, and two or three people in the family are dead.

And the first thing you do is say, Why God?

That's okay.

That's okay.

Well, my little boy was born dead.

I didn't say why.

Because seven months before that, my wife had died in my arms at 28, and I said why.

But he taught me through through these principles.

We know that all things work together for good to them that love God to them who are called according to his purpose.

And how can any accident or death or like that be for good?

I don't understand it.

You won't either, but one day we will.

But we go back to Proverbs 3:5 and we trust him.

Proverbs 3:5

So this is what Solomon is dealing with.

He's answering all these questions.

Brings me to question number three.

Oh, by the way, 1 Peter 5 7, I'll help you here.

Casting all your cares upon him.

Say it with me, church, because why?

He cares for you.

That's another great verse for you.

Another one is Matthew 11, 28.

Come unto me, all ye that labor and heavy laden and in what?

I will give you rest.

And now notice what he says, take my yoke upon you.

You know what that yoke means?

Means you just hook up with God.

You know what's wrong with most of us?

When the bad and the ugly comes?

We're out here by ourselves.

We're in the field like this, just by ourselves.

We're going anywhere and everywhere.

But when we get yoked to God, hey, he knows the right fur.

He said, Whoa, whoa, you're way over here in the mud.

Come here.

Come here.

Hook up to me.

Follow me.

I'll take you through this storm.

Isn't that good?

That's what he means.

And you shall find what?

Rest.

Now look at verse 30.

For my yoke is what?

Now I know what you think.

There's no way it's easy.

Let me tell you what that means.

What it means is you're not walking alone.

You ever?

I've been there.

You walk alone, it's not easy.

When you're going through it and you got somebody walking with you, it is easier.

That's what he's saying.

And my burden is like, you know why it's like?

Bear ye one another's burdens.

And so fulfill the law of Christ.

Galatians 16.

We're helping each other.

We're hooked to God, but guess what?

Hey, my sisters and my brothers in Christ, they're right there with me.

They're right there with me.

They're right there with me.

Man, that's good.

Then the third problem was material rivalry.

Now these is where, these next verses where America's living.

Look at verse 4 through 6.

And again, I saw that for all toil and every skillful work, a man is envied by his neighbor.

This also is vanity and grasping for the wind.

The fool folds his hands.

There's three people here.

The fool folds his hands and consumes his own flesh.

Better a handful with quietness than both hands full together with toil and grasping for the wind.

Then I turned and saw vanity under the sun.

In other words, we see three people here.

He said, first of all, we see the industrious man.

We see the hard-working man.

And he's working not to, hey, be used of God to help people or to help the church of God.

He's working so that he can outdo the Joneses.

He's coveting.

It's covetousness.

It's competition.

Hey, well, so-and-so, so-and-so's got a bigger car.

Well, bless God, I'm going to buy better with him.

You know what I learned early in my life about that?

I watched the Joneses keep up with the other Joneses.

And about the time one caught up with the other, the other one just took off much further.

You never catch them.

But you go in death, yeah, trying to.

No.

He said, Hey, why are you working?

Why are you working yourself to death if you're not fulfilling what God's called you to do?

You're just trying to accumulate more and more and more.

Look at what Ephesians 4.28 says we're to do when we work.

Let him that's well, first of all, we work so we don't have steel.

Amen.

But rather, let him labor, working with his hands, the thing which is good, that he may what?

Have to give to those in need.

By the way, for you that have given to this church your giving records are where are they?

Where is Susan?

They're at the register table.

Pick them up, please.

Pick up your giving statements.

Can I say something to you?

Thank you.

Thank you for how you have given to this church.

We have helped a lot of people.

And we're helping people as I speak.

We're helping people today.

Pay light bills and water bills.

And praise God, we don't have to pay a huge debt for a building.

What we pay is we help people.

Can I get an amen?

Amen.

This has been the most enjoyable year and a half of my life in ministry to be able to help people.

That's what we do.

That's what we do.

And the giving has been unbelievable with this church.

Unbelievable.

We've broken every record on any chart you could see for a new church.

Let's give God a hand.

Amen.

Thank you.

Thank you.

You keep giving.

And I you know what I know?

I know I'm watching you.

I'm watching God grow you and bless you because you're giving.

Give and it shall be given unto you good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over shall men give back unto you.

It's more blessed to give than it is to receive.

Acts 20, 35, Luke 6, 38.

Amen.

So, and then look at verse 5.

We see the other guy.

We see the industrious man, the hardworking man, and then we see the other guy.

We see the idle man or the lazy man.

Oh yeah.

Oh yeah.

Look at him.

The fool folds his hands and consumes his own flesh.

Hmm.

Well, I'm not getting ahead.

I just fold my hands and just give up.

Now, in America today, now back then they didn't have government subsidies.

Okay?

But in America today, we just give up and say, well, let the government take care of you.

God help you.

God help us.

It is better to put your trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man.

Psalms 118, verse 6.

Psalms 118:6

Now, verse 9 says it's better to put your trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes.

That means government.

Psalms 118, verse 9.

Psalms 118:9

Amen.

So they just give up.

No use.

I'm getting beat down.

I just give up.

That was the hippies.

Verse 6, we see the third man.

Solomon says there's a better way.

Notice what he says: better a handful with quietness than both hands full, together with toil and grasping for the wind.

In other words, he's talking about the ballotsman.

Hey, the ballotsman.

Look, you don't need it all, but you need some.

Can I get an amen?

That's what he's talking about.

The ballotsman.

I love Proverbs, and there's, in fact, Proverbs 15, 16 says, better is a little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure.

You're in trouble therein.

Hello.

Is that not good?

Verse 8 in Proverbs 16.

I knew you'd love these.

Better is a little with righteousness than great revenues without right.

In other words, you'd better have a little and be right with God than to have everything and know God.

Amen.

Then look at what he says in Proverbs 37.

I prayed, I prayed the I've been praying this for, how old am I?

I don't know.

I'm 60, thank you.

And Susan, I've been praying this for 32 wonderful years.

Somebody tell her I got it right.

32 wonderful years.

Listen, two things I have required of thee.

Deny me them not before I die.

Now this is Solomon.

Remember.

Remove far from me.

And now this was not him, but he had learned by observing the people and seeing what's going on.

Remove far from me vanity and lies.

Give me neither poverty nor riches.

Feed me with food convenient for me.

I have prayed for all my life, my married life, my career life.

God, don't make me hey, don't make me rich, don't make me poor.

Amen.

And He has done that.

I'm seeing.

60 years old, he has done that for me.

I'm not rich, but I have all I need, and most of the time I have all I want.

Amen.

But I'm not poor.

Hello?

You with me?

That's what it says.

And here's why, verse 9.

Lest I be full and deny thee.

And say, Who is the Lord?

Unless I be poor and steal and take the name of my God in vain.

Verse 6 and 1 Timothy, but godliness with contentment's great gain.

For we brought nothing into the world, and we will take nothing out.

Is that not good?

Is that not?

Having food?

I love this.

And ramen, let us be content.

But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men into destruction and perdition.

For the love of money.

Now notice what it says.

For the love of money, not money is the root of all evil.

I thank God there are some rich businessmen that God has raised up, that and rich women, businessmen that God has raised up that are givers to God's work.

And by the way, he raised them up so that they would be instruments to help him carry on the work of the church.

Amen.

Amen.

I told the people last year.

Last year.

I told the people last week.

One of the things I've I learned, Susan, I learned it now you you know how to keep greed from setting in.

Be a giver.

Be a cheerful giver.

Amen.

God gives you give.

It works.

It works.

You be a giver.

Then he came to problem five.

Broken relationships.

Solomon's fourth goad stick has to do with broken relationships.

He sees many who are alone in the world.

Look at verse 7 and 8.

He sees riches over relationships.

Look at what he says.

Solomon sees people working themselves to death, toiling to amass more and more wealth.

They have no friends, no relatives with whom to share their wealth.

They are like, I believe this is where Charles Dickens, the Scrooge movie, came from.

All they had was their money and they were miserable.

They were miserable.

Look at it.

And then now, watch this.

In that context, we go to chapter of verses 9 through 12, and here's the thing.

Remember, most of the time, which we used him yesterday in a marriage relationship, which are very applicable, but it's also in the context he's saying is don't let your wealth and your power and your position and your prestige overrule your relationships with people.

We need each other.

Can I get an amen?

We need each other.

I don't need anybody.

I'm a self-made millionaire.

I don't die.

Well, okay, okay.

You don't need anybody, huh?

First of all, that's not true.

Because the Bible says two, look at it, right verse nine, are better than one.

Because they receive a great reward for their labor.

Isn't that what it says?

Solomon gives us four reasons why having friends is better than not having friends.

Number one, two are better than one for working.

Together, companionship, cooperation.

Sharing the burden of labor is always easier and more fun.

When we set up and take down, I want to say thank you again.

Can I just love on you?

I love you so much.

I love you so much.

We feed people every week.

That's intimate.

Here we are, intimate fellowship, one of our core values.

We feed 150 plus people almost every week, and we want to one day we're gonna be feeding 500, 600 every week.

Hello.

And people need food, they come in, and if we have left over, we take it to our youth home, we take it to trailer, some trailer parts, we make sure people get fed and are hey, we meet their needs.

Can I get an amen?

By the way, that's what the church is supposed to do.

Amen.

So with that said, two are better than one.

Hey, companionship.

When I'm when I'm going through a tough time, I need Sylvester there to help me.

When I fall down, I need him to help me back up.

When I fail, and I fail.

When I get criticized and abused, I need my family to help me.

I don't want to be a part of the church when I go down, they say ha ha ha, and start kicking on me.

I want somebody to pick me up.

Everybody needs that.

We all need that.

Don't say you don't because you're lying.

So we need each other.

That's what we're talking about.

Companionship, cooperation, helping one another.

There's synergy there.

Proverbs 27.

Oh, I love this.

Proverbs 27, 17.

As iron sharpens the iron, so one white sharpens the other.

By the way, have you ever sharpened iron?

Sometimes it's a little sparks flies.

That's why every once in a while, Susan, I have sparks flying.

We're sharpening each other.

Long as it's done in love.

Hey, what does that mean?

Now think a minute.

That means Sylvester and I are gonna go together through the good.

Whoa, we don't have any problem like that, man.

We shout.

We're gonna go through the bad, too.

Ooh.

We're gonna go through the ugly.

Together.

For better?

Or worse.

Are you with me?

We're gonna go through the glad times.

Oh, that's good.

We're gonna go through the sad times.

We love you.

We're here for you.

And I've cried with you.

I walked out of y'all's house the other day, Coral, and you and your sister cousins just broken up.

I got in the car and I just cried.

And Lord help.

Put your arms around.

Been there.

You don't know what it is when you're laying there on a bed and your wife just died at twenty-eight.

You just graduated from seminary in a town you've never been in before.

And you o you you walk out of your little apartment and half the church that you just started there crying with you and loving on you.

You need your church.

There's three homes you need.

You need your family home, you need your church home, and you need your heavenly home.

Secondly, he said, Two are better than one for walking together.

That means mutual encouraging and providing each other.

A friend that's, hey, there's a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.

Can I say something?

A true friend, when you're in the deepest, lowest time of your life, I mean, maybe you've blown it, you've messed up.

Your true friend will walk in when everybody else walks out.

If you can count five of those on your hand, you're very fortunate.

Amen.

I've got, I know, I know that David Wilson would walk.

He'll be there.

It didn't matter what I did.

He knows that I'll be with him.

He could have messed up, he could have done the worst thing.

I don't care, it's not right, but I'm there.

Randy Spencer is a preacher friend of mine.

I miss him.

He was there when I went through some waters.

When nobody else was there for me.

Randy walked in in Virginia.

I was there for Randy when he had a bad church situation.

They wanted to kick him out and said he was all these wrong things.

I walked in and I told him to take a hike.

And I said, You're gonna jump him, you jump in me.

And we went through fire together.

God moved him and gave him.

They didn't realize what he had.

God moved him, and now he's just been a great pastor.

The church of 7800.

Just a godly man.

I needed Randy.

Randy needed me.

I wonder if you can catch this.

I've been in a couple of situations.

And David and Christy pulled in.

David was in a situation with Benji.

I pulled in.

Didn't matter how far I was, I'm coming.

Now that's a friend.

That's a friend, folks.

Amen.

And two are better than one, verse 11, because they have warmth.

Comfort and security.

I know for a married couple that's talking about physical union.

But outside of that context, it's just talking about comfort, support.

You're there just to let somebody cry.

You know, a lot of times when you're going through a tragedy, someone's death like Todd's, there's not a whole lot you can say except I just love you and I'm praying for you.

But I'm there.

We were there when I 20, 30 folks were there that night, and we just prayed.

What could we say?

Lord, we need you.

But we're there.

We were there for Rosemary.

You were there for Rosemie.

Her other church they'd come from, they, her friend there, they were there.

Aren't you glad to know you got a church right here?

Something happens.

We're there.

Amen.

Now to call me another night.

Now, I if I if you call me after 9:30, I'm probably in bed.

I'm 60 years old.

I know I don't look it.

Thank you very much.

I go to exercise, and by the way, Carrie, my instructor's back.

She came today and her husband.

I'm so glad you're here.

She's keeping me in shape.

I'm working out, and every once in a while I'll stop and she'll say, she won't call me by name, but she'll say, but I'll she looks up at me.

Come on, you can do it, you can do it.

And I'm saying, Carrie, I've done enough.

She's got Susan going too, man.

I'm telling you, we're going.

We're taking, we're getting in our second livelihood.

Amen.

But we need each other.

We need each other.

And then number four, two of better than one because of watch care.

You know what that means?

We need accountability.

We need spiritual accountability.

We need uh right accountability.

Somebody starts going down the wrong road.

Somebody needs to come over here and say, Jesse, you've missed church three or four Sundays.

I love you.

Everything okay?

I just talked to two people on texting early this morning.

They were telling me why I'm not here.

And one had missed three Sundays, because if you miss three Sundays, I'm coming to see you.

Or you better text me.

Amen.

I love you.

We need each other.

I need you.

I need you here.

I need you to support me.

I want to support you.

I want to love you.

I want to feed you.

I want to build you up spiritually and emotionally, all that we can together.

And then I'm through with the last problem.

Well, this is a good one.

Flighty.

The problem of flighty, fickle popularity.

You may think you're something, but you won't be something long.

Don't try, young people, this is for you.

Don't try to be popular.

Won't last long.

Don't care who you are.

I tried to remember who was the most valuable player last year in Super Bowl.

Took me about, I had to look it up.

Who cares?

Huh?

Amen?

Really?

What about you?

Olympics were the Olympics are coming up.

You remember the last winter Olympics who won everything?

Now, if you're a fanatic, you probably do, but that's 1%.

So don't get caught up in trying to be popular or being the best or trying to be the, you know, the GQ guy or whatever.

What is it for the ladies?

Don't know the beautiful whatever.

Don't don't try to do that.

It's flighty.

Now, watch this.

Watch this.

Let me prove it.

Let me tell you how how Solomon did that.

You know how he said that and why he figured it out?

Because before him, there were two kings.

It was Saul, King Saul, who was before David.

And he saw how Saul came to the kingdom.

But that was not of God.

Man chose Saul.

God chose David and Solomon.

And you know what he said?

He said, Oh, Saul didn't last long.

In fact, you end up, you don't want to study Saul because the end of Saul, he starts out good and ends up bad, turning to the witches of Windor, indoor.

They were praising Saul killed his thousands.

David killed his ten thousands.

Saul comes on, boom, he's gone.

David, man after God's own heart, he comes on the scene.

They praise him, they love him.

Then David's gone.

Solomon comes on the scene, and they're praising him, and then he even writes, but toward the end, they're saying bad things.

Hey, his popularity's gone.

He says, don't live for people.

Galatians 1 10, if I please men, I shouldn't be the servant of Christ.

Hey, people will be gone.

God won't.

Amen.

Amen.

You live to please him.

And I close.

And by the way, Romans 15, 4 says this.

Here's what Solomon ends as I close the message.

He said, I've learned through all this experience.

Then he says to the people, listen to me.

He turns it to God.

Praise the Lord.

He says, For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience of the scriptures might have hope.

In other words, he says, I've given you all the past.

I've lived it, I've read it, I've seen it, I've done it.

Now listen to me.

Listen to me.

Listen to me.

All that matters is what's done for Christ.

That's all that will last.

All that matters.

That's it.

That's it.

And then I close for I know God has thoughts of us.

Thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you an expected end.

Are you ready for this?

We're not interested this morning in your past.

We're interested in your future.

And God's got a fantastic future for your life.

He's got a fantastic future for your life.

He wants to make something beautiful.

Susan's working on that song.

She's going to sing it for me soon, Benji.

Something beautiful.

In fact, that's what he said in last week's message.

Something beautiful.

God wants to make something beautiful out of your life.

If you're here this morning, you don't know the Lord as your personal Savior.

I want to give you that opportunity.

Every head bowed, every eye closed.

Thanks again for tuning into this week's message.

We pray that your life has been changed.

If you would like to find out more about us, visit us on our webpage at thechurch at cw.com.

You can also connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at TheCurch at CW.

Need prayer or more information?

Send us an email at office at the church at cw dot com.

We hope you have a wonderful day and again, God bless you.