Time to Respond | Elder Ang Peng Hoe

You're listening to a message to go from axt church. We hope this message

will light up your day. I'm going to be sharing actually from Ecclesiastics today.

So it's a passage on time. It might be a little bit deep,

but you'll take it back and just ponder upon God's word. Because even

the Book of Ecclesiastics, if you read it, sometimes you realize it's King

Solomon thinking out loud. Actually sometimes you know, some people will be like,

why must he think out loud like that, because I wouldn't say that

all his thoughts are, like you know, is biblical truth, because really

he's actually reflecting upon life. And there are a few books that Solomon has

written in script in the Bible. Of course, the one that every married

couple we will encourage them to read is a song of Solomon's, the one

he wrote in his younger days. Uh. And then of course there is

uh the wisdom book called Proverbs, where he wrote when he was in the

Middle age. Uh. And then you come to Ecclesiastics, which is a

book that he actually uh he was writing it towards his letter years uh.

And so you realize when you read Ecclesiastics, he's actually contemplating. He's in

a very contemplative mood and he's reflecting back upon life. So we're gonna just

go through some of these uh scriptures, especially the one in chapter three,

UH simply and titled the one that we all know a Time for everything.

UH. And as I go through it, not to say line by line,

but I I'm gonna it may sound a little bit philosophical as I shared

today, but I hope when you all catch something, UH, do realize

that ultimately, ultimately time isn't gone, Uh, not so much. God

is in time. Some people think that time is the bigger, you know,

section of things, and God is somewhere within time. But I believe

time is in God and God is the one that is all encompassing because He

was not limited by time and space. Will he existed even before time and

space. Okay, let's get into it. Let's get into it Ecclesiastic.

If you have your Bible with you, you can turn to ecclesiast this chapter

three, I'm just gonna read verses one to fifteen. I'm reading from the

NLT. And then thereafter we will go through what I hope to share and

encourage is and every one of us as we go through different seasons of our

lives. Amen. He says this, for everything, there is a season,

a time for every activity under heaven. A time to be born and

a time to die. A time to plan and the time to harve us.

A time to kill and a time to heal. A time to tear

down and the time to build up. A time to cry and a time

to laugh. A time to grieve and a time to dance. A time

to scatter stones and a time to gather stones. A time to embrace and

the time to turn away. A time to search and a time to quit

searching. A time to keep and a time to throw away. A time

to tear and a time to men. A time to be quiet and a

time to speak. A time to love and a time to hate. A

time for war and a time for peace. What do people really get for

all their hard work? Again? Remember this is King Solomon in a contemplative

mod Okay, So he asked this question, what do people really get for

all their hard work? I have seen the burden God has placed on us

all. Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has

planted eternity in the human heart. But even so, people cannot see the

whole scope of God's work from beginning to end. So I concluded there is

nothing better than to be happy and enjoy ourselves as long as we can.

And people should eat and drink and enjoy the fruits of their labor, for

these are gifts from God. And I know that whatever God does his final

nothing can be added to it or taken from it. God's purpose is that

people should fear him. What is happening now has happened before, and what

will happen in the future has happened before, because God makes the same things

happen over and over again. A man a lord blessed reading of his words.

There is a time for everything. He starts with birth, and then

there will come a time for each and every one of us when the clock

will stop ticking. That's just reality. And you know, sometimes I'm someone

who ponders upon death quite a fabit, not because I'm morbid, but it's

something that is inevitable. I don't know why we have to fear death,

even though in reality, you know, if you come from a normal traditional

Chinese family or Asian culture, we don't talk about death, and it's not

something that you talk about. It's almost something that is taboo. Sorry,

remember last time when I was younger, you mentioned the word dies or they

probably stick all the paper on you and make sure you you don't see anything

pertaining to that. But isn't then an inevitability in our life? Yet it's

not something that we even give taught about. It is something that we try

to staer entirely clear from, but it's something that will ultimately happen at some

point. And so you know, we as humans, we actually have this

very precious commodity called time. And we may have different we may come from

different social standings, we may come from different types of family, we may

be of different ethnicity and come from different geographical locations. But the one thing

that we all have is all of us have twenty four hours a day to

spend. That's the reality, and what we do with time decides where we

spend eternity. That is what the scripture actually tells us, and that's what

the scripture actually reminds us of. So it's actually a very important subject that

we are talking about here. And I know we have all read this passage

many times. I have preached from this passage usually usually at funerals, because

it's again one of those moments where we are contemplating a person going through seasons

in their lives. And so I know I have shared on this, but

I want to take us a little bit deeper. I mean, we don't

have to wait for a funeral to actually really try to understand ecclesiastice. But

I do wonder what you make of it, what you make of this passage,

because some people may take the view that it is within our human capacity

to decide and appropriate time to do something. So really it is saying that

there is a time and a place for everything, and we decide ourselves what

to make of it. So there are some people who look at it from

that perspective and that anger, and they're looking, oh, okay, yeah,

it's up to me. I'm in control of all things. The thing

is, the English translation actually gives us sometimes this impression when it says earth

time, there is a time, there is a time for this Earth,

time for that. The more accurate translation for actually Yes, chapter three is

actually to use the article there the time. I think maybe only the Good

News Bible actually translates it into the time. So actually the message that should

come through. Is this not that it is not your choice to choose the

time, Because ultimately, if you use the article there, you realize this

that the time is already chosen, it's already set. And with this interpretation,

and when you look at it from this anger, there are then some

people who go all the way to the other extreme and they take what it's

sometimes called a fatalistic view of life that basically times are so fixed that there

is nothing that you can do about it. Everything is all in the hands

of faith, everything is inebitable and predetermined. Actually, sometimes our Muslim brethrens

that's how they operate. They take a slightly more fatalistic view or fatalistic world

view when you talk to them, when things happens are to them is sudhada

tapcun. It's already set, there is nothing in which you can do about

it. It's a fatalistic worldview. And I want to challenge us and encourage

us. As we read this passage carefully, you realize that neither does it

teach that it is your choice to choose what time it is, nor do

you have to accept it in a fatalistic manner. Because the truth I believe

actually lies right in between the two extreme views. And what this philosopher in

Ecclesiastics, which we know is King Solomon, is actually trying to say and

trying to teach us, is this, how do we respond to the tides

of time? How do we actually make the best out of the time that

we have? Because everything has got its beauty, everything has got its purpose,

and everything has got its sense in it. And the word tide sometimes

reminds me of this. If you try to imagine tide, tides and ebb.

These are things that maybe you see and you read in poetry, but

that's the reality of it. If you stand by the beach side, you

will see the tides coming in and then you'll see it ab away. It

comes in, it flows out, it comes in, it flows out.

That is actually what life is. Sometimes it looks like you in out,

in out. And this is a question, and this is what Ecclesiastics is

actually starting to look at and ponder. And one of the us questions that

is now asked is this is life actually worth living? What is the point

of living if it's tides and it's just coming in, going out, coming

in, going out. And I think these are some of the really important

questions that we have to ask ourselves, because if you don't answer, if

you do and you don't have an answer for this question pertaining to time,

you're up wasting time. And that is why this man King Solomon, who

basically has reached the end of his life again, I'd say it, he

is writing this passage in the latter years of his life. He's actually disappointed.

No, and he's actually disillusion and he's actually a bit hopeless. And

now he is contemplating, he's thinking, he's reflecting all that has happened,

and we have seen that he tried to do it through. This is King

Solomon who lived his life this flour was psycho party. Okay, he partied

hard, and when we read about Solomon science, we are like men the

way he partied. I don't know whether he made all the right choices.

Actually, he made a lot of silly choices. On top of being the

wisest person around, made some really brilliant wise decisions. He also ended up

marrying seven hundred women and having three hundred concubines. I mean, what will

compel him to do that? So he tried, He tried to live life

and experience life by earning money, getting money by trying to get more pleasures

in life. No, he enjoyed wine, he enjoyed women, He enjoyed

it all. Read. If you read all of his writings and read the

different Old Testament books talking about Solomon, you will know that he basically was

trying. He was trying to find the best way to use his time.

He knew that he had only won life to live. And now he's actually

thinking, and he's looking back, and he's trying to trying to trying to

make sense of is there really a pattern in all the I went through?

Who said the time? What if I got to show for it at the

end of this, you know again I shed he's thinking out loud, because

you see, you can own you cannot only spend a lot of money and

have nothing to show for it. You can actually also spend a lot of

time and have nothing to show for it. That is something that you know.

Even in the parable of the prodigal Son, sometimes we think he only

spent money and had nothing to show for Actually he spent a lot of time.

He wasted a lot of time and had nothing to show for it.

Ultimately, at the end of it, and so actually just this says this.

No, God sets the time to be born, and God sets the

time to die. God says the time for sorrow and the time for joy.

God says the time. God sets the calendor of your life and the

seasons of your life. You cannot set the time. That is how he

is coming to this conclusion. Yet what you do with the times that God

says is going to determine whether your life has meaning and a point to it

or not. It's something that we must understand it. So it is a

balance. God sets the time, but what you do with the times that

He sets is your responsibility. And so the secret of success in life is

to sense when God's spirit is preparing a situation and to get in there and

capitalize on it. It is sensing the tide. It is catching the tide,

and then you will discover God in your decision making. I mean,

this is what surfers do. Sometimes they stand at the shaw, they look

out over the horizon and they are trying to study the waves and see when

it's the right time for me to go out, because if I go out

at the wrong time, I can peddle all the way out that I jolly

will have to peddle all the way back because you ain't going to catch no

tide and you're not going to come back to the show. You're going to

be stranded somewhere out in the open seat. That's the reality of it.

So we need to also be able to sense the tides of time. In

other words, your life is not just spend wanting to done and to laugh

and to be happy and to build. But if you see even the times

of sorrow and the times of mourning and the times of loss that you go

through and respond to them rightly, you can weave everything into a life that

is not going to be pointless, but it's going to be a life that

it's going to be filled with purpose. That is the reality, and that

is the message, and it is a message that is very relevant to all

of us as we go through the different seasons and sweet transition. You know,

people wish me happy anniversary today seventeen years and of course today I have

now two teenage children. I'm entering into a different phase of parenthood and life

in its entirety, and married life in reality, because sometimes with children,

your married life actually transitions through the phases that your children goes through. It's

different when they are little kids. It's different when I've got to wake up

in the middle of the night. It's different right now when I can leave

them at home and got to learn how to trust them and then eventually trust

them to even wreck my car. That kind of thing. I believe you.

You go through the different transitions and the different phases, and that is

something that we've got to be able to understand. What are these phases that

we are going to how do we respond because you go through the tides and

the apps, the apps and the flows, the coming ins and the going

out, and that is something that we need to really be aware of.

And that is what King Solomon actually came to understand because he look at this,

he looks, and you see how he writes. You realize that he's

come to this understanding that there seems to be a dichotomy in life, that

life is actually full of contrasts, but yet the same thing, life is

also full of continuity, contrast and continuity. On the one hand, that

seems to be seasons which alternate with each other, and yet on the other

hand, there it's this sameness about everything because it just comes back again and

again and again, And is this not so true about our own lives?

Your life is made up of contrast. Moments that you have been happy,

moments that you have been set, moments that you have been elated, your

high up, and moments that you have been down. So contrast actually keeps

recurring, so that life actually is essentially sometimes it looks like a series of

ups and downs. Is that not true? And God has set life as

it is. We know this is true because we understand it as the rhythm

of sorrow and joy, the rhythm of birth and death. That's what simes.

If you understand music, you will understand life a little bit better.

So because even music, there is the highs and the lows. There are

those crescendo moments, and then that those moments that you know can take you

to the pick, and then those moments that brings you back down to valley

law. And so in this passage there are seven verses no, which for

the Hebrew is actually the perfect number. So the writer say seven times look

at the contrasts of life. In each one of those seven verses, there

are usually two contrasts. One is something you welcome and the other day is

something that you sort of try to keep away and keep out of your life.

The time for birth and the time for death. I mean, it's

true life. I mean none of us are looking forward or one more death

in my life. No, but birth you celebrate. Uh, and that's

the that's the reality. Unless it's quite hard now when we when we celebrate

births and then suddenly, you know, the chairperson, okay, now we

celebrate together, but we also have to moan together. Uh, it's not

not the easiest. You are there, you know, or you know a

newborn has been born this week. Then straight away it's like the mister h

know, has to come in and like, now we want to mourn together

with our family. I know it's not easy right when you when you chair,

but that is the reality. And you see that, you see that

contrast even here. One is something you welcome. One is something that you

don't really welcome. And he begins and ends with the biggest two facts of

life. First, the biggest individual fact is that it's birth and death.

Like I said, that's a fact of life. And birth is something that

you can't control. Death is something that is going to be inevitable. The

second thing is the biggest social fact. That's how he ends, because he

ends with war and peace. And actually, if you look back over life,

I mean, I've lived about forty plus years, it's safe to say

this two couplets covers most of my life. That's the reality. I mean,

I've seen countless numbers of births and many deaths, and there's been times

of peace and times of war. That's all I mean. Really, I've

been witnessing most of my life. So it's one contrast after the other,

and there is this continuity and this sameness about everything. Now, that is

what Acclesiastice is saying. Here, nothing lasts forever, but nothing is totally

destroyed. That is a pattern of life that King Solomon has taken notice of.

And then now he turns to this question. Basically, when you read

Acclesiasis, you realize that he's almost like he's asking some questions in his head

and he's trying trying to answer it. Okay, I wouldn't say that the

answers are ultimately the truth, but he's trying to make sense of it because

the second question that he's probably thinking allow is this, no, who actually

decides the seasons? Who is the real power who decides that next year this

time, I'm going to be wonderfully happy or I'm going to be terribly sad.

And there are only a few possibilities. Is it chance or is it

choice? I mean by that, either the seasons are impersonal forces beyond anyone's

control, or someone is controlling them. Now you have to decide, no,

which of those answers you're going to take, which of the philosophy in

life that you're going to live by, Because you know, it is quite

easy to say, I live by this philosophy of sheer chance, it's luck.

Everything is by chance, by luck, and many people actually believe in

that, many people actually subscribe to that. But that is not an answer

that you will find in the Bible. That everything happens by chance, by

fluke, there's nothing, there's no design in things. No, that's how

sometimes the world views how we are created as well, it just happened by

chance, some atoms collided and boom pom something something happened, and then here

we are. But I don't think and I don't believe that that's how the

Bible actually teaches earth to take that philosophy. No, so I don't I'm

not sure, but I don't really subscribe to the fact that the seasons are

set by blind, impersonal forces of faith. Then there are those who say

it is my choice. I am the captain of my faith. I'm the

master of my soul. I decide to be happy, and I'll be happy.

I decide to change the cost of my life. I changed the course

of my life to this. Jesus actually say that tonight your soul will be

required by me. Sometimes it's a reminder that actually I'm not in control because

none of us can set the time. And that is what Jesus said quite

strong, and he says, tonight your soul will be required of you,

and it's something that you can't set, and you are not in control of

that. Then there are those who say that their faith is fixed by others.

They're always having someone to blame for the things that they go through.

You know, portholes is the government's for whatever, you know, traffic jam

government's for some There's always someone else. Know, my leaders didn't do this

for me? Is their fault. You know, my parents didn't work hard

enough. Why didn't they work high? Now only they work high? Now

I could inherit it so much more, and then I don't have to do

much in life. There is always someone else's fault. So some people think

that they are faith is fixed by others. Uh have you noticed that?

And that's the reality of it. No. I used to love this comic

uh strip called Calvin Hopps. You read Calvin Hobbes. I love Calvin and

Hobbes. Uh. Some people actually ask me, you know, not that

my English is really good, but some people do ask me, know,

why is your command of English a bit stronger than the normal other normal people?

And I actually tell them I grew up reading Calvin and Hobbes. And

can you imagine that reading Calvin and Hobbs, And you actually need to readly

with a dictionary because Bill Watterson, yeah, he's his English is deep.

And this is a This is a six year old kid with a highly imaginative

mind that is thinking about all some but I remember there was one street where

he was blaming his parents because he didn't want to go to he didn't want

to work hard, he didn't want to go to school. His and then

the parents kept telling me, you know, you gotta you've got to do

your homework, You've got to study. You know, if not you're going

to end up like a you know, having no purpose in life. And

he say, no, with purpose in life as long as you work out

and I inherit everything. So anyway, but that's how some people operate,

and that's sometimes how children, now this can operate. So you know,

it's my parents fault. But really who sets the season? And so some

people say it's really down to share chance, share long. Some people say

I set the season. I choose what happens. Some people say they set

the season, they chose, and they are to be blamed. But actually

justice actually very clearly says this, God sets the time. God sets the

seasons. It is God who decides when you die. It is God who

decides whether next week it will be a good one for you or a bad

one. It is God who moves circumstances so that those circumstances exhort you or

humble you. I believe that all things are in control of God Almighty.

That is my personal belief, and I believe that's what the scripture teaches us

and tells us. And how you respond to God's calendar is going to be

the secret of whether you find a real point of your life now That is

ecclesiastics answer to the question as to who is the real power of life?

It is not your power or mind to control the seasons. It is not

in the power of any faith to control the seasons. It is actually God

who sets the clock, and God who sets the time of your circumstances.

And it is quite an act of faith to believe this. But it takes

faith to believe that God sets everything. Amen. It takes faith, and

therefore that means that there must be a purpose, because God is not purposeless.

If it gives me an unhappy week this week, then there must be

a reason for that. Faith is needed to believe that God sets the season

because faithalism says there's nothing I can do about it except I just have to

put up with it. It's ready said, I just have to put up

with it. Faith says, what is God saying to me by setting this

season? Because our hope is ultimately in God, and it must be evident

in our lives. Hope must be seen and evidence in our lives. That

is essentially what faith is. When we put our hope and our trust in

an unseeing God. But yet it's evident through the way the choices that we

make whether we have faith or we don't have faith. You know, I've

been reading scriptures, and really sometimes there's this portion of scripture. I remember

when Jesus was teaching his disciples and he was telling them, no, you

got to you got to forgive, not just seven times, but seven times,

seven times, it's basically a lot of times. And they're they're like,

ah, Lord, you have to enlarge my faith because I don't know

how to. How can we forgive someone who has caused so much grief?

But yet you told us keep forgiving, keep forgiving. And then to that

that Jesus actually said, huh, and latch your faith. But ultimately he

said, this is no faith as small as a mustard seed is able to

move mountains. That tells me that when I pray, I shouldn't be praying

for God to enlarge my faith. I should be praying that God, can

you help me activate whatever little faith that I have, because it takes that

little faith for us to step into a place of belief and hope and to

be able to be able to take in all that is being said that God

is in control of all things requires faith because without the activation of faith in

our lives. We won't ever be able to really say that. God,

I believe that time is in your hands and you are in control, and

what happens really is kill my choice. So here's an example. We see

if you live in a four seasons anyone come from a country where there are

four seasons winter, okay, from the UK, from South Africa or wherever

you're from, Okay, Northern Hemisphere, southern Hemisphere, winter, spring,

summer, fall. You know when winter arrives, it gets cold. Naturally,

it does get cold. You can define and you can go out swimming.

Any of you go swimming during winter, Okay. I know there are

some hardcore people who do that. It's like, all right, man,

it's zero I know Pastor Joel in Melbourne he tells me and we during winter

zero degrees and he's out in the public pool swimming, and I'm like,

dude, you're crazy. What do you put yourself through that? No?

But you can, Okay, you can. I'm not asking you from the

extreme point of view, but from a normal logical point of view. Most

of the time winter comes, we will stay away from the water because it

gets cold. But you can, you can define and you can go out

swimming in the middle of winter. Basically, you are free to defy the

seasons, but what is predestined is that winter will come. How you respond

to that, whether you want to corporate and stay home and keep warm,

or whether you want to go against and like, I'm a true sicker and

I'm going to take a nice deep dive into a zero degree spool. That

is really an area of human freedom. So God says the time to mourn,

and you can laugh it off if you wish. That is essentially how

I look at it. God says the time when you can respond and repent,

but you can choose to harden your heart and walk out without doing so.

It's really your choice ultimately. But he says the time, just as

how he sets the seasons that we see winter, summer, spring and for

amen. And so God will not force you to go with the times.

But the person is wise to move with the times which God has said.

That is the message here. Someone is wise who when God sends summer,

you enjoy it to the fullest. And I see how those in the northern

hemisphere has done that. May I live in the UK summertime and it only

happens for a short period of time, and usually in UK, whether it's

terrible somewhere, he rains. I don't know why it rains during summer,

but that's the reality of it. So that's why they are singing songs like

what is they always rain on me? Because he always rains in summer when

they actually want to go out. But when it's a nice sunny weather,

you will see the parks filled with people because they're all out. And that

is essentially what it is. It'll be wise during summer go out and have

a good ten and then sometimes God sends the winter and you can also say

God, I praise you for this also because you want to do something with

me during this season of winter. Someone is wise who when he is a

picture of health, he's enjoying it. He's being alive, he's breeding,

he's saying, praise God, I'm well. And this person is also wise

when he's not well, when he's sick, and he says, God,

what are you trying to say to me when you have allowed this to happen?

You're looking for that response and what is that response? Amen? And

so now we move on thirdly and finally to this ultimate thought, which is

what is the purpose of all of this, is there even a purpose in

life? And again we see the sheer honesty of Solomon here because acclely Justice

is actually honest enough to say this. No, I've searched all my life

and I cannot see the point. That's why I say this. Solomon is

actually a little bit frustrated towards the end. It's like I search, I

search, I search. I can't really see the point. I can't really

I don't know whether there is a pattern. I've not found a purpose.

And basically no, I just have to come to terms that life is just

full of contrast and full of continuity. That's almost like what he is essentially

saying. And you know, I will be telling you a lie if I

were to say no, I promise you you become a Christian. Everything is

going to be smooth selling life is all about dancing. Life is all about

partying. Life is all about enjoying. Every time there is a morning will

be turned into dancing every morning. You'll just go to life problem free.

I'll be lying, that's not the truth. But if I can lead you

to a faith that says, even in those bad things that God had said

the time for he knew what he was doing, and he was weaving a

beautiful picture, which you will see eventually. How would you feel about that?

It's going to be something that's different because in the Old Testament they couldn't

see that picture in his entirety. And that is why actually says this is

essentially what is sometimes called a pessimistake writing. It's quite passimistic. When you

read the book. How did the author actually cope with life? He said,

no, you have set eternity in man's mind, and hear you prevented

man from grasping the meaning of life. He's thinking out loud. What he

means is this, No, it is us actually looking at this huge painting.

There's this huge painting that's before you. But what we can see we

are taking a magnifying glass and we are trying to look at a huge painting

through the lens of a magnifying grass, and all we see is actually one

part amplified or one part made bigger. But you don't see it in its

entirety. And it is in the New Testament that God actually reveals what he's

doing. Praise God, hallelujah, because after we study this chapter, I

know Solomon didn't have everything ahead of him to know what was going to happen.

But we do today. And once we are done with the Old Testament,

we return to the pages of the New Testament, and it takes us

around or to this bigger side of the picture where we are able to see

it more clearly. And if you turn to efficient chapter one itself, you

know you will read this. In all his wisdom and insight, God has

made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure,

which He purposed in Christ. And so the plan which God will complete when

the time is right, is you bring all creation together, everything in heaven

and on earth, with Christ as the heat. And the secret has been

told. The secret has been revealed, and I now know what God is

doing in my life. I now know why he sets the seasons, why

there are ups, and why there are downs, because everything ultimately has got

to sum up in Christ. That is the purpose of life. And you

will see this when you get into Christ, and when you become a Christian

and see the picture that this old world isn't going through cycles, It isn't

just seasons repeating sometimes that's what we look at it. Up downs, continuity.

Contrast is just repeating. You realize that ultimately is actually a line,

which means there is a start, there is a beginning, and there is

an end. Yes, we go through those cycles, but we are moving

and we are progressing in time that means there will be and you are not

in this cycle called a washing machine, if you've ever heard of this term,

called a washing machine. When you go to the rivers, you are

at one place where you are just your trap and you're stuck. But that's

not what life is. Because life, yes, it is a cycle,

but it's a cycle that has got a forward movement. It starts somewhere and

it ends somewhere. There is a beginning and the end, and the end

is that one day there should be a Christian universe. That is our hope

as believers. That is God's big picture, and that is the grand purpose

that God is essentially working out. We only see bits and pieces of it,

but He sets it as times in our life. Those bits and pieces

the time of your birth, the time of your death. Everything God sets

it to be part of his perfect plan. And it is only as you

respond to Jesus and the times that he said that you actually begin to say

this. Now, I am absolutely certain. I know that all things work

together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His

purpose. Romans aid. And knowing all this, whatever experiences come to you,

whatever God's times are that are set for you, you can say,

my times are in your hand God, And therefore all things are brought into

Christ. And I can suffer in Christ as well as well as done in

Christ. Life has become a whole meaningful thing. You see that phrase my

times in your hands comes from Psalm thirty one, verse fifteen, and it

comes just a few verses after the verse that says, into your hands I

commit my spirit. Who said that Jesus? It was Jesus, as a

young man thirty three years of age. He said that this was a young

man whose life was being cut off by wicked man, a young man in

his prime, a young man who are nothing nothing but good for people,

and the young man whom we know today as gone. Jesus only had three

short years of public ministry, and though Jesus did not travel much, he

did not travel around the world, he did not travel outside. He fulfilled

the most beautiful and perfect picture of life that has ever been, because in

those three short years, he responded to the times which the Father had said

earlier. You know, you remember in the earlier parts of the gospel when

they were when they wanted to kill him, when they tried to kill him

in John chapter two, he actually said, this, my time has not

yet come. He knew what time it was. He knew when it was

the time to rejoice and make merry with his friends. And that's why sometimes

people actually call him your real glutton, Your party is so hard. But

he also knew when was the time that the Father has set for him to

go to Jerusalem. He said, there was a time. Now I'm here,

we be merry. Eventually, when I'm gone, that's when you pray

and fast and mourn. You remember, there's this story in the scriptures.

He always knew what time it was, not by his watch, but he

just knew. Do you notice that he knew whether it was time to rejoice

or whether it was time to be said when they criticize him for not going

to parties, he said, now it's the time. Now, it's not

the time to fast. Now, it's not the time to pray. To

pray, I'm saying that I'm here, let's let's be married at the same

time. Nor was it the time to be said then that would come a

point of time when there was the appropriateness of you mourning. He knew when

it was time to rack, and when it was time to build some lives

he took a part, he really did, and some lives he built up.

But everything was done perfectly in the hands of the Father. And so

when Jesus actually came to the end of it, even though he had only

done three years of public ministry, he could ultimately say, his Father,

into your hands, I commit my spirit. His times were in the Father's

hands. It was then time to die, and Jesus knew the time,

and it was time to go home because he had done everything that the Father

wanted him to do. And you see, that is all the time that

you and I have got, because we really don't have a lot of time

to spare. That's the reality. We have one life to live. It

is actually long enough to do everything that God wants you to do. He

has said the times and really is too short to waste any of it.

And so I want to continue to encourage his life is actually long enough to

live out God's purpose. But it's too short to waste even a moment of

it. So let's continue now. I want to plead with you, whether

you're young or whether you're old, do you realize what time it is?

For some of us? No, it's high time to seek the Lord.

For some of us, it's high time we serve the Lord. For some

of us, it's time to fall in love. For some of us,

maybe it's time to get married. For some of us, it's time to

dance. For some of us, it's time to mourn. But you don't

need to be a fatalist. You don't need to leave everything to chance and

faith. You need faith because my times are in your hands. God.

Whatever this weik brings, I will call it beautiful because that is how you

have set it. And that is what the Book of Ecclesiastics is trying to

help us see. And it ends like this, No, because this is

where he says. Here is my final conclusion at the end of ecclesiastis I

think in chapter twelve he says, fear God and obey his commandments, for

this is the entire duty of man. For God will judge us for everything

we do, including every hidden think good or bad, and that these are

some helpful points that I will try to end as quickly as I can,

but some points for us to take note, because at the end of it,

this is King Solomon. He says, is no first things. First

remember and Solomon actually urges his readers to remember God. And I believe this

is the advice that came from his own life, because he's saying, I

probably wouldn't have faced through all this trauma of life having come to the end

of life, and like wonder so many things, Why didn't do this right?

Why didn't do that right? If only he had remembered God earlier in

his life. There was a season in Solomon's life when he forgot God and

he walked according to his flesh and according to the ways of this world.

So he says, remember. And then the next thing he says is his

fear, and he actually urges his readers, his hearers, to fear God.

And all the wisdom literature, if you read the scripture, tells you

this nor the fear of the God is the beginning of wisdom. If we

truly fear God, we are not afraid of anything or anyone else. And

that is why we must fear God because he is going to come and meet

us one day and he's going to ask us for an account of our lives.

That is the reality of it. And Jesus told his followers not to

fear those who can kill the body, but rather to fear him who,

after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell.

Strong words know, but if you think about it, that is when Jesus

comes back again, we wouldn't just see him as a savior. We will

actually meet him as a judge because he is going to adjudicate our lives and

we are going to have to give an account to the way we live our

lives. I'll tell you this, If people outside church don't fear God,

and I tell you a lot of people outside church don't fear God. But

the reality is if people outside church don't fear God is because people inside church

don't fear him either. And I pray that the fear of God that brings

about the reverence to live for him and to obey his word will continue to

be something that we apply in our lives. And finally he says, it's

obey. Solomon knew that he had not obeyed God as he should, and

he tells his readers, please obey God, be careful to make sure that

all the laws that the Lord has given you is for good, for your

good, don't spoil it. That is really our responsibility to obey and to

follow God, and not just to demand our rights. Life is not about

rights right. Life is actually about the responsibilities that we have as God's chosen

people. And so at least, yes, this is just a reminder,

a reminder of how we are supposed to live our lives, because if we

don't live our lives being discovered in God, you will end up asking a

lot of these questions that Solomon was asking, and I believe that he found

his answers eventually. But really God included this book. It's a strange book

to read, but I think he wanted us to be able to examine the

right ideas and the wrong ideas. That's the that's the reality, and that's

the truth. And that's how sometimes the Bible is written, no not,

It causes us to think, and that's that's something that I think it's really

really great and honest about the Bible. It tells us that if we don't

understand the meaning of life, from Heaven's angle and from the angle of the

next world. Basically, we will end up being disillusioned. We will be

disappointed and will be depressed, and we need to take on. And that's

why I always tell people that we must always have a biblical worldview, because

if you just have a worldview on his own, you won't be able to

respond to the times and the seasons that God has set for us. So

taking on a biblical worldview is going to be so important. The Bible doesn't

leave us with just a pessimistic book like Ecclesiastics, because in the New Testament

it tells us that Christ is our wisdom. Through him we find out both

why and how we should live life. He is the Alpha and the Omega.

He's the beginning and the end. So what has God God in mind

for his ultimate plan? What is God after in all of this? Why

is He spending his grades so lavishly on us? Have you ever asked yourself

that question? Because God, in his infinite wisdom, has shown us the

plan, and Christians know what God's plan for the universe is is actually in

efficient Chapter one, verse ten, it says that ultimately is to unite all

things in Christ things in heaven and things on earth. That is his plan,

so that there is nothing outside of Christ in God's universe. What an

amazing plan. That is why use as believers, we know the plot.

There is a rhythm, there is a pattern, and it is this.

All the universe is ultimately going to be Christian. They are going to be

christ Like. In all the chaos of human events, we can still end

up seeing this as the final purpose. That is why more people must hear

the Gospel today ever than before. And I thank God that today the Bible

is in so many languages is available because this is something that is very,

very significant significant. I believe God is calling out people of every tribe and

every tongue. That's what the scripture tells us to do. Thank God for

telling me about all this, because I am not lost anymore. Us believers

are enlightened, and you are not lost anymore. And I pray that we

will never be afraid to go into another year, even if the worst happens,

go into another season, even if the worst happens, because ultimately you

can say that I am not afraid of the changes that will eventually take place,

because I can see the plan that he showed to me, and this

is God's great plan ultimately that all may know Him. Amen. We hope

you've been blessed by this message. For more information on our church, please

visit as church org. We are also active on Facebook and Instagram. We're

believing that this week is going to be a good week. I hate for

you. God bless