hug and there are times when hugging is inappropriate
inappropriate
it God has given us a wide spectrum of
emotions and sometimes we feel like
we're at the mercy of our anger or our
depression or our grief it helps us to
know that each emotion is simply playing
the part allotted to its own special
time we need a blue sky and we need
Green Meadows we need clouds that are
willowy white in the same way we need
our full spectrum of god-given
emotions for they are the emblems of our
Humanity they Mark us as children of a
God who also has anger and grief and
laughter you show me a person who's
never had any sorrow or sickness or
sadness in his life and that person is
incomplete because God allows those
things in our lives to make us better
people to give us a greater heart for
others and to help us be able to reflect
his Spirit among other people that's how
time affects our body and time affects
our soul but notice in the sixth verse
of the third chapter we learn how time
affects our spirit it says there's a
time to gain and a time to lose a time
to keep and a time to throw away a time
to tear and a time to sew a time to keep
silence and a time to speak a time to
love and a time to hate a time of war
and a time of
Peace the last three verses have to do
with our inner decisions the Deep
commitment of Our Lives sometimes we
gain sometimes we lose money weight hair
loved ones privileges rights
responsibilities Joy
possessions sometimes we store things in
our garages and sometimes we clean out our
our
garages we collect and we throw
away sometimes we need to speak up and
sometimes we just need to shut
up Solomon knew there was a time to keep
silence and a time to speak there's also
a time for love and even a time for hate
a time for hate oh yes even Jesus hated
he hated sin he hated its Mastery over
human souls he hated the wake of
Destruction and we need to know how to
hate that which is evil without hating
the people who are evil the passage Ends
by reminding us that while we all long
for a peaceful world there is even a
time when war is morally
necessary a time of war and a time of peace
peace
I don't have this written down in front
of me so I can't quote it exactly but I
remember reading when I was preaching a
message on war a long time ago a
statement that war is not the worst of
things that the worst of things is
living a life for which nothing is worth
dying and I believe there's a great
truth in that I don't want War I hate
war with all of my heart I hate it
because it's so devastating but I hate
what happens if we're not willing to
fight for what we believe and for what
amen so those are some Impressions about
life that Solomon gives us all of those
things that there are time
for but I don't want to leave this
message with just those analyses I want
to leave them as Solomon left this
chapter with some applications for our
own lives so we've had some Impressions
about life now here are some insights
about God
first of all God's plan is good can I
just say that God's plan is good
Ecclesiastes 3:9 says what profit has
the worker from that which he labors I
have seen the god-given task with which
the sons of men are to be occupied he
has made everything beautiful in his
time Solomon faces this attitude of
futility and despair and the middle of
chapter 3 he gives three answers for us
to ponder three things for us to think
about in verse 10 he says our busy work
can obscure The True Meaning of Life
unless we stop and take a close look so
doing we realize that God's plan is good
the truth is he has made everything
beautiful in its
time if we allow the meaning of this
statement to sink in we will realize
that everything is beautiful in God's
sight everything in life has a
purpose life is not empty and random and
Godless but full of precisely aligned
and god-ordained issues it's not that
your most important work is meaningless
it's that your most trivial moments are
also significant everything matters to
God and you may think that what you do
is insignificant and not meaningful if
you do it as unto the Lord it's
beautiful in God's sight it's beautiful
and it should be in your sight as
well Ruth Bell Graham the wife of the
famous Billy Graham used to have an
inscription over her kitchen sink
it said Divine service conducted here
day she understood that whatever we do
even washing a dirty pot is worthwhile
if done in God's Will and for Christ's
Glory Everything Is Beautiful in its
time God's plan is good and his purpose
is clear here's a great verse from
Ecclesiastes 3 he has put eternity in
their hearts
did you know that when you were born you
were born with eternity in your
heart God has put something in our
hearts a taste a longing for eternity
that cannot be discovered through the
experiences of Life there will always be
a longing within us for something more
than we have experienced until we know
God personally his plan is good his
purpose is clear his program is
mysterious guess that's a good place for
us to be right
now except that no one can find out the
work that God does from beginning to end
that's what it says in this verse God's
plan is good his purpose is clear but
the last part of the verse tells us that
his program is mysterious and no one can
figure it
out Vance hner used to say God writes
over some of our days these words we'll explain
later did you know that the word why
occurs in the Bible 430
times and you and I have asked it many
times probably more more than that Catherine
Catherine
Marshall the eloquent writer and wife of
US Senate chaplain Peter Marshall wrote
about her anguish over the death of a
beloved grandchild she said for quite a
while Catherine felt anger and
depression toward God for allowing such
a thing when she had earnestly prayed
and trusted for the child's healing then
one day she was reading through Isaiah
53 a poignant passage about the
suffering of the Messiah this is what it
says I had read that passage many times
before even since Amy Katherine's death
but it had not affected me as it did now
particularly the 10th verse God made his
own son suffer but it was a good plan
more than good it was perfect as only
something from God could be it was
terribly important to the future of the
human race that Jesus Christ have his
Dark Night experience on the cross yet
what a desperately Dark Night it had to
be for him to have cried out my God my
God God why have you forsaken
me she concluded when life hands us
situations we cannot understand we have
one or two choices we can wallow in
misery separated from God or we can tell
him I need you and your presence in my
life more than I need
understanding more than I need
understanding I Choose You Lord I trust
you to give me understanding and an
answer to all of my wives only if
and when you
choose let me just say this to you this
is a hard truth God is
God and he doesn't owe us an answer to
every question we ask he doesn't owe us
that some people say well why doesn't
God tell me what's going on he doesn't
have to do that he has no responsibility
to do that somay we'll understand but
right now we live by faith what is faith
faith is living from the promise to the
fulfillment faith is that in between
time when you don't know how it's going
to work out but you know it will work
out because God is in the formula it's
like looking through the back window in
a foggy Morning Mist you can't make out
every detail of the field and the trees
but you have faith that things will
clear up and the world will be beautiful
a little heaven on
Earth somehow it shows up after a fog or a
a
rain some Impressions about life and
some insights about God
and then some instruction about living
what do we do with all this I always
like to ask that question what does it
say what does it mean what does it mean
to me so here's Solomon having given us
his impression about life and his
insights about God he ends this section
by sharing some instructions about
living I'm going to put these in very
usable terms number one don't forfeit
enjoyment because of what you can't
understand verse 12 says I know that
nothing nothing is better for them than
to rejoice and to do good in their lives
so let me unpack this for us life the
awesome gift of God shouldn't be
affected by the paralysis of
analysis we either be frozen in fear
over what comes next or we'll become so
confused over the meaning of it that we
won't notice the joy leaking out of the
seams of everyday
life what that is saying more than
anything else don't live your life
always trying to figure everything thing
out let me just tell you I've been doing
that for 50 some years as a pastor and I
can't figure it out and you can't either
we aren't meant to figure everything out
we live in this this bookend culture
where you got a problem and then you
have a strategy and then you have a
solution but the Christian life doesn't
always work that way there are many
things about the Christian life that I
do understand and cause me to have great
confidence and joy but friends there's a
lot stuff I don't understand there's a
lot of things that happen in life I
can't people come well why did that
happen I don't have a
clue and you don't either and if we have
to be satisfied with answers to all of
our intrinsic questions in order for us
to live a happy life we are going to be
miserable the Lord says in Isaiah 559
for as the heavens are higher than the
earth so are my ways higher than your
ways and my thoughts than your thoughts
in other words God moves in mysterious
ways William Cooper wrote it that way he
said his wonders to perform some people
want to master every corner of the god
question before they make a commitment
to believe in him and they missed the
heart of the issue which is the issue of the
the
heart Jesus said I have come that they
may have life and have it more
abundantly I think when most Christians
approach the end of life they're going
to wish they had served God more
Faithfully but I think they're going to
have another regret and that is they
didn't fully take advantage of the
wonderful abundance of Life In
Christ I want to tell you something God
enjoys your enjoyment you know some
people think well God God's only into
the hard things he only shows up when
things are no no God has built us with
the capacity for incredible Joy even on
this Earth as we head toward heaven when
we smile in the right way God Smiles
bigger than we can
imagine go to a football game spend time
with your family take a vacation pursue
an enjoyable hobby do something for
yourself every day thank God for the
blessings he has abundantly poured into your
your
life don't get complacent about that God
has given you the capacity for joy and
if you spend all your life trying to
figure everything out you will never
know that Joy you have to accept some
things by faith I don't know what you're
up to God but I know you're a good God
and you don't make any mistakes and I
have determined to trust you and go on
with my life and that's the most important
important
thing number two don't forget to be
thankful for God's
gifts it says in verse 13 that every man
should eat and drink and enjoy the good
of all his labor it is the gift of God
did you hear
that I love the story in the New
Testament about the lepers who were
healed but only one of them came
back that one leper must have been
different thanking God for the sunshine
in the blue
sky disease is a terrible thing as you
know but its power to inflict misery
over us is within our
control godly people cope with amazing
adversities by simply refusing to bow to
The Misfortune the most powerful weapon
in our Arsenal is our attitude of
gratitude I don't know anybody ever met
who is grateful and
depressed think about
that in everything give thanks for this
is the will of God in Christ Jesus for
you here's the third one don't fear life fear
fear
God I know that whatever God does it
shall be forever nothing can be added to
it and nothing taken from it God does it
that men should fear before him that
which is has already been and what is to
be has already been and God requires an
account of what has
passed very pregnant verse not time for
me to take it all apart but let me just
say that God deals in
forever and Flawless God made it you
can't add to it you can't subtract from
it you can't put a stop to it though
even a sunset Over the Rockies is not
forever you have these feelings as you
stand in its presence this is a work
work of perfection a masterpiece I can
add nothing to it nor can I detract
anything from it therefore I just simply
stand humble and speechless and
worship God's design for your life and
mine is every bit as a aspiring as tomorrow's
tomorrow's
sunset you have your doubts about that
plan it is perfect it is a forever thing
it can't be edited we should rest in the
knowledge of his
perfection but we should also respond in
a healthy fear did you read that
correctly fear Fe a
r we don't fear God as as if he were
going to destroy us we fear Him in
reverence and the Bible is filled with
verses about it fear the lord did you
know that wisdom starts with fear fear
of God is the beginning of wisdom that
doesn't mean we're scared of God I use
that term it means we have an awesome
respect and reverence for him we are all
struck by God so much so that it's
impossible for us to even put it into
words have you ever visited the Niger
Falls and ridden the Maid of the Mist
right out into the Basin of that thundering
thundering [Music]
[Music]
cataract it's a bit terrifying to stand
there only a few yards from such Power
deafened by the Roar of 6 million cubic
feet of water bursting over the cliff
every minute and falling 100 70 ft into
the Basin before you the spray hits you
and you can literally feel the sound
waves beating against you when you look
at the sun setting Over the Rockies
painting the sky in a spectrum of Reds
and oranges you reflect on the size and
the Heat of the solar star and the fact
that in a millionth of a second you
could cease to exist if you were in its
presence you feel small and fearful and
asru all of these things remind us of
who God is
and how we should respect him and see
him in his greatness know that we are
not like God in that respect he is high
above us but then realize that The God
Who We Worship in these moments of
grandeur is the same God who cares about
every detail of your life and mine and
going into a new year he's been there
before us he's the Eternal God he lives
outside of time he created
time and whatever you think you're going
to meet in the future God already knows
there he's already been there he
understands it he will in his own way
help you in the
process but I think the thing that comes
away from this is We Fear the thunderous
power of a love so relentless it could
send one's own son to
die we fear the Blackness of God turning
away as Christ endured our sin on
Calvary we stand before the cross and we
realize we can add
nothing and neither can we take anything
away the ACT is perfect and forever and
our fear turns to love and devotion as
we stand before the cross and realize
that at that moment everything changed
for the
world and for
us when we stand at the cross and ask
for forgiveness and receive the benefit
of what God did through his son Christ
our lives are never going to be the
same this year many of you in this room
have stood in that awesome moment and
given your life to
Christ now it's time for us to go and
share that with others let them know how
awesome our God is and what he can do to
change even the most difficult
things that life brings us if you would
like to experience the hope that can
only come from knowing Jesus Christ in a
personal way Dr Jeremiah would like to
send you two resources the first is a
booklet called your greatest turning
point which will help you begin your
relationship with Christ and the second
is our monthly devotional magazine
turning points to give you encouragement
and inspiration throughout the year
these resources are yours completely
free when you contact turning point [Music]
[Music]
today thank you for being with us today
join us next time for another message
with Dr David Jeremiah here on turning point
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