(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Hey, man, so keep your place there in Ecclesiastes chapter 9, that's the chapter that we're gonna be looking at this morning. So Ecclesiastes chapter 9, first of all, the entire book of Ecclesiastes is one of my favorite books of the Bible. Of course, many times my favorite book of the Bible changes by which one I've read the most recent, because the Bible is just so great. But Ecclesiastes is a very powerful book in the Bible. It's of course written by Solomon through the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. You know, Solomon being the wisest man that has ever lived on the earth, you know, aside from Jesus Christ. So we really need to look at Ecclesiastes and many of the things in Ecclesiastes, and especially Ecclesiastes chapter 9, as, you know, as kind of life advice. As, you know, the Bible is telling us here, you know, wisdom that we need to apply to our lives. It is my opinion that Ecclesiastes chapter 9 is one of the most important chapters in the Bible for the Christian today. And I'm gonna explain that to you this morning. And if you read through Ecclesiastes chapter 9, as we just read the chapter and there were some things in there, where you're just like, okay, what does that mean? What's this talking about? This is my goal for you this morning, is to have you walk away from the sermon this morning, understanding the one main theme that is in Ecclesiastes chapter 9, and understanding why it is so important to you as a Christian today. If I accomplish only one thing today and this morning in the sermon, that is the one thing that I want to accomplish. So look down at Ecclesiastes chapter 9. There's a lot of statements in this chapter. But let's just first look at a first thought that could be a little bit of a confusing thought as we begin the chapter. And then we'll go through to the main point that I want to get at. But I have to kind of preface this idea with some things that he talks about in verses number 4 and number 5. Look down at verse number 4 of Ecclesiastes chapter 9. The Bible says, For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion. Alright, so you're like, what in the world is that talking about? So what he is saying here, what the preacher or King Solomon is saying, is he's saying that for him that is joined to all the living there is hope. What he's saying is, someone who's alive still has hope. He's like, someone that is still breathing, that still has life on this earth, you know, has hope. It says, for a living dog is better than a dead lion. Now what he's doing is, he's taking a comparison of animals this evening. And we're actually going to preach, I'm going to preach an entire sermon on why God gave us animals this evening. So join us tonight as well. But the Bible is saying here that a living dog, now I hate to break it to you, but if you're a dog person, you know, the Bible is like not very positive about dogs. Like you will not find a single verse in the Bible that is positive about dogs. Dogs are compared to reprobates, perverts, you know, just sick twisted people. In this world they're compared to dogs. In Proverbs 26 the Bible says, you know, as a dog returneth to his vomit. You know, so a sinner returns to his own folly, the Bible says. So the Bible is kind of taking this characteristic of dogs, I mean, because dogs will do that. Dogs are, if you've ever owned a dog, you know, dogs are indiscriminate eaters. Meaning they'll just like, they'll eat anything. You know, I had a time where one of my dogs, my sheep dog, busted into a barn and ate a bunch of decon, like rat poison. And I had to take him to the vet and it was just this horrible situation. I won't even let, you know, let you relive it with me. But the point is dogs will eat anything. They're the only animal, or one of the only animals that are like that. Cats won't do that. Dogs will eat vomit, you know, disgusting things. You've all seen it. So maybe think about that next time you let your dog come up and lick your face. But the point I'm trying to get at is that dogs are thought of as bad in the Bible. They're used as an analogy of very bad, disgusting things and bad, disgusting people in the Bible. So, Solomon is saying here is that a living dog is better than a dead lion. A lion is compared to a king. You know, the Lion of Judah is what, you know, Jesus was called. So a lion is this proud, this royal animal that is looked at as very strong, you know, compared to royalty, compared to Jesus in many cases. You know, so you've got a dog and you've got a lion. And the Bible here is saying that a living dog is better than a dead lion because a dead lion is dead. He can't do anything. He can't do anything else in his life. It's dead. So at least the dog, this low creature, is still alive is what it's saying. What he's trying to do is just trying to give an analogy about how important it is that you use the time that you have, the life that you have. You know, because once it's gone, once your life is gone, you can do no more is what he's trying to get at here in the Bible. Look at verse number five. He kind of backs this up. He says, for the living know that they shall die. Look, we're all going to die. We're all going to die and people think like, oh, I've got, you know, I'm going to live to be 85 years old or 90 years old. So I've got, I can do the math on that and I can tell how much. But here's the bottom line. Not one single person in here can say that they have more time than somebody else sitting next to them because we just don't know. You could die tomorrow. It's not something that is given to us to know. Look at verse number five. But what we do know is this. We do know we are going to die. We know it's inevitable. For the living know that they shall die, but the dead know not anything. Neither have they any more reward for the memory of them is forgotten. It's saying, look, everything that you're going to do in your life, look, you're not saved by your works, but you're going to be rewarded for your works as a Christian in heaven. So it's saying you can only do those works and get those rewards in heaven while you're alive. It's like once you're dead and you're in heaven, you know, that's it. You're done. I mean, your rewards are set at that point. What you've done in your life is set in stone once you physically die is what Solomon is saying here. So it's for the memory of them is forgotten. He's got kind of a depressing tone to Ecclesiastes in general. He's saying, look, once you're dead, no one's even going to really remember you, which I mean is largely true. We all want to think in our minds that, oh, I'm going to be remembered forever. But here's the thing. When we're dead and gone, you know, people aren't going to think much about us. They're just going to, you know, maybe the things that you've done will be visible to people, but you, in general, it's like your memory is going to be forgotten. So the point that he's trying to make in verse number four and verse number five is a simple one. He says your only chance at doing anything great in your physical life is while you are living is what Solomon is saying. He said that's a pretty obvious point. It is an obvious point, but it's one that we need to start with before we go into the next couple of verses. The only time to earn rewards in your Christian life is while you were alive on this earth. OK, now go down to verse number nine, verse number nine, Ecclesiastes chapter nine and verse number nine. The Bible says, So what he is saying here is that, you know, live joyfully with your life, with the things that God has given you. So Solomon is saying that, you know, even in your labor, you're going to have, look, if you go out and you work hard, this is especially true in America, no matter how messed up you think our country is, if you go out and work hard every day like the Bible says you're supposed to, you are going to end up with some blessings and some things that you can enjoy in this life, is what he's saying. OK, and look, there's nothing wrong with that. There's nothing wrong with working hard and, you know, having a house and enjoying the blessings of your labor. Look at verse number 10. And then he says, you know, he kind of gives you advice in verse number 10, like how to go about this. He says, Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might. For there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave whither thou goest. Again, here we go. He says it is important that if you are going to work hard, if you are going to gain wisdom, if you are going to gain knowledge, if you are going to learn things in this life, it's important that you do it while you're living, because once you're dead, that's it. It's like there's no more chance to do that. So what is he saying here? He's saying, he literally says, Enjoy your wife. He's like, Enjoy your wife. Enjoy the fruits of your labor, he's saying. I mean, look, you could say life is too short to be miserable, life is too short to be lazy, is kind of what he's saying. Don't be lazy. He's like, If you find work to do in your life, go hard at it. Go hard at it. Do it with thy might. That means all your might, meaning what you find to do, do it as hard as you can do it. So this is what he's saying. He's saying, because look, you can only do it while you're alive. Once you're dead, that's it. So you say you're sitting here this morning, and you're like, You know what? I have no wife. I don't have a job. I'm not successful. Are you trying to just depress me this morning? But here's the thing. Now go to verse number 11. Now go to verse number 11. This is a full life coach situation in Ecclesiastes chapter 9. Because a lot of people think that if they look at these blessings that Solomon says that they're supposed to enjoy, and they say, I don't have. I mean, you pick and choose whichever one he talks about here. You say, I don't have those particular blessings. But then he tells you how to get those blessings in verse number 11. Look what he says. He says, I returned and saw unto the sun that the race is not to the swift nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill. And here's the title of the sermon right here. Time and chance happeneth to them all. So look at this. Look at this this morning from the wisest man who ever lived. Look, all scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for doctrine. The Bible says in 2 Timothy 3.16. But really, you've got to look at this as life advice right here. Because what he is saying, what Solomon is saying is that a lot of people will look at people that have a life, have success. And we'll talk about all different kinds of success, and we'll talk about the most important success in your life this morning. But the point is that a lot of people will look at people that have that success, and they'll say, yeah, but you know what? They were really fast. Yeah, you know what? They're really strong though. Yeah, well, but yeah, that guy was just super smart. No, Solomon is saying, no, you're wrong. What he's saying is that time and chance happen to them all. Everyone has time and chance. So look, I mean, it's true that some people live longer than others. That's true. But if you're hearing the sound of my voice this morning, if you are hearing the words from the Bible this morning, guess what? You have time. You have time right now. You can't argue that. Everyone who is alive to hear this message has time. And Solomon is saying time and chance happen to them all. So time is an easy one to explain that you have. You don't know how much. People estimate, and this is a mistake. People estimate. This is why we will go out soul winning and we will meet some 22-year-old kid and we'll be like, hey, do you know if you're going to heaven? And he's like, no, I don't know. But you know what? He doesn't care that much. Why? Because he's 22. He's 22. I'm like, what do I care? I'm 22. I'm going to live another 70 years in his own mind. And then he dies tomorrow because you don't know. It's a mistake to estimate how much time you have left. Because that will allow you to, you know what? That's why people waste time. That's why people take the time that they have and they waste it. But we all have time. So Solomon, I mean, this is an easy one to prove correct. He's right there. What about chance? What about chance? What does this mean? Turn to Esther. Turn to Esther chapter 4. What does this mean that we all have chance? He says time and chance happen to them all. So we all have time. Hey, some people have more time than other people and that's just the way it is and that's up to God. But just don't waste your time. Don't say I'm 22 or I'm 33 or I'm 28 and I've got all the time in the world because you have no idea. You know, the person that's 85 years old could have more time than you as a 19-year-old. You just don't know. And I believe that is why God doesn't allow us to know. That's only something that God knows. Look, God can extend your time too. God could change his mind about that. There's another thing. You could live and it could be appointed for you to die at 35 or at the age of 35 and you could just become this super profitable person to the Lord and God could change his mind on how long you live. That's happened in the Bible. That's happened to people in the Bible. So we all have time. Look at Esther chapter 4. Look at verse number 7. What does it mean that we all have chance? It says that the battle is not to the strong. The race is not to the swift. You're like, what in the world? Obviously, the most swift person is going to win a race. Like, if Brother Victor is more swift than me, he's going to win a race if we race. So what is the Bible talking about here? Here's what it's talking about. Let's use an example. A perfect example of this is Esther in the Bible. Look at verse number 7. Esther is the queen. She is the queen to Asaheras. King Xerxes is who this man is. She's the queen to him. It's found out by Mordecai that there's this plot to kill all of her people, to kill all the Jews. He finds out about it and he goes to Esther because she's the queen. She has power to help stop this evil plan. Look at verse number 7. Mordecai told him of all that happened unto him and of the sum of the money that Haman had promised to pay to the king's treasury for the Jews to destroy them. So this wicked man Haman has devised this secret plot to destroy the Jews. Also he gave him a copy of the writing of the decree that was given at Shushan to destroy them to show it unto Esther. So Mordecai's trying to get this information to the queen. Esther's a Jew, remember. He's trying to get it to her so she can help and declare it unto her and to charge her that she should go in unto the king to make supplication unto him and to make requests before him for her people. Mordecai knows of this plan. He's trying to get the plan to Esther so she can go and change the king's mind. She can go into king Asaher and she can change his mind. And Haytach came and told Esther the words of Mordecai. Again, Esther spake unto Haytach and gave him commandment unto Mordecai. Notice right here in verse number 11 was Esther, you know, he said, Mordecai sends a message to Esther that says this. It says, this wicked Haman is going to murder all the people. And Esther says, look what she says in verse 11. Does she say right away, I'll go fix it? Look what she says in verse 11. And Esther spake again unto Haytach. This is what she says to tell, there's this man running messages between Mordecai and Esther and gave him commandment unto Mordecai. All the king's servant and the people of the king provinces do know, this is Esther's message, that whosoever, whether man or woman, shall come unto the king in the inner court, who is not called, there is one law of his to put him to death, except such to whom the king shall hold out the golden scepter that he may live, but have not been called to come in unto the king these 30 days. Here's what she says to Haytach to tell Mordecai. Mordecai's like, you've got to go tell the king, you've got to stop him. You've got to stop this evil man. And she says, I can't go in there. She's like, he'll kill me. That's basically what she says. She's like, anybody that goes in who's not called, look, you've got to be invited to go in there. If you go in there uninvited, you're dead. Unless, she says, unless, and it sounds like it's a pretty small chance, like it doesn't happen very often, is the way she's making it sound. Unless he hands out the golden scepter, like you came in uninvited, he hands out the golden scepter and says, but I'm not going to kill you, I'm going to listen to you anyway. Does Esther want to go? Does Esther tell Mordecai right away, like, yeah, I'm going. No, she says, I'm going to die, if I go in there. Look at verse number 12. And they told Mordecai Esther's words. Then Mordecai commanded, so Esther had a chance to save her people. Did she take it? No, not at first. She didn't take it. Look at verse 12. And they told to Mordecai Esther's words. Then Mordecai said, oh man, we're done. We're dead. Look what he does. No, look what he does. Then Mordecai commanded to answer Esther. Think not with thyself that thou shall escape in the king's house more than all the Jews. For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then there shall be enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place, but thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed. And who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this? Very famous Bible verse. People probably don't understand it. You know what Mordecai just said to her? Mordecai just said to her, he's like, God's going to deliver his people and he'll deliver them some other way. He says, then he's going to destroy you. Mordecai like sharply rebukes Esther for not wanting to just go straight in to the king. He says, this is probably the entire point of your life is what he says to her. Now this is hope for a preacher right here. This story of Esther is hope for a pastor right here because listen to what, look what Esther did. He sharply rebukes her and says, you're not doing the right thing. It's like this was probably the entire point of your life was to intervene for your people at this time. She has time, doesn't she? She has time and she has a chance. She doesn't want to take the chance though. And he's telling her, your whole life was supposed to take this chance. That was the point of your life. Look at verse 15. And this is the real hope for the preacher of the word of God right here. Then Esther bade, then returned Mordecai this answer. Go rather, she's like, I've changed my mind. She says, go gather together, not go rather, go gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan and fast ye from me, neither eat nor drink three days, night or day. I also and my maidens will fast likewise and I shall go into the king, go in unto the king, which is not according to the law and if I perish, I perish. Look, the man of God changed her mind here. The man of God rebuked her and says, look, this is the point of your life. He's like, you must take this chance. And you know what Esther does? She takes the chance and it works. And she saves her people and she saves the kingdom. I mean, who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this? That is such a great phrase. But that is literally a preacher just, you know, just bending the ear of God's people and just begging them to take the chance that God has laid before them. He says, you're going to die too. You're going to die anyways. The whole point of your life is to do this. She then acted upon her chance after that. So the point is this. When the time came through help, not on her own, but through help of some man encouraging her and rebuking her, you know, she embraced the chance. She embraced the chance. But here's the thing, folks. She could have done nothing. She could have chosen, as the man of God said, you must take this chance. She could have said, I just can't. It's too big of a risk. You know what we would be saying today? We would be saying, Esther who? We wouldn't even know who she is. This is the point of Ecclesiastes chapter 9 and verse number 11. Don't you go and look at people. There is no, he had a head start. You see this? You see what I'm saying? There is no, you know, he's smarter than me. There is no, you know, she is stronger than me. She is faster than me. He is smarter than me. There's only missed opportunity and embraced opportunity. That's all there is. Because time and chance will happen to us all. You think about just the people that you know in life. You know, think about people that you know in your life. Think about great men of God, great pastors, people that you look up to in your life. And you say, oh man, look at all that they've done for the kingdom of God. Guess what? Time and chance happen to us all. You know, the thing that we don't realize, look at all these people throughout history. Turn back to Ecclesiastes chapter 9 and verse number 11. The thing that we don't realize is the people that we look at as successful. And whatever you're thinking about when you think about a successful person. I mean, you think about just the first part of the verse here. The race is not to the swift. When I read that verse, I was thinking about a race. I was thinking about Louis Zamperini. Who's ever heard of him? The man who's, the book Unbroken that came out several years ago. He was about an Olympic runner, ended up going into World War II. He was an Olympic runner. And he was a super fast distance runner in the Olympics in the late 30s and early 40s. Then he went into World War II and his plane got shot down. He got captured by the Japanese. It's a great book. I mean, it's a book that pretty much reads itself. If you know that kind of book that I'm talking about. It's the kind of book where you start reading it and you just can't put it down until you're finished with it. But the point is this. Don't go see the movie. Read the book. The movies are always worse. If you ever read a book and then see the movie, you shouldn't go see movies anyway. But if you ever read a book and see the movie, you're just like, that's ridiculous. That was crazy. They didn't capture any of it. Louis Zamperini, before he even got captured and became a hero and a prisoner of war and all this, he was an Olympic level distance runner. You know what? The first race he ever ran, he lost horribly. He came in last place. So you can't really say, oh, this guy, he was just born super fast. No, he was the worst. Time and chance happen to us all. But see, he embraced the opportunities to be great in his life. He trained harder. He worked harder than everybody else. He became successful in that sense. You just look at these people. But the thing is that we look at successful people and we see them once they are strong. We see them once they are fast. We see them once they've won the Olympics. We see them once they've become a war hero. We see them already. But the point is, we see them once they're wealthy. You think about the most wealthy person you can think of. I always think of John D. Rockefeller when it comes to the most wealthy person that you could possibly think of that just pops into your head like that. He started from nothing. His dad was a horrible human being. They lived in a tiny little house. And by the way, he was an independent Baptist. Just a little extra for you this morning. But the point is, it's not that wealth is the point. It's not that winning a race is the point. But my point I'm trying to get at is the difference between somebody who's successful and somebody who's not is they embraced their chances and they didn't waste them. That's what I'm trying to get you to understand. That's what Solomon is saying. He says time and chance happen to them all. So when you look at somebody spiritually who's just this great man of God who's done great things for the kingdom of God, you're just like, oh man, I can never do that. Well, it's because they embraced their chances and you are not. That's what I'm trying to get you to understand. Because time and chance happen to them all. It's only missed opportunity and it's only embraced opportunity. That is what Solomon is saying. Look, this is good news for you this morning. This is good news for you this morning because time and chance happen to us all. That means you. That means you. That means time. You obviously have time if you're hearing this. Chance is happening to you. And you know what? It's happening again and again and again and again in your life. Are you embracing it? Are you watching it go by? Every single one of us has had time and chance to do great things for the kingdom of God. You think about just like, I think about when I was studying this chapter, I thought about just the topic of homeschooling. You know, we're a big advocate for homeschooling in this church. You know, the world and the wicked public school system and what they're teaching today, there's just no success there for the Christian child. There's no success there. You know, there's too much danger there. But I was looking at homeschooling and all the different homeschooling mothers that I've met over the last 15, 20 years of my life. And I look at just like, it's such a great example. There's such a broad spectrum of the homeschooling mother. Because here's the thing. If you sit there and you say, I'm going to homeschool my children as a Christian mother, you have the chance to raise children with a biblical worldview. Did you know that? If you decide I'm going to homeschool my children, I'm going to be a Deuteronomy 6 family. I'm going to talk to my children about the Bible. Every subject that we study is going to be through the lens of the Bible. You have the chance to raise kids with a biblical worldview. It doesn't matter how bad the world gets, you still have that chance to do that. You have the chance to raise children with a world-class education. Not only is the public school a sick, twisted education, it's a bad one. See the stats of kids coming out of high school can't even read. It's crazy. You're like, okay, if I don't even care if they turn out to be a pervert or a weirdo, can they at least read? Probably not. But you have the chance as a homeschooling mother, as a homeschooling father leading your home, to raise kids with a biblical worldview and a world-class education if you embrace the chances. You could be a lazy homeschooling mother. Does nothing but sit home and just throw some book at your kids and spend your time on Facebook or whatever. You could, look, total freedom means total responsibility. There's chances every single day. Look, you could raise children today no matter how bad this world gets. You ever think about that? You ever look back five years ago, look back ten years ago? You're like, man, I can look at how it was then and how it is today. It's like, what's it going to be like when my kids grow up? You ever thought about that? But you can raise kids today with this biblical worldview with a world-class education that will not be derailed no matter how bad the world gets. You have the chance to do that. All you have to do is embrace that chance, is just embrace that opportunity. Meant to be spiritual leaders in your family, it's the same thing. You have the chance to work hard, support your family, encourage your wife to homeschool, get in a good church, lead your family, raise kids that understand the Bible, raise kids that understand that it's our duty to go out and get people saved. Raise a family that has the focus on the right things and leads your family in that direction. You have the chance to do that. Are you embracing that chance? Are you letting that chance go? This is the dad that knows we need to be in a good church, but he doesn't live in the town or he doesn't live in the state. It's like, look, you've got to lead and you've got to take that chance, and then great spiritual things will happen. We have this pray and do nothing attitude in the Christian life today, and that's not how the Lord works. It's the Lord working with us. It's the Lord working with us. Just think of the Lord. He's up there. He's just placing these chances in front of us over and over again, and we're just like, nope, nope, busy at work, busy with my own plan, busy with all this other stuff. This is the problem. This is what Solomon is telling us. It's like time and chance happen to us all. Some people embrace the chance and some people just brush them aside. This is the difference between the woman who does great things in her life for the kingdom of God and the woman who does not. Same thing with the men. It's all about missed opportunity. Several years, I don't know if I've ever told this story before, but it also brought up something that we went through when I first got saved. Several years. We moved to California. You all know this. We moved to California in 2016. I decided, look, I need to take this chance. I need to get into a good church. I need to get my kids into a good church. I need to get my kids on the right path. In 2016, we moved to Verity Baptist Church. We moved to California. But guess what? Several years before that, after I got saved, several years before that, I thought about moving because I knew at that point. I said, you know, we need to be somewhere else because there's no good church here. There's no future for my children here. I thought about moving. I actually sent out some applications to some really high, you know, great jobs. I'm like, hey, if God gives me that great job, I'll move then. You know, those jobs never came through. So I was like, yeah, you know what we ended up doing? You know what wasted chances end up being? Wasted time. Thank God that God keeps putting chances in front of us. Eventually, you know, we obviously, we embrace that chance. But here's the thing. The more wasted chances that you have in your life, the less time you have. That's the problem that we're up against in this life that we're living. This is the guy in Matthew that we were talking about. In Matthew 25, we were talking about the parable of the talents on Wednesday night. You know, this is the guy who's the one talent guy. You know, the one talent guy, he wasted his chance. He had a chance. The guy that was given one talent, did he not have a chance? He wasted it. That one talent guy could have become the two talent guy. That two talent guy, you know, then became the five talent guy. Or the four talent guy, I guess. But the point is, is that, you know, the same, look, the same goes for a church, by the way. The same goes for a church. Is the more people that we have that are embracing their chances in their spiritual life, and say, you know what, I'm going to grab every chance I can get. You know what, the stronger a ministry will be. If we have people that are like, you know what, I want to do great things. I'm going to grab every single chance that I can get. Every single thing I read from the Bible, every single thing that I see that I need to change in my life, I'm grabbing those chances. And I'm going to do something about it. Because guess what, the only difference between Esther and Jane Doe is the fact, or between you and someone who you admire, who is a great spiritual leader, the only difference is embraced chances. That's it. I mean, hopefully this is good news for you this morning. You're like, you know what, I have a chance too. You're like, I have a chance to do this. Someone, I mean, you look at someone who's raised God-fearing children in a wicked world, who's done great things for the Kingdom of God. I mean, look, there should be people that you know that are like that, who's won many souls to Christ, you know, enter a number here, on how many souls to Christ that they won. Look, every single one of those people, you know why they were so successful? It's because they saw the chances, and they just took every single one along the way. That's the only difference. There's somebody who just does nothing in their Christian life. It's because the chances come, and they're just like, I'm busy. I'm cooking ramen noodles. Or whatever other thing that they're involved in, right? That's it. It's not speed. It's not strength. You know, it's not brains, it's not skill. It's just they embraced the chance. Go back to Ecclesiastes. Go back to Ecclesiastes, look at verse number 10. Time and chance happen to us all. Some people use theirs, and some people, time and chance. Some people, time and chance, they both pass them by. Go back to verse number 10. Go back to verse number 10. I think about this in like two steps. Look at verse number 10. The Bible says, so I mean, here's the thing, what can I say, you know, and this is another thing as a pastor, you see this. It's not me. It's not me, it's just the perspective of the role that I'm in. You see this in people. You see potential in people. And, you know, I don't want to say that you have to get used to people, you know, not taking their chances, but, you know, it can't drive me insane. Okay, or I'd have been crazy years ago. Right, so you see people and the chances that are put in front of them, and here's the thing, you have to get past step one, which in my opinion is, do you even want to do great things in your Christian life? I mean, isn't that the first thing that you need to decide as a Christian? Isn't that the first thing that as a saved believer that you need to decide? You need to decide, what do I want to do with this Christian life? Don't you have to make that decision? Don't you have to decide like what you want to do? That's what verse 10 is talking about. Look down at verse 10. It says, whatsoever thy hand findeth to do. Let's just stop right there. You kind of have to make that decision right there. Because, you know, if all you want to do is just hang out on Facebook, well, that's it. I'm on Facebook this morning. But the point is, if all you want to do is waste your time, there is no chance. Because you have to make the decision to want to do something great spiritually with your life. You have to make the decision that, you know what, no matter what it takes, think about this for a second, no matter what it takes, no matter how wicked this world gets, no matter how many people are against me, how many people are mad at me, I am going to raise my children differently. I am going to raise my children differently. I am going to do it the way the Bible says. No matter what, no matter how many people are against me, that's what I want to do with my Christian life. I mean, that's one example. Just that I am going to raise godly children in a wicked world. That's a decision right there. Guess what? Now that you've made that decision, do it with thy might. You see? Now, now, I mean, that's step one. Step one is just defining what you want out of your Christian life. You know, I want to raise great children. You know what, I want to win. I want to win people to the Lord. I want to win, I have, however many years I have left in my life, whether it be one year, whether it be .5 years, whether it be 60 years, Lord, I want to win as many people possible in that time frame to the Lord. That's a pretty good one right there. I'm just giving you some examples here. Okay? And then guess what? Now that I know that's what I want out of my Christian life, do it with thy might. That's what Solomon is saying. And guess what? If you make the right decisions, and you say, you know, you make some awesome spiritual goals, like the two I just gave you, God's going to just put chance after chance after chance in front of you. And guess what? If you're reading the Bible, and you're gaining what? What does the Bible say that we will gain? Wisdom? If we're gaining wisdom while we are alive, we will recognize those chances. And we've already made the decision that, hey, here's a decision in my life right here. I can, my goals, my Christian goals, are I want to raise godly children, and I want to win people to the Lord. Those are my Christian goals right there. Those are two good ones, all right? You can steal those if you want this morning. You say, those are my two goals. And then a decision comes in front of you. It's like, I'm in a good church, here we are, we're just killing it for the Lord in this church. We're just killing it for the Lord right now. And then, you know, something comes up that's going to just take that away from you. Where, you know, you can no longer homeschool your kids, you can no longer, you know, have your kids in a good church, all this kind of stuff. You're like, oh, yeah, that's not a chance. That's bad. I don't want to do that. Because that, I mean, you see how every single thing that comes in front of you will be easy to see if it's a chance or not in your life? You have to first get past that first step of just making some goals, you know, of what do you want to do with the spiritual life that you've been given? What do you want to do with the time that you've been given? Whether it be a month or 40 years. And then the last thing that you have to do, and that's what Solomon is talking about, is just don't squander. Don't squander time and chances. That's it. That's it. It's such a great chapter in the Bible for Christians that they can just understand that they're, you know, another thing it is, is like there's no excuse. There's no excuse for the Christian today. Why? Because time and chance happens to us all. It's like, oh, yeah, but, you know, that guy was just really good at all that. And, you know, that guy was just smarter and that guy was really fast and that guy's really like, you know, brave and stuff. No, time and chance happen to us all. That's what the Bible says. There's no excuse. There's no excuse. You set good spiritual goals in your life. You understand that time and chance happen to us all and then you just do, with all your might, you grab every single chance that comes along the way. That's such a, it's a great encouraging chapter for the Christian. I mean, every single Christian within the sound of this sermon should understand that they have the ability and the time and the chances. And guess what? You start grabbing chances like crazy, I bet God wants to keep you around longer. I bet God wants to give you as much time as possible. What did we learn about in Acts chapter 9? This woman that was just super profitable, she was super profitable, and they're like, this woman is super profitable. God literally raised her from the dead. God's like, okay, we can use her. You know, use your time and chances and maybe God gives you more time. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.