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Thanks for watching! Oh You You You You You You You You You Good afternoon everybody and welcome to steadfast baptist church If we can go ahead and find our seats, we will go ahead and get started And for tonight's first song once you find a hymnal find song number 20 Song number two zero When I see the blood Song number 20 when I see the blood everybody's singing out together on the first Redeemer died on the cross died for the sinner All I Is I Judgment is coming all will be there Let jesus Last Passion Jesus has power jesus is true All who believe are saved from the storm Oh Is Great singing everybody. Let's open up the service with a word of prayer Lord we love you. We just thank you again for this awesome church We thank you again for the people in it and thank you for allowing us to gather here and sing unto you We just ask that you bless this church and fill it with your spirit and bless this service and it's in jesus name We ask it. Amen All right for our next song. Let's go to song number 110 Song number 110 All the way my savior leads me song number 110 everybody's singing out on the first Way my savior leads me what am I to ask beside? Can I doubt his tender mercy? Has been my god Here by faith in him to dwell For I know what air before me jesus do with all things well For I know what air before me All the way my savior leads me cheers each winding path I tread Gives me And my soul The rock before me lo a spring of joy I see Lo a spring of joy I see all the way Oh the fullness of his love perfect rest to me is promised In my father's house When my spirit clothed him mortal wings its flight to realms of day This my song through endless ages. Jesus led me all the way Through endless ages Jesus led me all the way Great singing everybody Thanks for coming to steadfast baptist church If you need a bulletin, you can lift up your hand nice and high One of our ushers can come by and get you guys a bulletin on the front. We have our bible memory passage We've been working on psalm 59 on the inside service so winning times and our church stats Um, please make sure you're submitting your church. So winning statistics to your soul winning Tribe captains and please just include You and your soul winning partner and just what um soul winning totals that you have we've been trying to keep some detailed statistics on that and i'm planning on and hoping maybe towards the end of the year we can Kind of put that together and even provide that back to you guys just to give you some kind of feedback of What the soul winning look like, um as a church and what try what different tribes are doing and what different individuals and so? I encourage you to participate in that also on the right. We have a list of our expecting ladies. We have upcoming events so this Uh, thursday and friday is our mighty men's conference I pretty much just sent a generic email out to just kind of the whole church So, um, if you're just a single lady or not going just ignore that email just delete it's not a big deal but uh I just want to put it out there because a lot of people said they weren't they didn't sign up And they were still potentially wanting to go to the friday night service just to hear pastor a minute speak And I totally understand and so if that's you you are more than welcome Of course, i'll also be preaching there tomorrow night as well And so if you'd like to come out for either just the services or just one night or whatever Um, you are more than welcome. It looks like we might have room for another one or two spaces, too So even if you're last minute and you'd like to participate Um, you can do so it does look like it's going to be pretty hot out there So, please, uh, please just keep that in mind also We are having a carpool opportunity. So if you want to go around 8 30 in the morning 9 o'clock in the morning We'll be just gathering here Uh at the church building and then carpooling down, but if you don't really live over here It doesn't necessarily make sense. You can obviously just drive, uh yourself Um, and uh, if you'd like to you can be a part of that but it's pretty much if you show up You're gonna you're gonna go i'm not gonna have a sign-up sheet for the carpooling So if you show up and you're here Then you can go with us. Otherwise, you're just gonna have to mosey on down yourself, but uh, We'll be returning um Saturday Mid-morning, we'll probably leave around by 10 30 11. So we should get back around 12 12 30 here at the building on saturday Just so you have an idea so we leave around thursday Morning around 8 39 get back around 12 30 or so on saturday If you're planning on carpooling from here, otherwise, you're more than welcome to just meet us at the location I should have put all of those details in the email there for you. So if you would like to Reference that that'll be your best bet That's pretty much All I have to say about the conference But if you do have any questions Or or you want to ask me something about that This is probably going to be the last year we go to this specific spot because i'm thinking about doing something different next year and so If you are going out there Enjoy the activities that we have. I really like the pool volleyball. That's a lot of fun and stuff like that. So But whatever activities you really enjoy Please please do that and we're still going to have our competition I'm trying to spice it up this year add in some luck skill accuracy and all in all in between so Um, i'm kind of excited about our competition and sunny was our last year's winner So we'll see how he can fare this year. All right Also august 24th is baby shower for a couple ladies September 1st is going to be the ordination of brother salvador alvarez And that's going to be a pure words baptist church. And so we're going to be letting that church go It's still going to be pure words baptist church, but it's just no longer i'm going to be the pastor there I'll just i'll be handing it off to brother salvador officially and so he'll be their their pastor And i'll only be pastoring steadfast baptist church at that point. And so please do pray for them pray for that church one other thing this kind of one thing got kind of bumped up and so I want to announce it but Down at pure words, um pastor anderson is actually going to be going out there and preaching on a friday night And it's going to be next friday night. It's august 23rd So I just wanted to throw that out there. It's going to be their normal service time like 7 p.m But obviously that's kind of back-to-back weekends as well But so I don't know if anybody can make it but I just want to at least throw it out there Just so people would be aware But august 23rd pastor anderson is going to be going out there preaching for pure words baptist church Um in lieu of their thursday service, they'll have just a friday service at 7 p.m And so that's exciting for them and then i'll be going down there and preaching on september 1st And so i'm excited to go down there and for brother alvarez to be ordained Please be in prayer for him. Also september 8th is dr Phil stringer is going to be preaching for us both services sunday morning and sunday evening So I would highly encourage you to participate in both those services october 4th of the 6th is our heritage of the lord conference And so we've had this uh one one time in the past it was kind of the alternate year of an fbbf conference and we're still having some Guest preachers pastor anderson is also going to be coming to preach for us here Pastor bruce mejia is going to also be coming out and preaching for us Saturday we're going to have our spelling bee Like we've had for the kids in the morning There's also some other activities that we have planned for the weekend so hopefully I can Get that maybe just in the bulletin just a loose schedule of what those activities and those events are going to look like we've been Trying to get all those things confirmed before we put out our official schedule and everything like that but I think we pretty much have our schedule booked and ready to go so Um also down below is the baby shower details on the back is our prayer list We'll just skip down to the announcement for the holdins first. Congratulations to the holdins on the birth of charlotte kate She was born on the 10th at uh, she was six pounds 20 and a quarter inches long. So congratulations to the holdins And then i'll quickly go through our prayer list, um, miss Naim we've been praying for her grandmother. We've been continuing to pray for her. We've been praying for also the carlson's mother We've been praying for miss miller Her friend and mom as well friend's mom. I'm sorry friend. It's mom and friend also. Miss, uh, brother scott's Nephew, we've been praying for um, miss garcia's daughter who's expecting that's exciting for them We've also been praying for brother sam for his fiance We've been praying for brother gooseman for his mother's salvation and also he'd put in there. Um, dr. Gomez's health I know that he's battling some health issues Also, we were praying for the nickels for work and then we were praying for the weather's friend whose daughter is in the icu So several health, uh prayer requests to be in prayer for throughout the week And so we'll go ahead and say a quick prayer as a church family now Thank you heavenly father so much for this church service and for this opportunity To be here. I pray that you would just comfort those That are struggling with health or with sickness that are not able to be here I pray those that you can give a speedy recovery to that you would just heal them Those who are struggling with long-term issues that you could just give them a miracle and give them comfort and peace during this Difficulty I pray that you'd also just give favor under a church family that needs work or or needs Some other special request. I pray that you would just continue to use our mighty men's conference this weekend To glorify you and for us to be renewed and I pray that you would also just bless our upcoming ordinations And the transitions for all of our church plants I pray that you would just bless those churches greatly and that they could be used to Give more honor and glory to you and in jesus name we pray. Amen That's pretty much all I have as far as announcements. We'll go ahead and sing our psalm of the week psalm 148 It's in our special handout psalm 148 All right, that was psalm 148 psalm chapter 148 Those that sing so well sing it out real loud on the first Praise ye the lord Praise ye the lord From the heavens Praise him In the heights Praise ye him All his angels Praise ye him All his hosts Praise ye him Sun and moon Praise him All ye stars of light Praise him All ye stars of light Praise him Ye heavens of heavens And ye waters That be above The heavens Let them praise the name of The lord For he commanded And they were Created He hath Also established Them Forever And ever He hath made A decree Which shall Not pass Praise the lord From the earth He Dragons and all Deeds fire and hail Snow and vapor Stormy wind Fulfilling his Wood mountains And all Hail's Fruitful trees And all Cedar trees And all Cattle creeping things And flying Fowl wings Of the earth And all people Princes and all Judges of the earth Woke young men Men Made his old men And children Let them praise the name Of the Lord For his Name alone Is excellent His glory Is above The earth In heaven He also Exalted The Lord Of his people The praise Of all his saints Even of the Children of Israel Of people Here unto Him Praise The Lord Great singing everybody. Now as the offering plates are being passed around, go ahead and turn in your Bibles to Ecclesiastes chapter number two. That's the book of Ecclesiastes chapter number two. Thank you. Ecclesiastes chapter number two. The Bible reads, I said in mine heart, go to now. I will prove thee with mirth. Therefore enjoy pleasure and behold this also is vanity. I said of laughter, it is mad. And of mirth, what doeth it? I sought in mine heart to give myself unto wine, yet acquainted mine heart with wisdom and to lay hold on folly so I might see what was that good for the sons of men which they should do unto the heaven all the days of their life. I made me great works. I builded me houses. I planted me vineyards. I made me gardens and orchards and I planted trees in them of all kinds of fruits. I made me pools of water therewith the wood that bringeth forth trees. I got me servants and maidservants and had servants born in my house. Also I had great possessions of great and small cattle above all that were in Jerusalem before me. I gathered me also silver and gold and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces. I got me men singers and woman singers and the delights of the sons of men as musical instruments and that of all sorts. So I was great and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me. And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them. I withheld not my heart from any joy for my heart rejoiced in all my labor and this was my portion of all my labor. Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought and on the labor that I had labored to do. And behold, all that was vanity and vexation of spirit and there was no prophet under the sun and I turned myself to behold wisdom and madness and folly. For what can the man do that cometh after the king even that which hath already even that which hath been already done. Then I saw that wisdom excel with folly as far as light excel with darkness. The wise man's eyes are in his head but the fool walketh in darkness and I myself perceiveth also that one event happeneth to them all. Then said I in my heart as it happeneth so it happeneth even to me and why was I then more wise. Then I said in my heart that this also is vanity for there is no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool forever. Seeing that which now is in the days to come shall all be forgotten. And how diet the wise man as the fool. Therefore I hated life because the work that is wrought under the sun is grievous unto me. For all is vanity and vexation of spirit. Yea I hated all my labor which I had taken under the sun because I should leave it unto the man that shall be after me. And who knoweth whether he shall be a wise man or a fool. Yet shall he have rule over all my labor wherein I have labored and wherein I have showed myself wise under the sun. This also is vanity. Therefore I went about to cause my heart to despair of all the labor which I took under the sun. For there is a man whose labor is in wisdom and in knowledge and in equity. Yet to a man that hath not labored therein shall he leave it for his possession for his portion. This also is vanity and a great evil. For what hath man of all his labor and of the vexation of his heart wherein he hath labored under the sun. For all his days are sorrows and his travail grief. Yea his heart taketh not rest in the night. There is also this is also vanity. There is nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink and that he should make his soul enjoy good and his labor. This also I saw that it was from the hand of God. For who can eat or who can else or who else can hasten hereunto more than I. For God giveth to a man that is good in his sight wisdom and knowledge and joy. But to the sinner he giveth travail to gather and to heap up that he may give to him that is good before God. This also is vanity and vexation of spirit. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, Lord, thank you for Ecclesiastes chapter number 2, Lord. I just pray that you bless Pastor Shelley with your spirit. Fill him with your spirit and help him to preach your word unto us and just help us to be receptive to that and to make changes in our lives. Praise in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Ecclesiastes chapter 2. We are continuing with the same thought really of chapter number 1. And really Ecclesiastes is very repetitive style book and the main concepts. But as you get a little bit further in it brings up some different subjects here. In chapter 1 it is just really clear everything is vanity. And that was the main emphasis of chapter number 1 is that from a high level from a big picture, everything is vanity from an eternal perspective in this life. And the only things that really matter are things that have some level of eternal value. We of course looked at chapter 12 already and the conclusion of the matter is to fear God and to keep His commandments. That's really the essence of the life that we have. Why? Because you can't accomplish everything that needs to be accomplished. You can't enjoy everything that needs to be enjoyed. You can't do all the work that you need to do. And ultimately all the works are going to be destroyed, burn up, forgotten. And so it really doesn't exactly matter all the things that you accomplish. It's more important how you accomplish them. And that while you're accomplishing them, you're doing it with the fear of God. You're doing it with all of Thy might. That you're doing it to please the Lord. You know, when we think about certain people in the Bible there is a poor widow woman who cast in two mites and Jesus Christ is looking at her and contrasting her with many rich people who had given a lot more money than she had. But when Jesus Christ commented on the situation He said that she had given more than everyone else because they were casting in of their abundance and she had cast in all her living, as He describes it. And so it doesn't really even matter so much how many possessions you have, how much money you have. It doesn't even necessarily matter the quantity of the money that you give or the things that you're doing as far as quantity sometimes. It matters based on the heart of the issue. And God, the way He judges things are much different than the way that we judge things. And so we could look at our life, we could look at our plight in life or the things that we have or our situation and feel as if well, I don't really have much or I don't have that much worth. But the reality is little is much when God is in it. And the reality is He that is faithful in that which is least is also faithful in that which is much. And in many cases those who have been diligent and those who have been faithful and good stewards of the little that God has entrusted them are going to have great riches and great rewards in heaven. And many people that had great abundance and wealth and treasure and pleasure on this earth are going to have very little in heaven. And I put that in the context of saved people, of course. We understand those who are not saved doesn't matter at all. I mean you're going to be burning in hell for all of eternity. We're not even talking about you because you don't matter. But those who are saved those who are Christian in this life many times we think that we want to have our cake and eat it too. We want to be saved and a Christian and serving God. But then we also want all the riches and the lust of this world and the pleasures of this life. But in many cases that's just vanity. And that's what chapter 1 is really emphasizing. And I want to reiterate that again because as we get into chapter 2 it's not really a different message. All the author is really doing is getting kind of in the nitty-gritty and the details of what that really looks like and how he came to this conclusion that these things are ultimately vanity. Verse 1 it says, I said in mine heart, go to now. I prove thee with mirth. Therefore enjoy pleasure and behold this also is vanity. So he had already described to us that everything was vanity. In chapter 2 he makes a little bit of a transition here where he's saying I wanted to test myself. That's what it means to prove is to test. He wanted to test himself with mirth. Mirth is a little bit older word. We don't use it as often. But it refers to joy, pleasure, or happiness. So when we think about joy, pleasure, happiness he's just basically saying I wanted to enjoy everything that I could possibly enjoy and I wanted to test myself and basically try to make myself as happy as possible and he ultimately realized this is vanity. Verse 2, I said of laughter it is mad and of mirth what doeth it? So he's saying I tried to just have as much fun as I could, laugh as much as possible, enjoy as much as possible, and he said, man it's mad. Laughter is mad. It's just crazy. It's crazy and the reality is you can't really laugh that much. Laughter is kind of an interesting thing and I feel like as a society and as a culture most Americans are trying to kind of hit this laugh button as much as possible and so we have just all these different ways to try to laugh through TV shows, movies, jokes, comedy shows, but once you've kind of heard a joke or you've kind of seen a show, it loses its luster. You know that first time that something is really unique and you kind of experience it, it can be really funny. A joke for the first time you hear it, it's kind of the best that you're ever going to experience it. It's usually not as funny the second time and then maybe the third time it's not necessarily as funny either. It kind of starts to wane in its enjoyment factor and it eventually gets to a point where it's just like, yeah I've heard that. Move on. And for a lot of comedians the internet has really ruined their profession because for most comedians, they had one particular comedy sketch and they would just go tour all over the world and they just deliver the exact same jokes to a new city and then a new city and then a new city but because of the internet and online well, if it ever gets online well now they can never tell that comedy sketch again. And you'll notice that most comedians they can't even really perform on a regular basis. It takes months or years to even prepare just a 40 or 50 minute special where they're going to tell a bunch of jokes and even in that 40 and 50 minutes you know, parts of it aren't even that funny. Even for the best comedians of all time with the best comedy sketches of all time, even that whole sketch isn't necessarily even that funny. But think about how much effort and energy a comedian has to go through. I mean you might have to go through six months or a year just to get to the point where it can make you laugh for 30 minutes or 40 minutes. But as soon as it's over, as soon as you're done laughing, as soon as you've gotten over the joke, it's over. And there's no more to it. You know, you watch that comedy show, you watch that movie, someone tells you some kind of a joke. There's only so much of that that can be passed out and it's very fleeting. It's just over in just a short period of time. And for Solomon he's saying, I was just trying to enjoy things as much as possible and just laugh and have a good time. But you know it eventually runs out. It eventually just, and it becomes even dull to a point where people just are not that into it anymore. And you know, even within comedy you'll kind of notice if you kind of get this itch of like I just want to watch as much comedy as possible or watch things that are funny as much as possible, you'll run out very quickly. And then what you have to do is you have to start like watching other style or forms of comedy. And they're really just not that funny. And for most comedians they're not even that funny. So really they just tell dirty jokes or filthy jokes and then it just starts becoming weird and crazy and it's not even funny anymore. And so you know it's just kind of a bad train that people get on where they're trying to be funny and get joy and laughter as much as possible but it ends up just destroying them. They can't even be funny anymore. It's really taxing. I mean even individuals like Dave Chappelle which there's a lot of weird things that are going on with him but he ended up kind of just like running away from his entire show and part of the reason according to him was just the pressure. It was just the pressure to constantly be funny and constantly perform. And you know being funny is a very difficult thing. It's not something that's very easy. It takes a lot of effort energy, a lot of skill and for some people you know you can be funny one moment and then just not funny again later. And for this he's just basically bringing up that Solomon is just seeking this out but at the end of the day it's kind of crazy and what does it do? Notice that in verse 2. What doeth it? If I go and I just laugh my head off and I just have a good time or I watch something that's just so much fun as soon as it's over it's like well what did I accomplish though? What was the benefit? Did I get some kind of a benefit? Did it make me a better person? You know a lot of times comedy or things that are funny are inappropriate because the human response to something that's very uncomfortable one of the responses is sometimes the laugh. And it's not because it's not even necessarily even if it's funny it's just you feel uncomfortable and it's just a natural reaction to sometimes just kind of laugh or blurt out or giggle or something when you feel uncomfortable. You know try going to the Philippines and just talking to people in the Philippines. You go out soul winning you just run up to a few you know young ladies they'll just start giggling uncontrollably and you're just thinking like why? Like I didn't even say anything funny it's just like hey my name's Jonathan I'm from America and they're just like hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee you're like what? You're like thinking like is there something on me? Like what's going on? And it's just they're just uncomfortable. They've never been around America maybe or they haven't seen one in a while or whatever and they just feel so they just laugh. I don't think it's the case over there as much but like in America you know in junior high high school maybe in college a little bit but if a bunch of girls were you know in a group and a young guy comes over that's attractive and that they like and starts talking to them sometimes they'll giggle or laugh and it's just because they're uncomfortable they're nervous and because of their nerves because of that stress factor they end up laughing. Another reason why people laugh according to the Bible is when you're making fun of someone it's at someone's expense. Now this is the typical laughter that you see in the Bible because God's the one laughing and it's God laughing and mocking idiots and fools and the heathen and those who rejected him. The Bible has it very clear that God's going to laugh at their calamity and that God's going to mock when their fear cometh and God is going to mock the prophets of Baal and he's constantly laughing at the prideful and the arrogant because it's just kind of funny to him. He's just thinking like you're just so puny and there's no way you can defeat me or there's no way you can thwart my plans but you think you can and he just finds them funny. He just finds them funny because of how pathetic they are and how silly they are and he also kind of mocks them in their own misery and in their own woe. This is what we call in today's world slapstick comedy and slapstick comedy is this idea of watching people literally hurt themselves and then finding it funny. There was a popular group that did this for a while. It's called like Jackass or something. Who knows what I'm talking about? And this group was basically just hurting themselves to get laughs but did you notice where it went? If anybody even followed that or even kind of paid attention, at first they were just doing kind of like weird stuff like pushing each other around in shopping carts and just kind of tipping each other over, falling in bushes and everything like that but then it just gets old. You know eventually the pushing in the shopping carts kind of gets old so then they kind of start escalating it. You know and they rent cars and then like they destroy them and return them destroyed or they dress funny but then it's just like that's not cool anymore so then they start getting like tattoos on their body that are weird and then they start shooting themselves with guns. So I think in one, I don't know if it was a movie or an episode, I don't know but I remember seeing one of them got shot with a bean bag gun like the police would have in like a riot thing and it just like it hurt him. I think that most of the stars now have like permanent and serious bodily damage from all the stupid stunts and the horrible things that they did. They did just like reprobate type activities to themselves. What? It's like what it's literally saying here. I said of laughter it is mad. In the chasing of the high of getting more laughter and more fame it's like they couldn't just stop at doing some really dumb stuff. They just had to keep escalating it and keep getting weirder and weirder and more reprobate and more harmful and it just gets to a point where people literally get hurt. Permanently damaged permanently suffering all kinds of just weird reprobate things. I'm pretty sure the Steve-O who is one of the characters on there like got pedophilia tattooed on his body. And just the most weird grotesque things. I mean these people just basically just kind of went after Satan as it were just to get laughs. Just to become funny. Just to become famous and really that's where it ends. What does it do with it? It destroys you. Don't just pursue laughter. Don't just pursue joy. Don't just say like well I just have to laugh so I'm just going to watch a movie. I don't even care if it's godly. I don't care if it's something I should watch. I just want to put something on just because I need to laugh and I'm going to hit the laugh button. And then you know well that didn't do it for me. I got to do it again. And then I got to do it again. It's almost like an eating disorder. It's basically the same thing where someone can't control themselves in eating where they just over indulge in laughter and joy and pleasure and they just have to watch TV. I mean many people in America are just addicted to television. And you know television's kind of an older technology now. It's just like YouTube or something right. Now people are just at least addicted to consuming something. Whether that be TikTok videos YouTube videos even old fashioned television. But it's almost like people in general all of us struggle with this but some people are just grossly addicted to watching something. And you know now because of the way the internet works most social media platforms and most networks now you just like have this like scrolling thing right. And whatever it's not even a program thing where you know what's coming up. It could be literally anything. It could be the most disgusting thing you've ever seen. It could be a drag queen. I mean you could do this and it'd be a drag queen. You could do this and it'd just be some whore. You do this it could be drugs. You do this it could be just someone hurting themselves. You could do this it could be a Catholic preaching a false gospel. I mean you basically you're just basically like you know playing Russian roulette with your soul and just like what what's on the next agenda. What am I going to have next. I mean it's like going to a Chinese buffet and just you know closing your eyes and just saying put stuff in my mouth. That's crazy. OK. Number one sorry if you like Chinese buffets. OK. But personally I probably wouldn't even anything there let alone if they were just like hey we're going to you're going to close your eyes open your mouth and we're just going to find something on the buffet and just going to put it in there. You know that's almost more reasonable than what people do on social media all day. And they're just so addict. I mean people are just so addicted. Why. Because they just need joy and studies have shown that you know in your brain you spike a little bit of joy in your brain from watching these things. Why do you think they're like 10 seconds or 15 seconds or 40 seconds or like max a minute. It's like trained ourselves like little monkeys to just hit like a dopamine button. You know I think they've even done experiments like this where with animals they have like a little button or something they can press and it just like gives them like a high or gives them like dopamine or gives them food or something and the animals will sit there and just press the button until it breaks. And you know it seems like Americans and it seems like people in the world today are just trying to hit the dopamine button as much as possible. And now they can't even do something like just like read a book or sit in church for an hour or do just sit and talk to somebody even just the head time. And look I catch myself doing it too because I'm really busy so sometimes I try to multitask and I'm trying to do a lot of things at once but it's not very healthy it's not a good habit and we should learn to still be able to kind of like have a conversation with people and really just think about like what is our life? What are we doing? Are we just trying to get highs? You know games and gaming is really really addictive right now and people are just obsessed with playing games and you know I get it because it's fun it's not like what we're talking about is something that you don't like it's something that you do like of course the Chinese buffet was something gross but I'm just saying like you know when we're talking about joy and mirth and this we're talking about highly entertaining things there's a reason why just almost all of us have a problem in this area because it's fun because it's enjoyable you know consuming media consuming laughter consuming jokes consuming these things we have to be careful because ultimately at the end of the day we ask this question what doeth it and the answer is nothing you know our society is becoming like a just a participation society I'm sorry not a participation what's the word I'm thinking of spectator just like a spectator society thank you we're not really participating we're just spectating we're just watching other people live their lives and with AI it could get to the point where we're not even watching other people live their lives we're watching a robot tell us how to live our lives and you think that that's funny I saw on YouTube the other day it was like recommending me songs and it said this song was generated by AI so it was like not even a real song it was just AI just making new songs and just like hey you want to listen to this AI song and in many cases it's not even bad you're just thinking like wow like what's going to happen when they have like AI TV or AI because we as people struggle to necessarily keep coming up with content but the machine it may be able to just pump out stuff forever and maybe it's going to even get to a point where you can even tell it what you want it's like hey I want a movie about this time and it just starts making a movie for you and then all of a sudden goes the road you're like I don't like how it went that way go back and redo it and then it just starts going again and just telling a whole new story because we pretty much just like to consume new things I mean it's going to get dangerous folks I think technology is only going to get more enjoyable with more options and more fun and it's a dangerous road apps have become extremely addicting especially with in app purchases where people just get wrapped in these role playing games where they're I don't even know all the different options anymore because I don't really do this anymore I can't have games on my phone because I'm addicted to them but there's so many options with all these games you're building a farm, you're building a city you're building I don't know what else you're building you're probably building anything or you're fighting a war you've got to get armor and then you've got to get more men or you've got to get a cooler car hey you've got to grill these crops and then they'll say like wait five minutes or pay five cents and you can fast forward and people are like oh man I want to wait five minutes and they're like pay five cents and then it's like get this upgrade oh you can pay another dollar and we'll give you unlimited updates uploads for the day or something and it's like this is how these games work people are just getting sucked into these things that are professional time wasters but again it's not like it's not fun maybe you are enjoying it but what doeth it? what does it profit? I saw an advertisement recently and it was like playing solitaire and you win money and I was like what in the world it was like you play solitaire I didn't understand it but it was like some ad and it just said like if you if you win in the solitaire game or you solve it quickly or something you'll get like a hundred dollars and this person is like I'm just making hundreds of dollars an hour just playing solitaire man I'm just like there has got to be a sucker out there that's just like I love solitaire like I'm going to quit my job and I'm just going to make money playing solitaire because I'm really good at solitaire you know it's just this kind of stuff is endless but you know it's a scam I'm sure that no one is really making money on that why would they advertise that? like why are they going to let people play games to make money there's something fishy there I don't know how it works because obviously that's not legitimate but hey if you can make ten thousand dollars a week playing solitaire go for it I'm not mad at you alright but you have to ask yourself this question you know like how much time am I devoting to laughter and mirth because at the end of the day it doesn't really benefit much and we probably need to make sure that we're kind of keeping that appetite where it needs to be hey we can have a little bit of fun we should have a little bit of laughter I'm not against these things but at the end of the day we have to realize that it is vanity and we don't want to just waste our whole lives just chasing mirth it seems like the older generation has this idea of and then just chase mirth for the rest of my life and really I don't see why there's ever a reason to just chase mirth and joy and laughter you know as long as you got breath in your lungs we should be trying to still get people saved and going to church and caring about our children and our grandchildren and the things of God you know there's a time for mirth there's a time for joy but you know we need to keep that limited so as we don't just go down a crazy train and become like the jackass guys look at verse number 3 it says now he says here that he's acquainting his heart with wine I believe that you know he's really talking about alcohol here based on the idea that he says lay hold on folly so you know based on this context he already kind of brings up riches and wealth in a lot of other places so I don't think he's just only focusing on just wealth but I think he's talking about becoming drunk and becoming addicted to alcohol which a lot of people do and that's why he says to lay hold on folly it's stupid to drink a lot of alcohol it's stupid to become drunk but a lot of people just really enjoy it and that's kind of like all they seek after that's all they want to do I mean there's so many establishments today that are evolving around or revolving around drunkenness specifically or drinking specifically how many bars and sports clubs and places and establishments are designed specifically for adults to go and just drink alcohol and a lot of people just do this almost every day if not regularly and even on the weekends as their main hobby their main hobby and their main idea is to drink and I've worked with people like this I've known people like this where just like every second they're just counting down the clock until they can go start drinking it's just like man I can't wait until work's over so I can go straight to happy hour or go straight to the bar I mean there's a reason why there's a happy hour from 4 to 6 it's because people they were working and they can't drink on the job they would if they could but they just they're just so itching to get a drink that as soon as the clock strikes 4 I mean or 5 they're headed straight to the bar straight to get a beer or drink some wine or drink some liquor and they just can't wait to just start drinking again and Solomon's saying hey I gave myself hey I tried it I wanted to see what it was like you know what does this do for me but you know what it still doesn't benefit it doesn't benefit it's stupid it's foolishness verse 4 I gave me great works I built me houses I planted me vineyards I gave me gardens and orchards and I planted trees in them of all kinds of fruits I made me pools of water water there with the wood that bringeth forth trees I got me servants and maidens and had servants born in my house also I had great possessions of great and small cattle above all that were in Jerusalem before me I gathered me also silver and gold so he's just saying like everything you could ever want to do Solomon just did I mean Solomon is building not just a house, houses Solomon has multiple estates multiple houses multiple vineyards he has gardens and orchards and I planted trees in them notice this of all kinds of fruits so Solomon gets to eat every exotic fruit I mean he's eating the oranges and the apples and the grapes and the watermelons and the cantaloupes and even all the vegetables the green beans and the tomatoes I mean he's basically just he's got it all he's got all the different kinds of wines and he's got all the kinds of different fruits and he's got all the different things you could possibly want not even just food but even just beautiful flowers beautiful gardens beautiful things to look at everything you could want to see and desire he has it he's got pools he's got water there with the wood to bring forth trees he's not only got water to swim in or to hang out in he's basically got an aqueduct system for irrigation to where he can basically just plant anything that he wants he has unlimited water which you know here water can get expensive even just watering your grass and watering your front and back yard can get really expensive a lot of people just don't do it because it's not much money he has plenty of pools he can water anything he wants he can make it as green as he wants he can have it looking great and freshly mowed he has all kinds of servants, maidens they're even born in his house he has great possessions of great and small cattle he's not only eating ribeye and steak, he's eating veal he's eating the babies he's eating the baby veal he's got the fatted calf he basically can have literally anything that he wants everything he could possibly desire it's just like the Vegas buffet every single day you know just the greatest meats the greatest selections, the greatest imports everything just at his fingertips all natural all organic, everything you could want not only that, silver and gold he says in peculiar treasures of kings and of the provinces, I got me men singers women singers and the lights of the sons of men and musical instruments and that of all sorts now of course why is he gathering men singers and women singers? that's because he doesn't have a CD player he doesn't have YouTube music so if he wants to listen to music people gotta literally perform for him so it's basically like he's just bringing in bands from all over the world he's bringing in the best guitarists the best harpists the best piano players the best of all the different instruments the best horn players the best brass instruments and he not only is just listening to great symphonies and orchestras he's listening to everything did you notice what he said? he said, and the lights of the sons of men as musical instruments and that of all sorts so he's listening to all music he's got the jazz and he's got the classics and he's got the rock he's got everything bring it in here the didgeridoo the thing in Africa that sounds really weird not only does he get to do all of this he still gets to be smart he still gets to be wise he's not downgrading himself but at the end of the day whatever he wants he has he's still smart, verse 10 this is again a really extremely dangerous path to go down Solomon said yes every time he wanted something now think if you did that to your kids every time your kids just said they wanted something you're just like, yes I think there's a stupid movie like this called Yes Man where he just says yes to everything this is a bad path this is how you get a thousand wives where you literally just say yes I mean, that is absurd to think, how could a man have that many wives and have all these different things because he literally just woke up and he never stopped by saying no he never said no to himself he had no temperance no self control whatsoever he just went full bore whatever I want, I get and he had it he said this is my portion he said in verse 11 then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought and on the labor that I had labor to do and behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit and there was no profit under the sun so he looked at everything he said this is all meaningless all it does is just stress me out and not only does it stress me out it brings me no benefit he could say he said yes to himself for everything he had everything he could ever think of and he still didn't like it he said in verse 12 he is saying specifically in this verse he is like I have everything so let's try being as smart as possible let's try being as crazy as possible and let's try being as dumb as possible and he is like well, for what can the man do that cometh after the king even that which hath been already he is saying well, I want to do something different I want to be different I want to be unique but then he is like but what can I do more than what the guy did before me and what can the guy after me do any more than I have done get a bunch of wives David already did that have lots of gold and silver people have already done that be stupid, people have done that be smart, people have done that have all the foods that are out there people have had them all, people have tried them all people have swam people have, you know, drank alcohol until they threw up I mean, it's just like, how can I be special how can I be unique, how can I do something that no one has ever done, and he is basically saying well, you know what, the next guy the next king that has unlimited wealth and opportunities, he is just going to do the same thing I can't do anything different it's just the same even that which have been already done what can I do, I can't be done I can be smart, I can be crazy I can be dumb, but, you know it's not special verse 13, then I saw that wisdom excels with folly as far as light excels with darkness the wise man's eyes are in his head but the fool walketh in darkness and I myself perceived also that one event happeneth to them all now, in this dissertation of Solomon he is still making a few things clear here, that okay, sure in some way, all of this is meaningless, but it's not to say like, let's just be dumb say, no, wisdom is way better than being foolish and in fact, it excels it more than you can possibly imagine more than light than darkness but, at the end of the day there's one event that's going to happen to them all what's that one event? Death so it doesn't matter if you were the smartest person to ever live or if you were the dumbest person to ever live you're both going to die and that's kind of the point that he's alluding to here in this passage he says in verse 15 he's saying, why am I really any better than the fool if we're all going to die now, this is kind of a really negative train of thoughts okay, this is not something that we should necessarily go down the path of, but he's just saying like, what's the point of me enjoying my entire life and having fun and pleasure all my life as opposed to the guy that suffers if we both just die and it's over and this is kind of an attitude that some people get that are not Christian and then they end up wanting to kill themselves or something because they just feel like it's all meaningless is it nihilism? I think it's nihilism basically is this terminology where you basically just find everything to be pointless but we understand the whole conclusion of the matter, we fear God and keep his commandments there are things that have eternal value but the things of this world and the carnal things of this world, they don't have any value so in some regard it is true that all that stuff is pointless, but it's not true to say that our lives don't have meaning or don't have purpose they just don't have meaning or purpose in the carnal, the carnal isn't really that doesn't really matter, it's the spiritual that ultimately matters but Solomon is going down a path of only walking in the carnal, walking in the flesh not walking in the spirit for a portion of his life and he's realizing that a lot of that was really dumb and so what's the point of being brilliant and yet at the same time not using that for God or not using that wisdom to basically earn eternal rewards, it doesn't really it doesn't really profit you you know, you get a bunch of degrees, you go to university you could study all kinds of different things, you could become the most fluent in every language and the smartest man to ever live, but none of that really profits in eternity you know what profits in eternity is fearing God and keep his commandments that's what profits in eternity so he's saying, how am I then more wise he says in verse 16 there is no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool forever seeing that which is now seeing that which now is in the days to come shall all be forgotten and I'll die at the wise man as the fool, therefore I hated life because the work that is wrought unto the sun is grievous unto me for all is vanity and vexation of spirit now this is sad but Solomon had everything you could ever want more than probably anybody that's ever had it and he said that he hated his life but I thought that seeking pleasure and seeking mirth and seeking laughter would bring me joy Pastor Shelley, no how did you get to a point where you hate life this is why so many famous and rich people hate their lives because they've gone down this road chasing that same thing that Solomon was chasing, they're trying to chase as much pleasure and as much joy and they're just giving their heart everything that it desires and then they end up realizing that that's not actually a good path, they end up realizing the meaninglessness of it the pointlessness of it, they end up realizing their friends are fake, their relationships are fake and they have nothing to live for and their children often are just the worst people and are going to completely squander whatever wealth they have if they haven't already squandered themselves and they end up just realizing their whole life is a complete train wreck and they look and they see the poor person that's an idiot and they think how is that guy any dumber than me really because we're all going to die and it's all meaningless and Solomon says from a grand perspective I mean if Solomon wasn't written down in the Bible none of us would be talking about him none of us even know there has been so many rich wealthy individuals of times past that had all kinds of great accolades built all kinds of great things and we have no idea who they are and we don't care we may even be related to them probably are, some of us some of us are probably related I mean there's so many people of the past that were just amazing and then there was even way more that were terrible and dumb and foolish and we have no idea who they are either and so Solomon's just saying like I kind of just hated life because it seems like it's all pointless it's all vanity it's all meaningless and specifically the work that he's doing it's grievous unto him for all his vanity effects I mean he's just stressed out about it I mean do you think it's easy to build all these orchards and gardens and houses and to manage all this stuff I mean think about managing a thousand wives right I get it's like 700 and 300 concubines but I'm just using that term loosely I mean what's the difference between 700 and 1000 anyway I don't even know right I mean I can't even imagine two let alone 700 okay I mean that talk about stress talk about problems talk about drama the real housewives of Solomon talk about a drama tv show okay that would catch on people would love that we would forget about all of them we wouldn't even know what's going on he wouldn't know who they are I mean he would try to get married to his wife probably he'd be like who's she we should we should get together he's like that's your wife bro oh okay yeah and then pretty soon he just starts singing all women are his wife right I mean the guy is just nuts and he's like I hate life you know you think like oh 700 wives that sounds cool no this guy says he hates it he hates his life he abhors his life it's all just it's something that just so frustrating verse 18 yea I hated all my labor which I had taken under the sun because I should leave it under the man that shall be after me and who knoweth whether he shall be a wise man or a fool yet shall he have rule over all my labor wherein I have labored and wherein I have showed myself wise under the sun this is also vanity he's just saying like you go out to the beach and you're building a sandcastle well it's not going to really last you build that sandcastle as soon as you walk away you know time elements children whatever is going to come just knock it down it's all gone I mean who wants to sit here and just spend hours and weeks and months just building a sandcastle for it to just be dissolved like that you know kids that just build their toys up and just their brother comes and just knocks it down it's like they just get so angry they're just like and he's just saying like what's the point of me just building all this stuff up and making all this great stuff to just probably hand it to someone else that's just going to ruin it and squander it and waste it and this is a real threat that we all need to take seriously go view the progress chapter 13 we need to take seriously the idea of what our children are going to be like after us and one thing that I personally don't advise is just handing your kids everything just giving them just unlimited wealth or just making their lives super easy I don't think this is a good strategy or a good idea I think it's much better to try to encourage them to actually work hard and have character and try to earn things themselves now in proverbs chapter 13 the Bible says in verse 1 a wise son here is his father's instruction but a scorner heareth not rebuke so one thing that we need to do as fathers is we need to be constantly instructing our children spending time to teach them things and training them and giving them the knowledge to be successful in their lives because if we don't really instruct them we don't really teach them well we see how fatherless homes do in the crime statistics don't we we see how children that are neglected do in school in society in the job in the workplace it's the exception that proves the rule in that scenario most men who don't have a father figure or some man teaching them stuff really struggle in their lives and it can be overcome you don't have to have it but at the end of the day generally speaking it's very difficult for a young man to choose the right path and to learn things on his own usually when they don't have a solid leader or man in their life to teach them and guide them they end up making a lot of bad decisions so we need to be teaching them in verse 2 it says a man shall eat good by the fruit of his mouth but the soul of the transgressor shall eat violence he that keepeth his mouth keepeth his life but he that openeth wide his lips shall have destruction the soul of the sluggard desireth and hath nothing but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat more important than handing your children wealth is handing them a work ethic because you can hand a child that's a sluggard great wealth and he'll lose it all and you can hand a child a hard work ethic and a pad on the back and he can turn it into great wealth but what we have to be careful of is not just handing our kids easy street and an easy life they end up not having character not having a work ethic not caring about learning and not being diligent with themselves but just becoming slothful and typically when you're just raised with a silver spoon in your mouth giving everything you want and you don't have to earn or work for anything you end up just being a very sluggish type person a very slothful type person and it's almost impossible to overcome once you become an adult you're supposed to train up a child in the way you should go and when he's old he will not depart from it one of those is having a work ethic you should have your kids regularly working every single day and teaching and training them and ultimately we don't know you could still be a very good parent and just at some point in time hand them over some money or hand them over some wealth and they could just completely squander it and that's what Solomon's point is he's just saying this is kind of frustrating that I built all this stuff and then I'm going to hand it over to somebody and they're probably going to squander it but let's think about Solomon I mean when you're managing 700 wives 300 concubines tons of different sons how much time do you think Solomon was really spending with those sons? and how much was he withholding his sons from? I mean while Solomon is just living it literally how much do you think that his sons are also probably doing the same thing and when we read in the Bible I believe it's Rehoboth, his son the Bible says about him he desired many wives I wonder where he got that appetite maybe it's from seeing his father getting all kinds of wives and desiring lots of women and we see this kind of pattern going down where hey, like father, like son and we see individuals constantly being like their parents so also another thing is probably to withhold yourself from unlimited pleasure and wealth and joy so your children see the self-discipline you have as well see that you're doing the right thing hey, going to church making sacrifices, loving on people going out soul winning this is going to instill in your children the right attitude and the right behavior to possibly carry on the right legacy and not to just be a spoiled brat that wastes all of your money and you know I don't know what the right method is or the right, you know way to handle these things we'll all figure it out together but in my estimation, in my mind is it probably better to hand over wealth to children once they've been an adult for a while like allow them to, you know, work make their own money, live on their own learn how to work hard before you just start giving them large sums of money large portions of wealth and generally speaking, in an ideal situation that's kind of how life works, isn't it? I mean, in an ideal situation your parents wouldn't die or wouldn't leave behind, you know their wealth or inheritance to you until you're a lot older until you're probably an adult with your own children and everything and so you've kind of had time to appreciate these things take care of them have a good work ethic because, you know, frankly speaking I guarantee I'm going to be better as a money manager when I'm 40 or 50 years old than I was when I was 20 or 25 years old you know, I'm sure a lot of 20 and 25 year olds are going out there and buying you know, a 50,000 dollar well, now, money, I can't even like a 250,000 dollar sports car or something you know, if daddy gives them a trust fund here's 5 million dollars, son oh, sweet, 5 million dollars they'll have that spent in 2 or 3 years whereas it may have taken that father a lifetime to accumulate such wealth through hard work, diligence, sacrifice not spending, and then his child just wastes his inheritance kind of like the prodigal son wastes all that inheritance in a short time period on harlots and riotous living and you know what, I don't want my sons to be like that and, you know, I may be willing to give my sons money to start a business or do something, but you know what they are not getting some large sum of money from me, you know, when they're a young child they're going to have to learn how to work and be diligent, and you know, struggle and sacrifice, and in some cases being poor just makes you a better person there I said it most people that are very diligent, hard working and have good character were poor at some point in their life, that doesn't mean that a person that's wealthy can't have character, I'm just saying, generally speaking people that are like the best people to be around, have been poor at some point in their lives, and it taught them a lot of character, it taught them a lot of responsibility, and you know maybe you need to teach your kids how to work hard and to be poor at times so that they can have more character and be a better person because ultimately at the end of the day, at some point you're going to handle all this wealth, I mean think about what would be the point of me just slaving working 80 hours a week my entire life building the family farm or building the family business let's say I accumulated some great wealth 10 million dollars or something I don't know, I'm just throwing out a number of course if you listen to this in the future it's meaningless, you know, use inflation calculator, but accumulate some wealth of 10 million dollars or 20 million dollars or something to just hand it to your children to just completely squander you think like why did I spend so much time accumulating all that wealth, I didn't need it I didn't spend it, why didn't I just spend more time hanging out with my kids why didn't I spend more time going soul winning why didn't I spend more time serving God why didn't I give some of that money to somebody that was going to do something good with it you know, and you kind of think about it there's an opportunity cost to every decision we make and here's the question if you can't take it with you how much wealth do you really need do you really need I mean, if you have 10 million dollars and your kids are going to squander it what was the point? you might have been better off having 5 million or 2 million and spent more time doing other things that were of more value and I believe that's what Solomon's trying to get at is this point of what's the point of me getting unlimited wealth and unlimited riches if the next guy is going to completely squander it and waste it and ruin it and it starts to put some things in perspective you start thinking like, why am I making the decisions that I'm making I'm trying to just store up a huge amount of wealth what are you going to do with it? I mean, what's the point? you're never going to be like Solomon you're never going to have as much money and possessions as Solomon and he even hated life when he had it you know, what's more important is probably serving God and training your children to love the Lord that's more important, isn't it? verse 20 he just hates all the work that he did verse 21 he's saying not only did I acquire all of this wealth and money I acquired all the wisdom the knowledge and the discretion of how to manage that and what to do with it but the guy that didn't do that is going to inherit it and in so many times you see this where the son takes over the father's business and ruins the business why? because he didn't actually study and learn he doesn't know all the ins and outs of the business he didn't get all the discretion and the wisdom of the business he didn't work really hard and so he just completely ruins the business because he just doesn't have that and Solomon's basically kind of saying like think about how much information and knowledge Solomon had to have planted all of these gardens and all of these orchards and all of these plants I mean, he's an encyclopedia by himself a wealth of knowledge and you know, you children you should try to soak up as much knowledge from your father as possible because your father has spent so much more time on this earth and has done so many more things and because of technology ruining information these days many kids just don't know anything you children, you should learn as much from your father and your mother as possible learn how to cook, learn how to clean learn how to sew learn how to wash the clothes learn how to fix the car learn how to mow learn how to use tools, learn how to build learn how to manage finances whatever it is that your parents know you should just spend as much time learning instead of just saying what cartoon can I watch let me just go run around and play because at some point in time the buck will stop with you and it's nice to have had as much knowledge and information as he can I remember, you know, just because of time and happenstance, I had never learned how to fix a tire until I was an adult you know, and the first time it happened I was kind of intimidated because it's not even a hard thing, but it's just I've never done it, so it's just kind of intimidating I wish that like when I was 16 or 15 I just asked my dad like let's change a tire or something just so I wasn't stressed out, and of course, you know, when I have to change a tire, it's like the tire iron doesn't fit and the nuts are you know, stripped and everything, and it's like it was like the hardest thing ever to change a tire, which takes like 20 minutes maybe, okay, and if you have the right tools, maybe five minutes, okay, and you know what you're doing, but I'm just saying like when you don't it's like hours, and it's really a painful and frustrating process and so, you know we want to make sure that we actually know how to do things but at the end of the day you know, you'll probably never be able to give, you know, give your sons and your children as much wisdom as you have and it's just all vanity anyways Verse 22 For what hath a man of all his labor and of the vexation of his heart wherein he had labored under the sun, for all his days are sorrows, and his travail grief, yea, his heart taketh not rest in the night, this is also vanity. Here's another thing, you know mow money, mow problems is what he's trying to say, he's just like saying you know, you think it's cool to manage all this stuff until you have to really actually worry about it I mean, think about Solomon like, laying down at night the mental checklist he has in his head, like did I turn off the water on those apple trees you know, is the new shipment of lumber gonna come in on time for my other house you know, how many birthdays do I have to celebrate tomorrow, you know all my wives, and then how many anniversaries and how many appointments am I gonna make you know, just like, just think about like, maybe he's laying down at night what's her name again? I can't remember he's the first one to come up with nicknames like, hey babe, or whatever you know, cause he just needed that for all of them that's, you know there was just so much stress he's like, his days, he's just full of just and think about how many problems, it's like this broke, this is, you know you think about your honey do list, what about Solomon's honey do list, you know oh man, how many orchards and and housing things and you know, purses and whatever he's gotta get all the cows and all the I mean, he's probably even got thousands of servants and maidens and people that wanna constantly see him and talk to him and bug him and need his attention on things, and he's just so stressed out you know, famous people celebrities literally complain about being famous because they say they can't even enjoy their life cause someone's always bothering them someone's always wanting something from them somebody's always trying to get something from them and so it's like they don't even none of us are famous, we don't even know what it's like but it's just they go out in public, everybody wants their attention everybody wants to talk to them, everyone wants a picture everybody wants to say hi it's just that wouldn't be that much fun if you can't even really enjoy constantly just running, talking to strangers and people already needing things and all these flatterers and you just, you have to wade through all these issues you got all these wives and concubines and servants and cows, I mean just like it eventually racks up to the point where you're just like man, I wanna just run away screaming from all of this it's a lot of responsibility not only that, he's managing a kingdom he's gotta manage the army he's gotta manage the economic policy for the entire nation, he's gotta manage the priests and all the other stuff that's going on, I mean he's gotta manage like so much this guy's life is a stress just so much stress he says for all his days are sorrows I thought he was having fun says this in verse 24 there is nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labor this also I saw that it was from the hand of God for who can eat or who else can hasten hereunto more than I for God giveth to a man that is good in his sight, wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he giveth travail, to gather and to heap up that he may give to him that is good before God this also is vanity and vexation of spirit so he gives us a glimmer of hope here and he's basically just saying look God gives you an ability to eat and drink and to enjoy your labor, when you have those moments, enjoy them because for the rest of your life and for all of us, your days are gonna be filled with sorrows and travail and grief and problems we all have problems we all have travail we all have grief but just in certain moments in your life hey, you get that steak dinner that one time, right? or you get that brisket or you get to just sit down and enjoy a milkshake or you get to drink something that you enjoy or you get to admire the work that you built you know, when you're working on something it's nice when you finish it and you get to finally admire it you buy a house, you finally get it you know, think about how much I mean, buying a house, there's so much stress just dealing with, especially if you can't buy it in cash, like all of us you have to worry about the mortgage company and I mean mortgage companies are just like Satan, I don't know you have to give them all of these different documents and all these financial statements and every bank statement and what is this transaction and where did you spend this and you know, what about your debt and you're just like, can I get the house or not? you know, and it's all this stress and all this pressure you know, even just trying to buy a house sometimes you're visiting all these houses and you're putting bids on them and people are outbidding you I know like a couple years ago people were telling me it was like the most stressful thing on the planet to buy a house here you know, they go and visit they go visit a house that comes on the market 20 people are going and visiting it people are bidding like 10,000 over asking you know, cash offers and people are just you know, they're writing letters like this would be really special for our family and you know, they go and they put it out there and then it's just like sold to someone else and you're just like, it was all vanity why did I waste all this time and effort? and then you know, you finally get that house you overpay for it and you move in and the AC breaks and the garage door breaks and you find mold somewhere and you're just like, oh I hate this house you hire a contractor and you just hate your life forever okay, I mean I know what that one's like okay, you're just throwing money away and you know, you buy that new car and then your kid throws up in it and you're just like you know, the next car you're not allowed to ride in you get that, I remember I bought a brand new pair of sunglasses I kid you not, it was like one hour later I show up at church and I'm kind of like, what do I do with them? I set them on my seat and then I forget and I just literally sit and just squash and just smash them and I was like, one hour? just one hour? what's the point of buying these glasses? you know, and it's just life has its travails, it has its sorrows it has its ups, it has its downs but you know, at the end of the day all of it's vanity anyways enjoy the moments that you have but keep in focus the point that we're supposed to fear God and keep His commandments, that's the only thing that matters the eternal stuff is the only thing that matters and we get, we all get just so hyper focused and stressed out about all this other stuff, but you know, at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter God gave us our portion, hey, we still get some joy in this life, you know, this isn't really the time to enjoy, that's in the new heaven, that's in the millennial rain that's in, you know, when we get to rule and reign with Christ and there's joys evermore you know, you want to keep in that joy button, but that's heaven, there really isn't you know, the joy button now and it's all meaningless now so we might as well hit the work button as much as we can now and not just the work for money but the work for Jesus the work for things of eternal value and consequence because pretty soon we're going to all be there time flies time is going by so quick things are constantly evolving, constantly changing and who knows, pretty soon we might have a communist, you know, dictator in leadership and we'll all lose all of our possessions anyways you know, or maybe it'll never happen it doesn't, but it doesn't matter it won't even be remembered we won't remember the communists because we're rotting in hell all of them we'll be enjoying in the new heaven and the new earth and so that's why we need to make sure that we're keeping our focus on the things of God preaching the Gospel raising our families to fear God and to love God that's going to give you the only real true eternal joys in this life is by fearing Him and keeping His presence let's close in prayer thank you Heavenly Father so much for giving us this perspective on our lives so that we know what we're supposed to do and sometimes just reminding us of all the silliness and all the vanity that exists in this world so that we don't we don't lose track or sight of where we're supposed to go that we are supposed to live our lives according to the scripture that we're supposed to make church an important thing we're supposed to make preaching the Gospel an important thing and raising our families to love God I pray that we would always really think about the decisions we're making and making sure that we're actually making spiritual decisions and I pray that you would just help us to have the right mindset until we take our last breath in Jesus' name we pray, amen alright, in closing, let's go to song number 50 song number 50 peace perfect peace song number 50 everybody sing out together on the first peace perfect peace in this dark world of sin the blood of Jesus whispers peace within peace perfect peace with sorrow surging ground on Jesus bosom not but calm is found peace perfect peace our future all unknown Jesus we know he is on the throne peace perfect peace death shall be us and ours Jesus has vanquished death and all is ours it is enough earth struggles soon shall cease and Jesus calls you to our perfect peace great singing everybody, we're all dismissed you