Chasing the Wind

Alright, it's complaint time. To Gary Beam. Oops, there it is. I can't complain. There's a clock there. Because I always ask him when I watch his sermons, did you see what time it was? Because when we call each other, it goes for a while. And in case you didn't know what, he can talk. And my wife says I can, so. Well, it's good to be here in Huntsville, Alabama. We had a wedding to attend, yesterday afternoon, Friday afternoon wedding of my niece. And on Burrett Mountain, is that, did I say that right? What is it? Burrett? Burrett? B-U-R-R-I-T. Burrett Mountain. Beautiful, beautiful place. Anybody been there? Oh, yeah. Man, that was a beautiful place. I thought we had that in Tennessee, but I guess not. But it is good that Mary and I can be here. We're going up to spend some time with my family as I'm taking a week of vacation. Today's not one of those. So, I will speak. So, I look, I have plenty of time, and we will get out early. It looks like. Many of you, growing up, around my age, even younger or older, can remember various cartoons of a guru sitting on top of a mountain. And someone climbing up, it looks like, for days to get up to ask advice of this holy guru or whoever he is. They even started making commercials, TV commercials, and having an older guy with beard and everything. Looks like Matt, sitting up there on top of this mountain. And he's sitting there with his arms closed, and this man climbs up, exhausted. And he said, what do you wish to know, my son? And a man goes, I want to know the meaning of life. And the guru looks at him. You don't have Google? Because sometimes, that's all people need. You think it's Google, it's got all the answers. Well, have you ever wanted it all? I did, one time. Younger. I wanted it all. I wanted the marriage, I wanted the life, I wanted the money, I wanted everything. I wanted to be happy. Well, there are success books, motivational books. I bought many, from many so-called gurus. But there was one printed not long ago from Charlie Munger. Anybody know who Charlie Munger is? Yes, you do. He just died a few months ago, I think. Charlie was 92, I believe. He was a partner of Warren Buffett, and he worked for 45 years with Warren. But he wrote a book called Poor Charlie's Ominac. And he did it because people ask him about their job. How do you find contentment in your job? Many of us would have liked to have known that, or would like to know that now. Charlie said in his Ominac, number one, don't sell anything you wouldn't buy yourself. Number two, don't work for anyone you don't respect. But then number three was work only with people you enjoy. Now, I'll tell you, is that realistic? I didn't even have a choice except when I worked for myself, and then I still didn't have a choice. So it's not realistic. So if you were to get advice, as we heard from Steve, where is he? I just missed him. Where? Oh, you're in the very back. Oh, there you are. As Steve was talking about going to Proverbs, I will be talking from Ecclesiastes. I didn't know what you were speaking about, going down the same road. But have you ever met anyone, say, famous or rich? Anybody? Nobody. Yes? Who you met famous or rich? Charlie Daniels. Okay, well, you're able to ask him any questions? No. Anybody else? We got you. Yes, sir, in the back. Mr. T. I pity the fool. Were you able to talk to him? He didn't talk back. Oh, you talk to him. Okay, very good.

It's interesting when you would meet someone, had the opportunity living in Nashville, working for various country stars and people. And it's different how people look at them compared to the way we may look at them. If you were to meet someone like Charlie Munger before he died, Mr. T. or Charlie Daniels, what would you ask them? Would you ask them for the best advice they could give you in their line of work? Perhaps you might. Maybe you might seek advice about being content and success.

And if they really reached that point, how would they know it? I guess you might even ask, can I have it all? Because that's what so many people want to know. In fact, I had a country and western singer I worked for, had some time with him, and he sang. He's old now, but he had quite a few hits. So I asked him, do you ever get tired of singing that song?

And he said, yes. I said, then how do you get up 100 to 200 times a year and sing that song? His answer? I think about the money. That was his answer. I think about money, and it makes me go up there and sing it just like it's the first time. Well, if you want it all, you have to ask people who have it all, because they know. We'll be talking about that today, the short time I have. And today, in America, money makes the world go around.

It just does. You can have about anything you want if you have enough money, except they say you can't buy happiness, but they say you can rent it. So, in America today, the average wage of the average person is $200 to $300 a day. That's what they make. $200 to $300 a day. Imagine if you made $200,000 per day. Can you imagine that? I really can't.

My wife and my bank would freak out. But $200,000 a day for five days is a million dollars a week. 52 weeks. That's what NFL quarterbacks make in a year. Hmm. So, people do make it. But imagine making $200,000 a day for 2,000 years. Would you like that kind of money? Well, if you did, you still wouldn't have as much money as Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos. Isn't that an incredible fact? And yet, I want to talk about a guy today and give you some of his advice that was considered to be four to five times more wealthy than Bezos, than Musk.

And I want to try to get you to picture that, because I want to talk about Solomon. Besides being the richest man to ever live, he was also a Renaissance man. He wrote over a thousand songs and wrote 3,000 parables. He was also called the wisest man who ever lived. Mike and I can probably appreciate the Smith Bible Dictionary like none of you can, but the Smith Bible Dictionary said that Solomon was placed under the care of Nathan from his earliest infancy, and that Nathan named him Jedidiah, which means darling of the Lord. And it was also, at the time of Absalom's rebellion, remember Solomon's half-brother, Solomon was 10 years of age when he had to flee with his father, his mother.

Gave him quite an experience, didn't it? In Hebrew, the book of Ecclesiastes is called kohaleth, which means one who speaks publicly in assembly. That's why you'll read it in some translation as the preacher, because that's who typically spoke in assembly, as we would translate it now, a preacher. So imagine sitting in a room like this, for an hour, and being able to go back in time and sit for an hour with Solomon, the wisest, richest man who ever lived. What would you ask him? Would you have questions? I think most of us would.

Other people did at his time. Wouldn't it be intriguing to sit there and have him all to yourself, giving you all his wisdom? How valuable would that be? More valuable than an hour with Musk, Bezos, or Buffett? I would think so. I don't think they're in here, unless they've written their own Bible, and I'm sure they could afford it.

I want to look at a couple of things before we go into that, and the purpose of my sermon today, because the title of my sermon is Chasing the Wind. Have you ever chased the wind? Oh, yes. Yes, we have. We've chased the wind more than we would probably want to say so. It means pursuing fertility.

And it's kind of a synopsis of the book of Ecclesiastes. But when you look at Solomon, he was the first, as I would say if you heard it on the street today, he was the first real sugar daddy. You see, he had 300 wives, and he had 700 concubines. Couldn't imagine. Tell him to prepare supper for that. So he had 700 women that came to daddy and said, this is what I want. This is what I need. And for many of them, he built houses, fed them all, kept them all. But you see, he came from a very rich father. Most people do not realize just how rich David was. And David was going to leave it all to him. Adonijah had a different idea, but he wound up on the wrong side of the road on that one. As you must remember, Absalom would have been the heir apparent.

But when Solomon was 10, Absalom ended up being killed by his uncle.

So I'd like to go, if you will, with me. I will be reading from a New Living Translation. Do you not have a New Living Translation? You have a New King James or an Old King James? You probably read many times. You might just enjoy hearing it from a more fluid translation that I will use today because I think it makes it interesting. And hopefully you'll understand at the end while I am saying what I'm saying. So I want to go to 1 Chronicles. 1 Chronicles, chapter 22, verses 14. This is what David had to say about his son, what he's leaving his son. Now, when my father is leaving, my father died, my mother will be leaving the farm and various things to us four children. So all that's been laid out. But David was looking at this. And he says from the New Living, I have worked hard to provide materials for building the temple of the Lord. Nearly 4,000 tons of silver and so much iron and brass that it cannot even be weighed. What are we looking at in today's dollars? What did he leave his son to build the temple? 363 billion dollars worth of gold. Not million, billions. And that also included 40.8 billion dollars of silver. You remember what I said about his time? That silver was so plentiful, they were so rich, that silver was as if stones on the ground. Incredible wealth. Probably never seen again after that time. 1 Chronicles 29. 1 Chronicles 29. 1 Chronicles 29.

Oops. I went to 1 Chronicles 29. Get back there. Easy market, but it's a new book. 1 Chronicles 29. And now, because of my devotion to the temple of my God, I am giving all of my private treasures of gold and silver to help in the construction. This is in addition to what David's already given. This is in addition to the building materials I have already collected for his holy temple. I am donating more than 112 tons of gold and 262 tons of refined silver. How much? An additional 10.8 billion dollars. It shows the wealth. And imagine being able to sit and talk to this incredible King Solomon. The queen of Sheba, we know, traveled a long ways. And she brought gifts to hear his wisdom and to see if everything she'd heard was true. And she found out only half was true. He didn't even tell half of how great of a king and how great of a kingdom he had. And so the queen of Sheba gave him, in today's dollars, 435 million dollars worth of gifts. I don't know if anybody's ever given me 10 dollars for counseling. And some of marriage counseling they probably should have given me more. But this is just shows how amazing this is. As a matter of fact, when they were putting this together, some experts in translation and figuring things, because it also told that in 1 Kings 10 that his annual income of what people paid him, not these gifts, Solomon, what they paid him every year was 2.4 billion dollars. 2.4 billion dollars. So putting this together and everything they could find in history. It is estimated that Solomon's wealth at the time of his death was around 2.1 trillion dollars. Four times what, musks?

Five times what Bezos is, which makes it amazing. So why do I bring this up? Because I think you did take math class. I figured you can read and figure these things out because I wanted to set the tone for the reason I am speaking here today on this subject, is that this one of 66 books, the book of Ecclesiastes, for hundreds if not thousands of years, was read every year at the Feast of Tabernacles. This was the book the priest stood up and read. I think it's great to read it during the Feast of Tabernacles. It's very interesting and it points to the fact that all of this is temporary, just like the Feast of Tabernacles. Remember that thatched roof they built? It was green, but then it turned dark. It all died and it was temporary, just like our time on this earth. It's temporary. The older I get, the more clear that statement becomes.

It starts with just trying to get out of bed in the morning and going, wow, what happened to this body? Why didn't I take care of this thing earlier? I've worn this thing out. I think Solomon came to the same conclusion. But you don't get there just by being 20 years old and thinking you can walk on water or at least drive a car a hundred miles an hour. So, all this is temporary except for what? God and His, whatever His is. And hopefully, His is you. His is mine. Me. This is what it is about. So, I want to kind of hopefully prime this book for you to read either before the feast or during the feast. It's excellent because there's only 12 chapters. So, besides the first and last day of the feast, it gives you one chapter to read every day. Not much. You already hear a sermon. Do you need to act like your Bible boy and carry the Bible out and read it all the time while people are out there having fun? I don't think so. But it is good to look at something, especially if you have the habit of studying your Bible every day. It's kind of like weird if you don't. Hopefully you're weird if you don't. So, in the New King James, also the Old King James, the word is used vanity. All is vanity. As a matter of fact, it mentions it over 40 times.

So, in the New Living Translation, it calls it chasing the wind. Chasing the wind. Because guess what? You can't catch it. You can't catch it. If you're looking for happiness, guess what? You're probably not going to find it. Oh, you may find just a small amount. But will you find the joy that God talks about in the Bible? So, with the time left, I'd like for us to read the best self-help book ever written. Yeah, motivational books. I've gotten a lot from, whether it was Tony Robbins or whether it was Jim Jogandoffo, Judge Rard, various ones that I read. But it was more about success in business than success in life. And Solomon wrote the book of Ecclesiastes, that great motivational book, about the success in life. And do you really want it all? Because he had it all. And we're going to go through that as I read just certain parts from certain chapters today, as hopefully I can motivate you to read. Because you see, you can take the New Living or other translations of it. One of my books has 14 different translations in one book. And I'll take that, and I'll read every translation and go through the entire book. You know, if you read, just if you're an average reader, you can read the book of Ecclesiastes in less than an hour. So just imagine sitting there and listening for one hour to Solomon. Would he have your attention? I think so. I think we'd all be sitting there looking at him, hearing him. Well, we have that opportunity. God's given us that opportunity. As a matter of fact, I told Mary coming up here, wherever we were driving, I said, I'm going to do in my own church series on Ecclesiastes before the Feast, because there's so much there that we can relate to, either in preparation for the Feast or at the Feast of Tabernacles. You think God inspired the priest to read it every year at the Feast of Tabernacles? I do. I don't think they would have done it without it. So if you will, join me, or just sit and listen to Ecclesiastes.

Ecclesiastes 2.

Ecclesiastes 2. Start at verse 8, and I'll just read from 2 and 3 and then a couple other scriptures. Because, yes, I must say even now it's 66 years of age. I still want it all. I want it all. I want what's promised to be by my father and my elder brother. And that doesn't mean this piddly little wealth I can accumulate here on this earth.

I think it says in Revelation, you shall inherit what? All, all, all things. God's willing to give it all, and He owns it all. So let's go. I'll read here, stop occasionally, and look at my watch. Ecclesiastes 2, verse 8. Oh, let's go. Let's go to 8. Yes. So I collected great sums of silver and gold, the treasure of many kings and and provinces. I hired wonderful singers, both men and women, and had many beautiful concubines. You know those 700 women? There wasn't a dog in the bunch. Okay.

They were all beautiful. And He could have it, and He did. I had everything, oh, I went down. Yes, I had everything a man could desire. Can you imagine that? Everything? What do you want? I want it all. I want everything. Well, I had it all, He said. I had everything. Everything. You can't even dream of the things that I've had. So, let's look. So I became greater than all who lived in Jerusalem before me, and my wisdom never failed me. Neither did its confidence. Anything I wanted, I would take. I denied myself no pleasure. I even found great pleasure in hard work, a reward for all my labors. But as I looked at everything I had worked so hard to accomplish, it was also meaningless, like chasing the wind. Like chasing the wind. There was nothing really worthwhile anywhere. He found this after. Not during, not before. After. Verse 12, so I decided to compare wisdom with foolishness and madness. For who can do this better than I the king? I thought wisdom is better than foolishness, just as light is better than darkness. For the wise can see where they are going, but the fools walk in the dark. Yet I saw that the wise and the foolish share the same fate. Both are going to die. So I said to myself, since I will end up in the same as the fool, what's the value of all my wisdom? This is also meaningless. For the wise and the foolish both die. The wise will not be remembered any longer than the fool. In the days to come, both will be forgotten. I came to hate life because everything done here under the sun is so troubling. Everything is meaningless like chasing the wind. Wouldn't that be sad? Wouldn't that be sad to do all this stuff and come to that conclusion? Well, we don't have to because he did it for us.

Imagine 40 years. 40 years as king, and he said so much of this stuff is like chasing the wind. I think it's Scotty Scheffler. Anybody golfers? Scotty Scheffler, number one golfer in the world to date, was asked just a week or two ago about not being number one if that happened. And he said, no, it's not the most important thing in my life. He said, my wife and my kids are the most important things. So whenever this game is getting to be miserable, and I don't enjoy it, and it makes me miserable, I'll quit. It's amazing he said that after he became number one. Isn't it? I don't think I ever heard that before. Go on down. He said, I came to hate all my hard work here on earth, for I must leave it to others. Must leave to others everything I've worked for, everything I've earned. You can't take it with you.

The mummies in Egypt thought they could. Somebody else got it. And who can tell whether my successors will be wise or foolish? And how many times we've seen that? Someone leaves everything to someone, or leaves it to the next generation, and they blow it all within one generation. Yet they will control everything I have gained by my skill and hard work under the sun. How meaningless! So I gave up in despair, questioning the value of all my hard work in this world. Some people work wisely with knowledge and skill, then must leave the fruit of their efforts to somebody who hasn't even worked for it. Hmm. This, too, is meaningless, a great tragedy. So what do people get in this life for all their hard work and anxiety? Their days of labor are filled with pain and grief. Even at night, their minds cannot rest. It is so meaningless. And if you've had your own business, and I know many in here have, you think about it. You don't have much when you start. And then when you finally accumulate, or you have a home, and you have things, then you have to have insurance. Make sure you got insurance on the home. Make sure you have insurance in case somebody decides to stagger on your property and break their leg. So you have to have insurance. And then as your business grows, you get to where, okay, oh, they tell you what, you need an umbrella. Another policy. So that somebody can't sue you and take your home and everything you have. So they're going to get what's in the umbrella, which probably just means there's extra money there. Pay them off. And then if you do really well, then you have to have a security system around your house. Because people see you got stuff and they want your stuff. Now, maybe that's only in Tennessee and Florida and Alabama. You leave your doors open at night, nobody steals anything. But it's not that way in Tennessee or Florida. But then what happens if you get even more money? Then you've got to have bodyguards. Because somebody wants to kidnap you and hold you for ransom. Or they'll take your kids. They'll take your wife. They'll even take your dog, hold it for ransom. Amazing! Verse 24, so I decided that there is nothing better than to what? Enjoy food and drink. I heard someone say, eat. Yes. Enjoy food and drink and define satisfaction in work. How many of us love? Many of us men, I know. Women may not have that same feeling, but I just like to go out. If I build some or put some up in the yard, I like, you know, afterwards I may be sweating and everything. But boy, I just stand back and yeah, yeah. Like looking at a satisfaction there. Until Mary comes out and goes, isn't that crooked? All right, let's go on. I have to sleep with her tonight. Then I realized that these pleasures are from the hand of God. Yes, eating and drinking and enjoying your work. It says they're from the hand of God. For who can eat and enjoy anything apart from him? To remind you of James, all good things come from above. It's why we say a prayer. We ask thanks for the food before we eat it. Because he can stop it as quickly as he can give it. Matter of fact, he can stop it quickly. More quick. More quickly. Get out of my mouth today. Yes.

God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy to those who please him. But if a sinner becomes wealthy, God can take the wealth away and give it to those who pleases him. This too is meaningless, like chasing the wind, because it's in God's hands. And the sooner we realize it, the better off we are. That's what Solomon's trying to tell us. This is why this was read, and still read, it features tabernacles in Jerusalem.

Because everybody thinks, why can't I have it all? Oh, you dream! What if I have it all? Would my life change? Just go on YouTube and see the stories of the people who won $500 million in a lottery. See how many of them are still alive? Are miserable. Most of them are just as poor as when they got in there.

But if a sinner becomes wealthy, God takes the wealth away and gives it to those who please him. This too is meaningless, like chasing the wind. Then we go to chapter 3. Any of you remember this being a song by the birds? Turn, turn, turn. There's a season, yes. The only song they know that's ever been recorded, basically it's almost word for word, and it became number one on the charts. Why? Because it can resonate with all of us. We can think about it. He says, there is time for everything. There is a season, a time for every activity in the sun, a time to be born, a time to die, a time to plant, a time to harvest, a time to heal, and a time to heal, a time to tear down, a time to build up, a time to cry, and a time to laugh, a time to grieve, and a time to dance. When's the last time you danced? If you can't dance at a recent tabernacles, when could you dance? Did David dance? Oh, yes. Oh, yes. So much he got his first wife upset. And you find out God wasn't for her. So is there a time to dance? Yes. When's the last time you danced? Do people dance and say, I'm miserable, I'm dancing. I've seen some guys, their wife drags them out, and they look like that, but no, there is a time to dance and celebrate. And that is at the feast tabernacles, because it does picture the coming kingdom of God where there will be dancing. We'll be singing. There will be praising God like we've never heard before. We just get a little foretaste of it. Just a very small inkling of what it's going to be like at the feast and the kingdom of God. Let's go on. A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones. A time to embrace and a time to turn away. A time to search and a time to quit searching. A time to keep and a time to throw away. A time to tear and a time to mend. A time to be quiet and a time to speak. A time to love and there's a time to hate. A time for war and a time for peace. The coming kingdom of God. The Prince of Peace. He's bringing it. Ah! And if someone doesn't give a sermon about peace, it's your feast, you need to stop them in the middle and say, somebody give me some peace, because that is such a strong, strong message that should go through that is so needed in this world today. Verse 9. What do people really get for all their hard work? What do you get? Because, you know, the older you get, the less you want. I don't need that. I got enough clothes. I don't need a fancy sports car. No, I just want something that's cheap and gets me there. Right?

Nothing's really that important, because you've already done things. You've done a smaller version of what Solomon's done in your lifetime and you've seen that, oh wow, this is really great, and you go and get it and then two weeks later it's like, not so great. Wow, I got all excited about that, and it was that. This is what, this is how Solomon felt, but he did it all. Imagine if somebody says you can do anything in the world you want. What would you do?

Money's no issue.

What would you do? This is what he did. Everything. Everything. And now we don't have to.

He said, I have seen the burden of God. I've seen the burden God has placed upon us all. Yet God has made everything beautiful in its own time. Oh, that's such a wonderful statement. He's made it beautiful. If we can look at it in our time, during our time, he's made it beautiful. Because the young, they want to be older. Remember, I was 14, I wanted to be 24. Because then I would be rich, I'd have it all. I'd have a car. I didn't even know what 40-hour week was yet. Okay, so when you're young, you want to be old. When you get older, you're going to be younger. Oh, man, I wish I could go out and jog again. A five-minute mile? How about a 25-minute mile? So it does. We can relate to these words because it's a human experience.

And then he says this incredible statement. He, God, has put eternity in our hearts. He has planted eternity in the human heart. Is it in yours? It doesn't lie. God cannot lie. He inspired this. He has put eternity in the human heart. Does that mean? Because the humans long for something beyond the present. Here are people trying to freeze themselves. So maybe 100 years from now, they can be unfrozen and then brought back, and they can be who they were.

Humans are not content with the present moment because they, you, are made for something more. He has put eternity in our hearts because we are made for something greater than this physical life. It's in everyone. Some speakers talk about filling the hole. That's in each one of us. Because there is a longing. Because when you get older and you realize this could be it. For Rick Shaby, it was just a few weeks ago. For Rick Beam, it happened. He was, what, 71?

Rick, 71? Rick Beam? How old was Rick? 73. Too short. Too short. He has planted eternity in the human heart. It's in yours. And that is what the Feast of Tabernacles is all about, isn't it? Because if you make it to the Feast of Tabernacles, if you make it to what the Feast represents the coming Kingdom of God, it's eternity. It's eternal life. It fills the hole, and nothing else will.

I was counseling a man 60. 60 years old. And he came across one of our booklets in prison. Well, not prison, jail, he said. He got thrown into jail doing things he shouldn't have done. But he was out a couple weeks, and he carried that book. He said, do you mind if I carry this book? And he said, no, we don't care. He said, well, I don't want to steal anything else.

But he knew there was something more to life. He never knew this way of life for 60 years. Had a hard life, as we talked about it. But he sees a different path. Steve talked about it earlier. We know the path. Solomon knew the path. He's trying to help us, or God inspiring to help us, find that path so that we don't end up and go, what's this all worth?

Is life really worth it? What is the meaning of life? Do you understand? Do you know it? You might say, yes, I understand, but is that really good enough for God? I don't think so. I think he wants us to be able to explain it to other people.

Yes, we must be able to help other people, teach other people. I never knew how important that was, until I get a call at two in the morning, and the guy's got a gun in his mouth, and just happened to see our phone number somewhere. Call your local pastor. But the young man, he was an older man, had a gun in his mouth. He said, you know, I've lived this life. He was in his sixties at the time. He goes, it's all, nothing's been worth anything. All I've had is trouble.

And he said, it's all my fault, because 40 years ago, I found the way. And I attended a church, and it was away. And I quit. When I came there, I saw all the old booklets from 40 years ago. He had had. And he said, I just need to get this out of my head and go on and go to the lake of fire.

I said, well, I don't even know you. You don't know me. I said, why don't you give me breakfast? Let's meet for breakfast. We'll have it. We'll talk. Then if you want to go shoot yourself, we go ahead and do it. But at least give me a chance to talk to you. And we met for breakfast. We talked and started a five-year relationship. And he did die of a heart attack. He left me his ashes. And whatever else he had, and I sent him to his family.

But my last moments with him in the hospital was, he said, pray for me again.

I did. He said, let me pray for myself. I'll let you hear it. So he did. It was really great. So he's in God's hands. But thankfully, the last five years of his life, even though he was in and out of hospitals, terribly sick, bad situation, hard man, hard man to love because he'd lived such a life that he was mad at everything, mad at everybody. Yet, you know, God brings those people into our lives, and we can't give up on him. And Mary knows I came home many times from visiting him almost every week for five years. And I say, I'm not going back. I'm not going back. I can't take that. You don't care anything about me. You'll stay the afternoon. I said, I have other people see. They're more important than me. And they are just as important as you. God didn't call us to work with easy people. He didn't call us to be an example to easy people. You may have relatives that way. God gave us to be an example and to help. And to help us do that, he gave us such a great motivational success book to read from, to inspire us. And I'll tell you, I sure had to jump into that one quite a bit.

Let's go on as I finish the sermon. Verse 14. I know that whatever God does is final. Nothing can be added to or taken away from it. God's purpose is that people should fear Him. What is happening now has happened before, and what will happen in the future will happen before. Has happened before. Because God makes the same things happen over and over and over again. Chapter 4, verse 4. Verse 4. Solomon said, Then I observe that most people are motivated to success because they envy their neighbors. I need a Mercedes. I need a bigger house.

I need more hair.

But this too is meaningless. Oh, not talking about you, Gary, in case he hears this. Like, but he says, but this too is meaningless, like chasing the wind. Chapter 6, verse 9. Enjoy what you have rather than desiring what you don't have. Boy, I should have learned that a long time ago. Just dreaming about nice things is meaningless. Like chasing the wind. Chapter 7, verse 14. I love this. Enjoy prosperity while you can. But when hard times strike, realize that both come from God. He controls our life. Remember that nothing, nothing is certain in this life. Chapter 8, verse 15. He said, so I recommend having fun. When's the last time you had fun?

I've seen people in the church. I don't think they've ever had fun.

You want a donut? No, it's got a hole in it. At the Feast of Tabernacles, we are there for fun. We are there to learn. We are there to share. But we are there for fun. God makes it that way. We need to. So I recommend having fun because there's nothing better for people in the world than to eat. And I do at the feast. Matter of fact, I have to lose about 10 pounds before I get there. Drink. I've done my share of that. And it says, enjoy life. We should have a really, really big smile on our face all through the feast. This is what he wants. As a matter of fact, opening night in the Caribbean where I am usually, 16 last year, last year, I give the opening night message typically, and it's all about enjoying the feast, making sure that we enjoy it. And I usually bring my cards out in that opening night. And I talk about being too hot, too cold. The room's too cold. The room's too hot. Too many people. Too many. And I go through a whole list of things. And I said, guess what? I've named them all. There's no reason to talk about them again. Now let's go and have some fun. Let's go and enjoy this feast. We've got it out of our system. So let's go. That is what we should be doing. That the way that they will experience some happiness along with all the hard work God gives them under the sun. And then, he closes a book. In chapter 12, closes a book. Most of you remember what that verse 13 and 14 says. As he writes the ending to his book, he said, that's the whole story. Here is now my final conclusion. Fear God. Obey His commandments. For this is everyone's duty. God will judge us for everything we do, including every secret thing, whether good or bad. And you see, everything else is like chasing the wind.

So I want to leave you with what Solomon said, because it's a conclusion to these 12 incredible chapters. Slow down. Read them. Think about them. Meditate on them. Before the feast. During the feast. You will have a better feast.

But it's three simple things. Revere God. Not fear God. Revere God. Obey God. And finally, die in peace. Because you do this, we can all die in peace. Because we know the kingdom of God is just ahead.