Ecclesiastes, Part 2

Last week, same time, same place, we went into the book of Ecclesiastes. I gave an outline last time of the actual author of it, the writer of Ecclesiastes, because he was the richest, wisest, and probably on the earth at that time, the most powerful man. Probably the richest and wisest other than the Messiah has ever walked on earth.

And as I brought out last week, we went into a little bit of his history, so you could understand why the book is so important, why I asked you to read Ecclesiastes, and how I also described it as, you might just call it a self-help book. Many of us have gotten self-help books by motivating motivational speakers, by powers of the industry, business, and so forth, written many books, many bestsellers.

Well, wisest and richest man that ever lived, wrote this one. It's called Ecclesiastes. And he wrote this at the end of his life, as we went through last week. And we discussed how much there is for us to gain, and how rich so many of those statements, those words, those verses are. And I referenced it as nuggets of gold, because you can pull little nuggets out of Ecclesiastes.

And they are very famous. They've stayed with people for the last 3,000 years. Some of those phrases and words you hear, even on the news, or even that people reference them, not even knowing that they came from the book of Ecclesiastes, or from our writer Solomon. One of the things that I want to look at is, one of the reasons, not only because of the richness of the words, but because of how, just like we talked about, just like Maurice talked about earlier. Boy, does this world ever need discernment? That's why I bring this up. That's the one thing about this book of Ecclesiastes.

It helps you to have discernment in making decisions between right and wrong, between good and bad, between evil and good, between profane and the holy. And that's what we are living our life for. That's why we study the Bible, so that we can walk this earth as Jesus Christ walked this earth, so that we can make some of those same right decisions where the wrong ones can be deadly in today's world. Very sad, and you know that father of that little girl that got shot in the head by some angry person, twenty-something, twenty-one years, or twenty-five, or something, I read, because he felt this guy disrespected him in a car.

And it cost him, it cost the other guy his daughter's life, because he did not let it go. Wisdom! We all want it, right? And it's hard to have discernment without having wisdom. The two go together. I feel like I have gained, as we were writing here this morning, Mary and I were talking, and boy, one of the best ways that I have made wise decisions is because of my experiences.

You have the same way. When you experience something in life, it helps you make better decisions later on. Discernment becomes a little bit easier for each and every one of us. That's why you have in the Scriptures, that the Scriptures tell us sometimes for the youth to turn to the hoary head. The gray hair, because it usually means experience.

It usually means that they can really help us with a lot of wisdom. But you remember what James, in the book of James, this incredible book reminds me even of Ecclesiastes, the gold nuggets are scattered out all through the book of James. And he said, if any of you lack wisdom, what? Ask of God, he says. And he says then that God will give it to all liberally. He will probably give you more wisdom than you ever dreamed of. But how many times do we ask God for wisdom?

My day-to-day decisions, I try to always... When I talk about the decisions I have to make, talk about what's going on in my life, talk about what's going on in the churches, it's hard for me not to ask for wisdom because I'm talking to God about you. I'm talking to God about various people in the churches, and I'm praying, and doing all these things. And I have to actually say, God, why do I not have all the answers?

Help me! Give me wisdom! And I'm thankful that he has in many ways and many times. But here is a book, Ecclesiastes, that Solomon wrote in the last few years of his life, according to historians. And he wrote this book as he reflected back on his walk with God and his walk without God, because he had both.

All of us, we want to go through life without a lot of hassles, a lot of problems and trials, problems. And I would have to say at least half or three-quarters of the problems or trials that I've gone through are of my own making. I don't know about you, maybe it's not the same, but I look back and go, if I had made a better decision, if I'd have had better discernment, probably wouldn't have had to go down that road.

And so, it's interesting that when I was 20, my father was an idiot. When I got to be 40, he was a genius. And he saw one that I wanted to tap his mind. And if he was alive today, I would be calling him every other day. But he's not. Like Peter and I talked about, and some of you talked about last week, as I mentioned, some of the self-help books. By millionaires and billionaires who write these success books that he read so many that I read. Well, this book of Ecclesiastes is not written by a millionaire.

It's not written by a billionaire. It's written by probably the only trillionaire that ever lived on the face of the earth. And he was the wisest trillionaire, if there was another one that ever existed. So I want to go in and look at his words today in chapter 2 and chapter 3, as we will hit some of these highlights. And I actually want to talk about the nuggets.

Because next week, we're going to go through chapter 4 and 5, and it's going to be an interactive service. Because I'm going to ask you to read this week, chapter 4 and chapter 5, and pull out your nuggets. The nuggets of reading, because they are vast. In chapters 4 and 5, and even 6 and 7. After 4 and 5, we will actually go to chapter 12 to wrap up. Because I wanted you to, perhaps you've never gone through Ecclesiastes before, and realize that these are the words that God preserved for us to help us live a successful life, but live one that is fulfilled.

Because this man tried everything. Most of you out there, like me, you've tried different things that you thought would bring total happiness to your life. And then you would find out that after you had it, it didn't necessarily make you happy. Our happiness was very short-lived. Because there is a difference, as one friend of mine gave a sermon one time. And there's a difference between joy and happiness. Because happiness is usually a very short amount of time.

Comes in short, small segments. I will be very happy this evening when the Tennessee volunteers beat the Alabama Crimson Tide. Now, that's very unlikely, using any discernment on my part. I will be happy, but tomorrow it will be a different thing. That's happiness. Joy is a state of mind. It is a state of being. And you've met those people that just seem to be...

They enjoy life, even in the bad times. And that's what this book is about. It has helped me center a lot of things in the last few weeks in my life since studying it. Because I've read it before, read it more than once. But I never really stopped and broke it all down and said, Oh, that's a nugget I can use.

And I made a mark in my Bible here. So when I have time, or just flipping through the Bible on a plane, and I come across Ecclesiastes, I'm going to stop on that little pin mark I made. So that I can grab on to that nugget that I once explored and found that could be very valuable for me. So I hope you will find the same thing here today. So let's dig, as I give the reference of gold, let's dig into chapters 2 and chapters 3. And let's mine some of the valuable gold from this unique book called Ecclesiastes. So chapter 2, today I will be reading from the New Living Translation the entire time, I think.

I found that it helps to explain some of the verses. As I said last week, it's a great advantage to you if you have, like the Old King James, or the New King James, or you have another one like the New Living or the Good News Translation, or one of these, that breaks some of these down to give you a wider perspective on the verses. So here we go. This is what this trillionaire and very wise man, looking back on life as he knows he's about to die, and wants to leave this behind to anyone who really wants discernment because he paid the price, both figuratively and literally, to find out what true happiness, joy, and what it all means when you look back on life.

So, chapter 2, verse 1. Since I said to myself, come on, let's try pleasure. Because he wanted to find out the meaning of life. No. What's going to make me truly happy? What's going to make my life fulfilled? And so he said, come on, let's try pleasure. Let's look for the good things in life. But I found that this too was meaningless or vanity. So I said, laughter is silly.

What good does it do to seek pleasure? Interesting thoughts. But then something else he says here. He says, after much thought, and I'm sure he did think, because some of his writings and some of his understanding, he had a unique insight into not only mechanical things, but the things of God, how birds flew, how grass grew, how... I mean, just so many things that Solomon had an understanding that the world had never seen before. But here he was after he had this amazing understanding, saying, let me try this thing.

Just like we have all tried things. Except he was able to do it because he had so much money, he did it everything he did with custom. So he said in verse 3, after much thought, I decided to cheer myself with wine. I'm going to cheer myself with wine.

And you must remember Ecclesiastes 9 and 10 said what? Remember those words? I was given to that many times. Solomon did not do anything halfway. Remember what he said? Ecclesiastes 9 verse 10. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might. That's probably more Stan Brahma than me. So think about it. He said, well, you know, I see people having a good time and wine.

You know, I see that they're laughing because even the Scriptures say that wine makes the heart marry. But of course, even Paul told Timothy, because he had a little stomach problem, to try a little wine. Didn't say a lot. A little. But thinking about Solomon, you know, he did it up big. He didn't do anything small.

Can you imagine how much time he spent? He could have the best wine. He could have the best wine in the entire world brought to him. He could drink it and drink and drink and drink and drink. And knowing Solomon's character, he did. After many hangovers and waking up very cotton mouthed in the morning because of all the wines, he came to another conclusion as we read about here. And while still seeking wisdom, I clutched at what? Foolishness. You know, we go by a place even this afternoon, if you walked by a restaurant or a bar or one of these things, you would see the ballgames on and you would see people, ahhhh, yeah, drinking, ahhhh!

That's what he did. And so he decided, well, boy, I'll just, I'll go down that path. See, he did it so people could read and they didn't have to do that because he said, I clutched at foolishness. In this way, I tried to experience the only happiness most people find during their brief life in this world. Hmm.

Then he said, in verse 4, I also tried to find meaning by building huge homes for myself and by planting beautiful vineyards. Yes, his home took 13 years to build. Awesome home. Historians actually said that most people that entered the house would actually get lost. There were so many rooms and so many chambers and through the house, but he had more than one house. But he built those going, wow, this is beautiful. I'm going to love living in this home. It's going to make me feel complete. It's going to bring me happiness. I'll be in a constant state of joy just to be in this house. So let's build vineyards because I really do like this stuff. And so this way, I don't have to go anywhere, just go in my backyard. I want. I want.

Instead, I made gardens and parks, filling them with all kinds of fruit trees. Boy, that'd be nice. I built reservoirs to collect the water to irrigate my many flourishing groves. Probably had the first infinity pool anybody had ever seen.

Just great to look at. It's hard to beat when you go out to the ocean, that infinity pool we have for free, that we can look at. It's a beautiful thing to look at.

Construction projects, can you imagine everything? Because he had all the money he wanted, and he had all the workers you could want. So he could build anything. Can you imagine what those gardens look like?

Impressive. We see these multi-million dollar estates lining the water in Biscayne Bay and all these various places.

They would just be like a little trashy heap to him.

There were millions, and they thought his house was worth billions, billions of dollars. Houses.

He kept looking. Obviously they didn't do it because he kept looking. As many of us, we sometimes thought, if I get this job, I'll make my life. I'll be so happy. Wait a minute, I get this mate. And you know, that's going to change my entire life. Or even as little as, boy, if I was able to buy a set of clothes, I'm going to look so sharp that it's going to make me happy. This is what Solomon went through.

And then he said in verse 7, I bought slaves, both of men and women, and others were born into my household. He had this throne for 40 years. He had this power, this money for 40 years. So he even bought slaves.

And able to have those slaves have more slaves.

Can you imagine?

Cooks. He may have heard, wow, in Persia over there, they have this incredible woman who can just cook these ingredients. Incredible foods.

Go buy her for me. I'm going to eat that food the rest of my life.

Easy to do.

Butlers. People who waited on him. Housekeepers. Tasters. Every king had a taster that tasted all of this food. And had a drink before he would drink to make sure in case he was not, in case he was trying to be poisoned by anyone.

Can't say that's a job I would want to fill out an application for. You just don't see that. But can you imagine? What would you, if you could just hire people, because obviously he had hundreds, if not thousands of people, just waiting personally on him. Have you ever thought about that?

What would you do? What would you have done? You know, I asked Mary that the other day.

I was yesterday, before, whatever I was asking. You know, if you had trillion dollars and nothing was... She said, well, I think I would have a masseuse. I could just get a massage any time I wanted it.

She didn't look at me and say that.

I said, I'll have to apply for the job.

But then she said, well, no. If I can hire anybody, I'd hire Stephanie to come over and cook me power food.

Superfood, all the time. I could have what I wanted. When I wanted... He could! He got anybody, anytime. He could afford anything. And my wife goes, what are you doing with this? Why are you doing this? Why are you carrying this?

Somebody know what this is? Oh, yes! And boy, does it feel good. You know, I would hire a back scratcher. I love to have my back scratched. And sometimes I just do it, just walk around the house doing it. It would feel so good. It would be great if I didn't have to pick it up and say, somebody, scratch my back. And then we'd have three people run over. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. And Solomon went through anything he wanted.

It's what he's trying to tell us.

But I had to buy my own.

I'm going to have to do it myself. That's all right. Because it said after that, after we see what he had, he said, I also own large herds and flocks, more than any of the kings who had lived in Jerusalem or the area before me.

Well, wait a minute. Flocks. Well, we know because he actually pulled flocks of sheep, lamb, goats, and he had them sacrificed.

But, you see, fish was common. He had to see a Galilee. Even today, they had the Talapia, just like they had back then, when Jesus Christ told Peter to put his line over it. So he could have fish any time. It's pretty common. I mean, most of the people at that time, they didn't eat meat all the time or some type of meat product because they didn't have it. But, of course, in Israel and Judah at the time, they were flourishing. So chances are, they got fish. They could have lamb. They could have... Fresh lamb. Yes, fresh lamb, goat. Might even have some curry goat. If you wanted it, they could have it. I don't know about jerk chicken. I don't know if they figured out that good jerk chicken yet. But he could have it. Yeah, came somewhere.

But the one thing most people did not eat was beef. Cattle. They were very expensive. And it was only for the rich, or only for special times, like a feast, that you might eat this. But can you imagine his herds of cattle? Because he, like, had a Morton's... Morton's Steakhouse right in his own backyard. He could have any and all he wanted, as big a cut as he wanted. And I'm sure he ate it, as we will see just a little bit later. And can you imagine his... He would be the typical rancher. Can you imagine his horses? I know when we had cattle on our farm in Tennessee. We enjoyed raising... I enjoyed raising the cattle. And then you would have them bred through this bull, and then you would see the little calf, and you would see it grow up, and then you would take that great-looking cow, and then you would try to grow your herd so that the quality was superb. I can imagine him going out and watching. Because to me, there was nothing more beautiful than seeing out of that green grass in the spring, and seeing the black cows, bulls, little calves running around in the grass. I imagine he enjoyed that. He took great pride in it. It's been down here many times. I imagine his horse was something to see. Can you imagine his chariot? The richest man ever? The chariot he would have. And what pride he would have taken in that chariot.

Let's go to 2 Chronicles 9, if you will. 2 Chronicles 9. 2 Chronicles 9, verse 28. Well, go down to verse 25. Verse 25 said, Solomon had four thousand stalls for his horses and chariots, and he had twelve thousand horses. That's a lot of horses. A lot of horse power. And in verse 28 said, Solomon's horses were imported from Egypt and many other countries. So he went and got the best. He could afford the best. He wanted the best. He got the best.

Would you?

It's kind of like these guys today. There are millionaires that have eight-car garages, and they have a Lamborghini over here and this over here, because they can't afford it. It's the best transportation on the planet. What do you think Solomon's transportation was like? The best on the planet at the time. And this would all seem like something you do because you're the king. And God blessed him with wisdom and blessed him with wealth, right? But he also told him, look at me, turn to me, obey me.

That's why the kings were required to write out the book of the law when they were kings. And they were demanded to have it in front of them at all times so they could access it and read it. Solomon obviously forgot something. Can you go back with me to Deuteronomy 17? Deuteronomy 17, hundreds of years before Solomon was even ever thought about in most people's eyes, God said that you're going to want a king, and this king is going to do this and he's going to do that. And then he said, verse 16, the king, Deuteronomy 17, verse 16, must not build up a large stable of horses for himself, or send his people to Egypt to buy horses. The very thing God said, do not do, he did.

For the Lord has told you, you must not return to Egypt. He did not want them looking back. He wanted them to look forward. Isn't that amazing? The very words he said.

You kind of wonder about Solomon and discernment. He wrote this so that we could be wiser. We could learn from his experience. We could have greater discernment is the reason God preserved this book. And I believe Solomon knew why he was writing it. And yet, here was a book written for him, specifically for him, that he knew. But he did not do it. It's a good lesson for us, right? Will we do it?

You know, it's Charles Spurgeon once said, discernment is not only knowing the difference between right and wrong, it's knowing the difference between right and almost right.

That's what true discernment is. And I forget who said, some classic guy, I've written a book one time, says the first thing about discernment, the first rule, it's the first rule of holes. When you're in one, stop digging. That's discernment. When you're headed down the wrong path, stop. Don't continue down that road. And that's part of what God was trying to tell us here about the various things that we can know. Like you turn back to 1 Kings, if you will. 1 Kings, we'll be coming back to Ecclesiastes. 1 Kings 4. 1 Kings 4, and I'm, like I say, reading from the New Living Translation. 1 Kings 4. And verse 7, He said, Solomon also had 12 district governors who were over all Israel. They were responsible for providing food for the king's household. Each of them arranged provisions for one month of the years. And these are the name of the 12 governors. So he actually had 12 governors or rulers over 12 distinct areas over all of his kingdom. And so each month, that kingdom, that area, had to provide food for his household. It's interesting that two of those governors actually married the two daughters of Solomon.

But I want you to see here, as we look down 1 Kings 4 and go down to verse 22, I want you to see the daily requirements for Solomon's palace. Daily! This is what his people, his slaves, all of his friends, everything involved, all of his family, they ate daily. Not weekly, not monthly, daily! Daily were 150 bushels of choice flour and 300 bushels of veal. Also 10 oxen from the fat-fatting pens. Veal! They kept the veal up so they'd get fat, so they kept...that's 10 every day! And then 20 pasture-fed cattle, grass-fed beef, 20 of them every day!

Fortin's doesn't do that! Fleming's doesn't do that! Ruth Christ has never thought about that much in their little stores. Every day, 20 pasture-fed cattle, besides 100 sheep or goats, as well as deer, gazelle, roe deer, and choice poultry. He ate like no one else! Would have you? Would you have done that? Well, of course you would have! It was nothing!

How much is enough? If you had the money, would you eat like this every day? If you had the money, would you just say, well, I know we haven't been to Ruth Christ or Morton's in many years, especially since the ministry. But we would go there and it would cost about $200, about $100 a piece to eat. It was just something we just, you know, it was like...

He was eating like this every day. When is enough enough? That's the question. Am I going to be happy eating that good steak or that fresh grouper? Day after day after day?

Back to Ecclesiastes 2. Back to Ecclesiastes 2. It's in verse 8, I collected great sums of silver and gold. He was rich. Will you ever get enough? No. Will you ever get enough?

The treasures of many kings and provinces. And then he says, I hired wonderful singers, both men and women. So he wanted entertainment. He could have the best entertainment every day. And I'm sure he did for a while. Any of you who have ever gone when we were younger, I used to occasionally we'd go to a concert and you'd hear some singers singing. And you'd go to this and it's like, it didn't happen very often. But when they did, it was like, boy, that was great. Man, I wish I could hear that again.

Well, if you heard it the next day, guess what? And then the next day after that, and the next day after that, you'd be like, okay, I think I've heard enough. But see, Solomon could go, oh, no, bring me someone else. Bring me the best in. It's interesting, they just came out of the report that the richest one, the man who made the most money during the past year was Taylor Swift. Have you heard Taylor Swift? Some of you may not. Most people have heard Taylor Swift. Perhaps you've heard some of her songs. She made $318 million last year. She's 25 years old.

That's a lot of money. Okay. Solomon could have her come and sing every day. He could afford it. And so I'm sure he did everything was in mind. He brought everybody from around the world, comedians, jugglers, everything to entertaining himself.

But he didn't stop there because he found, wow, okay, I'm going to get tired of that. I need to know, what's going to fulfill me? And then it says here, I hired wonderful singers, both men and women, and had many beautiful concubines. Ah, that's it. That will make it. As a matter of fact, he said, what after that? I had everything a man could desire. That's what it says. So he had 700 wives and 300 concubines. Do you think he really, I mean, how many people do you know? I know maybe 500 people that can call by name. You think he even knew their names? But it wasn't about them, was it? It was about him. I had everything a man could desire. Think about it. The 300, do you think those 300 concubines were the same and they were around? And so when he first came into office, here this beautiful young 20-year-old and then 40 years later, she's 60 years old. I still be at a room? No. He kept 300 concubines. If another beautiful woman was around, bring her in. Ship that one out.

Because he could. But just think about it. He was king for 40 years. He had 700 wives, 300 concubines. That's a thousand, right? Over 40 years, you put that out, if he spent 2 1⁄2 weeks with each one, he wouldn't have gotten through the thousand. Think about it. How could he have gotten to know any of them? Two and a half weeks, each woman, okay, new one, two and a half weeks, new one, would have taken him 40 years and he wouldn't have gotten through all of them. But you see, at the time, having concubines, having a harem was a big deal. It was a sign of prestige. So it wasn't enough to have 100 wives and 100 concubines. No, I'm Solomon. And yet God told him, told his kings, don't do that. And so he just kept searching for love, didn't he? Because he didn't have love. He had lust. He didn't have love. Right? And what was his downfall? Exactly. Downfall is exactly what God told him. They will pull you away from me. And so the first thing he did was, one of the first marriages he had was to marry Egyptian, king's daughter, Pharaoh's daughter. And then built her a house, and then he built altars and houses for all of his 700 wives.

And they pulled him away. But he was, what you might say, politically correct before his day. And they took him away from God, as God told him to do it. Discernment. I think he'd do it over. He'd do it differently if he was to do it over. So let's go down to verse 9. Verse 8.

Right? It's short-lived. A reward for all my labors, but as I looked at everything I had worked so hard to accomplish, it was all so meaningless. Like chasing the wind. Like chasing the wind.

Discernment is required for a Christian. Wisdom is required for a Christian. Otherwise, I can guarantee you, you won't stay a Christian very long. Because this world is full of temptations. First Thessalonians 5.

We went through this earlier when we went through the Thessalonica, but read this from the New Living Translation. First Thessalonians 5, verse 21. It says, but test everything that is said. What is it saying? Discern what you're hearing. Hold on to what is good. You hear something good? You get something good? Hold on to it. Discern that it's good. Stay away from every kind of evil. Discernment. Discernment. It's going to pay off in the long run.

As... I'll start to wrap this up today.

There's something that's unique here. It is that God tried to work and help the children of Israel when they came out of Egypt to stay close to Him.

They didn't have this. They didn't have this. They didn't have this. We have this. This is a book of wisdom. This is a book of discernment. This is a book that is inspired by God to help us to live a happy, joyful, fulfilled life.

And it's interesting here that we come to the point, and I'd like you to go back to Numbers 15. Numbers 15 with me. Short little verse here. Numbers 15 and verse 37. Then the Lord said to Moses, Give the following instructions to the people of Israel. Throughout the generations to come, you must make tassels for the hems of your clothing and attach them with a blue cord. When you see the tassels, you will remember, and obey all the commands of the Lord, instead of following your own desires and defiling yourself, as you are prone to do. The tassels will help you remember that you must obey all my commandments and be holy to your God. Didn't work.

Tassels didn't work.

In Christianity today, does this work? Not unless you open it and use it.

This is a modern-day tassel.

He actually says that we need to put His law in our minds and in our hearts.

We're blessed enough to have it written down for us.

That's what we must do. So as I go on from here, back to Ecclesiastes 2, I want to give you my nugget for chapter 2. You may have a different nugget. This incredible nugget to me.

Because He did all these things. He walked down these incredible roads. And then He says in verse 24, So I decided there is nothing better than to enjoy food and drink and to find satisfaction in work. Then I realized that these pleasures are from the hand of God. To eat and to drink and to enjoy what you do.

Sounds a bit old-fashioned. Sounds a bit shallow. Because isn't that what most people do?

Yes, it is.

It isn't what's out there that brings happiness. Haven't you walked through a week where you have been very close to God?

And you know He's blessing you? And things just seem to go right. I've had times when I was close to God that things didn't go right.

But there was this feeling that I'm not going to worry about that. Right? Because God's in charge. I'm going to follow Him.

Will we do that? Will we do that? In verse 26, He says, God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy to those who please Him. Do we all want joy in our life? I do. I want to get up and enjoy life. Now there's going to be problems. Yes. I can either let those get me down or I can stay positive and not allow, as Cain did, to get a bad attitude. As I wrap this up today, I want to, as you can see behind me, many of you have heard the song. He grew up when I did. It was by the birds, written by a peach-seeker in the 1950s, late 1950s. And the birds recorded this song in about 1965, 66, if I remember right. And it is the only song ever to contain the words of God that hit number one in the United States on the billboards. Number one song. And Seeker actually took the words from Ecclesiastes, the old King James. He only added a few words at the very start where it was turn, turn, turn. And he added the very last line. The rest of it, he spread out Bibles of different translations. He didn't have that many different translations then. But he composed the song. And actually, you can see on the credits, it's actually Solomon is credited for the majority of the lines for the song.

And you may have read it many times, but I'd like you to hear it again. And I'd like you to look in your Bible. You can look up here because the words are going to come across.

His father was a great composer, but he never hit number one on the charts.

There is a season, turn, turn, turn, and they are tied to every purpose until the end. A time to be born, a time to die, a time to fend, a time to be, a time to kill, a time to heal, a time to have, a time to be, to everything. Turn, turn, turn, turn, there is a season, turn, turn, turn, and they are tied to every purpose until the end. A time to fill up, a time to break out, a time to dance, a time to boil, a time to cast the milestones, a time to gather stones together, to everything. Turn, turn, turn, turn, there is a season, turn, turn, turn, and they are tied to every purpose until the end. A time of love, a time of hate, a time of war, a time of peace, a time you may embrace, a time to re-hake out of everything.

Turn, turn, turn, turn, turn, and then we'll be moving fast. To everything, turn, turn, turn. There is a season, turn, turn, turn. And it's time to every curse, and to death. The time to gain, the time to lose. The time to rip, the time to stow. The time for help, the time for hate. The time for peace, I swear it's not too late.

The time for love, the time for peace. Most of you have heard that song. Many did not even realize it came from the Bible. It came from the words of Solomon. As a matter of fact, Pete Seeger felt so much when it became number one that because he added so little to it, the last line, turn, turn, turn, that he donated up to his death most of the money to church organizations because he said those weren't his words, and they came from the Bible. I bring that up because in chapter 3 of Ecclesiastes, in verse 11 it says, He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God's work from beginning to end. It's an interesting statement because he did. Eternity is in the heart, and that's what Solomon is bringing out. There's more to it than that. There's an eternity for us. We just can't see it all right now in this human life. God has eternity planned for each and every one of us. But in this short amount of time, this human life that we are living right now, if God wants us to be rich, we will be rich. But most of all, he wants us to be like him. That is the main key. He also found a great lesson here, that he gave Solomon so much that it pulled Solomon away from him. He's not going to make that mistake again with us. Remember what he said earlier? To eat and to drink and to enjoy your work. I want to leave you with the nugget in chapter 3. In verse 14, in the New Living Translation, because I think this is the nugget I get from this chapter, it says, God's purpose is that people should fear him. God's purpose for us is that we should fear him. And not fear, but fear, but also it can also mean revere. Hold in awe, God, and this book and his words. Because if discernment is what we want, the greatest discernment we can have on this earth is to use this daily. And not only read it, live it, and be. Be the example God wants us to be. So next week, we will go into chapter 4 and 5. I just ask that you mark those and read those in your Bible. Everyone hears why we'll have a different nugget. But I'd like to hear what that verse means to you. Because that's the meaning of discernment. To be able to take God's Word and to not only share it, but also to live it.