All right, take your Bibles to Ecclesiastes chapter 6. Ecclesiastes. Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes. It's kind of stuck over there in the middle. I'm going to have to dig around to find it. Ecclesiastes chapter 6 and chapter 7. Now that doesn't mean I'm going to preach on both chapters, but I'm going to do a little bit in chapter 6 and a little bit in chapter 7. I really appreciate the opportunity to be here. on your pastor and his wife for a while and appreciate seeing them and look forward to some fellowship and good to see Brother Davidson, good to see Brother Jerry and good to meet y'all. So good to meet y'all tonight. I kind of have a, I don't know, a solemn message I guess you could say. I don't know if you've ever read through the book of Ecclesiastes. I think it was maybe 10 years ago, maybe 10, 11 years ago, we went verse by verse through the book of Ecclesiastes. Kind of a tough book to go verse by verse through. Solomon's kind of all over the place, and he's all over the place led by the Holy Spirit, so wasn't him messing up, but it's just really difficult to outline. At least through the first six chapters, predominantly he's really just trying every way possible to find what makes life worth living. And then kind of about six or seven, he seems to make a turn, even though he makes a few exits after chapter six, he seems to kind of turn towards giving us some advice about what really makes life worth living. Now, I don't know, I don't have any idea when Solomon got his spiritual act together. I don't have anything definitive from scripture that I can tell when he got right with God. I mean, you guys know he had some issues. He had 900 wives, so that kind of gives you some wives and some concubines, so we got some issues there. So I don't know when he got right. I have no idea. So it's very obvious that he wrote this book of the Bible when he wasn't right. Or either while he was getting right. Now what's good about the first six chapters is he says some things that we think but we'd never say. Because we're just like him. Might not have the 900 women. But we're just like him. Now, I'll just give you one thing, because obviously we got one night, and I'm not going to preach a few hours. I'm just going to preach a few minutes. Well, y'all can just decide if it's too long or too short. But I know one thing that he struggled with in the book of Ecclesiastes. There's at least three, maybe four, but I'll give you one of them. And I think we all struggle with it. And I think this one's kind of important about what his focus is tonight in these verses. is the providence of God. I mean, let's just be honest, we'd never say this, you ain't gonna testify this in a testimony meeting one night, that I just don't like God being God. Sometimes we don't. I remember the first time that I kind of dealt with this issue. It was when we were in Virginia. We were living in just south of Richmond, Virginia. And this couple in our church, Dave and Pam Call, had two precious little baby girls. Long story short, they had a terrible car accident. Twin baby girls are gone. Mom and dad's left. I can remember going into that house. I can remember going into the home. I can remember thinking of Romans 8.28 and the theological factual truth of 8.28 was not negated by the death of two baby girls, but it was hard to swallow. How does that fit into his plan? For all things work together for good. See, sometimes we think good in the Bible means ice cream. Good means it fits His plan. So one of the things we're going to wrestle with tonight is if we really want God's will. I mean, Jesus told us to pray it. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. And in heaven, there ain't no boardroom. God don't check with nobody and say, this is a good thing. He don't check with me when he messes around in my life. So you can go all through the scriptures and see all kind of people that had all kind of different lives and they all somehow fit into the providence of God. Now, I'm talking about the providence of God in like my little world. You know, sometimes that's one of the things that we forget that when God's doing stuff in my life, there's other people involved. See, we just see our little puzzle and the few pieces in our little puzzle. Otherwise, Paul would have been really ticked off that I'm preaching the gospel, starting churches, and you get me put in jail, and my back's lacerated, and I'm swollen, and I'm bleeding. But there was a jailer that needed to be saved. You see, the providence of God for you sometimes cross roads with a bigger plan. Do you want to be in it? Well, then you have to be open to prison. Because Paul, to get to that crossroads, had to go to jail. So you see, sometimes we're not going to like what God does, because they ain't going to like it. And it's okay. I could take you through a lot of Psalms. We're a lot of ticked-off Psalmists. They're upset with God and how he's doing it and how he's working it out. And they give us ideas on how we deal with that stuff. So what I want us to do tonight, with that kind of a little bit of a backdrop, understanding Solomon messed up a whole lot of his life, and at some point he gets right. And so in this book, we see this back and forth. And so six about verse 11, 12, and then the first 10 verses of seven is what we're gonna look at tonight. So in verse 11 and 12, I'm just going to kind of give you some things to think about, and then I'll give you some thoughts once we start in chapter 7, verse 1. And I believe 7, 1 down to verse 10 is connected to verse 11 and 12 of chapter 6 in the context of it, because he's kind of talking about what's better. How's the best way to look and go after life? What's the best way? What's man to do? What choices should he make? Decisions should he make? How does he do this? How does he navigate this thing in life? I mean, if you read some of these previous verses, you can tell he's just not satisfied. Now, remember, this is Solomon. It's got everything you could possibly want. I mean, he's got the big house, gated community, nice car, and a 401k slapped full. But he's empty. How'd that happen? Well, he's looking for the wrong stuff to find joy. Now, we all know that. But even when we start living for stuff, we start living for people. I can make any good thing a God thing, and that's a bad thing. I don't care if it's my wife. I don't care if it's my grandbabies, and I got three of them. I don't care if it's my health. I can make any good thing the God thing. It ain't gonna happen. Only God can do the God thing. Only God can satisfy soul. Souls don't get satisfied with full garages or full 401ks. God satisfies souls. So it doesn't matter what's in your garage. Doesn't matter what you're wearing. Doesn't matter how good you feel. You say, is that really Bible? Yeah, it's Bible. Here's the way Paul said it. I have learned. Didn't come with the earth package. I have learned that in whatsoever state I am in, I'm good, I'm content. Content means contained. I have everything I need. And in that text, he had just asked the church at Philippi to send him some money. If you've got everything you need, what are you asking for money for? In that same text, he told them, he says, even if you didn't send the money, I'm still good. So contentment comes from God, we know that, but that's got to be a whole lot more than a t-shirt you wear. Right? Or some Bible verse that's in your house on the bedroom wall. Because when God ends up and does something you don't like, and His will just messes up your will, You're going to have to figure out what you're going to do. So here's what he says in verse 11. Seeing there be many things that increase vanity, what is man the better? There's the contextual thought. So there's all kind of roads that leads to the same place. Empty. Vanity. Chase anything you want. Hear me. But God. And it's empty. I don't care if it's ministry. I don't care what good thing you're chasing. He's just telling us all kinds of roads lead to empty. Do you remember that woman at the well? Remember? She'd had several husbands. You know what Jesus said? You take a drink of me. And you'll never thirst again. That's not just a ticket to heaven. He was telling her, what you're looking for in him, what you're looking for in this money, what you're looking for in anything will never satisfy. But I will. I'll be like a well of water springing up all the time. Lots of roads lead to empty. And they're easy because they're right in front of us. It's easy. Because we're earthly. Look at three things in verse number 12. And I promise we'll get to chapter 7. I'll keep my eye on the clock. He asks us to ponder three things. Here's the first one I want you to ponder in verse 12. Because he's saying there's a lot of roads that lead to vanity. So what's man to do? For who knoweth what is good for man in this life? Here's the first thing. Here's a question you've got to answer. What is man to do, or how is he going to know what's good in this life? Well, we know the answer. Bible believers are raised in church, right? We know the answer. The Bible. Conduit to God. Spirit of God can take the Word of God and just transform my life. Well, I've got a question for you. How much of the Bible do you know? How much time you spend in the Bible? How much access you give God's Word into your life? What's it look like in the daily pattern of your life? Do you do God on the weekends or is it seven days a week? So the first question you gotta answer, do you really believe that God knows everything I need to know about life? Then there ain't nothing in your life that you'll know more about than Him. I was raised in a good church, godly home. Godly preachers come through all the time. I heard it my whole life that that book had life. You think I ever read that book? No, do you think I knew a lot about cars? Yes, sir. I could build a motor. And I did. I'd pursue it, go after it, spend money for it, save up money for it, get grease up my elbows, build an engine, pursue it. I knew every baton average of the Yankees. All the percentages. Listen, your life tells God what you treasure. Solomon says, how is man to know how to navigate this life if this book, inspired and empowered by the Spirit of God, transforming your life? If that's not happening, you're Probably taking a bunch of bad exits like Solomon. I can't do life without constant infusions of God's word. I'm too dumb to do it. Don't care what I made in school. I don't care if I was good or bad. Any great spiritual growth is not like equated with how smart I am or how talented I am. No, how hungry I am, how thirsty I am. You can get as much of God as you want. Maybe you're like Solomon. I have absolutely botched most of my life. He's asking us to ask ourselves a question. Who knows? how I'm supposed to live. Well, it ain't me. It ain't the preacher man behind the pulpit with the tie on. It's this book and the Spirit of God transforming your life. And now let me just hang on that one for a minute. If you want to show up here every Sunday and have your pastor feed you, you need to start feeding yourself. You think he's got all the answers? No, he ain't got no more than I got. Every day, I'm searching. Every day, I'm pondering. Every day, I'm praying. Every day, I'm confessing. Why? Because I'm not enough, but He is. How hungry are you for God to give you the right way to live your life? Solomon's posing the question. Then who knows? Now, Solomon was the wisest man, right, apparently. Well, he's asking us, who knows? Well, if he don't. So second question, or second thought to ponder. All the days of his vain life, which he spendeth as a shadow. That's a statement that needs to be believed. Now, believed from the standpoint of our life is, short. Now anybody in the room that's got some time under their belt, I'll be 65 in September. So you know it's a little different now. When I first started preaching I was 19 and the first church I pastored was over in Liberty, South Carolina. It was Emanuel Baptist Church over in Liberty. Took that church in, I don't remember, 1979, November of 79. When I look back from 79 to 2024, it seems like a blip on the radar. Sunday night after church, usually Sunday nights after church, we go to my daughter's house. Brittany, she still lives in the town the church is at. My daughter, Charity, lives in Easley, maybe, I don't know, 10 minutes away or whatever. But when we can on Sunday nights, we all get together. And just sometimes I look at them and I think, where in the world You better believe that. Every husband in this room, every wife in this room, every mom, every dad, every neighbor, every coworker, you need to understand something, clock's ticking. Pastor mentioned earlier, we know what's going on in Israel. I shouldn't need nothing going on in Israel to make me remember that Jesus could come today. So if there's anything in my life that I need to get straightened out, you don't talk about tomorrow. You fix it tonight. Why? Because the clock's ticking. What'd Jesus say? Night's coming. when no man can work. He will tell us in nine, you need to find something to do. You need to find something to do with your hands. Solomon understood. Solomon understood. I've wasted so many years. That's why in chapter 11 and chapter 12, he talks to the young so much. It doesn't matter if you're 15, 55, or 85. I don't have no time to waste. One of the biggest things I struggle with some now at 65, I'm just lazy. And I've always been a little lazy. But it just seems like you can just kind of fall back on I'm old or whatever. I'm getting old or whatever. We don't have time to stop impacting. You ain't got time to mess with that because the clock's ticking. There's neighbors that need to see your light, taste the salt of your life. You got kids in your world. Some of them might be your own, your grandkids or whatever, nephews or neighbor's kids or whatever, or just kids you go to church with. They need to see people on fire for God. Living a victorious life. I'm not talking about perfect life. I'm not talking about in cloud 9 24 7 I'm just talking about a man or a woman that knows the clock is ticking And I don't have time to say I'll do it tomorrow. I'll work on this next week Third thing in verse 12. For who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun? Part of that question in verse 12 is almost like Solomon saying, what happens after we die anyway? You got to realize they didn't have the gospel. They didn't have everything we got. You won't see much talked about a few places in the Old Testament. They didn't have the same confidence. We do. We got the whole thing, right? You know, we got both testaments. We got the whole story. But a lot of what he's asking also is when I'm gone, what will I leave? So the third thing, there's some decisions you got to make about how you're living now because you're going to leave something. You're going to leave something. And I ain't talking about money. I hope I got a little bit to leave my girls. I don't know. I ain't got much. I might leave them a bill. Who knows? I have no idea what it's going to look like. I mean, if you go in my office and my girls know me and people that know me, I got a team I pull for in my office. Brother Davidson's probably been in my office. I got North Carolina Tar Heel basketballs up where they've won the national championship. I like that. That's my team. Whatever. I like Hot Wheels. I know that sounds crazy for a 65-year-old man, but whatever. And I got Hot Wheels all over my office. Kids like them. And I'll give some of the kids out or whatever. But I hope when I'm dead and gone, a few people remember a few more things about me besides a ball team I pulled for. Right? That's what he's pondering. I want my girls. You see, my girls live with me. They know me. They know the good and the bad and the ugly of me. People have the wrong impression of me sometimes. And I'm not saying I'm a, you know, lawless, unholy, but I'm just saying people sometimes because they've seen me in the peripheral be ministry or whatever, they don't know the mess that's gone on in my life. That God's blessed me and helped me and turned a mess into a ministry and a message. But they really know, and I want them to know that their dad was a Jesus man. I'm not defined by this thing I do, 30 minutes here and 45 minutes there. I can fake that. Who can't preach a 45-minute message and make it sound pretty good, look pretty good, whatever? I'm talking about 24-7, 365, living with people in the mess of life and messing up and confessing it and getting forgiveness and moving forward. I want people to know I was real. I want all these salt, right, and light. Not some facade of like perfect. I had everything just all neatly pressed in my life. No. Just a real man struggling to love God. Struggling to please Him. Struggling to surrender to His will when He didn't like it. What are you going to leave? That's way more than a gun you can leave. Way more than money you can leave. Now my grandpa loved Jesus. My daddy loved Jesus. So let's look at chapter 7. Chapter 7, beginning in verse 1, he's going to begin to tell us how we maybe answer some of this stuff in verse 12. And so the first thing I want to share with you tonight, these will be my three little takeaways from this context of scripture here. Verse 1, he says, a good name is better than precious ointment. Some of these things sound a little odd. And the day of death. than the day of one's birth. Dying day is better than birthday. That don't sound odd. It just sounds odd. Everybody at somebody's birth is excited and celebrating. They might be crying with happy tears. You go to a funeral, it's sad. People are leaving. So the first thing that he reminds us of, and it kind of reflects back on what he just said, how do I navigate this path of life? And we know that God's got to do it through His Word and through His Spirit. How do I live understanding that every day I'm getting closer to my last day? I'm not getting closer to the beginning, I'm getting closer to the end. And I'm closer than I was. So how do I leave something? He tells us in verse one. Here's what you purpose to do. Leave a good name. You know what good name means? It means a good life. Anytime you see, like you say, bless the Lord's name. When the word name is mentioned, it's his character. It's who he is. Listen to me, not what he does, who he is. People know who you are. He was a godly man. He was a godly woman. So he's telling us that this good name. So that's my first little thought. I need to make a plan on. I need to intentionally purpose on not making a lot of money. If that happens, hallelujah. If I live in this or live in that, whatever. But I wanna make it my purposed plan to leave a good name. That ain't gonna happen by accident. A lot of stuff in life can happen by accident, but not that. If you don't plan on that, the flesh will get involved. The world will get involved. The devil is against it every day of your life, just like a lion seeking whom he may devour. You gotta plan on. Leaving a good name. Are you going to do it perfect? No. You're going to fall. And then you're going to fall. And then when you think you kind of got it worked out, guess what? You're going to fall again. Just get back up. Confess where you fail. Get it fixed. Do what you need to do on it. And move on. Why? Because it's all covered in the blood. Your father's ready to go every day. Every day. Jeremiah says he's new every morning. Those mercies new every morning. And that verse in Lamentations 3 was after about 18 verses of complaining. Yeah, because he didn't like what God was doing. And he didn't like the way he was doing it. But he knew that God would use him. Hey, a good name, he tells us, is better than precious ointment. Precious ointment, the word precious there means it's something that's rare. So in other words, if you could think in their day, he's trying to make them think of something that would be like an equivalent to what he was saying, like something that would be very rare, very costly, something you'd protect, something that you'd lock up in a box or whatever, you know. He's just saying whatever you can think of that's very costly, this precious ointment, good names better. If you can't ever attain this, life will go on. Life will go on. Go for this. Go for a good name. Treasure a good name. Protect a good name. A good name. The day of death than the day of one's birth. That simply means my finish date is more important than my start date. When everybody looked at me when I was a baby, I'm assuming I was there, but I wasn't there, right? I don't remember it. Oh, he's just a pretty. I bet he's gonna do this or that, whatever. It's like that thing, you know, they say, sometimes preachers talk about the funeral, you know, you got the date, somebody was born, mine was 59, September 20, 59, whatever death day is, and they say the important thing is the dash. Well, that's kind of what this verse, I'm writing my story. You writing yours. Plan on leaving good steps. Leave good steps. Are you going to make exits? Are you going to make bad decisions? Yes. I ain't selling perfection. I ain't done it. I can't. That's why I cling to the cross. That's why I cling to Jesus. That's why I thank God for mercy and grace. Mercy means I can't get what I deserve, and grace means I get a bunch of stuff I don't deserve. It's just amazing. So I want to confess my sin and move on. But it's purposed. It's planned. You've got to make it important that you want to leave a good name. Now listen, not a good name in the sense of I want people bragging on me. I just want people to know, in my sphere of influence, to think of Christ. Paul, and I don't know anybody that like, I mean almost like a few days after he gets up off the whatever, we could say the altar there on the Damascus Road and he got saved, you know, he's told he's going to suffer many things for the sake of Christ. Ananias tells him up front, on the front end. It's almost like Peter, when you got the little conversation there in John 21, where he's kind of getting things right, you know, Jesus kind of, you know, honing in on some of the issues that he had, letting him know, you know, I'm not done with you, you made a big mistake, it was public, that's okay, we're gonna move on, I'm gonna use you, it's gonna be great. But then he tells him, you're gonna die. You're gonna be crucified. And for 30 years, Peter followed Jesus and was crucified. I don't necessarily want to know my future. Right? Especially if it's that. You know, that might want me to take a detour. Right? Paul says, whether by life or by death, I just want you magnified. How important is it to me to be a godly man, to be a holy man, to be a Jesus man? He means so much to me. There is no sacrifice too great. There's nothing he can put me through that I won't push back. He's just telling us in verse number one, make it a purpose in your heart. to leave a good name. Now, let me just say this. I've said a little bit, but let me just say this. Maybe you're reflecting on your life and say, well, the biggest part of my life has been a mess up to this point. It's all right. That's yesterday. That's yesterday. God don't deal in yesterdays. I heard one of the best things I was preaching somewhere, I forget where it was, Kannapolis or wherever, last year. And they had this group of men came through and this guy was up there and he was like 37, 36, 37 years old. And he was talking about his life of sin and the stuff that happened. He lost his wife and he lost his children. He didn't know if he'd ever get his wife back or his children back. But then he made that statement. I thought, man, what a wonderful statement. The fact is that I can start my life from here. And I can go far. I can't fix all that. If God brings some of my family back, great. If not, then... I can just say that's my past, but I can let God deal with my future. So just plan. Every day. Can I just tell you that? There ain't no knockout punch to my flesh. It's always just hanging around. I don't know what you call it, old man, old nature, whatever. There's debate about that. There's something in there. There's something in there fighting against spirit. So it's an everyday thing. I die daily. So again, purpose to leave a good name. Verse number two, and I gotta hurry. Verse number two. It is better to go to the house of mourning, or crying, or weeping, than to go to the house of feasting. For that, he's talking about the house of mourning, that is the end of all men, death. And the living will lay it to his heart. So the verse sounds like it's about death, but it's really about life. Here's a second thought. First, I want a purpose. to live a life that leaves a good name. Secondly, I want to live eternally. I don't live for here. I don't live for now. I don't live for the flesh. I want to live eternally. And what he's saying in verse number two simply is this. He's not telling us you need to go to funerals every day. And he's not telling us to stay away from birthday parties. I like birthday parties. There's bound to be cake there and ice cream. And I like both. You know what he's saying? He's just simply saying when death gets in the picture. I remember how I grappled with some things about the problems of God and those two little twin girls died. I remember getting back in the car with my wife, Wanda, and driving back to the house with my little girls, saying, how could I square this with the goodness of God? And we wept and we cried, and we felt like we did them no good. I don't remember saying anything to them but crying. But I pondered the importance of life as I view death. What he's saying in verse two is live in the eternal. Don't get caught up in the here and the now and forget why I'm here and why I'm living in the now. Otherwise, I'll enjoy my little life, have my little home, barbecue my little burgers, and do my little thing, and never think of my neighbors. Can I remind y'all tonight, you ain't driving your car. You ain't living in your house. And I don't care that you're making the payments on it either. I made the payments on mine too. You're living in his house. It's not even your breath in your body. And I'm not saying you need to be being goofy about eating. But you can eat Brussels sprouts and run four miles a day. But your breath is in his hand. That's all Bible. How are you using all that stuff? Verse 2 is telling me I need to be reminded that this life ain't about here and now. This life is about there. Thy will be done. Thy kingdom come. What am I doing? One of the things, sis, you might remember when we were down at Oakwood, and my wife was a stickler about cleaning the house. I mean, she'd just about sweep you out of the house. So she's about cleaning the house and all that kind of stuff. So we got this idea that we needed to be impacting the youth, the younger people at Oakwood in some way versus just the Sunday school class or whatever. So we started opening up our home every Monday night. I think we'd be in Oakwood about maybe a year. And so every Monday night, if you were a teenager, you know, you could get to the house at 7 o'clock. I didn't care if you went to volleyball and you're sweating and you're stunk. I don't care. Just come on to the house. We'll have some Debbie cakes. We'll talk about the Word and we'll share some stuff. And that's a little bit out of my wife's comfort zone. Mine, too. Mine, too. And they made a mess. And I don't remember, maybe a handful of them, I said, thank you every once in a while. But that ain't why I'm doing it. I ain't doing it for thank yous. Right? I'm a servant. I don't need thank yous. So every Monday night for I don't know how many years it got so big so many kids were coming that we had to move it to John and Liz Holmes house and went to other houses just because the kids were loving the time and the Word and they were growing. About 11 of them ended up in ministry, doing different things or whatever. John even let us use Chick-fil-A on Friday mornings. We'd go there at 7. The kids, they had to get themselves there. They'd be like 25, 30 kids. Now, they did come for the Chick-fil-A biscuit. We would get the Chick-fil-A biscuit. That could have been a little incentive. And then we'd talk about stuff and we'd pray before they went off to their various schools. How eternal are you living your life? Kids in your neighborhood, they won't come to church. Will they come to your house? Would they eat a hamburger at your house? First church I pastored was in Liberty, Emmanuel Baptist Church in Liberty from 79 to 89. That's when I went to Virginia, Richmond. So 79 to 89, I'm just knocking on doors one day, and I met this family, and they were coming to church at one time, but wasn't coming to church. They had three boys, Billy, Bennett, and Brian. Three boys, all B's. And so I got to talking to them. It was a rough situation. Won't go into details, but it was rough. And I felt sorry for them. And so I told one, I said, well, what do you think about us just inviting the boys over? Because their home life's terrible. It's terrible. I said, we'll invite them over. I'll go pick them up 8, 30, 9 o'clock on Saturday mornings. You fix sausage, gravy, and biscuits. You know, who wouldn't want that? And I'll play some ball. Through that, I got to lead all three of them to the Lord. It is 2024, and I still talk to those boys. Now, look, I ain't pinning nothing on me. I just want you to hear me. You got people. They live near you. They in your family, and they hungry, and they looking for something. They're looking for somebody that loves them. Not just invite them to church, invite them to their house. Oh yeah, I know that might get you out of your comfort zone, but I ain't living this life for me to be comfortable. I'm living this life to make sure I'm living my life eternal. Eternal. Isn't it great that Jesus, in the hours between resurrection and going back, I mean, I don't know if he went once or twice, I don't know all the details. It's kind of hard to figure all that stuff out. It gets confusing. Not that we've got to know anyway, but I like that kind of stuff. But whatever, Jesus and two on the Emmaus road. Jesus hung out with two struggling men. They were struggling with what happened and who he was and what was coming next. Even went to their house and please notice in the scripture they did not serve him. He served them. That don't even make sense. I don't even know where he knew the bowls were. But he served them. Same thing, John 21, Jesus on the shore, the men out there fishing. I don't think they were thinking about giving up ministry. I would just think they were waiting on Jesus and they liked fishing, so they went fishing. What's wrong with going fishing? But he cooked. Not just spiritual need. My boys is hungry. I'm not just going to teach them again that their spiritual work is not about like fish and prowess. Their spiritual work will be done through me. So it's not about the mouthy Peter or Dalton Thomas. It's Christ in them. But he was reminding them, I'm invested in y'all. How are you living for the eternal? And I'm gonna ask you what you do in church. That's a weekend job. I ain't asking you what you do in church. I hope you do stuff in church. But I ain't punching no clock. Well, I've done my Jesus thing. Did them both times today. I'm coming back Wednesday. What do you do Monday? You say, well, I got a job. Okay. You got a job. Figure out how to incorporate your job into your ministry. Because you've got a ministry too. Jesus said, as I've been sent, so send I you. That's not to those 12. That's not to preachers. That's to believers. Verse 2 is reminding me, I need stuff to remind me to live eternal. And I will hurry, I promise. From 3 to 10, I want to give you just a few things to think about. And I won't spend as much time through here, but let's look at verse 3. Sorrow is better than laughter, for by the sadness of the countenance... And that just simply means trials in life. Stuff happens. The heart is made better. Are you willing to grow? Are you willing to grow? Are you willing to get better spiritually? Well, getting better spiritually sometimes, it's going to be a little difficult road. God ain't going to always say, yeah, sure, you want that? You want all the candy? Eat that ice cream. Have another one. Get another scoop. And every once in a while, it's going to be bitter. Every once in a while, it's going to be a trial. I need trials. I need trials to remind me who I am, who He is, where I'm at, where I'm going. I need all that. So verse three just reminded me, do I wanna grow my faith? Growing your faith has growing pains. Ask Paul, ask Daniel, ask any believer. Look at verse number four. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth. Do you want wisdom? Wisdom comes from obeying God's plan. You learn how to navigate life Wisdom is not learned or earned. It's given as you obey Can I just tell you We was in tabernacle. We learned a lot of theology. We you know put all that stuff down on paper or whatever Great. It's in your head wonderful, but when it gets in your feet And you start learning that what was in the book, the Bible, that you believed and now you're obeying in life, guess what? It's exactly what God said he would do. He's been faithful. As you walk, you learn his wisdom. You learn it what looks like a mess, ain't no mess. It's the plan. Said, well, what's the plan? I don't know. Well, who does? He does. So you just gonna trust him? Mm-hmm. What's my options? You remember Peter, when everybody just went, pfft, in John 6? Everybody just went, pfft. And Jesus looked at them and said, will you also go away? What did Peter say? To whom shall we go? He hadn't learned everything yet, but he learned one thing. I don't know where we're going, but I'm going to hang out with you. Wisdom, you learn to navigate your life as you obey Him. Look at the next thing. This will be in verses 5 and 6. It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise than for a man to hear the song of fools. And then he kind of illustrates it. For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool. This also is vanity. Verse 6, it's just one of those odd verses. It just illustrates the foolishness of just having to have happy stuff all the time. You know what the third thing is? You've got to like being rebuked. You know what the Bible says in Proverbs, fateful wounds of an enemy, of a friend. I need people in my face every once in a while, sweet and kind and nice, saying, God, you're wrong. Are you open to that? Are you open to rebuke? If you want to navigate your life, That's my third point, learning life, if I didn't give you that one, from three to ten, learning life. So five and six, I've got to listen to rebukes. Look at verses seven through nine. Surely oppression maketh a wise man mad, and a gift destroyeth the heart. That seems to be a rebuke about oppressing people, and maybe the people he's writing to had been oppressed, but I hate to say it, if they'd been oppressed, he was the king, so I guess he was the one doing the oppressing. Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof, and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit. Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry, for anger resteth in the bosom of fools. Are you willing to be patient and trusting of God? I remember years later, that couple, David and Pam Cole, They came to us one time, and this was years later. They told us how much we appreciated our help. Y'all, all I did was go over there and cry with them. I could not get Romans 8, 28 out of my mouth. Never came out. No, it's true. But I couldn't get it out. I just cried with them. But God helped them. He said, don't be hasty. Boy, how many knee-jerk reactions have I had in my life? Because I just didn't like what God was doing. So I'm just going to do my own thing. I'm going to wing it. I'm just going to tell you, don't be winging nothing. You'll make a mess of your life. The steps of a good man, not the months, not the years, the steps See, our problem is we think we got it every once in a while. I got this spiritual thing down pat. I'm growing. I'm getting holy. I got it. Mm-mm. Steps. Steps of a good man. Psalms, thy word is a lamp. A lamp for what? Flashlight for the? No, no, no. Lamp. Step at a time. Steps. Can we patiently sometimes just be silent? If you're going to be complaining about your situation, complain to God. You see, if I'm having a real bad spiritual moment in life and I don't like the providence of God, which he was struggling with, and I open my mouth, oh, Bob down at the workplace, no, Bob don't know Jesus, and he's hearing me complain about life, and I might not ever mention God's name, but we all know who we're mad at, boy, he gets a bad perspective of who? My God, not me. I'm a nobody in God's story, but I get to be an ambassador of God. So sometimes you're gonna be feeling bad, but duct tape your mouth. Then you go home and you get in private and you throw all the complaints you want to God. He can take it. He already knows your heart and he'll help you. Help you. I don't know if you've ever read Psalm 88. I feel like I'm preaching too long. Psalm 88. Honestly, there ain't nothing good in it. It's just a big complaint. Starts out dark, ends dark. Most psalmists at some point in their psalms would kind of like at some point kind of have like a turning point. And that's where I was and here's what you need to do and you'll get better. There ain't none of that in that. It's just dark. But all through that thing, he prays. He prays. He's not going to quit talking to God. That's patient trust. I don't like what you're doing. I don't want it. It's not the right time. I'm sick of it. I don't know where you're at. I'm praying, but you ain't listening. But I'm going to keep on talking to you. And I'll stay quiet at work, because I don't want them to see what's in my heart. but I know you can hold it and you can deal with it. Can you be patient and just give God time? Can you just trust Him? Sometimes those are, I hated to hear them words sometimes. Just trust Him. But trust Him. And the last thing is in verse 10. Verse 10. It says, for wisdom is a defense. No, verse 10, say not thou what is the cause that the former days were better than these. For thou does not inquire wisely concerning this. He said, don't live in yesterday. Live where? Today. You know why today is so important? Because if I hang out in yesterday, which is over and gone and done, I miss the people that's living in my life right smack in my present. Right? So don't live in yesterday. Live in today. Hey, if God's speaking to your heart, heads bowed, eyes closed. If somebody wants to play something on the piano, it doesn't make no difference to me. You don't have to. But if God's speaking to your heart, Would you come? Some have already come. If you need to come, altar's open. Just mind the Spirit of God. He's talking to you tonight. Just do what the Lord wants you to do. And we can do it in the quiet. I appreciate you coming to the piano. you