Stand Firm | Sean Fryer | Ecclesiastes 9-11

And after that happened, I actually had the opportunity to teach in our high school ministry. It was called Liquid at that time, and the Lord reminded me of this, and he reminds me every year at this time, don't take your loved ones for granted. If there's someone you need to tell you love them, do it now. And if there's a change needing to take place, change it now. Enjoy life in God's hands. Take in every moment, because you don't know when it's gonna be your last or someone else's. Good morning, church. Let's stand as we worship this morning together, to tell you guys in this very room this past week we've had 1500 students worshiping Jesus together, reading his word, getting from his Spirit, being saved by his grace, and this week, it's just gonna be a continuation of that, amen? Let's sing this out together and praise our Jesus. Amen, let's sing this out together. Praise our Jesus. ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ I live to high-five, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Marvelous, wonderful, counselor, Jesus, almighty God ♪ ♪ Prince of peace, king of kings, Jesus, you're marvelous ♪ ♪ Wonderful, counselor, Jesus, almighty God ♪

♪ Prince of peace, king of kings ♪ ♪ There is no one like you, God ♪ ♪ There is no one like you, God ♪ ♪ No one, there is no one like you, God ♪ ♪ There is no one like you, there's no one ♪ ♪ You're marvelous, wonderful, counselor, Jesus, almighty God ♪ ♪ Prince of peace, king of kings, Jesus, you're marvelous ♪ ♪ Wonderful, counselor, Jesus, almighty God ♪ ♪ Jesus, almighty God, prince of peace, king of kings ♪ ♪ There is no one like you, God ♪ ♪ There is no one like you, no one ♪ ♪ There is no one like you, God ♪ ♪ There is no one like you, there's no one, yeah ♪ ♪ We wanna lift you higher, sing hallelujah ♪ ♪ Sing hallelujah, the life of Jesus is overcome ♪ ♪ Sing hallelujah, the life of Jesus is overcome ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ ♪ Sing hallelujah, the life of Jesus is overcome ♪ ♪ Sing hallelujah the life of Jesus is overcome ♪ ♪ Sing hallelujah the life of Jesus is overcome ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ There is no one like You God ♪ ♪ There is no one like You there's no one ♪ ♪ There is no one like You God ♪ ♪ There is no one like You there's no one ♪ ♪ There is no one like You there's no one ♪

♪ There is no one like You there's no one ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ ♪ Allelluya ♪ ♪ Sing alleluya, Alleluaya, to this all the joy ♪ ♪ Sing alluya, Alluya, to this all the joy ♪ ♪ Sing alluya, Alluya, to this all the joy ♪ ♪ Allelluya, Alleluya, Alleluya ♪ ♪ Alleluya, Alleluya, Alleluya, ♪ ♪ Alleluya, Alleluya, Alleluya, Alleluya. ♪ ♪ No one like you, God, there is no one like you, no one. ♪ ♪ There is no one like you, God, there is no one like you. ♪ ♪ There's no one. ♪ ♪ There's no one. ♪ ♪ I am an instrument of exaltation. ♪ ♪ And I was born to lift your name above all else. ♪ ♪ You hear the melody of all creation. ♪ ♪ There's a song of praise that only I can hear. ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? ♪ ♪ There is no one, only you, Jesus. ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy? There is no one, only you, Jesus. ♪ ♪ You are the infinite God of the ages. ♪ ♪ Yet you chose to make my heart your dwelling place. ♪ ♪ You healed my brokenness. You showed me your glory. ♪ ♪ I have songs of thanks not even angels can sing. ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? ♪ ♪ There is no one, only you, Jesus. ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? ♪ ♪ There is no one, only you, Jesus. ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one, only you, Jesus. ♪

♪ Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one, only you, Jesus. ♪ ♪ Lamb of God, I'm longing to one who was and is and is to come. ♪ ♪ Seated on the throne above your holy, holy righteous one who shed his blood. ♪ ♪ You prove to us the Father's love, Jesus Christ. ♪ Come on, we sing all together. ♪ Holy, Lamb of God, Lamb of God, I'm longing to one who was and is and is to come. ♪ ♪ Seated on the throne above your holy, holy righteous one who shed his blood. ♪ ♪ You prove to us the Father's love, Jesus Christ. We lift it up your holy, yeah. ♪ ♪ Lamb of God, I'm longing to one who was and is and is to come. ♪ ♪ Seated on the throne above your holy, holy righteous one who shed his blood. ♪ ♪ You prove to us the Father's love, Jesus Christ. We lift it up. ♪ ♪ Who you lost is worthy. Who you lost is worthy. Where is it now? ♪ ♪ There is no one, only you Jesus ♪ ♪ You are so worthy, you are so worthy of your glory ♪ ♪ There is no one, only you Jesus, yeah ♪ ♪ You never forgot the noise you heard ♪ ♪ The noise it is, it is to come, to sing of the God above ♪ ♪ You're holy, holy, the righteous one, who shed his blood ♪ ♪ You're true to us, the father's son, Jesus Christ, amen, amen ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, you live without anointing, one ♪ ♪ The noise it is, it is to come, to sing of the God above ♪ ♪ You're holy, holy, the righteous one, who shed his blood ♪ ♪ You're true to us, the father's son, Jesus Christ, amen, amen ♪ ♪ You're true to us, the father's son, Jesus Christ, amen, amen ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy, who else is worthy? ♪ ♪ There is no one, only you Jesus ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy, who else is worthy? ♪ ♪ There is no one, only you Jesus ♪ ♪ There is no one, only you Jesus ♪ ♪ There is no one, only you Jesus, Jesus Christ, amen ♪

No one else is worthy of our worship. So let's join with the angels and worship our King together. ♪ A thousand generations falling down in worship ♪ ♪ To sing this song of ages to the land ♪ ♪ And all who've gone before us and all who will believe ♪ ♪ We sing this song of ages to the land ♪ Let's sing His name this morning. ♪ Your name is the highest, Your name is the greatest ♪ ♪ Your name stands above them all ♪ ♪ All thrones and dominions, all powers and positions ♪ ♪ Your name stands above them all ♪ ♪ And the angels cry holy, all creation cries holy ♪ ♪ Holy, all creation cries holy ♪ ♪ Holy, holy forever ♪ ♪ Holy, holy forever ♪ ♪ If you've been forgiven and if you've been redeemed ♪ ♪ Sing this song forever to Him ♪ ♪ And if you walked in freedom and if you bear His name ♪ ♪ Sing this song forever to Him ♪ ♪ We'll sing this song forever and amen ♪ ♪ And the angels cry holy, all creation cries holy ♪ ♪ All creation cries holy, you are lifted high ♪ ♪ Holy, holy forever ♪ ♪ Hear people sing holy to the King of kings ♪ ♪ Holy, holy forever ♪ ♪ Your Name is the highest, Your Name is the greatest ♪ ♪ Your Name stands above them all ♪ ♪ Oh thrones and dominions, all powers and positions ♪ ♪ Your Name stands above them all ♪ ♪ Oh Jesus, Your Name is the highest, Your Name is the greatest ♪

♪ Your Name stands above them all ♪ ♪ Oh thrones and dominions, all powers and positions ♪ ♪ Your Name stands above them all, the angels cry ♪ ♪ Holy, all creation cries ♪ ♪ Holy, You are lifted high ♪ ♪ Holy, holy forever ♪ ♪ And Your people sing, You're holy, sing it loud ♪ ♪ Sing to the King of Kings, holy, You will always be ♪ ♪ Holy, holy forever ♪ ♪ Oh You will always be holy, holy forever ♪ ♪ Oh You will always be holy, holy forever ♪ Jesus, You're the only One worthy of our praise. Lord, we thank You that we get to join with the angels and cry out, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty. Jesus, thank You for Your grace and thank You for Your mercies that are new every morning. Lord, we just take right now to thank You for the testimonies that came out of this past week. Lord, for the lives that You touched, for the hearts that You healed, the brokenness that You restored, Father, and the lives of students and leaders. Jesus, thank You. Lord, You're so worthy. No one else is worthy except You. Lord, we just ask that this morning You would just remind our hearts to stand firm on the truth of Your gospel,

on the truth of Your Word and Your Word alone. Jesus, I thank You for every individual here with us this morning. Lord, I thank You that they are not here on accident, Lord. Lord, I thank You for the ways that You wanna meet us, even right now, the ways that You've met us during worship. Lord, I pray that Your Holy Spirit may flow through the teaching this morning. Speak a new word over us. We wanna hear You. You have all of our attention. It's Yours and Yours alone. We love You. We praise You, King of kings, Lord of lords. And we pray this in Your name, amen. Paul, thank you for this heartwarming service. God bless you. God bless all of you. Thank you. Thank you, God. We worship You, Jesus. Thank you, God. Let's join our hands in thanks. Oh my goodness, God. Oh my goodness. Father, we thank You. We praise You. God bless you, God. Oh my goodness! Thank you, Christ.

Lord, here in a changed season, we forget the reality that we have here, and now she's leading them, so welcome, Izzy. As she shares a little more about Youth Encounter. Good morning, everyone. Yeah, I love getting to serve with students, and this week is one of my favorite things. This past week, Youth Encounter, it's one of my favorite things that we do every year. This was the 11th year of Youth Encounter, and our prayer every year is that students would have a personal encounter with a holy God, and year after year, we hear stories of students saying, Youth Encounter is when I gave my life to Jesus. Youth Encounter is when I heard the voice of God for the first time. Youth Encounter was the first time that I went up to a leader and confessed sin and experienced freedom, and we saw. that happened, over 1,500 students flooded this campus Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. Yeah, it's amazing, we can celebrate that, yeah. On Thursday, over 100 students came forward for an altar call and said, yes, I want to receive Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior. Wednesday and Friday, we had other response times where over 100 students came forward to leaders and received prayer. On Friday, we got to baptize 64 students here on campus. And none of that could have been possible

if it weren't for the 400 volunteers who served and gave up their time. So thank you so much. There were a lot of tired volunteers at the end of Friday, so thank you. We're still like trucking along. And one of my favorite things is that all of those numbers represent individual stories, right? And one of my favorite things that I got to witness is one of our youth leaders, Dr. Solomon, he's been serving in youth ministry for the past nine years. And this was the first year that his eldest son got to attend Youth Encounter. And on that Thursday night, he got to walk forward with his son and his son gave his life to Jesus. And then the next day on Friday, he got to baptize his son with our youth ministry, which is just so incredible. And there are so many other stories like that. And so we just wanna celebrate all that the Lord did this week and what he's doing in our next generation. Yeah, so for all of you who prayed for Youth Encounter, for all of you who gave over 200 scholarships for kids to come, we want you to see the fruit of prayer and generosity. So take a look at the Youth Encounter recap. ♪ Look in my eyes, I'm close, close, close, close, close ♪ ♪ Look in my eyes, I'm close, close, close, close, close ♪ ♪ Look in my eyes, I'm close, close, close, close, close ♪

♪ Look in my eyes, I'm close, close, close, close, close ♪ ♪ Look in my eyes, I'm close, close, close, close, close ♪ ♪ Look in my eyes, I'm close, close, close, close, close ♪ ♪ Look in my eyes, I'm close, close, close, close, close ♪ ♪ Look in my eyes, I'm close, close, close, close, close ♪ ♪ Look in my eyes, I'm close, close, close, close, close ♪ ♪ Look in my eyes, I'm close, close, close, close, close ♪ ♪ Look in my eyes, I'm close, close, close, close, close, close ♪ ♪ Look in my eyes, I'm close, close, close, close, close, close ♪ ♪ Look in my eyes, I'm close, close, close, close, close, close ♪ ♪ Look in my eyes, I'm close, close, close, close, close ♪ ♪ Look in my eyes, I'm close, close, close, close, close, close, close ♪ And now today you're going to hear a powerful message from our youth leader Who leads all of the youth ministries here. And for a lot... He was the one who led our youth encounter, He's been raising up the next generation of leaders. And so, will you, please welcome, one of God's favorites Pastor Shawn Friar! Give it up for Shawn! As he comes. Thank you. Good morning, how y'all doing? That was awesome. I asked Pastor Doug to use the word favorite when he introduced me, so I was hoping he'd say his favorite. Anyway, as you have your eyes open to Ecclesiastes chapter 9 I'll give you another second to turn there. We'll be in 9, 10, and 11 today. I just want to take a second. One, we talked about 400 volunteers at YAE.

Was anyone in here a volunteer at YAE? Could you just raise your hand? That's awesome, there's a lot of you. And do we have any students in the room? Middle and high school students, do we have any students in the room? Raise your hand. Students, students. Okay, I see a couple people. Awesome, cool. And then before we dig in too, I just wanted to show off for a second because I'm just a proud father. The Friar family is growing. I want to show you guys a picture of my family because I want to brag on them. And on Father's Day this year we welcomed our second son, Peter. We have another picture of him. He's really a stud. There you go, he's a cute little boy. As I'm up here, if you can remember just to pray for me because not only did I spend the last three days with 1,500 high school and middle school students but I spent the five weeks with the last five weeks with a newborn. with 1,500 high school and middle school students So I'm a little tired, I'm a little sleepy, and I've been praying for them but I know the Lord has a word for us today. and I've been praying for them So enough about me, let's pray

and I've been praying for them and we'll jump into our time together. and I've been praying for them Jesus, thank you so much for today. Thank you for the chance to be here in your house and to dig into your word. And we just pray that you would send your Holy Spirit here now to give us wisdom and revelation through your word. We love you and we pray all of this in Jesus' name. Everybody said. Amen. So our theme this past week for Youth Encounter was the Lord is God. And it came from this idea, this concept, when you read a lot of the narratives throughout scripture, you'll see God's people standing firm. Why are they able to stand firm? They're able to stand firm because they believe that the Lord is God. And when his people stand firm, God protects and honors his people. And then the ungodly actually have to respond in one of two ways. They see the glory of God and they'll either respond through repentance or judgment. So it comes from 1st Kings 18, when Elijah is challenging the people of Israel. They've been caught between God and idols. And there's this big battle, this big showdown that takes place

on the top of Mount Carmel between Elijah and the 450 prophets of Baal and King Ahab. And he calls out to the Israelites and he says, how long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, then follow him. So you have all these heroes in scripture who are able to stand firm because with their whole heart, they can say the Lord is God. So as we dig into Ecclesiastes 9, 10, and 11 today, we're gonna be looking at this thought of standing firm. And if you wanna write this down, our overall thought for today, standing firm is steady faithfulness to God in a life you cannot control or fully understand. It's steady faithfulness to God in a life you cannot control or fully understand. And if you guys have been with us at all throughout this series in Ecclesiastes, Ecclesiastes is kind of a depressing book, right? It's kind of a hopeless book. As Solomon is writing this, he's constantly saying, meaningless, meaningless. Everything is meaningless. Everything under the sun is meaningless. And it's this concept of a life without God is meaningless. A life without faith in God is meaningless. A life where you don't say the Lord is God is meaningless. And I think of it like this. We're all here in South Florida, right?

What's one of our favorite things to do? Who said hurricane prep? That's right, hurricane prep, right? Who loves, right? Who loves going and buying a bunch of gallons of water, right? Getting up all the canned goods, all the SpaghettiOs, everything you can, making sure your car has gas. I think toilet paper was added to the list after COVID, but you just gotta make sure you have enough because for some reason we have to stockpile toilet paper when things happen now. And you shutter up the house, you board up the house, you do everything you can to prepare because there's this impending doom. There's this disaster about to come. And then once you're prepped, you sit and you wait. And it's the worst part, right? The worst part is the waiting. I remember when hurricane Matthew was coming, probably, I don't remember how many years ago now at this point. And I remember it just looked like it was gonna be the worst thing to happen to South Florida since like hurricane Andrew. And then it was like out in the Atlantic and it like wobbled and it completely missed us. Does anyone remember the wobble that took place, right? And like, it's one of those weirdest things, but you just sit there and you wait

and it's this impending doom. But what can happen after all these years, if you've lived in South Florida for the last 20 years or so like we haven't been hit that hard on the East Coast. So suddenly your preparation becomes less. Suddenly the waiting becomes less. Suddenly you're just like, I don't care. They don't hit us anyway. But we sit in this place. We sit in this place maybe of impending doom. We sit in this place maybe of lack of preparation. And I feel like as Solomon has written Ecclesiastes, this is kind of how he's viewing life. This just kind of sitting for no reason, this preparing for no reason or maybe preparing, but then it's just impending doom and there's no hope. It's all meaningless. And unfortunately, even as believers, a lot of us can live like this, but we actually get to prep for something so much greater. We get to prep for something called eternity. We get to live a life preparing for eternity. So Solomon writes this Ecclesiastes nine verse one. So I reflected on all this and concluded. So really this is a recap now. There's been a lot of repetitive thoughts throughout Ecclesiastes. He's been saying the same thing over and over. So he's summing it up right now. So this isn't new information we're about to hear,

but it's a reminder. And if you're anything. like me, you need these reminders. Because I've been a Christian since I was six years old, so 31 years, and I still have to learn the same things over and over and over. Have you guys had to learn the same thing in your faith over and over and over? So as we dig in, please, you might have heard this before, this might be a reminder to you, but I've found if God's reminding you of something, it's because you forgot it. So we need these reminders. So he said in verse one, I reflected on all this and concluded that the righteous and the wise and what they do are in God's hands, but no one knows whether love or hate awaits them. Number one, if you're taking notes, I have three points for us today, and each point has some sub points, but this first point is stand firm in God's hands. Stand firm in God's hands. Solomon says he concluded the righteous and the wise and what they do are in God's hands. I want you to picture this for a second. Picture your life, picture this season you're in, this moment you're in, picture whatever chaos is happening around you, but now I want you to picture the hand of God under you,

his fingers wrapped around you, holding you tight. He holds you, he sees you, he knows what you're going through, he's not surprised by your circumstances. I would actually say this, in the midst of everything going on around you and you being in God's hands, this is the greatest comfort you have because you can write this down, God's hand brings security. His hand brings security, but this isn't security in the outcomes of life or the security of the circumstances we're in, this is simply security in the one who holds us, the one who created the world, the one who holds all things together, that's whose hand we are in, and we can be secure in our hands. You see, he says, no matter what they do, they're in God's hands, but no one knows whether love or hate awaits them. And this is Solomon kind of being like, whatever your circumstances, you can't judge God's love for you by the circumstances you're in. You can't go, oh, God must hate me because life is hard right now, or God loves them so much more because he has blessed them with so much money, or they have so many kids and I don't have one right now,

even though my husband and I, we've been trying for so much time, so he must not love me. God's love is not based on our circumstances. God's love is simply based on the fact that we are his, and he loves us, and he created us, and we're secure in his hands. Think of the people throughout Scripture who I would never question God's love for them, yet their circumstances were far worse than mine. Stephen, the first martyr, was literally murdered for Jesus. I think of John the Baptist, beheaded, Moses, the things he went, you can look at all these people, Paul, Peter, who suffered for Jesus. I would never question God's love for them, yet I've faced far less than them, yet I can find myself going, are we good? No, I'm secure in God's hand, and security's huge. See, I've heard it said before, the three biggest questions people will ask are, who am I, it's this question of identity, where do I belong, this question of belonging, and what's my purpose, this question of purpose. Almost a year ago, my youth team and I, we were at this conference, and this lady spoke, and she shared those three things, but she says, but here's actually what the most important question is. It's the question of security, who can I trust? You see, if you can fully trust God,

then you can trust that your identity is in him. If you fully trust Jesus, you can trust that you belong with him. If you fully trust him, you can believe that he has a purpose for you. It all starts with security. Think about this, if you're secure, doesn't that make the rest of life better? Doesn't that make your thoughts calm down? Doesn't that make your heart feel at peace? See, my wife had me buy one of those things to put on our front door handle that goes on the inside that clips on either end so our son can't get in, but it also doesn't allow people from the outside to break in and open our door. So when we close this thing at night, we feel a lot more secure, we feel a lot more at peace, we feel a lot more calm, why? Because we're secure, and that's our life in God's hands. Verses two through six, I won't read because they're really sad, that's not the reason I'm gonna read them, but they basically say this, everyone dies, amen? Let's pray. But this is so important, because this is something we need to contemplate. Because if you live through this reality that everyone dies, 100% of people, it will change how you live. So Solomon follows this up with verse seven.

He says, go, eat your food with gladness and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for God has already approved what you do. Always be clothed in white and always anoint your head with oil. Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun, all your meaningless days, for this is your lot in life, and your toilsome labor under the sun. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of the dead where you are going, there's neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom. Everyone dies. So we need to enjoy life in God's hands, no matter what season we're in, no matter what trial we're in, no matter what transition we're in. Transition stinks, doesn't it? Does anyone here like transition? You like changes in life? I've always said the one constant in life is change and Jesus, who never changes, right? But the one constant in life is change. And me as a youth pastor, I can't help but think of Gen Z. Do you guys know Gen Z? Not Jay-Z, Gen Z, Generation Z. It's the 14 to 29 year olds.

If you're 14 to 29, go ahead and raise your hand. 14 to 29. Guys, is there a lot of transition in your life right now? Yes? Yes, is life hard right now? So listen, Fuller Youth Institute did a study where they started, they've always looked at students, young people, but they started looking at young adults more. And they've looked at these seasons of transition. And we think of transition, we often think of, we can actually go to that graphic on the screen. We think of that line in the middle. High school, college, job, marriage, kids. But they said, actually, no, no, no, no. This is more so what life looks like for a Gen Z-er. Where their transition season is not this to this to this. It's point A to point C to point Q to point X to point B. And it's all over the place. But what's actually fascinating is what we're finding in Gen Z is they are coming back to Jesus more than they ever have. That they are finding him in these seasons of transition. And here's what's so cool about this. This is a lot like Israel in the wilderness. When they were following Jesus, when they followed him out of, or when they were following Moses, following God out of Egypt, right? They were so close to him. Whenever they were moving around,

they were close to the Lord. But then what happened when they got to the place where they were standing, where they were still, when Moses was up on Mount Sinai and they're still, and then they build a golden calf and worship another God. It was the seasons of transition that they grew close to the Lord, but it was almost like they didn't know what to do once they didn't have to depend on him. When they were sitting still and they could work in their own strength, it was like they lost the faith they had when they were following him. So we have to enjoy life in God's hands now, no matter what transition that we are in. But here's what I know. Young people are drawing close to the Lord in these seasons of transition, but those seasons are gonna stop. And what they learn in these seasons is what's gonna help them stand firm in the future. And you can be a part of that. As the youth guy, I have to give that plug, but we talked about all those volunteers at YE. They need people to come alongside them to help them in the transition, but to help them in the steadiness as well, to cling close to the Lord in those times. So we talk about from one generation to the next, maybe the Lord's tugging something on your heart

and saying, man, you need to help young people enjoy life in God's hands. If you want, you can scan the QR code at some point. There's a thing on there to serve, but they need people to come alongside them. And I even wanna say this. I don't know if you guys know the youth building is right behind me. If you wanna go after service today, just check out youth. There's no service. They're all in here today, but check out the youth building. The hub's open. Bob and Gina Bemis make an incredible breakfast. You can get a grand slam, get some eggs, pancakes, but just check out that building. Check out what's happening over there. It's like the secret hidden spot on campus. There's even some arcade games you could play. You'll have a great time. Go over there after service. See what God's doing in the youth building, but enjoy life in God's hands. I'm a big country music fan. Any country music fans? I believe in the three Cs of music. There's Christian, there's country, and there's Christmas. It's the only genres that matter. Years ago, Tim McGraw wrote a song called Live Like.

you were dying about a guy who got bad news. And he asked him, hey, when you got that news, what'd you do? Guy said, I went skydiving. I went Rocky Mountain climbing. I went 2.7 seconds on a bull named Fu Manchu. I loved deeper, I spoke sweeter, I gave forgiveness that I'd been denying. And then he says, I hope you get the chance to live like you were dying. I believe this is Solomon's point here, everyone dies. And he says this life is meaningless under the sun, but the truth is, this life is not meaningless because we have Jesus. So we are going to enjoy life in God's hands. The reality of death should cause us to enjoy life more. Right, he tells you to always be clothed in white. Being clothed in white in those times, it meant there was a special occasion. So he's like, literally, make every moment a special occasion. Take it all in, take in every second, every moment of life, because you don't know when it's going to end. A year ago today, it was the same weekend, except it was Saturday night. I was getting ready to teach, getting ready to walk on stage for the sermon after YE. And I got a text message that my grandpa was found in his room at his memory care place, unresponsive. So Saturday, I have to come up, I have to teach,

wondering if my grandpa's going to be here when I'm done. And then Sunday comes, Monday comes, Tuesday comes, he passes away Wednesday night. And there's something about the reality of death that it hits you, and you have regrets, and you have moments, because you wish you would have taken it in more. My last moments with my grandpa when he was still conscious and still aware, was aware, was me just quickly stopping by. I had somewhere to go, but I wanted to say hi to him. So I spent like five minutes with him. I even told him about me teaching that weekend, said, hey, maybe my uncle can pick you up, your son. And he had bad Alzheimer's, so he wasn't fully there, but maybe he can pick you up, maybe you can come watch me teach. So I was texting my uncle that night, hey, are you going to pick him up? Is he going to come? And actually, no, he was found unresponsive. And I looked back at that last moment with him, wishing I would have spent more time with him, that I would have taken in that moment. Rewind 16 years, also July, July 17th, family reunion in North Dakota that my grandma planned. We're about to eat, I pray for our meal. She has a brain aneurysm, passes away that night. We had lost actually a full day with her because of the airline. I won't tell you which one it is.

And after that happened, I actually had the opportunity to teach in our high school ministry. It was called Liquid at that time, and the Lord reminded me of this, and he reminds me every year at this time, don't take your loved ones for granted. If there's someone you need to tell you love them, do it now. And if there's a change you need to take place, change it now. Enjoy life in God's hands. Take in every moment, because you don't know when it's going to be your last or someone else's. Verse 11, he says, I've seen something else under the sun. The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned, but time and chance happen to them all. Moreover, no one knows when their hour will come. As fish are caught in a cruel net or birds are taken in a snare, so people are trapped by evil times that fall unexpectedly upon them. You can write this down. God's hands remind you that you're not in control. This is what Solomon's trying to tell us. You're not in control. This is hard for me. I'm a control freak.

Am I the only one? Anyone else control freaks? It's okay. And if you're lifting the arm of someone next to you, you're the control freak, not them. Just throwing that out there. All right, there's a funny thing with young people these days. They like to watch people play video games on YouTube and on different streaming service. And I don't understand watching other people play video games. I want the controller in my hands. I want to be in control. But this is me with God way too often. I have to be okay with the fact that I'm not in control and he's in control. And that's actually a good thing. I'm grateful that I'm not God. I'm grateful I don't get to make the call. Life is unpredictable. We have to accept that fact. This is what Solomon's saying here. You're not in control. For those living under the sun who are living a life without the Lord, this is terrifying. But for us who are secure in God's hands, this is a great place to be because his control is far greater than ours. He continues in verse 13.

I also saw under the sun, this example of wisdom. that greatly impressed me. There was once a small city with only a few people in it, and a powerful king came against it, surrounded it, and built a huge siege works against it. Now there lived in that city a man, poor but wise, and he saved the city by his wisdom, but nobody remembered that poor man. So I said, wisdom is better than strength, but the poor man's wisdom is despised and his words are no longer heeded. Next thing Solomon is saying here, God's hands are all the affirmation you need. When we're secure in God's hands, when we trust that he's the one in control, we understand that is all the affirmation we need. We have a man here who literally saves the city, and no one remembers him. No one cares what he did for them. Listen, the righteous stand firm, even if they're overlooked. The righteous stand firm, even if they're forgotten. All right, you ever help someone and you didn't get a thank you? Were you doing it for the thank you, or were you doing it because God calls you to love people? Man, if you're like me, you'll hold the door open for someone. Let me be your knight in shining armor. I'm so nice.

You even tell them they don't have to do that little jog because they were so far away. I'll wait, I'll be patient. And they don't say thank you. I just slam it on, I let go. I wait till they're 10 feet away and I go, you're welcome. Was I holding that door for them or for me? Honestly, we need to be okay not getting affirmation from people because we serve an audience of one. We serve the one who's on his throne. We serve the one who's in control. So don't worry about likes, about views, about comments. And you wanna talk about the ultimate like, the ultimate thumbs up. Jesus gave that to you on the cross when he spread his arms and said, this is for you. You don't need any more affirmation than that. So it's about faithfulness, not acknowledgement. And I think of the ultimate example of this, Jesus, as he's on the cross, as he's being scorned, mocked, rejected. Can you imagine if in the midst of that, he just said, eh, you're not affirming me. Peace out. Just gets down, walks away. They could be dead in their sins. No, he took it. He said, father, forgive them. That's all the affirmation.

And then you know what he says? Into your hands, I commit my spirit. He was serving an audience of one, God's will, God's plan. But he was loving an audience of an innumerable amount of people. God's hands are all the affirmation you need. Number two, it's verse 17. And we take kind of this weird pivot because Solomon sits and talks about how wisdom, it's not gonna protect you from death. It's not gonna protect you from trials. It's not gonna protect you from troubles, but it's not useless. So as we close chapter nine and we jump into chapter 10, it's gonna start sounding a little bit more like Proverbs, but he's showing us the value of wisdom here. He says this in verse 17 of Ecclesiastes 9. The quiet words of the wise are more to be heeded than the shouts of a ruler of fools. Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good. As dead flies give perfume a bad smell, so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor. The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of the fool to the left. Even as fools walk along the road, they lack sense and show everyone how stupid they are. Number two, if you're taking notes, you can write this down. Stand firm in wisdom, right? It's this pivot.

Wisdom, it's not gonna protect you from everything life throws at you, right? It's not gonna prevent death. It's not gonna prevent trials, but there's value here. So stand firm in it, because wisdom, you know what? Wisdom is useful. So what do you do? You keep your heart on the right things. You avoid foolishness. You avoid folly. He says a dead fly gives perfume a bad smell. A little fly in a jar of perfume ruins the whole batch. A little bit of folly, a little bit of foolishness, a little bit of sin. A little compromise can destroy a lot. Here's the truth. Sin makes a mess. Compromise makes a mess. Foolishness makes a mess. I think of it like this. I don't know if you've ever stepped in dog poop. You don't have to raise your hand for that one. If you did before you got here, the people by you know. But the thing about stepping in dog poop is you never notice in the moment. Isn't that the worst thing? You would think you would notice that you stepped in a big old pile of poop, right? And the other thing is you don't normally fully step on it. It's like one small part of your shoe.

And by the time you notice it, you start to question. Oh, like you start to smell it at some point. You're like, oh no, when did this happen? And you look down. It's kind of like creased over the side of your shoe a little bit. It's in all the ridges underneath. And it's the hardest thing to clean out of your shoes. But then the thought enters your mind, oh no, when did I step in this? And you start to retrace your steps. And you're like, oh no, it's on my car floor mat. It's on my entryway rug. It's on my couch. It's on my hands. It got everywhere. And it's never, like I said, it's never a big piece. It's like you stepped in the smallest turd ever, but it spreads. That's compromise. That's sin. That's foolishness. It seems so small, but it makes a mess of everything. So Solomon says, hey, avoid foolishness, avoid folly, avoid compromise, avoid sin by standing firm in wisdom, by keeping your heart on the right things. And I love what he says. The heart of the wise inclines to the right. Now, where does Jesus sit?

Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father. So how do we avoid foolishness and folly? How do we stand firm in wisdom? We allow our hearts to incline toward Jesus, to incline towards the one who's sitting at the right hand of the Father. So we stand firm in wisdom, and this is what wisdom does for us. Verse eight, whoever digs a pit may fall into it. Whoever breaks through a wall may be bitten by a snake. Whoever quarries stones may be injured by them. Whoever splits logs may be endangered by them. If the ax is dull and its edge unsharpened, more strength is needed, but skill will bring success. If a snake bites before it is charmed, the charmer receives no fee. Wisdom protects. He gives this example of all these people who are doing all these different kind of like projects, these different activities, and they all end up in some sort of danger. And I don't know why they acted the way they did. I don't know why they came in the way they did, but I see people who were maybe a little overconfident. I see people that maybe were a little lazy, maybe people who were a little unprepared, or maybe people that were a little unaware. So he's saying, if you're gonna go into things, if you take a moment and if you use some wisdom, if you're not overconfident,

listen, if you dig a pit, you could fall into it. Why would you fall into it? Because you're not being careful. But wisdom would tell you to be careful. Wisdom would tell you to tie a rope around your waist, tie that rope to something so you don't fall into a pit. Right, he talks about someone chopping wood with an unsharpened ax, with a dull ax. Wisdom would say, instead of hitting harder, sharpen the ax. Right, wisdom protects you from danger. Wisdom protects you from having these kinds of moments. Instead of being overconfident, lazy, not being prepared, being unaware. I think of it like this. I can do anything, I fully believe. I believe I can fix anything. And actually, it's not me, I don't wanna take the credit. It's Super Glue, that does the job. But here's what I learned with Super Glue, thinking I can fix anything with Super Glue. I just learned that I'm stupid. We can go to that first picture. If you're sitting there going, how did that happen? 10 years later, I still don't know. I do not know how that happened. But you guys look on, that's a fool. That's folly, that's me being unprepared, that's me being overconfident. And I would love to tell you I learned my lesson, but one of my uncles, his son, my cousin,

had a Charizard toy that broke. And I said, I can fix it. I have Super Glue. So a few years later, we can play that video. I guess that's how you catch them all, I don't know. I literally, so I'm running this illustration by my wife. I'm like, babe, I'm gonna make a fool of myself. I'm gonna show them how stupid I am. Is this a good illustration? And she, this is her response. Well, you forgot about the time you glued your hands together. It's like, thanks, babe. Really appreciate it. So like I literally one time I, so that's, listen, if I'm showing you an example of foolishness, that's what it is. Wisdom would have protected me from that. Wisdom would have prevented that. But what are the things in our lives we do this with? They had a super glue, it's funny, but we do this all the time where the Lord has protected us from something, yet we fall right back into it from foolishness. Wisdom protects. But verse 12, words from the mouth of the wise are gracious, but fools are consumed by their own lips. At the beginning, their words are folly, at the end, they are wicked madness. And fools multiply words.

No one knows what is coming. Who can tell someone else what will happen after them? Wisdom protects, but wisdom also prevents. What does it prevent? It prevents mistakes, it prevents regrets, right? He's talking about someone who is foolish and folly in their words and how they speak. They don't take a moment to stop and consider. Instead, they have foolish talk. Instead, they're babbling away. They're someone who they literally prove their foolishness the more they speak. They just go on and on. So he says, if you're a person of wisdom, you're gonna speak graciously. You're going to be slow to speak. You're gonna use your words. Listen, sticks and stones may break my bones, but words may never hurt me. Biggest lie we ever heard growing up because words stick with you. I remember more the hurtful things people said to me than the ways I physically hurt myself, the ways I was physically injured. I remember things said to me more than I remember certain ankle sprains, certain broken bones. Like, because words hurt. So I don't know if you've ever said something and when it came out of your mouth,

the worst part of it is even though you regret it, even though you apologized, you can't take it back. And the Bible actually tells us out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. So when you say something hurtful and you go, I'm so sorry, or just kidding, or, well, you know what? The Bible actually tells us what you said came from your heart. So it actually means somewhere, someplace, you actually mean what you said, and you can't take that back. Yes, the Lord offers forgiveness. Hopefully the person forgives you. So wisdom prevents that. Wisdom speaks graciously. Wisdom is slow to speak, but folly, foolishness, it blurts out without thinking of the consequences. So wisdom protects us. Wisdom prevents these mistakes, these regrets, but wisdom also, verse 15, the toil of fools wearies them. They do not know the way to town. Woe to the land whose king was a servant and whose princes feast in the morning. Blessed is the land whose king is of noble birth and whose princes eat at a proper time for strength and not for drunkenness. Through laziness, the rafters sag. Because of idle hands, the house leaks.

A feast is made for laughter. Wine makes life merry, and money is the answer for everything. Do not revile the king even in your thoughts or curse the rich in your bedroom because a bird in the sky may carry your words and a bird on the wing may report what you say. Wisdom also preserves. Solomon's speaking here of a nation that falls because of the foolishness of its leaders, because of the laziness, because of the drunkenness, and this nation can't be preserved because it lacks wisdom because people are seeking after their own good. People are seeking after their own pleasure. Verse 19, it's some of the worst advice I've seen. A feast is made for laughter. Wine makes life merry, and money is the answer for everything. But unfortunately, a lot of us believe this. And we think if we just live a life of self-gratification, it's gonna preserve something in us, but if we're not realizing that self-gratification, it actually destroys us. Because we shouldn't live a life to indulge ourselves and to gratify ourselves. We should live a life to glorify God, a life that is gratifying Him, a life that is pointing to Him. When we try to do what's best for us, we hurt ourselves.

We don't preserve anything. If I did what I thought was best for me, I would eat Reese's Peanut Butter Cups every single day. I would eat the whole tub of Ben and Jerry's ice cream. It's just what I would do, because it is so yummy, amen. But that's not what's best for me. Self-gratification is not what is best for us. And there's so many ways we can. can do this in sinful ways, but there's even ways we can do this spiritually. Man, I just noticed you didn't seem super into worship today. What was going on? Well, honestly, I just, I didn't really like that first song. So it just, you know, it wasn't really good worship today. Oh, so that song that was glorifying God, that was singing about how wonderful and marvelous and counselor and mighty God that He is, glorifying Him, it just wasn't good enough for you. So it glorified God, but it didn't make you feel good. So it was bad worship. Oh, the message was just kind of, oh, so you didn't enjoy that part in God's word, so it wasn't a good church day. Like often when we think of self-gratification, we think of all these sinful things, but I'm so guilty of this.

And I know others in the room are guilty of, we self-gratify ourselves, even just in our faith and in our spiritual things, where we make it more about us than Him. Wisdom preserves. Wisdom helps us know it's not about me, it's about Him. Last and finally, in chapter 11, verse one, it says, ship your grain across the sea. Many of you guys have been wondering what to do with all your grain. After many days, you may receive a return. Invest in seven ventures, yes, in eight. You do not know what disaster may come upon the land. Number three, stand firm in faith. Solomon up to this point has been pretty depressing. Everyone dies, and if you're foolish, if you lack wisdom, you're gonna do all these stupid things. But now chapter 11, I think he's starting to give us a picture of, okay, so how do we move forward from here? How do we continue on from here? How do we move forward from here? Yes, life is meaningless. That's a true statement. He just didn't finish his sentence. Life is meaningless without God. Life is meaningless without Jesus. Life is pointless without Him. But with Him, it's the greatest adventure ever.

I think of the cinematic masterpiece from the early 90s, the Steven Spielberg movie, Hook, starring Robin Williams as a grownup Peter Pan. Anyone know the movie? The very end of the movie, they go, Peter, what are you gonna do now? And he says, to live. To live would be an awfully big adventure. And the truth is, faith in Christ, a life for Jesus, is the greatest adventure you could ever live, if you would just stand firm in your faith. So he's saying, you can't control the circumstances. We talked about this earlier. God's hands remind you that you're not in control. Your ship could crash, all these things, but you're going on an adventure. And it's the greatest adventure you could ever have. In verse three, if clouds are full of water, they pour rain on the earth. Whether a tree falls to the south or to the north, if the place where it falls there, it will lie. Whoever watches the wind will not plant. Whoever looks at the clouds will not reap. Faith acts even when the conditions aren't perfect. So I'm saying, don't wait for the conditions to be perfect. Real faith just acts. Our world is an imperfect world. The conditions are never going to be perfect. If you're waiting to wash your car

till it's not gonna rain for a day in South Florida during the summer, you're never gonna wash your car, because the conditions are never going to be perfect. Right? Like I had an opportunity to go on a missions trip in 2011 to go to a Muslim country to share the gospel through running basketball camps, and I didn't go. And I made up every excuse on why it just wasn't the right time for me to go. And the truth was, I was just scared and I missed out. So when the opportunity came the next year, I started to make the excuses again. I realized, you know, God's giving me an opportunity a second time. I'm probably supposed to do this. And I tried to make up excuses, but I didn't have any good excuses. The conditions are never gonna be perfect. We have to act, right? Don't let what's wrong with you keep you from worshiping what's right with God, and keep you from doing what God has called you to do. So I'd ask, is there something you know you're supposed to do, but you're waiting for the perfect moment? Maybe there's that friend or family member you've been wanting to share Jesus with, and you're just waiting for them to bring it up. They never have before, but you know they will eventually, and that'll be your sign. I don't know.

what it is that maybe you're waiting to do, but today is the day. Don't wait. The conditions are never gonna be perfect. Verse five, we're almost wrapped up here. It says, as you do not know the path of the wind or how the body is formed in a mother's womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the maker of all things. Faith is trusting God without fully understanding. We're never gonna fully understand God, and I'm okay with that. Sometimes we can take that almost as a cop-out of, oh, but you really just don't even get it, but that's what faith is, right? Faith is seeing without, or sorry, believing without seeing. Right, one of my favorite songs literally has this line that says, faith makes a fool of what makes sense, right? Faith is being okay, not fully understanding God. I've heard it said before, if God were small enough to understand, he wouldn't be big enough to worship. One day I'll see him face-to-face. One day I'll grasp a greater understanding, but I'm okay right now that I don't fully get him, but I am confident in his hands, and I'm secure in his hands. We'll close with verse seven. Light is sweet, and it pleases the eyes to the sun. However many years anyone may live,

let them enjoy them all, but let them remember the days of darkness, for there will be many. Everything to come is meaningless. You who are young, be happy while you are young, and let your heart give you joy in the days of your youth. Follow the ways of your heart and whatever your eyes see, but know that for all these things, God will bring you into judgment. So then banish anxiety from your heart and cast off the troubles of your body, for youth and vigor are meaningless. Faith enjoys life now and life to come. Faith enjoys life now and life to come. Solomon in verse eight says, let them remember the days of darkness, but in verse seven, he says, light is sweet. And the wise person, the person of faith, they don't ignore the darkness. They let the darkness teach them to enjoy the light. Right, here's the thing about sin. When you realize how bad your sin is, you appreciate your salvation so much more. When you remember your life without Jesus, you appreciate your life with him so much more. When you realize the price of your sin is death, you appreciate so great a salvation so much more. When you go through a horrible trial and then you see how God worked all things together for good, you appreciate that light so much more.

Faith enjoys life now and life to come. This is what this book has been leading up to. In verse nine, he says, God will bring you into judgment. He's pointing towards a greater day, a bigger day, towards eternity. So he says, be happy while you're young and banish anxiety. How do we do this? Philippians 4, four through seven, says rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again, rejoice. You know, it's really hard to be anxious and upset and mad if you're rejoicing. The two can't coexist. Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. The Lord is near. He's near. He's close to you. That'll help you enjoy life now and life to come. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. This is how you enjoy life now. You give it all to him. You rejoice in him. You thank him. You cast your cares upon him. Don't wait for eternity to enjoy what he has given us,

to enjoy this gift of salvation. I don't know if you've ever had something that you just wasted away because you were scared to use it too quick. You were scared to ruin it. My family, we do this weird thing. We go on vacations to North Dakota. You can laugh, it's okay. That is a weird thing to do. And we always buy beef jerky while we're there because North Dakota has the best beef jerky. And when I get home, I take that beef jerky, I put it in my fridge, I open it, and I eat it so slow because I don't want to waste it. I want to enjoy it. I want to take it all in. But here's what happens. That beef jerky ends up sitting in my fridge too long and I throw half of it out. And that's what a lot of us do with our lives. We just let it sit. We don't enjoy it. We don't take it all in. We don't make the most of every opportunity that God gave us. Instead, we sit there and we go, I'm gonna preserve this. this. I'm gonna wait. I don't want to waste it all at once. No, today is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad. And the Bible tells us not to worry about tomorrow. Tomorrow will take care of itself. So enjoy life now because what

we do here is preparing us for eternity and we don't know when that day is coming. So I want to invite the worship team out and I want to just give this final call. I don't know who in here who has found life meaningless, who's been too worried so you've wasted your life away, but you need to cast off your troubles. You need to cast off your sin, you need to cast off your anxiety. Solomon has all of these unanswered questions, but the answer to all of Solomon's unanswered questions is simply Jesus. Jesus said it himself, all scripture points to me. So everything Solomon doesn't know what he's talking about, the truth is the answer is Jesus. He's the one who helps you stand firm. He's the one who gives you wisdom. He's the one that you have your faith in. He's the one who takes this meaningless life under the sun and gives meaning to it. The truth is I don't blame Solomon and I don't blame anyone who doesn't know Jesus for saying life is meaningless. I just, my heart breaks for you because that would hurt so much. I can't imagine going through life thinking it all is pointless because life is so hard. Life is so difficult. This world really does kind of stink. And then to think it's all pointless, I don't know how you'd carry on. I'm able to do this thing called life because I know there's so much more waiting for me. I know that Jesus came to give me life and life to the full. So I'm gonna pray in a second and if you're in this room and you're a person who says, man, my whole life has been meaningless but I want meaning to my life. Listen, God gave your life meaning. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him will not perish but will have everlasting life. God loves you so much that he sent his son Jesus to die on the cross for you so you could cast your sin on him, your anxiety on him, your troubles on him, your meaningless life on him. And he gave you more meaning than you could ever imagine. The Bible says he's given us more than we could ever hope, dream, or imagine. And I want to say this too before I pray. If you're in here and you think you've got to be good, you've got to clean things up before you come up here, no. He wants you how you are. You can't change yourself. He changes you. Bible says God demonstrates his own love toward us while we were

still sinners. It doesn't say once we stopped sinning and we started doing good things. It says he demonstrated his own love toward us while we were still sinners that Christ died for us. He died for you while you were dirty, while you were gross, while you were sinning. He's not waiting for you to clean yourself up. He wants to clean you up. He wants a relationship with you. So I'm gonna pray and the band's gonna play a song. And as that song plays, if you're in here today and you say, I want meaning to my life. I want a relationship with Jesus. I want my sins forgiven. I don't want this to be the end of life, but I want eternity with God the Father, Jesus the Son, the Holy Spirit. Then I'm gonna invite you to stand and just walk forward. And I'll pray over you and I'll lead you in a prayer that's just asking Jesus to be the Lord of your life. So let's pray. And if that's you when the song plays, come. Jesus, thank you for today. And I just pray you would call your sons, your daughters, your creation, your people to you now. Move in this place. In Jesus' name I pray. In desperation I turned to heaven and spoke your name into the night. Then through the darkness your loving kindness tore through the shadows of my soul. The work is finished. The end is written. Jesus Christ, my living hope. Hallelujah. Praise the one who set me free. Hallelujah. Death has lost its grip on me. You have broken every chain, there's salvation in Your name, Jesus Christ, my living hope. I'm just going to talk to you guys for a second, and I just want to pray over you before I lead you in that prayer. And I just want to say, as I'm talking, if you're in here and you're feeling that tug, like we said at the beginning, when God gives us reminders, it's usually because we need them. So if you're still feeling that tug, today. Today is the greatest adventure. You live for today. Tomorrow's not guaranteed. Everyone does. I'm not saying that as like a scare tactic, like that is not my heart at all, but it's just true. You don't know when that day is coming. So don't wait. You don't have to be cleaned up. You don't have to be perfect. He loves you. He affirmed you on the cross. He says, I want you to be in my family. I want a relationship with you. So if that's you, I just want to give one more call as I'm talking, as we pray, but feel free to just come on up, come join us up here. And for you guys, I just want to say I'm so proud of you. The Lord loves you. He has a plan for you. He has a purpose for you. This is the best decision that you could ever make. Doesn't matter how early in life or how far in life.

He brought you here today for today, for this moment to have a relationship with you. And that is a miracle. This is a miracle right now. So I just want to pray over you. And then I'm just going to lead you in a prayer that you can repeat after me. You can repeat it out loud. You can repeat it in the quietness of your hearts. There's a few more people joining us right now. God loves you. God loves you so much. Church, if you just extend a hand as we pray. God, thank you so much for these, your new sons and daughters, your co-heirs. These you've adopted into your family. God, I pray you'd be with them. Be with these men, these women who walked up here today, said they want a relationship with you. They want their sins forgiven, God. So thank you for bringing meaning to meaningless lives. Thank you for bringing purpose to lives that maybe lacked purpose. Thank you for giving them a new identity in you. They're your kids now. They're your children. You love them, God. So I pray that today would be the start of the greatest adventure they've ever had. Move in their lives. We pray this in Jesus name. And for those of you up here, if you would just repeat this after me. Just say, Lord God. Lord God, thank you so much for sending your son, Jesus, to die on the cross for me. Forgive me of my sins. Wash me clean. For I've decided today to follow you, Jesus, from this day forever. I'm yours. Help me, God, to follow you all the days of my life. In Jesus name I pray. Amen. Amen. Hey guys, I just want to take a moment. We have some people who want to connect with you, who want to pray with you, want to give you a Bible if you don't have one. Just give you some next steps on what to do after this decision. So if you guys would just follow our team right back here to these doors. I'll be right behind you. I'm going to meet you back there. And for the rest of us guys, we're actually going to close in a couple extra songs of worship. So if you want to stand as we close in worship, we'd love to worship one last time together. And I'll meet you guys back here. What a God, what a God. You're nothing like I thought you were, you're better. What a God, what a God. What a God, what a God. What a God, what a God. It's who you are. What a God, what a God.

♪ And what a kind of God that's worth the loss ♪ ♪ They say it's over for the sinner ♪ ♪ But you say no it's not, no it's not ♪ ♪ You say no it's not, no it's not ♪ ♪ What a God, what a God ♪ ♪ What a God, what a God ♪ ♪ What a God, what a God ♪ ♪ What a God, what a God ♪ ♪ What a God, what a God, yeah ♪ ♪ What a God, what a God, yeah ♪ ♪ There's no one like you, Lord ♪ ♪ It's like the Lord God Almighty ♪ ♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ If the highest place I reach is at your feet ♪ ♪ Then I've done it all ♪ ♪ If the best thing that I've seen is your glory ♪ ♪ Then I've seen it all ♪ ♪ Your love has saved my life ♪ ♪ For it has satisfied my heart ♪ ♪ You are my everything ♪ ♪ If the highest place I reach is at your feet ♪ ♪ Then I've done it all ♪ ♪ If the best thing that I've seen is your glory ♪ ♪ Then I've seen it all ♪ ♪ Your love has saved my life ♪ ♪ For it has satisfied my heart ♪ ♪ You are my everything ♪ ♪ If one word, if one word is the only thing you see ♪ ♪ Then I've heard it all ♪ ♪ If I fear your heart and never see your hand ♪

♪ I still have it all ♪ ♪ No treasure of this life could ever satisfy God ♪ ♪ You are my everything, God ♪ ♪ You are my everything, Lord ♪ ♪ You are my everything, Lord ♪ ♪ What a God, what a God ♪ ♪ What a God, what a God ♪ ♪ What a God, what a God ♪ ♪ What a God, what a God, yeah ♪ ♪ The highest place I reach lays at your feet ♪ ♪ Then I've done it all ♪ ♪ The best thing that I've seen is your glory ♪ ♪ Then I've seen it all ♪ ♪ You're the best thing in my life, forever satisfied, Lord ♪ ♪ You are my everything, God ♪ ♪ If one word, if one word is the only thing you see ♪ ♪ Then I've heard it all ♪ ♪ If I feel your heart and never see your end ♪ ♪ I still have it all ♪ ♪ No treasure on this earth could ever satisfy, Lord ♪ ♪ You are my everything, God ♪ ♪ You are my everything, God ♪ ♪ You are my everything, God ♪ ♪ What a God, what a God, yeah ♪ ♪ What a God, what a God ♪ ♪ What a God, what a God ♪ ♪ You are my everything, God, yeah ♪ Church, we love you, it has been such a blessing to worship with you guys this morning. I pray you guys have a blessed week.

We'll have a prayer team in the front if you need prayer. We love you.