Sermon: A Book to Bring Us Back (Proverbs 1,2): Pastor Tito Dizon

William Bennett was the Secretaryof Education during the Reagan-Bush years. After that he was the drug czar.  In an article in Ladies Home Journal, entitled “How to Teach Children Values” he said: "We live in an era that almost seems dedicated to the corruption of the young, to assuring the loss of children’s innocence before their time.”

He went on to say: “Since 1960, there has been more than a 500% increase in violent crime, more than a 400% increase in out of wedlock births, tripling of the percentage of children living in single parent homes, tripling of the teenage suicide rate, doubling of the divorce rate, a drop of almost 75 points in the SAT scores of our students.”

We want to address the inculcation of character and virtue. We want to be Street Smart and also learn what God has said about what is right and wrong.  How you ought to treat people and how you ought to live. How your behavior ought to be different if you call yourself a believer in Jesus Christ.

For a world that has lost its way, God wrote a book to bring us back. That book is called Proverbs. We are going to study what it has to say, learning its principles, and trying to become different people so we can make a difference when we go out into the world.

The        Message                                                              NLT

PROVERBS 1 AUTHOR: 1-6 These are the wise sayings of Solomon,    David's son, Israel's king—

1 These are the proverbs of Solomon, David’s son, king of Israel.

If I could say anything about the Book of Proverbs, I think it would be this.

#1. The Book of Proverbs is practical and down to earth.

#2. The Book of Proverbs is timeless. Though it was written 3000 years ago, it speaks to us today.
#3. It is amazingly relevant.

What is a proverb? It is a collection of wise sayings & good advice for daily living.
Proverbs may very well exist in every culture. We have many proverbs in our culture. Here are just a few:

“Don’t count your chickens before they’re hatched.”
“A stitch in time saves nine.”
“Don’t cry over spilled milk.”
“Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.”
“Hind sight is better than foresight.”
“People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.”
“Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.”

Proverbs are principles. They tell you how life is supposed to work.

The book of Proverbs includes a collection of short powerful sayings that cover many different subjects  including  marriage, social behavior, friendship, justice, folly, poverty, wealth, family, love,  laziness, & warning against drinking  & adultery.

Examples are:

Proverbs 12:24: Work hard and become a leader; be lazy and become a slave.
Proverbs 21:20: The wise have wealth and luxury, but fools spend whatever they get.
Proverbs 22:1: A good name is more desirable than riches
Proverbs 6:26: A prostitute will bring you to poverty, but sleeping with another man’s wife will cost you your life.
Proverbs 11:24: Give freely and become more wealthy; be stingy and lose everything.
Proverbs 28:13: People who conceal their sins will not prosper, but if they confess and turn from them, they will receive mercy.
Proverbs 14:34: Godliness makes a nation great, but sin is a disgrace to any people.
"It isn't enough simply to be educated and have knowledge, as important as education is. We also need wisdom, which is the ability to use knowledge. When a man knows the right and does the right he is a wise man.

The        Message                                                              NLT

PURPOSE: 2 Written down so we'll know how to live well and right, to understand what life means and where it's going; 3 A manual for living, for learning what's right and just and fair;

2 Their purpose is to teach people wisdom and discipline, to help them understand the insights of the wise. 3 Their purpose is to teach people to live disciplined and successful lives, to help them do what is right, just, and fair.

The  benefits that God promises to you and me from studying this book.

PURPOSE

#1 v. 2 Written down so we'll know how to live well and right,

⁽Their purpose is to teach people wisdom and discipline)

Common Sense. Voltaire said, “Common sense is not so common.” He was right! In a society that has grown increasingly litigious, we are inundated with warnings on products, mostly because some people lack common sense. Just read the following instructions.

On a hair dryer: Do not use while sleeping.
On an iron: Do not iron clothes on body.
On a chainsaw: Do not attempt to stop chain with your hand.

Common sense can be learned from experience or the teaching we receive from those we trust. But God’s Word is the best source of all to develop discernment and good judgment. God has packed this book with common sense. We have a lot to learn. Here’s an example of how to live well & right.

Proverbs 30:24: There are four things on earth that are small but unusually wise:
²⁵ Ants—they aren’t strong, but they store up food all summer.
²⁶ Hyraxes—they aren’t powerful, but they make their homes among the rocks.
²⁷ Locusts—they have no king, but they march in formation.
²⁸ Lizards—they are easy to catch, but they are found even in kings’ palaces.

Purpose # 2    to understand what life means and where it's going;
   ( to help them understand the insights of the wise).

Example:

Proverbs 27:23: Know the state of your flocks, and put your heart into caring for your herds,
²⁴ for riches don’t last forever, and the crown might not be passed to the next generation.
²⁵ After the hay is harvested and the new crop appears and the mountain grasses are gathered in,
²⁶ your sheep will provide wool for clothing, and your goats will provide the price of a field.
²⁷ And you will have enough goats’ milk for yourself, your family, and your servant girls.

Purpose #3   v.3 A manual for living,
⁽Their purpose is to teach people to live disciplined and successful lives),

We have a great need for wisdom.: Illustration
An imbecile man decides one day that he is sick and tired of people calling him stupid, so he decides to show his wife that he is really smart.  While his wife is off at work, he decides that he is going to paint a couple of rooms in the house. The next day, right after his wife leaves for work, he gets down to the task at hand. His wife arrives home at 5:30 and smells the distinctive smell of paint.

She walks into the living room and finds her husband lying on the floor in a pool of sweat. She notices that he is wearing a ski jacket and a fur coat at the same time. She rushes over and says, “Honey, are you all right?” He slowly nods his head yes.

“What are you doing?” she asks incredulously.

“I wanted to prove that I’m not so dumb,” he started, “and I wanted to do it by painting the house.”

 “Well why do you have both a ski jacket and a fur coat on?” she asks dumbfounded.

“Well,” he says, “I was reading the directions on the paint can and it said: For best results, put on two coats.”

Here are examples of what we can read in our manual.

Proverbs 13:1 A wise child accepts a parent’s discipline; a mocker refuses to listen to correction.
³ Those who control their tongue will have a long life; opening your mouth can ruin everything.
⁴ Lazy people want much but get little, but those who work hard will prosper.
²² Good people leave an inheritance to their grandchildren, but the sinner’s wealth passes to the godly.
²⁴ Those who spare the rod of discipline hate their children. Those who love their children care enough to discipline them.

Purose # 4 -    for learning what's right and just and fair;
⁽ to help them do what is right, just, and fair).

Examples:

^13:5 The godly hate lies; the wicked cause shame and disgrace.
¹¹ Wealth from get-rich-quick schemes quickly disappears; wealth from hard work grows over time.

The        Message                                                              NLT

RECIPIENTS: 4To teach the inexperienced the ropes and give our young people a grasp on reality.   5There's something here also for seasoned men and women, still a thing or two for the experienced to learn—   6 Fresh wisdom to probe and penetrate, the rhymes and reasons of wise men and women.

4 These proverbs will give insight to the simple, knowledge and discernment to the young. 5 Let the wise listen to these proverbs and become even wiser. Let those with understanding receive guidance 6 by exploring the meaning in these proverbs and parables, the words of the wise and their riddles.

Recipients:
#1 v.4  The challenge to the young & inexperienced (simple).

We are now living in what Newsweek calls the “age of enlightenment skepticism,” where it’s OK for you, but not OK for me; it’s right for you, but not right for me; wrong for you, but not wrong for me; you’ve got your way and I’ve got my way. There are no standards of absolute right and wrong.

But if there are no absolute standards, then dishonesty is just as good as honesty and hatred is just as good as compassion and laziness is just as good as hard work.

But God says there is absolute truth:

2 My child, listen to what I say, and treasure my commands.
⁵ Then you will understand what it means to fear the Lord, and you will gain knowledge of God.
⁹ Then you will understand what is right, just, and fair, and you will find the right way to go.

#2 v.5 The challenge to the seasoned men & women, the experienced (parents or grandparents etc.).

To Listen and then pass on what you learn.

The wise man never ceases to be a learner. He never gets to a point where he feels satisfied with his attainments.  Many a man, who starts out with great promise in early life, by and by loses his energy and fails of his early hope, because in the elation of his first successes he stopped learning, and then growth was at an end, and when growth stops decay begins.

Chuck Colson called this the “Turning Point He said that America now has gone down to such a point that we basically have done something that has never happened in the whole history of America.  Because we have moved away from a moral spiritual foundation, we have now at the beginning of the 21st century, for the first time raised an entire generation of young people who have no conscience.  We have a whole generation of teenagers, pre-teens and young adults who have no conscience because their parents have no sense of morality or right and wrong.  Since the parents had nothing, they had nothing to pass along to their teenagers.

We have so much to benefit from God’s Word:

^8:14 Common sense and success belong to me. Insight and strength are mine.

¹⁵ Because of me, kings reign, and rulers make just decrees.
¹⁶ Rulers lead with my help, and nobles make righteous judgments.

¹⁸ I have riches and honor, as well as enduring wealth and justice.

²⁰ I walk in righteousness, in paths of justice.
²¹ Those who love me inherit wealth.

WHERE TO START:  7 Start with God—the first step in learning is bowing down to God; only fools thumb their noses at such wisdom and learning.

7 Fear of the Lord is the foundation of true knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.

Verse 7 is the theme of the book of Proverbs.  

[This sermon was preached on June 3, 2012 at Folsom Community Church by Pastor Tito Dizon]

NIV “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge…”

A. Heb. word “Beginning”.  Prime or first.  All true knowledge begins with the fear of the Lord.  It means that which is first in order of priorities, that which is basic or foundational.  It does not mean that the fear of the Lord is not only where one starts learning wisdom… Rather the fear of the Lord is the controlling principle, the foundation, on which one must build a life of wisdom.

B. What is meant by fear of the Lord?

1.  Recognition of His might and holiness.  What is the fear of the Lord? It is not cringing terror.  It is respecting God for who he is. It is understanding that God is God and you are not. The fear of the Lord is to bow the knee before Almighty God and acknowledge that he made the world and that it runs according to his plan.

2. It is an affectionate awe & reverence that results in humbly bowing to the Father's will.
3. Submission. It is a desire not to sin against Him because His wrath is so awful and His love is so awesomeFear to displease Him.  Fear to disobey Him.

4. "Fear" includes not only a correct way of thinking about God but a correct relationship with Yahweh.

B. "Knowledge" -Even though many unbelievers have acquired much information without the fear of God, true knowledge rests on a relationship to God that revelation supports.

Illustration: Imagine standing in His presence.

1. Ex. Appointment with the Pres. Of the USA. Respect, honor due to the position, not do anything to displease him….
2. How much more God.

C. How is fear obtained? Sign “No Fear”- No Bible

1. Proper concept of God. Where: Bible, Godly People. From Genesis:   Creator. Righteous- hates what is unrighteous. Just- Judge us. Fair- give us what we deserve, Gracious, Merciful. To: Revelation:  Redeemer

Let me give 3 observations here:

#1 The road of wisdom leads to a temple, not to a palace.
#2 All education that leaves God out omits the central principle of the universe.
#3. God honors those who build their lives on the unshakeable foundation of his unchanging truth.

Let’s go back to God’s word and let’s get Street Smart.

A  friend encouraged me to read a chapter from Proverbs each day. One chapter each day takes me through this marvelous book of God’s wisdom every month. Ex.Billy Graham: “You can get knowledge in college but wisdom comes from God.” One chapter of Proverbs every day. Try it this month and see how God’s Word will give you the wisdom to transform information into insight.

Application:
Read 1 proverbs per day: share your insights in our facebook

 “Fools despise wisdom and discipline.”

And there is the arrogant, stubborn, hard-headed fool who will not listen to anybody’s advice. That’s the word used here. It’s the most extreme form of the word.

Sources: Thanks to the notes of Dr. Thomas Constable, NIV Introductions in Proverbs, Ray Pritchard, Chuck Smith, Rich Cathers, Matthew Henry

Sermon: Enjoy Yourself (Ecclesiastes 2):Pastor Tito Dizon

[This sermon was preached on 5/27/2012 at Folsom Community Church by Pastor Tito Dizon]

 “Enjoy Yourself!”         

 Ecclesiastes 2:1-26  

INTRODUCTION

I want to start by asking some very simple questions. These are simple questions but with very difficult answers. Here we go:

1- Are you happy?

2- What is it that will make you happy?
3- When will you finally be happy?

Every single one of us has something or someone that we anticipated would make us happy.  We assumed once  once we experienced, once we accomplished, once we acquired this one thing we would then be a satisfied, joyous and finally a happy people.

Fill in the blank: I’ll be happy when _______.

My next question is this:

Do you really think when you fill in that blank you’ll be a satisfied, joyous, and happy person?

Do you really think that will happen?

If we look back at the course of our life- 5, 10, or for some of you, 20 years ago, at some point you thought; as soon as I achieve, experience, accomplish, and acquire _______ you would be happy and satisfied. And so you labored with that end in mind and upon achieving or attaining these things, you’re still not all that satisfied, and you’re still not all that happy.

So we chuck out our old list, and create a new one with more refined objectives. You put on your list of what would make you happy like travel, Art Collections, Dream Sports car, $1M RF, A new relationship…. So you rearrange your list to reflect a more mature and distinguished you.

Peter Kreeft says that this kind of living is like a “wild goose chase, without a goose.” We keep trying to make ourselves happy and satisfied by reorganizing our external lives.  So we work harder to make more money. We pursue more sex, more friends, more stuff, all the while not realizing our satisfaction, our joy, our pleasure, has much more to do with the reorganization of our internal life than it does with our external life.

Solomon is going to try to answer our question for us, and he is going to try out what we put in our “blank” when we asked the question “I’ll be happy when…” …that we would most likely pursue to find happiness and the good life.

Ecc.1

1 These are the words of the Teacher, King David’s son, who ruled in Jerusalem. ² “Everything is meaningless,” says the Teacher, “completely meaningless!” ³ What do people get for all their hard work under the sun?

V.1  Author :  Solomon

V.2. Solomon uses the word "vanity or meaningless" 38 times in the book.  The meaning of the word is a breath, a wind or a vapor. Metaphorically it is unsubstantial, fleeting or transitory.
V3. Aim or Thesis of the book.  :    Is life worth living?

What is the “good life?” and what will make man most happy?

1.       Fulfillment doesn't come through indulgence. (2: 1-3)

 “I’ll be happy when…”

Ecclesiastes 2

1  I said to myself, “Come on, let’s try pleasure. Let’s look for the ‘good things’ in life.” But I found that this, too, was meaningless

Verse 1- He starts out by telling us that he set himself to the pursuit of chasing pleasure.

What is pleasure for you?... Eating your fav.food, Playing your fav. Game w/o time limits, sleeping on a comfortable bed, shopping ‘til you drop…, Some of you like to get massages… That’s my favorite part…I missed my blind masseurs in the Phil’s..

Solomon tells us that he made a good hard pass at pleasure, he decided to go after it with tremendous zeal, and he pursued in a variety of ways.

I’ll be happy when… V.2– …I can laugh all time.

² So I said, “Laughter is silly. What good does it do to seek pleasure?”

How many of you like comedy? I love comedy.  I would love to have _(Dolphy, Bubble Gang, Willing Willy, Tito, Vic & Joey, Aiai- Tanging Ina) Adam Sandler, Seinfield, Funniest Video, Big Bang theory__as my next door neighbor so that any time I was feeling down I could have him come over and quote me lines from their shows. ..employ comedians to tell us knock, knock jokes.

Wouldn’t it be great if we could have the financial means and the power to have guys like that at our disposal to make us laugh all the time? They didn’t have cable T.V. or Blockbuster, You Tube, Netflix, so any laughter that came from performers came from spending having enough power and money

Solomon says that his laughter that it was madness. He said of his pleasure “what does it accomplish?” Can you imagine coming to a place when what was once funny to you no longer makes you laugh and you look at it and say “this is crazy!”

I’ll be happy when…  V. 3–…I can drink & be foolish all the time.

³ After much thought, I decided to cheer myself with wine. And while still seeking wisdom, I clutched at foolishness. In this way, I tried to experience the only happiness most people find during their brief life in this world.

Drinking the premium wines & listening to the best comedians! How many in Solomon’s court said daily,“I wish I was in his shoes”? The more that people drink, the less enjoyment they get out of it. This means they must have more drinks and stronger drinks in order to have pleasure; the sad result is desire without satisfaction.

If you live for pleasure alone, enjoyment will decrease unless the intensity of the pleasure increases.! Then you reach a point when there is little or no enjoyment at all, only bondage. Instead of alcohol, substitute drugs, gambling, sex, money, fame, or any other pursuit, and the principle stays the same.

When pleasure alone is the center of life, the result will ultimately be disappointment and emptiness

2. Fulfillment doesn't come through achievements. (4-6)

I’ll be happy when… V.4a– …I can buy my first home.

⁴ I also tried to find meaning by building huge homes for myself and by planting beautiful vineyards. 

Some of you want to move from your parents home into an apartment, then you’d be happy. Then you move to an apartment and find out that you can’t paint the walls whatever color you want, you can’t buy nicer appliances or have your own washer and dryer, your own double sided fridge with the ice and water dispenser. Ex. My Bike- don’t know where to place it.

So you think, I’ll be happy when I can finally buy my own home so that I can put in my own things and do with my house whatever I want. Then you find out about association dues, and color swatches you have to choose from.  You also find out that now you have all of your appliances you have to pay for every single thing that breaks on those appliances.

Ex.EDH Tennis friend plants

For some of you, you think; I’ll be happy when I can get a bigger house, in a nicer neighborhood, without my neighbors blaring Kid Rock at three a.m. and racing up and down the street in their primered 69 nova. Then I’d be happy…and safer!

1 Kings 5:   ¹³ King Solomon conscripted a labor force of 30,000 men from all Israel… ¹⁵ Solomon also had 70,000 common laborers, 80,000 quarry workers in the hill country, ¹⁶ and 3,600 foremen to supervise the work.

 7:1 “Solomon took  13 years to build his own house.

Solomon’s house took 13 years to build.  (The Temple took 7 years and 183,600 workers).  Those crews went to work and built his house. Imagine what you could build with unlimited resources and 100,000 plus workers.

Wouldn’t be great if I could have a house in the mountains, a place at the beach, one in the city, and I could gave as much square footage and as much land as I wanted.  I’d be happy if MTV called me so they could put my house on Cribs.

What else would you do with that kind of money? How about building your own gardens and parks?

I’ll be happy when… 4b-6–…I plant vineyards for myself;

…I could walk through my own private parks and sit in my own private garden.

4b  …and by planting beautiful vineyards. ⁵ I made gardens and parks, filling them with all kinds of fruit trees. ⁶ I built reservoirs to collect the water to irrigate my many flourishing groves.

How many of you like gardening? How many of don’t like gardening but you like gardens?  One of my favorite memories is at Dallas Arboreteum, when we visited East Coast , Canada.  The smells, the colors, the different types of flowers and plants, the ponds, the rolling lawn, the trees, are all God’s creation and show His glory. Wouldn’t it be great if that was our back yard?

Even after all of these accomplishments, he still found no fulfillment.   History is filled with the names of people who made great discoveries, did tremendous works, and enjoyed the world's acclaim for their accomplishments, but still found no happiness.

3. Fulfillment doesn't come through wealth or fame. (7-9)

I’ll be happy when…V. 7a–  ….I have my own Workers! (7a)

⁷ I bought slaves, both men and women, and others were born into my household.  

He had 2 types of workers: Those purchased, & those born in his household. He also drafted 30,000 Jewish men to work on his various projects (1 Kings 5:13-17).  (they weren’t happy with) “Maybe if I have many employees working “under” me”, some think will bring satisfaction!…Power!

1 Kings 4:

²² The daily food requirements for Solomon’s palace were 150 bushels of choice flour and 300 bushels of meal ²³ also 10 oxen from the fattening pens, 20 pasture-fed cattle, 100 sheep or goats, as well as deer, gazelles, roe deer, and choice poultry.

In 1 Kings 4:22-23, we’re told that he prepared an enormous amount of food that would feed around 35,000 people each day. This was his posse. These were full time professionals who were best in their field and were employed by the King to cater to his every whim. 

Can you imagine this? A hairstylist could trim your hair throughout the month so you would always look good. You had a chief, you had a masseuse, you had a fashion consultant, you had a manicurist, you had all kinds of servants who spent their entire career working to make you happy.

Every thing you wanted to do but didn’t like the details, you had personal assistants that would immediately take care of whatever your heart and mind came up with.

I’ll be happy when…  V. 7b–…I can finally buy that pony that mommy wouldn’t get me and every other kind of animal that I like looking at.

^7b … I also owned large herds and flocks, more than any of the kings who had lived in Jerusalem before me.

Herds & Flocks – 1 Kings 8:63 “And Solomon offered a sacrifice of peace offerings, which he offered to the LORD, 22,000 bulls and 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the children of Israel dedicated the house of the LORD.”

If you had unlimited resources with tremendous acreage you could have your own zoo.  You could have horses, you could have elephants, giraffe, hippo, lions,tigers and bears, yeah you know the rest. Any animal that existed and could be captured, you could own.

I’ll be happy when…V. 8a– …I’m loaded.

⁸ I collected great sums of silver and gold, the treasure of many kings and provinces.

Some of you would be happy to just attain the level above of being broke. You think you’d be happy if you had a debit card with unlimited funds and you never had to balance your account because it didn’t matter. You could buy whatever you wanted whenever you wanted.

Some of us play or have played the lotto thinking that Jesus was speaking about a winning ticket when He said “whatever you for in my name…” Dear Jesus, please let me win.

Then you would be happy. Then you would be satisfied and joyous. Then you could do whatever you wanted with your wealth and amend all the wrongs of your life. Right?

From taxes alone, Solomon earned twenty-five tons of gold in addition to the gold and exotic treasures brought by fleets of ships, accompanied his innumerable other investments and income streams.

1Kings 10:

¹⁴ Each year Solomon received about 25 tons of gold. ¹⁵ This did not include the additional revenue he received from merchants and traders, all the kings of Arabia, and the governors of the land. ¹⁶ Solomon made 200 large shields of hammered gold..¹⁸ Then the king made a huge throne, decorated with ivory and overlaid with fine gold…No other throne in all the world could be compared with it!

²¹ All of King Solomon’s drinking cups were solid gold, as were all the utensils in the Palace... They were not made of silver, for silver was considered worthless in Solomon’s day! ²³ So  Solomon became richer than any other king on earth.

Solomon had great wealth and all the things that money could buy! Solomon had real wealth which was unparalleled in human history.

I’ll be happy when…  V. 8b– …I finally complete my music collection.

I hired wonderful singers, both men and women,

How many of you like music? Me too. Now, back in these days, you didn’t have mp3 players and cd’s, DVD’s, MTV’s.  You didn’t have radios. So, if you wanted to hear a particular band or singer, you hired them. Can you imagine hiring U2, …to live in your house so that you can wake them up at all hours in the morning and have them play you a song?

Who would you hire? Some of you would hire a country western singer…we’ll pray for you.  Solomon has his own American Idol (Philipp Philipps, Jessica Sanchez) The VOICE

I’ll be happy when… V. 8c– …I can have as much sex as my prescription will allow.

…and had many beautiful concubines. I had everything a man could desire!

How many wives did Solomon have? 700. How many  concubines?” 300.

1kings 11:³ 

He had 700 wives of royal birth and 300 concubines. And in fact, they did turn his heart away from the Lord.

Tall women, short women, blonde, brunette, redhead? 1, 2, 10?  Their job was to make you sexually happy. They sat around and primped themselves all day long just so they could look beautiful for you. Think about this…once every 3 years you would be with the same woman.

I’ll be happy when…V.9…I ‘m no.1, the greatest, most famous.

⁹ So I became greater than all who had lived in Jerusalem before me, and my wisdom never failed me.

1 Kings 10: ²³ 

So Solomon became richer and wiser than any other king on earth.  ²⁴ People from every nation came to consult him and to hear the wisdom God had given him. ²⁵ Year after year everyone who visited brought him gifts of silver and gold, clothing, weapons, spices, horses, and mules.

Ex.Queen of Sheba

4. Fulfillment doesn't come through self-gratification. (10)

¹⁰ Anything I wanted, I would take. I denied myself no pleasure. I even found great pleasure in hard work, a reward for all my labors.

I’ll be happy when…Etc.

V. 10…I can do whatever my eyes and heart want.

Better yet, how about I become my own boss! Then I’d get great performance reviews, I’d love my boss and all of his decisions would be right.  I’d get to take as much vacation as I want.  I wouldn’t have to be at work at a specific time,

Here is going to be the toughest part of this message. You have to come to the same conclusion and believe Solomon when he gives us his final analysis.

¹¹ But as I looked at everything I had worked so hard to accomplish, it was all so meaningless—like chasing the wind. There was nothing really worthwhile anywhere.

Conclusion

Solomon's conclusion of his initial reasoning: Enjoy and be content with the providence of God. 2:24-26

1.v.24 Enjoy life and find satisfaction in your work realizing that these pleasures are from the hand of God.

²⁴ So I decided there is nothing better than to enjoy food and drink and to find satisfaction in work.

Those of us at varying levels below Solomon on the economic food chain cling to the myth that if they could trade places with him they would be happy, satisfied, and joyful. However, the parade of history from Jimmy Hendrix, Elvis, and Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston  sings the same song as Solomon.

Hence, those on top of the food chain try to get happy by chasing the wind of simplicity and reducing their stuff and experiences, while those at the bottom of the food chain try to get happy by complicating their life, chasing the wind of more pleasurable stuff and experiences.

Think of what you have now & enjoy it- family, car, house, work etc. Enjoyment robbers: So Materialistic , so future oriented , pleasure oriented  Ex. Dayday w/ kids

Not I will be happy when….

2.Life be received  & enjoyed as  a gift from God. V.25

²⁴ … Then I realized that these pleasures are from the hand of God. ²⁵ For who can eat or enjoy anything apart from him?

It’s not only on the blessings themselves that come from the hand of God, but also on the “enjoyment” of the blessings! There is no enjoyment in life without God.

Accepting life as Gods Gift . Recognize that life is a gift from God...so enjoy it. “Thank God for what you do have, & enjoy it to the Glory of God!” Count your blessings!

3. Life be lived in the light of his present  judgements.v.26

²⁶ God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy to those who please him. But if a sinner becomes wealthy, God takes the wealth away and gives it to those who please him…

Those who pleases Him in the present, God will…

1.Give more wisdom, knowledge, and joy.

2. Give the wealth of the sinner to those who enjoy his blessings in the present.

*Message Research  taken from: Brian Bell,  Don Robinson &  David Fairchild