The Notes

This coming Wednesday night - November 20, 2024 - we ask the question - did you get more in 2024?  Not more money, more possessions, or even more joy . . . there were 4 things that are much more important.  Join us this week for More in 2024, and we prepare our hearts for Thanksgiving.   Don't you need some mid-week encouragement for the soul?  And bring your Bible.  It's Bible study after all. 

If you can't attend in person, join us on our Facebook page at 6:30 p.m. or listen to the message later when you have time.  

For those without Facebook, come back here to our website the following day and watch a replay of the message anytime!  And for those in a hurry, you can download the notes for the message from the "Past and Future Messages" page of our website.  There are many ways to be spiritually fed and encouraged.

Our Bible study on Wednesday night, November  13, 2024, looked at Ecclesiastes 3, one of the most popular passages of scripture. With fall in the air, it's the perfect time to acknowledge that: "To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven."  Eccl. 3:1.   Fall begin a new season and all around us nature is changing.  While fall is certainly beautiful - and a great reminder that change can be beautiful - many people have a hard time with change.  Fact is, we’re been created for change. 

As we let Jesus into our life, we become a new creation; we're changed.  "Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!"  2 Cor. 5:17. And the Bible tells us not to conform to be like this world, but “let God change the way you think”  Rom. 12:2  We’re designed for change . . . and we live for the ultimate change that will happen one day, when in an instant, in the blink of an eye, the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we’ll be changed.  1 Cor. 15:52.  Change is part of life.  The Greek philosopher Heraclitus said, “The only thing constant in life is change”   God created seasons, time for change.  As Ecclesiastes 3 says, there is a time and season for "for every purpose under heaven.”  That means God purposefully created time, seasons, and change.  We have little control over change, but God does.  He directs and orders it.

He intends for there to be change in life, diversity, and even orchestrates opposites.  Ecclesiastes 3 is a great example of that. 

Look at Ecclesiastes 3:2-8 - there is a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to harvest.  We are given both celebrations & funerals, beginnings & endings.  It's a reminder that we should never assume things will last forever. They won’t.  

People & situations will change, so appreciate the now.  Live in the moment.  Put down your phone and appreciate the people who are with you.  

We plant & we harvest, and both involve work.  Time.  And in between our efforts, there is patience, and God.  We do one with hope & expectation, the other we do with gratitude.  So be hopeful about the future, expect good things to be harvested in your life. Just remember to plant what you want to grow.  You want more love in your life, show love to others.  You want more kindness in your life, be kind to others.  You'll reap what you sow.  And when that harvest comes, appreciate what has bloomed in your life.   Appreciate what God made grow.

Verse 3  - a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build up.  There is an old saying, "time heals all wounds."  It's not true.  Time does not heal, God heals, in time.  Healing happens when we’re ready, when we give our pain to God. Some people hold onto their pain, they never heal.  Kill the death-hold on the pain in your life, and you can fin healing.  

For some of us, we need to acknowledge that some relationships should be healed, some should not.  Use the fall season as a time to evaluate.  And keep this in mind - some things can be repaired, some need to just start over.  It's always been true that it is easier to start a new church than resurrect a dead one.  Why?   Because negativity is destructive.  Negativity will kill a church just like it will kill a relationship.  As you look at your relationships in life, recognize this truth – some things need to be eliminated so other things can be built up.  You may need to say goodbye to one relationship for a much better one to being and nurture you.

Verse 4 - a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance.  Some people get stuck in the weeping & mourning.  They are stuck in darkness, no light and no joy.

The Bible assures us that weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning. Ps. 30:5.  Let that verse remind you that God never intends for us to stay in a place of mourning.

We are also supposed to have a time to dance, to live with joy.  Look for reasons to dance. God is still at work, and there are hundreds of reasons all around us that we can dance.

Verse 5 - a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, or as the NLT puts it, a time to turn away.  Let's start with scatter and gather; it means there is a time to share our wealth and resources, but there is also a time to gather.  Gather doesn’t mean hoard.  Gather means bring together, take in.  A fact of life is that you can’t give what you don’t have; gather and wait for the time to scatter.  God will provide abundant blessings in our life so that we can be a blessing to others.

There is a time to embrace, to hold someone close . . . but we also have to let go.  Give people the freedom to develop, grow, mature,  and change.  Change is maturity.  It’s becoming better versions of ourselves.  You don't ant people to hold you to the person you were 10 years ago; you want them to recognize the change in you, the improvement.  We have to do the same for others - allow them to grow, recognize it, and appreciate it. 

Verse 6 - a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away.  Many people don’t like to quit, to give up.  We think it says we have failed.  But the lesson for us is that when you’ve done all you can do, when you've prepared as much as possible, gone as far as you can go, stop.  Ephesians 6:13 – “Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.”  Sometimes you have to just stand, and let God do the rest.  We have to quit, so God can begin.

Time to keep, and time to throw away. Some translations say:  time to gain, time to lose.  There are things we’ve been trying to keep, we've neem holding onto them, but let the fall season remind you, it's time to let go.  We need to lose a few things; lose the bad attitude, the negativity, fear, control, selfishness, hate . . . we might even need to let some people go.  When you let go, chose to gain hope, optimism, love, joy, peace, passion, a zest for life . . . .  Replace the negative with positivity.  Replace the cynical, skeptical, and distrustful with optimistic, hope, and trust.  It will be the best trade ever.

Verse 7 - a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak.  This idea of tear and mend is a lot like verse 3 - we tear down & build up.  But this uses the words tear & mend; sewing terms.  To mend clothing is to repair imperfections that develop from being well-worn: holes, tears, missing buttons, or permanent stains.  Some people have holes as well; they have missing pieces, and have been stained and blemished by life.

We can love and help others mend by showing how God puts us back together.  He makes the pieces fit and gives peace.  His love makes us whole.  Let's be a reflection of that love so others can know the God that we love and serve.

There is a time to be silent, and a time to speak. Our mouths can get us in so much trouble.  We know it, but sometimes we just open our mouths anyway.  James 3:7-8 tells us we can tame animals, “but no one can tame the tongue. It is restless and evil, full of deadly poison.”  James also says that a small spark can start a forest fire and “the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself.”  James 3:5-6.  Remind yourself of that verse the next time you are tempted to speak the first thing that pops into your mind.  It's time for some of us to be silent.  Put out fire.  Don’t say everything you think.

Verse 8 - a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.  Amos 5:15 says: “Hate evil, love what is good.”  People are good; God said so when He created mankind.  So love them.  The Bible never tells us to hate each other.

As for war and peace. none of us know what the future holds, but we're sure praying for peace.  We, in the United States, have been blessed to not have any wars fought on our soil since the Civil War.  Other places are not so blessed.  Recognize it, appreciate it.  And as we live together, striving to be "united" in the United States, let this verse guide you - Romans 12:18 – “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.”  Live as though peace depends on you.  Don’t count on others to make things right, or pick up the pieces for your actions or words.  Live at peace.

Time doesn't permit us to go to the end of Ecclesiastes 3, but just look in closing at verses 9-13– “What do people really get for all their hard work?  I have seen the burden God has placed on us all. Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.  So I concluded there is nothing better than to be happy and enjoy ourselves as long as we can.  And people should eat and drink and enjoy the fruits of their labor, for these are gifts from God.”

Work isn’t just a result of the fall of Adam & Eve.  Work existed before that.  Genesis 2:15 - ”The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. “  From the very beginning of time, work is a gift of God, given for our enjoyment and blessing.  It makes us useful; gives us purpose.  Work gives meaning to our time on earth, and joy to our life.  The “fruit of labor” means we can be fulfilled by our work  So even when you are retired, you need something to do.   Want to be happy?  Get to work.   Work at what you enjoy.  And if you don’t enjoy it, change it.

Our lives are part of bigger plan than we can understand.  But we can know this - God planned, purposed, and created life with meaning & intention.  Everything has a purpose, and everything has a season. We all have seasons in our lives . . .  seasons of change & times hen it's steady.  Seasons of smooth sailing & times of hurricanes.   Seasons of joy & times of grief.  Seasons of goodness & times of darkness.  There is also a season for you to shine.  And in the in between, God is present with you.  He’ll sustain you and lead you through to the next season.