Video Transcript: You Only Live Once

We've been studying the book of Ecclesiastes as a series gets interrupted by this or that. And  it's important to consider other things as well. But we'll return to Ecclesiastes today. And look  at most of chapter nine. And my theme today is you only live once. I want to begin with a  story about a pampered Prince. Once upon a time, there was a pampered prince, and his  father, the king wanted this prince to always be sheltered from anything painful or  unpleasant. He built three palaces, for the Prince to live in to keep the prince in perpetual  pleasure. He made sure that nobody old or sick or with any problem ever came near the  prince, when the prince would travel from one palace to the next, they made sure that the  journey was always free of any unpleasant sight. When the prince was 16, he was given a  beautiful bride, and together, they had a son. And the prince continued to live that way. He  lived in luxury until he was 29 years old. But at that age, he found that all that pleasure and  all of that happy, perfect life didn't satisfy him. And so he decided to take a little journey  without the supervision and protection of his father, making sure everything looks good all the time. And on that journey, he saw four sites, the first site he saw, was a very old man. And he  had never seen an old man before. The next site he saw was somebody who was very sick  and in tough shape. And he had never seen anything but healthy people before. The third site that he saw, was a dead body. And he had not known that there was such a thing as death,  and had never seen a dead body before. And the fourth thing that he saw, was a hermit. And  he decided to leave his royal palace, and his royal family, and to become a hermit. And that is what he did. And even pondered these sites that he had seen of old age, and sickness, and  death, and was just pondering these hard realities of suffering. And finally, one day, sitting  under a tree, the prince found enlightenment. And he came to sense that he at last was in a  state where it was bliss. And then he decided to share what he had discovered with others.  And he became known to his followers as the Buddha. And he wanted to share enlightenment  with other people. The enlightenment that had begun when he saw old age, and sickness and  death, and pondered on what all of that meant, in some ways, the story of the Buddha,  whether it's true to fact or at least has roots in historical fact, is a lot like the journey of the  writer of Ecclesiastes. He was King in Jerusalem, his father had been the great King David, his  life had been laid out for him pretty well. He was given enormous wisdom. And he had the  most successful reign of any king in the history of the realm. What could be better? And then  he started thinking, and that's a dangerous and painful thing to do, to be thinking about, not  just the Golden Age, and the success that I'm having, and Aren't I a fabulous young king, but  to realize that the years are going by, and there are sick people, there are old people, there  are dead people. In fact, we're all going to end up that way, and what is it all amout too, and  he gets to thinking, Vanity of vanities, all is vanity. And there is some overlap between the  Buddha and Ecclesiastes are also some very great differences as we're going to see but the  overlap is simply a person thinking hard, about realities that stare you in the face. When you  think of what the Buddha are discovered he has a certain view of life and it's in common,  some of it with Hinduism and other Eastern religions. And one thing that Buddhists believe in  is karma. Buddhists and I'll just quote from Buddhist teacher, teachers. Since then you'll know I didn't just make it up. Buddhists understand karma as a natural law. There's no judgment, no divine intervention, and no gods that steer man's destiny. Buddhism is basically an atheistic  philosophy. They don't believe in any kind of personal God, no gods that steer man's destiny,  but only the law of karma itself, which works on a global timeframe. Deeds yield  consequences, either in the next second, in the next hour, day, month, year, decade, or even  in the next lifetime, or in another distant lifetime. And you say, what's this about another  lifetime? Well, that's our next concept, reincarnation, rebirth, or reincarnation has always  been an important tenet in Buddhism. And it's often referred to as walking the Wheel of Life  samsara it's the process of being born over and over again, in different times in different  situations, possibly, for many 1000 times. And this is an idea that has some attraction, even  to some Westerners who didn't grow up Buddhists. Would it be cool to be a tiger, and then  come back maybe as a to can and you know, live life as a hawk soaring high in the sky, and  live another life as a king. And a variety is the spice of life. And variety of lives is really spicy.  So that might sound you know, just kind of fun. And there's also a sense of explanation there,  sometimes terrible things happen to you. And you don't know why you thought you did what 

was necessary to avoid it, you didn't think you did anything necessarily bad to bring that  particular thing on you. But this explains it. Something that happened in a previous life that  you did is responsible for things that are going on now. And that, that lets a little bit of the  responsibility off of you, at least for what you did in this life. You did it back then. But hey,  that was sort of you, but sort of not you. And you get an explanation for why tough stuff  happens. Another possible attraction of reincarnation is that if at first you don't succeed, try,  try again. If you blow it in this life, you haven't blown it permanently. You get another crack at  it. And if you blow that one, you get another chance. And if you blow that one, you get  another chance. And you might have to go through many, many, many lifetimes. But at some  point, you will enter into enlightenment. And there's a lot of attraction to that kind of idea.  And then when there is enlightenment, what's that involves? Well, actually, it involves, not  only is there no God, but Memoral. There's no you. There are no personal beings period. In the Buddhist analogy, the universe is in motion due to karmic forces. A ripple a wave or a below  may seem as an individual entity for a moment, creating the illusion that it has a sight to use  a self, you think you're you, but it's gone in the next moment. The truth is that all individuals  are one. A ripple is a temporary phenomenon. It's just water in motion, it'd be ridiculous to  say that a single Ripper or way ripple or wave has a cell. You don't have a self and  enlightenment is discovering that all is one. So those are some basics of Buddhism, and it's B  it's been adapted in various ways in different cultures. With the help of Oprah Winfrey, it gets  spread in our culture through a few of her favorite Buddhists. Gary Zhukov says of karma the  universe does not judge. It compassionately provides for us. The consequences that we create with our choices, whatever those consequences are, that's how karma works. The power to  create your experience is fully in your hands. That is the lesson of karma. What happens to  you is what you deserve. It's what you caused, what comes around goes around. And the  universe with a capital U is some sort of impersonal force that brings all of that about. With  reincarnation. You don't suffer for eternity because you do the wrong thing once or twice or  even time after time. It's not possible to do the wrong thing. You do what you do, and you  experienced the consequences of it. It's that simple. If you don't experience those  consequences before you die, your soul creates another life so that you can that is  reincarnation. So no judgement and always the consequences come up in the next slide.  Another teacher Eckhart Tolle Allah says life is one and I am one with all life there's that  enlightenment. Enlightenment is simply your natural state of felt oneness with being, and  then emerges it with Christianity. You are the truth. If you look for it elsewhere, you will be  deceived every time, the very being that you are is truth. Jesus tried to convey that when he  said, I am the WAY and the TRUTH and the LIFE. Jesus speaks of the innermost I am the  essence identity of every man and woman every life form. In fact, he speaks of the life that  you are, Buddhists call it your Buddha nature. For Hindus, it is Atman, the indwelling God. So  you may have thought that when Jesus said I am the Way, the Truth and the Life he meant  that Jesus is the Way the Truth and the life but what he really meant was, I, me, me, I am the  WAY and the TRUTH and the LIFE and whatever I need, I should look inside myself. And there I will find that force that pervades and rules the whole universe. And that force is I. Well, you  can see why that might appeal to a few people. GK Chesterton commented on this kind of  religion 100 years ago, he said of all horrible religions, the most horrible is the worship of the  God within, that Jones shall worship the God within him turns out ultimately to mean that  Jones shall worship Jones, let Jones worship the sun or moon, anything rather than the inner  light, let Jones worship cats or crocodiles, if he can find any in his street, but not the God  within Christianity came into the world Firstly, in order to assert that a man has not only to  look inwards, but to look outwards, to behold, with astonishment and enthusiasm, a divine  company and a divine captain, the only fun of being a Christian was that a man was not left  alone with the inner light, but definitely recognize an outer light fair as the sun clears the  moon, terrible as an army with banners. Buddha thought about many of the same things that  are thought about in the Bible. And rightly so these are things that are important to think  about, but came to some very different conclusions and how you live your life and what your  life means has to be settled in, in view of what the truth is about these matters. When you  baptize a baby, or you have a little baby, when someone has just died, you have to think 

about what comes in between birth and death. And is that all there is one life or many, many,  many lives in this world? Well, the Bible says there's one life. Buddhism says many lives, the  Bible says that we learn and experience enlightenment through God's revelation of a personal God. Buddhism says we discover it through meditation and discovering that we have no self  that there are no gods and we've become, we've just become aware of the oneness of the  world. The Bible teaches again, and again, a personal God. Buddhism speaks of an impersonal force. The Bible says that desire is fleeting, you know, Ecclesiastes talks about desire a lot  and pleasure. And it doesn't say those things are necessarily bad, but it says they're fleeting.  And they're meant to point you to something else. Ecclesiastes says, God's made everything  beautiful in its time. And he's also set eternity in the hearts of men. So that desire in those  beautiful times are supposed to waken you to eternity. Buddhism says desire is the source of  all suffering, if you didn't have any desire, you wouldn't suffer. So the goal is to snuff out all  desire to snap out all sense of your own being and identity. And just whatever. Providence  says, the Bible is governed by personal God, and it can't be predicted or controlled by us  because we're not running the show. Buddhism speaks of just this cause and effect karma  that determines everything. And the Bible, of course, and speaking of one life to live, is not  saying that, that's all there is. It's just saying that beyond that one life that we live under the  sun and on earth, there is eternal life and resurrection life. Buddhism, teaches that we  escaped the body. We escaped thought, after a lot of reincarnations, but the goal is to escape. Sometimes Westerners think hey, that that reincarnation and that's kind of cool to come back  and a whole bunch of different lives. But in classical Buddhism and Hinduism, that wheel is  considered a terrible thing, you die and you die and you die and you want to get off that  wheel, you don't want to come back. You just want to get off that wheel. So you're not running like a hamster through various lives anymore. You want to escape your body, you want to  escape thought, and just be merged into that force and get rid of that illusion that you are  somebody. Well, in light of the difference between Buddhism and Christianity, I want to look at those verses in Ecclesiastes chapter nine. And I want to begin with the with this verse. So I  reflected on all this. And you know what Ecclesiastes has been reflecting on the injustices in  the world, the reality of death, the fact that pleasures may be fun for a moment, but then  they're gone. All those kinds of realities, the same kinds of things that the Buddha reflected  on. And let's give him credit, he thought hard about important things. So 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 him. The universe is not just something where  different laws kick in, whether you call it the laws of science, or the laws of karma, either one,  you are misled, if you think some sort of important, impersonal force, rules and gardens and  guides everything that happens. It's a personal God, and His providence, Providence in which  he provides for and plans for all that happens. He concludes that what righteous people and  wise people do is in God's hands. That's a wonderful truth. And being the author of  Ecclesiastes, you can't just leave it with a smile. He also tells you what the difficult side is, it's  great to be in God's hands. And you have no clue what's coming next. You don't know whether Love is coming at you, whether hate is coming at you. Joseph, is somebody in the book of  Genesis that we're reading about right now, his life was in God's hands, he was considered, I  suppose, one of the righteous and one of the wise, no doubt about it. And what happened  with Joseph was it predictable? Well, he dreamed that he was going to be ruling someday. But  then he winds up getting dumped into a hole in the ground, then he gets sold as a slave. Then he gets framed for attempted rape when he didn't do it, and sits in prison for quite a while. He didn't know all that was waiting for him. And then he wound up being the second top guy in  all of Egypt. And in all of that God was ruling and God had a plan. But there were a lot of  times where he must have wondered what in the world is going on here? Providence rules, but that does not mean your life is simple, or predictable. The best you can do, says James, as  you say, Well, if the Lord wills will do this, or that, but we don't know exactly what his will for  my future is, or for your future isn't. So we just have to live by trust in His hands without  saying that we know it or predicted all. The second thing that Ecclesiastes mentioned, besides God's providence is that death is unavoidable all share a common destiny, the righteous and  the wicked, the good and the bad, the clean and the unclean, those who offer sacrifices, and 

those who do not as it is with a good man, so in the sinner, as it is with those who take oath.  So for those who are afraid to take them, whether you choose this, or that, whether you are  this, or that you die. That's something that the Buddha thought about hard that Ecclesiastes  

thought about very hard that we spend a good deal of our lives, trying not to think about until we really can't avoid thinking about it anymore. Death is simply unavoidable. If you're going  to have any kind of philosophy that deals with reality as it is, you've got to account for the  reality of death, where it comes from what lies beyond it. A third fact. Life can be wasted. Yes, you can blow it. You can throw away the one life you've been given, and you can't get it back  again. This is the evil in everything that happens under the sun, the same destiny overtakes  all the hearts of men, moreover, are full of evil, and there is madness in their hearts while  they live. And afterward they joined the dead. Remember, while back when I was speaking on  Ecclesiastes, somebody said to me, Well, it seems to me like the basic plot of Ecclesiastes and each new chapter is I had another bad day. Well, actually, almost every day you had was  good. He was the king. He had everything going for him. But he had a lot of dark thoughts in  the middle of his good days. He saw what was going on and he saw that Yes. People can be  evil, they can be absolutely not crazy, mad. And then they die. And they don't get another  crack under the sun, and then another one and another one till they finally get it right. You  can be wicked and stupid and die that way. And you've passed through this life and you never knew what it was all about. Not very uplifting, just happens to be a fact. And so he thinks hard about that. When you look at the Bible and read some of the other aspects of the Bible, how  do you deal with this madness and this evil? I don't have time to dwell on it quickly. But I'll  just take two examples of people who were out of their head. One is Nebuchadnezzar, the  king who said, Oh, Is not this the great Babel and I have built in God judged him. And  suddenly he kind of thought he was a cross between a bird and the cow. And they put him out to pasture. And he was out eating grass and doing weird stuff. And then there is this phrase, I  looked up to heaven, and my sanity was restored. Men are full of madness. But when they  look up the heavens, some semblance of sanity comes back to him, or take Jesus story of the  prodigal son. He takes all his stuff squanders it blows it all and then the Jesus story, it says,  He came to his senses and said, I will return to my father. You can waste your life, but the  waste. And when you say, I will return to my father. And when you say I will look up to  heaven, and then your sanity can be restored. But if not, no doubt about it, your life can be  wasted. And when it's over, it's over. Anyone who's among the living has hope. Even a live  dog is better off than the deadline. You say what I like dogs. Well, maybe somebody  Ecclesiastes didn't know that was the time when they didn't have pets, the dogs mangy curs.  Nobody thought much of them. And yet he says, Hey, you're better off being mangy cur that's alive than the noble king of beasts laying there dead and rotting. For the living know that they will die, but the dead No, nothing. That was inspiring, you know, the living No, they're gonna  die. That's that one piece of knowledge they have. But the dead people don't even know that  they have no further reward. And even the memory of them is forgotten. their love, their hate  and their jealousy have long since vanished. Never again, will they have a part in anything  that happens under the sun. Sometimes it's said as funeral at a funeral. Their body has died,  but their spirit is still with us. And he true. Their spirit, if they had one is somewhere else. And  they are not here anymore. There may be memories their influence may live on in certain  respects. But their spirit is not still with us. It's taken from this world, their spirit is not under  the sun anymore. Now again, when you read Ecclesiastes, you have to understand what point  of God's revelation it's asked. This is not yet the full light of the gospel that's been given. It's  giving us hard questions, so that when Jesus comes we all recognize what a glorious answer it is. The Bible says Jesus brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. There are  hints certainly in suggestions of the life to come in the Old Testament already. And and those  are plain enough. But when you consider it from Ecclesiastes point of view, what is life under  the sun in this world? When it's over, it's over. And we just have to face that fact. So those are the facts that we've got to face God's providence rules. But that doesn't mean it's predictable, or controllable. There's no guarantee that life is going to be easy or fun. Death is unavoidable. So no matter who you are, or what you do, death awaits you. Life can be wasted, you can  blow it. People in fact tend to waste their one life on evil and madness. And when it's over, it's

over when you die, your earthly actions and hopes and that's a lot for baby to look forward to. But that's part of living life realistically. And so, let's face the fact that you only live once. And  as you read on the passage, there are basic principles for only living once. Enjoy what you  have. Do what you can accept that you can't control everything and be ready to meet your  maker. Those are some very basic principles for people who know the truth that you only live  once. Go eat your food with gladness and drink your wine with a joyful heart. For it is now that God favors 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. Oh, you're me. meaningless days where this is your lot in life and in  your toil, some labor under the sun. Maybe a little footnote there about translation, which  translated meaningless, again is terrible. Sometimes it can be fleeting, I'm not sure  meaningless is the best translation here, but it is fleeting, it goes quickly and vanishes  quickly. And so make the most of it while you have it. Notice what he's saying here, if you got  food, eat it. If you got a hamburger, don't wish it was caviar, enjoy the burger. If you're given  a wife, enjoy your wife or a husband enjoy him. Don't spend your time thinking about the  other people that you didn't marry, or wishing you had found better enjoy the one you have. If you have some nice clothes, put them on enjoy them. And don't look through 17 different  catalogs wishing you had something different to wear. Enjoy what you have, many of the very best things in life are available to the very simplest people. If you have one great spouse,  you're happier than Solomon was with his 1000. If you have a good set of clothes to wear, and you're happy with it, you're better off than somebody who's spending a pile of money every  day on something different so that they could look a little different. Just enjoy the life that God has given you. That's one of the great messages of Ecclesiastes is if you can enjoy what God  gives you then that itself that enjoyment is a gift from God. And you can have all the other  stuff and you'll just miss out if God doesn't give you that gift of enjoyment. So take life as a  gift and enjoy what you have. Again, this is the opposite of what Buddha counsel he says get  rid of desire. Get rid of all sense of enjoyment, realize that you are an illusion that this world is an illusion, and just write it off, get over it. No, enjoy what you have. The earth is the Lord's  and everything in it. Everything God created is good and nothing is to be rejected if it's  received with thanksgiving because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer, these  things are good gifts. They aren't the greatest gift or the only gift but they're good ones. So  enjoy them. Enjoy what you have. And then do what you can during the one life you have.  Because you don't get chances to come back. You're not going to be reincarnated under the  sun in a whole bunch of different lives and you're not going to be able to come back as a spirit or a ghost. Sometimes you get that message from Hollywood, whether it's the sixth sense, or  the movie Ghost or other pictures or TV shows they do people who have died, get a chance to come back as a spirit and right the things that were wrong to say I love you to the people that they neglected to tell that they love to say I'm sorry, to people that they failed to apologize  to. You won't get another chance to do that. If you want to say I'm sorry, because you  wronged somebody, today is a very good day to do that. Because counting on coming back as a spirit someday to say you're sorry, that will not happen. If you're waiting to say I love you to some distant day, why not say I love you today. If you want to make a difference in this world, you better make it now. Because now is the time that God is giving you whatever your hand  finds to do. It says in verse 10, do it with all your might for there is no work or thought or  wisdom or knowledge in sheol where you're going from the perspective of life under the sun.  Once you're in the realm of the dead. You don't get a chance to do stuff here on earth  anymore. And so whatever it is you have in mind to do now's the time to do it. I can't I won't  even go into details about people who've had a loved one who died and then who tell me Boy, I wish I had said or done this while they were still living or people who are on their deathbed  and they have their regrets. They have their wishes and they don't have a chance to undo  them anymore. Now's the time to do what you can. Whatever you do, it says in the New  Testament workout it with all your heart as working for the Lord not for men. Since you know  that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. Those words by the way were  written to slaves. Sometime sometimes when you think about Boy do what you can Yeah, if I  had a real go getter job. If I was one of those movers and shakers. If I was one of those people

who could change the world man I would get him excited I do something. But those words in  Colossians are written to people who are in nothing jobs for slaves who are stuck. And the  Word of God says this, for now at least is your lot in life. It's also says in the Bible gain your  freedom do so. But meanwhile, if you're in a position you don't want to be in, well make the  most of it. Many of us, of course, are not slaves, though there are days when we feel like it.  But even then, you know, we may feel like we're in a dead end job or a situation that doesn't  have the potential we'd like. You are not God, you do not have unlimited potential Hate to  break it to you, you know that here we see graduations and stuff, you have unlimited  potential. No, you don't. You know, we saw a sermon or two ago, living with limits is part of  what Ecclesiastes tells you, you're gonna have limits, you're gonna have to face up to him,  You can't do everything. You're not omnipotent. You don't know everything. But you do know  some things. And you do have some powers. And you do have some realm of responsibility,  where you can do things and make a difference. So do it. Without wishing you could be  somebody else doing something else do what you can accept them that you can't control  everything. 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 happened to them all. Moreover, no man knows when his hour will come  as fish are caught in a cruel net for birds are taken in a snare. So men are trapped by evil  times that fall unexpectedly upon them. You can't control everything, you eat healthy, you  exercise well. And you get a brain tumor at age 46. The other guy is a chain smoker, and lives to be 90. It happens, there are generally things that are healthier to do and unhealthy or to do and they don't guarantee what the outcomes gonna be. You can be a great athlete, you can  be a hockey player and your shot hits the crossbar. And the other guys goes in the net, you  know, half inch. And you just don't have control. It's the way the puck bounces. So there are  just so many things where it doesn't always just go to the fastest or the best or the most  skilled. But I guess the summary of verse 11, time and chance happened to them all stuff  happens. It just happens. And you don't know when it's going to happen, or why or how. And  so you got to be able to live with that. And that adds one more factor to the whole equation.  Everybody dies. And it means that you don't know when. And so you always have to be ready  for that eventuality. That means you have to be ready to meet your maker and have to step  beyond the current passage to the end of the Ecclesiastes. For that it says fear God and keep  His commandments for this as the whole duty of man, for God will bring every deed into  judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil. We saw some of the  Buddhist teachers deny that there is a personal God, or that there is one decisive final  judgment where that God evaluates your life. But that is not the truth of the matter. And we  really shouldn't spend too much time knocking Buddhist persons or others for what their  beliefs are, we wouldn't know much better either without the revelation of God and what Jesus Christ is brought to light and the truth of the Scripture. God will bring every deed into  judgment. And if Hebrews 9:27 and 28 is probably the clearest single statement in the Bible,  which would rule out reincarnation, just as man is destined to die once. And after that, to face judgment. So Christ was sacrificed one, to take away the sins of many people, and he will  appear a second time not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.  When we know that you only live once under the sun, and you have to think about is is that  all there is? Is that it? And I think the Buddha had a good intuition and say, well, that's not it.  There's got to be something else, something more. But what is the something more? Only the  Son of God can tell us that? And the Lord Jesus has shown us that we need to know Him.  Enjoy what you have, do what you can accept that you can't control everything be ready to  meet your maker, but then how are you ready to meet your maker and to make the most of  the life that you're given now? Well, if you're not a Buddhist, in America, you still have  another great option. You can just be an atheist or an unbeliever. If the dead are not raised,  let's eat and drink for tomorrow we die. Have fun, and then you're gone. And that's it nobody  to answer to nothing to look forward to. But enjoy life while you can. They probably agree  even with some of the things I said carpe diem, seize the day, make the most of it and then  that's it. Well, that's not it. Because Christ has has been raised from the dead thanks to be the God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brothers 

be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord,  your labor is not in vain. We've heard that before. In vain. Well, that's the whole book of  Ecclesiastes just about is in vain. If you don't want your life and your labor to be in vain, then  you need to understand that through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, your labor is not in vain.  It's not quite accurate, that title of my sermon, you only live once. You only live once under  the sun. But then you live forever. And how you live life under the sun and what has  happened to you in this life. If you've been born again, by the Spirit of God in this life, then  the life of Christ that's in you, continues, and you continue as a personal being raised in Christ into the next life. You only live once under the sun, you only get one chance to come to know  God in this life. And so make the most of it, and then live for him. You put your trust in the  Lord Jesus Christ, there's wickedness and madness at everybody's hearts, and then they die.  Well, then shouldn't we repent of the wickedness and turn from the madness, and lift our eyes to heaven, and have our sanity be restored, and come to ourselves and say, I will go home to  my father, and say, Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. And when we do  that, we suddenly find that AI we wasted a chunk of our life, but not the whole thing. We were among the pigs in the slot for a little while. But when you return to your father, the ring goes  back on your hand, the family robe goes back on you, and you are again, a son of the king.  And this life is our opportunity to do that. To go home again, to be back in the arms of our  father again. And we don't get lots of chances beyond death. We get those opportunities now. Only one life, to assume the past. only what's done for Christ will last. We pray, Dear Lord,  that you will help us each to make the most of our own lives, in light of the reality of death,  and in light of an even greater reality of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ and the life  giving power of the Holy Spirit. Lord, help us to take seriously the meditations found in  Ecclesiastes that we can be realistic about life with all of its difficulties and about death with  inevitability so that we may even more realize that to whom else can we go, you have the  words of eternal life. And though there have been many great thinkers and, and many great  figures, throughout history, none can do what you have done in our Lord Jesus Christ. So Lord, help us to find and him are all in all, weather we're little, we pray that we may even early in  life come to know you and love you. And Lord, if we're getting older, then help us to  remember you at the stage we're asked to turn to you in love and repentance and to walk  with you. Now prefer not to waste this precious gift of life here on earth that you've given  each one of us. Thank you for the blessings and gifts of each new day. Thank you, Lord, for  loved ones to enjoy life with for spouses, for good friends, for children, for people learn, to  enjoy, to love and be loved by. We thank You, Lord, for good food to enjoy and for clothing to  wear, for exciting opportunities for sports and play and fun things to do for work that can  often be meaningful and even when it's hard, Lord, give us your perspective that we're  working for you, Lord, help us indeed to make the most of this life and to live for you and all  that we do. We pray, Father, for those who still don't know you, we pray, Lord, for people who, who, like the Buddha once did are just searching, not quite knowing where to look, we pray,  Lord, that you will help them to see their need for You and then define you that your truth  may spread even today, throughout the world. And we pray, Lord, that Christians by our lives  and by our words may testify to that truth consistently with who Jesus is. We pray, Father, that you will minister to all in our congregation who need you we pray Lord for the palm runs and  the births in the passing of Wayne and pray that you will give comfort to each of their hearts  and fill them with your love. We thank you Lord with the Franklin's for the gift of this little girl  and for the upcoming anticipated guests of a little boy we pray, Lord that you will make all  things well for the baby yet to be born and that you will also Lord continue to bless Adeline as  she grows up and bless Lord the other little Children in our congregation to that they may be  surrounded from day one with a sense of your love, and with the teaching of your truth. We  pray, Father, for those who are sick for those who need your healing, we thank You, Lord, for  Your blessing on Stacy Soltys mom that she could experience recovery and we pray that you'll continue to bless her and to walk with her and strengthen her. We pray, Father, that you will  minister to each of our needs as you know them better than we do. Lord, touch the hearts of  each one of us. Help us, Lord to be people who bear one another's burdens as well. When we  become aware of something, a struggle in another person's life help us to be there to put our 

arm around them to show your love to them to walk through difficult times together. Your Lord we pray that you will strengthen our church each day in this local congregation and also learn  to strengthen the churches in our community and money in Frankfort and, and meet sure in  the whole area. And we pray, Lord, that you will strengthen your church throughout our state  and our nation. We pray Lord, to as we think of our nation of our vice president and his family  and the death of a son, from brain cancer and of a husband we We pray, Lord, that you will  comfort the Biden family and that even these kinds of circumstances will turn eyes to you for  for your salvation and your consolation. We pray Lord, for Your world that the church may  advance again today that people may come to know you that you will make things well for  your people that you will protect those who are persecuted and help their light to shine even  in those difficult circumstances. Father, we commit to you these prayers and you, Lord are all  knowing and by Your Spirit you work in us even when we don't quite know what to say in  prayer. Even our groans can be prayers of your spirit. And so we thank you for the ministry of  the Holy Spirit in our hearts and for the prayers that rise up into the ones that we could put  thoughts to as well as the prayers we just didn't even know how to state. Here the Lord from  each heart gathered here today before your throne and answer them in your fatherly love and wisdom through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.