There is no peace, no joy, no thrill Like walking in His will for me to live Just someone told me Jesus came to save When He said come to me He set my poor heart free For me to live is Christ to die is gain that I still cannot go, but of this one thing I'm completely sure that He will call me unto to live is Christ, to die is gain. Amen. If you've done well this morning, you may be seated. And we'll take our Bibles again, and we'll open up to the book of Ecclesiastes, chapter 11. And our text this morning, verses 1 through 6, all right? Ecclesiastes chapter 11 verses 1-6. I want to start by sharing a bit of history about a person that is probably arguably the most well-known missionary ever. He is Scottish from Glasgow and his name is David Livingston. David Livingston lived just over 200 years ago, actually he was born just over 200 years ago. He was born on the 19th of March 1813 to a working class family in Blantyre, Scotland, the second of seven children. The family shared a room in a tenement building owned by the Mill Company where Livingston started working at the age of 10. He was taught to read and write by his father and in addition to schooling in the evenings Provided by the company, he taught himself Latin and developed a love of natural history. At the age of 19, he was promoted, and with his increased wages by 1836, he had saved enough money to enter Anderson University, Glasgow, to study medicine, where he studied under Andrew Buchanan, a medical doctor. Two years later, he suspended his course and spent a year at the London Missionary Society in Chipping Ungar, Essex. He moved to London in 1840 to complete his medical studies at the British and foreign medical schools, the Aldersgate street dispensary, Charing Cross Hospital and Warfields Hospital. At the end of the year he qualified as a licentiate of the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow. The same month he was also ordained a missionary by the London Missionary Society And in December set sail for South Africa and onward to the mission station at Curaman as a missionary doctor. And that's from Livingston Online. Okay, that's where I found that information. But that's amazing. He was born to a relatively poor family. He worked starting at the age of 10. And as you read his full biography, you learn that he studied oftentimes at night by candlelight. And he got to where he eventually became a great, well-known, not just missionary, but explorer that God used in a mighty way. How did he get there? He got there on purpose. It was no accident that David Livingstone became a great man. It was those little things along the way that he looked at in his life and he sought to better himself in his walk with the Lord and sought to be the best he could be for the Lord. He wrote to him, Lord send me anywhere. He said this there, I only have one life. And that will soon be past. I want my life to count for Christ. What's done for Him will last. Do you want your life to count this morning? If you think about it, you've got only one life to live for God. Only one life to use to kind of do whatever. How do you want to use it? Because if you don't stop and think about where you want to be, especially children in the future, adults in the future, You're not going to get to where you could potentially get in your ability to serve the Lord. This morning I want to preach a message on living with purpose. Living with purpose. Because our text this morning, Ecclesiastes 11, 1-6 emphasizes purposes for our lives, things that we can look at and determine that by God's grace we can do to be the best that we ought to be for the Lord. Let's pray and ask God's blessing as we come to His Word. Father, I thank you for the grace that you give. I thank you for this text. I pray the Spirit of God would use it. I pray Lord give us wisdom. As we get into it today, I pray that our hearts would really be tender to you. I pray that you give me liberty in my preaching. I pray, Father, that you'd work in the hearts of from the youngest child to the oldest adult that we have, Father, that by your grace we examine our life, examine what is there and what could be for the cause of Christ. The potential is great, but it has to be purposefully met. So I pray, Spirit of God, do give me liberty and wisdom as I preach now in your help. It's in Christ's name I pray. Amen. So what purposes can we see as we look at Ecclesiastes 11, 1-6? What can we determine to do in our life that would make us more effective for the Lord? The first thing, as we come to verse 1 here, we can have the purpose of working for a harvest. We have to work for a harvest, and it says in verse 1, "...cast thy bread upon the water, for thou shalt find it after many days." And the word bread could be translated bread corn. It's the grain. and that would reap and bear the fruit of the field and they could make bread from that grain as it came to harvest time. Cast thy bread upon the waters, for thou shalt find it after many days. It's talking about farming, isn't it? And sometimes we think about farming when we're thinking about the Bible, we think of farming just strictly in the sense of evangelism. And not thinking beyond that, but this passage has much to say beyond just solely evangelistic. See, Jameson Fawcett Brown, in the commentary on the Old Testament, said, the image comes from the custom of sowing seed by casting it from boats into the overflowing waters of the Nile, or in any marshy ground, when the waters receded, the grain and the alluvial soil sprang up. And so you can see I'm casting the seed, it would flow. But then as the water receded, that seed would go down into the soil, into the floodplain, that nice fertile soil. And there would be a harvest coming, depending upon how hard the farmer worked to sow the seed. To get a harvest, you had to cast the seed. Imagine a farmer that is very sad. And the neighbor comes over and he's talking with him, and the sad farmer is complaining about how little his harvest has yielded. And the neighbor wisely asks him, he says, well, how is your farm equipment? And the sad farmer says, well, it's in disrepair. It's all broken down. And the man asked him, well, how much seed did you plant? And the farmer says, well, I didn't plant any seed. He says, well, how hard did you work your field? He goes, I didn't work my field at all. Do you think the farmer knows the problem, or the sad farmer? Yeah. The neighbor says, you know, what you need to do is work on your equipment. Put in the seed, and then work till the harvest comes. There's a lot of people, they look at their life, whatever field of their life it is, and they say, why is my field so bad? Why is it so rough? Why has this happened? Why is this this way? But they've not invested anything into making it work. They've not put any effort into getting it right. This morning, we can think about it this way. We want to reap victory over sin. Do you want to have a victorious Christian life and Christian experience? Well, the first thing is receive the gospel seed of your own life. The first step for somebody to have a victorious life and have a life that is set free is to receive the gospel seed into their heart. 2 Corinthians 5.17 says, therefore, if someone gets saved, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things become new. That's why a persecutor like Apostle Paul could become the premier preacher in the book of Acts that is preaching Christ. He hated Christ until the gospel seed got into his heart and it changed his life and he had victory over all the sin that had bound him. The sin of murder, the sin of anger and hatred against God. We've got a missionary that we support, Layton Kelly. And Layton Kelly, in his old life, his past life, he was a drug addict. But God changed Lady Kelly's life, set her free from that. How? Because he received Christ as his personal Savior, and now he's got a ministry to have. So, receive the Gospel, see if you want to reap a victorious life, get in God's Word. Psalm 119, 11 says, Thy word hath my head and my heart, that I might not sin against thee. Take the Word of God and be continually putting the Word of God into your heart. You want to have a victorious life? Get in God's Word. I'd hesitate almost to use this illustration, but God's Word is kind of like fertilizer. It is what is necessary to cultivate and build up and feed. When I was in high school, I would fish quite often and I could fish close to my house. My brother and I would get on our cycles and just go about a mile away with our fishing poles. And oftentimes we'd come back with some nice fish and I brought back a pike that was probably 30 some inches long. I think about 32 inches long. I put it in a fish tank. And the reason for the fish tank, I didn't have time to clean it. I had to get to my trombone lesson. So I get to my trombone lesson, come back, clean the fish. And that part was great. That worked out. But I took the water from the tank, and I dumped it into the grass. What surprised me is that grass and the spot soaking in that water while it was gone, it had all sorts of fertilizer in it from the fish. And that grass grew twice as tall as all the other grass. Why? Because that was nourishing it. You know, you look at somebody's life and say, why is their Christian experience so great? Why are they so strong? Why have they had victory over sin? Why can't I get victory over sin? Well, have you taken the Word of God and applied it to your life? Is that a part of your daily routine to get in the Bible and to read the Bible? So you want to be victorious, like you say, getting God's Word. Set aside wicked practice. Hebrews 12.1 says, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us. There ought to be that process. Even as children looking at your life and saying, you know, there's sin in my life. I need to get that out. Why? Because that's like a weed in my field. It's going to corrupt the good things that's there. So I need to be setting aside that sin if I want to have a victorious life. Nobody should complain about not having victory in their life. Just take some common ideas and work at it to have victory. You want to reap a good family? Think about this, children and adults. Parents can sow some discipline. It says in Proverbs 19.18, Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy souls fear for his crime. Kids, listen. If you cry according to the Word of God, it doesn't matter. Parents still discipline. Because God says you're going to cry. He says, we ought to be sowing that good discipline. Children, you can sow obedience. Ephesians 6.1 says, Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. We look at our families and say, how do we have a happy family? How do we have a family that pleases God? Well, parents have a responsibility to discipline. Children have a responsibility to obey. Those are just some things, and we're just looking at some things. that could be there, but those things help, don't they? They make it a better family feel. If you want good relationships, you guys can go out, you meet kids, and you think, why doesn't anybody like me? Why doesn't anybody talk to me? What, have you shown friendliness? Proverbs 18.24 says, a man that has friends must show himself friendly. There has to be an ability to get along with those that you're playing with and be kind to them and build that relationship with them, and certainly that's for children and adults. So some concern, Proverbs 27.9 says, ointment and perfume rejoice the heart, so does the sweetness of a man's friend, and quite hearty counsel. and encouraging your friends and talking to your friends and caring about their problems. That's sowing a good relationship. We do that in a marriage as we seek to understand the burdens that each partner carries in a family and understanding each other's needs too. And so we need to sow these acts of kindness. Do we want to see men saved? If we want to see people saved, we have to follow the gospel. Romans 10.14 says, How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? We can look at our appeal that God has given to us and say, why aren't we seeing souls saved? Well, at the very least, There's got to be the work put in and say, how are they going to hear without a preacher? Because some day you're going to look at the world map and God might be working in your heart about missions. And you might get burdened about these people in Africa need to hear about Christ. These people in Mexico, they need to hear about Christ. They need to be saved. And you might see other people and think they need to be saved. Well, what can you do? Well, you can give the gospel. You can be willing to say to God, God, I'll go and tell these people about Christ. So the Gospel says, pray for God's power. Acts 1.8 says, But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you. And ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the outermost parts of the earth. And what did the early church do? They needed God's power. So Jesus said, carry me in the city of Jerusalem until you be endued with power from on high. And so what did they do? They got on their knees in that upper room and they began to seek after God. And so God sent Pentecost and the Holy Spirit. But then what happened? They got afraid because of persecution. They lacked boldness. And what did they do? They go to God and they pray and they say, God, we lack boldness. And what does God do? God filled them again with His Spirit. And so we can look at these areas in our life and say, what What am I not harvesting? Why isn't it going well? And then we can think, well, what can I do about it? And the Word of God says work. You've got to cast the seed upon the water. If you want to return, then invest some effort into it. Then secondly, Another purpose that we can see in this passage is minimizing risk. Minimizing risk. Verse 2 says, give a portion to seven and also to eight, for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth. That's kind of, you might look at that and say, what does that mean, give a portion to seven to eight? You don't know what evil is going to be on the earth. Back in that day, they had caravans. A caravan was not what we think about, right? It was the camels and the people that were traveling across the desert landscape and they would take goods, they'd take merchandise. You may remember the story of Joseph, right? And he got sold to one of these caravans. But if this caravan was attacked, if you had invested everything that you had into that caravan, what happens when the caravan is attacked and it's destroyed? You lose everything. And so what's the principle? Minimize risk. Give a portion to seven, eight. It's diversifying. It's using what you have and not putting it all in one place where the risk is too great because you can lose everything. It's true. This statement is true. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. God doesn't want us to hide our kids in our home and not take any risk with them. He doesn't want us to hide ourselves in our home and not take any risk. Why? Because we've got to be willing to venture out to seek and serve God. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. But we need to minimize risk and be wise about risk. Paul, remember the story of the shipwreck, as they get ready to go out into the sea after the season for sailing was passed, Acts 27 verse 9, Now when much time was spent, and when sailing was now dangerous because the fast was now already past, Paul admonished them and said to them, Sirs, I perceive that this voyage will be with hurt and much damage, not only of the lading and ship, but also of our lives. Nevertheless, the centurion believed the master and order of the ship more than those things which were spoken by Paul. Paul is saying that there is too great a jeopardy. Yeah, you're risking the cargo, you're risking the ship, you're risking our lives. And Paul is right. The danger is too great. It's only God's mercy that salvaged their lives. They lost everything else. Why? Because they had risked everything. You know, you might think this morning, we could think as parents, you know, my kids can handle that. My kids can handle that friendship. They can handle that environment. They can handle that temptation. Yeah, but what if you're wrong? Is it worth it? Is that a legitimate risk? I mean, sure, there's times where at some point our kids are going to go to college. We're going to trust God and say, God give them good friends. God give them good relationships. And there's a risk associated with that, but it's a known risk. But there's parents that just are, I guess, ignorant and just say, let your kids do whatever. Should we do that? No. Why? Because that's too great a risk. We ought to minimize risk. In our lives, can we get too close to the fence and to sin and things that are sinful and think, well, I can handle that. Is it worth the risk? Is it worth possibly losing your family? Is it worth possibly losing your walk with the Lord? Is the risk worth it? There are so many things. You can think about credit card debt. A lot of people think, well, everybody's got credit card debt. Everybody's got debt. So let's just use these cards. But is it worth it? Is the risk too great? There's a wise principle here. It's a biblical principle about investing. But you ought to manage the risk. You've got to evaluate the risk and say, is this a legitimate risk that I should take or is this going to bring jeopardy? So minimize risk. Then the next purpose that we see in the passage is to be ready for rain. Be ready for providence to work because that's something we're not responsible for, but it's something that God is at work doing. Can you control the rain? Thank you. No. We can't control rain. I asked the deer farmers down in southern England just now if they can control the rain. The answer is no. Why? Because it's an act of God. It's an act of providence. Verse 3 says, if the clouds be full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth. And so when the full rain cloud comes, that rain is going to come. That's an act of providence. So what's the principle for us? Be ready for rain. Be ready for the rain to come. The rain, in the word of God, it could be God's blessing. James 5, 7 says, Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold the husband and waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and have long patience for it, until ye receive their early and latter rain. And so if the rain is a blessing, we ought to be ready for it. How so? Get the seeds in. Get everything ready so that when the blessing comes, you're ready to receive it. But rain also, in the Word of God, can be judgment. How do we know that? Well, at one time God judged the entire world. What did He send? He sent a flood. and the flood of God's judgment. I thank God he promised never to send a flood like that again. I can't imagine what that would be like in comparison with these small floods which seem big down in England right now. But you know we can get ready for floods. Right now, there's a big argument as far as who's guilty of not dredging the rivers. But the fact is, they realized they should have dredged these rivers. Why? Because a greater volume of water could have been exiting into the sea. And so they admit that they could have done more. So they could look at Providence and say, well, God sent the rain. But they have to look at themselves and say, but we weren't ready for the rain. And so, there's both and. We need to be ready, because the rain's going to come at God's timing. Are we ready for it? And I want to think about, specifically, rain that would be God's blessing. We as a church, we desire God, you know, we sing the song, there shall be showers of blessing, precious, reviving the Lord. We pray, God, send that rain, send that revival blessing. But we can ask the question, are the crops planted? And again, we're thinking now about evangelism. What if God only watered where the seed was? Because there's no point in pouring water where there is no seed. We know that the gospel seed is planted by man. That's over and over again the word of God. God only uses man to give the gospel. And so, as a church, what do we seek to do? We seek to get the gospel out to our area. Asking God to send that blessing and be ready for it. We can ask, is the field free of weeds? What if there's error that is here and God sends a blessing and suddenly God packs the place out by His grace but there's false teaching that hasn't been addressed or there's false ideas that haven't been addressed and those that get saved in that time of awakening, they're drawn away because the preparation wasn't there as far as good groundwork and good teaching. What if the soil? isn't turned over, what if there isn't deep preparation of us seeking as we do with flyers, not just to deal with the gospel but deal with sin and deal with evolution and deal with false thinking and we try to dig deep and turn it over and what if the soil is not turned over and the rain comes and it just runs off the field, we don't have the blessing, what if we don't have preparation to irrigate with the excess. If a rain is going to come, you could have a reservoir that could fill up and you'd have water that would last through the times of drought. And as a church, we can do that as well just by preparing to take the best advantage of God's blessing. So when the blessing comes, we are best prepared to contain it and what God gives. You could ask as well, do we have enough trained workers to get in the harvests? If God is going to, by His grace, send a harvest, are we ready with the training and the teachers that need to enter into that? So is there a structure there to support life? So what's the principle? Be ready for providence. Be ready for rain. But again, it takes purpose to get ready for it. You can't just say, well, that's providence. If God wants to send a blessing, He sends it. When He wants to send judgment, He sends it. But are we ready for an act of providence to take place? Then another purpose that we see in our passage is, do what you can to prevent the problem. If it's going to be a problem, or I should maybe say instead a result, and whatever the result is, do your best to influence the result. Because the next part of the verse says, and if the tree fall toward the south or toward the north, in the place where the tree falleth, there it shall be. Yeah, I don't know if you've ever seen a large tree, especially a big one, that you just can't do anything about, right? One of those great old trees that are several feet through, not real easy to chop up into logs and move. Where the tree falls, that's where it's going to be. So what can we do about that? Well, trees can fall two ways. By an act of providence, admittedly, in a storm or something. But also men can fell trees. So if it's our part where the tree comes down, we've got to do something about it. Back in Michigan, where we lived before traveling to come over here, we had a pretty piece of property that God allowed us to have. We had woods across the street in the front of our house. And a large garden, we had 50 trees on our property. Behind our house, we had a two acre pond with woods around it and a walking path on the back side of it. It's really nice. But right behind our house, just probably, I would guess, maybe 8 feet, 10 feet. It wasn't very far. We had a tree, a pine tree, about a foot and a half in diameter and probably 40 feet tall, but a big, wide tree. And I decided when we get ready to sell the property, we were going to take away a large side garden and sell it separately. So I decided to open up the back garden to make it a little bigger, even though it was just from the back of the house to the pond was only about 20 feet. But we had this large tree here. And so I cut my angle cut that I'm supposed to cut down to get the tree to fall in the right direction. Then I started cutting my wedge cut that comes back to meet that. And when those meet, what's supposed to happen is the tree starts to go and then falls the way you want it to fall. Because you can control the way it's going to fall. And thankfully, it wasn't a windy day. Because what happened, I did my two cuts, and they got really close, and nothing was happening. And I went in and told my wife, stay out of this part of the house. I got to run the shop. And I had a little Ford Ranger pickup truck. And I got a rope that was probably 100 feet long and very carefully walked up to the tree, tied it to it, and then with my truck, thankfully I was able to pull over to another piece of our property by the pond, and I was able to put some torque onto the tree, and the tree went the right way. But if that tree had fallen on my house, who would I blame? God? No. I blame myself. Why? That was foolish. You didn't cut it right. It wasn't that storm blew it onto the house. It would have been my fault because I held the tools that took the tree down. You know, as you look at your life and someday you think trees are going to fall. And you're going to look at that tree and say, I wish it hadn't fallen there. But who are you going to blame? If the tools that took the tree and brought the tree down that way, if those tools are in your hand, there's only one person to blame. That's why when we use the tools that God's given to us, our kids, we're raising our kids, by God's grace, I want my kids to go on for the Lord. But if someday they fall the wrong way, I don't want to look at my hands and say, I didn't use the tools properly. I want to be able to say, by God's grace and the best of my ability, I took the tools that God gave me and I used them to try to bring the tree down in the right way. We look at our life and say, our life is going to fall at some point, the tree is going to fall, and we're going to look at it and say, ah, I wish it hadn't fallen that way, but who's to blame? Are we doing what we can right now about the way the tree is going to fall? Because we can determine some outcomes, some purpose. Do what you can to prevent the problem. Another purpose that we find in the passage here is don't waste time worrying about adversity. Don't waste time worrying about adversity. Verse 4. says, he that observeth the wind shall not sow, and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap. Southerners are known for being a little more relaxed about life. They just enjoy life. And they have what we call a porch in the space that is the wood patio in front of the house with the overhang of the roof on it. A lot of times there will be rocking chairs sitting out there. And you can kind of see this old southern farmer sitting in his rocking chair and he's got his, you know, piece of grain in his mouth that he's sucking on and he's just looking out there and his wife says, you know, are you going to get out there and work? And he says, well, looks like rain. Looks like it's going to rain or it looks like the wind's going to come up. And if the wind comes up, it's just going to scatter the seed. So I think I'll just sit here on the porch a bit longer. You know, what's going to happen to that farmer's field? It's not going to yield. There's not going to be a harvest. Have you ever seen a weak farmer? They don't see us, do they? It's kind of like a weak miner. You don't see them. Why? Because farming takes hard work. These guys are the guys that have the big chest and big arms. Why? Because if they succeeded at farming, it's been because they have put effort into it. They haven't looked around at the clouds. They haven't looked at the wind in a lazy way. They observe it because they're wise. They don't look at it in a lazy way and say, I'm not going to get out there because I think there's going to be a problem. And so they don't spend time worrying about adversity. In the states even, I haven't seen it here, probably you haven't seen it as well. In fact, maybe I have seen it here. But farmers even put those big lights on their harvesting equipment. And they'll be out there through the night getting it done, because they're interested in getting a good harvest. You know, as you've been thinking about this message today, and you're thinking about a field that you look at in your life and say, that field needs to change. It could yield a better harvest, whatever field that is. When you think about that, if anything pops into your mind and says, but that's why I haven't done anything about it. That is the adversity. That is the wind in the rain in this passage. It's the thing that Satan gives us as an excuse. We say it's a reason, but it's an excuse for not fulfilling God's purpose in our life. So, what are these things that Satan is using to take us away from fulfilling God's purpose? And then, another purpose that we can find in this passage is to believe that God is working where he can't see. Verse 5 says, As thou knowest not what is the way of the Spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child, even so thou knowest not the works of God, who maketh all. My sister, this past week, had a big baby. How big was this guy? 10-11, I think. Indian was 10-11. I should say a healthy baby. We have large babies in our family. You know what? They can see this child. Until the baby was born, they didn't know boy or girl. They knew God was developing the child, but they didn't know which it was. Now we know it's a Gideon. It's a boy. You know, God's given my wife and I a baby in the womb. We don't know what the gender of the child is. But we know God's working there. Even though we can't see it, we know that God is developing this precious baby in the womb. And the verse teaches us there's things in life that we can't see. In the same way, You don't know the works of God who make it all. You don't know what God's doing behind the scenes that you can't see. You might look at that field and say, I've been working and working and working this field and God's not doing anything. But you'd be wrong. Because you can't see what God's doing. God's working where we can't see. So we can think about it this way. I might be tempted to stop disciplining a child and say, it's just not working. That doesn't do anything to him. God said to do it in his words that you spare the rod, you spoil the child. And so God said discipline, but it's not working. Well, how do you know? Can I see the heart of a child? Can you see the heart of the child? No. And so as parents, we just say, you know, we're going to trust God's word. God said discipline. And if we can't see it, God's working where we can't see. We could say, you know, the sin habit. I just can't get victory. And I've tried. I've memorized verses. I've sought the Lord. I just can't get victory. So God's not working. Well, how do you know? Why not trust God and continue to work on it until God gives the victory? We can stop evangelizing. We can stop giving flyers. We can stop giving tracts. Why? Because it's not working, we think. But how do we know? Can we see the heart of everybody that's ever received a tract or ever received the gospel? You stop seeking after God. You just feel like, I'm not going to find God. I've been seeking Him. I've given it a good effort, but I can't find Him. Well, how do you know? Until you keep going, until God brings you to understanding. So, so many ways that Satan seeks to stop us. Revelation 6, 9. says, and let us not be weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not. Satan comes along and says, stop working the field, don't bother, look at the wind, look at the rain, God isn't working, but the purpose is, we got to believe God. We can't see it. We've got to continue on trusting that God is working in these different fields. And then the last thing is to leave the results in God's hands. Not only is God working, but we can't determine the outcome. As much as we desire to say, if I do this, then this, that's not legitimate. What we are responsible for is our best. We don't know the outcome of what's going to take place. Verse 6 says, In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand. For thou knowest not whether shall prosper either this or that, or whether they both alike shall be good. Don't know. My wife and I have seen godly parents have children that walked away from the Lord and their hearts broken about it. They worked and the child didn't turn out for the Lord. What was the parent's responsibility? To do everything they could when they had that child, to raise that child for the Lord? God says, get involved, get working. Why? You don't know what's going to prosper. So invest, invest, invest. But the results are in God's hands. The results are in God's hands. Someday, as I already mentioned, I want to look back and say, no matter what the outcome is, God, I did my best. And I'm sure there's going to be areas I look in my life I said I wish I had done more. But I want to give good effort. We're seeking to start a church here in Lone Head. Praise God for what He's doing. And as we look at what He's doing and what He will do someday, I want to look back and say, I did my best. I know Noah, God in the Ark. He looked at the eight souls there, all related to Him. And at least He could say, I was a preacher of righteousness. I warned them. I told them the truth. I'm sure he wanted more people on that boat, and there are people that he had burdened about that. I imagine he had some sleepless nights for a few nights there, thinking about those that were judged by the wrath of God, because he was burdened about it. But the results weren't in his hands. A lot of these things are outside of our hands, but what's our responsibility? Our responsibility is, in the morning, sow thy seed, and in the evening, withhold not thine hand. Get out there. Get involved. Try to make it as best you can for the Lord. Certainly we do that. We can trust the Lord with the outcome. David Livingston. Household name. Even today, even though most people don't go to church, most people here at this time aren't godly, they still know the name David Livingston. Why? Because he was a great man. But did he become great on accident? No, he became great by God's grace on purpose. I know it was the greatness of God. But God still allowed David Livingston to invest in his life. As a child, he determined that he was going to please God. He started seeking after God, using the abilities that he had, working. He lived his life on purpose. How do you live in your life? I think kids today live their life for video games. They live their life for very simple, trivial things. You know, being good at something that doesn't matter for eternity. And it maybe has its place, but that's not what life's about. Children ought to realize someday they're going to be adults and they're going to raise a family. And they ought to be thinking now, how can I best prepare to be a godly man? How can I best prepare to be a godly woman? You know, us as parents and as adults, we need to look at our lives and say, I ought to be better for the Lord. These fields ought to be better for the Lord. But what are we doing about it? So what are some of the purposes again? Just to recap, work for a harvest. Don't complain about a harvest that you don't have if you've not invested, if you've not worked at it. We've got to minimize risk. We have to look at what we're doing in all spheres of our life and say, you know, am I going to be in jeopardy because I didn't minimize risk? Is it worth the risk? We need to be ready for rain. When an act of providence, God in His providence is going to do something, we need to be ready for it, whether it's blessing or judgment. We need to do what we can to prevent the problem. If the tree's going to fall, we've got to do our best to make it fall in the right direction. We ought not stop work just because we're worried and have things that we're thinking about as far as worrying about adversity. We need to believe God is working where we can't see, just like he works in the womb and in the spirit. And we need to leave the results in God's hands And our responsibility is just work, be doing it. And so may God help us to live our lives on purpose for Him. Let's pray. Father, I thank you for this passage in Ecclesiastes chapter 11. Father, thank you for Solomon. Solomon is the wisest man. And Father, these are practical areas that we can impact our lives. Lord, if we determine that we're going to work in the fields of our life, our life is going to be different. Five years from now, ten years from now, it's not going to be the same because we've invested. But Father, if a tree is going to fall, that's fine. I pray that we would make it fall as best we can in the right direction. Father, we ought to be ready for an act of providence. We're asking for God's blessing, but are we really ready for it? And Father, certainly if judgment comes, we need to be ready to respond then as well and be ready for judgment. And Father, I pray that we could trust, I pray that our hearts would trust you with the outcome. We can't control the outcome and that's not ours to do. But Father, what we can do is work and labor and seek to see prosperity and seek to see these things happen correctly. So I just pray, Spirit of God, apply these principles to our heart. Remind us of these truths as we go through this week. Bless us as we stand and sing. It's in Christ's name I pray. Amen.