Ecclesiastes 11

Good things and evil are from God.

Ecclesiastes 11.

All blessings, such as riches and honors, and all misfortunes, such as sickness and persecutions, come from God.

But mark that the Scripture calls them evils, only because we, through the want of conformity to the will of God, regard them as evils and misfortunes.

Some persons are so full of the spirit of contradiction that they controvert what others say without any necessity and solely for the sake of contention, and thus violate charity.

Strive not, says the Holy Ghost, in matters which do not concern thee.

Ecclesiastes 11 But they will say, I only defend reason.

I cannot bear these assertions which are contrary to reason.

You'll learn later in this course about the biblical principle of decentralization, where God commands us to decentralize resources generously for His redemptive purposes.

Now, I bring up Ecclesiastes 11, 1-2 in this session, which emphasizes a diversified approach to investing.

However, King Solomon, who wrote Ecclesiastes, as I said in the course, did not have our modern-day stock market in mind when he wrote this.

He assumed God's people would accept responsibility for themselves as stewards who would be held accountable by God to wisely invest in multiple local ventures.

So I wanted to read a scripture.

Go to Ecclesiastes 11.

I don't know how much this is going to help anybody, but it was a thought I woke up with when I was meditating on this topic when I first woke up.

King James on the screen.

From the bottom of my heart, thanks.

88 new partners, 12 more to go till we hit 100.

So let's finish Ecclesiastes 11.

Because I got on all this from diversification.

Are you with me this morning? You keep repeating the same process.

That's why in Ecclesiastes 11 verse 6.

The Bible says in the morning sow your seed.

In the evening do not withhold your hand.

I pray for you, may you see.

In the name of Jesus.

In Ecclesiastes 11 and verse 7, Solomon said, light is sweet.

said it is a good thing for the highs to be all the sun light is sweet truly the light is sweet and it's pleasant for the highs to be all the sun it's a pleasant things when your eye can see when your eyes can see where you know the hand from the beginning i'm telling you is a good thing when you can tell that in the next five years is where i will be why you have lights you know what you are doing You know what you are doing.

I also want to speak a word over those of you who are entrepreneurs or who are believing God for a business idea to take off.

Ecclesiastes 11, one says cast your bread upon the waters for you will find it after many days.

This verse has often been applied to giving, but it also speaks to the nature of investment and risk taken in faith.

Sometimes you plant a seed of effort, time, or money into something, and you do not see the return immediately.

Let your inner ear hear here.

Ecclesiastes 11, from verses four to six out of the Amplified.

Just listen.

This was not a familiar scripture to me in the way God showed it to me.

Yes, it's too much.

But it's more than enough.

Look at this, Ecclesiastes 11 from verse 4, Amplified Bible.

So if you're observing the wind or just the way your life is going at the moment that you're not really going to sow the word in your heart, don't do that.

Look at this next verse.

Ecclesiastes 11.2 is another advice about investing and saving.

Invest what you have in several different places.

because you don't know what disasters might happen.

Everybody, Steve here with some comments on Ecclesiastes 11, the second last chapter of this really interesting and unique book.

And what stands out to me is verse 1 and 2, verse 6.

They're actually tied together.

So try the different things and see which works and which doesn't.

But don't just sit there and be lazy and expect that everything will come to you.

That's part of the wisdom shared in Ecclesiastes 11.

God bless.

And I was like, "This is gonna be great." That conversation did not really go anywhere, you know? Um, it just, no, it just didn't, you know? I mean, I tried and I taught, but she was just really set in her way and she was choosing to go down the path she was gonna go down, and there was really nothing I could do or anybody could do.

I mean, literally she was gonna have to allow herself to be convicted by the Lord, you know? And so it's like Ecclesiastes 11 talks about, I talk about this a lot, how it's like, you know, you, you don't know the ways that God's moving.

This is a lot of paraphrasing, but you don't know the way that God's moving.

It says, "But continue to sow your seed in the morning and don't be idle with your hands in the evening." I quote that all the time because it's so helpful to me.

In Ecclesiastes 10, we saw the contrast between wisdom and folly and leadership in everyday life.

Now in Ecclesiastes 11, the preacher turns towards the uncertainty of the future, and his message is both realistic and hopeful.

You cannot control the future, but you can trust God with it as you walk into it.

This chapter calls us to live faithfully, work diligently, and trust God with what we cannot see.

All right, let's read now from Ecclesiastes 11, which says, Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days.

Give a portion to seven or even to eight, for you know not what disaster may happen on earth.

If the clouds are full of rain, they empty themselves on earth.

But know that for all these things, God will bring you into judgment.