Tyler Lynde: Are you ready for the message this morning?
Tyler Lynde: I'm ready, here we go.
Tyler Lynde: The title of the message is Living Life Out of Control.
Tyler Lynde: Living life out of control.
Tyler Lynde: That sounds interesting, right?
Tyler Lynde: So we're in the middle of a sermon series entitled Everything is Meaningless.
Tyler Lynde: Wow, isn't that?
Tyler Lynde: I mean, it's just amazing to even think about that.
Tyler Lynde: There's a book of the Bible that really this is the main theme that everything is meaningless.
Tyler Lynde: The book of Ecclesiastes is one of the wisdom books found in the Old Testament.
Tyler Lynde: What are the other couples?
Tyler Lynde: Anybody know another wisdom book in the Old Testament, proverbs, and one more In Job.
Tyler Lynde: Yeah, so we have those three and it's one of the wisdom books.
Tyler Lynde: But it's very different from, say, proverbs.
Tyler Lynde: Proverbs approaches wisdom from kind of the general rule standpoint.
Tyler Lynde: So it's like if you do this, then this will happen.
Tyler Lynde: If you don't do this, then that will happen.
Tyler Lynde: Right?
Tyler Lynde: Does that make sense?
Tyler Lynde: So wisdom is if you apply these truths, then there's an outcome-based situation that will occur.
Tyler Lynde: But in the, the book of Ecclesiastes actually addresses kind of the exceptions to the rules.
Tyler Lynde: So it doesn't just look at you know, you do this and this happens, or you don't do this and that happens.
Tyler Lynde: It looks more at like the outcome.
Tyler Lynde: The outcome can look very different based on circumstances and situations and things that are out of our control, things that don't make sense.
Tyler Lynde: So if you had to define it, you could say that Proverbs is a very idealistic book, in the sense that this is like best case scenario, and then Ecclesiastes is more like a realistic book, so it's like worst case scenario.
Tyler Lynde: So we need both of them together, right?
Tyler Lynde: And then Job is a living example of an individual who actually had to walk out.
Tyler Lynde: What we read in both Proverbs and in Ecclesiastes.
Tyler Lynde: So our passage this morning is in Ecclesiastes, chapter 6, verses 10 through 12.
Tyler Lynde: And let's read the word of God together.
Tyler Lynde: I'm reading from the New Living translation Everything has already been decided.
Tyler Lynde: It was known long ago what each person would be, so there's no use arguing with God about your destiny.
Tyler Lynde: The more words you speak, the less they mean.
Tyler Lynde: So what good are they?
Tyler Lynde: In the few days of our meaningless lives, who knows how our days can best be spent?
Tyler Lynde: Our lives are like a shadow.
Tyler Lynde: Who can tell what will happen on this earth after we are gone?
Tyler Lynde: Lord Jesus, we thank you for your Word.
Tyler Lynde: We thank you, father, that you put words that are really exciting for us to read and to praise you about.
Tyler Lynde: You also put words that help us to deal with what's actually happening in our current situations and circumstances.
Tyler Lynde: So we pray, lord, today, that we would glean hope and wisdom and common sense and direction from the words that you speak to us out of this book that You've placed in your Bible, called Ecclesiastes.
Tyler Lynde: In Jesus' name, amen, I once knew a pastor that became the lead pastor of his church.
Tyler Lynde: About the same time that Joel Osteen became the lead pastor of his church, joel Osteen's dad had passed away and this pastor's dad was retiring, was no longer a part of pastoring the church.
Tyler Lynde: And so this pastor that I knew watched Joel Osteen on TV and thought to himself well, I mean, not a huge persona, you know, not necessarily, you know, not something that he was necessarily thinking this is just tremendous to listen to, and then also gospel light to a certain degree.
Tyler Lynde: And so this pastor thought you know, we're both starting out at the same time.
Tyler Lynde: We have similar scenarios, we're both taking over for our dad, so pretty good chance that over time we could follow the same trajectory.
Tyler Lynde: You know, since this pastor was thinking I'm not necessarily that much worse than Joel Osteen, right?
Tyler Lynde: Well, joel Osteen's church quickly became the largest church in America, and this pastor's church only grew nominally, in a very small way, and so it was a good lesson in humility for myself.
Tyler Lynde: I mean, the pastor that was actually.
Tyler Lynde: It was me.
Tyler Lynde: It was actually me that felt all those things and thought all those things.
Tyler Lynde: I was my friend who was the pastor.
Tyler Lynde: So as we continue our study of the book of Ecclesiastes and we read these words, we have to see that Solomon if he's the author of this book, and it seems like he is is employing a similar tactic.
Tyler Lynde: So he uses the teacher or the preacher to talk about all of the difficulties that come with living our lives for God and also living our lives in a world that is messed up by sin, right, and so it's like he throws all of that off onto the teacher and the preacher to be confused, about to toil with, to try to figure out, to consider all of those things.
Tyler Lynde: And I picture this guy I don't know how you picture the teacher or the preacher.
Tyler Lynde: I picture him like dressed in all black, with maybe a pipe you know with, with cherry tobacco, cherry smoked tobacco in it, and he's sitting there and he's, the lights are really dim and he just, you know, he puffs out some smoke and then he and I'm not encouraging that, by the way, I'm saying this is my vision of what the teacher or the preacher might, might look like and he's, he's sitting there and he has these pontifications, these words that he speaks out, and he doesn't use a lot of filter, he just kind of says it the way that he sees it, and I think that Solomon in all of his glory, somebody who had been given a great privilege by God to walk as the wisest man who had ever been given wisdom outside of Christ, obviously, but the wisest man who had ever been given the gift of wisdom, and yet here at the end of his life, as he's considering things he talks about a friend, a teacher, a preacher, who has some things to say that aren't so rosy or positive about life experience why, why would God include something like that in his book, in the Bible?
Tyler Lynde: Why would he put something that is such, in some way, such a downer in the Bible?
Tyler Lynde: Why would he allow for that, and not only allow for it but the call for it?
Tyler Lynde: Is it possible that we find ourselves at times like the teacher or like the preacher in our own lives as cynics or critics, especially when it comes to the questions of life?
Tyler Lynde: Is it possible you don't have to say that you are one of those but is it possible that at times we find ourselves in the seat of the cynic or the critic, trying to figure it all out, asking all the questions of life that don't seem to have the answers, at least that we want to hear?
Tyler Lynde: It's not wrong to ask questions.
Tyler Lynde: In fact, the Bible says that we are supposed to pray, we're supposed to talk to God, we're supposed to commune with them, we're supposed to ask him questions and to listen for our answers.
Tyler Lynde: The problem is that God chooses to answer our questions in many different ways.
Tyler Lynde: Is that right?
Tyler Lynde: Have you ever had him answer no to something that you really wanted him to answer yes to and in the end you realize not then, but years later, maybe you realize that no was actually the right answer.
Tyler Lynde: That's hard man.
Tyler Lynde: Our flesh cries out and says no, god, you're wrong.
Tyler Lynde: So Solomon, through the teacher here, continues this line of questioning what good?
Tyler Lynde: Who knows what will happen?
Tyler Lynde: Those are the questions he's asking of life and its seeming lack of purpose.
Tyler Lynde: So let's get into it.
Tyler Lynde: The first thing we need to recognize from this passage is that God is ultimately in control.
Tyler Lynde: That's an amen moment.
Tyler Lynde: We want God to be in control.
Tyler Lynde: Trust me.
Tyler Lynde: Trust me, the God of the universe, the creator of all things, the eternal Father, who is love.
Tyler Lynde: He defines himself as love.
Tyler Lynde: We want him to ultimately be in charge and to be in control.
Tyler Lynde: Right, we'll talk about in a few minutes why we don't want him to be, but I'm telling you, we want him to be in control.
Tyler Lynde: We want him to be in charge.
Tyler Lynde: The passage said everything has already been decided.
Tyler Lynde: It was known long ago what each person would be.
Tyler Lynde: Isn't that wild?
Tyler Lynde: Because why do we resist that so much?
Tyler Lynde: Why does that thought creep over us and make us want to scream or to back away from this truth?
Tyler Lynde: Here's the reality.
Tyler Lynde: We champion this thought when it comes to baby dedications and pro-life events.
Tyler Lynde: You'll hear verses like those found in Jeremiah and here in Psalm 139, verses 13 through 15,.
Tyler Lynde: For you formed my inward parts.
Tyler Lynde: You knitted me together in my mother's womb.
Tyler Lynde: I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Tyler Lynde: Wonderful are your works.
Tyler Lynde: My soul knows it very well.
Tyler Lynde: My frame was not hidden from you when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
Tyler Lynde: Now we have written songs about these verses, we have prayed prayers that included these verses, we have spoken words that include these verses.
Tyler Lynde: So what changes in our minds about the importance of God being in control after we breathe our first breath here on this planet?
Tyler Lynde: Something changes in our mindset, something changes in our will, Something changes in the way that we evaluate things.
Tyler Lynde: But it's interesting because, even if you don't believe that God is in control or God is sovereign, listen to yourself, pray.
Tyler Lynde: Sometimes the prayers that we all pray say we have a relative who is desperately in need of salvation.
Tyler Lynde: What kind of prayer do we pray?
Tyler Lynde: God, save them, rescue them, bring them to yourself, show them who you are.
Tyler Lynde: Why don't we pray something more like Lord?
Tyler Lynde: You know that they have good sense.
Tyler Lynde: These are smart people.
Tyler Lynde: They realize already that they have a problem.
Tyler Lynde: So just be there and be ready when they make a decision to seek after you.
Tyler Lynde: We don't pray that way.
Tyler Lynde: Why not?
Tyler Lynde: Because we understand that we need a God who not just in our making, in our mindset, in the way that we evaluate him.
Tyler Lynde: We need a God who is bigger than us.
Tyler Lynde: We need a God that's bigger than us, isn't that true?
Tyler Lynde: The problem comes in when our life experiences don't line up with what we consider to be good or successful.
Tyler Lynde: In Romans 8, 28, we all could quote it right.
Tyler Lynde: What does it say?
Tyler Lynde: We know that all things work together for good, for those who love God, who are called according to His purpose.
Tyler Lynde: Work together for good.
Tyler Lynde: What is the definition of good there?
Tyler Lynde: Is it our definition?
Tyler Lynde: It's His definition, isn't it?
Tyler Lynde: It's what he considers to be good.
Tyler Lynde: It's easy to become resentful toward God when it seems like he's somewhere in the distance, somewhere out there in the dark.
Tyler Lynde: He's delayed, he's not paying attention, he's forgotten about me or he's forgotten about you.
Tyler Lynde: Here's the truth.
Tyler Lynde: The sovereignty of God isn't fatalistic in any part.
Tyler Lynde: He sees things from a forever perspective and makes only the wisest of plans.
Tyler Lynde: We can trust His control completely.
Tyler Lynde: You realize that even science itself relies on the control of God.
Tyler Lynde: The laws of nature, everything that we know to be true, relies on something greater than itself to keep it in that place of truth.
Tyler Lynde: Right, I think you all agree with me.
Tyler Lynde: I think we're on the same page.
Tyler Lynde: Okay, but it's a hard thing to embrace.
Tyler Lynde: Why Can we be honest.
Tyler Lynde: We want to be in control.
Tyler Lynde: It's my party, it's my life, and I want to do what I want to do.
Tyler Lynde: However, I want to do it.
Tyler Lynde: Amen to that.
Tyler Lynde: It's the truth.
Tyler Lynde: It's the way that we want to live.
Tyler Lynde: But listen to the verses again from Ecclesiastes.
Tyler Lynde: So there's no use arguing with God about your destiny.
Tyler Lynde: The more words you speak, the less they mean.
Tyler Lynde: It's almost like I could see God.
Tyler Lynde: He wouldn't do this.
Tyler Lynde: But if God were more like me, you could hear him go blah, blah, blah, blah.
Tyler Lynde: You know he's like keep it coming.
Tyler Lynde: Okay, keep talking, keep talking.
Tyler Lynde: You already said that a thousand times.
Tyler Lynde: Trust me.
Tyler Lynde: Have you ever had a backseat driver?
Tyler Lynde: Have you ever been surrounded by backseat drivers?
Tyler Lynde: If you have been, possibly there is a problem with your driving.
Tyler Lynde: Okay, if the whole car is trying to instruct you on how to drive differently, maybe pay attention to that, but if there's just one who's telling you how, you're going the wrong direction, you're going to the wrong place, you're making the wrong turn.
Tyler Lynde: You should have gone back there.
Tyler Lynde: You should have taken the interstate, you should have taken the backroads, you should have slowed down, speed up, put your signal on right.
Tyler Lynde: I'm 50 years old.
Tyler Lynde: I don't want to feel like I'm still in driving school and I'm not talking about my wife, by the way, so don't get that thought in your head but is it possible that that person who's in the backseat trying to drive me everywhere tell me where to drive everywhere doesn't know something I know?
Tyler Lynde: Is it possible that they don't know about a wreck that's ahead that I'm aware of because I heard it on the radio or I saw it on TV?
Tyler Lynde: Is it possible that they don't know that you're taking them to a surprise party and you have to go a different direction to get there?
Tyler Lynde: Is it possible that they know something about the timing of things or a weather situation that's about ready to happen?
Tyler Lynde: Is it possible that they know more than you?
Tyler Lynde: You know what the epitome of us wanting to be in control is it's all found on one bumper sticker.
Tyler Lynde: Do they still do bumper stickers?
Tyler Lynde: It's found on one bumper sticker.
Tyler Lynde: It's God is my co-pilot.
Tyler Lynde: That is the ultimate crying out of.
Tyler Lynde: I want to be in control.
Tyler Lynde: If God's not the pilot of your airplane, it's going down, it's going down and it's going down hard and vast.
Tyler Lynde: We need God to be in control.
Tyler Lynde: Now isn't it nice, like with my kids when they were young, we'd go up to Cades Cove and Cades Cove was always fun and interesting for all of us because there was some backseat driving going on, when I would let one of them sit on my lap and drive us through Cades Cove Because of the fact that, if you've been up there, it's a very narrow road as they're driving and looking at things.
Tyler Lynde: But what the person that was trying to help me make sure that they're going in the right direction and get on the road didn't recognize is that I had my hand down at the bottom of the steering wheel.
Tyler Lynde: If they would go too far this way, I'd just correct it back.
Tyler Lynde: If they went too far this way, I'd bring it back.
Tyler Lynde: I also was in control of the gas and, more importantly, the brake Right.
Tyler Lynde: So it's like that with our Heavenly Father.
Tyler Lynde: Does he release authority to us?
Tyler Lynde: Does he allow us to do things where my kids actually driving?
Tyler Lynde: Yes, at times they were actually driving, but never out of my care, never out of the place of safety that I provided for them.
Tyler Lynde: And that's the way it is with our Heavenly Father.
Tyler Lynde: We want to be in control.
Tyler Lynde: If we don't, well, first of all, how many of you love backseat drivers?
Tyler Lynde: Anybody that would like for an extra one to be a part of your vehicle ride on the way home, let me know.
Tyler Lynde: I'll hook you up with somebody that will go with you.
Tyler Lynde: But why then, if we don't like that, why do we consistently do that to God?
Tyler Lynde: How do we do it?
Tyler Lynde: We ask the when questions.
Tyler Lynde: How many of you remember the?
Tyler Lynde: When are we going to get there?
Tyler Lynde: How many minutes is it?
Tyler Lynde: We all have our stock answers.
Tyler Lynde: I think mine is 15 minutes.
Tyler Lynde: It's about 15 minutes.
Tyler Lynde: About is the important word, because if you're not going to lie, right, it's about 15 minutes.
Tyler Lynde: 15 minutes can become 15 hours, if necessary, in 15-minute increments, right?
Tyler Lynde: When are we going to get there?
Tyler Lynde: Where are we going?
Tyler Lynde: These are questions we ask God.
Tyler Lynde: How is this all going to work out?
Tyler Lynde: How am I going to get out of this?
Tyler Lynde: What are you doing?
Tyler Lynde: And the one that never, hardly ever, gets answered is why, speaking of another wisdom book, job wanted to ask that question, didn't he?
Tyler Lynde: And when God showed up, what did he say?
Tyler Lynde: God asked the question of his own when were you when I laid the foundations of the earth and placed the stars in their place.
Tyler Lynde: Where were you?
Tyler Lynde: In other words, we need a God who's in control.
Tyler Lynde: We recently finished the sermon series on the book of Mark.
Tyler Lynde: You guys remember that this year, where we talked about how Peter attempted to correct Jesus for telling his disciples of his plan to give his life up for the redemption of mankind.
Tyler Lynde: And Jesus said oh, you're right, let's change direction.
Tyler Lynde: Maybe we could do this in different ways.
Tyler Lynde: Is that what happened?
Tyler Lynde: No, what did Jesus do?
Tyler Lynde: He rebuked Satan Because he understood that the temptation that Peter was speaking was actually Satan speaking through him.
Tyler Lynde: What is the temptation?
Tyler Lynde: You can't trust God.
Tyler Lynde: There's got to be a better way.
Tyler Lynde: What did he do with Adam and Eve in the garden?
Tyler Lynde: Did God really say that?
Tyler Lynde: You know what God's doing?
Tyler Lynde: He's holding it out on you.
Tyler Lynde: There's something that you should know that you don't know.
Tyler Lynde: Thank God that Jesus didn't deviate from the plan of redemption Amen.
Tyler Lynde: We are sitting here today because of the fact that Jesus did not give in to demonic control.
Tyler Lynde: We all have our own brand of control, don't we?
Tyler Lynde: Maybe some of us use prayer to attempt to control even God.
Tyler Lynde: We command him, god.
Tyler Lynde: I command you to do this, to go there, to do that.
Tyler Lynde: I command the angels to go to this and do this and do that.
Tyler Lynde: Friends, let's be careful.
Tyler Lynde: Let's be careful.
Tyler Lynde: Let's make sure that we're walking in humility in everything that we do.
Tyler Lynde: It's one thing to ask God for something.
Tyler Lynde: It's another thing to tell him what to do.
Tyler Lynde: He is a holy God who should be respected and reverenced, and we should have a holy fear for him and awe.
Tyler Lynde: Not fear of destruction or devastation, but fear of understanding his otherness, the fact that he's greater than we are.
Tyler Lynde: How about in work?
Tyler Lynde: Some of us attempt to control our work environment by being volatile.
Tyler Lynde: Oh, I'm just so tired, just so busy, I can't handle.
Tyler Lynde: Another thing.
Tyler Lynde: I know you can picture somebody else in the office that you work at acting like that.
Tyler Lynde: None of us would ever try to control the scenario by being volatile at work.
Tyler Lynde: Right, I don't know what's wrong with them, but don't send them any emails today.
Tyler Lynde: Right, we can do all kinds of things to control.
Tyler Lynde: How about in marriage, men misusing Scripture to beat their wives with words and with hands and feet Sick women using sex as a weapon to control their husbands, family children withholding love and respect, or parents withholding love and respect from their children.
Tyler Lynde: You can even use health to try to control things.
Tyler Lynde: I'm starving myself, I'm exercising obsessively, or just the opposite.
Tyler Lynde: I'm eating my third bag of Cheetos and this one is the flaming hot bag.
Tyler Lynde: And just to break it up a little bit, the worst one of all, maybe, is the remote control.
Tyler Lynde: If you want to know what level of control you're exercising in your life, men especially, how often are you glad to see somebody else holding the remote control?
Tyler Lynde: Not very often, do we Nobody, nobody fast-forward to commercial like I do.
Tyler Lynde: You know what I'm saying.
Tyler Lynde: Here's the reality about all of this.
Tyler Lynde: The joke is on us because, no matter how much we think we're in control, we are not.
Tyler Lynde: I'll give you a quick example of this.
Tyler Lynde: I was in the hospital in 2020.
Tyler Lynde: Many of you know this story, so I won't go into a great depth, but I had a colon issue and other issues going on and I had to have four surgeries Two of them were planned and two of them were emergency because of infection and times where I almost died.
Tyler Lynde: And as I went into all of that scenario, the reason why it got to that point is because I was afraid to go to the doctor.
Tyler Lynde: Yes, I'll say it, I was afraid to go to the doctor, and so I waited a month, as things did not get better but continued to get worse, and so then when I did go to the doctor, it was beyond just taking a pill, and then we're gonna get better, right?
Tyler Lynde: So going through that process, I made a determination that I was gonna ask the Lord to show me what it was that I was afraid of, Because for my whole life I thought that I had had the fear of death, the fear of dying.
Tyler Lynde: But I got so close to the point of death and when they told me that I did, I'm like I don't even remember that.
Tyler Lynde: I know that I felt bad, but I didn't know that I got to that point.
Tyler Lynde: So it's kind of interesting because God has placed in our bodies all of these hormones and things that are released at times when they need to be released, and a lot of times we don't even recognize what's happening within our bodies.
Tyler Lynde: Cindy's experienced that multiple times, I'm sure yeah, thank God, you're here today.
Tyler Lynde: Yeah, what a miracle.
Tyler Lynde: So it wasn't the fear of dying.
Tyler Lynde: But then I thought, well, maybe it was the fear of pain, because we think about dying and then we think about the pain of dying.
Tyler Lynde: But I'm telling you this right now I went through what I would call extraordinary pain.
Tyler Lynde: Now I know for I will not compare it ever with birthing a child.
Tyler Lynde: Okay, nothing ever in my mind will equate to that, because I've been through that four times.
Tyler Lynde: She's done great and I've almost passed out every time.
Tyler Lynde: Not kidding.
Tyler Lynde: So anyway, what happened is I realized it wasn't the fear of pain and so finally I'm like what is it, god?
Tyler Lynde: And I didn't know it until the last surgery.
Tyler Lynde: And COVID was rampant and nobody was allowed to come in the hospital to be with me, even my wife.
Tyler Lynde: So I had that final surgery.
Tyler Lynde: I'm in my hospital bed.
Tyler Lynde: I can't help myself.
Tyler Lynde: I'm reliant upon the nurse to do every single thing for me until that mean person comes in and I know some of you work in this field, so I'm not saying it you, but physical therapists.
Tyler Lynde: I have a special place in my prayer life for physical therapists Because I've never known pain.
Tyler Lynde: It's like the pain of getting up out of that bed after surgery.
Tyler Lynde: But I know you gotta do it.
Tyler Lynde: I know you gotta do it and I'm thankful for you.
Tyler Lynde: I'm not trying to disparage you, but anyway, what I realized laying in that bed when I couldn't do anything, the Lord spoke to me and said you're afraid of losing control.
Tyler Lynde: And I said well, I don't have much control right now.
Tyler Lynde: And he said exactly, that's the point, you got it.
Tyler Lynde: I'm like did it take four surgeries and all of this stuff for me to finally get to that point?
Tyler Lynde: He's like you tell me.
Tyler Lynde: You tell me.
Tyler Lynde: Now.
Tyler Lynde: I'm not saying that God did all of those things, don't hear me wrong.
Tyler Lynde: But what I am saying is that God used that to help me to understand.
Tyler Lynde: The real issue that I had in my life was a control issue.
Tyler Lynde: I don't wanna be out of control.
Tyler Lynde: Here's what the blessed news I'm gonna give all of you today.
Tyler Lynde: I never really was in control.
Tyler Lynde: It was all God anyway.
Tyler Lynde: So, moving on, how should we live out of control?
Tyler Lynde: How should we live that way In the few days of our meaningless lives?
Tyler Lynde: Who knows how our days can best be spent?
Tyler Lynde: Here's the issue.
Tyler Lynde: Can I be honest with you?
Tyler Lynde: Like, if we knew what God was gonna do the whole time, it may be a little easier for us, although, to be honest, we would still be in there trying to, like, coach him up.
Tyler Lynde: You know, god, that's good, but this might be even better, cause we could kill two birds with one stone.
Tyler Lynde: You could deal with those wicked people and you could bless me at the same time.
Tyler Lynde: You know, yeah, I guess I'm the only one that has thoughts like that.
Tyler Lynde: No, but the teacher spends chapter seven here trying to offer some answers to how we should spend the few days that we have in this miserable, meaningless life, understanding that God is ultimately in control.
Tyler Lynde: So let's look at this.
Tyler Lynde: The first thing that he says in Ecclesiastes seven is we must keep eternity in the front of our minds.
Tyler Lynde: In verses one through four, he says a good reputation is more valuable than costly perfume, and the day you die is better than the day you are born.
Tyler Lynde: Better to spend your time at funerals than at parties.
Tyler Lynde: After all, everyone dies.
Tyler Lynde: So the living should take this to heart.
Tyler Lynde: Sorrow is better than laughter.
Tyler Lynde: Should I just stop now?
Tyler Lynde: No, for sadness has a refining influence on us.
Tyler Lynde: A wise person thinks a lot about death, while a fool thinks only about having a good time.
Tyler Lynde: Wow, solomon, that's deep.
Tyler Lynde: I was introduced to death very early on in life.
Tyler Lynde: When I was 18 months old, my brother, who was a year older than I, drowned.
Tyler Lynde: When he drowned.
Tyler Lynde: It changed the whole trajectory of our family.
Tyler Lynde: My brother had learned how to open the gate in the backyard, unbeknownst to my parents, and so he opened the gate and he and I found ourselves at this place of runoff area and that's where he found his.
Tyler Lynde: That's where he passed.
Tyler Lynde: I don't remember that, thankfully, but I do know from years of experience of living in a family who have suffered a loss like that how much it can affect a family.
Tyler Lynde: I will say this on the night before my brother Brian's funeral, a Baptist minister came to my grandfather's house to talk with my grandfather about his need for salvation.
Tyler Lynde: My grandfather was not wanting to talk at that moment so he said maybe you can help her.
Tyler Lynde: Talking about my mom, the Baptist minister spoke to my mom and thanks me to God.
Tyler Lynde: My mom gave her soul and life to Jesus Christ on that night and about a year and a half to two years later my dad gave his life to the Lord and about around that same time I gave my life to the Lord.
Tyler Lynde: I gave my life to the Lord and now I have grandchildren who my granddaughter this morning was lifting up her little hand and saying hallelujah Jesus, and she doesn't know fully what all of that's about, but guess what Generations have been changed and affected because of the death of my brother.
Tyler Lynde: Now, do I wish that on anyone?
Tyler Lynde: Could God have done it some other way?
Tyler Lynde: Of course, absolutely.
Tyler Lynde: He could have done things.
Tyler Lynde: He does things in many, many, many ways, but he's promised to turn things around, to make things that are horrible and devastating into something that can be called good.
Tyler Lynde: I've conducted and attended many funerals since that day.
Tyler Lynde: As heart-wrenching as they can be, I always in some ways recognize that they're the greatest opportunities for us to consider our own lives, our own brevity of life, the shortness of our lives, and it helps us to put our priorities in the right order.
Tyler Lynde: What's really important?
Tyler Lynde: How should I actually live my life?
Tyler Lynde: What will be said at our funerals?
Tyler Lynde: What will the words be that will be spoken?
Tyler Lynde: Will people have to invent things about us to make a sound like decent people, or will they have words and experiences that they can express not perfection, but a heart that understood the love of God for themselves, for yourselves, and then also that you showed that love toward others?
Tyler Lynde: Sorrow and sadness and suffering and death teach us much more in this life than mindless days listening to podcasts about things that we're interested in and I'm not saying you shouldn't listen to podcasts, I'm just comparing the two.
Tyler Lynde: We can find ourselves trapped in this frame of thought that keeps us away from thinking about the things that are really important or significant, based on something that we want to do.
Tyler Lynde: It's not wrong to laugh and enjoy life, as long as we remember that what we gain by looking at life from an eternal perspective, that's what we need to remember, what we will gain.
Tyler Lynde: I'd much rather be ready for eternity than living this life.
Tyler Lynde: For my constant amusement.
Tyler Lynde: My friends, the story does not end with you taking your last breath here on this life.
Tyler Lynde: We were made by God to live eternally and we will either with Him, which is His intended purpose for creation, or apart from Him, which is the root that sin and death and hell will lead us to.
Tyler Lynde: Paul struggled with this whole concept of life and death in Philippians as he writes these words.
Tyler Lynde: For to me, living means living for Christ and dying is even better, but if I live, I can do more fruitful work for Christ.
Tyler Lynde: So I really don't know which is better.
Tyler Lynde: I'm torn between two desires.
Tyler Lynde: I long to go and be with Christ.
Tyler Lynde: Can we say amen to that, which would be far better for me, but for your sakes, it's better that I continue to live.
Tyler Lynde: So he understood that if he is here on this earth, he's left here for a reason to do something with this life that he's been given.
Tyler Lynde: The second thing that chapter seven tells us is that we need godly accountability in our lives to keep us properly focused.
Tyler Lynde: Verses five and six says better to be criticized by a wise person than to be praised by a fool.
Tyler Lynde: A fool's laughter is quickly gone, like thorns crackling in a fire.
Tyler Lynde: This also is meaningless.
Tyler Lynde: If we want to walk this walk the way that God intends for us to, we cannot trust our own judgment exclusively.
Tyler Lynde: The reason why the body of Christ is so valuable and so important, especially in the days that we're living in, is because we can easily get off track and take a side road or take a path that's going to be very, very destructive for us.
Tyler Lynde: How important it is to have the words of people who love us, who share things with us that could save our lives.
Tyler Lynde: I once had a man well, pete Beck.
Tyler Lynde: Many of you know Pete Beck.
Tyler Lynde: He passed away this last year and he's in glory, celebrating with Jesus and dancing.
Tyler Lynde: That man loved to dance and he was.
Tyler Lynde: He's dancing and running and leaping and praising God.
Tyler Lynde: I'm sure one time I was complaining to him about our church in North Carolina and I said it seems like nobody has any passion.
Tyler Lynde: And he looked at me and he goes well, how's your passion level?
Tyler Lynde: That's all he said.
Tyler Lynde: And I'm like well, these people are bringing me down.
Tyler Lynde: And he's like no, no, no, that's not what I'm asking.
Tyler Lynde: Like, how was your relationship with the Lord going?
Tyler Lynde: Are you enjoying fellowship with him?
Tyler Lynde: Are you spending time in the Word and in prayer?
Tyler Lynde: Are you worshiping outside of Sunday mornings?
Tyler Lynde: Are you, you know, witnessing?
Tyler Lynde: Okay, enough enough?
Tyler Lynde: You're right, I'm the problem, we're the problem.
Tyler Lynde: We all need Jesus, right?
Tyler Lynde: We need people in our lives that we trust to speak the truth in love to each other.
Tyler Lynde: They may not answer all of our problems, but their advice will be far more worth.
Tyler Lynde: Worth far more than popular songs that have no moral compass and the shallow humor of comedians.
Tyler Lynde: We need the truth.
Tyler Lynde: Amen, just about finished here.
Tyler Lynde: We are further along in our spiritual journey.
Tyler Lynde: We who are further along also need to be those people for others, not critics, but people who walk alongside and say, hey, I've been down that road.
Tyler Lynde: I'm telling you it's a dead end, it's not the right track for you.
Tyler Lynde: Let me walk with you, Let me show you the way.
Tyler Lynde: There's a better way, there's a more excellent way than the one that you're walking.
Tyler Lynde: Proverbs 27 says it very succinctly an open rebuke is better than hidden love.
Tyler Lynde: Wounds from a sincere friend are better than many kisses from an enemy.
Tyler Lynde: I still think of Judas' kiss and Jesus said my friend wow.
Tyler Lynde: In number three, we must avoid ever-present dangers that try to distract us.
Tyler Lynde: Extortion turns wise people into fools, and bribes corrupt the heart.
Tyler Lynde: Finishing is better than starting.
Tyler Lynde: Patience is better than pride.
Tyler Lynde: Control your temper, for anger Labels you a fool.
Tyler Lynde: Don't long for the good old days.
Tyler Lynde: This is not wise.
Tyler Lynde: Wow, that's a mouthful.
Tyler Lynde: We're going to get through it in about three minutes.
Tyler Lynde: One of Satan's plans is to try to distract us with temptations to attempt to control our circumstances or the people in our world by using devilish devices to do that.
Tyler Lynde: So let's just go through this list.
Tyler Lynde: Number one extortion or bribes, using evil tactics to try and get ahead.
Tyler Lynde: Power moves, power trips that cause wise men to lose their sense of balance and restraint.
Tyler Lynde: There I say politics.
Tyler Lynde: Do we see this in politics?
Tyler Lynde: Extortion and bribes, obviously all the time.
Tyler Lynde: And I just mentioned Judas.
Tyler Lynde: Don't go down that path.
Tyler Lynde: It's a dead end.
Tyler Lynde: The next one is impatience.
Tyler Lynde: I know that some of you are counting, watching, looking at your clock.
Tyler Lynde: Right now You're exercising.
Tyler Lynde: We are exercising impatience, right, attempting to short circuit the process of character development.
Tyler Lynde: God is working, he's doing something.
Tyler Lynde: It comes only through endurance.
Tyler Lynde: Character development only comes through endurance.
Tyler Lynde: You can read about that in Romans 5, verses 3 through 5.
Tyler Lynde: Impatience children with children with parents.
Tyler Lynde: I have one child that talks a lot and another child who talks a little and I've been impatient with both of them.
Tyler Lynde: Why?
Tyler Lynde: Because he didn't talk.
Tyler Lynde: Just right, I'm Goldilocks, okay?
Tyler Lynde: No, what is wrong with that?
Tyler Lynde: I'm looking at life with the wrong lenses.
Tyler Lynde: How about anger?
Tyler Lynde: Aggressively blaming others for our own mistakes?
Tyler Lynde: Anger, violence, rage you know most of it comes from a victim mindset.
Tyler Lynde: Most of us think that we're being mistreated or taken advantage of and maybe we are but anger is not what we're supposed to use to deal with that.
Tyler Lynde: We can turn it outward through rage, or most of us who are more mature use passive, aggressive means Because we would never want to raise our voice.
Tyler Lynde: So we'll just say what we want to say in a cutesy little way that paints a picture of I hate you, you're lame, okay.
Tyler Lynde: Or, unfortunately, anger can be turned inwardly and show up as depression or anxiety and, most devastatingly, we can also be mad at God.
Tyler Lynde: God Because his plan, his way of doing something was different than our own, or maybe we can't see it clearly, we don't understand it.
Tyler Lynde: And finally, discontentment, wanting the good old days.
Tyler Lynde: We can worship the good old days and also we kind of reinvent the good old days.
Tyler Lynde: When you're telling a story from your early days and you're told it for the hundredth time, one guarantee I'll give you the facts are not accurate.
Tyler Lynde: Because if you tell it in front of your wife, what does she do?
Tyler Lynde: Well, that's not what it was, this is what was.
Tyler Lynde: And you're like no, this is, it sounds better this way.
Tyler Lynde: That's called a lie or it's a hopeful thought, it's something that we place back in to kind of clean it up a little bit.
Tyler Lynde: So it seems better, right?
Tyler Lynde: We can all do that at times.
Tyler Lynde: We're not supposed to.
Tyler Lynde: Discontentment, looking backwards we can even stare at something as great as the Reformation and make that an idol we can evaluate or look at a period of revival in our lives and say, unless we have that again, god's not moving.
Tyler Lynde: We can idolize things.
Tyler Lynde: We can grow discontent very easily.
Tyler Lynde: If you don't believe me, just ask Lot's wife.
Tyler Lynde: She looked back one time.
Tyler Lynde: And the final part of this passage is we must live like we are going to die.
Tyler Lynde: Our lives are like a shadow.
Tyler Lynde: Who can tell what will happen on this earth after we are gone?
Tyler Lynde: One thing is sure, my friends death is coming and we had better make the best use of our present opportunities.
Tyler Lynde: Because when death comes, when none of us know the day, none of us know the hour, it will come.
Tyler Lynde: Unless Jesus returns on our lifetime, it will come to each of us.
Tyler Lynde: And when it does, will we be able to stand before Jesus and say, when he asks the one question that he will ask us what did you do with what I gave you?
Tyler Lynde: Are we going to be able to say I loved because you loved me.
Tyler Lynde: I gave, I was merciful because you were merciful.
Tyler Lynde: I was filled with faith because you were faithful?
Tyler Lynde: Death is the truest equalizer of this current life.
Tyler Lynde: Everyone will die until Jesus returns.
Tyler Lynde: Life is like a drop in the ocean, a speck of sand on the safe shore, a star in the sky.
Tyler Lynde: It's like vapor or fog here today and gone in a few minutes.
Tyler Lynde: What will we do with the in-betweens?
Tyler Lynde: Here's what we all must do if we haven't yet.
Tyler Lynde: Number one you must accept that you are not in control of the universe or even your own life, the eternal God is.
Tyler Lynde: Number two you must acknowledge that you have broken God's law and you have rebelled against him.
Tyler Lynde: The Bible calls that sin.
Tyler Lynde: Romans 3.23 tells us that we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
Tyler Lynde: That death there isn't just physical death, it's separation from God.
Tyler Lynde: Number three repent of your sins and put your trust in Jesus Christ.
Tyler Lynde: My friends, the only one who ever got it right every moment of every day of his life here on this earth was Jesus, and he did that for us so that he could equip us by his Holy Spirit to have the grace that we need to live out this life for him.
Tyler Lynde: Romans 6.23b says but the free gift is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord.
Tyler Lynde: Mark 1.15 says repent and believe in the gospel.
Tyler Lynde: Those are the words of Jesus.
Tyler Lynde: Number four confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord.
Tyler Lynde: Romans 10.9 says because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved, no doubt, no question.
Tyler Lynde: Number five get baptized in water and be filled with the Spirit, and we see that in Acts 2.38.
Tyler Lynde: And finally, live in community with fellow believers.
Tyler Lynde: If you would write down that scripture verse, acts 2.42 through 47, and read that this week and ask yourself am I living out this kind of life?
Tyler Lynde: Because that's life, the very best way that God has designed for us to live out here in this life, outside of him coming back and making all things right, which he's going to do very soon.
Tyler Lynde: If you've already done all of those things, guess what?
Tyler Lynde: We have the privilege of helping other people do the very same things.
Tyler Lynde: That's what all of these outreaches are about.
Tyler Lynde: That's why we're going to Tanzania and we're in Kenya and we're going to Poland and Ukraine and Russia and Tuva.
Tyler Lynde: Why?
Tyler Lynde: Because God is in charge and people like us need to acknowledge their need for a Savior.
Tyler Lynde: Let's pray, father.
Tyler Lynde: I'm so grateful for the privilege of standing again in this pulpit.
Tyler Lynde: It's been a journey for me this summer and for my family.
Tyler Lynde: I just thank you, lord, for the faithfulness that you have shown toward us and toward your people.
Tyler Lynde: Here we ask, lord God, in Jesus' name, that this message would not cause us to be down in the sense that we feel depressed or anxious.
Tyler Lynde: Lord, I pray that we would recognize that the days that we have in this life, though they be few, can be filled with purpose and meaning If we just recognize the fact that you're in control, that we don't need to be in control because you've got it all handled, but that you have a purpose, that you want us to be about your business here in this life.
Tyler Lynde: So I pray first of all, lord, for those who have not yet accepted you as their Savior.
Tyler Lynde: And, lord, I pray that they would do that today, even now, that they would follow the words of Scripture, that they would acknowledge their need and repent and believe on the Lord Jesus, and that they would be saved even now.
Tyler Lynde: And, lord, I also pray, father, for the rest of us.
Tyler Lynde: Forgive us, lord, for exercising control in areas where we weren't supposed to, where we had no right or responsibility to Help us to be like children who sit in our Father's lap as he guides and leads us, and that he allows us to be a part of what he's doing here in this life.
Tyler Lynde: Thank you, lord, that you trust us, that you privilege us with doing your work here in this world.
Tyler Lynde: Let me give you glory for it in Jesus' name.
Tyler Lynde: May the Lord bless you and keep you, cause His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you.
Tyler Lynde: May he lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace in Jesus' name, amen.