By studying Ecclesiastes, we will learn less is more.

Bill Bush: 00:18 Hey, how are you doing Cornerstone? All right. This service has some people in the extreme peripheral. Stay back, I don't like people behind me, don't trust y'all. How's it going? I'm not Linn, I'm younger and better looking, so good to meet you. Now, hey I don't know if you have you been in the church a long time, you might know who I am. I have a long history with this church. I've known Linn for 34 years, I met him when I was 14, and he was 61 I think. But no, I have actually been here and preached, back before I started my church, I used to preach a lot. I remember I preached in elementary school days, the high school days, the first building days, and I preached here before, a long time ago. But it's good to be back. It was good to be able to be here. I'm honored to be here. I mean I kind of pick on Linn, but the truth is, I just want to tell you, if you're newer to this church, you've found a special place. Because honestly, yeah, this is a special place. Rock Pointe Church would not exist without Cornerstone, and so our whole history is part of the legacy of this church. So those of you that have been a part of the legacy of this church, thank you, you are a part of our legacy as well. And we wouldn't have happened without you guys, and so I'm very thankful to be here. And if you are newer, I would just encourage you to stick around. And if you've been coming for a while, but this is about all you do is sit in the rows, this is a special place. But you won't realize how special it is, and how your life can change, if you don't get out of the row and get into a circle. So I'd run to that starting point. I would go to whatever else they have, and get engaged, get involved, because that's how your life changed. That is what happened to me, so I just want to encourage you with that. But enough of with that, let's get on with the message here.

Bill Bush: 02:00 But I want to start this morning a little easy, wake us up here. I just want to start with a quiz, no, with a question. I want to ask you a question, and first I need you to think about something. I want you to think about back when you were a kid, there was two days that you really really really liked right? Christmas and your birthday. Why? Yep there kid, you knew it, you knew it. Presents. It was like hey, I'm going to get some gifts, I'm excited, I want to get the gifts. So you got really excited, and I remember I did too, and you did too. So I want you to think back, when you were a kid, there's probably some certain toys that were your favorites. You know your real favorite ones, they were. Like I have one of my favorites. One year I really, really wanted this, and so now I just let you know what a nerd I am, and how old I am. But I wanted this Star Trek utility belt with the Fazer, and the plastic thing, and the communicator and all that, I really really wanted it. And that was one of those toys that I really, really, really wanted. Like you might like want that like, it's like you know, I don't care Santa says I'm going to shoot my eye out, I want that Red Rider BB gun. You know, that toy. Matter of fact, that toy that you probably played with past the recommended ages. You know you kinda went [inaudible[ having that thing on when the belt didn't fit anymore, and then finally my wife said you're 48, you're creeping out the kids. You should probably stop playing with that. That toy, now do you have one in mind?

Bill Bush: 03:20 Here's the question. What if I came up to you today, and I had that toy? Your actual one, from back then. And said I want to trade you, I'll give you this, for your favorite toy you have right now. You're like well we're adults, we don't have toys. Yeah we do, the things that we like to work for, the things that we save for, the things that we why we work hard for. That thing, like for some of you maybe it's golf clubs, others it might be that new cell phone, the iPhone 1500 whatever it is, the new computer, a bigger TV, a boat, a different house, a backyard, a pool, your husband, I don't know whatever your favorite toy is. And so you have one, and some of you are like husband, yeah give me the old Raggedy Ann doll without Ed. But yeah, I'm sorry, derailed myself, pull it back together here. Here we go, I'm back, and you wouldn't do that would you. Why? Because what you have is more important to you now, and it's probably more valuable, it's worth more, it's more expensive, it's what you get more satisfaction out of. Doesn't mean that toy back then didn't give you a lot of enjoyment, it just didn't give you a lasting satisfaction, and that's just natural for us. We naturally get things, we like them, and they mean so much to us, but we move on. And the reality is there's some truth about all of us, that it's like in life it's kind of like the people who like to chew gum for just the flavor, it's fun for awhile, but at some point like I'm done with this I need a new piece. And we just have this craving for more. We have this craving for more, like we know that toy back then, it stopped being satisfying. And you know what? Here's what the funny thing is, we get that. It was obvious to you looking backwards, but you know it's weird? We as human beings we somehow don't seem to understand that principle looking forward, we understand that looking backwards. In other words that thing you wouldn't trade right now, is eventually going to be like that toy. It's going to be the thing that if someone wanted to give you that later on, you're like I don't want that, I don't want that.

Bill Bush: 05:28 Example, my wife, been married 26 years and here's a good one. I know you finished a marriage series, but here's one of the best things you can do guys. My wife always gets the new car. I always give her the new car, I have never driven our new cars. So we recently got a car a little over a year ago, and this was the newest time we've ever gotten a car, so I'm driving our five year old car. That is the newest car I've ever driven in 26 years of being married. When we got married I had the newer car, a truck, and I let her have the truck and I drove the VW Bug. You know but it's cool, I just, that's what I do. And the funny thing is when she had this car just a year and a half ago, if I wanted her to switch cars with me she'd go eww. Even though it was the car that she'd wanted, and wouldn't give me before. And now just recently I go hey I'm going to drive your car, she goes you mean I have to drive yours? I go man a year ago that was the car you wouldn't let me go near you, you didn't want to trade with me, now you're like oh yeah because I got the new one now. It's just the principle, it is where we go, it's what we do. But we get it looking backwards, we don't get to looking forward. Can I just say something? Everything that you think in life is going to bring you lasting satisfaction, that you either have now that you think this is great, or you're going to look for, eventually is going to end up in a junkyard or a graveyard.

Bill Bush: 06:51 So why do we keep chasing after this? That's what we're going to be talking about for the next few sermons, we're going to be unpacking this idea of more. And here's what I want, I just want to give you the big idea, what I want to land today. It's simple, more is less. More, see the baby even gets it, more is less. What I mean by that is, we have this thing in us that we think if I can get a little bit more, then I'll finally be content. If I can get a little bit more, then I'll be happy. When I get little bit more, then I'll truly be satisfied. And the reality is, that doesn't work, more only leads to less. And what we're going to be doing over the next few weeks, and I'm going to challenge you, if you don't like what I have to say, come back next week because I won't be here. So it'll be okay. But keep coming, and listen, because we are going to be unpackaging this out of the story of a book of the Bible called Ecclesiastics.

Bill Bush: 07:43 And Ecclesiastes is a weird sounding name, but what it really means is it just means the preacher or the teacher. It was written by a man named Solomon, in his older age, from a lesson he had learned. And the whole book is he's writing about, his results of an experiment he did for a big chunk of his life, where he ran after everything in life that he thought could bring you satisfaction. He ran after more and more and more, and in the end he says it got less. And here's what you've got to understand, I don't know if you know much about Solomon. He was Israel's third king, he was the son of King David, he reigned during Israel's most prosperous time and he was a very prosperous King. But if you never heard anything else about him, you've probably heard two things about Solomon, his wisdom and his wealth. He was supernaturally gifted by God to be the smartest man who ever lived, not just like Einstein kind of smart, but just wisdom. And and he got that because when God asked him what do you want now that you're king, he said I just want to be a good leader, I want to be smart, I want to have wisdom. And so God says I'm impressed you're gonna be wise, and because of that you didn't ask for riches, wisdom is going to also lead to a lot of wealth. And that is true, we know that he's probably the wealthiest man who ever lived. Bill Gates is worth about 134 billion right now, not even the richest guy in the world, I think the richest are somewhere around 250 billion. The most richest guy we know other than that, is the Rockefeller family, the Morgan family, they're all kind of how you place them in history, somewhere between four and six hundred billion dollars. Bill Gates is 134 billion by the way, I replaced the letter there. You're like wait, he has more money than that, what happened to him? A billion. But then he's only one fourth, one fifth, as rich as like the Rockefeller family was, they are about 600 billion.

Bill Bush: 09:21 When they try to analyze what they thought Solomon had, we know from some Bible passages, there is a passage we're he had to build a fleet of ships to go pick up a payment of gold that someone owed him. Can you imagine that? How would you like to have to go I need five semis. Why? Some guy owes me some money. It's this guy Bill Gates, he owes me half of his wealth. Because the shipment of gold, was worth probably 40 billion dollars, in today's money. He was bringing in 40 to 60 billion a year just in certain business transactions. And so it is a rough estimate, but they believe in today's dollars, Solomon was worth about 2.2 trillion dollars. The next richest is 600 billion. This guy is a multi-trillionaire. I can't, I don't even know how many zero's that is. I don't know. That's a lot.

Congregation: 10:09 Twelve

Bill Bush: 10:09 Twelve, thank you, someone can do math. It's twelve zeros guys. All I know is the .2 is a heck of a lot of money. I would take the .2, you know, it would be great. Right? And he decided to go on experiment where he goes, I'm going to try everything under the sun to find out what brings meaning in life. And he had two point two trillion dollars to do it, he was a king. He had all the freedom, all the time, all the money, this guy didn't just have more he had it all. And so I think we should listen, because if you think your job, if I just get that ten thousand more dollars, if I can just get to this much, I'll be there.

Bill Bush: 10:44 Guys this guy shot past any one of us, and all through history. And what we're going to see is he discovered that the list of things, what we're going to see over the next few weeks, you don't want to miss this. Because this is several thousand year old book of the Bible, and he's going to start after Chapter One, which I'm going to go through, where he starts going through all the different things he experimented. And the interesting thing is the list seems like is this guy on social media today, is this guy today? That it is the exact same list, exact same list, running after accomplishments in work, running after money, running after relationships, running after political activism, running after physical pleasures. It is all the exact same things, and we're going to see that he said more is less.

Bill Bush: 11:33 So we're in chapter 1, I want to read you the first chapter, and go from there. He starts off these are the words of the teacher, King David's son who ruled in Jerusalem. Verse 2 is one of the most positive, you're just going to be so happy. Everything is meaningless, says the teacher, completely meaningless. Wow. Let's just close in prayer there, and go home depressed. No. What I want to set up here is, what you have to understand is, he didn't say the stuff he did wasn't enjoyable. He's not some super depressed guy. You're like why would I listen to this guy? His problem was he just didn't know what to do with the money, I wouldn't be sad if I had 2.2 trillion, this guy needs someone to show them how to spend money. That's not what he's saying, it never says he didn't enjoy himself. What meaningless there means, is there was no significance at the end of it. It never fulfilled the longing and the desire for true significant meaning in my life. Meaning it was fun at the time, but it didn't last. Does that make sense?

Bill Bush: 12:33 He says I've discovered that this is what's happened in life, and he goes on to say this, what do people get for all their hard work under the sun? Generations come and generations go, but the earth never changes, the sun rises and sun sets then hurries around to rise again. The wind blows south, and then turns north, around and around it goes blowing in circles. Rivers run into the sea, but the sea is never full. The water returns again to the rivers, and then flows out again into the sea. It becomes fall in Arizona, but it doesn't cool down. You get the idea what he's saying, I just thought I'd translate to us. Everything is wearisome beyond description, no matter how much we see, we're never satisfied. No matter how much we hear, we're not content. History merely repeats itself, it has been done before, nothing under the sun is truly new. Sometimes people say here's something new, but it's actually old, nothing is ever truly new. We don't remember what happened in the past, and in the future generations no one will remember what we're doing now.

Bill Bush: 13:30 The last verse is saying is every generation comes along and says well my parents didn't get it right, I'm going to find meaning, I'm going to do it different. And then we all become like junior hires, we try to be radically individual in the exact same way. And we run after this list, and he says, and you know what we forget, we look at our parents, we'll be different, and we end up doing the same thing. And then guess what your kids come along and they don't listen to what you did either. That's what's happening, is what he's saying, is we just repeat the cycle.

Bill Bush: 13:59 Verse 12 says, "The teacher was the king of Israel and lived in Jerusalem. I devoted myself to search for understanding to explore by wisdom. Everything being done under the sun. I soon discovered that God is dealt a tragic existence the human race. I observed everything going on under the sun. That's every physical thing of every day here and really it's all meaningless. Like chasing the wind."

Bill Bush: 14:18 And Verse 15 powerfully says, "What is wrong, cannot be made right. What is missing, cannot be recovered." He says we live in a broken world, that there's something missing, and that what is wrong, cannot be made right again. It actually literally says what is crooked, cannot be made straight. He's describing that our world, is we think that we're going to do these things that we all have done, we're going to run after more of this stuff that's going to make us happy, and it's like we think that that's the highway to something significant. The problem is it's not a highway that goes anywhere, it's a cul-de-sac, and all we do is generation after generation just keeps circling around and going through the same houses over and over and over again. He says, "I said to myself, look I'm wiser than any of the kings who ruled in Jerusalem before me. I have greater wisdom and knowledge than any of them." I am more humble than all of them, no I added the humble part, I just thought it was funny. And also when he says all the kings before him, it was just King Saul, and his dad. That was the two kings before him. So he's kind of throwing his dad, I was so much smarter than my dad. It's kind of what he saying, which proves the verse before. A couple before, where we just keep doing the same thing, and don't remember the generation before. He goes, "But I learned firsthand that pursuing all of this is like chasing the wind. The greater my wisdom, the greater my grief. To increase knowledge only increases sorrow."

Bill Bush: 15:37 Which you know what? That's powerful for today. We live in a culture now, especially in America here, where we think that we are getting so smart with our knowledge and technology, that we are just going to outsmart all of our issues. That's what he's saying. Several thousand years later, we still think we're going to get smart enough to outsmart our issues. Hasn't happened yet. Because every time we get smart in one thing, we get dumb in about two others, don't we? It brings up more issues. So this kind of ends kind of sad, and then he goes on into some other things, and it just leaves us with this dilemma. So he's saying more of what is under the sun will never bring satisfaction, it'll never bring meaning, it's less.

Bill Bush: 16:23 So, what's he really trying to describe here? What you're going to hear in the next few weeks is, some of the things we're on to talk about it is, some things that aren't necessarily wrong. But it's what we're trying to make them do, is what makes them wrong, makes a problem.

Bill Bush: 16:41 For example, you know I told you I've been married for 26 years to the love of my life, she's awesome. But you know what, when I married her she brought an addiction into our in our marriage, and at first I thought this is lame, stay away from me. But she ended up sucking me into the addiction. So we both now share the same addiction. And it's so powerful that my wife actually framed a picture that describes our addiction, and hung up in our kitchen. And I have a picture of that right here. I did have a picture of it right here. There it goes. How do I stop eating chips and salsa? Do they run out, or do I die, or what? See you all thought I was throwing my wife under the bus didn't you. Anybody share that same addiction. Will there be days that you won't go to a Mexican food restaurant, even though the thing you like on the menu is healthy, but the reason you can't go there is you cannot withstand the free chips and salsa. I actually will, the place I like to go by my house, they stopped giving you free chips and salsa, you to pay for them. And I got so mad, it was like I was protesting, as I pulled out my money. This is terrible, give me three boxes. You know I was like but, I love them. I mean I will judge, we will judge, a restaurant by how fast they refill those chips and salsa. You know some places they purposely think they don't want to give you more than one, so they're really slow, and you run out then you're all mad. I like the place that you're reaching for them, you're not even done with that bowl, and here comes another one. You know just keep them coming. My wife, we're loving, we're sharing, but you know what? You get down to the last chip, you better not get in our way. But it's a battle, then we finally agree we'll ration it till they bring us more, we'll break it into little pieces. Looking for the waiter, I'm going to break a glass on the ground to get their attention, I'm getting the withdrawals. I need chips and salsa. And I thought it was dumb, but you like it, but you know that statement that she printed up is true. You realize you can never eat enough chips and salsa to not be hungry. You say I have, yes you did. But what I mean is you can never eat enough to not be hungry, and actually have a satisfied feeling. If you eat enough chips and salsa to not be hungry, you probably need to head to the emergency room, because you don't feel well. It doesn't end well, it never gives you a good satisfying fullness. It gives you, ugh, I think I ate too many chips and salsa. Or you run out, or they don't bring enough, and then you feel ripped off. You feel like I didn't get enough, I want more, I want more. And you either think you didn't get enough, you got so much you're sick, or you die.

Bill Bush: 19:23 And that's pretty much what Solomon is saying, is if we run after more and more in this life that's the result is we're going to really get frustrated. Which many of us are sitting in church thinking, I'm frustrated because I think I need more money, I think I need more of this, I think I need more of [inaudible]. I think I need more of that more of something, and if I get that I'll be satisfied. You're just starving, and you just want more chips and salsa, but what Solomon is saying is those chips and salsa won't work. And that's some of you have gotten sick on the chips and salsa. And the funny thing is I'll get sick, I'll go home, I go I'm never doing that again. Until two days later when I'm hungry, and that's what we do, we're in this cycle. And what he's saying is chips and salsa aren't evil, if you put them in the right context they're tasty, they're good, they're a good little appetizer or a snack. But they're not supposed to sustain us, they never were. And a lot of the things we run after are chips and salsa, they're just chips and salsa.

Bill Bush: 20:17 But why do we have such a strong craving for more? Well look into Chapter 3, there's one verse, and it's kind of the theme verse for this whole series. In chapter 3 verse 11, he says this, "God has made everything beautiful for its own time (meaning in its right place, done correctly, what God created is good yet he says) he has planted eternity in the human heart. But even so people cannot see the whole scope of God's work from beginning to end." Do you get that? There's the reason why we struggle with more. See, you've probably come to churches, and if you've been in church for a while, you thought you knew I was going. You thought, I've seen this movie before, I know how it ends. And you guess that he's going to say more, more, more, and then he's going to turn. And funny, and maybe tear-jerkingly tell us, I'm a jerk for wanting more. I'm a sinner, and I should just stop wanting more. I need to learn to battle. and not want more. That's what you thought I was going to say. But that would be like going to a starving person. and saying you know you need to do? Stop being hungry. It's not going to happen.

Bill Bush: 21:18 So you've probably heard pastors say that the desire for more is the problem, that's not what this verse says. Do you realize our desire for more, why we go to something and there's got to be more, and we want more, and we want more, and we want more, that desire was God given. He planted it in our hearts when he created us, because he created us for eternity. That's why it says he planted eternity in our hearts. God created us to be eternal beings, in an eternal relationship, with the eternal God who created us. He created us for more, he created want more, and we instinctively get it because we look at this world that's limited and finite and it could never provide that. It can't. But we try anyways. The problem is not our desire with more. That's not the problem. The problem is how we try to fulfill the desire with more. We are trying to fulfill the eternal longing with temporal things, we are trying to fulfill an eternal God planted longing, with temporal things. We are trying to fix spiritual issues, with physical answers. English is not my primary language I guess. Physical things will never solve your spiritual issues, ever. And that's why he says, even so, we don't understand what God is doing from beginning to end.

Bill Bush: 22:40 God is eternal, we don't get it. We only see what's going on and we get confused, we get frustrated, we try to do our own thing. That's what sin comes from. And we try to fulfill our longing with temporal things. And that's when we take things that even God made that's good, sex, work, you know even the blessing of having a home and nice things, he'll say you can enjoy those things, but we abuse those things. When we try to make, we keep cramming them in thinking if I get enough of these chips and salsa, eventually I'll be satisfied. And we won't, that's the problem. So if you have this longing for more, that's okay. But what we want to talk about is how are you ever going to have it satisfied? And running after the things you're running after, and that I want to run after, is never going to do it.

Bill Bush: 23:34 And that's where so many people, you think oh I'm just talking to people that aren't are church people. I've been in church for a long time, I remember when you preached back at that school, you know you were bad back then, and I don't like you now either. You know you might have been here a long time. Your favorite toy might have been a can. We played kick the can, that's all that existed back in my day, that might be you. You might have known Jesus, you might have been in his third grade Sunday school class with Jesus. I don't know. But one of the saddest things in the 29 years I've been a pastor, is to see Christians that continually try to fulfill the spiritual longing for eternity, with physical things, even as a believer. And what we subtly do, is we turn God into the resource instead of the source. What do I mean by that? We come, we try to be good people, we showed up at the 9:00 a.m. service, we're here, we do these things. We don't drink or smoke or go with girls who do, you know we're trying to be good boys and girls. We know that if the teacher says what's the answer. Jesus. We know all of that. But the reality is in our heart we think when we do all these things, we have this unwritten kind of idea in our head, that as I do the good things, as I follow God then he will bless me. And God will bless you, but we end up defining blessing, by all these temporal things under the sun. We shortchange what blessing is. We think blessing is just more money, more time, more of a good relationship, more of this, we equate blessing to chips and salsa. And then when we don't get the chips and salsa after we do a good thing, that where some of you are, you are so frustrated because life isn't working well for you right now, and you are trying to love Jesus. And you're mad, and your frustrated, you don't understand what God's doing from beginning to end. And the reason you're so frustrated, is because you think the deal was I do what God wants, and then he gives me the chips and salsa. And we just instinctively, we won't say it out loud, but we just think that. And so when it doesn't work right, even though you're honoring God, you want to give up.

Bill Bush: 25:33 It's kind of like me, I mean I came over here, I had to drive here. I was like okay, I'm here all weekend, and when I agreed to preach it was only Sunday services. Linn tricked me. We have Saturdays at my church, I'll come to you, I only to do Sunday. That's easy, I don't have to do Saturday. Next thing you know, they say, now there's six, we only have five. I have to go over and do Saturday's, and an extra day, man what's going on? And then I come over here, and then yesterday, last night as I was getting over here, my daughter goes it's hot upstairs, my air conditioning went out upstairs. But at least it's fall. It would be really easy for me to say, God really? I'm serving you. But that's, that unwritten law that says, God you're the resource, not the source. I go to you, because you give me what I really need, but that's not the answer. That's where we just get confused, when we don't understand how God planted eternity in our hearts.

Bill Bush: 26:28 So what is the answer? Well if you want to turn over, it's in John Chapter 10, Jesus was giving an illustration of how he was the great shepherd, the good shepherd, that came to die and to protect his sheep. Which is us, and he says, There's other people that are these thieves, that are going to want you to run after everything under the sun. Go ahead believe in Jesus, but just don't actually follow Jesus. And so in the end, in verse 10, he says. "The thief's purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life." He says, my purpose is to give what? A satisfying life. You see Jesus is not a resource, so you don't go to Jesus to get what you need, you go to Jesus because he is all that you need. He's not the way to get something, he is something that you need to get, to go the way. And so we need to put our faith in him. He's the one, that word for satisfying, is the same where he says meaningless, it is the opposite of meaningless. So he's like to get the meaning, you need to go through Jesus. We need to absolutely look to Jesus as the answer. So that is trite, Jesus is always the answer in church. And what he's saying, is that's the way.

Bill Bush: 27:53 The question is, will you trust him? For the next few weeks we're going to talk about all these things that we abuse, trying to get more of, and they're not necessarily bad. And they're going to unpack it, and say okay, so what should we be doing if we're going to trust Jesus? How should we handle our possessions, how should we handle our time, our money, how should we? What should we be doing with these things, if we're going to trust Jesus? But the real battle is to understand that the reason we want to run after these ineffective, and controlling, things is because of this God planted desire for eternity. And if I forget that, I'm going to run away. And I'm going to trade a satisfying life, with and through Jesus, for something cheap. I'm going to go back and choose the toys.

Bill Bush: 28:40 For example as I close up here, I want to give you an example of this. My mom was kind of a hoarder, not clinical, didn't need a show, but but she would keep things. When I got married she handed me this box, it was a bunch of old toys. Like really, you're handing me this now, and I opened it up. And she was like, I remember that one, I thought you'd really love getting that one back. Because I remember what happened with that, and it was this. I actually have the communicator from that Star Trek toy thing, this is all that survived. And the reason I go really mom, you have a cruel sense of humor, you saved this because you thought I'd want to see it again. She said yeah. Because the truth is this isn't the one that came in the box, the one that came with the present got chewed up by my dog. And I was like one of those kids that was like, ugh, I don't have a whole set. So then I was really frustrated. Well one day I went outside, and back in my day we used to trade baseball cards. And so my friends and I were getting ready to trade baseball cards, and so my one friend walked up, and he had one of these. And I go, "Wait, where do you get that communicator?"

Bill Bush: 29:37 "Oh, it's my brother's, he doesn't want anymore, so I just got it."

Bill Bush: 29:40 And I go, "Wait, I'm interested in it."

Bill Bush: 29:41 And all the sudden he changed his tune, and he started negotiating. Oh he wants it, "Well it's kind of important to me."

Bill Bush: 29:46 And I go, "Okay, well I'll trade you, I'll give you a baseball card."

Bill Bush: 29:48 He goes, "You've got to give me two baseball cards."

Bill Bush: 29:51 "Okay."

Bill Bush: 29:51 And he goes, "Both All-stars."

Bill Bush: 29:52 I go, "One All-Star."

Bill Bush: 29:54 And he goes, "All right, fine, one All-Star." So he starts looking at my cards, he pulls out one, he goes, "Jim Rice, I want this one, All-Star Boston Red Sox."

Bill Bush: 29:59 I go, then I learned how to negotiate, "Oh, that's a tough to get rid of it." Even though I had seven of them, so I'm like, "Great." So then I go, "Well the next one can't be that good."

Bill Bush: 30:08 So he looks through and he goes, "I'll take this one."

Bill Bush: 30:11 And he pulls out this one, and I go, "Let me see it, I've heard of this guy. I don't know the name." Look at the back, he has no stats, and this guy has never really played. I'm thinking score, deal. I hand him the card, he gives me the toy. I want to show you the picture of the card I gave him.

Bill Bush: 30:26 If you are going whoa, you understand baseball a little bit, if you're not you're like I don't get any of this. Who's that? What's Star Trek? I don't get it, when's Linn coming back? I get it. But the reality is I was a kid, I didn't realize Henry Aaron, was known as Hank Aaron. I thought if he was Hank Aaron, It'd say Hank Aaron on the card. It's the great Bambino? Yeah, it's the same guy, Henry Aaron there. It's like I didn't know that, and when I looked at the back of the cards. back then we looked for big, long stats, and all stars. The reason there was no stats, that was his rookie card, that was a 1954 Topps, Hank Aaron, rookie card. Now those of you who are going whoa, you understand the value of baseball cards. Rookie cards are more valuable, I didn't get it, I handed him the card. I want you to know something, that is the ninth most expensive baseball card on this planet. One sold three years ago for $358,000. $358,000, but I got this, I have this. Spock, I've made a terrible mistake, beam me up Scotty.

Bill Bush: 31:47 This is what we're talking about, this is what Solomon is talking about. Are we trading the invaluable, the thing keeps going up too, it's just keeps increasing in value. First time I told this illustration, it was over $60,000. One day I'm going to be old, and I'm going to go, it's worth 1.4 million dollars, but I wanted this. Solomon is saying don't get to the end of your life, and realize you traded the rich and satisfying life, the eternal life that comes through Jesus, to chase after toys.

Bill Bush: 32:28 Will you pray with me? And I want to I want to pray to the groups. The first group, I just want you guys start praying, you know Jesus, you know what it means. You have a testimony similar to the people that got baptized, you've declared your faith in Jesus. If that's you, you can still, we can still, get focused on toys. We can forget the real purpose, and if that's you just let the Holy Spirit talk to you. Just take a moment before we leave and get on with our day to just say, God, what do I need to turn back to you with? What toy do I need to stop making the focus on my life? Go ahead and do that.

Bill Bush: 33:06 But there are some other people in this room that maybe are newer to church, or maybe even in church for a long time, but just because you sit in church doesn't make you a Christian, any more than sitting in your garage makes you a car. And you've never really given your life, and put your faith in the great shepherd of Jesus. The way you get this life, the way you accept and begin this this rich and satisfying life, is by putting your faith in Jesus as your lord and savior. And what that means is I need to own the fact that I've ran after toys, I've ran away from God's plan, and tried to do it myself. But then Jesus came, and as the good shepherd, he died for us. He went to the cross for us, but not only did he die, he came back to life, defeating death to bring us life. And the Bible says, he is the way, the truth, and life, and no one comes to the father, but by him. And so what I need to do is confess my sins by turning from them, and profess my faith in him alone. And I want to give you a chance to do that, if you've never done that. To begin to take this rich and satisfying life as your own. So if you want to, if you feel the Holy Spirit talking to you, just pray something like this. Pray it with me, pray it in your own heart, make it your own words. It's not a magic incantation, it's just you professing and confessing. But just pray something like this. Dear Jesus, I do feel the weariness of life under the sun. I'm feeling the dissatisfaction of just running after more, and I'm done running. So right now I want to turn from that, and I want to turn to you. I'm sorry for the times I've run from you, I'm sorry for the sins and the broken promises, and the things in my life where I didn't trust you. But thank you for going to the cross, and dying for me, and coming back to life. And right now in this moment, in the best way I know how in my understanding, I put my faith in you, I give my life to you. Thank you. Now help me to walk with you, and understand what this rich and satisfying life looks like. Each and every day, help me to learn to walk in that more and more. To really, really, get more and more of that longing for eternity fulfilled in you, through you, and by you. Thank you Jesus, amen.



Recorded in Chandler, Arizona.