THERE IS A SEASON

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

Ecclesiastes 3 tells us that there is time in life for many things. There is time for living and dying, rejoicing
and grieving. There is time for remembering. Today is a time of remembering and reflecting on the life of
____________________________.

Solomon tells us that “there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.” Man does not
control the world or time; God does. God steers us into the future with His hand, and He is absolutely in
control of all events. We are to live each day humbly depending upon God and his providence, trusting in
His mercy and grace. We may not understand His workings or His ways, but we can trust His heart.
.
The word time occurs twenty-eight times in this passage of Scripture. Fourteen pairs of opposites are used
in an effort to cover every possible experience of man under the sun. We shall look at five.

I. TIME TO BE BORN
________________ was born on ____________________. ________________ had _________ years here
on this earth. Those years were filled with joy and sorry, pleasure and pain, good choices and bad choices.
This is the way of life. In those __________ years many of you can share things _______________ did and
things __________________________ said.

The Preacher begins by looking at the two extremes of life. These are the bookends of our earthly existence.
There is a time when we are born and there is a time when we die and everything else takes place between
these two times.

Nearly every other occasion when “time” is mentioned in this chapter it involves a choice on our behalf. We
can decide when to plant or when to uproot or when to kill or when to heal or when to weep or when to
laugh or when to mourn or when to dance. But there are two things we don't decide. We don't decide when
to be born, and we don't decide when we will die. You can choice where you are going to spend eternity by
receiving or rejecting Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord,

II. TIME TO DIE

__________________________ time to die came suddenly on ______________________. No doubt,
_______________l had thoughts of things he wanted to do in the days and years ahead. His life was taken in
just a moment.
The Bible tells us that we all have an appointment with death. God told Adam that the day he ate of the fruit
of the tree he would die. Because of his sin, death is part of life.

“Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men,
for that all have sinned.” (Romans 5:12)

Since death is certain, we need to be prepared for we never know when we will meet our Maker. Our
greatest pursuit in life should be our preparation for eternity.

Jesus defeated death. Christ’s death on the cross for our sins and His glorious resurrection is our only hope
for eternal life in heaven.

III. TIME TO WEEP

Today, it is a time to weep, a time to mourn. The human race has known much weeping and mourning.
Adam and Eve were the first to shed tears. We have been shedding tears ever since. ___________________
will continue to live in our thoughts and our hearts.

IV. TIME TO HEAL

The days ahead will be a time to heal. No, it will not be easy. While time will heal some of the hurt, it will
never replace the love each of you have for _________________. As a family, you can help with the healing
by caring and sharing with each other.

V. TIME TO LOVE
It is always the right time to love. God’s love is the greatest healing salve for a broken heart. As a family,
loving and caring for each other can get you through this difficult time. Allow the love of Jesus to fill your
heart.

Paul wrote, “And now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”
As Jesus spoke with the disciples at the close of His earthly ministry, He sought to offer words of comfort
and encouragement. They were about to lose Jesus’ physical presence and their lives would be thrown
into panic. He chose to encourage them prior to His impending death. The problem was that they just did
not understand Jesus’ words. They could not understand about things like life beyond death, how Jesus
could die and be raised. They could not grasp how they could know the way into an unknown.

So when we face death and grief, there are so many things we want to know. There are so many things we
fail to grasp. We do not know what things look like on the other side of death, for we have never been there.
We must rather trust the words of Jesus who said: “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in
me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.”
(John 11:25-26)

David could walk through the valley of the shadow of death without fear for he knew the Lord was with
him. This confidence was the result of his relationship with the Lord, who was his Shepherd.

Do you have that assurance this evening? Is the Lord your Shepherd? Have you trusted Jesus Christ to save
your soul? If you haven’t, confess your sins and ask His forgiveness and then live your life in a way that is
pleasing and honoring to Him.