1 00:00:03,560 --> 00:00:06,680 We're in chapter 12 of Ecclesiastes, and I thought, you 2 00:00:06,680 --> 00:00:11,360 know, since it is Mother's Day, once you pass your Bible and 3 00:00:11,360 --> 00:00:14,680 your notebook and your pen mums to your husband, he can take 4 00:00:14,680 --> 00:00:18,480 notes for you today. No, really. 5 00:00:18,760 --> 00:00:20,560 Compete. Yeah. 6 00:00:20,800 --> 00:00:23,520 Wax eloquently upfront. Serve your wife here. 7 00:00:24,640 --> 00:00:26,280 He says he's already given me his notes. 8 00:00:28,120 --> 00:00:30,800 We're going to be an Ecclesiastes 12 and I want to 9 00:00:30,800 --> 00:00:34,280 read the first 8 verses, but I I want to read it to you out of 10 00:00:34,280 --> 00:00:38,640 the message Bible just because I know there's some Pretoria boys 11 00:00:38,640 --> 00:00:42,320 high guys here and, and, and it just helps us sort of 12 00:00:42,320 --> 00:00:45,200 disseminate Scripture. It says the following. 13 00:00:45,200 --> 00:00:47,360 This is verse one of Ecclesiastes 12. 14 00:00:47,360 --> 00:00:52,360 Remember your creator while you're still young, before the 15 00:00:52,360 --> 00:00:54,720 years take their toll and your vigor wanes. 16 00:00:54,960 --> 00:00:57,680 Before your vision dims and the world blurs. 17 00:00:58,080 --> 00:00:59,760 You know? And getting those plus threes 18 00:00:59,760 --> 00:01:03,040 from cliques and the winter years keep you close to the 19 00:01:03,040 --> 00:01:05,880 fire. In old age, your body no longer 20 00:01:05,880 --> 00:01:09,320 serves you so well. Muscle slack and grip weakens. 21 00:01:09,320 --> 00:01:12,480 Joints stiffen. The shades are pulled down on 22 00:01:12,480 --> 00:01:14,240 the world. You can't come and go at will. 23 00:01:14,240 --> 00:01:18,320 Things grind to a halt and the hum of the household fades away. 24 00:01:19,040 --> 00:01:22,120 You're awakened now by birdsong. True story. 25 00:01:22,120 --> 00:01:24,840 It's a thing, they told me. Like every decade. 26 00:01:24,840 --> 00:01:26,720 It's an hour earlier and this rains. 27 00:01:26,720 --> 00:01:28,320 I'm going to wake up before I go to sleep. 28 00:01:29,040 --> 00:01:32,920 You're awakened now by birdsong. Hikes to the mountains are a 29 00:01:32,920 --> 00:01:35,640 thing of the past. Even a stroll down the road has 30 00:01:35,640 --> 00:01:38,000 its terrors. Or at least Pitt tells me. 31 00:01:38,560 --> 00:01:42,040 Your hair turns apple blossom white, adorning A fragile and 32 00:01:42,040 --> 00:01:45,760 impotent matchstick body. Yes, you're well on your way to 33 00:01:45,760 --> 00:01:48,680 eternal race while your friends make plans for your funeral. 34 00:01:49,560 --> 00:01:52,000 Come to church, they said. It will be fun, they said. 35 00:01:53,360 --> 00:01:57,120 Life, lovely while it lasts, is soon over. 36 00:01:57,800 --> 00:02:01,360 Life as we know it's precious and beautiful ends. 37 00:02:02,160 --> 00:02:04,440 And look at this. The body is put back in the same 38 00:02:04,440 --> 00:02:07,720 ground it came from. The Spirit returns to God. 39 00:02:07,720 --> 00:02:11,240 It first breathed it. It's all smoke, says Solomon. 40 00:02:11,440 --> 00:02:16,320 Nothing but smoke. Now, if I were to start where we 41 00:02:16,320 --> 00:02:19,200 normally start in life group and ask you like what stands out 42 00:02:19,200 --> 00:02:21,920 there for you? I'm sure you're probably going 43 00:02:21,920 --> 00:02:24,200 to quote maybe verse 6. You know, life lovely while it 44 00:02:24,200 --> 00:02:27,000 lasts us soon over. It's all smoke, nothing but 45 00:02:27,000 --> 00:02:28,360 smoke. But that's not the point. 46 00:02:28,480 --> 00:02:30,440 That's not the point that Solomon is trying to make. 47 00:02:31,080 --> 00:02:33,840 His point is found right at the very beginning and we kind of 48 00:02:33,840 --> 00:02:35,920 lose it. You know, you might be familiar 49 00:02:35,920 --> 00:02:39,880 with this portion of Scripture because you, you, you can relate 50 00:02:39,880 --> 00:02:42,120 with waking up with the birds and you know, the house is 51 00:02:42,120 --> 00:02:45,360 growing quiet and everything stiffens and gets sore. 52 00:02:46,080 --> 00:02:48,120 But you've missed the point because he starts right at the 53 00:02:48,120 --> 00:02:51,880 very beginning by saying remember your creator. 54 00:02:52,520 --> 00:02:56,960 Remember your creator before, before it's too terrifying to 55 00:02:56,960 --> 00:02:59,920 walk down the streets before you're getting old and on in 56 00:02:59,920 --> 00:03:02,680 years before everything turns to smoke. 57 00:03:03,040 --> 00:03:05,440 Now, what's interesting, and I'm sure you know this, but the 58 00:03:05,440 --> 00:03:08,120 Bible wasn't written in English. I'm sure you know that, right. 59 00:03:08,280 --> 00:03:11,280 So the Old Testament was actually written in Hebrew. 60 00:03:11,280 --> 00:03:13,680 Most of it is in Hebrew, a little bit of of Syriac. 61 00:03:13,960 --> 00:03:17,240 But then the New Testament was written in Greek, not modern day 62 00:03:17,240 --> 00:03:18,440 Greek. It was Koine Greek. 63 00:03:18,440 --> 00:03:20,920 So ancient Greek for lack of a better term. 64 00:03:20,920 --> 00:03:24,240 But what's interesting about Hebrew, which is what 65 00:03:24,320 --> 00:03:27,480 Ecclesiastes was written in, is that someone went and they 66 00:03:27,480 --> 00:03:31,040 counted every single Hebrew word that is used in the Old 67 00:03:31,040 --> 00:03:35,560 Testament and they found that there are 8000 unique Hebrew 68 00:03:35,560 --> 00:03:38,080 words that make up the Old Testament. 69 00:03:38,360 --> 00:03:43,000 Now that sounds like a lot, but while there are 8000 Hebrew 70 00:03:43,000 --> 00:03:48,120 words, unique Hebrew words, there are 178,000 English words. 71 00:03:48,360 --> 00:03:51,240 And the reason for this is because each Hebrew word is like 72 00:03:51,480 --> 00:03:55,400 a, like a suitcase stuffed full of meaning. 73 00:03:55,480 --> 00:03:58,520 You know, like guys, when, when she called you in December, just 74 00:03:58,520 --> 00:04:01,040 before the holidays to come and sit on the suitcase so you could 75 00:04:01,040 --> 00:04:03,640 zip it close because of all the things that were stuffed in 76 00:04:03,640 --> 00:04:05,360 there. That's what each Hebrew word 77 00:04:05,360 --> 00:04:08,600 looks like an overstuffed suitcase full of meaning. 78 00:04:08,600 --> 00:04:13,040 There's, it's such a rich word that it took us 178,000 English 79 00:04:13,040 --> 00:04:17,079 words to try and bring meaning and, and understanding to each 80 00:04:17,079 --> 00:04:20,040 one of these Hebrew words. OK, so say all of that because 81 00:04:20,440 --> 00:04:24,600 none more than that phrase remember your creator. 82 00:04:24,600 --> 00:04:26,920 So we're going to do a little bit of a Bible study and unpack 83 00:04:26,920 --> 00:04:30,240 some of the the clothing inside of the suitcase first before we 84 00:04:30,240 --> 00:04:32,360 go any further. Remember your creator. 85 00:04:32,360 --> 00:04:36,280 Remember is the word Zahar. It's kind of like a baddie in a 86 00:04:36,280 --> 00:04:41,320 Disney movie, Zahar. And it means like we, we, we 87 00:04:41,320 --> 00:04:42,960 write. And this is where it becomes 88 00:04:42,960 --> 00:04:45,120 difficult because, you know, it's like you remember when you 89 00:04:45,120 --> 00:04:47,760 lost your tooth. It does have remember, but it's 90 00:04:47,760 --> 00:04:52,000 so much more because it also means to mock or to brand, you 91 00:04:52,000 --> 00:04:54,000 know, like you would brand an ox. 92 00:04:54,880 --> 00:04:57,240 It means to draw a line in the sand. 93 00:04:57,680 --> 00:05:00,480 You know, when you see on your Instagram feed the before and 94 00:05:00,520 --> 00:05:04,000 after, there's a line between. It's like that to to mock, to 95 00:05:04,000 --> 00:05:07,840 draw a line, to make a memorial, to build something that you 96 00:05:07,840 --> 00:05:13,720 never forget to tattoo, write or bind it to your heart. 97 00:05:14,320 --> 00:05:18,120 Remember and crazy. I was busy prepping on this 98 00:05:18,120 --> 00:05:20,800 during the week and I get an e-mail from the Bible project on 99 00:05:20,800 --> 00:05:24,760 this word Zakhar and they add to focus your attention so that it 100 00:05:24,760 --> 00:05:29,360 drives you to action. It seems like we miss when it's 101 00:05:29,360 --> 00:05:34,200 just like you remember. There's so much going in here to 102 00:05:34,200 --> 00:05:38,400 remember to to bind it to your heart and focus your attention 103 00:05:38,640 --> 00:05:44,160 so that it drives you to action. Remember what it then says, 104 00:05:44,160 --> 00:05:48,360 remember your creator. And there for me, the surprise 105 00:05:48,360 --> 00:05:51,360 twist here is not so much in in what creator means, but what is 106 00:05:51,520 --> 00:05:56,240 left unsaid here because he doesn't say remember Yahweh, 107 00:05:57,160 --> 00:05:59,600 remember the God of your salvation because it's not. 108 00:05:59,760 --> 00:06:01,400 He's not talking about salvation issues. 109 00:06:01,560 --> 00:06:03,560 He's not talking about the work of the cross here. 110 00:06:04,080 --> 00:06:07,040 He also doesn't say remember Shafat the judge. 111 00:06:07,600 --> 00:06:09,680 Everything you say and do will be held against you in the court 112 00:06:09,680 --> 00:06:12,200 of laws. Yes Sir, No Sir, 2 bags full, 113 00:06:12,200 --> 00:06:14,640 Sir. He doesn't say remember your 114 00:06:14,640 --> 00:06:17,040 judge or remember your God of salvation. 115 00:06:17,040 --> 00:06:20,680 He says remember your creator. Why? 116 00:06:22,240 --> 00:06:24,840 Well, because when you talk about Creator in a biblical 117 00:06:24,840 --> 00:06:27,760 context, you're talking about the one who made you, obviously. 118 00:06:28,360 --> 00:06:31,640 And He didn't just burp you up as some, you know, figment of 119 00:06:31,640 --> 00:06:34,520 His imagination. Off you go one the clock, let it 120 00:06:34,520 --> 00:06:37,400 run. No, He created you with purpose. 121 00:06:38,160 --> 00:06:42,080 He has plans for you. He has a calling on your life 122 00:06:42,520 --> 00:06:46,000 and that is worked out in His Kingdom that He is bringing to 123 00:06:46,000 --> 00:06:48,800 earth. And so when you take those two 124 00:06:48,800 --> 00:06:51,960 together He is saying remember your Creator. 125 00:06:51,960 --> 00:06:55,920 Bind His ways, His plans, His purposes. 126 00:06:56,120 --> 00:07:00,200 Bind His calling for you the way He made you, who He made you to 127 00:07:00,200 --> 00:07:04,600 be binded to your heart. Focus your attention on His ways 128 00:07:04,600 --> 00:07:11,360 and His will so that it affects and directs your actions before 129 00:07:11,360 --> 00:07:15,800 you get old and grumpy and it's just too much and church again 130 00:07:16,000 --> 00:07:19,000 and oh, you know, the people behind me Can't Sing on note and 131 00:07:19,040 --> 00:07:22,560 the lights are too bright and the guitars, I'm sure it's 132 00:07:22,560 --> 00:07:24,840 distorting and does the drummer have to play? 133 00:07:24,840 --> 00:07:27,400 And no one else plays? What is it before? 134 00:07:28,280 --> 00:07:35,120 Remember your creator, Zahar. Bind it to your heart. 135 00:07:36,000 --> 00:07:41,200 Focus your attention now. I'm a pictures person and I 136 00:07:41,200 --> 00:07:44,000 found a great picture that describes Zaha. 137 00:07:44,000 --> 00:07:47,600 And it comes from a story to a guy who got injured at work and 138 00:07:47,600 --> 00:07:49,720 he submitted a workers compensation claim. 139 00:07:49,960 --> 00:07:52,480 You know, that's where you say, well, you know, it was because 140 00:07:52,480 --> 00:07:54,480 of you that I got hurt. And so you need to pay those 141 00:07:54,480 --> 00:07:55,800 bills. And so he did it and he 142 00:07:55,800 --> 00:07:57,280 explained, you know, these are the medical bills. 143 00:07:57,280 --> 00:08:00,400 This is what what I broke and the injuries are sustained. 144 00:08:01,000 --> 00:08:03,040 And then there's this little block that said, you know, how 145 00:08:03,040 --> 00:08:05,640 did the accident happen? And he wrote, well, I lost my 146 00:08:05,640 --> 00:08:08,400 presence of mind. And so they looked at this and 147 00:08:08,400 --> 00:08:11,600 they thought, give us some, you know, put some flesh on the 148 00:08:11,600 --> 00:08:12,800 bones. What do you mean you lost your 149 00:08:12,800 --> 00:08:14,680 presence of mind? So he put together an e-mail 150 00:08:14,880 --> 00:08:17,880 which I'm going to read to you. He said I'm a bricklayer by 151 00:08:17,880 --> 00:08:20,320 trade. On the day of the accidents, I 152 00:08:20,320 --> 00:08:22,840 was working alone in a new six story building. 153 00:08:23,520 --> 00:08:26,280 When I'd completed my work, I discovered that I had about 200 154 00:08:26,280 --> 00:08:30,200 to 300 KGS of bricks leftover. And rather than carry them load 155 00:08:30,200 --> 00:08:33,320 by load down, floor by floor, I decided to lower them in a 156 00:08:33,320 --> 00:08:35,760 barrel by using a pulley that was attached to the side of the 157 00:08:35,760 --> 00:08:39,600 building at the 6th floor, securing the rope at ground 158 00:08:39,600 --> 00:08:41,280 level. I went up and I swung the barrel 159 00:08:41,280 --> 00:08:43,840 out and I loaded bricks into it. Then I went all the way back 160 00:08:43,840 --> 00:08:46,440 down and I tied the rope, holding it to a sure slow 161 00:08:46,440 --> 00:08:49,320 descent of the two to 300 kilograms of bricks. 162 00:08:50,200 --> 00:08:54,120 You'll note in block 11 of the accidents reporting form that I 163 00:08:54,120 --> 00:09:00,320 weigh 80 kilograms. Due to my surprise of being 164 00:09:00,320 --> 00:09:03,640 jerked off the ground so suddenly, I lost my presence of 165 00:09:03,640 --> 00:09:07,520 mind and clung to the rope. Needless to say, I proceeded at 166 00:09:07,520 --> 00:09:09,160 a rapid rate up the side of the building. 167 00:09:11,080 --> 00:09:13,600 In the vicinity of the third floor, I met the barrel coming 168 00:09:13,600 --> 00:09:17,120 down. This explains the fractured 169 00:09:17,120 --> 00:09:20,840 skull and the broken collarbone. Slowed only slightly, I 170 00:09:20,840 --> 00:09:23,680 continued the rapid ascent, not stopping until the fingers on my 171 00:09:23,680 --> 00:09:25,960 right hand were two knuckles deep in the pulley, which 172 00:09:26,400 --> 00:09:30,600 explains the broken finger. Fortunately, by this time I had 173 00:09:30,600 --> 00:09:35,200 regained my presence of mind and held tightly to the rope in 174 00:09:35,200 --> 00:09:38,760 spite of the pain. At approximately the same time, 175 00:09:38,760 --> 00:09:41,200 however, the barrel of bricks hit the ground so hard that the 176 00:09:41,200 --> 00:09:45,080 bottom of the barrel fell out. Devoid of the weight of the 177 00:09:45,080 --> 00:09:47,320 bricks, the barrel now only weighed about 30 kilograms. 178 00:09:48,360 --> 00:09:51,080 I refer you again to my weight of 80 kilograms that are 179 00:09:51,600 --> 00:09:55,200 allocated in Block 11. As you can imagine, I began a 180 00:09:55,200 --> 00:09:56,920 rapid descent down the side of the building. 181 00:09:58,440 --> 00:10:01,440 Once again in the vicinity of the third floor, I met the 182 00:10:01,440 --> 00:10:04,600 barrel coming up. This accounts for the two 183 00:10:04,600 --> 00:10:07,200 fractured ankles and the lacerations to my legs. 184 00:10:07,640 --> 00:10:10,680 The encounter with a barrel slowed me just enough to lessen 185 00:10:10,680 --> 00:10:13,680 my injuries when I fell into the pile of bricks, and fortunately 186 00:10:13,680 --> 00:10:18,840 I only fractured my pelvis. I'm sorry to report, however, 187 00:10:19,400 --> 00:10:23,080 that as I lay there in the bricks in pain, unable to move 188 00:10:23,080 --> 00:10:28,280 and watching the barrel 6 stories above me, I again lost 189 00:10:28,280 --> 00:10:31,280 my presence of mind and let go of the rope. 190 00:10:35,280 --> 00:10:38,360 No offence to my professors at Bible college, but this is the 191 00:10:38,360 --> 00:10:42,040 best description of Zahar to lose. 192 00:10:42,040 --> 00:10:44,320 Your prayers do not bind this to your heart. 193 00:10:44,560 --> 00:10:47,440 And you're up and down the side of the of the building hitting 194 00:10:47,440 --> 00:10:52,200 bricks and barrels and breaking bones because you have not bound 195 00:10:52,200 --> 00:10:56,360 his words and his ways and his call and your life to your heart 196 00:10:56,520 --> 00:10:58,400 is no longer driving your actions. 197 00:10:58,400 --> 00:11:02,040 And so Solomon looks back on his life having done just that, gone 198 00:11:02,040 --> 00:11:05,960 up and down so many countless buildings and it's every barrel 199 00:11:05,960 --> 00:11:08,640 and brick inside. He said three CR please, for 200 00:11:08,640 --> 00:11:12,680 heaven's sake, remember your creator. 201 00:11:14,320 --> 00:11:16,600 And there's so much in this that I'm only going to have one point 202 00:11:16,600 --> 00:11:18,920 this morning. So guys, not that much writing. 203 00:11:19,640 --> 00:11:24,760 Remember your creator, Zaha, bind it to your heart. 204 00:11:25,640 --> 00:11:30,360 Focus your attention on his word and His ways so that it drives 205 00:11:30,360 --> 00:11:33,680 your actions. So where do we start? 206 00:11:33,680 --> 00:11:35,520 Well, let's start at the beginning. 207 00:11:35,520 --> 00:11:38,280 Let's go all the way back to Ecclesiastes chapter 1. 208 00:11:38,400 --> 00:11:41,040 I don't know if you remember if you were here when we started on 209 00:11:41,040 --> 00:11:43,720 this series called Finding Sofia. 210 00:11:44,160 --> 00:11:47,640 I can remember the first time we were at Life Group and we were 211 00:11:47,640 --> 00:11:52,400 all like deer in the headlights. It was like meaningless, 212 00:11:52,400 --> 00:11:54,600 meaningless. Everything is meaningless. 213 00:11:54,920 --> 00:11:58,000 And I remember it was weighty. We were confronted with our 214 00:11:58,000 --> 00:12:02,200 corner offices and our bank accounts and our Botox, our gym 215 00:12:02,200 --> 00:12:04,200 routines. I mean, even our shell 216 00:12:04,200 --> 00:12:06,800 collections were not left unscathed. 217 00:12:06,800 --> 00:12:10,080 You know, it was like scripture set up a machine gun nest in the 218 00:12:10,080 --> 00:12:14,760 corner of our estates and just mowed everything down you can. 219 00:12:14,760 --> 00:12:17,680 You remember that? It was almost like we were 220 00:12:17,680 --> 00:12:22,280 shaken when actually scripture looked at all these things that 221 00:12:22,280 --> 00:12:25,600 we prioritize and pursue. And he said meaningless, 222 00:12:26,040 --> 00:12:28,280 meaningless, everything's meaningless. 223 00:12:29,880 --> 00:12:32,760 And he challenged us to let go of Hevel, that which is 224 00:12:32,760 --> 00:12:35,160 meaningless and pursue what is tov. 225 00:12:36,280 --> 00:12:42,520 But it's funny, don't quite have that same experience and same 226 00:12:42,520 --> 00:12:44,960 emotion at Life Group at the moment. 227 00:12:46,640 --> 00:12:52,000 Could it be that as much as it impacted and challenged, that 228 00:12:52,000 --> 00:12:56,080 scripture is no longer coming like that double edged sword 229 00:12:56,080 --> 00:12:57,960 dividing between bone and marrow? 230 00:12:58,080 --> 00:13:03,320 Because I never really did any Sahara with what I heard. 231 00:13:04,320 --> 00:13:07,080 Jews have a saying. I love this Jewish proverb. 232 00:13:07,520 --> 00:13:11,000 We learn more through our feet and through our ears. 233 00:13:11,880 --> 00:13:15,040 We learn more through our feet than through our ears. 234 00:13:15,040 --> 00:13:17,720 Essentially, they're saying hearing is useless if it doesn't 235 00:13:17,720 --> 00:13:22,400 lead to doing. You learn more through our feet 236 00:13:22,480 --> 00:13:25,440 than through our ears. Now we can look at the Hebrew, 237 00:13:25,440 --> 00:13:27,720 and you might not believe the Hebrew, but maybe you'll believe 238 00:13:27,720 --> 00:13:31,800 the Harvard. The Harvard did a study on this 239 00:13:31,800 --> 00:13:34,480 very thing. They looked at their students 240 00:13:34,480 --> 00:13:37,360 and Harvard Business College realized that there's a 241 00:13:37,360 --> 00:13:40,760 dissonance between the students. Some, some seem to thrive. 242 00:13:41,280 --> 00:13:43,760 Others get halfway through their first year and they're wanting 243 00:13:43,760 --> 00:13:45,440 to change subjects. What's going on there? 244 00:13:45,520 --> 00:13:48,320 What what are they missing? So they did an extensive study 245 00:13:48,480 --> 00:13:52,080 with their students and they came to find a little bit about 246 00:13:52,320 --> 00:13:55,960 the value of Sahar. And they said the following. 247 00:13:56,920 --> 00:14:00,800 They said if their students do what you and I do, come to 248 00:14:00,800 --> 00:14:08,160 church, listen. No Bible, no notes, no pen or 249 00:14:08,160 --> 00:14:15,960 paper, because I listen good, you and I, and they only retain 250 00:14:15,960 --> 00:14:20,680 a maximum of 5% of what you hear. 5%. 251 00:14:22,720 --> 00:14:25,640 And that's only until the next sermon or the next lecture. 252 00:14:28,000 --> 00:14:30,960 Which explains why I came back from time away. 253 00:14:30,960 --> 00:14:33,960 I wasn't here this past weekend. Bump into people. 254 00:14:34,080 --> 00:14:35,720 And of course I'm saying, yo, how was Sunday? 255 00:14:36,800 --> 00:14:39,280 Next level? Were you here last week? 256 00:14:39,280 --> 00:14:44,480 Sunday, yo, everyone's saying Rory hit it out the park. 257 00:14:44,480 --> 00:14:47,880 It's like the Rory of old. I'm like I said, what did he 258 00:14:47,880 --> 00:15:01,600 preach on Ecclesiastes? Yeah, yeah, no, but yo-yo, I 259 00:15:01,600 --> 00:15:07,000 mean, out the park. This is the one that once said 260 00:15:07,000 --> 00:15:11,040 to me, he had Nico get up and and he was cheering about his 261 00:15:11,040 --> 00:15:15,000 chicken. So that's your 5%. 262 00:15:19,160 --> 00:15:24,080 What's your 5%? Can you tell me the points? 263 00:15:24,960 --> 00:15:26,840 He had a guy coming up and saying, you know what? 264 00:15:27,080 --> 00:15:29,280 I don't need to take notes. I've got a good memory. 265 00:15:29,800 --> 00:15:32,280 And he said, oh, what did I say in my sermon about marriage, 266 00:15:34,440 --> 00:15:38,080 Nico? It's chicken's good 5%. 267 00:15:38,080 --> 00:15:42,000 We remember 5%. That's why we're not being 268 00:15:42,000 --> 00:15:46,800 facetious when we say, hey, listen, take notes, nothing 269 00:15:46,800 --> 00:15:48,440 more. At least bring a Bible. 270 00:15:50,800 --> 00:15:55,240 But even taking notes is not that much. 35% retention if you 271 00:15:55,240 --> 00:15:59,600 take notes. And so they say, actually what 272 00:15:59,600 --> 00:16:05,480 you're after, in my words, not theirs is Zahar to come to 273 00:16:05,480 --> 00:16:10,320 listen, to take notes, but then to revisit, to apply and even 274 00:16:10,320 --> 00:16:12,400 better to teach. And you know, when, when they 275 00:16:12,920 --> 00:16:15,400 found students doing that, where you get to a point where you've 276 00:16:15,400 --> 00:16:19,880 grasped it enough to be able to teach the the retention of it is 277 00:16:19,880 --> 00:16:23,600 disproportionate not just to the next lecture, but for years to 278 00:16:23,600 --> 00:16:27,920 come, because now you are actually retaining 95% of what 279 00:16:27,920 --> 00:16:32,640 you're hearing now. One of the things that I often 280 00:16:32,640 --> 00:16:37,120 do when when we do a marriage course, so near the end of the 281 00:16:37,120 --> 00:16:40,840 year, it's it's wedding season. We have a lot of younger couples 282 00:16:40,840 --> 00:16:43,760 who coming in there, you know, wanting to get married and they 283 00:16:43,760 --> 00:16:46,480 often have to sit like 3 or 4 evenings together. 284 00:16:46,480 --> 00:16:49,560 And when you've got 12 weddings to do, that just takes up, you 285 00:16:49,560 --> 00:16:50,920 know, the next 15 years of your life. 286 00:16:50,920 --> 00:16:52,960 So we group them all together and we do a little marriage 287 00:16:52,960 --> 00:16:55,160 course. And the way I always start is I 288 00:16:55,360 --> 00:16:57,840 start with one question. Brace yourself if you ever want 289 00:16:58,040 --> 00:16:59,680 know you're coming to marriage course with me. 290 00:16:59,800 --> 00:17:02,200 This is the question number one. I want to know from you what is 291 00:17:02,200 --> 00:17:04,319 your favorite verse in the Bible? 292 00:17:06,480 --> 00:17:08,480 And I said to them, they're not allowed to tell me Genesis one 293 00:17:08,480 --> 00:17:13,640 verse one in either Benini or John 316 for God so loved the 294 00:17:13,640 --> 00:17:18,800 world and you watch them squirm. Mainly the guys. 295 00:17:19,960 --> 00:17:26,240 It's like you know, I'm and then when they think made it through 296 00:17:26,240 --> 00:17:28,040 that awesome. OK, so what's your favorite 297 00:17:28,040 --> 00:17:29,960 chapter in the Bible? And then there's always, there's 298 00:17:29,960 --> 00:17:35,880 always dirt under the nails. And so I think it was last year, 299 00:17:35,880 --> 00:17:37,600 maybe the year before I had the group like this. 300 00:17:37,600 --> 00:17:39,760 And so I thought, well, let me sort of set an example. 301 00:17:39,760 --> 00:17:42,120 So and Arvie and his wife are coming. 302 00:17:42,120 --> 00:17:45,560 There's one of our band members and I said to him, hey, listen, 303 00:17:45,560 --> 00:17:48,960 this is what I'm going to do. Just a heads up, you know, make 304 00:17:48,960 --> 00:17:51,960 sure you come with a favorite verse and favorite scripture so 305 00:17:52,080 --> 00:17:55,320 someone in the crowd can actually sort of set an example. 306 00:17:56,280 --> 00:17:59,840 So we did that and I asked the 1st and obviously asked Arvie. 307 00:17:59,840 --> 00:18:01,840 And he smashed it. And everyone was like, you all 308 00:18:02,880 --> 00:18:05,240 spiritual giant. But then when I asked the 309 00:18:05,240 --> 00:18:08,040 chapter, you know, all the nail, dirty nail thing happened. 310 00:18:08,240 --> 00:18:11,160 And I, I didn't want to condemn. Yeah, it was really awkward. 311 00:18:11,160 --> 00:18:13,360 So we've moved on. So at the end of it, Arvi and 312 00:18:13,360 --> 00:18:15,600 his wife come to me and said, like, why didn't you ask me? 313 00:18:16,000 --> 00:18:18,080 And I explained to him. I said, no, I don't want it to 314 00:18:18,080 --> 00:18:21,160 be a condemning thing. You know, I just wanted to start 315 00:18:21,160 --> 00:18:24,440 a conversation. But it turns out Arvi had gone 316 00:18:24,440 --> 00:18:30,360 home and memorized the chapter. I'm like, that's not what it 317 00:18:30,360 --> 00:18:31,640 means. I'm like, you know, maybe like 318 00:18:31,760 --> 00:18:36,000 as I 54, you know, lengthen this the cause of your tent and how 319 00:18:36,000 --> 00:18:38,040 God, you know, spoke to you through that, how he's going to 320 00:18:38,040 --> 00:18:40,080 enlarge your capacity. And you know something, I'm 321 00:18:40,080 --> 00:18:43,840 like, I didn't mean for you to memorize an entire chapter of 322 00:18:43,840 --> 00:18:45,480 the Bible. But then he said this and this 323 00:18:45,480 --> 00:18:47,240 was what I'm after. I'll never forget it. 324 00:18:47,240 --> 00:18:51,600 He said, you know, the crazy thing is because I memorize it 325 00:18:52,000 --> 00:18:54,720 now we're talking more than 95% retention. 326 00:18:55,720 --> 00:19:00,240 He said everything I went through in the last week somehow 327 00:19:00,240 --> 00:19:02,720 was filtered through this chapter in the Bible. 328 00:19:03,240 --> 00:19:06,800 The questions are the business meetings I had, the decisions we 329 00:19:06,800 --> 00:19:09,360 had to make in terms of rolling out certain elements within our 330 00:19:09,360 --> 00:19:11,320 department. It was like God was just 331 00:19:11,320 --> 00:19:13,600 speaking through that chapter to me. 332 00:19:13,720 --> 00:19:14,880 It's like all the answers were there. 333 00:19:14,880 --> 00:19:18,440 It's as if He had bound that chapter to his heart. 334 00:19:19,520 --> 00:19:22,520 It was as if he was focusing his attention on the Word and the 335 00:19:22,520 --> 00:19:25,760 ways of God to the degree that it was driving his actions. 336 00:19:27,640 --> 00:19:30,320 You see, here's the thing. This is why I spent 20 minutes 337 00:19:30,320 --> 00:19:37,120 laboring this one point. Because if we do not, if you do 338 00:19:37,120 --> 00:19:42,840 not, if you have not, if I have not committed the Word of God to 339 00:19:42,920 --> 00:19:46,880 my heart, if I, if you have set through just the series on 340 00:19:46,880 --> 00:19:49,480 Ecclesiastes. And we can barely remember what 341 00:19:49,480 --> 00:19:53,760 Rory preached last week Sunday. And we've seen the highs and 342 00:19:53,760 --> 00:19:56,320 lows of scriptures and we've been moved by the ministry and 343 00:19:56,320 --> 00:19:59,600 we've gone home and like, whoa. And there's Nico's chicken and 344 00:19:59,600 --> 00:20:02,600 then some. But there is no Zaha. 345 00:20:04,280 --> 00:20:06,760 What we are actually saying is thank you. 346 00:20:06,760 --> 00:20:09,760 But Ecclesiastes is meaningless. Meaningless. 347 00:20:13,520 --> 00:20:16,480 Actually. There's this quote by Kolbath. 348 00:20:17,080 --> 00:20:19,160 Because this is how we behave, he says. 349 00:20:19,400 --> 00:20:23,360 Religion is the pinnacle of man's rebellion against God. 350 00:20:24,760 --> 00:20:28,200 Religion is the pinnacle of man's rebellion against God. 351 00:20:28,480 --> 00:20:33,800 And I have to believe that if I am not moved, if I'm not binding 352 00:20:33,800 --> 00:20:37,080 to my heart the things that that God is whispering and 353 00:20:37,080 --> 00:20:42,560 challenging me on, surely all I can ascribe my actions and my 354 00:20:42,560 --> 00:20:45,920 behaviour through the, the, the series of Ecclesiastes, surely 355 00:20:45,920 --> 00:20:48,680 all I can ascribe it to is religious behaviour. 356 00:20:51,600 --> 00:20:56,440 And so Solomon is saying, remember your creator, Zahar, 357 00:20:56,680 --> 00:20:58,880 your creator. You see, the reason why I'll 358 00:20:58,880 --> 00:21:03,880 labor this point is because we dare not look at what God is 359 00:21:03,880 --> 00:21:08,520 doing here. 3 CR has never been so full and has never been so 360 00:21:08,520 --> 00:21:10,640 big. We dare not look at this and 361 00:21:10,720 --> 00:21:13,600 think that this is some kind of an indication of my relationship 362 00:21:13,600 --> 00:21:16,880 with my heavenly Father, that this is a measure of the the 363 00:21:16,880 --> 00:21:20,000 depth of my intimacy with Christ. 364 00:21:21,600 --> 00:21:24,400 You see, we dare not hear the reports of kids, men, there's 365 00:21:24,400 --> 00:21:29,680 like it's a small village down there, 500 little kiddies and 366 00:21:29,680 --> 00:21:32,640 say things. We who say things like, you 367 00:21:32,640 --> 00:21:37,120 know, some churches aren't even that big and think that that is 368 00:21:37,120 --> 00:21:40,480 a reflection of our intimacy with our heavenly Father, a 369 00:21:40,480 --> 00:21:43,160 reflection of my walk with Jesus. 370 00:21:45,880 --> 00:21:48,880 You see, we dare not be buoyed up with everything that's 371 00:21:48,880 --> 00:21:52,880 happening in three CR and think that that's a reflection of my 372 00:21:52,880 --> 00:21:56,600 quiet time and my obedience to this word. 373 00:21:58,360 --> 00:21:59,640 You know, there's a tree in the city. 374 00:22:00,240 --> 00:22:02,840 It's a thorn tree. It grows really, really big, but 375 00:22:02,840 --> 00:22:05,200 it's roots only get down to where it reaches the water 376 00:22:05,200 --> 00:22:08,360 table. So if this tree is growing 377 00:22:08,800 --> 00:22:10,840 during the season like we've had with the amount of rain that 378 00:22:10,840 --> 00:22:14,840 we've had, and these trees grow 3-4 stories high once their 379 00:22:14,840 --> 00:22:17,280 roots reach the water table, which is rather shallow right 380 00:22:17,280 --> 00:22:20,960 now, as soon as the winds come, you know, September, October, 381 00:22:20,960 --> 00:22:23,840 these trees fall over. And so I had a neighbor who came 382 00:22:23,840 --> 00:22:26,600 to me the one day and explained this to me because he owned a 383 00:22:26,600 --> 00:22:29,560 couple properties and he'd just come back from one of the 384 00:22:29,560 --> 00:22:33,200 properties where he had one of these thorn trees fall over. 385 00:22:33,200 --> 00:22:37,320 It went straight through the garage and both of the cars and 386 00:22:37,320 --> 00:22:39,080 into the lounge. Fortunately happened in the 387 00:22:39,080 --> 00:22:41,280 middle of the night when the family was sleeping on the other 388 00:22:41,280 --> 00:22:45,120 side, destroyed the property and the cars. 389 00:22:46,240 --> 00:22:48,960 And then he gets home. It was there like 2:00 AM. 390 00:22:48,960 --> 00:22:52,880 He gets home just after sunrise and as he's driving past, he 391 00:22:52,880 --> 00:22:55,640 sees, you know what? It's exactly the same tree 392 00:22:55,640 --> 00:22:58,920 growing in our front yard, right on the boundary line of our 393 00:22:58,920 --> 00:23:01,600 driveways. And he said, I've seen your 394 00:23:01,600 --> 00:23:04,600 little kids on the, you know, those black plastic box up and 395 00:23:04,600 --> 00:23:08,080 down your driveway. He said, I'll die 1000 deaths of 396 00:23:08,080 --> 00:23:10,080 this thing falls over and one of your kids is injured. 397 00:23:11,040 --> 00:23:14,320 And so I find the municipality. I don't know if you've ever 398 00:23:14,320 --> 00:23:16,360 found the municipality to report a pothole. 399 00:23:18,040 --> 00:23:21,000 Hey, there's a really big pothole. 400 00:23:21,000 --> 00:23:23,560 I think I've lost my family. They're down there somewhere. 401 00:23:24,560 --> 00:23:29,720 And for months nothing happens. I was told the telephone number 402 00:23:29,720 --> 00:23:32,520 to phone for streetlights. What's the chance? 403 00:23:33,600 --> 00:23:35,840 But I phoned and I said, listen, I don't know if you know, but 404 00:23:35,840 --> 00:23:39,200 I've got this kind of a tree. They were there within the hour 405 00:23:39,760 --> 00:23:42,880 because it is such a notorious tree in our city. 406 00:23:45,120 --> 00:23:48,560 And then for me is a picture of you and I, if we do not, Zaha, 407 00:23:49,120 --> 00:23:52,320 if we are buoyed by what is happening in this community. 408 00:23:52,520 --> 00:23:56,320 And if you think that your wife's relationship with God is 409 00:23:56,320 --> 00:23:59,720 what's carrying you through, you face those storms and there's 410 00:23:59,720 --> 00:24:02,480 things falling over and the collateral damage is immense. 411 00:24:03,480 --> 00:24:07,000 And you know what, I think Solomon knew this because he had 412 00:24:07,000 --> 00:24:10,000 seen that exact same thing happened in his life over and 413 00:24:10,000 --> 00:24:13,200 over again that he leans and it says, remember your creator, 414 00:24:13,520 --> 00:24:17,680 Zahar, your creator. It's Mother's Day. 415 00:24:17,960 --> 00:24:21,360 So I need to speak to mothers. Thank you, Sander. 416 00:24:22,080 --> 00:24:23,960 He think he's not. No, just kidding. 417 00:24:25,960 --> 00:24:29,040 I want to talk to moms on this because I think this can often 418 00:24:29,040 --> 00:24:34,160 condemn. Tell your story, friend of ours. 419 00:24:34,320 --> 00:24:36,880 They won eldership with us, Andy and Irene. 420 00:24:37,120 --> 00:24:41,320 Irene was an architect by trade. And the last house that they 421 00:24:41,320 --> 00:24:43,600 owned in in South Africa before they moved over, they're now 422 00:24:43,600 --> 00:24:46,640 relocated there. They're in the US The last house 423 00:24:46,640 --> 00:24:49,800 she built from scratch as an architect, designed every last 424 00:24:49,800 --> 00:24:51,520 element. And so a whole bunch of friends 425 00:24:51,520 --> 00:24:55,840 and family went over sort of to celebrate the first major events 426 00:24:55,840 --> 00:24:59,160 in their home. And we arrived early and Irene 427 00:24:59,160 --> 00:25:01,160 was in the kitchen. And so Andy said, hey, let me 428 00:25:01,160 --> 00:25:02,920 just show you around. We were walking around and 429 00:25:02,920 --> 00:25:07,120 walked into Irene, into, sorry, into the bedroom, which had the 430 00:25:07,120 --> 00:25:10,400 study on it and this floor to ceiling cupboards. 431 00:25:10,400 --> 00:25:14,440 And it was lovely. And then into the Andy's office 432 00:25:15,640 --> 00:25:17,840 and right as we walked in, someone else arrived and because 433 00:25:17,840 --> 00:25:20,440 they're intercom wasn't working between the gates in the house 434 00:25:20,440 --> 00:25:22,120 and he had to disappear and let someone in. 435 00:25:22,440 --> 00:25:27,600 So I was left in Andy study. Now, if you know Andy, the is a 436 00:25:27,600 --> 00:25:31,080 professor in veterinary science, you know, kind of what I 437 00:25:31,080 --> 00:25:33,320 encountered when I looked at his Bible study. 438 00:25:33,680 --> 00:25:38,440 He had a whole bunch of Bibles open and handwritten notes 439 00:25:38,440 --> 00:25:42,520 everywhere, things and sort of almost like these mind maps on 440 00:25:42,560 --> 00:25:45,000 the wall. I was like, I was very 441 00:25:45,000 --> 00:25:47,160 intimidated. Commentaries piled up. 442 00:25:47,480 --> 00:25:49,560 This thing you're like, yo, if you've ever heard him preach, 443 00:25:49,560 --> 00:25:51,880 you'd understand. It's just, it's like drinking 444 00:25:51,880 --> 00:25:53,480 from a fire hose when you hear him preaches. 445 00:25:53,680 --> 00:25:57,480 There's such depth and knowledge and insight into the word. 446 00:25:58,080 --> 00:26:01,640 So he gets back and I'm sort of like going your respect. 447 00:26:02,240 --> 00:26:04,600 He's like, oh, I see you're looking at my wife's notes. 448 00:26:08,640 --> 00:26:13,640 Don't tell me that wretched man that I am, he's like, Oh my 449 00:26:13,640 --> 00:26:15,720 gosh, He said, bro, you doing in? 450 00:26:16,440 --> 00:26:18,760 AI said it's probably not, but I'm going to tell you anyway. 451 00:26:20,080 --> 00:26:23,400 So what she does, she opens the Bible and she'll study a book of 452 00:26:23,400 --> 00:26:25,440 the Bible till the cows come home. 453 00:26:26,320 --> 00:26:31,320 She'll write her own commentary on it and then she'd take other 454 00:26:31,320 --> 00:26:33,400 commentaries and compare notes to see where she missed 455 00:26:33,400 --> 00:26:34,680 anything. Is there something else 456 00:26:34,920 --> 00:26:36,200 different angle that she didn't see? 457 00:26:36,520 --> 00:26:38,480 But he said this. He said by the time she's done 458 00:26:38,480 --> 00:26:42,400 with that, she knows the book of her heart took about 95% 459 00:26:42,400 --> 00:26:44,800 retention offer. And he said it just so happened 460 00:26:44,960 --> 00:26:48,360 that we went for a walk this morning and she quoted from 461 00:26:48,360 --> 00:26:52,040 Ephesians chapter one verse 1 all the way to the very end, 462 00:26:53,160 --> 00:26:57,560 which is Ephesians chapter. I know I also have to look it 463 00:26:57,560 --> 00:27:00,400 up. Chapter 6 verse 24. 464 00:27:00,400 --> 00:27:03,920 I didn't even know how many verses and chapters there were. 465 00:27:04,040 --> 00:27:07,080 She knew it off by heart because she rolled around and scripted 466 00:27:07,080 --> 00:27:09,320 some. She had the heart, the word, 467 00:27:09,320 --> 00:27:11,680 right? But it's Mother's Day. 468 00:27:11,760 --> 00:27:15,040 Why am I telling you this story? Because she wasn't a mother yet. 469 00:27:16,320 --> 00:27:18,480 When she became a mom, everything changed. 470 00:27:19,120 --> 00:27:23,840 And I watched from afar how that gift of studying the word and 471 00:27:23,840 --> 00:27:27,560 memorizing it became like a noose of condemnation around her 472 00:27:27,560 --> 00:27:30,720 neck because she just couldn't get back to where she was for 473 00:27:30,720 --> 00:27:34,000 years. And I often tell newly married 474 00:27:34,320 --> 00:27:36,880 couples about to have children this story. 475 00:27:37,200 --> 00:27:41,080 And I speak to moms in Milky Lane and Smallville. 476 00:27:42,760 --> 00:27:47,760 I say to the moms to be or the moms, I say, give yourself five 477 00:27:47,840 --> 00:27:51,720 years before you're anywhere near acquired. 478 00:27:51,720 --> 00:27:55,040 Time again. Really. 479 00:27:55,040 --> 00:27:56,200 Yeah. Thank you for that, Amy. 480 00:27:57,640 --> 00:28:04,240 Five years now in the light of Zahar and there's charge from 481 00:28:04,240 --> 00:28:05,760 Solomon. You're probably going but OK, 482 00:28:05,920 --> 00:28:09,920 well, hang on a second that cannot compute what's going to 483 00:28:09,960 --> 00:28:14,040 happen to to my relationship with God, my spiritual journey, 484 00:28:14,040 --> 00:28:17,000 my understanding of Scripture, my Zahar that's that's going to 485 00:28:17,000 --> 00:28:22,040 govern my actions or you know, God has thought about this and 486 00:28:22,040 --> 00:28:23,720 then Ephesians 5. He says the following. 487 00:28:23,720 --> 00:28:26,960 He says husbands love your wives just as Christ loved the church 488 00:28:27,160 --> 00:28:29,720 and gave himself up for her to make her holy. 489 00:28:30,040 --> 00:28:33,360 We know this. We do, you know, pre marriage or 490 00:28:33,520 --> 00:28:37,240 sitting with a marriage that's taking strain and and the guys 491 00:28:37,240 --> 00:28:40,000 know this and sure, I need to lay my life down for my wife, 492 00:28:40,000 --> 00:28:42,760 just like Jesus laid his life down for his bride. 493 00:28:42,760 --> 00:28:44,160 And that was like dying on a cross. 494 00:28:44,160 --> 00:28:46,680 I know, I know, I know. But do you know what comes off 495 00:28:46,680 --> 00:28:49,400 to the comma? Cleansing her by the washing 496 00:28:49,400 --> 00:28:54,920 with water through the word? And that's in the Greek is the 497 00:28:54,920 --> 00:29:00,800 word Rhema. A Rhema word is a personalized 498 00:29:00,960 --> 00:29:05,280 revelation. So this is what God is saying to 499 00:29:05,280 --> 00:29:12,080 you through His word. Today, husbands, see God wired 500 00:29:12,080 --> 00:29:17,720 into your role as a husband and a father, the responsibility to 501 00:29:17,720 --> 00:29:21,360 wash your wife with water through the Word, which requires 502 00:29:21,480 --> 00:29:28,000 A Rhema word, which requires you being filled by God and His 503 00:29:28,000 --> 00:29:31,000 revelation through His Word every day. 504 00:29:31,880 --> 00:29:36,000 Because God delights in revealing Himself to you in this 505 00:29:36,000 --> 00:29:41,160 Word so you can pour yourself into your wife and pour His Word 506 00:29:41,400 --> 00:29:45,240 into your wife so she can pour herself into your children. 507 00:29:48,400 --> 00:29:54,440 Do you see the weighty call for us to Zaha yet? 508 00:29:54,440 --> 00:29:58,440 I think a lot of the time it is US men who are backfooted in 509 00:29:58,440 --> 00:30:03,240 this regard. The ladies, maybe it's a more 510 00:30:03,240 --> 00:30:06,640 romantic thing to open up your Bible and and highlight it so it 511 00:30:06,640 --> 00:30:09,680 looks like a paint by numbers and have your coffee cup and 512 00:30:09,680 --> 00:30:13,240 your your daily devotional. And for guys, we're like, you 513 00:30:13,240 --> 00:30:17,760 know, I've got to go to work. But it's Solomon who's saying 514 00:30:17,880 --> 00:30:22,120 Zaha. You know, I think a lot of the 515 00:30:22,120 --> 00:30:26,480 time men abdicate their responsibility this Ephesians 5 516 00:30:26,480 --> 00:30:31,800 responsibility, you know, we we call it serving Now, babes, you 517 00:30:31,800 --> 00:30:36,240 go into Sunday service you I'll I'll go to Smallville. 518 00:30:37,400 --> 00:30:42,080 I'll look after little Johnny you you going and we actually 519 00:30:42,080 --> 00:30:44,960 abdicating that because the responsibility is not for your 520 00:30:44,960 --> 00:30:47,480 wife to wash you with the cleansing of the word. 521 00:30:47,840 --> 00:30:53,120 It's for you and I to wash our wives to have a daily 522 00:30:54,440 --> 00:30:58,400 interruption with the revelation of God through the Word, a 523 00:30:58,400 --> 00:31:01,880 rhythm that allows this to take hold of our hearts so that 524 00:31:01,880 --> 00:31:05,520 weakens our heart and we can be driven by the Word and the ways 525 00:31:05,520 --> 00:31:09,360 of God to lead our homes and allow them to follow suit. 526 00:31:11,320 --> 00:31:13,400 I heard going to love me for this. 527 00:31:13,640 --> 00:31:19,200 I heard a statement. They said come to their Sunday 528 00:31:19,200 --> 00:31:23,120 morning service and you'll see how popular the churches. 529 00:31:24,120 --> 00:31:26,640 Come to their Sunday evening service and you'll see how 530 00:31:26,640 --> 00:31:30,040 popular their preacher is. Come to their Monday morning 531 00:31:30,040 --> 00:31:33,040 quiet time and you'll see how popular their God is. 532 00:31:38,000 --> 00:31:43,440 Remember your Creator. Bind His word, His ways, His 533 00:31:43,440 --> 00:31:47,040 presence, His purpose and plan. Bind it to your heart. 534 00:31:47,040 --> 00:31:53,240 Focus your attention so that it drives your actions close with 535 00:31:53,240 --> 00:31:55,400 this. This is from Psalm 65. 536 00:31:56,680 --> 00:31:59,440 David is writing the Psalm and he makes comments and this, this 537 00:31:59,440 --> 00:32:01,680 struck me. He makes a comment about the 538 00:32:01,680 --> 00:32:03,720 heart of God. He says, you know, he, he 539 00:32:03,720 --> 00:32:06,360 desires to visit the earth and enrich it. 540 00:32:07,680 --> 00:32:11,440 It's an interesting word choice that he he desires, he longs to 541 00:32:11,440 --> 00:32:14,600 visit the earth and enrich it. And the reason why I caught my 542 00:32:14,600 --> 00:32:17,320 attention is because I was consulting in the mining space 543 00:32:17,320 --> 00:32:20,600 with a guy who's a, who was basically given the 544 00:32:20,600 --> 00:32:23,520 responsibility to bring green energy to all their mines. 545 00:32:24,120 --> 00:32:26,440 And of course, the best way to do that is nuclear, right? 546 00:32:26,440 --> 00:32:31,960 And we are talking about enriching uranium, which can't 547 00:32:31,960 --> 00:32:36,880 do in South Africa, apparently. But to enrich uranium, this is 548 00:32:36,880 --> 00:32:42,480 the word enrich you. You take this bland, boring Gray 549 00:32:42,480 --> 00:32:46,000 metal, you enrich it. You know what you get out of 550 00:32:46,000 --> 00:32:54,720 that is you get this eternal nucleus fission, this constant 551 00:32:54,720 --> 00:33:00,400 supply of energy. And in the same way God is 552 00:33:00,400 --> 00:33:02,840 saying, you know, when you use the hard my word, it does the 553 00:33:02,840 --> 00:33:07,160 same. It's like a force field comes 554 00:33:07,160 --> 00:33:10,160 alongside to empower. You know, what you also get is 555 00:33:10,160 --> 00:33:16,400 you get nuclear weapons to bring down strongholds, principalities 556 00:33:16,600 --> 00:33:19,240 and power. But one of the things you were 557 00:33:19,240 --> 00:33:21,800 saying was that they've managed to create this little modular 558 00:33:21,800 --> 00:33:27,240 version of the prototype and they're just patented it because 559 00:33:27,240 --> 00:33:29,280 it was small enough to put on an aeroplane. 560 00:33:30,400 --> 00:33:33,800 And the nuclear waste, you know, that that sort of nuclear 561 00:33:33,800 --> 00:33:37,080 dangerous thing thing was so low, it was less dangerous than 562 00:33:37,080 --> 00:33:39,640 some of the machines that you find in hospitals. 563 00:33:39,640 --> 00:33:42,640 So there's no red type. And the plan is to, once the 564 00:33:42,640 --> 00:33:45,400 prototypes have done all their testing and everything, so you 565 00:33:45,400 --> 00:33:47,320 can take one of these, you can put it on an aeroplane. 566 00:33:47,560 --> 00:33:51,720 The plane can take off and it never has to land, which means 567 00:33:51,720 --> 00:33:55,240 that George Clooney never has to be lost in space because his 568 00:33:55,240 --> 00:33:59,480 jetpack runs out of power. You can strap that thing and he 569 00:33:59,480 --> 00:34:01,920 can travel around the world until he's done and come home 570 00:34:01,920 --> 00:34:07,360 safely. And the crazy thing is for that 571 00:34:07,360 --> 00:34:10,159 they use a mineral called thorium. 572 00:34:11,639 --> 00:34:15,800 Thorium is what it sounds like. Thorium. 573 00:34:16,800 --> 00:34:19,159 It's like the, the armpits of minerals. 574 00:34:19,320 --> 00:34:21,320 You know, when you, when you buy a Willy's chicken, it's got that 575 00:34:21,320 --> 00:34:24,320 funny little tail thing that you, you take off and you 576 00:34:25,440 --> 00:34:29,320 that's, that's thorium in the mineral world, you know, but 577 00:34:29,320 --> 00:34:37,840 thorium enriched and you have sustained nuclear fission, 578 00:34:39,239 --> 00:34:43,840 sustained nuclear power, your walk with Christ enriched. 579 00:34:44,880 --> 00:34:48,679 Why spend your days going up and down the side of a building, 580 00:34:48,880 --> 00:34:52,600 hitting every barrel and every brick and enduring every broken 581 00:34:52,600 --> 00:35:00,120 bone when God says, let me help your brother out Zahar, just 582 00:35:00,120 --> 00:35:03,920 take what you've heard. Bind it to your heart. 583 00:35:04,200 --> 00:35:08,160 Focus your attention on so that it drives your actions. 584 00:35:11,840 --> 00:35:16,720 He begins by saying in verse one, remember your creator while 585 00:35:16,720 --> 00:35:21,960 you're still young before, before, before life lovely while 586 00:35:21,960 --> 00:35:24,920 it lasts. As soon over life as we know 587 00:35:24,920 --> 00:35:27,960 precious and beautiful ends. The body is put back in the same 588 00:35:27,960 --> 00:35:31,160 ground it came from. The Spirit returns to God. 589 00:35:31,160 --> 00:35:35,200 He first breathed it. If we do not the heart, then 590 00:35:35,200 --> 00:35:38,960 what he says in verse 8 is true. It will all be smoke, nothing 591 00:35:38,960 --> 00:35:41,320 but smoke. Let's pray. 592 00:35:44,600 --> 00:35:47,160 Heavenly Father want to bring you every home and every heart, 593 00:35:49,120 --> 00:35:53,760 every journey with you. Although I want to bring those 594 00:35:53,760 --> 00:35:56,680 who feel like they're just thorium lying on a pile of 595 00:35:56,680 --> 00:36:01,080 bricks with nothing to give. Would you allow us to understand 596 00:36:01,080 --> 00:36:04,880 and be gripped by the fact that when you enrich us, when your 597 00:36:04,880 --> 00:36:07,760 word takes a hold of us, when your ways captivate our heart to 598 00:36:07,760 --> 00:36:11,480 the to the point where it drives our actions, that then we 599 00:36:11,480 --> 00:36:14,320 genuinely see your Kingdom come and your will be done. 600 00:36:15,360 --> 00:36:18,240 Lord, I pray for those of us who don't even know where to start 601 00:36:18,280 --> 00:36:21,760 that you would show yourself that you'd make it easy to find 602 00:36:21,760 --> 00:36:24,760 you, to find our futures and and your word and your way. 603 00:36:25,200 --> 00:36:27,320 I pray for Life Group this coming week, Lord, that we would 604 00:36:27,520 --> 00:36:31,120 be able to share something of our journey and impart to one 605 00:36:31,120 --> 00:36:38,160 another journeys that can be taken easy routes, ways to study 606 00:36:38,160 --> 00:36:41,320 scripture or how you reveal yourself. 607 00:36:41,360 --> 00:36:42,920 I pray that we'd learn from one another. 608 00:36:42,920 --> 00:36:46,000 I pray that we would be a community that are known as 609 00:36:46,000 --> 00:36:49,040 those who's a harm, those who don't just tickle for some 610 00:36:49,040 --> 00:36:53,320 religious box, but those who are genuinely influenced, directed, 611 00:36:53,600 --> 00:36:57,160 governed by your word, your ways, your calling and your 612 00:36:57,160 --> 00:36:59,640 Kingdom, Jesus name, Amen.