1 00:00:03,640 --> 00:00:07,720 We are in a series of significance and trying to find 2 00:00:07,720 --> 00:00:12,240 meaning and we're trying to be free to be ourselves and not be 3 00:00:12,240 --> 00:00:16,280 influenced by others in any way whatsoever. 4 00:00:17,360 --> 00:00:20,640 I mean, Stephen has no role and Chad has no role in my life. 5 00:00:20,640 --> 00:00:24,320 I thought I was just, it's still sore, but it's, but it's Chad. 6 00:00:24,320 --> 00:00:27,320 How are we doing? But I mean, I mean, it's a it's, 7 00:00:27,320 --> 00:00:29,800 it's a bit of a pushy hit, but it's, it's been trained to be 8 00:00:29,800 --> 00:00:33,480 the lion of the tribe of Judah. Then are we all trying to find 9 00:00:33,480 --> 00:00:38,280 significant somehow? So we're doing a little series 10 00:00:38,280 --> 00:00:40,480 called if you weren't there last week, Finding Sofia. 11 00:00:40,480 --> 00:00:44,800 Sofia is wisdom. And we are in a world that we 12 00:00:44,800 --> 00:00:48,200 are meant to be travelers, we are meant to be sojourners in 13 00:00:48,200 --> 00:00:49,800 this world. God did not make this world 14 00:00:49,800 --> 00:00:52,400 permanent for us. We are meant to be passing 15 00:00:52,400 --> 00:00:54,840 through. But what happens is the world 16 00:00:54,840 --> 00:00:58,080 grips us and we start storing up like the world stores up. 17 00:00:58,640 --> 00:01:01,480 And the book of Ecclesiastes is actually written to us to make 18 00:01:01,480 --> 00:01:03,600 sure we store in our stuff in the right place. 19 00:01:04,760 --> 00:01:07,120 I got a phone call from Nazna this week. 20 00:01:09,800 --> 00:01:12,480 So when you get a phone call from Nazna, after you've smacked 21 00:01:12,480 --> 00:01:16,200 everybody in Nazna for collecting shells, you're very 22 00:01:16,200 --> 00:01:18,440 nervous when the phone rings. I think, Oh my hat, they're a 23 00:01:18,440 --> 00:01:21,200 little offended. So I got a phone call. 24 00:01:21,200 --> 00:01:25,160 I said hi, said hi. I said we listened to your 25 00:01:25,160 --> 00:01:27,000 preach. I said really? 26 00:01:27,560 --> 00:01:28,960 I said I just want to correct you. 27 00:01:29,280 --> 00:01:32,080 It's Pansy shells we pick up, not calories. 28 00:01:36,080 --> 00:01:39,160 So to all the people from Naz there, God bless you as you pick 29 00:01:39,160 --> 00:01:42,840 up Pansy shells and my friends who phoned me so they're going 30 00:01:42,840 --> 00:01:44,400 to be a next week, I'll introduce them to you. 31 00:01:44,400 --> 00:01:49,520 The Pansy shell collectors better. 32 00:01:50,400 --> 00:01:52,240 My business partner phoned me this weekend. 33 00:01:52,240 --> 00:01:55,800 We collect about a ton of rubbish a day at our business. 34 00:01:56,120 --> 00:02:02,520 We have a food business and we have lots of rubbish packets and 35 00:02:02,520 --> 00:02:08,080 cups and about a ton a day. And because we are on the main 36 00:02:08,080 --> 00:02:11,920 highway of the country, we have to take it into town because we 37 00:02:11,920 --> 00:02:15,720 don't have facilities where we are to burn it and to get rid of 38 00:02:15,720 --> 00:02:17,600 it. So we have to go into town and a 39 00:02:17,600 --> 00:02:19,080 ton of rubbish is a lot of rubbish. 40 00:02:20,120 --> 00:02:24,160 But it rained for two days and so actually he couldn't take the 41 00:02:24,160 --> 00:02:26,680 rubbish in the one day because it was just absolutely poorly as 42 00:02:26,680 --> 00:02:29,280 dangerous. And so when he went into town 43 00:02:29,280 --> 00:02:30,880 this week, what actually happened? 44 00:02:30,880 --> 00:02:33,120 As you go in, we live just outside Harry Smith. 45 00:02:33,680 --> 00:02:35,840 As you go into Harry Smith, there's a, there's a, there's a 46 00:02:35,840 --> 00:02:38,840 drop. And as you went down two days of 47 00:02:38,840 --> 00:02:42,680 rain, the one ton had turned to 2 1/2 tons because of the rain, 48 00:02:43,200 --> 00:02:45,760 because the, the cardboard absorbed the rain. 49 00:02:46,160 --> 00:02:49,440 And what actually happened for a second is that the trailer went 50 00:02:49,440 --> 00:02:52,280 down, the rubbish came forward and the front of his car lifted 51 00:02:52,280 --> 00:02:56,360 up. And for about 3 seconds, he was 52 00:02:56,360 --> 00:02:59,920 facing oncoming traffic with the front of his car lifted up where 53 00:02:59,920 --> 00:03:03,640 you steer from and the trailer pushing down. 54 00:03:04,840 --> 00:03:09,040 And he spoke of that absolute fear of having no control of the 55 00:03:09,040 --> 00:03:12,400 vehicle. And then it came right, And he 56 00:03:12,400 --> 00:03:14,640 managed to get it to the to the dump. 57 00:03:15,520 --> 00:03:17,840 That's what the Book of Ecclesiastes is about. 58 00:03:18,760 --> 00:03:23,480 It's about unhooking the trailer so that the weight of our 59 00:03:23,480 --> 00:03:27,040 experiences and the weight of the expectation of the world 60 00:03:27,440 --> 00:03:31,800 when we're going downhill doesn't somehow push us down and 61 00:03:31,800 --> 00:03:34,160 lift our wheels up so that we don't know how to steer. 62 00:03:34,960 --> 00:03:37,160 Amen. And so that's what this book is 63 00:03:37,160 --> 00:03:38,720 about. It's not an easy book. 64 00:03:39,080 --> 00:03:41,680 It's a it's, it's quite a difficult book to understand. 65 00:03:44,280 --> 00:03:48,320 But to the believer, we are actually misfits and strangers 66 00:03:48,320 --> 00:03:50,480 in the world. The Bible calls us aliens. 67 00:03:50,480 --> 00:03:55,080 Here we are travelling through, yet we make this life permanent 68 00:03:55,080 --> 00:03:58,960 and lose sight of eternity and store up treasures for ourselves 69 00:03:58,960 --> 00:04:00,640 here instead of the life to come. 70 00:04:01,880 --> 00:04:03,680 Blaze kids. Pastel says this. 71 00:04:03,680 --> 00:04:07,400 All men seek happiness. This is without exception. 72 00:04:08,160 --> 00:04:11,880 Whatever different means they use, they all tend to this end 73 00:04:11,880 --> 00:04:14,480 of happiness. The cause of some of people 74 00:04:14,480 --> 00:04:17,959 going to war and the cause of others avoiding it is for the 75 00:04:17,959 --> 00:04:22,480 same desire in both to be happy. This is the motive of every 76 00:04:22,480 --> 00:04:26,880 action of every man, even those who kill themselves. 77 00:04:28,680 --> 00:04:32,040 And so we are absolutely gripped by happiness. 78 00:04:34,120 --> 00:04:36,880 We do things to avoid pain and to be happy. 79 00:04:38,200 --> 00:04:40,480 You would have done it already today, stayed in the shower a 80 00:04:40,480 --> 00:04:44,080 little longer, eaten your favorite food just to be happy. 81 00:04:46,160 --> 00:04:49,920 And you leave your job because you not happy. 82 00:04:50,640 --> 00:04:54,200 And you leave your marriage because you, she doesn't make me 83 00:04:54,200 --> 00:04:57,880 happy anymore. And so somehow this modern day 84 00:04:57,880 --> 00:05:00,800 philosophy that has gripped our hearts in a woke environment is 85 00:05:00,800 --> 00:05:04,360 like, I deserve to be happy. I've worked really hard, I've 86 00:05:04,360 --> 00:05:07,440 studied really hard, I've got a degree and I deserve to be 87 00:05:07,440 --> 00:05:09,280 happy. It was never about you. 88 00:05:10,360 --> 00:05:14,000 It was about God. It was about God's design of 89 00:05:14,000 --> 00:05:16,520 your life to be alive at this time for a purpose. 90 00:05:16,680 --> 00:05:19,640 And we get sucked into a world and the measurements of our 91 00:05:19,640 --> 00:05:22,080 world is exactly the same as the world. 92 00:05:22,760 --> 00:05:24,680 And the book of Ecclesiastes says this. 93 00:05:24,800 --> 00:05:28,200 What do you profit? What do you gain? 94 00:05:28,680 --> 00:05:30,720 Yeftron, the Hebrew bird is yeftron. 95 00:05:31,160 --> 00:05:34,000 And so we start to measure our profit with the exactly the same 96 00:05:34,000 --> 00:05:35,800 as others. My highlight of this week, my 97 00:05:35,800 --> 00:05:39,800 absolute highlight of this week was walking into town to a 98 00:05:39,800 --> 00:05:43,160 meeting of a man who is probably in this auditorium today. 99 00:05:43,280 --> 00:05:46,840 He's a highly successful, highly trained man. 100 00:05:46,840 --> 00:05:51,120 He's an expert in his field. He works at thousands of rands 101 00:05:51,120 --> 00:05:57,520 an hour, but when I saw him on Friday, he had taken off work 102 00:05:57,680 --> 00:05:59,880 and he was having breakfast with his wife and children. 103 00:06:01,240 --> 00:06:03,800 And I thought, you know what, He's lost money. 104 00:06:04,360 --> 00:06:06,120 But he's understood Ecclesiastes. 105 00:06:07,560 --> 00:06:11,480 He's understood that this wife that he has is a gift from God 106 00:06:12,280 --> 00:06:15,120 and he doesn't have to work himself to the absolute bone to 107 00:06:15,120 --> 00:06:18,000 get the absolute maximum amount of money to get his children 108 00:06:18,000 --> 00:06:20,640 completely trained to the highest job so that they can buy 109 00:06:20,640 --> 00:06:23,720 big houses, so that they can reproduce the cycle that keeps 110 00:06:23,720 --> 00:06:26,560 going. He's actually said, no, hang on, 111 00:06:27,160 --> 00:06:31,200 I need to enjoy this gift. And this is a book about gains 112 00:06:31,200 --> 00:06:33,240 and gifts. And we have to know how to 113 00:06:33,240 --> 00:06:36,200 measure gain and we have to know how to measure gift, because if 114 00:06:36,200 --> 00:06:39,000 we measure gain with the ways of the world, we'll do exactly the 115 00:06:39,000 --> 00:06:41,160 same as them. We'll start collecting watches 116 00:06:41,320 --> 00:06:44,440 and we'll start collecting pens, and we'll start collecting guns 117 00:06:44,600 --> 00:06:47,600 and we'll start collecting cars. These are temporary things that 118 00:06:47,600 --> 00:06:49,120 are going to disappear when you leave. 119 00:06:51,240 --> 00:06:53,360 Amen. Not easy things, eh? 120 00:06:54,040 --> 00:06:56,520 And so the ways that reading Ecclesiastes, if you can put up 121 00:06:56,520 --> 00:06:59,520 on, actually put up the little Cremora advert for a moment. 122 00:07:02,520 --> 00:07:06,960 Coffee and Cremora. Yep, Creamora. 123 00:07:10,040 --> 00:07:12,440 Where'd she put it? That was how I like my creamora. 124 00:07:12,720 --> 00:07:16,040 Now she hides the. Creamora, the non dairy Creamer. 125 00:07:16,160 --> 00:07:19,320 It tastes so rich and creamy, you'll expect to find it in the 126 00:07:19,320 --> 00:07:21,360 refrigerator. There's no Creamora in the 127 00:07:21,440 --> 00:07:24,800 refrigerator. It's not inside. 128 00:07:24,800 --> 00:07:25,640 It's on top. It's not inside. 129 00:07:26,440 --> 00:07:29,160 It's on top Creamora, the top of the coffee Creamer. 130 00:07:33,520 --> 00:07:39,400 Guys, not inside, it's on. That's what this is about. 131 00:07:39,400 --> 00:07:41,960 He's talking about wisdom and he's talking about money. 132 00:07:42,320 --> 00:07:45,680 He's talking about drink and he's talking about sex and he's 133 00:07:45,680 --> 00:07:47,800 talking about the deep things that are affecting the young 134 00:07:47,800 --> 00:07:50,400 people of Pretoria. And he says it's not inside, 135 00:07:50,480 --> 00:07:54,120 it's on. It's on top. 136 00:07:55,120 --> 00:07:56,920 And the book is written really for four reasons. 137 00:07:56,920 --> 00:08:00,600 If you look at the end of Ecclesiastes, Ecclesiastes 12, 138 00:08:01,400 --> 00:08:03,160 it says this. You can just put the scripts up. 139 00:08:03,160 --> 00:08:04,840 I'll tell you the four reasons why it's written. 140 00:08:05,600 --> 00:08:07,440 Besides being wise is the end of the book. 141 00:08:07,440 --> 00:08:09,920 Besides being wise, the preacher also taught the people 142 00:08:09,920 --> 00:08:13,400 knowledge, weighing and studying and arranging many proverbs with 143 00:08:13,400 --> 00:08:16,320 great care. The preacher sought to find 144 00:08:16,320 --> 00:08:20,320 words of delight, say delight. I spoke to one of the 145 00:08:20,320 --> 00:08:22,040 physiotherapists of the cricket teams. 146 00:08:22,040 --> 00:08:24,560 He's not a Christian, but he's a friend of mine. 147 00:08:24,560 --> 00:08:26,760 I had breakfast with him this week and he said to me, he said, 148 00:08:26,760 --> 00:08:29,680 Rory, I'll listen to your first talk on on Ecclesiastes. 149 00:08:29,680 --> 00:08:32,799 He says, what's the point then if work is meaningless and money 150 00:08:32,799 --> 00:08:34,880 is meaningless? And what is the actual point? 151 00:08:34,880 --> 00:08:36,400 I said keep listening to the series. 152 00:08:37,280 --> 00:08:39,559 I didn't give you the answer. I just gave you the problem. 153 00:08:40,640 --> 00:08:44,120 My job is not to feed you. My job is to irritate you. 154 00:08:44,960 --> 00:08:47,160 We are Protestants. We are meant to protest. 155 00:08:47,480 --> 00:08:49,920 We are meant to protest about what life is about. 156 00:08:50,480 --> 00:08:52,080 I said you're a cricket coach coaching. 157 00:08:52,160 --> 00:08:53,800 I said what is the point of a cricket team? 158 00:08:54,000 --> 00:08:55,400 To make more runs? To do what? 159 00:08:55,400 --> 00:08:57,040 To make get a bigger contract? To do what? 160 00:08:57,040 --> 00:08:59,640 To get a bigger house so that you can send your kids to better 161 00:08:59,640 --> 00:09:00,960 universities. What's the point? 162 00:09:01,840 --> 00:09:04,240 You've got to ask yourself what the point is of making money. 163 00:09:05,200 --> 00:09:07,800 It can't just be to get a bigger house that when you retire you 164 00:09:07,800 --> 00:09:09,680 get a smaller house and give your furniture away. 165 00:09:10,440 --> 00:09:11,880 It's got there's got to be some pointed. 166 00:09:11,880 --> 00:09:14,400 So, so if you're a rugby player, you want to be a spring back for 167 00:09:14,400 --> 00:09:16,600 what? And if you're a spring back, 168 00:09:16,600 --> 00:09:18,840 then what do you do? You get a contract in Japan when 169 00:09:18,840 --> 00:09:20,360 you're older to get more money. So what? 170 00:09:20,480 --> 00:09:22,600 So you can work really hard when you're young so that you don't 171 00:09:22,600 --> 00:09:26,600 have to work when you're old. It seems crazy. 172 00:09:27,040 --> 00:09:30,840 Or do we actually do we actually find purpose in our work so that 173 00:09:30,840 --> 00:09:35,560 we can actually work forever? It's like I'm, I'm not and, and 174 00:09:35,560 --> 00:09:38,400 it, and everybody asks, I'm working really, really, really 175 00:09:38,400 --> 00:09:41,280 hard for what? You've got to know why you're 176 00:09:41,280 --> 00:09:42,640 working hard. There's got to be a reason for 177 00:09:42,640 --> 00:09:45,160 working hard. It can't be friends because you 178 00:09:45,160 --> 00:09:49,000 had a student loan and now your kids who don't have a student 179 00:09:49,000 --> 00:09:50,920 loan because you have enough money to pay them off and they 180 00:09:50,920 --> 00:09:52,560 go to university and they start drinking. 181 00:09:52,680 --> 00:09:54,520 And then you say to me, you don't know how hard I'm working 182 00:09:54,520 --> 00:09:57,280 to send you to university. You're about to experience it, 183 00:09:57,280 --> 00:09:59,320 guys. Your kids have just left for 184 00:09:59,320 --> 00:10:04,400 Stellenbosch. They're going to fail their 185 00:10:04,400 --> 00:10:06,280 first year. They're going to drink 186 00:10:06,280 --> 00:10:09,480 themselves to death. Not to death, but they're going 187 00:10:09,480 --> 00:10:11,520 to drink themselves. They're going to save themselves 188 00:10:11,520 --> 00:10:13,080 crazy. And you're going to say, but 189 00:10:13,080 --> 00:10:15,920 I've worked so hard. You did exactly the same thing 190 00:10:16,840 --> 00:10:18,480 you say, but I've got a student loan. 191 00:10:18,640 --> 00:10:23,280 And now you spoiled them so they don't have a student loan. 192 00:10:24,120 --> 00:10:25,880 So Solomon got spoiled in David's house. 193 00:10:25,880 --> 00:10:27,960 He never paid a price for the blessing that he had. 194 00:10:28,520 --> 00:10:31,760 And so he just kept perpetuating extravagant living with no 195 00:10:31,760 --> 00:10:33,360 meaning. And now he's at the end of his 196 00:10:33,360 --> 00:10:34,560 life and saying, hey, guys, hang on. 197 00:10:34,560 --> 00:10:38,200 Whoa, you can't just go to varsity and save yourself away. 198 00:10:38,720 --> 00:10:40,960 Even if you're passing. There's got to be more meaning. 199 00:10:40,960 --> 00:10:44,400 So while your kids are drinking and exploring with drink, you're 200 00:10:44,400 --> 00:10:46,480 looking at this thing of a week really, really hard. 201 00:10:46,480 --> 00:10:48,960 And I deserve actually happiness. 202 00:10:49,640 --> 00:10:51,960 Stop causing me stress. And both of them are wrong 203 00:10:54,720 --> 00:10:56,680 challenging. Hey, it's nice to see you come 204 00:10:56,680 --> 00:11:01,680 back. The preacher sought to find 205 00:11:01,680 --> 00:11:04,880 words of delight and uprightly he wrote words of truth, Say 206 00:11:04,880 --> 00:11:07,480 delight. The book of Ecclesiastes is 207 00:11:07,480 --> 00:11:09,920 actually a book of delight. God actually designed us 208 00:11:09,920 --> 00:11:12,920 according to his pleasure. So it says in Ephesians chapter 209 00:11:12,920 --> 00:11:14,360 one. I'm created according to the 210 00:11:14,360 --> 00:11:18,520 will and pleasure of God. When God made me had fun, and 211 00:11:18,520 --> 00:11:21,320 when God made you, he had fun. And so we, especially in 212 00:11:21,320 --> 00:11:23,480 Pretoria, we love the will of God, the will of God, the will 213 00:11:23,480 --> 00:11:24,800 of God, the will of God. The God is crossed. 214 00:11:24,800 --> 00:11:27,240 God is angry, slightly irritated with me. 215 00:11:27,240 --> 00:11:29,720 No, no, no, no, he's not. God is actually a pleasurable 216 00:11:29,720 --> 00:11:31,480 God. He's a God of delight. 217 00:11:31,680 --> 00:11:34,120 And when he writes a book, even if it's a hard book, the heart 218 00:11:34,120 --> 00:11:36,760 of it, the first point of it is that it'll cause us joy. 219 00:11:37,480 --> 00:11:39,760 I ask people say to me, how do you describe the word delight? 220 00:11:39,760 --> 00:11:49,520 I said it's opposite of the heavy and if you want to further 221 00:11:49,520 --> 00:11:51,760 meaning, it's it's opposite of the dark. 222 00:11:53,280 --> 00:11:56,320 And and so God writes a book of the light opposite of the heavy 223 00:11:56,320 --> 00:11:58,560 and opposite of the dark. He wants to actually bring us 224 00:11:58,560 --> 00:12:01,760 into a spacious light place where we actually can explore 225 00:12:01,760 --> 00:12:04,080 the meaning of life. Amen. 226 00:12:04,560 --> 00:12:06,960 The second reason why he writes it, it says the words of the 227 00:12:06,960 --> 00:12:10,360 wise are like goats, say goats. If you don't know what that is, 228 00:12:10,360 --> 00:12:12,880 it's a it's a stick with electricity and you when you 229 00:12:13,560 --> 00:12:18,800 poke a sheep or a goat or a cow and like nails firmly fixed are 230 00:12:18,800 --> 00:12:21,800 the collected sayings. They are given by 1 shepherd. 231 00:12:22,320 --> 00:12:23,880 So I've got to stick with the nail. 232 00:12:24,200 --> 00:12:28,680 And what I'm doing for this series is I'm just I'm just I'm 233 00:12:28,680 --> 00:12:32,600 just and you think, hey, man, foot shack, it's like it's like 234 00:12:32,920 --> 00:12:37,480 I'm just I'm just I'm just I'm just sticking this nail all over 235 00:12:37,560 --> 00:12:43,160 you this so that that you can you see I'm not choosing a girl. 236 00:12:43,160 --> 00:12:44,840 Otherwise, somebody will lay a complaint. 237 00:12:55,720 --> 00:12:59,080 And so I'm going to spend about 6 or 8 weeks just sticking nails 238 00:12:59,080 --> 00:13:02,920 into here. So it's just sticking them in 239 00:13:02,920 --> 00:13:03,800 here. And you think, but that's not 240 00:13:03,800 --> 00:13:05,520 very comfortable already. But that's why the book was 241 00:13:05,520 --> 00:13:08,320 written, so that you can actually reassess your life and 242 00:13:08,320 --> 00:13:11,760 think what's really meaningful. How am I spending my time? 243 00:13:11,880 --> 00:13:14,120 How am I spending my money? How am I spending my words? 244 00:13:14,600 --> 00:13:17,280 Lord God, will you speak to me? That's why the book is written. 245 00:13:18,360 --> 00:13:22,840 Amen. The third reason it says, and 246 00:13:22,840 --> 00:13:25,280 the end of the matter. Verse 13 The end of the matter. 247 00:13:25,280 --> 00:13:28,400 All has been heard. Fear God and keep His 248 00:13:28,400 --> 00:13:31,120 commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. 249 00:13:32,880 --> 00:13:35,120 This is how the saying goes. If you fear God, you'll fear 250 00:13:35,120 --> 00:13:37,960 nothing else. If you don't fear God, you'll 251 00:13:37,960 --> 00:13:39,680 feel if you'll fear everything else. 252 00:13:40,440 --> 00:13:43,440 So what is the end of man? The chief end of man is to fear 253 00:13:43,440 --> 00:13:46,520 God and obey his commands. How must I treat my wife? 254 00:13:46,920 --> 00:13:50,520 Fear God and obey his commands. How must I spend my money? 255 00:13:50,720 --> 00:13:54,240 Fear God and obey his commands. How must I train on the rugby 256 00:13:54,240 --> 00:13:56,840 field? Fear God and obey his commands. 257 00:13:57,040 --> 00:14:00,160 How must I play the drums? Fear God and obey his commands. 258 00:14:00,320 --> 00:14:03,880 How should I cook for my family? Fear God and obey his commands? 259 00:14:03,880 --> 00:14:06,880 And we don't need psychologist friends. 260 00:14:07,360 --> 00:14:09,520 We just need to fear God and obey his commands. 261 00:14:10,520 --> 00:14:12,320 We can sort ourselves out. You can sort your marriage out 262 00:14:12,320 --> 00:14:14,600 to those two words. Fear God and obey his commands. 263 00:14:14,880 --> 00:14:16,800 Stop treating speaking badly to your wife. 264 00:14:16,960 --> 00:14:23,440 Fear God and obey his commands. And the final thing, so pleasure 265 00:14:23,520 --> 00:14:26,720 the prodding, the pattern. That's how we do for God will 266 00:14:26,720 --> 00:14:30,320 bring every deed into judgement with every secret thing. 267 00:14:31,360 --> 00:14:33,720 Everything will be judged into judgment for every secret thing 268 00:14:33,720 --> 00:14:35,880 with a good or evil. God has actually given us a 269 00:14:35,880 --> 00:14:38,320 preparation to get ready for the ends of our life. 270 00:14:38,320 --> 00:14:41,120 And it sounds very terrible, but actually all of our lives are 271 00:14:41,120 --> 00:14:45,160 going to end and all of us have got different ways of bringing 272 00:14:45,160 --> 00:14:47,440 them to an end. Like my eyes are getting worse 273 00:14:47,440 --> 00:14:51,800 every day, so are yours. So what I do is I get the nicest 274 00:14:51,800 --> 00:14:55,160 pair of glasses that I can possibly get to try and actually 275 00:14:55,160 --> 00:14:57,240 put you off attention that my eyes are getting worse. 276 00:14:59,240 --> 00:15:03,040 So I choose them and people often in meetings say, are these 277 00:15:03,040 --> 00:15:06,200 cameras? I says no, that's just the O of 278 00:15:06,200 --> 00:15:12,320 Oakley. That just helps me look trendy 279 00:15:12,320 --> 00:15:16,720 while my eyes are getting worse. And then you see the latest fans 280 00:15:16,720 --> 00:15:19,000 come and you get clear glasses and you get steel glasses. 281 00:15:19,000 --> 00:15:21,840 And the fashion has changed. And all we do with fashion is we 282 00:15:21,840 --> 00:15:23,800 try and hide the process that we're going to die. 283 00:15:28,000 --> 00:15:30,520 So for all you Botox people, this is my Botox. 284 00:15:32,960 --> 00:15:35,680 So before you worry, before you pop everything up and everything 285 00:15:35,680 --> 00:15:37,600 looks ha ha, ha, you're going to die. 286 00:15:38,640 --> 00:15:41,640 Whether you die of Botox or with Botox, you are going to die. 287 00:15:43,480 --> 00:15:45,200 Botox, calves, Botox. Yeah. 288 00:15:45,200 --> 00:15:47,160 Botox. This, this is my Botox. 289 00:15:48,560 --> 00:15:52,240 It's Oakley Botox. But you're still going to die. 290 00:15:53,080 --> 00:15:55,240 So whether you're going to die with a tight face or a loose 291 00:15:55,240 --> 00:16:01,360 face, you're still going to die. So that's the point. 292 00:16:01,360 --> 00:16:03,720 So God actually wrote this book for our pleasure so that we 293 00:16:03,720 --> 00:16:05,120 would understand him and enjoy it. 294 00:16:05,280 --> 00:16:07,880 God wrote this book to deal with some of our value systems. 295 00:16:08,200 --> 00:16:11,000 God wrote this book to give us a kind of a pattern of life, fear 296 00:16:11,000 --> 00:16:13,560 God and obey his commands. That's you can take that for the 297 00:16:13,560 --> 00:16:15,320 rest of your life. And God wrote this book. 298 00:16:15,320 --> 00:16:18,840 So to be prepared for the day that will be our last, you know, 299 00:16:18,840 --> 00:16:21,560 my last day of school, I don't know about you actually normally 300 00:16:21,560 --> 00:16:23,520 started about the last week of school for me. 301 00:16:24,200 --> 00:16:26,680 But the last day of school we don't know where, OK, because 302 00:16:26,680 --> 00:16:28,960 there's no reward and there's no award in the last day of school. 303 00:16:28,960 --> 00:16:30,720 So you don't do anything. So they don't really prepare for 304 00:16:30,720 --> 00:16:32,840 it. I mean, I don't know if you 305 00:16:32,840 --> 00:16:34,080 worked on the last day of school. 306 00:16:36,400 --> 00:16:39,840 I stopped working about 12 or 14 days before the last day of 307 00:16:39,840 --> 00:16:42,000 school. But God has actually said there 308 00:16:42,000 --> 00:16:44,400 is going to be a last day for you. 309 00:16:44,400 --> 00:16:47,280 And I actually want you to prepare for it with everything 310 00:16:47,280 --> 00:16:48,440 that you've got. Amen. 311 00:16:49,280 --> 00:16:50,840 OK, let's go and read Ecclesiastes. 312 00:16:51,680 --> 00:16:56,400 Nice to see you. So this is a really clever guy. 313 00:16:57,000 --> 00:17:00,560 He's really, really rich. He gets about 2.2 million Rand 314 00:17:00,560 --> 00:17:04,040 every hour. Yeah, 2.2 million Rand every 315 00:17:04,040 --> 00:17:06,680 hour. That's like walking into men and 316 00:17:06,680 --> 00:17:14,599 then chilling. Louis Vuitton, iPhone, iPad. 317 00:17:15,400 --> 00:17:23,640 I run, you walk down, you go to the watch shop between little 318 00:17:23,720 --> 00:17:32,520 Panera Tag, Rolex. Do you have that Who Blot? 319 00:17:33,520 --> 00:17:39,080 You have The Who Blot and Patrick Phillip have a Patrick 320 00:17:39,080 --> 00:17:41,080 Phillip. And then you've got all that 321 00:17:41,080 --> 00:17:42,360 stuff. And then the next hour comes and 322 00:17:42,360 --> 00:17:45,760 you get another 2.2 million in your bank account. 323 00:17:46,360 --> 00:17:50,600 You walk in the upstairs to Exclusive Books and then you go 324 00:17:50,600 --> 00:17:51,880 around the corner to the gold things. 325 00:17:51,880 --> 00:17:57,640 You can have some Krugerrands. You buy 50 Krugerrands and then 326 00:17:57,760 --> 00:18:00,480 the next hour comes and another 2.2 gets deposited in your 327 00:18:00,480 --> 00:18:02,760 accounting writers says, hey guys, I'm telling you money 328 00:18:02,960 --> 00:18:08,160 can't make you happy. Norkin wisdom, Norkin alcohol. 329 00:18:08,160 --> 00:18:11,960 So let's read chapter 1, verse 12. 330 00:18:12,120 --> 00:18:14,320 Either teacher was king of Israel in Jerusalem. 331 00:18:14,720 --> 00:18:17,120 I devoted myself to study. I went to turkeys. 332 00:18:20,880 --> 00:18:24,680 Or if your dad worked really hard, you go to Stillies, but 333 00:18:24,680 --> 00:18:28,360 you drink just as much. It's tellies and turkeys. 334 00:18:30,360 --> 00:18:32,360 Then you find your friend who says, hey, you've lost laws, 335 00:18:32,360 --> 00:18:34,120 you've lost Crystal. Watch your baby strip. 336 00:18:41,800 --> 00:18:44,960 I devoted myself to study and to explore by wisdom all that is 337 00:18:44,960 --> 00:18:48,080 done under heaven. What a heavy burden God has laid 338 00:18:48,080 --> 00:18:49,600 on men. I've seen all the things that 339 00:18:49,600 --> 00:18:51,400 are done under heaven and the sun. 340 00:18:51,400 --> 00:18:53,520 All of them are meaningless. That word meaningless is not. 341 00:18:53,840 --> 00:18:56,080 It's just like smoke. It doesn't really have 342 00:18:56,600 --> 00:18:57,520 definition. It doesn't. 343 00:18:57,520 --> 00:19:00,120 You can't grab it chasing after the wind. 344 00:19:00,360 --> 00:19:02,680 What is twisted cannot be straightened. 345 00:19:02,960 --> 00:19:06,440 Say that what is twisted cannot be straightened. 346 00:19:07,520 --> 00:19:09,400 What is lacking cannot be counted. 347 00:19:10,560 --> 00:19:11,920 So is it wrong to go to university? 348 00:19:11,920 --> 00:19:13,800 Of course that's not wrong. Why do you go to university? 349 00:19:13,800 --> 00:19:17,040 Because you're gifted and you're educated and you're clever and 350 00:19:17,200 --> 00:19:20,200 you should have a PhD. And we believe in advancement in 351 00:19:20,200 --> 00:19:22,840 science and medical breakthroughs, and we believe in 352 00:19:22,840 --> 00:19:25,920 all that stuff. But but Solomon says, but it's 353 00:19:25,920 --> 00:19:28,760 not actually, it's not actually final. 354 00:19:28,760 --> 00:19:31,440 And the reason why is because there's something crooked in the 355 00:19:31,440 --> 00:19:34,720 world and there's something that can't be counted. 356 00:19:35,480 --> 00:19:38,840 And so we are in the most advanced technological era of 357 00:19:38,840 --> 00:19:42,080 the whole universe. We have had thousands of years 358 00:19:42,080 --> 00:19:45,880 of medical research and we can't fix AIDS. 359 00:19:46,560 --> 00:19:50,240 There's something crooked. There's something, something's 360 00:19:50,240 --> 00:19:51,760 not straight, something is wrong. 361 00:19:52,080 --> 00:19:55,000 And then all of a sudden COVID breaks out and the biggest 362 00:19:55,000 --> 00:19:57,880 scientists in the world come up with a solution that takes 363 00:19:57,880 --> 00:20:00,200 forever. But there's, and then as as that 364 00:20:00,200 --> 00:20:03,080 goes down, then there's another virus that's coming out of China 365 00:20:03,080 --> 00:20:05,480 now and everybody's panicking at the HMV virus. 366 00:20:05,640 --> 00:20:08,280 That's good because there's something inside of our society 367 00:20:08,280 --> 00:20:12,440 that is crooked. And education can't fix it, you 368 00:20:12,440 --> 00:20:13,840 say, but we're going to try. You can't. 369 00:20:14,960 --> 00:20:16,640 Solomon is the wisest man who ever lived. 370 00:20:16,640 --> 00:20:17,920 And he said there's something crooked. 371 00:20:18,080 --> 00:20:21,200 It cannot be counted. How do we have the best 372 00:20:21,200 --> 00:20:24,800 negotiators in the world? And we cannot finish the the war 373 00:20:24,800 --> 00:20:27,920 between Russia and Ukraine. We cannot finish the war because 374 00:20:27,920 --> 00:20:29,640 there's something crooked in the heart of man. 375 00:20:29,640 --> 00:20:32,240 Man wants to dominate. Man wants their authority to 376 00:20:32,240 --> 00:20:35,920 rule and reign. How come, friends, after 377 00:20:35,920 --> 00:20:40,080 thousands of years, 2000 years since Jesus died, we cannot fix 378 00:20:40,080 --> 00:20:42,040 the war between Israel and Palestine. 379 00:20:42,320 --> 00:20:45,320 We cannot the greatest negotiators in the world because 380 00:20:45,320 --> 00:20:49,280 there's something crooked and something cannot be counted. 381 00:20:50,400 --> 00:20:53,840 Friends, it doesn't add up. And he says, you can have a PhD 382 00:20:54,000 --> 00:20:56,040 and you won't make the math work. 383 00:20:58,120 --> 00:21:00,480 So must I get a PhD? Of course you must get a PhD. 384 00:21:00,640 --> 00:21:02,600 People said to me, well, Rory, the way you preached last week, 385 00:21:02,600 --> 00:21:04,000 we don't have to study. We don't have to work. 386 00:21:04,200 --> 00:21:09,640 Now you'll go bankrupt, and then your kids will have to get 387 00:21:09,640 --> 00:21:13,160 student loans. Please listen to what I'm 388 00:21:13,160 --> 00:21:15,800 saying, friends. This is a very intricate book. 389 00:21:16,000 --> 00:21:17,840 This is Solomon who's done everything. 390 00:21:17,840 --> 00:21:21,560 He's writing back to young Tuckies University students. 391 00:21:21,840 --> 00:21:24,360 US old guys can understand because we've made many of these 392 00:21:24,360 --> 00:21:25,800 mistakes. And he's saying to the young 393 00:21:25,800 --> 00:21:28,880 people, guys, be careful that you don't spend your life 394 00:21:28,880 --> 00:21:36,060 chasing the wind. Let's go to chapter 2. 395 00:21:38,980 --> 00:21:45,260 I thought in my heart, come now, I will test you with pleasure to 396 00:21:45,260 --> 00:21:47,020 find out what is good. Say good. 397 00:21:47,820 --> 00:21:50,940 That's the word tov, TOV. Say that's tov. 398 00:21:51,900 --> 00:21:56,880 Say that person next to say that's tov, tof, Afrikaans, tof, 399 00:21:59,600 --> 00:22:03,040 that's good. You see, Brent, that is exactly 400 00:22:03,040 --> 00:22:06,000 the same word that God used when he created the world. 401 00:22:06,360 --> 00:22:12,560 When God created the world, he said that is tov, that is Tov, 402 00:22:13,800 --> 00:22:16,360 that is good. And the way God created the 403 00:22:16,360 --> 00:22:19,800 world, as we saw from last week, he created the world cyclically. 404 00:22:20,920 --> 00:22:24,160 And it says we seem to be going around in circles, Moycliffe, 405 00:22:24,160 --> 00:22:26,520 Watercliffe Woolworths, Moycliffe Watercliffe 406 00:22:26,520 --> 00:22:29,240 Woolworths, Moycliffe Watercliffe Woolworths, 407 00:22:29,520 --> 00:22:32,680 Moycliffe, Watercliffe Woolworths and when the husband 408 00:22:32,680 --> 00:22:36,440 comes out Moycliffe, Watercliffe, Woolworths and then 409 00:22:36,440 --> 00:22:39,480 to break the pattern we go to Stellenbosch to break the 410 00:22:39,480 --> 00:22:49,800 pattern. Then we go to Paul Jin Sacking 411 00:22:50,280 --> 00:22:52,520 Woolworths. Paul Jim Cycling. 412 00:22:52,520 --> 00:22:53,640 Woolworths. Paul Jim. 413 00:22:53,920 --> 00:22:57,320 God's designed it like that. If you go to Cape Town, friends, 414 00:22:58,240 --> 00:23:00,880 in summer and you sit at a coffee shop, you'll hear a guy 415 00:23:00,880 --> 00:23:02,960 say hello. You say hello to the Afrikaans 416 00:23:02,960 --> 00:23:05,400 guy who says who are mortar. Why say hello back? 417 00:23:05,440 --> 00:23:09,520 You gotta say hello. Hello. 418 00:23:10,360 --> 00:23:12,280 Hello. Where are you from? 419 00:23:12,280 --> 00:23:14,760 I'm from Holland. Oh, what's your name? 420 00:23:14,760 --> 00:23:16,320 My name is Hard Young from Holland. 421 00:23:17,040 --> 00:23:18,840 I said head young. What you doing here in South 422 00:23:18,840 --> 00:23:21,640 Africa? No, I it's very cold in Holland 423 00:23:22,680 --> 00:23:25,560 and so I come to South Africa for the winter because down the 424 00:23:25,560 --> 00:23:28,000 hook from Holland with all the crash components buy a coat. 425 00:23:28,880 --> 00:23:32,240 He showed I'm going to come to South Africa so I can play golf. 426 00:23:33,360 --> 00:23:35,240 Oh, head young so nice. You play golf. 427 00:23:35,240 --> 00:23:38,200 You're like, oh, I like golf. How much golf do you play? 428 00:23:38,200 --> 00:23:40,320 Oh, I play golf whole time. Golf. 429 00:23:40,760 --> 00:23:42,760 But what do you do in the snow? No, I leave the snow. 430 00:23:42,760 --> 00:23:47,440 I come to South Africa to go to Valdevi because the Valdevia 22 431 00:23:47,440 --> 00:23:51,680 one, the Valdevia is cheap and so you get these, they call them 432 00:23:51,680 --> 00:23:54,640 swallows. They have the summer there, then 433 00:23:54,640 --> 00:23:56,200 they have the summer here and they have the summer then. 434 00:23:56,600 --> 00:23:59,000 God did not design us for perpetual summer. 435 00:24:00,080 --> 00:24:03,560 God designed us psychically. Summer, winter, autumn, spring, 436 00:24:03,560 --> 00:24:05,920 summer, winter, autumn, spring. That's why Solomon's right, He 437 00:24:05,920 --> 00:24:07,520 says, listen here guys, you are married. 438 00:24:08,280 --> 00:24:11,000 Don't go to Holland for the summer and then come to South 439 00:24:11,000 --> 00:24:15,240 Africa for the summer. Stay for the winter so that you 440 00:24:15,240 --> 00:24:21,560 can get cold and die, so that when it dies, it will start to 441 00:24:21,560 --> 00:24:24,600 live in spring. Because when it dies from the 442 00:24:24,600 --> 00:24:27,320 snow, when the spring comes and the sun comes, it starts to live 443 00:24:27,320 --> 00:24:30,760 again. Oh, have young you must stay at 444 00:24:30,760 --> 00:24:33,480 home. We want to play golf in summer 445 00:24:34,600 --> 00:24:38,840 in South Africa. He's appealing to us. 446 00:24:38,840 --> 00:24:41,800 He's appealing to us. He's saying to us, Hey guys, 447 00:24:42,040 --> 00:24:44,040 you're breaking the cycles of God. 448 00:24:44,440 --> 00:24:47,000 You're breaking you're trying to live in perpetual. 449 00:24:47,120 --> 00:24:49,920 You are making enough money so that you didn't never have a 450 00:24:49,920 --> 00:24:53,080 winter. You are story of you're you're 451 00:24:53,080 --> 00:24:56,360 trying to control the world and the book of Ecclesiastes is 452 00:24:56,360 --> 00:25:00,400 saying you can't control the world, not with your education 453 00:25:00,480 --> 00:25:06,280 and not with your money, because Tov was created by God. 454 00:25:06,280 --> 00:25:12,080 Man cannot create Tov. You cannot create what is good. 455 00:25:12,320 --> 00:25:15,920 And every one of us is trying to build a little bit of heaven on 456 00:25:15,920 --> 00:25:17,720 earth. And God says, but you're using 457 00:25:17,720 --> 00:25:25,760 your plans, not my plans. And so we have God who came to 458 00:25:25,760 --> 00:25:29,000 earth to create heaven on earth. We have the devil who came to 459 00:25:29,000 --> 00:25:32,360 earth to create hell on earth. And God gives us all of his 460 00:25:32,360 --> 00:25:34,600 blessings. And the devil takes all of those 461 00:25:34,600 --> 00:25:37,840 blessings and he turns them. And what we have actually in 462 00:25:37,840 --> 00:25:43,880 many situations is hell on earth, alcohol. 463 00:25:44,800 --> 00:25:51,680 God created it. God created it to bring heaven 464 00:25:51,760 --> 00:25:56,600 to earth, to teach us what it means to fellowship together, to 465 00:25:56,600 --> 00:25:59,480 teach us what it means to actually enjoy each other's 466 00:25:59,480 --> 00:26:02,960 company, to teach us what the blood of His Son actually meant. 467 00:26:04,480 --> 00:26:06,160 And that was never meant to be abused. 468 00:26:07,640 --> 00:26:09,640 And the devil comes and says, I'll take that wonderful 469 00:26:09,640 --> 00:26:12,680 creation and I will turn it around where men who get full of 470 00:26:12,680 --> 00:26:19,440 hooch smash their wives faces and and we've got to go back and 471 00:26:19,440 --> 00:26:22,320 say, Lord God, what is tov? What is tov? 472 00:26:22,400 --> 00:26:31,400 What is tov look like? Laughter, I said, is foolish. 473 00:26:31,400 --> 00:26:32,840 And what is pleasure accomplished? 474 00:26:33,080 --> 00:26:34,960 I tried cheering myself with wine. 475 00:26:35,320 --> 00:26:39,640 So I went to Tuckies and I went to the Strip and I laughed 476 00:26:39,640 --> 00:26:45,680 myself like a Drumford greet. I tried sharing myself with wine 477 00:26:45,680 --> 00:26:48,160 and embracing folly. My mind's still guiding me with 478 00:26:48,160 --> 00:26:50,280 wisdom. I wanted to see what was 479 00:26:50,280 --> 00:26:52,960 worthwhile for men to do under heaven during the few days of 480 00:26:52,960 --> 00:26:55,080 their lives. I undertook great projects. 481 00:26:55,760 --> 00:26:58,160 I built houses for myself and I planted vineyards. 482 00:26:58,480 --> 00:27:01,760 I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees 483 00:27:01,760 --> 00:27:03,640 in them. I made reservoirs to water 484 00:27:03,640 --> 00:27:07,280 Groves of flourishing trees. I bought male and female slaves. 485 00:27:07,280 --> 00:27:10,720 30,000 people worked for him and other slaves who were born in my 486 00:27:10,720 --> 00:27:12,440 house. I also owned more herds and 487 00:27:12,440 --> 00:27:14,880 flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before me. 488 00:27:14,880 --> 00:27:18,800 I amassed silver and gold for myself, say myself and the 489 00:27:18,800 --> 00:27:22,840 treasure of kings and pro. I acquired, I owned, I bought, I 490 00:27:22,840 --> 00:27:27,480 undertook, I made, I acquired women and men singers. 491 00:27:27,480 --> 00:27:31,600 Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift, Coldplay. 492 00:27:32,400 --> 00:27:35,160 He's the richest man in the earth who played at your 493 00:27:35,160 --> 00:27:40,000 wedding. It's like Joe Bloggs and at 494 00:27:40,000 --> 00:27:44,360 yours, Coldplay. And after main course Ed Sheeran 495 00:27:44,560 --> 00:27:47,760 and after putting Taylor Swift, I bought them all. 496 00:27:47,760 --> 00:27:50,760 And I said, I want to tell you this guys, it's meaningless. 497 00:27:51,840 --> 00:27:55,040 It's meaningless. It's meaningless. 498 00:27:56,320 --> 00:27:58,400 We're putting our treasure in the wrong place. 499 00:27:59,240 --> 00:28:05,720 It's meaningless as Coldplay say. 500 00:28:05,720 --> 00:28:07,680 I sweep. I sweep the streets I used to 501 00:28:07,680 --> 00:28:11,680 own. Taylor Swift says we'll never 502 00:28:11,680 --> 00:28:16,880 get back together again. If you think I don't listen to 503 00:28:16,880 --> 00:28:22,400 music. And Eddie Sheeran says perfect, 504 00:28:22,400 --> 00:28:29,760 But there is no perfect. I acquired, with men and women 505 00:28:29,760 --> 00:28:34,920 singers, and a harem as well, the delights of the hearts of a 506 00:28:34,920 --> 00:28:37,320 man. I became greater by far than 507 00:28:37,320 --> 00:28:41,160 anyone in Jerusalem before me. And all this wisdom stayed with 508 00:28:41,160 --> 00:28:43,040 me. I denied myself nothing that my 509 00:28:43,040 --> 00:28:46,040 eyes desired. I refused my heart no pleasure. 510 00:28:46,480 --> 00:28:48,560 My heart took delight in all my work. 511 00:28:48,560 --> 00:28:50,440 And this was the reward for all my labor. 512 00:28:50,440 --> 00:28:52,280 This is my reward. I deserve this. 513 00:28:52,520 --> 00:28:54,520 I've got a degree. I've worked hard. 514 00:28:54,520 --> 00:28:56,680 I stay late at night. I deserve this. 515 00:28:58,000 --> 00:29:02,440 The wisest guy in the world studied, worked hard, got money. 516 00:29:02,840 --> 00:29:06,000 I want to tell your friends the problem with this nation is 517 00:29:06,000 --> 00:29:10,480 selfishness. I did it, I acquired it, I built 518 00:29:10,480 --> 00:29:12,680 it. I studied late at night, I 519 00:29:12,680 --> 00:29:15,200 worked hard, I learned the latest technology. 520 00:29:15,360 --> 00:29:19,600 I, I, I, I, I, I, me, me, me, me, my, my, my. 521 00:29:19,840 --> 00:29:22,280 And Solomon says, I'll tell you what, guys, you're going to get 522 00:29:22,280 --> 00:29:24,520 to the end of your life. It's going to go like that. 523 00:29:25,480 --> 00:29:27,600 Can you build a beach cottage? Of course you can. 524 00:29:27,760 --> 00:29:29,200 Is it just for you and your family? 525 00:29:29,360 --> 00:29:31,080 Not if God's blessed you with finances. 526 00:29:34,600 --> 00:29:37,920 God does not deny us anything that money can buy, but if we 527 00:29:37,920 --> 00:29:41,240 lose the things that money can't buy, then we're in deep trouble. 528 00:29:43,360 --> 00:29:47,040 And many rich men can ask him. Solomon is a combination of 529 00:29:47,040 --> 00:29:50,240 Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Hugh Hefner, Bill Gates. 530 00:29:50,480 --> 00:29:51,840 He's a combination of the whole lot. 531 00:29:52,080 --> 00:29:54,920 And he's writing back and he's I'm telling you guys, this stuff 532 00:29:54,920 --> 00:30:04,830 can't make you happy. Let's go to verse 24. 533 00:30:05,470 --> 00:30:09,430 A man can do nothing. Better say better, better tov, 534 00:30:10,630 --> 00:30:14,840 tov, say tov. A man can do nothing better tov 535 00:30:15,360 --> 00:30:19,920 than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. 536 00:30:20,240 --> 00:30:23,800 This too, I see, is from the hand of God. 537 00:30:26,200 --> 00:30:30,200 Five things and we finished. He tried pleasure. 538 00:30:31,520 --> 00:30:33,920 He tried pleasure, He said. I had. 539 00:30:34,120 --> 00:30:36,880 I laughed. I drank myself stupid. 540 00:30:37,200 --> 00:30:39,680 I ate, drank some bukas. I drank that. 541 00:30:39,680 --> 00:30:44,240 What's that one you drink cold? What's it called? 542 00:30:45,120 --> 00:30:51,080 Yes, Yoga Master. I saw that I had AI, had a bad 543 00:30:51,080 --> 00:30:52,200 credit. You know, you can check your 544 00:30:52,200 --> 00:30:54,200 credit score. I'd like a bad credit. 545 00:30:54,200 --> 00:30:58,680 I had a bad credit score because my business bought a Yoga Master 546 00:30:58,680 --> 00:31:01,760 machine and didn't pay for it. So I got blacklisted for a Yoga 547 00:31:01,760 --> 00:31:03,680 Master machine. Your pastor? 548 00:31:08,040 --> 00:31:10,440 I got the machine. You just drinking too much of it 549 00:31:11,280 --> 00:31:14,120 said I've tried yoga master. I got myself slot drunk. 550 00:31:14,880 --> 00:31:17,480 He said actually I've tried to hollow the woman had a Hiram of 551 00:31:17,480 --> 00:31:18,480 them. They're just naked women. 552 00:31:18,480 --> 00:31:21,800 I just they were just and in those days there wasn't Botox, 553 00:31:24,880 --> 00:31:26,320 but the fall hadn't really happened. 554 00:31:26,320 --> 00:31:28,360 So it wasn't as bad as it is today. 555 00:31:29,600 --> 00:31:32,320 I've got 1000 women, thousand naked women. 556 00:31:32,920 --> 00:31:36,200 I've got fruit trees. I tried I tried great projects. 557 00:31:37,040 --> 00:31:40,840 I tried great projects friends. I saw today 6% of the bridges in 558 00:31:40,840 --> 00:31:44,360 Joburg are working, 94% of the bridges are crumbling. 559 00:31:44,360 --> 00:31:47,120 I tried great projects. I just I thought of Bubble and 560 00:31:47,120 --> 00:31:50,520 stirring. I thought what a great project a 561 00:31:50,520 --> 00:31:52,200 dead man and his wife have undertaken. 562 00:31:52,360 --> 00:31:54,480 But the Bible says his kids are going to inherit the money and 563 00:31:54,480 --> 00:31:55,840 they might not look after the garden. 564 00:31:55,960 --> 00:31:57,960 But I want to tell you in 100 years time Bubble and stirring 565 00:31:57,960 --> 00:32:00,600 just be a bunch of weeds. It's a great project. 566 00:32:00,600 --> 00:32:03,040 Everybody goes, they come from all over the world to this great 567 00:32:03,040 --> 00:32:09,360 project called Bubble and Stirring, he said. 568 00:32:09,360 --> 00:32:11,120 Actually, I'm the greatest man that ever lived. 569 00:32:11,160 --> 00:32:14,920 I'm powerful. So I've tried power. 570 00:32:15,400 --> 00:32:17,840 Look at look at, he said. He said I've got more than 571 00:32:17,840 --> 00:32:20,040 everybody. I'm the most powerful man in the 572 00:32:20,040 --> 00:32:21,880 whole land. I am absolutely power. 573 00:32:22,120 --> 00:32:24,720 I've got 30,000 people reporting to me. 574 00:32:24,880 --> 00:32:27,240 Friends, just look at every power hungry leader in the 575 00:32:27,240 --> 00:32:29,040 world. They all end up mad. 576 00:32:30,680 --> 00:32:32,000 Trump's going to end up like that. 577 00:32:32,680 --> 00:32:36,600 He's already divorced twice. You can go through them. 578 00:32:36,600 --> 00:32:40,080 Stalin and Mugabe and Hitler, they all end up mad. 579 00:32:40,080 --> 00:32:44,160 Power, Solomon says, is not meant to draw attention to us or 580 00:32:44,160 --> 00:32:46,320 make people scared. If you actually have a look at 1 581 00:32:46,320 --> 00:32:49,160 Kings chapter 10, it says this. I built the throne for myself, 582 00:32:49,160 --> 00:32:51,560 Solomon. I built a throne for myself that 583 00:32:51,560 --> 00:32:53,600 had 6 steps as moment you see steps. 584 00:32:53,600 --> 00:32:56,080 That's why the steps are gone here, because I know what's 585 00:32:56,080 --> 00:32:58,400 inside of my heart and everything inside of me wants to 586 00:32:58,400 --> 00:33:00,840 climb up those stairs and preach on the stage and tell you that 587 00:33:00,840 --> 00:33:02,560 I'm the boss, everything inside of me. 588 00:33:02,560 --> 00:33:05,640 And I read Solomon and he says, listen, yeah, I've tried power. 589 00:33:05,800 --> 00:33:08,000 Power. The only way power works in a 590 00:33:08,000 --> 00:33:11,680 marriage is wife submit to your husband. 591 00:33:11,680 --> 00:33:15,640 And everybody says yes and Amen. And then the Bible says, and 592 00:33:15,640 --> 00:33:17,360 husband lay down your life for your wife. 593 00:33:18,320 --> 00:33:20,200 And then it says wife submit to your husband. 594 00:33:20,200 --> 00:33:22,920 And then it says husband lay down your life for your wife. 595 00:33:23,280 --> 00:33:24,960 And it says wife submit to your husband. 596 00:33:24,960 --> 00:33:27,320 And then it says husband lay down your life for your wife. 597 00:33:27,320 --> 00:33:29,240 And it says wife submit to your husband. 598 00:33:29,240 --> 00:33:31,680 And it says husband laid down your life for your wife and says 599 00:33:31,680 --> 00:33:33,640 wife submit to your husband later. 600 00:33:33,880 --> 00:33:35,600 How do you work marriage like this? 601 00:33:38,760 --> 00:33:40,320 How do you work leadership like this? 602 00:33:41,400 --> 00:33:43,520 Solomon says if you're going to think, if you're going to get 603 00:33:43,520 --> 00:33:45,960 powerful and you're going to get influence and your church is 604 00:33:45,960 --> 00:33:48,360 going to get big and people are going to listen to you, He said 605 00:33:48,360 --> 00:33:50,120 you're going to abuse your power and you're going to end up 606 00:33:50,120 --> 00:33:51,520 lonely and you're going to end up mad. 607 00:33:52,120 --> 00:33:54,920 That's folly. He says the only way that 608 00:33:54,920 --> 00:33:57,760 authority can work in the world is if you aim lower than the 609 00:33:57,760 --> 00:34:02,160 people that you serve and lower and lower and lower and lower 610 00:34:02,160 --> 00:34:03,720 until you're down this. And he said, I'll tell you what 611 00:34:03,720 --> 00:34:07,240 guys, I've sat on a throne. I had 6 lions on either side of 612 00:34:07,240 --> 00:34:09,080 the steps. I had lions next to me. 613 00:34:09,080 --> 00:34:11,000 I had a big fan of gold behind me. 614 00:34:11,120 --> 00:34:12,960 I used to drink out of gold cups. 615 00:34:13,520 --> 00:34:16,760 If you work it out, friends, a Krugerrand cost 52,000 Rand, a 616 00:34:16,760 --> 00:34:20,600 Gold Cup 500,000 Rand. He just had a collection. 617 00:34:20,679 --> 00:34:22,960 I only drink out of gold cups. And he said, I'll tell you what, 618 00:34:23,719 --> 00:34:26,000 I nearly went insane. He actually says this. 619 00:34:26,159 --> 00:34:28,280 I hated my life. I hated my life. 620 00:34:28,400 --> 00:34:31,520 He said, please, God, try me. Give me a billion and a couple 621 00:34:31,520 --> 00:34:35,760 of chicks. He said I hated my life. 622 00:34:35,960 --> 00:34:41,600 Friends, I've said this week, I've said this week with a few 623 00:34:41,600 --> 00:34:46,400 people who are on the edge of suicide because they're not 624 00:34:46,440 --> 00:34:48,600 happy. They're not happy. 625 00:34:49,760 --> 00:34:51,840 We were not designed to be happy friends. 626 00:34:51,840 --> 00:34:57,280 We were designed to be obedient to God and his ways and 627 00:34:57,280 --> 00:35:00,800 authority is to serve and finances is to build the Kingdom 628 00:35:00,800 --> 00:35:05,040 of God and not to create this nest of perpetual summer. 629 00:35:12,120 --> 00:35:14,360 And I know right now we're feeling like nails are going 630 00:35:14,360 --> 00:35:17,040 inside of us, but the heart of us is so that you can experience 631 00:35:17,040 --> 00:35:23,000 the pleasure of God, the absolute pleasure of God, Amen. 632 00:35:24,080 --> 00:35:27,040 And finally, friends, at the end of his career, he tried 633 00:35:27,040 --> 00:35:30,080 pleasure, he tried projects, great projects. 634 00:35:30,080 --> 00:35:32,320 This is a great project. Some of you are part of this is 635 00:35:32,320 --> 00:35:34,840 a great project. You take God out of this project 636 00:35:34,840 --> 00:35:37,120 and it's nothing. I remember when we got married, 637 00:35:37,400 --> 00:35:39,600 a guy called Gary, I won't tell you surname. 638 00:35:39,720 --> 00:35:42,040 He did our wedding and we went to go and see our wedding 639 00:35:42,040 --> 00:35:44,200 photographs. And he says, my office is the 640 00:35:44,200 --> 00:35:46,160 church at the bottom of the Berea. 641 00:35:46,440 --> 00:35:49,600 And I went into this church that is, that is is no longer a 642 00:35:49,600 --> 00:35:51,040 church. And all the walls have been 643 00:35:51,040 --> 00:35:53,080 smashed down. And it's a photographic 644 00:35:53,080 --> 00:35:54,880 laboratory where he does his photographs. 645 00:35:55,080 --> 00:35:57,200 And I remember as a young married guy walking, I just 646 00:35:57,200 --> 00:36:01,240 started to weep. I thought God, some way, some 647 00:36:01,240 --> 00:36:05,440 way people undertook a great project to build this church. 648 00:36:05,640 --> 00:36:07,760 And now it's a photographic studio. 649 00:36:09,080 --> 00:36:12,000 And now God is starting to revive the church inside of 650 00:36:12,000 --> 00:36:14,280 Praetoria and inside of Johannesburg and inside of 651 00:36:14,280 --> 00:36:15,840 Soweto. And they're going into 652 00:36:15,840 --> 00:36:18,680 warehouses and they're turning the warehouses into churches. 653 00:36:18,800 --> 00:36:21,400 But in Europe they're turning the churches into warehouses. 654 00:36:22,640 --> 00:36:26,000 You think, what happened? Somewhere we got Britain, 655 00:36:26,560 --> 00:36:31,200 somewhere we believe the lie, somewhere the ways of the world 656 00:36:31,480 --> 00:36:34,240 somewhere gripped us. I thought, what is this for? 657 00:36:35,360 --> 00:36:38,400 This fence is for loving God. This is for serving God. 658 00:36:38,760 --> 00:36:43,040 This is for humbling ourselves. Lower and lower and lower and 659 00:36:43,040 --> 00:36:44,080 lower. Don't hoot. 660 00:36:44,080 --> 00:36:46,960 Tip the car guard. The car guard is there. 661 00:36:46,960 --> 00:36:48,600 They, they, they, they're human beings. 662 00:36:48,600 --> 00:36:50,240 They're created in the image of God. 663 00:36:50,880 --> 00:36:53,840 They're yet to serve you. And as they serve you and you 664 00:36:53,840 --> 00:36:55,960 serve them and they serve you and you serve them. 665 00:36:56,120 --> 00:36:59,520 We won't have to turn this thing into a warehouse to store Mr. 666 00:36:59,520 --> 00:37:03,800 Price clothing because we'll use it for the glory of God. 667 00:37:04,160 --> 00:37:06,760 And these projects just go wrong, friends. 668 00:37:06,760 --> 00:37:09,880 And you go into London, you can go into central London and you 669 00:37:09,880 --> 00:37:12,840 see these apartment blocks in churches. 670 00:37:13,280 --> 00:37:17,800 I think God how like this like this. 671 00:37:18,840 --> 00:37:21,680 We start collecting watches, then we start collecting pens 672 00:37:21,680 --> 00:37:24,680 and we start collecting cars and we start collecting guns. 673 00:37:24,680 --> 00:37:26,600 And before you know, we start collecting dust. 674 00:37:28,400 --> 00:37:30,640 Meaningless. Solomon says, meaningless. 675 00:37:30,640 --> 00:37:35,400 Everything is meaningless. And then he says, my career, 676 00:37:35,400 --> 00:37:38,960 I've worked so hard. I've worked so hard, worked so 677 00:37:38,960 --> 00:37:40,840 hard. And then God says, but I'll tell 678 00:37:40,840 --> 00:37:46,480 you what, Solomon, it's not permanent, but you can enjoy 679 00:37:46,480 --> 00:37:51,520 your work and you can enjoy your food and you can enjoy a glass 680 00:37:51,520 --> 00:37:55,000 of wine. And in that moment you will find 681 00:37:55,000 --> 00:38:00,360 Tov. You'll find Tov this week is my 682 00:38:00,360 --> 00:38:03,520 friend Clint. He's a coffee expert. 683 00:38:04,200 --> 00:38:06,440 He came from Durban. God put our hearts together, 684 00:38:06,440 --> 00:38:08,320 knit our hearts. I'm reading Ecclesiastes 685 00:38:08,920 --> 00:38:10,320 thinking, oh, we've got to change the world. 686 00:38:10,320 --> 00:38:12,760 We've got to double the size of our chest. 687 00:38:12,760 --> 00:38:14,000 We've got to make a bigger chest. 688 00:38:14,000 --> 00:38:15,640 We've got to. And then I read the Bible and it 689 00:38:15,640 --> 00:38:17,880 says, you know, when Clint comes in your office and he puts a cup 690 00:38:17,880 --> 00:38:20,320 of coffee down and he sits there, you must just stop 691 00:38:20,360 --> 00:38:22,320 everything. You must put it aside. 692 00:38:22,320 --> 00:38:25,200 He must look into his eyes. And in your heart you must say 693 00:38:25,480 --> 00:38:29,040 thank you for my friend Clint. Thank you that he loves me. 694 00:38:29,080 --> 00:38:31,400 Thank you that he cares for me. Thank you that he follows up my 695 00:38:31,400 --> 00:38:34,720 family when I travel. Thank you that he sent me a 696 00:38:34,720 --> 00:38:36,600 message that could have passed fire this morning. 697 00:38:36,600 --> 00:38:39,280 Hey, strongman, preach well today. 698 00:38:39,360 --> 00:38:45,040 You see, friends, God is saying this, this is important. 699 00:38:49,160 --> 00:38:52,000 I arrived at church one day. I know it's a bit late, long, 700 00:38:52,000 --> 00:38:55,000 but time was I'm sorry. I arrived at church one day and 701 00:38:55,000 --> 00:38:57,640 I said to Adrian, you just searched instead. 702 00:38:57,640 --> 00:39:00,400 Well, I said to Adrian, Adrian, we need to turn the sound down, 703 00:39:00,400 --> 00:39:02,120 it's too noisy. He said, good morning, Rory. 704 00:39:04,080 --> 00:39:05,680 I said Betty. He said, good morning, Rory. 705 00:39:06,640 --> 00:39:10,280 I had to stop dead in my tracks. And I said, good morning, 706 00:39:10,280 --> 00:39:12,760 Adrian. And out of the bell of his 707 00:39:12,760 --> 00:39:17,760 heart, I said, hello, Rory. And wherever I meet Adrian now, 708 00:39:17,760 --> 00:39:19,960 whether it's in the middle of Stellenbosch and an airport, I 709 00:39:19,960 --> 00:39:25,560 just heard this, which means the lights are not that important. 710 00:39:26,320 --> 00:39:28,600 The sound actually doesn't really matter if it's loud or 711 00:39:28,600 --> 00:39:32,800 quiet. What's important is just a cup 712 00:39:32,800 --> 00:39:35,440 of coffee. The fact that you and I and the 713 00:39:35,440 --> 00:39:37,680 church together, that's an amazing miracle. 714 00:39:37,960 --> 00:39:40,040 God would have had to do an incredible work to get us here 715 00:39:40,040 --> 00:39:42,920 together. There's some Afrikaans guys here 716 00:39:42,920 --> 00:39:45,240 and there's some black people here and some English people, 717 00:39:45,880 --> 00:39:48,520 some guys who've got pH DS and some guys who don't even have my 718 00:39:48,520 --> 00:39:53,400 trick and me here together. And, and actually, let's never 719 00:39:53,400 --> 00:39:55,720 take each other for granted because this is tough. 720 00:39:56,440 --> 00:40:02,520 This is good. And we're meant to use money and 721 00:40:02,520 --> 00:40:05,360 serve people, but we end up serving money and using people. 722 00:40:05,680 --> 00:40:12,400 It happened so quickly. What was Solomon trying to 723 00:40:12,400 --> 00:40:16,880 create? He was trying to recreate Eden. 724 00:40:16,880 --> 00:40:20,120 He was trying to build a garden with fruit trees. 725 00:40:23,640 --> 00:40:25,840 And he was trying because he wasn't happy with one naked 726 00:40:25,840 --> 00:40:27,560 woman. So he was trying a couple of 727 00:40:27,560 --> 00:40:28,800 naked women, just like the garden. 728 00:40:28,800 --> 00:40:31,920 He was trying to recreate what God had designed and man had 729 00:40:31,920 --> 00:40:33,480 messed up. He was trying to create heaven 730 00:40:33,480 --> 00:40:36,200 on earth. And God said you won't do it 731 00:40:36,200 --> 00:40:38,720 according to your plan. He'll do it according to Tov. 732 00:40:38,880 --> 00:40:42,880 My plan and my plan will be not a garden, but an empty hill, a 733 00:40:42,880 --> 00:40:44,920 barren hill. And it won't be a fruit tree. 734 00:40:44,920 --> 00:40:47,120 It will be a cross. And it won't be a naked woman. 735 00:40:47,120 --> 00:40:53,520 It'll be a naked man, and instead of the pleasure of a 736 00:40:53,520 --> 00:40:56,720 naked woman's body, it's going to be the pain of a naked man 737 00:40:56,880 --> 00:41:00,560 who's taking all the shame, all your meaninglessness, all your 738 00:41:00,560 --> 00:41:04,280 waste of money, all your waste of time, all your excess living, 739 00:41:04,480 --> 00:41:06,120 all your drunkenness on the strip. 740 00:41:06,120 --> 00:41:09,120 He's taking all of that into him and everybody's looking at him, 741 00:41:09,120 --> 00:41:12,760 spitting in him and shouting at him and he's absorbing all your 742 00:41:12,760 --> 00:41:20,640 pain and speaking over you and saying you are forgiven. 743 00:41:21,000 --> 00:41:25,560 You are my son. You are designed with purpose 744 00:41:25,840 --> 00:41:31,320 and gifting and love and power. Don't waste your life.