(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

All right, we're in Ecclesiastes chapter 9, the name of the sermon is Whatsoever Thy Hand Findeth. Whatsoever Thy Hand Findeth. Now since it is Children's Day, our event here today, I am mainly preaching toward the children in this sermon. Now of course I do believe that any time the Word of God is preached all of us can be edified, all of us can learn. But I am primarily teaching to those that are the youth of our church, even especially people that are under the age of 10. I would say that if you're a parent in this room, try to get your kids to pay attention to the preaching because I am gearing it toward them. I'm trying to help you out with this sermon because, you know, the world that we live in today, kids need good preaching from the Word of God to set their path straight. The name of the sermon is Whatsoever Thy Hand Findeth. Now point number one is find, point number one is find. It says in Ecclesiastes 9 verse 10, Whatsoever Thy Hand Findeth to do, do it with Thy mics. If you are finding something, it means that you're searching for it, you're looking for it. For example, when you have young kids, you know what, you lose your phone all the time because your young child will take your phone, throw it behind the couch or whatever and you're always trying to find your phone because it's lost, right? And what the Bible is saying is that we ought to try to find something to do. It says, Whatsoever Thy Hand Findeth. Your hand represents your works. And what the Bible is saying is find something to do. You say, well, I'm a young child in this room and I don't have any chores for my parents. Find something to do. My parents didn't tell me to clean the dishes, clean them anyway. My parents didn't tell me to pick up my room, pick your room up, clean your room anyway. Find something to do. Don't just sit here and say, well, I don't have any responsibility so I'm going to do nothing. Find something to do. Look for something. Search for something. Don't seek to be lazy. Seek to be productive. Seek to get something done in life. Go to Ecclesiastes Chapter 12. Ecclesiastes Chapter 12. You say, well, my parents didn't give me any instructions on what to do. You know why your parents don't always give you instructions? Because they're tired from work, they're exhausted, and what they would really like for you young kids to do is just help out anyway. The trash needs to be taken out. My dad didn't tell me to do it, but I'm going to do it anyway. Why? Look for something to do. Look for something to do. Look for something to do. Look for something to do. Look for something to do. Search for something to do. Try to be productive. Bible says in Ecclesiastes 12 verse 1, remember now thy creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the year's draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them. You say, but Pastor, I don't have anything to do. You know, what am I supposed to do? Let me help you. Let me give you some things that you can do. Number one, serve God at a young age. Read and memorize the Bible at a young age. Remember your creator in the days of your youth. I'm just a child. In your youth, remember the Lord. Serve God at a young age in your youth. Get to 2 Timothy chapter 3. You know what's amazing about being a child? You have a lot more free time than if you're an adult. Now here's the thing. Children might hear that and disagree with me, but every adult says, that is correct. When you're older, you do not have as much free time. I mean, life gets more difficult. Life gets stressful. You at a young age, you have opportunities that I don't have because you have more time. You have opportunities your parents don't have because they're busier, they're tired, they're stressed out. You have all the opportunity at a young age to start serving God and reading and memorizing the Bible. The Bible says in 2 Timothy 3 verse 15, and that from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. Paul says to Timothy, he says, from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures. Paul said to Timothy, at a young age, you already knew the Word of God. Now look, you might agree with me or disagree. My opinion is that Paul is the father of Timothy in the faith, not because he got him saved, but because he trained him. I believe either his mom or his grandmother got him saved at a young age because his mom and his grandmother are saved according to the Word of God. And that from a child, Timothy knew the Holy Scriptures. Now of course, us as parents teach our children the Word of God, but you as children take it upon yourself to read and study the Bible. You say, but I'm a slow reader, I'm only six years old, I'm only seven years old, I'm only eight years old. Hey, you know what? That might be the case. Maybe it takes you longer, but you can still learn when you're reading. And the other thing is this, you can listen to the audio Bible. Go to YouTube and listen to Alexander Scorby. I mean, use modern technology in a good way and you can learn the Bible. And here's the thing, the more you read, the better you get. They say, I'm not good at it. That's because you don't do it. Whatever you do, you become good at. You get better with practice. So at a young age, you know, start reading the Bible when you can and then slowly build upon it. Now look, I get it, if you're five, six, seven, maybe you cannot read the Bible cover to cover in one year, but you can still start reading the Bible. And here's the thing, if you're saved and hopefully you parents are preaching the Gospel to your kids at a young age, here's the thing, those kids have the Holy Spirit of God inside of them. And another great thing is this, they don't have false doctrines that they've heard from the world inside of them like we do. So they can actually learn the Word of God by reading it. Why are they just a child? They have the Holy Spirit of God as their teacher inside if they're saved. They can learn the Word of God at a young age, from a child that has known the Holy Scriptures. Go to Psalm 119, Psalm 119, Psalm chapter 119. I think every adult in this room would say, I wish I read the Bible more when I was younger. I wish when I was a kid, I read the Bible. I wish I made it part of my life. I wish I memorized the Bible as a child. You can't change that, though. It's like water spilled upon the ground, the Bible says. You know, when time goes, you can't get it back. You that are young, use your time, remember your Creator, remember God who made you in your youth. Don't wait and say, well, one day I'll serve God. Once I'm 18, once I'm an adult, I'll serve God. Let me help you understand something. Your parents, when you're a young child, they can tell you what to do and you have to obey because you are your children. But here's the thing, that's not going to be forever. There's going to come a day you've got to make your own choices and what you need to do is be like Daniel that purposed in his heart to serve God. Your parents cannot force you to serve God. You've got to make that choice. And I'm trying to encourage you kids here today, remember God in your youth. Don't just spend all your time on video games. Don't just spend all your time on television and things that don't matter. Spend your time on things that actually matter. Read the Bible, memorize the Bible, whether you're five or six or seven or eight, start at a young age. Psalm 119 verse 9, Psalm 119 verse 9, Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto according to thy word. With my whole heart have I sought thee, O let me not wander from thy commandments. Thy word have I hidden mine heart that I might not sin against thee. Blessed art thou, O Lord, teach me thy statutes. The Bible speaks about cleansing your way in verse 9, how are you going to do that? By taking heed to God's Word? Because you're reading the Bible? Because you're memorizing the Bible? Because you know the Word of God? I mean, you that are young, I mean, read the Bible, memorize the Bible, and you know, if there's more time, there's good Godly preaching that your parents can direct you to. And learn these things at a young age, get the Word of God inside of your mind and inside of your heart. And when it says in verse 11 to hide God's Word in your heart, what is that referring to? It's referring to memorizing the Bible. It's referring to have it so deep on the inside. Here's the thing, the Bible says the Word of God is like a sword that hits to the inside of you. And it gets to the inside and it fixes the problems inside of your heart. Here's the thing, if you've got the Word of God memorized, it's like it's fixing you every day without you realizing it. Because it's already inside of your heart. Turn your Bible to Genesis 3. Genesis 3. Genesis chapter 3. Now, look, people that are teenagers have probably already started to figure these things out. But you know, those of you that are 5 and 6 and 7 and 8, you're not going to fully understand what I'm about to say, but you should just trust what I'm saying. And your parents will back me up at everything I'm saying. As you get older, there's going to be a lot of temptations that come in your life. Things that at the age of 5 and 6 you're not tempted by, you don't understand it. Probably hasn't been fully explained to you at this point, you wouldn't fully get it at this point. But here's what I'm trying to tell you that are young. Memorize the Bible and it will help prevent you from becoming a drunk. I mean, you young kids, do you want to be on the side of the road one day, just living outside as a homeless person, getting drunk and doing drugs? Because that's what's happening to a lot of people today. People that are destroying their lives. People that are destroying their future. And here's the thing, if they took heed to God's word, it wouldn't happen. And look, in this room, there are people that would say, that are teaching their kids, hey, you know what, I screwed up my life in the past. I don't want you going down the same road as me. You know, if you're young, I hope you're saying, man, I don't want to become a drunk. I don't want to become a drug addict. Let me help you out with another word for a drunk or a drug addict. A loser. A loser. Someone that's doing nothing with their life. Now here's the thing, at a young age, of course you're thinking, man, I wouldn't become a drunk, because you're not tempted by it yet. But there's a lot of people that become drunks in this world. There's a lot of other temptations that you don't fully know that your parents can explain to you one day. And here's the thing, if you read and memorize God's word at a young age, it's going to help you later in life. You say, what do you mean, Brother Stuckey? How about kids really understanding the story of Joseph in the book of Genesis where he runs out of the house to flee temptation? They're not going to fully understand what that story's about at a young age, right? They're not going to get it. But if that story's inside of their heart and their mind, they've already got the principles that when one day they are tempted, it's like, hey, I'm never going to commit that sin. I'm never going to commit fornication or adultery, because thus saith the Lord. I made a decision at the age of six years old before I even understood what it was about. And that's what we need from kids in 2023. That's what we need from us parents to teach our kids. Get them to read the Bible. Get them to memorize the Bible. But at the end of the day, you as kids, you cannot expect your parents to always tell you to do it. You need to make that decision. And look, to those that are young in this room, if you're saved, you know that God wants you to read the Bible. We've been in all the days of our life. Oh, it's hard. It's difficult. If you're open, be a loser. Is that what you want? You know what? Life is hard. Life is difficult. It's hard to understand as a kid because life's not difficult as a kid. You know how you eat? Because your parents provide for you. They cook your food. They change your diapers at a young age. They do everything for you. You don't understand how hard and difficult life is, but it is. And one thing that can spare you destroying your life is reading the Bible every day, memorizing the Bible every day, hiding God's Word in your heart. I would say that us as adults, we wish we had more free time to read and memorize the Bible. We don't have as much free time. You that are young, though, you can really dig into reading the Bible and memorizing the Bible at a young age instead of just playing video games, instead of just doing things that do not have any value or meaning. Not only serving God, but what about preparing for your future career? Genesis chapter 3, verse 15. Genesis chapter 3, verse 15. And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed. It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. On to the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception, and sorrow thou shalt bring forth children, and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. Then they come to the man and the curse upon him. We saw the curse upon the serpent. We saw the curse upon the woman. The curse upon the man. Verse 17. And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened on to thy voice of thy life, and hast eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it, cursed is the ground for thy sake. Shout thou eat of it all the days of thy life. Now, when the Bible's saying the ground is cursed, does that sound like it's going to be easy in life or difficult? Difficult. It's saying it's going to be hard to provide for yourself. Why is God saying this? Well, because what was life like before the sin of Adam and Eve? Pretty easy, right? It's like they were blessed by God. They didn't have to work that hard. Everything was just provided to them. Everything was very easy. And the curse results in the ground being cursed where it's actually hard. Here's the thing. One thing we can learn from this story is that when life is too easy, you get into trouble. Is that not true? I mean, we know that from stories in the Bible. We know that probably from our personal lives, but if your life is too easy, you're going to get into problems. So do not seek for the easiest life possible. That's not the way God made it. Your life's not meant to be easy. I get it. It's a lot easier never reading the Bible. So take sound and read the Bible. It's a lot easy giving in to every temptation that the world has to offer. It's a lot easier to be lazy because that's what our flesh wants to do. But if that's what you do, you're going to destroy your life. The Bible says the ground is cursed, and that is the punishment upon man. But honestly, it's really a blessing if we understand this because life is hard. And if we try to make it too easy, we're going to get into trouble. Verse 18. Thorns also and thistles shall I bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat the herb of the field. And the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return unto the ground. For out of it wast thou taken, for dost thou art, and unto dost shalt thou return. The Bible says we're going to need to provide by the sweat of our face. What does that mean? You have to understand that in the days of Genesis 3, there's not a lot of computer jobs. You have jobs where you have to work hard. You have to toil and labor outside. And when you work hard, what takes place? You start to sweat. And the Bible's saying, you know what? If you are going to provide, it's going to take hard work. It's going to take effort. Now, again, in our modern day, there's a lot of jobs that are computer jobs. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that. But here's what I would say. Work hard at the job that you have. It's going to be by the sweat of your face. You say, Brother Stuckey, I'm just a young child. I'm not going to be a financial provider now. But why don't you prepare for your future at a young age? Develop skills. Turn your Bible to Genesis 29. I mean, imagine that you're applying for jobs and this is your resume. It's like, oh, I became a world class Halo player. Okay, that's good. World class Halo player. I don't know the modern day video games. I'm sorry. Super Mario games, okay? World of Warcraft I beat, right? Super Mario, I set like a record in time or whatever. You know, that's not going to get you hired at a real job, is it? If you want to get hired at a real job, I mean, I've watched, you know, on your resume, it's like, oh, wow, you've watched Star Wars 50 times. You watched, you know, every Avengers, all 20 or whatever. Wow, I'm going to hire you to be an accountant because you watched the Avengers. Look, you kids develop some skills that can actually get you a job. Get some skills to pay the bills, my friends, at a young age. And as parents, this is where we need to come alongside our children. And look, I understand we believe it's good for kids to get to play and have fun. We've got the jump house later today. I get it. I think it's great. I love my kids being able to play and have fun. But life is not just fun and games. And as parents, we need to make sure our kids are actually learning skills at a young age. You say, what sort of skills? Well, whatever you're doing in school. You start with math. Get good at it. You're doing grammar, English, Tagalog, whatever subject. You know, do it diligently. Get good at it. Don't just say, well, you know, just do whatever and not care. No, you need to actually develop skills in life. Genesis 29, verse 13. And it came to pass when Laban heard the tidings of Jacob his sister's son that he ran to meet him and embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his house. And he told Laban all these things. And Laban said to him, surely thou art my bone and my flesh. And he abode with him the space of a month. Now, what's taking place here in verse 14, Jacob and Laban are related. And so Jacob is basically getting to stay and just, basically just, basically without having to pay any rent. He's basically just getting to stay and just not have to pay any rent. And just he stays with him for the space of a month. So for one month he's just there, no responsibility. He has a place to stay. He has food to eat. And Laban's allowing him to do this. But notice what it says in verse 15. And Laban said unto Jacob, because thou art my brother, shouldest thou therefore serve me for not? Tell me, what shall thy wages be? What is the Bible saying? Well, what Laban's saying is, you've been with me for a month. You didn't have to work. You didn't have to do anything. But you've been serving me for not. Meaning, I haven't been paying you. You've just been working. And you never had any responsibilities. You didn't have to do anything. What is that showing you? It's showing you that Jacob found something to do. He didn't just sit there doing nothing. He found something to do. While my parents didn't give me any chores. Do them anyway. I mean, clean the house, vacuum the floor, whatever. Make your bed. I mean, it's going to shock your parents. Like, tomorrow morning, if you apply this sermon, your parents are going to be like, who are you? The bed's made. The dishes are clean. Like, what is going on? But that's what the Bible's saying. Find something to do. At a young age, don't just wait till one day when I'm an adult, I'll do it, but I'm just a kid. No, find something to do at a young age. Go to Genesis 47. Genesis 47. The Bible says in all labor there is profit, but the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury. Penury means extreme poverty, being very poor. And when it says the talk of the lips, it's referring to people that will always talk about what they're going to do one day. And I'm sure we've all met people like that. That talk about, man, I'm going to do this, I'm going to do this, I'm going to do this, I'm going to do this, and yet they have no money. And instead of just talking about all the things you're going to do, just in all labor there is profit. Just get to work. Just find something to do and do it rather than just talk about what you're going to do. Well, maybe I'm going to do this. Maybe I'm going to do that. It's like, just find something to do and do it. In all labor there is profit. Genesis 47, verse 6. The land of Egypt is before thee, and the best of the land make thy father and brethren to dwell. In the land of Goshen let them dwell. And if thou knowest any, notice this, men of activity among them, then make them rulers over my cattle. What does the Bible mean by men of activity? It means men that are active. People that are doing something. That are actually accomplishing something. Men of activity. You know, those are the people that become rulers. Those are the people that are successful. How do you get promoted at your job? Be a man of activity. Work hard. That's how you get promoted. Be a man or a woman and be a person of activity. Don't be lazy is what the Bible is saying. It's interesting because this is not what it says in the NIV. See at our church we believe the King James Bible in the English language is the perfect and preserved word of God. But other versions are actually changing the word of God. And it says men of activity in the King James. This is what it says in the NIV. It says any among them with special ability. Is special ability the same as men of activity? It's basically the exact opposite. Look if you were to look at people that are very successful at whatever they do. You would look at someone like Lebron James. Obviously genetically he has a gift to be very good at basketball. But here's the thing. It doesn't matter how much you have a natural ability. If you never practice you're not going to be good. I mean he has special ability. But if you don't actually work at it you're not going to be good. And look it doesn't matter how naturally smart you are. It doesn't matter what natural abilities that you have are unless you actually develop those. Look you might have the ability to be the greatest you know whatever piano player or guitar player or whatever musical instrument. But if you never play a musical instrument you're not just going to walk up. And it's like Mozart. It doesn't work that way. You do it by activity. By working hard. Go to 1st Corinthians chapter 13. 1st Corinthians 13. As I said I'm mainly preaching to you in this room that are under the age of 10. But I can say this is a sort of sermon that's good for me to be reminded about. A sermon about hard work. Because look success is based on how hard you work. That's reality. And if you want to be successful you've got to work hard. I mean at our church we get a lot of people saved. Right? Look at the bulletin. It's like this year 7,222 salvations. That comes via hard work though. It comes from hard work from a lot of people. Spending hours and hours and hours going so many. It doesn't just come because we've got special ability. No it comes from hard work. That's how you're successful in life. 1st Corinthians 13 verse 11. 1st Corinthians 13 verse 11. When I was a child I spake as a child. I understood as a child. I thought as a child. But when I became a man I put away childish things. Now as parents we need to realize that children are different than us as adults. They speak as a child. They understand as a child. They think as a child. It's not just that a child is not physically fully developed. They're not mentally fully developed. Their brain is going to continue to develop when they're a child as they get older. So we cannot expect as parents for kids to fully understand everything like we do. And sometimes that's hard because as adults we speak as adults. We think as adults. And kids they don't understand exactly the things sometimes that we're trying to express. They think differently. But here's what I would say to you young kids. Yes as a child you speak and understand and think as a child. But don't be someone that's like I don't want to grow up. I'm a Toys R Us kid. Don't be someone that's like I just want to be like Peter Pan. I want to be a little kid forever. Actually grow up. And as parents give our kids responsibility so they don't just sit around doing nothing all the time. Your child is 12 years old and they don't know how to do whatever. They don't know how to just cook any basic food. They don't know how to clean the house. They don't know anything. It's like no give your kids responsibilities and you that are kids take it upon yourself to grow up. Take it upon yourself to be educated, to learn, to have abilities. Don't just have this idea I want to be a kid forever. No you know what you need to grow up and take life seriously. Go to Ephesians chapter 5. Ephesians 5. Let me give you an example. You kids take the preaching at this church very seriously. Take it seriously. Listen to what's preached. Look many adults in this room probably all of us have regrets in our life. And probably all of us would say I wish I knew these things. I wish I grew up in a church like this so I knew all this doctrine and life lessons and the need to work hard and how to serve God. I wish I knew it at a young age. And look I agree. I wish I had a church at a young age that taught me like this. And you kids don't just take it for granted. And you're here in church when the preaching is going. Because look we're not a church with a junior church or a Sunday school or a separate room where kids sing these goofy songs and don't hear the word of God. I believe the young kids in this room need sermons about drinking. I believe young kids in this room need sermons about fornication. They need sermons about working hard. They need the same preaching that we do and honestly they have their whole lives in front of them. You kids take the preaching seriously. Man by the time you're an adult if you're in this church and you pay attention to the preaching and you start reading the Bible you're going to know so much about the Bible by the time you're an adult. Take the preaching seriously. Pay attention and listen to what's being preached because the preaching is meant to help you. Ephesians 5 verse 15. Ephesians 5 verse 15. See them that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time because the days are evil. The Bible says to redeem the time. Take your time in life seriously. And the Bible says the days are evil. What that's referring to is the process of aging. As you get older your body starts to break down. That's just the way it is. And the Bible is saying before you get to that point redeem the time now. Work hard now. Take life seriously now. If you're old enough to read start reading the Bible. Start memorizing the Bible. Okay get it. If you're a young child I'm not saying that you're going to be able to read as much as other people but start reading. Read those stories. Learn from those stories. Those stories can change your life. I mean how can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to thy word. That's what the Bible says. Go to Ecclesiastes chapter 9. Ecclesiastes chapter 9. You know I believe that in 2023 it's a great opportunity to live to be honest. Because I believe that there's a great opportunity to serve God and get a lot of people saved. We can do so many events. We can travel to locations. I mean it's a great opportunity to serve God. And it is a great opportunity to stand out in a dark and sinful world. But although I believe that there's also part of me that I feel bad for the kids growing up in the world that they're growing up into. Because it's a pretty sinful and rotten and wicked world with a lot of temptations everywhere. I mean billboards everywhere. Advertisements popping up just of scantily clad women and all of this sin. I mean it's everywhere in 2023 and here's the thing. How are you going to cleanse your way? By taking heed to God's word. That's what the Bible says. Read the Bible at a young age. Memorize the Bible at a young age. Be productive at a young age. Find something to do at a young age. Clearses 9 verse 10. Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might. Do it with thy might. What does that mean? It means do it with force. Do it with strength. Point number one is find. Point number two is force. Find something to do and give effort. Put force. Put strength into it. Meaning don't just be like, okay, my parents said to clean the room and then all of a sudden 30 minutes later you put one stuffed animal away. No, actually do it with might. Take it seriously. Don't just do it in a lazy way but actually do it with force. Do it with might. Do it with strength. Go to Proverb 6. Proverb 6. Proverb 6. Now look, as adults we can apply this as well. When I say read the Bible every day, I'm not saying, you know, you read like five verses, then you look at Facebook, read five more verses, then you look at this article online, read five more verses. I mean, it's like, come on. Find something to do and do it with thy might. Do it with strength. Do not be a lazy person. And look, the tendency in our flesh is to be lazy. Let's be honest with ourselves. In our flesh we want an easy life. We want a stress-free life. We don't want any difficulties. Number one, that's not the way the world works. And number two, the Bible says, hey, don't seek for that. Seek to work hard. Seek to accomplish something. Do it with thy might. Proverbs 6 verse 4. So what does it mean, Brother Sucky? It means don't stay up till three in the morning playing video games and then wake up at lunchtime. That's what it means to you that are 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 years old or whatever. Don't just stay up playing computer games till the middle of the night and then you wake up at lunchtime, just wasting your entire life away. And look, I'll be honest. When I was a kid, I did things like that sometimes. I had times I was playing video games and I fell asleep with the lights on in the middle of the night. And what I'm saying is, man, I wish I'd actually taken that time more seriously. Don't just waste your life. Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids. Deliver thyself as a roe from the hand of the hunter and as a bird from the hand of the fowler. Now, think about verse number five and ask yourself this question. Does a roe realize it is about to be hunted? Is a roe psychic? No, it's not. Is a bird psychic? Do they realize, hey, in ten minutes I'm going to get caught? No, it just kind of comes out of nowhere. Right? All of a sudden an animal hears a gunshot and it scurries away trying to save itself. And what the Bible is trying to say is, deliver yourself ahead of time before you put yourself in a situation when you're in trouble. When you're in trouble, actually at a young age, work hard so you do not get to this point. You don't get to the point of bankruptcy. You don't get to the point of all these vices and all this destruction in your life. Hey, work hard early to spare yourself from that. Verse number six. Go to the ant thou sluggard, consider her ways and be wise, which having no guide, overseer or ruler, provided her meat in the summer and gathered her food in the harvest. If there's one animal that you can think of that works very hard, it's the ant. Ants are always moving around. Always moving. But verse seven is also interesting. They do not have a guide. That means they don't have a teacher telling them what to do. They don't have an overseer. They don't have a ruler. They just do it. Well, my parents didn't give me anything to do. Do it anyway. I mean, look, take your school seriously. Learn grammar. Do your writing. Do your math. Whatever the subject is, take it seriously. Well, you know, this is all my school requires. Why don't you go above and beyond to get better at it? At a young age. Because you can use that later in life. Look, all of us that are adults, we wish we had taken life more seriously when we were young. I wish I had taken my education more seriously when I was young and really just dove into it with all my might. And the Bible is saying that's what we should do with our might. How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? When wilt thou arise out of thy sleep? A little slumber, a little folding in thy hands to sleep. So shall thy poverty come as one that travelth, and thy want as an armored man. The Bible is saying here in verse 11, if you're a lazy person, you're going to be like a vagabond. Traveling around, you have no place to stay. You don't have any money. You're sleeping at random people's houses. You're cheating people out of money. And the Bible is saying you're going to travel around, no place to stay. And the Bible says, thy want as an armored man. And what does that mean, thy want as an armored man? Armored, in the Bible, it's referring to a weapon. Take up arms. It's saying you're going to be like somebody robbing a 7-Eleven. You're going to have that desire, like, man, I'm so desperate. And then you would rob or steal from someone. Is that what you want your life to be? See, you kids in this room, when you become an adult, do you want your life to be about stealing from other people to survive? Robbing other people? Getting so addicted to alcohol and drugs that you will do anything just to get your next liquor? Is that what you want your life to be about? You say, well, Brother Stuggie, how do I stop myself from doing that? By, at a young age, at a young age, find something to do, do with thy might. Learn God's Word, take life seriously. Just look at David in the Bible. David was a great man of God. David did a lot of great things that I will never accomplish. Why is it that David screwed up his life? What's the root cause? He was being lazy. I mean, he was walking on a roof at night, that's when he saw Bathsheba. Well, why would he be walking on a roof at night? Because he cannot sleep. Why is it that he can't sleep? Well, the sleep of a laboring man is sweet. And at the time kings go forth to battle, David stayed home. The Bible's teaching you, there's someone who's being lazy, and what happened? He destroyed his life. Don't go down the same road. Go to Ephesians, chapter 6. Ephesians, chapter 6. Ephesians, chapter 6. Ephesians, chapter 6, starting at verse 5, the Bible reads, The servants be obedient to them that are your masters, according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ. Ephesians 6, verse 6. Not with eye service, as men pleasers, but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart. What does it mean, not with eye service? It means, don't be somebody that works hard when eyes are upon you. I'll give you an example. In my old job, my boss, he was kind of in semi-retirement his last couple years at work. So basically, sometimes he'd show up to work, sometimes he wouldn't. Didn't take everything all that seriously, kind of let other people do his responsibilities. So basically, half the time he's at work, half the time he's not. It's amazing that when my boss was at work, everyone's like, answering calls, getting everything done, working hard. And when the cat's away, the mice will play. On days he wasn't at work, everyone's just sitting around, everyone's taking smoke breaks, people aren't doing their job, they're taking long lunches, they're not taking it seriously. Why? Because they're working hard as men pleasers. They want to please people. Because when eyes are upon them, they work hard. When eyes are not upon them, they're just lazy. Now here's the thing, in a secular sense, that makes sense. I mean, it makes sense to be lazy. What's the point of working hard if my boss doesn't see me? Here's the problem as a Bible-leaving Christian. Who is your boss at your job? God Almighty. That's your ultimate boss. You're not trying to please your secular boss. You're trying to please God. And if you please God, God can give you the promotion, God can give you a new job. But if God's mad at you, God can also destroy your job. So work hard whether or not anybody sees you. You say, why? Because God sees everything that we do. And so regardless of whether or not your boss knows, work hard, do it with your might. With good will, doing service as to the Lord and not to men. Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of his boss? Of the Lord. Whether he be bond or free. Go back to Ecclesiastes chapter 9. Ecclesiastes chapter 9. Ecclesiastes chapter 9. You know, there's something that young people do not understand. And I would say every adult understands this. And it doesn't make any sense logically, but it's true. Time speeds up as you get older. Right? And what I mean by that is, when you're a kid, I can't wait to be 18, I can't wait to be able to drive. I can't wait till I have my own money, I can do whatever I want. It feels like forever. It's like, man, it's like every year it takes so long. Well, here's the thing, I'll be honest, when you get older, it's not like you're going to be super excited about your birthday coming. It's like, my birthday's here again? It was just like yesterday. You say, why? Because time starts to really pick up. Your life literally is going to flash before your eyes. Before you know it, it's like, man, it's like so much of my life is gone. Right? I mean, it's like for me, half my life is gone. It's like, where did all that time go? That's the way life works. The Bible says, you know, we're not going to turn you there for the sake of time, but the Bible says 70 to 80 years. And it says, teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. Look, 70 years goes by very quickly. 80 years goes by very quickly. Now, I hope I live a very long life. I hope I live to be 100 and I can still serve God as I get older. But the reality is, your life is just going to flash before your eyes. I mean, it's amazing how quickly time goes. And then what's going to take place as you get older, you're going to regret all the time you wasted on things that did not matter. Point number one, find. Find something to do. Point two, force. Do it with force. Do it with effort. Point three, finality. Point three, finality. Ecclesiastes 9, verse 10. Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might. For there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave, whither thou goest. And what the Bible's saying is, work hard now because when you go to the grave, it's all over. It's done. You don't have any more time. See, it's very easy to just think of all the things you're going to accomplish and just always talk about it and never doing it. What you actually need to do is find something to do and then give it all your effort, give it your might, and accomplish it. Not just, well, one day I'll do this, one day I'll do that. Look, there's a lot of people in this world that are saved and they're not serving God, and in their mind, one day I'll start serving God more. One day I'll start to read the Bible every day. And before they know it, their life's over. It's done. It's gone. It's gone. Go to James 4. We'll close up here. James 4. James 4. And look, I have a lot more in my notes that I could look at that I have in my sermon, but for the sake of time I won't get into. But throughout the Bible, God's trying to motivate us to take our life seriously, not to waste our life. You young kids, yeah, you probably have another 60, 70 years ahead of you, but here's the thing. You're better able to start serving God now than later. If you wait, you're going to just waste your time. You're going to regret it. I mean, look, as an adult, I can say I wish at a young age I started memorizing the Bible. And here's the thing. You know what? I do believe that as you get older, memorization becomes easier, but then it starts to become harder again. At my age, memorizing the Bible is harder than it was when I was younger, because my mind was more easily able to memorize 10 years ago or 20 years ago. And so at a young age, you know what, it might be a little bit harder than someone who's 18 years old, but then you're going to reach a point where it gets harder to memorize. Start memorizing now at a young age. I mean, literally, with the free time that kids have in this world, if they put their mind to it, they could pick up a book of the Bible and memorize it in a month. They probably could. They could probably pick up the book of James. James is the first book that I memorize and just really study it and read and memorize and memorize and memorize and memorize. And before you know it, they can memorize the whole book. You say, well, what would be the point of that? Because it's going to help them not sin. It's going to help them know the Word of God. It's going to help give them practical wisdom to change their life. Here's the truth, though. For many of us that are adults, we don't really have the time that you do to do it. At a young age, you do have that time. As you get older, you just don't have as much. Now, of course, us that are older, we should still read the Bible every day. We should still seek to memorize the Bible, but just reality is, you kids, you have more time than your parents. James 4, verse 13. Okay. The Bible says in verse 13, go to now. Don't just have this attitude, well, you know, one day, one day I'll start reading the Bible. I know how Brother Shuggy says, read the Bible every day. One day I'm going to do it. One day I'm going to take it seriously. How about this? One day I'm going to become a soul winner. Look, if there's anything our church stresses, it's about being a soul winner. Right? You say, well, how do I become a soul winner? Start by memorizing the verses that you need to use. You say, I don't know what verses to memorize. There are plenty of people in this room, and you know it, that will show you the exact verses you need to memorize. They'll take so much time. Yeah, you know what, people that are soldiers in this room, they took the time to memorize the verses. You say, why? Because they wanted to get people saved. That's why. Well, one day I'm going to do it. How about doing it now? Look, you don't know how much time that you have, and here's the thing, there's people that are unsaved that are counting on you. But because you don't know your Bible, you cannot get them saved. You know, one thing that's very sad, and this is my opinion, you might agree or disagree, my opinion is that when you look at everybody in this world that is saved, I believe that for most people that are saved in this world, if someone, like in Acts 16's situation, fell down before them and said, what must I do to be saved? They wouldn't be able to get that person saved. I don't think most saved people could get it done. Now, it's not because it's complicated. I mean, there's not that many verses you need to know, but you do have to put in effort the first time to learn how to do it. And, you know, one reason why I believe this is I've had people that messaged me that were in a desperate situation, man, I need to get this person saved in my family, how do I do it? It's like, man, you should have learned that 20 years ago. Instead of waiting until you, I mean, look, you're not going to be able to figure it out last second. Life doesn't work that way. You never practice something, and then all of a sudden, well, how do I do it? You practice for hours and hours and hours until you know how. It's like it's too late. That's the reality. I mean, and I hope I'm wrong, but I don't think I am. I think in most situations, if somebody fell down before said, what must I do to be saved? They could give them the answer, believe, but you have to say more than just believe to get somebody saved, don't you? And here's the thing, you that are young in this room, memorize the Bible now. Now, look, at a young age, it's very hard to get people saved because you think as a child, you don't really have the perception necessary, perhaps at the age of six and seven and eight. They don't fully understand what we do as adults, but you could save yourself a lot of time by memorizing the verses now, and you start going soul-winning with your parents, and eventually, you know, with other people in the church, maybe as you get older, and here's the thing, you're going to be ready to be a soul-winner. Memorize those verses now. Memorize Romans 3, 23, and Romans 3, 10, and John 3, 36, John 3, 16, Ephesians 2, 8, 9, memorize that now at a young age. Verse 15, for that you ought to say, if the Lord will, we shall live and do this or that, but now you rejoice in your boastings. All such rejoicing is evil. Therefore, to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin. Here's the thing. If you're in this room, and you don't read the Bible every day, according to verse 17, it's a sin. You know that you need to read the Bible, but you're not doing it. Well, I mean, I know I should become a soul-winner, but, you know, one day I'm going to do it, but not right now. Well, that's actually a sin, according to James 4, verses 13 through 17. Well, I know, you know, work hard, but, you know, one day I'll do it. Yeah, actually, you're sinning by saying that, because the Bible says go to now. To say one day I'm going to do it, but you're not doing it now when you know it's right. One day I'm going to get rid of my rock music. You know you need to get rid of it, but you're not doing it now. Yeah, that's a sin. When you know something is right, and you don't do it, but one day you're going to do it. Number one, you're probably never going to do it. And number two, you're sinning. And once again, prove me wrong. If you've been putting off something that you know you should do for month after month or year after year, I'm saying I don't think you're ever going to do it. Prove me wrong. I hope you do. Prove me wrong by doing what you know is right. Because the Bible says, therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin. There is a finality to your life. It's going to end. It's going to fly by. Number one, find something to do. Number two, do it with force. Do it with effort. Take it seriously. And number three, realize there's a finality to life. Teach us to number our days. I mean 70 to 80 years. It's not really that much. If you're a child in this room, it feels like it's a lot. It's not. Your life is going to fly by. Take it seriously now. Let's go to the word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today and I ask you to help us to apply this sermon to our lives and not only the kids that are in this room, not just the children, but also us that are adults, also me and my family, help us all to take life seriously. Help us all to find things to do and not seek to be lazy. Help us to do it with force and help us to realize there's a finality to our lives. There's only so much we can accomplish. And instead of just talking about what we're going to do, help us just to find something and just do it, God. And I ask you to bless these young kids that are growing up that are in this church to get saved if they're not yet at that point of understanding or believing the gospel. And after that, to dedicate their lives to purpose in their own hearts to serve God. To make that decision, not just that their mom and dad are telling them what to do, but that in their own hearts, they decide they want to serve and love God. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.