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spirit as he preaches your word tonight in jesus name we pray amen amen okay tonight we conclude the book of ecclesiastes it's been a great book to study over to preach over to read over and um here in ecclesiastes chapter 12 if i were to title this chapter it would simply be the conclusion of the whole matter and it's pretty interesting because as uh king solomon begins to sum up everything that he's basically taught in this book he decides to address the young people okay which shows us something that the youth is something our group of people who are very much important to god due to the fact that they are the next generation who's going to take up the baton after us right they're the ones who are going to take up the torch they're the ones who are going to take over for us after we're long gone and so as he concludes this writing here he wants to give the young people instruction now obviously we understand that you know the whole book we can apply the whole book to ourselves regardless if you're ancient regardless if you are in your 50s 40s 30s or 20s but here at the end this a lot of what's being said in the book of ecclesiastes really will benefit the young people okay because a lot of what the book of ecclesiastes is teaching is what kind of perspective you should have what kind of mindset perspective you should have about life about the lord about just the things of life the things of this world and if you can just have the right perspective and have a change of mind a reforming of your mind you know life would be a lot different for you you know and i'm sure you know there's a lot of people in this room or even just in different churches who would say man i wish i had thought differently when i was younger because a lot of the ways that i was thinking when i was younger affected me when i was older and you know i made a lot of bad decisions in my life because of it well if you can just you know change your mind transform your mind renew your mind to see it the biblical way as a young person you can save yourself a lot of hurt a lot of damage a lot of failure and so this is what he is saying here and the initial first seven verses is basically an exhortation to those young people look at verse one it says remember now thy creator in the days of thy youth while the evil days come not nor the years draw nigh when thou shalt say i have no pleasure in them while the sun or the light or the moon or the stars be not darkened nor the clouds return after the rain so the first initial two verses he says hey you need to remember your god in the days of your youth what does it mean to remember well obviously he's saying take god into account reflect upon the lord make him a preeminent one in your life as a young person learn to walk with god when you are young okay and part of remembering our creator in the days of our youth is actually could be found in chapter 11 verse 10 it says therefore remove from thy heart and put away remove excuse me remove sorrow from thy heart and put away evil from thy flesh for childhood and vanity excuse me for childhood and youth are vanity so part of remembering our creator in the days of our youth is basically repenting of our sin right putting away filth from our flesh walking with god walking in holiness removing sorrow from our hearts removing from our lives bad habits sinful habits things that can destroy our lives and even along with that removing bad people from our lives now you know a young person you know if they're in their teenage years or even in their 20s for the most part they're probably not drunkards right i mean i'm sure there's they're out there but they're probably not drunk drunkards or they're probably not involved in like you know all these these hallucinogenic drugs i'm sure they're out there but you know christians for example they're not involved in that stuff they're not going to be involved in fornication if they're living under their parents house you know they're not going to be out there necessarily doing all those things but you know one thing that that young christians can often get involved with that can destroy their lives is wicked people having bad associations the wrong type of friends the wrong type of company is something that young people are actually sometimes guilty of okay and the bible talks strongly about this and when he says hey remember your creator in the days of your youth you know part of remembering him is putting away from ourselves that wicked person okay and you said why is that common amongst young people well because if they're in high school if they're in the public school system or you know if they didn't grow up in a christian home you know they probably don't have the best of friends around them and i'm not saying like best friends like bbf i'm talking about like best friends as in you know they don't have the best of friends they don't have quality friends they probably have worldly friends sometimes they're wicked sometimes they're they're just you know um they're people who practice evil things whether that is fornication or drunkenness or getting involved in drugs and one thing that will help young people to have a successful future is to separate from those people okay because you can have a young man or a young lady who's walking the straight and narrow way who's who's living a life that's pleasing unto the lord but if you get them around the wrong people just mark it down they're going to be just as bad as they are this is why the bible says he that walketh with wise men shall be wise but a companion of fools shall be destroyed and most young people if they don't if they're not taught these principles these biblical guidelines will have fools will have fools as their companions okay you know they'll have e-boys as their companions they'll have bad people as their companions which will ultimately corrupt them okay that's why parents it's important that we watch the associations of our children and keep a pulse on that okay but here's the thing let's say you don't have parents who keep a pulse on your friendships and your associations and your companions well you should do that right you're in our church you're reading the word of god you're hearing this preaching you should be wise enough to understand that god doesn't want you to be around fools he doesn't want you to have friends who are idiots and fools and ungodly and wicked and and who are partaking in wicked things you should separate yourselves from people of that manner and you know think about this the bible tells us this uh that in a great house there are not only vessels of honor there are not only vessels of gold and of silver but also of wood and of earth some to honor some to dishonor and if a man purge himself from these he shall be a vessel unto honor sanctified me for the master's use prepared unto every good work and then it says this flee also youthful lusts and then it says but follow righteousness faith charity with them that call upon the name of the lord out of a pure heart so it's not enough that you're separating from the wrong people you know you got to add the right people to your life as well it's not enough that you're separating from the fools you have to add to your company wise men because what's going to happen if you separate from the fools well you're going to have a void there there's going to be an absence there and eventually those fools are going to come back those fools are going to come back so get away from them fools and when you get away from the fools fools okay you need to make sure that you join yourself with those who call on the lord out of a pure heart who's that referred to christians be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers okay make sure that you company yourself with people who are believers and look folks that's why it's it's important that you make friendships at church church is not just for preaching although that's the most important thing you know the house of god is the pillar and ground of truth it's where believers come to be edified to be perfected you know in the word of god so they can be taught the word of god but aside from that it's for fellowship it's where you have your friendships it's a safe place to make friends because you're with people who are like-minded who have the same beliefs as you do they're going in the same direction that you are for the most part and it's a it's a safe place to make friends that's where your friends should be okay don't uh young people don't you know seek to be friends with people who are corrupt who are wicked who are living an ungodly life and look i'm not saying that as we grow older we're not going to have associations with people who are involved in fornication drunkenness and all these other things because the bible tells us that for then must he needs go out of the world right obviously we're not amish here we're not trying to create a compound in the middle of nowhere where there's only first works baptist church members and us four no more type of mentality you become a cult after that we obviously understand that we're in the world and because we're in the world we're going to befriend people who are not saved with the purpose of getting them saved with the purpose of influencing them letting our light so shine before men that they may see our good works and glorify our father which is in heaven but those shouldn't be your closest friends right you know the the unsaved adulterers of this world should not be your close friends the unsaved drunkards of this world should not be your best friends who should be your closest friends christians believers why because at least you know that believers in our church are not going to lead you astray for the most part okay you know at least you know that you're within a a safe place where you can fellowship and have the right appropriate relationships and and still have a good time okay and don't look at the world and say well my friends they always have a good time you know they're they're getting drunk they're doing all these things folks it's not a good time i promise you okay and don't let the billboards uh fool you okay where they have all these photoshopped models up there and males up there who are just like up there and they they have their budweiser bud dumber or whatever they have the uh the beer and you know they got their the eight pack going on you know and they're playing volleyball and they're just living a great life that's not true who's the guy who goes home after work to go pick up a six-pack he's drinking away his sorrows he has a beer belly he has cirrhosis of the liver and his eyes are getting yellow why don't they put that guy as the as the model on the billboard that's that's reality so don't think that you're missing out because you're not hanging around with people like that no you're actually missing out if you're not hanging around with the people in here okay go to proverbs chapter one if you would so he says remember thy creator in the days of thy youth take god into account think upon him make him important in your life how you know how does that work well reading the bible praying coming to church seeking to live a life that's pleasing unto the lord being under godly authority your parents authority your pastoral authority being a being not being a rebellious teenager not being a person who is just uh arrogant and prideful and rebellious and just unwilling to adhere to counsel and instruction you're like well all my friends are like that and so i just you know i just want to kind of live these last years as you know i was a young person in that type of way yeah but here's the thing you might make the worst decision of your life within those within that span of time that window of time that could affect you for the rest of your life and look when you hit 30 okay when you hit 30 and you've lived a life unto the lord i promise you you will not regret one day i've already said this last week but i'll say it again i'm 36 five five right five that's another thing when you get older you know just that gingko biloba is necessary you know i'm 35 and you know what i literally spent my 20s serving god i spent my 20s learning the bible i spent my 20s perfecting my soul winning i spent my 20s uh being in church on sunday and on during the midweek service i spent my 20s spending my saturday soul winning i spent my 20s uh discipling people and and and you know cleaning the church and just literally engulfed in church and you know what i don't regret one day of it so what a boring life not to me it wasn't it was the it's i was living my best life then i'm still living my best life now and here's the thing most young people in their 20s make the worst decisions in their 20s they get into debt they have children out of wedlock okay they destroy their lives in that decade and you say well i know someone who has it well they're the exception to the rule for the most part they destroy their lives unless they had some sort of godly authority or even parental authority that had some wisdom some parent who you know been around the block they have experience they they safeguarded their children from the evils of this world for the most part you know young people they destroy their lives in their 20s and so don't think well if i spend my 20s just serving god i'm just not gonna i'm just not gonna enjoy my life no you will enjoy your life because what happens is in your 30s you start gaining some wisdom and when you gain wisdom in your 30s but you lived wickedly in your 20s the wisdom is going to tell you in your 30s i was such an idiot when i was 20 that's what that's what wisdom is going to tell you wisdom is going to hit you in your 30s and you're gonna be like man why did i why did i do all those stupid things see you want to be on the other side get wisdom in your 30s serving god in your 20s and say yeah i made some pretty good decisions you know i got prepared for marriage i got me a wife i'm i'm having children we're raising children i'm serving god i didn't destroy my life and look if you're the person who destroyed their lives uh in your 20s first and foremost your life is not destroyed because if you're in church you're actually doing really well especially if you compare it to other people in this world like well you don't know my situation if you're in church tonight listening to god's word being preached and you have a bible in your hand if you're in this church tonight you're actually doing really good i know you may not think that okay because you know you got you might have all these problems and all these issues but folks if you are in church if you're remembering your creator and this stage of life you're doing pretty good okay so don't think well you know i destroyed my my years and my 20s this sermon or what i'm saying right here is for the people who have not even lived out that time yet i'm trying to warn them okay i'm trying to warn like a geo here it's like 17 years old right 17 looks like he's i don't know nephilim he's like good night what are you feeding these kids these days these hormones are crazy sermons for geo sermons for john okay who else is here sermons for the young men here little ones wagami sermons for gami sermons for who else who's who's young here what right here for jacob for melia right sermons for them i just called out sermons for jason calling you out jason vitor sermons for vitor why because all these people are young they're young and they still have an entire decade to serve god and what i'm trying to say and tell you tonight is this you know don't waste these these years remember your creator in the days of your youth make god a preeminent one make the bible important in your life seek to seek to be a 20 year old with a 30 year old mindset right the problem today is we have 30 year olds with the 20 year old mindset but why do we have 30 year olds with a 20 year old mindset because when they were 20 they were acting like a 15 year old you know what i'm saying i'm a good mathematician huh look when they're at 20 they were acting like they were 15 when they were 25 they were acting like they were still 15 and then when they turn 30 they realize oh dang I'm not 15 I'm 30 and I just wasted 10 years of my life playing Minecraft serious I wasted 10 years of my life playing Minecraft and being involved in anime watching Japanese cartoons I'm telling you when the wisdom hits at 30 you will realize the error of your ways or you will realize the wisdom that you've implemented in those 20s okay it's important that in your youth you take God into consideration you consider him you remember him you don't forsake God okay and you know sometimes young people have this attitude where like well I'm young I'm gonna live forever I'm invincible I'm strong I have energy I'm just like I'm Superman and nothing can stop me and then they don't realize that they could just die tomorrow life is fragile folks yeah you're strong but not stronger than a vehicle that can t-bone you and take your life I mean John you know that you got hit you got t-boned right were you stronger than the vehicle that hit you John that vehicle laid him up in the hospital for quite some time and so you know what I'm trying to do here is hit you with the reality check to let you know this hey you're not going to live forever here on this earth and you know what God has not promised you next year or this year to come so you better take things serious today okay and separate from stupid people today look at proverbs 1 verse 8 my son hear the instruction of thy father a lot of children would do well to listen to the instructions of their father and forsake not the law of thy mother obey your mom for they shall be an ornament of grace into thy head and chains about thy neck you're like yeah that's what it feels like feel like the the commandments of my mom and they're like chains about her neck yeah but what you don't understand is that those chains are actually protecting you my son of sinners entice thee consent thou not if they say come with us let us lay wait for blood let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause let us swallow them up alive as the grave and whole as those that go down into the pit we shall find all precious substance we shall fill our houses with spoil cast in thy lot among us let us all have one purse my son walk not thou on the way with them refrain thy foot from their path for their feet run to evil and make haste to shed blood now wouldn't you say that the people that are being described here are pretty stinking wicked this is either reprobate or borderline being reprobate right here right now who is he giving this instruction to just every child that's out there no this actually is this instruction is actually for a believer because solomon is talking to his son okay and they're believers so this is showing us that even believers can get tangled in with the wrong type of people sometimes okay and he's telling them hey stay away from wicked people stay away from wicked women stay away from wicked men the forward man because they will destroy your life you're like well i'm not that kind of person though yeah but you hang around a person long enough you will be like them you ever notice that the people you hang around with the most you end up being just like them or taking on their qualities right you start taking on the qualities of the people that you hang around with that's how we're made we're made to basically you know adapt characteristics and and and virtues and and you know the shortcomings and the strengths of others the people that we're around go to chapter two look what it says in proverbs two verse 10 when wisdom entereth into thine heart he's still speaking to his son here and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul discretion shall preserve the understanding shall keep thee now i want you to notice first and foremost he says there when wisdom entereth into thy heart and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul you see you're getting knowledge right now right but it will do you no good if it's not pleasant to you you're like oh yeah i get what he's saying but you know i still like my cousin though you're my cousin we're still cool you know yeah you know what that means that's showing me that's showing us that's showing you that knowledge is not pleasant to you it's actually it's a bitter commandment that you're receiving the only way it's actually going to impact you in a positive way where you'll benefit is when knowledge is pleasant unto your soul when you receive the instruction and you agree you know what this is true i'm gonna i'm gonna listen to this with the inward man not with my flesh not with my mind not with my fleshly mind i want to adhere to this instruction with my spirit with the inward man he says discretion verse 11 shall preserve thee understanding shall keep thee to deliver thee from the way of the evil man from the man that speaketh forward things who leave the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness who rejoice to do evil and delight in the forwardness of the wicked whose ways are crooked and they froward in their paths to deliver thee look what it says from the strange woman even from the stranger which flattereth her words which forsaketh the guide of her youth and forgetteth the covenant of her god so god is saying look when you actually listen to instruction young people and you and you take it serious and you don't just apply it to someone else you apply it to yourself you recognize i'm being delivered from evil people i'm being delivered from a wicked evil woman i'm being delivered from a froward man who can destroy my life so well you know my girlfriend you know she's not even saved but you know she's cool though i mean like i i wouldn't say she falls into this category well let's look at the testimonies of the lord how did samson do with his unsaved alila right looks like he didn't do too well i mean she gave him a haircut got his eyes plucked out the guy just finished his life horribly because of a woman i mean what about david with bathsheba right solomon and all his wives even though he wrote this obviously the guy didn't take his own advice towards the latter end of his life so yes a woman can destroy your life folks that's why it's important that we don't just rush into any type of relationship you know just right off the bat if you don't if you haven't really gotten to know the individual okay and you know marriage is a lifelong commitment obviously you better make sure you know what you're doing that's why it's good to just find spouses in church not someone else's spouse i'm saying like you know a future spouse is what i'm saying okay it's good to find a future spouse in church right because at least you you narrow down you know potential dangers okay jasiah was eight years old when he began to reign and the bible tells us that he did that which is right in the sight of the lord he he he walked in all the ways of david his father he turned out to the right hand north to the left at the age of eight folks jasiah at the age of eight what was he doing he was remembering his creator and the days of his youth i don't think jasiah's in heaven today was thinking man i should have just like played lots when i was a kid you know why did i waste my time serving god you know why did i waste my time just like you know trying to clean up the house of god and finding the word of god in the house of the lord and you know saving the nation from god's wrath i was so young why did i spend my time doing that he's not regretting that at all in fact he's he's known in the bible what i'm saying is this is that young people don't despise your youth and let me say this you're in a church where your youth is not despised at all i know churches where they talk down so much on young people it's just like well you're just stupid and you don't know anything can't make any decision for yourself obviously we understand that you know there's certain decisions that kids can't make teenagers can't make and that's why they need their parents with them but we want to train young people to think for themselves though right to have wisdom to have prudence to have knowledge and we don't despise your youth here we have an expectation for the youth here to be mature to love the lord to read the bible to go sowing you know to to to be a christian functioning member of society right you know when i talk to the young people in our church i don't talk to them like oh what's up little punk you know i don't disrespect them like that i don't treat them like they're little kids if they're if they if they're in our church i expect them to be mature i expect geo to be mature i do when i talk to jacob when i talk to malia i expect them to be mature and i talk to them as such and you know what happens when you talk to them as such they respond in that manner as well and we have some very mature young people in our church okay don't take that for granted we got some very mature young people in our church who can carry a conversation well they're they're very intelligent people they can speak to adults hey when they have a conversation with you they could look you in the eyes you know why moses laugh right now because a lot of people don't do the teenagers don't do that right they have a hard time looking at you in the eyes when you it's just like it's like and you're just kind of like where are you looking dude like but you know we teach the young people in our church when you talk to adults when you talk to anybody look them straight in the eyes have a conversation with them learn how to conversate learn how to share ideas learn to to give something in your conversation of substance right it's like what's up dude what's up bro you know i'm the pastor here is not like a youth pastor i don't become a youth pastor when i talk to the young people in our church what's up what's going on g when i talk to geo i shake his hand and say geo how you doing good pastor how are you i'm doing well thank you i mean that's how 17 year olds should talk you know gammy i expect gammy to dress the way he's dressed you should why not shirt and tie he's ushering and you know i don't cut him any slack okay why because he's a young man who's training to be a husband one day a father one day the guy's a manager where he works at he's succeeding at his job and you know i have the expectation of him to be a mature man who can hold an adult conversation who i can give responsibility to and if he messes up and i get on him i expect for him to take it because that's how a young man should be so we want to raise young people in our church who are mature in the lord who love the lord and are mature in the lord at a very early age why because this world's not getting any better people are just weird today folks the young people in our church we're going to finish this chapter i promise the young people in our church i'm telling you very rare folks seeing this out in the world the young people in our church will blow the 30 year olds out of the water of this world today there's people out there who are in their 30s and 40s who cannot hold a decent conversation with another adult they can't share ideas they don't read books they don't gain knowledge they're just like they're just this tick-tock generation they don't know how to talk to people they don't know how to go up to adults and just greet them and treat them with respect that's no longer a thing today and so i'm thankful for the young people in our church who actually know how to do that i'm thankful for when the young people in our church actually go to the the the elderly people in our church people who are older and just shake their hand and spark up a conversation just talk to them and just function that way that's how it should be it's not like oh hey oh what's up uh-huh just kind of like not social folks we're homeschoolers here but we're not like that kind of homeschooling we believe in homeschooling except for that part though okay and so you know that's why you have church so you can learn how to be social you understand so what i'm saying is this young people let no man despise that youth but be thou an example to the believers show them how it's done go show them how it's done gummy show them how it's done jason show them how a young person should act who loves the lord and let me say this is that when a young person acts appropriately as godly it inspires the older people because they're like dang i gotta step it up like this guy's on fire this young lady's on fire i gotta step it up you understand that's why it says be an example the believers in word and conversation and charity and spirit and faith and purity i love having young people in our church i love being young why because it's just a lot of energy in the church very spirited people in our church because they're young right so anyways what i'm saying is this is that young people hey remember your creator now don't see church as a chore don't see reading your bible as a chore don't see it as a drudgery don't let the commandments of god be grievous unto you let knowledge be pleasant unto thy soul like you know what i am going to do that i am going to i do want to strive to be a godly young man and i promise you it's an investment in your future go back to ecclesiastes if you would he says in verse 2 while the sun or the light or the moon or the stars be not darkened nor the clouds return after the rain now look what it's saying here is that when when a person is young you know that's a perfect those are the perfect years to mold an appropriate perspective in life you understand because obviously it gets dark outside but for a young person and it's it's it's given this analogy it's basically saying you know for a young person the days are great you know the days are great they got their parents they have their friends they're just spirited they're having a great time and what he's saying here hey you need to make sure you invest some of that time into godliness and remembering your creator because you know because one day you're going to grow up and recognize and see that the days do get dark there are evil days okay build character godliness add to your faith virtue look at verse three so now he's going to talk about remembering the creator before the body decays so he begins to describe the decaying of the body as one grows older and he does this with the intent of encouraging the youth to serve god while they're physically able to serve god because there's going to come a time in your life god forbid that maybe should something should happen to you physically where you can no longer serve god physically because of some ailment that you have or because you just don't you know the the machine doesn't operate like it used to the body begins to decay okay verse three in the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble what is that talking about well he's going to go into some descriptions here and what he's talking about when he says the house is actually referring to the body okay and he says in the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble the keepers of the body can be considered like the bones and the muscles you ever notice that people when they get a little more little older they tremble a little bit you know if they grab something if they're like in their 80s and 90s they have a tendency to tremble a little bit they can't really you know be stable and he's saying hey young people just remember this yeah you're young and your glory is your strength right now but just know this your body will decay you will you can get to a point you know if if you if the lord tarries you can get to a point where your bones and your muscles will begin to tremble a little bit the keepers of the house shall tremble he says and the strong men shall bow themselves basically saying you know young people have a tendency to kind of slump over a little bit and they have those issues and the grinders cease because they are few referring to their teeth sometimes they lose their teeth and those that look out of the windows be darkened this is referring to the eyes you know what they can't their eyes begin to grow dim they can't see as well hey use those eyes of yours to read the word of god why you can't consume as much bible content as you can read the bible as much as you can because there's going to come a time when you're going to need well you probably need glasses now but i'm saying like there's going to come a time where it's just so you can't function without them you know what i mean and and it your eyes just get worse and worse sorry guys you know maybe i shouldn't have said that there's actually a lot of people in our trips with glasses i just noticed that right now guys are old i'm just kidding he says in verse four let me move on and the doors shall be shut in the streets i believe what he's referring to here is the ears and when they basically when they get older people get older they become hard of hearing you can't hear as much hey use your ears to hear the word of god to hear hard preaching to hear listen to godly music to listen to reproof and rebuke and exhortation amen not to the song of the fool and the doors shall be shut in the streets when the sound of grinding is low in other words they can no longer speak clearly you ever talk to people who are just a little elderly and they talk a little slower they have a tendency to slur the words a little bit just not they're just kind of speaking coherently sometimes just because they're just a little older okay hey use your mouth now to open your mouth boldly to make known the mysteries of the gospel to preach the word of god now to sing unto the lord now blessed assurance jesus is mine don't be the young person in our church it's just embarrassing though i don't want to just like let it out they bless the assurance jesus is mine belt it out sing i can't sing well i know but it's okay it's okay we're not god doesn't require for you to sing well he says make a joyful noise there you go because there's going to come a time when the grinding is low and you can't you know sing as loud as you would want to you can't speak as as quickly as you can as you used to okay when i get old i'm just gonna like speak normally because i speak really fast right now so it's just gonna go to like moderate speed it says when the sound of the grinding is low and he shall rise up at the voice of a bird young people they can sleep through like the tribulation they when they knock out they're just like they're i mean my son when he sleeps it's just like he could just lift him up by the leg and just like move him around the guy's in a coma young or uh elderly people they don't they don't sleep as well okay you know sometimes they can they can rise up easily uh you know and correct me if i'm wrong dr rita not not right now but later on you can do that but if i remember correctly you know children and teenagers they sleep very deeply because their brains are still developing is that correct and then uh older people because their brains are already developed they don't need as much sleep if i remember that correctly um and so they're easily awakened okay it says in all the daughters of music shall be brought low you know aside from the fact that they they're hard of hearing they can't really take a whole lot of noise sometimes too it's just like ah that's too loud or you know they they become very sensitive verse five also when they shall be afraid of that which is high and fear shall be in the way young people are like daredevils right they can do some pretty crazy stuff and i remember when i was like 17 18 i was like man i can't wait to go skydiving i want to go skydiving when i turn 21 i'm gonna go skydiving and then you know i just put it off now i think about i'm like what in the world i will never do that i'm safe too like i'm going to heaven if i die but i'm not gonna go skydiving why because i might die the parachute might not open you know you actually become a little more fearful of things that you weren't fearful of before you know young people are a little more reckless right they drive recklessly they they play recklessly they're just not careful as you get older you start taking things into account like you know maybe i'm not going to climb that rock yeah it's not a good idea to to do that actually you know it comes with that wisdom so fear begins to set in you start thinking about things like oh man it says in the almond tree shall flourish that's basically referring to the fact that reality of getting old starts setting in like oh man i'm getting old i'm getting older it says in the grasshopper shall be a burden now i'm trying to think about what this means okay and two schools of thought that i came up with is this like you know a grasshopper just makes a lot of noise and you think well man just like can you shut up you know but actually what i think this is referring to a grasshopper is that which is an insect that leaps quite a bit it's just like very sporadic right very spontaneous just leaps and leaps it's just like you don't know what direction it's going and when i think of that i think of my children they're just all over the place sometimes and older people often can't handle the spontaneity of young little ones sometimes okay you know i can handle like yesterday my my son and i were boxing and just making all kinds of noise and just we're fighting and we got the boxing gloves going on and you know i'm still young so i can handle that but you know like you know i'm not gonna say who it is but you know in my wife's family there's a distant relative that we have that can't handle the little ones as much anymore it's like the little ones are and there's like how many grand my wife's not even here there's like 15 grandchildren on my on my wife's side of the family and they're all in one house and and the great grandmother was there and she was just like oh i can't take all this like you know all this jumping and yelling those little grasshoppers just jumping all over the place you know hey that's why it's important folks you get married early and you have children early so you can so your children can enjoy your youth so they can box with you you can play tag with them you can wrestle with them you can you can roughhouse with them while you still can amen you don't want to be like oh no i can't do that today and then throw out your back or something hold on son you know you're just like struggling or just like this is too much you know be a dad that enjoys some spontaneity amen you jump around and wrestle and and box not your daughters but i'm saying your sons and just play and run and and just have fun with them you know my kids and i we play tag all the time in my house and and we run around and we throw them on the beds and we're just playing but you you can get to a point where you just that's not your thing anymore you know i mean think about abraham who had isaac i was almost 100 years old i'm sure he's not playing tag with isaac the grasshopper shall be a burden and desire shall fail you know you don't really have the desire like you used to young people man they got a lot of ambition they're just like let's do it let's do this let's go do this let's go do that and older people are just like i think i'm gonna stay in today i think i got some things i have to do around the house i need to look at the clock i need to watch the paint dry i need to just kind of i want to take it easy you know young people are more like let's go you know jump off a cliff or something to water let's go skydive let's go do whatever you know the desire shall fail because man go to his long home and the mourners go about the streets so what it's saying is here hey while you're young while you still have that desire use that desire for god use that desire to stand up for truth use that desire to fight against the the enemies of god use that desire that ambition that drive to preach god's word to stand for truth to be zealous for god amen the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up jesus said it in his 30s i mean jesus is pretty zealous he had a lot of energy how do we know he's flipping tables over he's whipping people out of the temple doing it like twice he's flipping over tables and rebuking people and all these things i mean he's got a lot of spontaneity you know he's not like these these pastors out there where they're just like i'll let it go this time you know just i'm too tired to do all that you know he had some fight in him amen you know older people sometimes they don't have the drive as they used to verse 6 says or ever the silver cord be loosed or the golden bowl be broken or the pitcher be broken at the fountain or the wheel broken at the sister and i think this is just referring to the body parts the silver cord can be referring to the spine for example the golden bowl can be referring to the head and just saying when these things just start to break down a little bit okay your body's not breaking down right now young people take advantage of that you know right now you still have your vitality but there's going to come a time when when that's not the case you know you can no longer do this you know be fearless now if you if you have a lack of fear be have a lack of fear towards the things that Satan is trying to get you to fear you can look sometimes when people get a little older they become fearful of just like weird stuff they think they're always gonna die they think they're always sick i think i felt something here this is my heart or whatever you know i got oh man i i got this headache and oh man i think i'm having a brain aneurysm it's just like i'm honest i'm serious they have these imaginations because they become more fearful young people i mean their finger could be chopped off and they're just like fine i just saw it back on or you know i i've known people they're like they'll cut their their their arms or something or their legs doing construction and they're just like they just super glue it that's what we used to do on the construction site it's like why waste the trip to the hospital why i just have super glue right here just close up the wound just move on get a cool little scar you know i mean it's true and so while you have that drive and that fearlessness use it now because you're not going to have it later and i will say this you know if you have it now and you exercise it now you could potentially keep it till later i mean we have people examples of people in the bible like for example moses who his strength was was not abated nor his eyes grew dim i mean the guy was strong to the very end he was zealous until the very end caleb and joshua and all these other guys who live uh you know long lives they were zealous until the very end and you know that's my desire i'm still young but you know if the lord tarries and i get to serve god for decades on end until i'm in my 80s i hope like i just die preaching like literally at the pulpit just like bags and just fall over and just die just have an epic death i'd rather just go out that way it's the best way to die so what i'm saying though is this is that right now is the time to serve god okay while you have all these things going for you verse seven then shall the dust return to the earth as it was and the spirit shall return unto god who gave is basically saying the life ends okay let's finish up verse number eight says vanity of vanity saith the preacher all is vanity moreover because the preacher was wise he still taught the people knowledge yea he gave good heed and sought out and set in order many proverbs the preacher sought to find out acceptable words and that which was written was upright even words of truth the words of the wise are as goats and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies which are given for one shepherd from one shepherd and further by these my son be admonished of making many books there is no end and much studies weariness to the flesh he's basically saying you know these words that i'm giving to you they should encourage you to to obey god's commandments and they will establish you they'll be like nails fastened by the masters of assembly they're going to establish you in life okay the words that i'm giving to you pastor bruce me here the words that i'm giving to you they will establish you as a person in this life where you'll be successful if you obey the commandments okay they're as goads i'm not here to condemn you i'm not here to like judge you i'm here to tell you do this so that your 30s and 40s you will be a spiritually successful content joyful happy person in your christian life okay he says in verse 11 let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter fear god and keep his commandments for this is the whole duty of man i love this verse so much because i like stuff just give it to me straight solomon just what are you trying to tell me solomon all right let me just tell you what let me just conclude this let me just condense everything fear god and keep his commandments this is so confusing there's so many things i gotta do it's just it's chapter one two three four i gotta do all these things get wisdom okay listen just do this fear god and keep all his commandments that's your duty now that flies in the face of people who say this well god doesn't want anybody to fear him we're not supposed to fear him we're gonna have a reverence towards him you know we can't we're not supposed to be afraid of fear god and keep all of his commandments this is the bible so it doesn't say reverence god it doesn't say you know oh just you know uh worship god although we know we're supposed to worship god says fear god be afraid of god what be afraid of god yeah you should be afraid of god because god is almighty and all-powerful and shame on you if you choose to fear people in this world organizations and governments and principalities but you say well but not god though god we just need to reverence him and just respect him what god is more powerful than all the governments and dignities and principalities of this world fear not him which can kill the body yea rather fear him who can destroy both body and soul in hell god can did you know god can literally just stop you from breathing right now he can literally cause your lungs to no longer expand and take in air and you can just die you know he can just take what if god were to just take away your breath for like 60 seconds then you would realize how frail your life really is fear god keep his commandments this is your duty so if we're to give a condensed version of what god wants us to do as christians is this we're supposed to be we're supposed to be afraid of him because the fear of the lord is the beginning of knowledge when men fear god they depart from evil and we're supposed to keep his commandments that's our duty look what it says in verse 14 for god shall bring every work into judgment with every look what it says secret thing isn't that interesting you know the things that people don't really know about but only you know about well guess what god knows about it too and he shall bring you into judgment well i thought we're not going to be judged for our sins in heaven well this is insane heaven you know god judges his people even here on this earth for the secret things every work into judgment with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evil sounds to me that he wants us to fear him because verse 14 sounds like a pretty scary thing he's like hey i'm gonna judge you for every secret little thing on this earth oh man that makes me just respect god so much that makes me just want to reverence god so much no you know what does it makes you quake it makes you afraid it makes you terrified because you know the person who knows everything about you the inner recesses of your heart is god himself hell and destruction are naked before the eyes of god they're before the eyes of god how much more the hearts of men the bible says if god can actually see from heaven through the earth's crust all the way down to the lowest hell he can see the souls that are burning currently there right now you think his eyes can't pierce through your heart to see all the things that are in your heart he sees it all the hearts of men are naked before the eyes of the lord and so lots of wisdom in the book of ecclesiastes lots of reality checks right so lots of great material and this last chapter is basically like solomon basically what i would say if you get anything from the sermon get this that's what he's saying if you get anything from the book of ecclesiastes get this fear god and keep his commandments what's my duty that's your duty you can't go wrong if you just do those two things you can't go wrong you'll increase in knowledge and wisdom you'll be successful you'll live a prosperous christian life and and you'll live a life that's pleasing unto god amen praise god for the book of ecclesiastes let's pray father we thank you so much for your word thank you for this book and wonderful reality checks that we all need myself included lord reminders i pray god that you'd help us lord uh help us uh to train the next generation to have the right mindset the right perspective um to be different young people today need to be different from the world they need to dress different they need to talk different they need to look different they need to act different lord you said that we're a peculiar people and uh i pray that you'd help us to be so a peculiar treasure and i pray god that you you help our young people and our church to to walk with you to invest this decade of their 20s even their teenage years dedicate that time to winning souls to christ and and to reading their bibles to love their parents love their mom love their dad spend time with them love their pastor love their church love the church members and i pray god that you'd help us to do so lord i pray that you'd help us to continue to fear you all the days of our life to keep your commandments and to fulfill that duty we love you so much lord and we thank you pray these things in jesus name amen all right song number