Great Lessons That Build Your Future

But I want you to open your Bibles to Ecclesiastes chapter 2, if you would please, chapter 2, verse 10.

Ecclesiastes 2 · chapter mention

This is a sermon about life.

And since I'm crossing over, I I thought this, I kept wondering, why are you teaching this?

I don't know.

It just kept bothering me, so I thought, well, why not work with it?

And it's not bothering me that I'm getting older.

It's just this message.

You know, I had another sermon I wanted to preach, and I just couldn't do it.

I wanted to talk about this.

So repeat the topic with me, please.

Say great lessons that build our future.

You are building a future, whether you know it or not.

You are in the process of making something.

The real question is, what are you cooking up?

I have a saying, you know, be careful that you don't cook the gumbo blind.

You need to pay attention to what you're putting in.

Too much strife, too much tension.

You can create a life you don't like.

A future that when you get there, you don't like what you've created.

My goal today is to show you some practical lessons that will help you understand how to properly build the life that you want to have.

I've not been perfect, but I've gained some experiences that have shaped my view, that have affected my life, and have affected my future.

And so have you.

Some of the things you've learned in life have affected you and shaped you.

They've had a great impact on how you see the world, how you love, how you forgive, things you hold on to.

I have seven great lessons from my personal life I want to share.

And uh this is uh, before I read Ecclesiastes, this is this is my story.

You get 50 years, people.

This is it.

Summarized in seven statements.

Number one, here's what I've learned.

Write this down.

This is good stuff.

Time will keep moving.

That's deep, isn't it?

But it's true, it doesn't stop.

Sometimes you want it to stop when you're in pain and when you're going through something, you say, just stop the world, and you go, no, I just it won't stop.

Time keeps on moving.

Number two, kids will grow up.

They really will.

I know when they're two and they're screaming, you don't believe it.

But eventually they grow up.

And they're happy.

They let you know.

I am now grown.

As a parent of grown children.

Now, it's amazing.

It's now a negotiation.

I am an advisor now.

I used to be in charge.

Now I'm saying, could you consider that again?

Would you pray about that?

It's a whole different emotional experience.

But kids grow up.

I see parents, one time we saw a parent, she was sitting in a restaurant and this kid was giving her a fit, and my wife went over to her.

We both went over to her and said, Listen, you'll survive this.

You will live past these days.

Grandparents know that.

That's why they're so cool.

They do, they just know it.

They go to your house and say, oh, they're all screaming, good, they'll be fine.

You know, when a child falls out on a grandparent, it's a whole different thing.

When it's a new parent, there's a pride thing, especially a guy.

All right, I said be quiet.

And they're screaming and tolering.

And so the parent who has experienced a grandparent walks in and says, Oh, they'll be fine, let them scream.

Steps right over them, no problem.

Look for your lungs, let it out, let it out.

Because they realize they will grow up.

Third lesson of my life.

Love can grow stale.

That's surprising.

You know, you stood at the altar, you said those words, I do, I do.

And now you look at her and you don't.

You look at him and you don't feel the same and you don't know why.

Love can grow stale between you and your wife, you and your children.

It's amazing.

You don't expect that.

Even on a job you love.

Things in your life that you love, people that you love, if you're not careful, if you don't nurture it right, it can grow stale.

That's a big surprise.

The fourth one is a really big surprise to me.

If you're taking notes, time will keep moving, number one.

Two, kids will really grow up eventually.

Number three, love can grow stale.

Number four, friendships really end.

Man.

If you ask me, out of all the surprises, which one really caught you by surprise, is this one.

There are some certain people I just knew would be with me forever.

I mean, we were really close.

But all of a sudden, something happened.

What it was, I can't explain.

We couldn't communicate the same, we couldn't dialogue the same, and then you go to their house and you try to pretend.

And you're sitting there saying, Why am I here?

I need to leave.

And it just isn't the same.

That's a big surprise for me.

In 50 years of living.

Number five, money can run out.

You know, Mr.

Money has a real attitude.

He tends to not stay where you tell him.

You put him in your checking account and say, stay right here.

And you look up and he's gone.

Money always has a tendency to slide right out of your hands if you're not careful.

In order for it to stay, you must focus on it.

It must be intentional.

And for some Christians, they think that's that's uh conflict of interest.

But it's not.

And we'll talk more about that later.

But money can really run out.

Number six, opportunities don't last forever.

They really don't.

You don't have that window open forever to become an entrepreneur.

At some point in your life, you have to make a decision.

The decision to take on a new task.

The opportunities don't always stay.

You have to decide.

And then the last lesson, my big one.

Number seven, God was right all along.

At the end of it all, that's what you conclude.

God was really right all along.

No matter how you try to avoid it.

At the end of the day, you have to admit, he was right about love, about relationships, about everything.

In Ecclesiastes chapter 2, Solomon gives his testimony, and you must understand that when we get here in the book of Ecclesiastes, this is a profound book because it's his last word.

Ecclesiastes 2 · chapter mention

It's his last, last, I won't say willing testament, but I'd say these are the last recorded words of Solomon.

And it really summarizes for him what he learned.

A guy who came into power at 20 years old and migrated up to build the great temple and had all these great experiences, and now he is coming out of the most embarrassing season of his life.

He had 700 wives and 300 concubines.

Incredible.

There's only 365 days in a year.

What were you doing, Solomon?

What happened to you?

Did you marry them by the dozens?

I take 12 of those and four of them.

I mean, what was that?

You were the wisest man, wrote the book of Proverbs, and now all of a sudden we're watching your life fall apart, and this book is the record of him coming out of that season.

And there's a series I do called Limping Out of Darkness, where here he comes out of darkness.

He's messed up now, he's tainted his name, and now he's limping.

And he limps out of darkness.

Solomon has learned some great lessons.

And there are five lessons I pulled out of the text that I want to just show you.

There are more, but there's just five I wanted to highlight.

Number one, look at chapter 2, verse 10 of Ecclesiastes.

It says, Whatever my eyes desired, I did not keep from them.

I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure.

For my heart rejoiced in all my labor.

And this was my reward from all my labor.

Wow.

First lesson was he realized that materialism was not enough.

He withheld his heart from no pleasure.

He said, Whatever I want to build or do, I did.

It was as if if I build this stuff, if I get this stuff, this material stuff, I'll be okay.

One of the great lessons of success is it's not enough.

You'll never own enough homes, you'll never have enough cars, it's just not enough.

In chapter 1 and 2, he chronicles all this stuff he built: vineyards and houses and lands.

It's an incredible study.

I will say this as a sidebar, it's interesting to read later on in life when he's dead and his son Rahobam is leading.

The servant's view of how he led.

They said he was hard to follow.

His materialism made it hard to follow him.

And they asked the new king, would you please just be kinder than your dad?

And he said, No, I'm gonna be harder than my dad.

It's amazing how materialism can make you hard and insensitive sometimes.

You can have a great home and a great life and a great business and a great career, but no one likes you.

You know, I have a saying, you can be right, but you need to be liked.

You need to make sure that it's not just success that drives you.

At the end of the day, the people that slate for you in your business, that work for you, go smile at them.

Embrace them.

There's something profound about understanding the power of materialism when it's used in the right way.

Solomon learned that's not all there is to life.

Second thing I noticed in the text, chapter 3, verse 1, Solomon realized that life is and always will be seasonal.

Chapter 3, verse 1.

Life is and always will be seasonal.

To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven.

Life is seasonal.

Don't you wish it would just stay one season all the time?

Sometimes you just wish it would never change, but it doesn't.

Life is, as Solomon said, seasonal.

And learning to adapt to that is a great sign of maturity.

For some people, they're acting as if they're still in their high school season.

And you're not.

We don't change many things in our lives sometimes.

We keep things and we don't even notice it.

You know, I often say if you were to go to your drawer and open your drawer up, and you'd be surprised.

Now, this is a simple example, but it really illustrates the point.

And you ask the clothes in your drawer, how long have you been there?

If they could talk, they said, Oh, I've been here since 1972.

We don't change things.

We don't buy new things, we keep stuff.

We want to keep and hold on to the seasons.

And Solomon said they come and they change.

Third thing I want you to notice that's interesting about his life is in chapter 7.

The third thing he learned.

He learned the value of a good name.

He realized that a good name is extremely important.

Remember, he'd messed up his name now.

The wise man had made a great mistake.

Chapter 7, Ecclesiastes, verse 1.

It says, a good name is better than precious ointment and the day of death than the day of one's birth.

We're not going to highlight the day of death part of this, but we do want you to notice a couple of things.

Notice number one, here's a guy who really, really learned the value of maintaining your name.

You know, how people view you is crucial.

And valuing that, working to maintain it, it's important.

Because sometime in the future, that's all you have is your name.

Sometimes when you're having a great financial challenge and you go to the banks, all you've got sometimes is your name.

You've had a rough business season that you've flown through, and when you stand before them and you're trying to get the new deal done, sometimes your name can help you cross the bridge.

A good name can open doors for you, can help rebuild bridges.

Solomon said, you know, I've learned the value of a good name.

The next thing he learns is in chapter 12.

In chapter 12, he closes out the book and he says, Let me give you, if I can, my final two.

If you're taking notes, he realized that materialism was not enough.

Number two, he realized that life is seasonal.

Number three, he realized that a good name is important.

And number four, he realized that serving God while you're young is key.

Look at verse 1.

Remember now your creator in the days of your youth.

Before the difficult days come and the years draw near when you say, I have no pleasure in them.

Solomon said, if you want my advice, start early.

Remember God when you're still young.

Don't wait until you get older and you're limping like me.

Remember your creator in the days of your youth.

There's something profound about starting early, young people.

You will avoid a whole lot of problems, unnecessary memories.

You won't create a future that you don't like.

You have a great advantage.

That's why you need older people in your life.

Because they help you learn great lessons.

They look you in the eyes and say, listen to me.

I know it looks good now, it may feel good now, but it won't later.

The other side of following the lifestyle of getting high and living in the street and roaming around and living any way you want and giving your heart to any pleasure.

Feels good now, but it won't later.

Remember now your creator in the days of your youth.

Then the fifth thing and the final thing he says is in verse 13.

Now, what's profound about this last statement is this is the end.

His last recorded words.

Here's what he says.

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter.

Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is man's all.

Know what he said?

God was right all along.

That's what he said.

The same thing I learned.

He realized that God was right all along, all of his life.

The whole bottom line is fearing God, reverencing God.

Solomon says, you know, I just lost my way, but now I'm clear now.

The question is, are you clear?

What is your bottom line?

Well, there's one more guy I want you to meet.

If you turn to Joshua chapter 1, he'll help us see a final thought here that I think will be helpful to you.

Joshua 1 · chapter mention

There are two men in the Bible that I wanted to highlight today.

One was Solomon because he's the rich guy.

He's the guy that lost his way.

He's the guy that really and truly had all the promise, had great wealth.

Joshua's the guy without great wealth.

He's an average guy.

He's a number two man, great staff guy.

The guy in Scripture you find no problems with.

He never, catch this.

He's never rebuked in the Bible.

He is a this is the guy who stands out.

He comes on the scene at Kaddish Barnea.

He's one of the two guys who says, we can go over and conquer the land.

He's bold, he's courageous, he's strong.

Oh, this is the kind of guy you just love to see.

He walks with Moses through hard times, holds his arm up doing battles, marches with Israel 40 years in the wilderness.

This is the guy.

Oh, this is the one you want to hire, people.

This is the man.

And Joshua, in the midst of the most difficult time of his life, receives some great words.

Moses dies.

There are five things that I want you to notice about this man's life.

Number one, notice verse one, the first thing God told him, Joshua chapter one, verse one.

After the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spoke to Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses' assistant, saying, Moses, my servant, is dead.

Now therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I'm giving to them, the children of Israel.

Notice what he says.

First of all, Joshua, you must learn how to accept loss.

Moses is dead now.

Arise, go over this Jordan.

Moses is no longer here.

You're a great mentor, your great leader.

How do you handle loss?

I think it's important for you to notice that in order for Joshua to go forward, the first thing God says to him is you have to get over loss.

Loss can hold you down.

Losing someone close to you can plague you for the rest of your life.

You're looking at a guy who is the son of a single woman who never married.

Her name was Lara.

Lara, Laura, my mama.

Bless her heart.

And let me tell you, she was amazing.

Spunky and full of spirit.

Never lived in a house she owned until I bought it for her.

Never, never had a new car until I bought her one.

She said, I want a truck.

I said, I'm not buying you a truck.

What are you gonna haul?

I told you I want a truck.

Okay, so I tell you, I tell you what.

Red Cougar.

Yeah, now that's a car.

So I bought her a cougar.

Red.

And, you know, in the middle of all of this, my mom, man, she was spunky, but one thing she wouldn't do.

She wouldn't go to the doctor and get checked.

She, um, we talked about it, you know, but she she had this little saying for me.

She says, excuse me, listen, you don't boss me.

You don't boss me.

I want you to understand.

If you want to boss anybody, you have a wife.

You can boss your wife.

And if you get tired of bossing her, these are her exact words.

You can boss your two children.

And if you get tired of bossing them, you have a whole staff you can boss.

And if you get tired of bossing them, you have thousands of people in your church.

Go boss them.

But you cannot boss me.

It was really funny.

Um, until she died.

And it wasn't funny anymore.

$15 to go to the doctor.

That's all the copay.

That's all it was.

And she wouldn't go.

Here's a question.

Have you gone lately?

Just a thought.

It's hard for me.

Sorry about you.

Why don't you go?

What haven't you gone?

You love your family, you're working hard for them.

You're trying your best to provide for them.

Working long hours, but you never get yourself checked.

How does that balance out?

Why don't you call tomorrow?

Why don't you make an appointment tomorrow?

Why don't you really show them that you love it?

You're trying to say your mother didn't love you?

No, my mother loved me.

With all of her heart.

But she didn't get checked.

And so now how do I deal with loss?

Oh boy, that can drag you along for life.

You know, I made a decision.

Celebrate her life, celebrate her memory, and live on.

You have to learn to embrace loss.

Joshua, you will never cross over, you will never get to the other side if you don't learn how to adjust to loss.

Loss on this side.

I know I'll see you in heaven, but I'm talking about the pain you feel on this side of the planet.

And for some of you, you came here this morning just to hear that.

Because it has followed you every holiday, every birthday.

And you have not been able to cross over it.

And what's really sad is if you talk to them, they would say, please live your life.

They would say, This is not a way to remember me.

Grieving every day.

Second thing he told him was this.

He said, Joshua, not only must you learn how to accept loss, he said, you must learn how to accept boundaries.

Chapter 1, verse 3.

Every place the sole of your foot will tread upon, I've given you, as I said to Moses, from the wilderness and this Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites to the great sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your territory.

I want you to understand, he says, I want you to look, Joshua, I'm going to map out for you what you conquer.

You don't own everything.

You have to know your boundaries.

You know what hurts some of us?

We don't know our boundaries.

You're trying to do too many things.

You can't do every right thing.

You can't be every right place.

Joshua, these are your boundaries.

Thirdly, Joshua, you have to have a certain attitude.

Verse 5 through 6.

You have to be strong and courageous.

Look at verse 5.

No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life.

As I was with Moses, so I will be with you.

I will not leave you nor forsake you.

Be strong and of good courage.

For to this people you shall divide an inheritance.

Watch this now.

You shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them.

You have to be a strong and courageous person.

You cannot be a weak person.

You know, I understand life can be intimidating.

But Joshua, you're going to have to step to life.

You're going to have to be a person who has fortitude.

You stand strong, you're courageous, you look at it, you face it.

If there's an illness in your life, you don't win by being afraid.

You win by standing up to it.

You have to be strong and you have to be courageous.

And then I love the fourth thing he told him in verse 7.

You have to be consistent if you want to prosper, Joshua.

You can't start and stop.

Look at verse 7.

He said these words, only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses, my servant, commanded you.

Here's the part I want you to see.

Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left.

Why?

That you may prosper wherever you go.

You really have to plant your feet someplace, sir.

Now, why would you have to tell Joshua this?

Because now he's in charge.

It's one thing to follow somebody.

It's another thing to be the man now driving the ship.

Some of us were fine as long as we were helping somebody else, but now you're in charge.

You prayed for the promotion.

Now you have it.

The temptation is to be fearful.

Temptation is to run.

You prayed for the church to grow.

Now all that comes with growth the buildings, the cost, the expenses, the multiple services.

You have to, if you're not careful, talk to yourself.

You gotta see me do that sometimes.

I'll look in the mirror and say, Temple, how are you doing?

Okay.

You mean you answer yourself?

Yes, I do.

There's nobody else around.

Every now and then I have to tell myself, be strong, be courageous, plant your feet.

Don't bend, don't go left, don't go right.

Trust yourself.

The last thing he tells him, he says, watch how you think.

Verse 8, he said these words to him.

He said, The book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it, for then you will make your way prosperous.

Notice if you meditate in it day and night, then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

After all I've said to you today, if you don't control your thoughts, it doesn't work.

If you allow your thoughts to run loose and run wild in your mind, you'll never win.

It's when you tell your thoughts, no, that's not true.

Here's what I'm going to do.

Here's how I'm going to think.

Here's the way I'm going to view this.

If you refuse to allow yourself to be lost in the mallet of life and say, no, I will plant my mind this way.

And what I want you to do today is this: look at your life.

Look at what you're doing right now and ask yourself, where will this lead me?

Look at your life lessons, the lessons you have.

Everybody has a library.

I told you mine, but whenever something happens in your life, I believe you develop a library book and you develop your own library, pull it off the shelf and ask yourself, have I really learned from the things that have happened in my life?

For me, it's my 50th birthday coming, celebrating my life.

But the real question is, what did I learn in 50 years?

Look at your future and ask yourself, what can I now do to make my future better?

I want to create a future that I will like when I get there.

What can I do?

Well, you know what's amazing.

You've got somebody now with all this experience.

You.

You've learned a lot.

When you date a turkey one time, you learn.

One turkey, one turkey helps you see the light.

You recognize the gobble gobble right away.

So let me give you, if I can, some things to look at.

Suggestions that might help you along the way.

Number one, stay spiritually focused.

Don't lose your spiritual focus.

Number two, stay financially focused.

Pay attention to your money.

Look at your resources.

Be honest.

Work at developing them, nurturing them.

Number three, stay physically focused.

You know, I was um in the airport, and I was um, I had to go back to the ticket counter.

I forgot something several years ago.

And I had to run.

And as I started to run, my body started a conversation.

My knee says, What is he doing?

My back says, I think he's running.

My mind said, Tell him to stop.

We don't do that.

We just pray and stuff like that.

We don't run.

That was a real wake-up call for me.

Stay physically focused.

Go walking three times a week.

Eat right.

Pray about what you're doing with yourself physically.

Some of you know how to do it.

You just stopped.

Number four, stay relationally focused.

Go fix your relationships.

Talk to your kids.

Hang out with your wife, your husband.

And then lastly, stay personally in touch with you.

I have this thing I do, I journal a lot, and I call them my thought documents.

And I write down what I thought 30 days ago, 90 days ago, and I read it, and I can't believe I have some of those thoughts.

But you know what it helps me do?

Stay in touch with me.

Some of us have been so busy we've lost touch with ourselves.

These are some lessons that I've learned, great lessons.

And they're going to help me build a great future.

I hope they help you.

Would you stand with me and let me pray for you?