Sermon

Things We Don’t Know

3Ci - Capital City Church International

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  1. It's great to see you. My family is here, my mum and my

  2. sister and my brother-in-law and he's made my sister really

  3. happy. I mean Button is a funny

  4. surname. Belinda Button.

  5. I mean, Belinda Dyer sounds good.

  6. Belinda Button. Anyway, it's very nice.

  7. I mean Button is what you put in a shirt.

  8. But anyway, Button, Button, Belinda Button.

  9. Nice. Nice name, Cliff.

  10. So, my mom and sis, if you could come and join me, please.

  11. Yes. Yeah.

  12. You my mom. Yeah.

  13. But hurry up, OK? I know you're not getting the

  14. microphone. So

  15. you see that Lady over there was married by your dad.

  16. Was married. Why don't you stand quickly?

  17. Your dad married them 53 years, 56 years ago in Pretoria, when

  18. my grandpa was an Anglican minister.

  19. I'm going to ask my sister to take my mum onto the stage

  20. slowly. And I'm going to ask you to put

  21. your foot in that box. Why not?

  22. Just because. Yeah, you're going to fall.

  23. Probably. But that's all right.

  24. Can you get up here? Do you need stairs?

  25. You need stairs. OK.

  26. Take it slowly, ma'am. Yeah.

  27. Yeah. You want to tune me on Sundays

  28. after you watch me online? And James, why don't you stand

  29. over there? One step.

  30. OK? I'll walk around my knees or so.

  31. Don't worry. It's all part of the preach.

  32. Are you going to put 1 foot in the box?

  33. That's a coffin. Hey, guys.

  34. You read your Bibles. Read your Bibles, OK?

  35. You just stand right there, man. You stand right there, buddy

  36. boy. It wasn't for my mum.

  37. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for her praise.

  38. I wouldn't be standing here, nor would my sister.

  39. It's through the praise of a faithful mother that we

  40. sometimes come to know the Lord. Maybe you're a mum out there and

  41. your children are far from God. Never forget this picture. 2018,

  42. my mum got diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer.

  43. If you're a doctor here, you will know stage 4 pancreatic

  44. cancer. There's a death sentence On

  45. 20/18. She took us on a holiday.

  46. She said this will be our last family holiday.

  47. I'm not going to have chemo and after this I go home.

  48. That was seven years ago. Seven years ago.

  49. She's the toughest woman I know, but she has one of the greatest

  50. faiths that I've ever met. If I can put the first

  51. photograph up, please, Just a few photos of my family.

  52. So that is me captaining my first team rugby and I never

  53. realized that. I just found the photograph in

  54. my drawer yesterday and I was, I just like I thought, this is 36

  55. years ago, 37 years ago. And I actually never knew this

  56. and I never ever seen this before.

  57. But this is my dad. That's my dad.

  58. I've never seen the photograph before.

  59. And I looked at the photograph. I thought, wow.

  60. You see, he's not looking at one other person running down that

  61. tunnel, he's not looking at the other 14 guys, He's only looking

  62. at me. It's like I've passed.

  63. Them and you can see where he's looking.

  64. And then 35 years later, this is the next picture on exactly the

  65. same tunnel. 35 years later is my son leading the exact same

  66. rugby team 35 years later, as strong as an ox and my knees are

  67. starting to get sore. The next picture, please.

  68. That's this guy When when we arrived in Pretoria, that's him

  69. when we arrived in Pretoria. And this is taken 2 weeks ago.

  70. And so life happens very quickly, doesn't it?

  71. The next picture please. That doctor is the head, the

  72. world leading head of the anti aging Medical Center in Las

  73. Vegas. His job is to keep people young.

  74. What's the problem? It's not working.

  75. He is the world expert on age management.

  76. He's the world expert on age management.

  77. But he's got 2 degenerative diseases.

  78. He's got a shrinking hairline which he can do whatever.

  79. You like you can. Go and get transplants in

  80. Turkey, as some of you have, and realize you're just a Turkey

  81. anyway, because transplants don't work.

  82. They're very expensive. That's why there's so many rich

  83. bald people in this room. And you'll notice that he's got

  84. a degenerative eye disease. That's why they're

  85. ophthalmologists in this room. So Mum, put your foot back in

  86. the box if you don't mind. Are you waiting for the second?

  87. What's? That Are you waiting for the

  88. second foot? I'm waiting for the second foot.

  89. Yeah. I'll probably earn a few bucks

  90. anyway. That's a second.

  91. That's a whole nother story. So this part of Ecclesiastes is

  92. written with one foot in the coffin and 1 foot still alive,

  93. speaking to her children and to her grandchildren about their

  94. youthfulness and their strength. So Solomon has lived his life.

  95. Now he's got to know God unbelievably well.

  96. He hasn't passed away yet. He's tried absolutely everything

  97. in life. And there are two ways we can

  98. live life. You can either live life this

  99. way with your leaning towards the grave or like my mother, you

  100. can live life this way with the leaning towards God and to the

  101. next generation. And So what my mum has done,

  102. having survived cancer and all those things, she leans this way

  103. and speaks to her children who have still got vigor and

  104. strength and energy and says you must walk in the ways of God

  105. because this is going to happen very quickly.

  106. And the problem, friends, if we get this wrong, when we lean

  107. this way, we are negative about everything.

  108. When we lean this way, we start to represent God well.

  109. And I want to say to your mom, in front of all these people, to

  110. me and to my sister, you have represented God unbelievably

  111. well. There's not a day that I've

  112. woken up in your house where I've not found you with your

  113. Bible. Open.

  114. With your prayer book next to you, crying out to God, not just

  115. for your circumstance and your situation and your husband and

  116. your family, but crying out to God for those big, strapping,

  117. healthy grandchildren that God has got.

  118. I'm somewhere between the middle of these two things, Stephen.

  119. He's not yet today. He's just done a wedding, was

  120. telling me the exhilaration of riding a motorbike at 260

  121. kilometers an hour doing dangerous things.

  122. When God calls us, we're not called to do evil things, but

  123. you are called to do dangerous things.

  124. And then he went for a 3K run with his daughter last week and

  125. he's completely dislocated his knee and he's having an

  126. operation next week. 260. KS an hour on a bike in the

  127. absolute exhilaration and then because he's getting older, 3K

  128. run has completely damaged his knee and Solomon is saying, hey,

  129. listen, I want to write to young people.

  130. I want to tell you about the goodness of God and I'm calling

  131. you to live a dangerous life, not an evil life, a dangerous

  132. life. I want you to take risks so that

  133. you can count for God. And so, Mama, I want to honor

  134. you in front of my church family and say the way that you have

  135. gone through this season when the doctor said to you that you

  136. had six weeks left to live and one last holiday with your

  137. family. And seven years later, you stand

  138. here as a victor of pancreatic cancer with some people have

  139. been diagnosed in the last six weeks in the life of this church

  140. you. Stand here.

  141. Yes, you are closer to the end of your life than to the

  142. beginning, but your leaning is to the left.

  143. And I want to say to you, everyone of you, lean to the

  144. left, lean to the left so that you can represent God well at

  145. this time. Amen.

  146. Great, you're with me. So let's have a look.

  147. Ecclesiastes 11. We're going to read Ecclesiastes

  148. 11 to 12, verse one. Make a few comments.

  149. Cast your bread upon the waters for this.

  150. The title of the sermon is We don't Know.

  151. We don't know. You'll see it comes up over and

  152. over again. We love to know, we love to be

  153. in control, but we don't know. Cast your bread upon the waters

  154. for after many days you'll find it again.

  155. Give portions to seven years to 8.

  156. I know there are financial gurus here and and one of my very dear

  157. friends is in this church who's one of the top financial guys in

  158. the country. They use this as a scripture in

  159. divestment in in, in putting your your, your risk in

  160. different places, which I think is 100% fair.

  161. And I think it's one of the amazing ways that talks about

  162. international trade, about putting your seed upon boats and

  163. letting the boats go to different countries and coming

  164. back and, and getting a return on your investment, not putting

  165. all your eggs in one basket. I think that's the truth.

  166. But I'm not going to preach from that today like that.

  167. Give portions to seven, yes to 8.

  168. For you do not know. Say you do not know.

  169. You do not know. What disaster may come upon the

  170. land. You don't know, Don't know the

  171. future. You do not know.

  172. It doesn't matter where you invest your money.

  173. Doesn't matter how you run your business.

  174. You do not know. 2008 the economy crashed.

  175. Nobody knew. Twin towers got smacked.

  176. One day they were standing, the next day they were down.

  177. World markets crashed. You do not know.

  178. You do not know. If clouds are full of water,

  179. They pour rain upon the earth where their tree falls to the

  180. South or to the north, In the place where it falls, there will

  181. it lie. And so part of life is

  182. predictable. You see the clouds, you see them

  183. form, you know they're going to rain.

  184. And part of life is unpredictable.

  185. You don't know which way the tree is going to fall.

  186. You can stand on your head. You will not determine when the

  187. wind blows which way the tree will fall.

  188. And so we try and control our lives.

  189. We've got every My mum used to live, my mom and dad lived in

  190. the next door neighbor. There's a really, really big gum

  191. tree. And the neighbors worried

  192. because if the gum tree falls his side, his house goes down.

  193. If the gum tree falls outside, my parents house goes down and

  194. if the gum tree falls the other side, it just falls into the

  195. forest. And so everybody's worried about

  196. the gum tree because we actually can't determine which way it's

  197. going to fall. Whoever watches the wind will

  198. not plant. Whoever looks at the clouds will

  199. not reap. And so we become scared because

  200. you think, well, I'm not going to invest in South Africa.

  201. I'm not going to start a business South Africa because I

  202. don't know what's going to happen in South Africa.

  203. But God called me to South Africa.

  204. God told me I must live here. And so if you must live here,

  205. you must live here and you must plant yourself here.

  206. And if God has called you to the church, think, well, I'm not

  207. going to plant myself in the church because the church has

  208. hurt me. My friends, every church will

  209. hurt you because there's some things we can predict and

  210. there's some things we can't predict.

  211. Every church is going to hurt you, but you got to plant

  212. yourself. Otherwise you're just waiting.

  213. I'll just keep, wait six weeks, 7 weeks, 8 weeks, 9 weeks, 10

  214. weeks, 6 months. And I don't actually invest

  215. myself in anything because I'm keeping.

  216. My options open. So we end up in this very safe

  217. world. You do not know, so you do not

  218. know. You do not know the path of the

  219. wind. Or how the body is formed.

  220. In a mother's womb. You don't know that.

  221. You don't know that. Come stand here sis, exactly the

  222. same DNA formed in that womb and you think how God, how this is

  223. the only person in the whole world that has got exactly the

  224. same DNA as me, the only person and you think same seed, same

  225. womb, completely different. You don't know.

  226. You don't know. You've got actually no clue how

  227. it's going to come out. You don't know when the spirit

  228. actually fills the child. You don't know if this child is

  229. going to be a teacher in remedial or if this child is

  230. going to be a preacher. You don't know what the spirit's

  231. going to fill in that child. And you know, one of the reasons

  232. friends, that people don't have children is because they don't

  233. know. And they think.

  234. Well, I'm not going to have. Children, because I don't.

  235. Know how they're going to come out?

  236. And so they play it safe. Because they don't trust God,

  237. think, well, we won't have children because maybe we'll

  238. have a Down syndrome child or maybe we'll have a child with

  239. disability because we don't know.

  240. And then the scan comes after, Adrian said.

  241. Your child has got a very. High percentage of being Down

  242. syndrome. And then we've got to make a

  243. choice. Abort, not abort.

  244. I want to tell you the three. Kindest men that I.

  245. Know that are in this auditorium have got disabled children the

  246. three kindest. Men that I know and the kindest

  247. man that I know, The kindest man that I've.

  248. Ever met in? My life is.

  249. Sitting in this auditorium. Today, and he has got.

  250. Three disabled children. He's got 3.

  251. Disabled. Because we think we can control

  252. God. And then God gives us something,

  253. and then he gives us the power to live.

  254. With that thing. Even when we.

  255. Don't know the future? And it's not a sentence of

  256. death, that's. Going to affect the rest.

  257. Of your life, it is going to be God's order to change you to.

  258. Become like Christ. That is God's desire.

  259. He wants us to be like Jesus. And so we.

  260. Cannot control the future and we cannot.

  261. Control what happens. Inside of a woman's womb.

  262. Amen. But we all control freaks.

  263. And so he hedged our bets. We make sure that.

  264. We win. You cannot understand the work

  265. of God, the Maker of all things. You can't understand it.

  266. So you'll see it in the morning and at evening.

  267. Let not your hands be idle, for you do not know.

  268. So you do not know. This scripture is about, You do

  269. not know, but I've got a mum, he's got 1 foot in the coffin

  270. and she's got 1 foot in life and she's leaning towards the left

  271. and she's saying I'm not going to become cynical about my

  272. death. I'm going to spend the next part

  273. of my life telling you about God, spend the next part of my

  274. life telling him I'm going to keep praying.

  275. I'm going to keep reading my Bible if I ask my most that I'd

  276. need to go home sometimes. And I feel like being with Dad

  277. and I want to be with God, but I know my job's not finished.

  278. Of course, your job's not finished because you've learned

  279. about God and you have to tell young strong people about God

  280. and how to live. You do not know which will

  281. succeed. So you can't determine success

  282. and failure. You cannot determine success and

  283. failure. I had this very strange thing

  284. when I was preparing. We we measure success by all

  285. external and most of them are body related.

  286. You never see a fat girl on a poster.

  287. You only see an athletic girl with a six pack on a poster, big

  288. boobs 6 pack on a poster in a bikini.

  289. That's success. And so most of the success that

  290. we measure is body related or achievement related.

  291. What did you get from a trick? Especially young girls.

  292. I want to speak to young girls. There is such a pressure because

  293. Saint Mary's produce. 4A's. Per Metric Girl, every year

  294. there's such a pressure when you go to Saint Mary's that you need

  295. to get. 4A's. So you can keep the standard of

  296. Saint Mary's up. That's not a measurement

  297. standard because there's some people that don't get that, and

  298. when they don't get that, they start cutting.

  299. Themselves, they start self. Harming because the measurement

  300. is wrong. And I was reminded.

  301. Friends 20 years ago 20 years ago a young girl walked into my

  302. office with her dad. And she lifted up her her shirt

  303. like. This and they were just cut

  304. marks. All the way along her arm.

  305. Just these cut Marks and I said. What's wrong this pastor?

  306. I am just a disaster. You cannot determine success,

  307. and I want to tell you this failure is not fatal.

  308. Failure is not. Fatal and she said.

  309. To me. How?

  310. Do I fix this? I said, do you not think Jesus

  311. knew that you would come into my office one day and the.

  312. Bible says by his, by his stripes.

  313. Say, by his stripes. By his stripes you are healed.

  314. He knew that you were going to compare.

  315. Yourself with other girls getting. 4A's and he knew that

  316. some of you are not going to get it and so when you put the

  317. stripe on your arm, he. Knew he had to have.

  318. Stripes. On his own arm.

  319. So his arm can envelope your arm and healing can take place.

  320. That story. Spread around the country and.

  321. When I moved to Pretoria, a man from.

  322. Krugersdorp phoned me seven or eight years.

  323. Ago he said hello. Pastor, I'm from Krugersdorp.

  324. I've got a daughter who's. Cutting herself and I.

  325. Heard. That you met a girl in Durban 20

  326. years ago or 13 years ago? And that little girl.

  327. Came from Krugersdorp and she sat in my.

  328. Office and I realized Ecclesiastes, you can't.

  329. Determine success or failure, and success is not the ultimate

  330. in failure is not fatal. That makes sense.

  331. So don't sit here because Christ.

  332. Dealt with both. And if you've cut yourself?

  333. Or you've been cut by life. I want to tell you by his

  334. stripes. You have been healed.

  335. You do not know which will succeed, whether this or that,

  336. or whether both will do equally well.

  337. Light is. Sweet, and it pleases the eyes

  338. to see the sun. However many years a man may

  339. live, let him enjoy them all, but let him remember the days of

  340. darkness where they will be many.

  341. You're going to die. Everything to come is fleeting,

  342. meaningless. Be happy, young man.

  343. While you are young, let your heart give you joy.

  344. In the days of your youth. Follow the ways of your heart

  345. and whatever your eyes see. But know that for all these

  346. things, God will bring you to judgment now, if you.

  347. Read the. Bible in a certain way you will

  348. think, OK young man, go and have fun.

  349. But I just want to tell you everything you do, God's going

  350. to judge. And then you've got young people

  351. who are scared. This is what it actually says,

  352. young man. God has made you strong.

  353. Now go and make that strength count in skydiving,

  354. cardboarding, riding motorbikes really fast.

  355. Do dangerous things, Go. Deep sea diving Go.

  356. Overseas spend all. Nights in prayer and fasting

  357. with your friends Have celebrations that last with hot

  358. chocolate until the middle of the night.

  359. Live life to the absolute full and if.

  360. You don't. God's going to judge you

  361. different way. So stand up, young man.

  362. And I want to say to you as you share the.

  363. Stage with your granny with one foot in the coffin and 1 foot

  364. out. A granny who knows God.

  365. A granny who's seen the goodness of God.

  366. A granny who's seen the protection of God.

  367. A granny who's seen the faithfulness of God.

  368. A granny who's seen the provision of God.

  369. I want to say. To you, young man.

  370. Run live life to the full. Ride your motorbike.

  371. In the Forest, play rugby at the from the bottom.

  372. Of your heart, enjoy your friends, go out, celebrate,

  373. dance, of course. Don't get drunk.

  374. Of course don't. Sin but live.

  375. Life to the absolute. Fullest because soon, before you

  376. know it, you're going to have one foot in the coffin and many.

  377. Reasons why young people. Don't want to come to church is

  378. because they think they're going to hear from a grumpy old group

  379. of people that God is tough. And you need.

  380. To be holy, yes, you do need to be holy.

  381. But have holy fun. Be adventurous.

  382. Live life to the full. There's a young man here, his

  383. name is Bevan. You can put the picture up of

  384. that guy who's memorial this Steve.

  385. That's my friend Steve. His name is Steve Lorenz.

  386. He died last week on Friday riding a motorbike.

  387. He lived life to he loved life, he loved his wife, he.

  388. Loved his daughters. He loved the church.

  389. He was the most amazing man. He built reservoirs in his house

  390. and he built solar systems and his house.

  391. Was off the grid and he. Loved riding motorbikes and he

  392. loved riding them fast and it's not evil to ride a motorbike and

  393. he came round the corner too fast and he.

  394. Went over his handlebars and he died.

  395. But he. Lived, but he lived.

  396. And at his memorial service, everywhere, he said.

  397. But he lived. And we've got people who are too

  398. scared to do anything because I can't do this and I can't do

  399. this. God is your father.

  400. He's not your mother. Be careful, Be careful, Be

  401. careful. Be careful.

  402. Don't do that. Stop doing this.

  403. Do this. Be this.

  404. Don't do that. Don't do that.

  405. Be careful. Be careful.

  406. Pull your socks up. Put your tie on.

  407. Where's your lunch? I don't care if you don't have

  408. your lunch. You don't eat.

  409. Hey, Mel, where you going? James forgot his lunch.

  410. I said forget it. He's 17 years old.

  411. He must remember his. Lunch.

  412. Seriously, friends, I've got a. Friend, he's sitting.

  413. Up there some his name is. Bevan, his dad taught him how to

  414. ride a motorbike. His dad taught him how to ride a

  415. motorbike. He's 17 years old.

  416. I was riding with him the other day.

  417. I was riding on the road and he was riding in a pine forest that

  418. had been stumped. So all there are a pine forest,

  419. stumps, stumps. And I'm doing 60 and he's doing

  420. 60. I'm thinking and and he's doing

  421. this going through the thing and, and, and it says tell the

  422. young man to have a go. And I'm thinking, but whatever,

  423. he goes over his handlebars and I'm going to phone his dad.

  424. His dad prepared him to ride a motorbike.

  425. His dad prepared him not to be scared.

  426. And we've got this like careful, cautious thing that has come

  427. into us. When God says no, I want you to

  428. have a go. I'm old now and I want to speak

  429. to the young people when they come to church.

  430. They must be commissioned to have a go, not quieten down to

  431. you or get your degree and go to London so you can make lots of

  432. money, so that you can educate your kids who can make lots of

  433. money, so they can educate the kids who can make lots of money.

  434. Or let's change our nation. Let the Spirit of God fill us

  435. with young men. So I thought, OK Bevin, let's

  436. see how this goes. I'm going to speed up on the

  437. road. So I speed up and he's fed up.

  438. So I speed up and he's fed up. Now we go and get 90 KS and I'm

  439. on a proper dirt road and Bevin's going through the tree

  440. stumps. I'm thinking, dear God, how he's

  441. young. He's young and part of my half a

  442. foot in the grave. I feel like saying be careful

  443. Bevin. Don't drive so fast, Bevin.

  444. You might fall off, Bevin. But God is saying.

  445. Have a go Bevan. Have a go Bevan.

  446. Are you with me? Have a go can we trust God

  447. imagine if we didn't pull this building off imagine if we

  448. failed. Imagine if we half built it.

  449. Failure is not fatal. At least we had a go.

  450. At least we trust God. When this is over, I say, oh

  451. God, surely this can't be the biggest thing you're.

  452. Ever going to call me to? Surely, God, I want to change

  453. the world. I want to preach.

  454. I've had a mother who's prayed for me for 57 years.

  455. There's got to be some value in that.

  456. She's not leaning and thinking. How you must slow down now, boy,

  457. she's saying, son, you must take that which God has given to you

  458. and go and change the world are. You with me light is sweet and

  459. pleases the eyes of the sun. However many years a man may

  460. live, let him enjoy it. But remember this OK?

  461. Be happy young man while you're young and let your heart give

  462. you joy in the days of your youth.

  463. Follow the ways of your heart and whatever your eyes see, but

  464. know that all of these things, God will bring you judgement.

  465. If you don't live properly, God's going to judge you.

  466. If you don't live free and full and tough and hard, and if you

  467. don't bungee jump when you're young because your mother says.

  468. Be careful, Be careful. Johnny.

  469. Just jump, Johnny. Jump, Johnny, Jump.

  470. So then banish anxiety from your heart.

  471. You young people, stop. Being scared?

  472. Stop wearing. She's lived on a farm her whole

  473. life. My mom, she walked the dogs.

  474. Don't be scared. I can't be scared.

  475. She lived on a farm. What's going to happen on the

  476. farm? Lived on a farm.

  477. Grew up, ran a business, Trusted God.

  478. Took a loan. From the bank, stop being

  479. scared. Worked.

  480. All day long, 16 hours a day. Sometimes to come and watch my

  481. mum count the money. My dad was selling petrol, my

  482. mum was counting the money. Now I've got to look at my young

  483. people and say don't be anxious about.

  484. Business, young man. Don't be anxious because there's

  485. your granny with one foot in the grave.

  486. And she's leaning. For so you can be a businessman.

  487. Your grandpa was a businessman, She counted.

  488. The money. Start businesses, young people.

  489. In this country start businesses, trust God, so then

  490. balance anxiety from your heart and cast off the troubles of

  491. your body. Oh, I.

  492. Hate talking to people? How you?

  493. I'm not asking how your body is. I want to know how your spirit

  494. that God birthed inside of you when you were born.

  495. I want to know how your spirit is.

  496. I want to know because we could build a world that's tricked us

  497. with our bodies. It's all about the body.

  498. Your body is going to get so you saw how long it.

  499. Took my mother to get there. But my mother is just the body.

  500. The body is aging, the body is becoming frail, but inside lives

  501. the resilient spirit that when the doctor says you will live

  502. six weeks, she says I will live seven years.

  503. Amen. When COVID.

  504. Came along, my mum used to live in Nottingham Road, my son said.

  505. COVID came driving. Up the N 3 highway, stopped the

  506. Nottingham Road and said is there any old person that I

  507. could infect you? And pancreatic cancer said

  508. there's an old woman here called Jill Dyer.

  509. See Scop mahat you must get. Back on the road.

  510. And disappear because she's. Going to.

  511. Scop your hat too. So.

  512. COVID. Got back on the road and off he

  513. went. Friends, stop talking.

  514. About your aches and pains. Give up the anxiety and the stop

  515. talking about it. It's all everybody talks about.

  516. And we're. Sitting with people leading here

  517. thinking I'm my back, sue, I'm my knee sue.

  518. I'm going for an operation on my shoulder that happens.

  519. Friends Paddle was invented by orthopaedic surgeons.

  520. They're all sitting here. They invented the game.

  521. They had a National Orthopedic Surgeon Society meeting and

  522. thought, what should we do to make people snap their Achilles

  523. tendons? Paddle, paddle.

  524. They don't even know how to Afrikaans and as they invented

  525. the game. Knees go, muscles go, everything

  526. goes. Who?

  527. Old people shoulders go, but cast off the anxiety of your

  528. heart and cast off the troubles of your body.

  529. For youth and vigor are meaningless.

  530. It happens quickly. Happens quickly.

  531. You see when you're. Old You can compare yourself to

  532. young, but when you're young, you can't compare yourself to

  533. old. Look at this.

  534. Remember your creator in the days of your youth.

  535. Remember your Creator, not your Savior, not your Lord, not your

  536. King, your. The guy who?

  537. Put you together in your stomach, in your mother's

  538. stomach. Remember your Creator.

  539. Remember your Creator in the days of their youth, before the

  540. days of trouble come and the years approach.

  541. When you will say, I find no pleasure in them.

  542. Before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars grow dark

  543. and the clouds will turn off the rain.

  544. When the keepers of the house tremble.

  545. And the strong men, the keepers of the house, or your teeth,

  546. when they start getting loose. Before that, remember your

  547. Creator. Three things, friends.

  548. We cannot predict the future. We cannot predict the future,

  549. cannot predict it. So you've got to live in the

  550. now. We cannot predict the future.

  551. So when you've got 1 foot in the grave and 1 foot here, make sure

  552. you lean this way #2 we don't know God's ways.

  553. We don't know God's ways, so don't question him when things

  554. you don't understand don't know God's ways said to Job.

  555. He said, Job, do you know where the wind comes from?

  556. You know where the mountain goat gives birth?

  557. You know where I hide the stars? Job, do you Do you know who

  558. controls lightning? And Job says, I don't know,

  559. Lord, he says, and who are you to question me?

  560. One of the things that Ecclesiastes is don't question

  561. God. I've seen my mum with a 1 foot

  562. in the coffin and a one foot here and the 57 years that I've

  563. known her I've never ever heard a question God.

  564. I watched their business go through this.

  565. I remember being in the Kruger National Park on holiday when

  566. the bank pulled my dad's credit line, and I remember my mom and

  567. dad having a talk. My sister and I were in a

  568. separate bungalow. They ran and they said we're

  569. going home. We got in the car.

  570. We raced from Cricket Park to Bethlehem where my dad's bank

  571. was. I remember him going in there

  572. and arguing to get his credit line back in, but never

  573. questioned God. You don't know God's ways.

  574. So whether you succeed or whether you fail, success is not

  575. a sign of God's blessing and failure a sign of his curse.

  576. We don't know God's ways. We don't know God's ways.

  577. I watched my son with some of your sons lose a rugby match

  578. yesterday. 73 Seven. I prayed, I read, I blessed, I

  579. asked. 73 Seven. I don't know God's ways, but I'm

  580. not going to lean this way. I'm going to lean this way

  581. because I know that there's a young man and he needs to

  582. explore things and needs to express things, and he needs to

  583. go back and dig deep and find things.

  584. And I know that 73 seven will not be a loss that will haunt

  585. him. It'll be a loss that will shape

  586. him for the rest of his life #3 we cannot guarantee success or

  587. failure. So what should we do #1 be

  588. generous. Just be generous.

  589. Just so how many times? 7 * 8 times?

  590. Just keep sewing, Just keep sewing, keep sewing, keep

  591. sewing, just keep sewing. There's a man called Nicotus.

  592. He's a man whose one son is a doctor, his daughter's a doctor.

  593. His one son is an advocate. His other son is one of the big

  594. shots of PSG in South Africa as an English boy.

  595. And all he did was just sow pray.

  596. Just sowed, just sowed, sowed, sowed, sowed, pray.

  597. And one day I realized actually the only reason that I'm still

  598. in ministry because I should have burnt out.

  599. Because I've made some dumb decisions and I've over

  600. committed and I've worked sometimes too hard and I've

  601. stayed up late at night and I've done all these things.

  602. And sometimes I lean this way, but through the prayers of

  603. Nicotus and through the prayers of my mum.

  604. Somehow I've got to lean this way.

  605. And now I say to you, Bevan, ride your motorbike faster in

  606. the forests, run harder on the rugby field, jump higher when

  607. you jump. Work harder with the gift that

  608. God has given to you, young man and business, and the blessing

  609. that God has given to you and young lady, your entrepreneurial

  610. spirit that you got from your grandpa.

  611. Somehow through the grace of God, exercise it and start more

  612. businesses and more businesses and more businesses.

  613. Otherwise, God will judge you for not using the skill.

  614. And you young man who know how to tackle, and I've got a very

  615. big heart inside of your chest as a gift from your mother that

  616. when you were knit together in that room, God put a big heart

  617. in there. And it's not the spirit of a

  618. passive man. It's the spirit of a lion.

  619. And you're meant to. Be buying cars at the tender age

  620. of. 17 and selling them for a profit.

  621. Because God is putting. Business inside of you, young

  622. man, and you know how to tackle and you know how to stand up and

  623. you know how to live. And when your body gets sore,

  624. then shake it off and don't. Worry about it and just remind

  625. that the. Spirit that God put.

  626. Inside your mother's womb. Was a spirit.

  627. To make a difference I want to say to all.

  628. Of you old guys like me because sometimes my shoulders sore,

  629. other pull ups. And my shoulders a bit sore.

  630. Stop complaining about your shoulders.

  631. And your jolly back and your knees, and speak to the next

  632. generation in the life of the Church and say.

  633. Hey, have a go, have a go, have a go.

  634. Be wild, be free. Be dangerous, don't be.

  635. Evil. And have a go, but I don't know

  636. the future. No, you don't.

  637. But I'm not so sure I'll fail. Don't worry, don't worry.

  638. I'm going to feel like I'm going to get.

  639. Cut. Don't worry, Jesus was cut for

  640. you. He'll heal you.

  641. But have a go young people, in Jesus name.