15 March 2026 - How's Your Dash ? - Pastor Clarance Shashi

Well, I was gonna be doing part two of my sermon from last week on uh Mark chapter two, the story of the friends bringing their paralyzed buddy to Jesus for a miracle.

But I know you will excuse me today if I tell you that I'm gonna postpone part two to next Sunday.

Can I do that?

I mean, this is a family that has lost a family member suddenly and unexpectedly.

Yesterday, you know, Peter was out in his morning walk, uh, CK was with him, and uh he collapsed much to our shock, and uh they were not able to revive him.

There was even a doctor on the scene, and they were not able to revive him.

He's 52 years old, but he's gone to be with a lot, and uh most of you know him very well, he's uh a big part of this church family.

Anyway, I want to be able to speak into that this morning.

So I'm gonna start by reading Ecclesiastes chapter 3, verse 1 onwards.

Ecclesiastes 3:1

For everything, there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven, a time to be born, a time to die, a time to plant, a time to harvest, a time to kill, a time to heal, a time to tear down, a time to build up, a time to cry, a time to laugh, a time to grieve, and a time to dance, a time to scatter, a time to gather, a time to embrace, a time to turn away, a time to search, and a time to quit searching, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be quiet and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.

Well, uh church, today we are sort of living out portions of this scripture in real time.

This morning, usually this verse is speaks into the different seasons of people's life, the different seasons of a lifetime, but today for us, they are describing a single weekend.

We just held beautiful baby Zach in our arms, uh, a new life.

We celebrate that, that time to be born, that time to laugh, that time to rejoice, to be grateful for the goodness of God, and yet our hearts are heavy because we at the same time grieve the sudden passing of a good friend, a pillar, a big part of our church family.

So we are also navigating a time to die and a time to weep.

Unlike the seasons of nature that happens one after another when one season ends, then the other season begins.

The seasons of life can sometimes overlap.

We can see multiple seasons at play at the same time.

Like this morning for many of us here.

But we must know that God is not confused by this overlap.

He is the God of the sunrise and he's also the God of the sunset.

He is God of the mountains, and he is also the God of the valleys.

And this faith of ours, this faith that we're walking, is not just built for a world where only good things happen.

It is built for this world, and this is the world where joy and sorrow many times walk hand in hand.

So the Bible tells us in Romans chapter 12, verse 15 rejoice with those who rejoice, and grieve with those who grieve.

Romans 12:15

So today we rejoice with the Pereira family, uh, on the dedication of their latest addition, baby Zach.

And what a story of God's goodness, what a story of God's faithfulness.

And it's so meaningful for all of us who've seen this journey, this relationship with Fabian and Angie develop and uh to where they are today.

What a joy.

We read we really truly rejoice with them.

But at the same time, we grieve.

And with all who are grieving, the passing of our good friend Peter.

But yet, even in that grieving, there is this mixed emotion of hope and joy because we know in our heart of hearts that he is in his heavenly reward with Jesus.

Where's Arul?

Arul's somewhere here, he's not here today.

Probably having uh tea with Auntie Pauline who graduated into heaven just a couple of weeks ago.

God knows they both love their tea.

So it's it's okay to grieve.

And you know, sometimes we can have this Christian cliches, you know, you shouldn't be sad.

You know, he's with Jesus now, you should be happy, you should be rejoicing, stop crying, must have faith.

You know, that's nonsense.

Grief does not mean the absence of faith, it reveals the presence of love.

Jesus wept for Lazarus even though he knew he was going to raise him up.

Grieve is very much a part of our human experience.

Your heart, your heart knows, yet your heart also feels.

As I was praying this morning, I was I was sad, but also I was rejoicing, and I'm and I was wondering what about all these people out there who do not have this blessed assurance, who do not have this hope.

When they face the passing or the death of a loved one, that's it.

In their hearts, we will never see this person again.

But today, because of Jesus Christ, because of his finished work at the cross, because he faced death, today you and I will live even though we die.

And whenever we face the passing of the loved one, yes, we grieve, but we can be filled with joy because we know we will meet again.

We will meet again on that heavenly shore.

There's going to be a great party in heaven.

Amen.

Paul writes this in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, verse 13.

1 Thessalonians 4:13

He said, Now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died, so that you will not grieve like people who have no hope.

For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him all the believers who have died.

So he does not say do not grieve, he says, Don't grieve like people who have no hope, because we have a hope, and it is a living hope, and he has a name, his name is Jesus.

But regardless, this is the reality of life: joy and sadness, life and death.

We go through times and seasons.

Sometimes those seasons overlap.

There is a time to be born, and there is a time to die, there is a time to laugh, and there is a time to cry.

When you look at a tombstone in the graveyard when I was younger and a bit more naughty, we used to like hanging out at graveyards.

And uh there's so many friends who became religious because we scared them in the graveyards.

At night, like at midnight, you know, we'd get people, you know, to borrow my mother's sari, made my our friends.

We all dressed up at ghosts.

We got those old wigs, you know.

My mother had those bun wigs, open it up, put it on the head, and we challenge our friends.

Hey, let's just walk through the graveyard, see who's who's daring.

But we already got a group of people already waiting behind the tombstones.

And you go there, and they and honestly, some of them don't know.

In fact, yeah, in fact, some of them recently found out that what they experienced was not supernatural.

It was just super annoying, friends.

But when you walk through the graveyard, you'll notice that tombstones has a a general format.

You have the names, you have the date, you have a dash, and then you have another date, uh the date, the date you are born, birth date, and the demise date.

The time to live and the time to die.

And we know both those dates we don't get to choose.

It's chosen for us.

The one before the dash, the first date, though it's ultimately decided by God.

But our parents play a big part in choosing those dates for us.

Well, not always, but sometimes, if they get the planning right, they can kind of get the general timing right.

Fabian and Angie made choices for baby Zach.

He had no say in the date, the timing.

In fact, probably he came out and said, Why did you why you did you choose this time, lah?

Mom and dad.

There's war going on in the Middle East.

Oil prices are so high.

Or they had some influence over that, and Baby Zach had no control or influence over that date, that first date.

And then the other date, the one after the dash, is also a date that we have no power in deciding, and that also is ultimately in the hands of God.

In Job chapter 12, verse 10, it says, For the life of every living thing is in his hands and the breath of every human being.

Job 12:10

So God breathed his life into us at our formation, and when our time is up, Ecclesiastes chapter 12, verse 7 says, Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.

Ecclesiastes 12:7

So those dates actually aren't really that important.

They represent the starting point of your race and the ending point of your race, your life on earth, both of which you have no direct control or influence over.

What's truly important actually is that little dash in the middle because that dash represents your whole life, all your dreams, all your plans, all your achievements, the life choices that you make for yourself is in that dash, and all of us will only get one dash on a one dash, not two or three.

Unless if you're Lazarus, Lazarus had a date, a dash, a date, then another date, then another dash, then another date.

Because Jesus raised him from the dead, but all the rest of us, we all get only one dash.

I can't influence the date.

I have no power over the two dates that will one day be on my tombstone, but I do have power over the dash.

And while I cannot choose or guarantee the quantity of my days here, the quality of our days we get to have an influence over.

You know, when we hold that baby, we are looking at a blank page ahead of him, and we are filled with hope because the dash has not been written yet for him.

So we pray, we prophesy, we speak the word and the will of God into his future, for his salvation, for his life, he'll be a man of impact.

And every person in this room was once in the position of that baby.

We all had a blank sheet before us, a blank dash before us, and as long as you still have bread in your lungs, you are still writing your dash.

Alfred Nobel, the founder of the Nobel Prize.

How many of you have heard of the Nobel Prize?

In 1888, his brother, Ludwig Nobel, passes away.

A French newspaper gets it wrong, and they think it was they actually thought it Alfred Nobel, when they heard that Nobel passed away, they thought it was Alfred Nobel.

So they put an article in their newspaper, an obituary of sorts, and and the headline was this The Merchant of Death is dead.

Because they thought Alfred Nobel died.

And why did they call him the merchant of death?

Because most of us won't know he actually invented dynamite.

Dynamite.

So when Alfred Nobel read this mistaken obituary, thinking that it was he who died, he was horrified that he would be remembered for in that way.

He would be remembered for destruction.

So he spent the rest of his life changing his legacy.

He spent the rest of his life altering his dash and creating, ultimately creating the Nobel Peace Prize.

Today no one even knows that this guy actually invented dynamite that caused so much of destruction back then in the 1800s.

Today we all know him for the Nobel Peace Prize.

And we need to ask ourselves: would we be happy with our obituary if it was written this evening?

If it was written today, how will we be remembered?

And I want to ask you, how is your dash going?

Are you living for the things that will ultimately mean nothing when you stand before the presence of the living God?

Money, status, pride?

Are we living for the things that's gonna last?

Not only in this life, but well into our eternity for God.

Paul writes, faith, hope, and love.

These things will remain.

Are we living our lives anchored around these realities?

Because everything else will fade away.

The psalmist writes in Psalms 90, verse 12, he says, Teach us to realize the brevity of life that we may grow in wisdom.

Psalms 90:12

So the scripture is saying that there is a direct link between the understanding of our mortality, the brevity of life, and growing in wisdom.

Some of the wisest people are those who go through life with a clear understanding that this life is temporary.

Don't sweat the small stuff, all these things will soon pass away and will mean nothing.

You know, some of the things and we carry in our hearts at the end of the day will mean nothing when you stand before God, when you're breathing your last breath.

Realize the brevity of life.

Ephesians says it like this Ephesians 5, verse 15.

Ephesians 5:15

See then that you walk circumspectly, not circumcisely, other guys got worried.

Circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time because the days are evil.

So the dictionary defines circumspect like this: walk in careful consideration of your ways, and it defines redeeming the time.

Basically, to redeem something basically means to buy back, to regain possession of it.

The time that you have is a gift from God, and none of us know how much we are going to be allotted.

Only God knows how much time each of us have on this earth to make the decisions that will impact eternity.

So when God says we should be redeeming the time, He wants us to live with an awareness of eternity that all this is temporary, that we have a ticking clock, we all have an expiry date, no matter how much of vitamins and exercises you do.

The book of Ecclesiastes, which I read out of, talks about the seasons.

But this is an interesting book.

Actually, I really enjoy reading this book because it was written by the richest, the wisest, and probably the most popular person who was on the earth at that point of time.

His name was King Solomon.

And let me tell you a little bit about this man.

By the world's standards, this guy was living the dream.

Today, many of us, many people out there are dedicating their lives pursuing wealth and riches.

King Solomon was the richest person that some say that ever walked the face of the earth.

The temple alone, the temple that he built was valued at 87 billion dollars at Solomon's time.

And today, if you were to build a temple, it would cost you 500 billion dollars.

And that's just a temple.

He had palaces, he had real estate, he had he had horses, chariots, thousands and thousands upon them.

Wives, too.

Yeah, I'm getting there, I'm getting there.

Don't jump the gun, buddy.

Porcupines.

Then he today a lot of people pursue degrees, higher education, more knowledge.

King Solomon was was described as the wisest person who ever walked the face of the earth.

People from surrounding nations came to hear of hear his wisdom.

He composed songs and uh proverbs.

The book of Proverbs that we read, most of it is from King Solomon.

Songs, the songs of Solomon, all his romantic songs.

The book of Ecclesiastes.

He wrote all of that.

Today, people pursue fame, they want to be famous, so you get all kinds of weird people doing all kinds of weird stuff on TikTok.

King Solomon was so famous that the world leaders all wanted to meet him and spend time with him.

Kings gave him their daughters to be married to because they all wanted to be related to him.

And of course, he was so popular, he was so desired, as our brother said earlier.

He had 300 wives and 700 porcupines.

Concubines.

Imagine if he was alive today, everyone would envy him, people would wish they had his life, he would be on the cover of every magazine, he'll be interviewed on every talk show.

But I like this book because this is King Solomon writing at the end, the sunset years of his life.

He writes this book, and in this book, he sums up his whole life.

He looks at all his accomplishments, everything that he spent his life pursuing, all his exploits, everything that he has gained, and he starts this book with these words meaningless, meaningless, meaningless.

Some translations will call it vanity, vanity, vanity, vanity of vanities.

So why would a man who seemed to have it all by the world's standards come to the end of his life feeling that all this is meaningless?

Because in hindsight, he realized something really important.

While having those things were great, they are not the things, so they were not the things that truly mattered for his life.

And if our existence and our purpose revolves around those things, we're gonna end up missing out on the things that really matter, the things that are gonna ultimately make a difference.

And we too could end up writing a book at the end of our life starting with meaningless, meaningless, meaningless.

The three cast, Fabian, meaningless, meaningless, meaningless.

They did a survey in America, they interviewed 50 elderly folk ages 95 and above.

And they asked him this question if you could do it all over again, they asked him to reflect on their life.

If you could do it all over again, what would you do differently?

What would you change?

The top three, they had of course they have a list of things, but the number one they said reflect more, number two, they said we would take more risk, and number three, they said we would do more things that would live on after we are gone.

Basically, leave a legacy, reflect more.

This is what the Bible says in Haggai chapter 1, verse 5.

Haggai 1:5

Now, this is what the Lord Almighty.

Says give careful thought to all your ways.

Basically, reflect more.

The book of Ephesians says walk circumspectly.

You know, when those 95-year-olds were said they wish they reflected more.

They weren't talking about sitting on a rocking chair and thinking about the good old days.

They were talking about getting fresh or different perspectives on their life, on the decisions that they made.

Is it is it is this really worth it?

Getting a new perspective.

Does it really matter?

Is this worth my time, my emotions, my energy?

We need to ask ourselves, is this worth my health, my relationships?

Is this worth my walk with God?

Incidentally, I remember uh Fabian coming to see me some I think about a year or two ago.

And he had an offer to go to a foreign country, it was a promotion, a higher position.

It was Spain, if I'm not mistaken, was it?

Yeah.

And uh he was gonna go there as an expert, get a really good package, and and live there.

It's gonna be much better than what he was getting here.

And uh one of the things that he said was as to why he decided he wasn't gonna take it, because he says, I know this is gonna ultimately affect my spiritual walk with God, and that's not worth me living living my life or losing my walk with God.

So he turned down the promo.

See, not all that glitters is gold.

We need to ask ourselves these difficult questions before we carry on with something, before we make that decision, before you go on that rampage, before you pursue that next exploit, before you decide to continue in bitterness and anger and unforgiveness.

Is this worth it?

What is this gonna cost me at the end of the day?

We live in a world that is obsessed with the immediate, we are obsessed with the urgent.

So many of us are running around stressed.

Medical research tells us that stress is the underlying cause of over 80% of all illnesses.

We lie awake at night replaying conversations, worrying about bank accounts, stressing over promotions, over people, over the future.

But let's be honest for a moment, most of what keeps us up at night isn't going to matter in five years' time.

In fact, if we consider eternity, it's not gonna matter in a thousand years' time or a million years' time or five million years' time.

One of the reasons why we stress is because many times we have lost our perspective of eternity.

We have zoomed in, zoomed in so close to our problems that we cannot see the size of God.

How many of you know in the zoom feature when you zoom right into a word and you see broken?

And that word becomes your problem, your you're just focusing, broken, broken, broken.

You're so zoomed in on that word, it's the problem.

You're zoomed in on a problem that you do not see the size of God, the big picture.

And when you start to zoom out, you suddenly realize that word is part of a bigger statement.

My body was broken for you.

Every problem that you're zooming in on right now for your life, if you zoom out with God in the perspective, in the picture, in that story, let me tell you, your problem was already dealt with.

The fear that you're looking at, the fear that you're living with, if you zoom out and see the big picture with God in it, you realize that fear is part of a bigger statement that says, I have not given you a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind.

When you see that word failure, when you zoom out, you know that God has a hope and a future for your life.

Failure is not part of his plan for you.

So we need to zoom out and take a different perspective of our life, not from where we are on earth, but from where we are seated.

Because we are seated with Christ in heavenly places when you look at your problems from that seat, from that perspective, you get a whole different point of view.

Everything that you're going through now is temporary.

Think about Peter right now.

Yesterday he would have had things, he probably would have woke up in the morning worried about things, he probably had a to-do list, maybe he had bills to pay.

He might have had some worries about his future.

But the moment he took his last breath here and his first breath in heaven, all those things meant nothing.

All these things mean nothing in the grand scheme if Jesus is not a part of your life and your story.

Right now, he's experiencing what the apostle Paul calls that far greater weight of glory.

He's not thinking about his bank balance, he's not thinking about his car, his house, he's not reflecting on who offended him 10 years ago.

He's now looking at the face of Jesus, and I can guarantee you that his only thought right now is this is worth it.

That faith was worth it.

Me giving my life to Christ all those years ago as a young boy was worth it.

Me choosing to follow Jesus through the good times, through the tough times, to keep my faith in him in every circumstance, no matter what I was going through to call upon the name of the Lord, was worth it.

Me choosing to walk away from offense and walk into the presence of God and praise him has been worth it.

Because here I am.

This is what I've been living for.

Paul says, the problems that we face now are small.

He says the troubles that you see now are small and won't last very long.

Everything that you're seeing now, everything that you're going through now, everything that's keeping you awake at night, everything that you're fighting about and carrying, it's it's small from God's perspective, it's small and it's temporary.

So he says, Don't look at the things that we can see now, but focus on the things that cannot be seen.

There are things in your life that cannot be seen that are more important, that's going to make a difference not only in this life, but well into your eternity.

Things like faith, things like kindness, things like forgiveness, things like putting God first.

People won't see, but you know it.

Those are the things that truly will matter at the end of the day as you stand before God.

Someone once said, Fools live for the weekend, the wise live for the end.

Fools are stressed by the temporary, the wise are anchored in the eternal.

To reflect more means to stop and ask yourself, will this matter when I one day stand before God?

If the answer is no, then stop giving it your heart, stop giving it your peace, redeem the time, buy it back, buy back your peace.

We are not meant to be living in that state of worry.

Jesus says in Matthew chapter 11, verse 28, Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest, not stress.

Matthew 11:28

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle, lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

Jesus is inviting his disciples, his followers into a lifestyle of surrender and trust, a lifestyle that takes stress away.

And it starts with you first coming to him.

And coming to Jesus is not about saying a prayer.

It's not about saying just saying a prayer.

It's about living a life of trust and surrender to him.

It's about trusting your future in his hands, it's about you taking on his yoke.

The yoke, as most of you would know, was the that piece of metal or wood that they would they would bring two bulls together and they would put this yoke, this, this, this metal or this wood on their back to bring them together so that they can work together.

So what they would do those days is they would they would put the weaker bull, the new bull, the inexperienced bull, the sicker bull, they would actually yoke that bull with a strong, solid, experienced bull.

So actually, the bulk of the work, the bulk of the weight is actually carried by the bigger bull.

And this weaker one is just in there for the ride.

But as he journeys, he's learning how do you turn, how do you pull, but at any point it can just lean on the strength of the more experienced animal.

So when Jesus says, Take my yoke upon me upon you, he's not the weaker bull, he is a strong one, he's the perfect one, he is the one who knows the direction, and he's inviting you.

Hey, come be yoked with me.

Trust in me, lean on me.

My yoke is easy.

It wasn't easy for him.

He went to the cross, he took the suffering, but it's easy for you, and the burden is light because not because the burden is small, but because he has carried the burden.

It is he who has pulled it all, and we just gotta lean on him, trust in him, and be yoked with him.

And as he turns, turns, as he shapes your dash, you journey with him.

Amen.

It's not about you carrying God's burden, it's about God carrying your burdens.

Psalm 55, verse 22 says, Cast all your burdens on the Lord, and He will sustain you.

Psalms 55:22

Cast all, not some, not the complicated ones or the less complicated ones, complicated ones.

I'm gonna carry it on myself.

No, all your burdens on the Lord.

You know, some of us are yoked to our jobs, some of us are yoked to fear, some of us are yoked to certain relationships, to people.

All those kind of connections will disappoint you and will fail you.

So Jesus says, Unyoke yourself from all those things, be yoked with me.

Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Will you yoke yourself with him this morning?

Will you unyoke yourself from that fear that's been tormenting you, keeping you awake at night?

That worry, yoke yourself with Jesus.

First Peter chapter 5, verse 6 says, Therefore, humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, and that he may exalt you in due time, casting all your cares upon him, for he cares for you.

1 Peter 5:6

How do we humble ourselves?

Humble yourself, how does the scripture say?

By casting our cares upon him, knowing that he cares for us.

That is humility in God's eyes.

When you choose not to, the opposite of that is pride.

When I say I can do this myself, I don't need God, I will build my kingdom.

That's pride.

Humility in God's eyes is trusting Him.

Amen.

And that is the kind of relationship Jesus is inviting us into.

Luke 12, verse 25 says, And which one of you, by being anxious, can add a single hour to his span of life?

Luke 12:25

All your worry, they say worry is like a rocking chair, it gives you something to do, but it doesn't take you anywhere.

Yeah.

So what they would do different, they will reflect more, and then they say they would take more risk.

The most repeated command in or instruction in scripture is not be more loving, be kind, pray more.

It is fear, not be courageous, do not be afraid, mentioned hundreds of times in scripture.

And we all wrestle with fear, not all fear is bad, there's good fear that teaches us to respect certain boundaries, alerts us to dangers, keeps us from touching that hot stove, because we know there's danger there.

That's healthy fear.

But the fear that the Bible tells us to not have is the fear with the fear that the Bible talks about the most.

It's also the fear that we experience the most.

And it's not good fear, it's bad fear.

It's the fear that keeps us from trusting and obeying God with our lives, with our future.

It's the fear that keeps people from trusting God, it's God's word for their lives, it's the fear that keeps people from stepping into faith and that abundant life that God has for them.

God's got great plans for your lives.

He wants you to have that abundant life.

But the thing with God is it always involves you stepping out of your comfort zone, it always involves you taking risk because where there is no risk involved, there is no need for faith.

Faith is not about being completely fearless.

Faith is looking at the challenge before you.

In you may have that fear, but knowing that you know what, I am I am I'm worried, I'm a bit scared, but my trust in God is greater than my fear of the circumstances.

That is faith.

Going for us, going into full-time ministry was a was a risk, was scary.

For me, leaving my job in the bank was scary.

Going to Australia for a year was scary, it was a risk.

Obeying God for our finances was a risk.

Starting this church was scary, it was a risk.

Was I absolutely sure that things would all work out?

No.

Was I completely fearless?

No.

But was I willing to trust God's word and take that risk?

Yes.

And everything that we've ever done that has ended up being worthwhile involved that element of risk, it was in the realm of faith.

What do they do differently?

They would take more risk.

What have you been thinking about?

Things where you have a sense that God is pushing you or leading you into there's risk involved, and fear has been keeping you from stepping out.

Are you willing to surrender that to God and trust God?

Are you willing to step out of your comfort zone and trust God to keep you afloat?

What would they do more?

Do different, they would take more risk, and finally, they would do things that would live on after they were gone, they would leave a legacy.

What can I do today with my life that will positively impact the lives of others and in generations to come?

The greatest legacy that you can leave behind is a spiritual legacy.

Daniel chapter 12, verse 3 says, Those who lead many to righteousness will shine like stars forever and ever.

Daniel 12:3

You know, a study has shown the average person will meet about 80,000 people in their lifetime.

And if you're a hyper-extrovert, you'll probably meet about 160,000 people in your lifetime.

If you're introvert, it's probably about half of that.

And it says the average person will influence about 190 people.

That means your life would make a direct influence.

You'll have some form of influence, about 190 people on average in your lifetime.

So that basically says the decisions that you make today or the decisions that you are making will have an impact that is beyond you, beyond the moment, and it will ripple far into the future.

Not just in yours, at least another 190 people will be affected by the life that you are choosing to live.

Sometimes we think it's just about us, it's our decisions, it's my life, it's now, never.

You know, some years ago, by the grace of God, I made a decision to give my heart to Jesus, and I made that decision to trust my life and future into God's hands.

It was a difficult decision, some difficult connected decisions that I had to make as well.

And at it's funny, at that point I thought this was just about me.

It was just about my life, my future.

Now, years later, I look back and I see that my private decisions, my life decisions, uh, whether uh what I made at that point, whether I realize it or not, at that point had an influence or was going to have an influence on many others well into my future.

It was never just about me.

You know, some of us think this is about me, it's my life.

Think think again.

You know, we like saying that, especially when you're younger, it's about me, mom.

It's my life, dad.

That's true, it's your life, but again, it's not so true because your life is connected to the lives of many others, and in your life are the lives of others yet to come to know Christ, yet to be born as well.

So the decisions that you are making today is impacting others and will have an impact well into your future.

People that you don't know yet are going to be impacted by the decisions that you are making today.

Going back to the man who had it all, King Solomon.

He writes this great book, the book of Ecclesiastes.

He sums up his whole life, he reflects on everything that he's done.

He says it's meaningless, meaningless, meaningless.

And you come to the final chapter, he gives the conclusion of the matter.

In Ecclesiastes chapter 12, verse 13 to 14, he says, Let us hear the conclusion of the matter.

Ecclesiastes 12:13–14

Some of you have that those words ringing in your hearts right now.

Pastor Clarence, let us hear the conclusion of the matter.

So he does that, and then he says, Fear God, keep his commandments, for this is man's all, for God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil.

I like how the amplified Bible says it.

Let me read it.

All has been heard, and the end of the matter is fear God, revere and worship him, knowing that he is, keep his commandments, for this is the whole of man, the full original purpose of his creation, the object of God's providence, the fruit of character, the foundation of all happiness, the adjustments of all inharmonious circumstances and conditions under the sun, the whole duty for every man for God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing, whether good or evil.

What is he saying?

At the end of the day, we all are going to be standing individually.

We'll be standing, you'll be standing before the king of the universe.

And that's not the time to reflect, and that's not the time to decide to take more risk or do things that will leave a legacy.

The time is now to consider our days, to redeem the time, to make those decisions that will reverberate into eternity, to consider the brevity of life, to grow in wisdom.

Now is the time.

Peter's race is done, it ended yesterday.

He started a new life in heaven.

But as for he cannot say now, he cannot say one more prayer.

He cannot witness to one more person.

He cannot forgive one more enemy.

His dash is done.

His dash is drawn.

But you and I, our dash is still open.

The pen is still moving.

I want you to consider this.

If you knew, let's look at our lives on earth like this.

Our life on earth is sort of the internship for eternity.

If you knew your life on earth is that internship for eternity, how would you live differently?

What decisions would you make to adjust or shape your dash?

And I invite you to stand up.

Today, if you shut your eyes on earth, you're not sure that even you open your eyes, where are you going to be?

You're not sure of the certainty of heaven.

I want to give you that opportunity to receive that certainty.

To receive that blessed assurance that we have, that Peter had.

Every eye closed.

If you came in here uncertain about your eternity, I want you to receive that certainty.

Listen, don't leave this place uncertain.

Jesus wants you to be certain of the price that He paid for you, and it is enough.

He wants you to know in your heart that He is enough, that He's done it all.

All you have to do is believe.