Ecclesiastes 11, verse 9. The title of the message this
morning is, Remember Now Thy Creator. Remember Now Thy Creator. I want everyone here, young and
not as young as you used to be, to pay attention to this message
in particular. When I was a young man, an older person, a preacher,
told me something along one day when he and I were together. This was the first scripture
that he read to me. Ecclesiastes 12.1 Remember now
thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come
not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no
pleasure in them. When I was in my early teens, I had my eyes wide open for this
world. I wanted nothing whatsoever to
do with God. I went to the services because
my parents wanted me to, made me go. But the Bible seemed strange
to me. It seemed like reading Aesop's Fables or something like
that. It seemed like something you'd
hear from Disneyland. I didn't understand it. I thought
it was nonsense. I wasn't as bad as they said
men are. I compared myself to other people
around me, and I didn't think I was as bad as most of them.
I made sure I didn't compare myself to anybody that was better
than me, though. But still, I compared myself
with other people. I had one interest. Really? And it was girls, and going out
and having fun with my friends, and everything in between was
just a waste of time. It really was. And this old man told me, Son,
remember now your Creator while you're young. Remember Him now. When we start out in this world,
God forms us in our mother's wombs. Scripture says, My substance
was not hid from thee when I was made in secret and curiously
wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. That's in the womb. Thine eyes did see my substance,
yet being unperfect, and in thy book all my members were written. which in continuance in time
were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. He saw me and
brought me forth. And if we grow to be young people,
we got quite a few here now with us, young men and women, boys
and girls, He gives you a gift to be used, called youth. It's called youth. Ecclesiastes
11.9 Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth, and let thy heart
cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of
thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes. You've got a good
heart, good eyes, legs, strong bodies, And you don't have a lot of responsibilities
right now. Not a lot of responsibilities.
Right now you have every opportunity, perfect situation right now to
find you a quiet place, get you a Bible, get you a concordance
where you can look up words, phrases, and it will tell you
right where it is in the Bible. Get you something like Brother
Henry's Bible Class Commentary. It's so good. So good. It's just simple to the point. He took some of the best old
writers and just condensed it down to just nuts and bolts. And gives plenty of scripture
to back up everything that's said. Get you something like
that and sit down and give yourself some time and read and study.
I wonder how much time we spend if we added up the time in our
days. I wonder how much time as parents and as children we
spend in our schoolwork learning the things we learn in our schoolwork.
And I wonder if we compare that to how much time we spend about
learning about our God. I wonder how it would compare. You have a choice between two
paths. You young people, listen to me.
Stop your writing. Quit drawing your pictures. Look
up here at me right now. Everybody in this room. I can
see every one of you. Look me in the eye. You have
a choice between two paths. Two paths. You can begin right
now. You can spend the strength, the
talent, the time of your youth and your whole life that God's
given you toward gaining all that this world has to offer,
so that in the end, this world views you as one of its very
best. You can make a name for yourself
in this world. Or, you can take these gifts
God has given you, youth, energy, freedom from burdens, and beginning
now, You can spend the rest of your
days seeking the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. Scripture says we cannot serve
the world and God. You can't do both. So there's your two choices.
You can go out and serve the world, or you can seek first
the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. Verse 9 says, But know thou that for all these
things, all these gifts God's given you, all these things,
God will bring thee into judgment. It's always good to consider
the end before you begin something. Consider the end before you begin
it. The same God who has given you
this life and all your talents, who is going to sustain you to
the set day that He is appointed, when He is going to take your
breath from you, and you are going to meet Him face to face
in judgment, that same God is the one to whom you are going
to have to give an account for how you spent this time. Solomon says, Remember now thy
Creator. in the days of thy youth, while
the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt
say, I have no pleasure in them." Are you trusting in strength,
in the strength of your youth? You are strong right now. I went
out knee-boarding like a foolish man. Kind of like climbing them
high hills. I went out kneeboarding with
John. I'm 37 years old and hadn't done
it in 20 years. And got on a kneeboard. And couldn't
ride it nearly like I could 20 years ago. Now John, next thing
I know he's turning circles just like it's nothing to it. And
he got up the next day and I bet he felt fine. And I hardly could
get up the next day. Well, because we're born in sin,
the days of our lives are coming faster than a weaver's shuttle. A shuttle a weaver uses goes
in between the threads and it goes back and goes in between
the threads and it weaves. And if you've ever seen somebody
that knows how to really use a shuttle, a weaver's shuttle,
it's fast. They use it fast. People these
days don't really do it. We do everything by machinery.
But it's fast. That's how fast our days go by.
It's like a vapor that appears for a moment, it's gone. The days are coming when this
strength, the clarity of thought, the youth that you now have,
it's going to be gone. It's going to be gone. Remember
now, right now, our Creator. Look here at verse 2, chapter
12. While the sun or the light or
the moon or the stars be not darkened, nor the clouds return
after the rain, that means while the mind is still sharp, before
the light, the youth of life is darkened, begins to dim, before
clouds return after the rain, before You get sick and no sooner
have you gotten well than you get sick again. Sickness after
sickness. Verse 3, In the day when the
keepers of the house shall tremble, run after the Lord of righteousness
now before the hands and the head begin to tremble without
control. The keepers of the house. That's
our hands and our members. They're going to start trembling.
Have you ever seen somebody Will their hands tremble? You men
who work and labor with your hands, what if tomorrow you are
stricken with palsy and your hands tremble so that you can't
work anymore? Verse 3, The strong men shall
bow themselves while you have energy. Seek God's righteousness
now before the body becomes weak and bent. That's sin, brethren. That's
the sure path. Because we're born in sin, that's
where these bodies are going. And the grinders cease because
they're few. Feed upon the bread from heaven
now. Do you hear us talk about the
bread? Feed upon the bread of heaven now before the years come
when your teeth, your grinders, few and cease to be of any use. Verse 3, And those that look
out of the windows be darkened. Read God's Word now before the
eyes grow dim and it becomes a burden to try to read. You can't even see. Verse 4,
And the doors shall be shut in the streets. Assemble yourselves to hear God's
Word now. The day may come when your health
won't permit you to go out into the street. You may end up in
some assisted living center or in a nursing home where you can't
go out. The doors are shut. Verse 4,
when the sound of the grinding is low, when the city has calmed
down and the lights have gone off and everything is quiet,
And he shall rise up at the voice of a bird. Find the comfort and
peace that only Christ can give right now. Find it now before
the years come when the night falls and you get alarmed at
the least little voice, the least little sound just scares you,
terrifies you. Verse 4, And all the daughters
of music shall be brought low. sing and enjoy the songs that
praise the Master before the day comes when the hearing is
gone and you can't hear the music, you can't sing the songs. Verse
5, also, when they shall be afraid of that which is high and fear
shall be in the way. Seek the risen Redeemer on high
who shares fear not. I'll never leave thee nor forsake
thee. before the days come when you go afraid of that which is
high or the least little thing in your path. You don't think
you're going to come to that point, do you? If God tarries, if He doesn't
return and He gives you three score and ten years' life on
this earth, this is going to be your lot. This is where you're
coming to. This is where these bodies are
shipwrecked. This is where you're coming to.
Listen now. Verse 5, And the almond tree
shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire
shall fail. Use all your strength to apply
your heart to wisdom before the hairs turn gray. You know what
happens when an almond tree flourishes? Almond trees are white, gray. It's the hairs of the head before
they become gray. Before every little thing, a
grasshopper is a burden to you. You pick up grasshoppers and
play with them now, don't you? What about when you can't see
very well and that thing moves on the ground and you don't know
if it's a snake or if it's just a grasshopper and you're scared. It's a burden to you. And every
little thing and your desire's gone. You know, I wonder sometimes
if we mistake. We look at our flesh. There's
a mistake. We look at our flesh to determine
growth in grace. And there's things we don't do
that we used to do. And so we think, well, we've
grown. We've put those things away. And that could be it. Maybe
that is from the spirit of growth in grace We've crucified that
flesh. We don't do those things. But
I wonder sometimes if it's just that we don't have the energy
and the desire to do them anymore. You see men who have put away
going to the bars and running wild and all these things. They've
got a wife and they're settled down and they may worship the
Lord And something happens, and they split up. Next thing you
know, they're right back in the bar, running wild, whatever.
It wasn't that that desire wasn't there to do it. It was that they
were comfortable and at ease where they were, and so they
didn't go back and do those things. I wonder sometimes if what we
mistake as being growth in grace is really just the fact that
we don't have the energy to do those things anymore. What's going to happen if we're
looking at this flesh? What's going to happen when we
get to this point? What's going to happen when you
have Alzheimer's and you don't even know who you are, much less
who the Lord is? You know what's going to matter?
That He knows them that are His. That He said, I'll never leave
you nor forsake you. What happens If we're trusting
in the works of our hands, what happens when our hands get to
the point where we can't work anymore? We trust in His work, don't we?
These days will be difficult enough when we believe on Christ,
but how sad to face them, having never remembered our Creator,
considering the end from the beginning. Look at verse 5 with
me, the end there of it. It says, man, because man goeth to his long
home. That's the grave. And the mourners
go about the streets, wherever the silver cord be loosed, or
the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the
fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern. Due to the sin
of this flesh, due to being sons of Adam, this is the sure certain
course to which our youth is headed. The mind goes, the heart
goes, the body fails, and we die. And then we return to where we
began. Verse 7, Then shall the dust
return to the earth as it was, and the Spirit shall return unto
God who gave it. The evil days will be those days
when we return to God having never remembered Him. There was this noble man named
Felix. And Felix came with his wife
Drusilla one day. She was a Jewish. And he sent
for Paul, the apostle. And he listened to Paul preach.
concerning the faith in Christ. Just like you are here now listening
to me. Paul is just a man and he is preaching the gospel to
Felix and his wife. He is the Son of God, the Creator. He is the beginning. By Him all
things consist. By Him and for Him, made for
His glory, that justice and mercy met together in Him. He lived
and died as substitute for sinners. Every knee is going to bow to
Him, whether they believe Him or not. Every knee is going to
bow and confess He is Lord of lords and King of kings. And
Paul exposed Felix's sin and ruling in unrighteousness. Everything Felix thought was
going to gain him favor before God, Paul took it all away from
him. Paul reasoned of righteousness.
He's telling Felix, say, Felix, your sins have separated you
from God. What I'm telling you this morning,
every eye looking at me, every pen stopped, every picture being
stopped, being drawn, and look up here and pay attention. Awake
now, O thou sleeper. Listen. Listen. Paul told Felix, sin has separated
you from God. And I'm telling you right now,
young and old, sin has separated you from God. You need somebody
that's going to reconcile you to God. God doesn't have to be
reconciled to you. God's done nothing wrong. But
you have to be reconciled to God. And Paul reasoned of temperance.
Paul spoke of Felix's sins. He heard that God was not satisfied
with his filthy rags of righteousness and his running wild and filling
himself full of this world and the lust of his flesh. And Paul
reasoned of judgment to come. Told him he's going to come into
judgment one day. He's going to stand before God.
And Felix trembled when he heard this. Do you tremble when you hear
this? I pray God would put this in your heart. That He would
come to you in the power of the Holy Spirit so that these things
would cause you to tremble. Felix trembled when he heard
this. But the problem was Felix didn't
tremble with godly reverence, Felix trembled out of anger. He was mad because he heard it.
And here was his answer. And Felix answered and he said,
Go thy way for this time. Paul, you just go on and go wherever
you're headed. Take off. Leave. Go. When I have
a convenient season, when it's convenient for me, I'll call
for you. And he never called for him again. Never called for him again. You think when you're young,
you think, well, I got plenty of time for those things. I got
plenty of time for this gospel thing. So I'll go on doing what
I'm doing, living like I'm living, enjoying what I'm enjoying. And
when I have a convenient season, I'll call on God. Felix never did. He never did. What a wise word Solomon gives
in Ecclesiastes 11.10. He says, Therefore remove sorrow
from thy heart, put away evil from thy flesh, for childhood
and youth are vanity. You know what that means? Worthless. Vanity. Fleeting. Be gone in
just a moment. How am I going to remove sorrow
from my heart? By hearing the wisdom of Solomon,
by knowing childhood and youth are vanity, that all this world
can give you is vanity, a fleeting, perishing, temporary happiness. That's all it's going to give
you. And by remembering right now, God Almighty, Christ the
Lord, seek ye first the Kingdom of God. Seek ye first Christ
Jesus the Lord and His righteousness. All these other things that you
want, that you desire, they'll be added to you. Seek Him first
in everything. What do we seek? What do we look
for? What do we want? We start out
in this life, what do we want? We want some wisdom. We want
wisdom. That's what parents want for
their children. They want you to be wise. They try to teach
you from day one to be wise. We go to school and universities
to get knowledge. I went there and I encountered
some wise professors, philosophers, full degree after degree after
degree. And as far as I know, I didn't
meet one person that knew God, trusted Him, believed Him. If
I did, it never came up and we never discussed it. Of the ones
that I met, I never met a one. They were smart, they were wise
as far as the world's concerned. Ignorant as far as God's concerned.
Our Creator says this, Your turning of things upside down shall be
esteemed as the potter's clay. For shall the works say of him
that made it, he made me not. Or shall the thing framed say
of him that framed it, he had no understanding? You see, we
turn things upside down. That's our natural way to do,
is to turn things upside down. The wise men of this world are
ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the
truth. Thy Creator says, I'll destroy the wisdom of the wise
and I'll bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.
You know what I see a lot of so far since I've been here? I see people who are dangerously
overeducated. Just dangerously overeducated.
I'm not against education at all. In fact, it's imperative. But it sure can bring a lot of
pride. It sure can fill the mind and twist it and turn it upside
down. Where shall wisdom be found?
Where is the place of understanding? Man knoweth not the price of
it. How much money does it cost to
go to an Ivy League school? I don't even have any idea. But
scripture says here in Job 28.13, man does not know the price of
wisdom. It can't be a price put on it.
Neither is it found, listen to this now, in the land of the
living. That's here. You can't find it
here. The depth says it's not in me. The sea says it's not with me.
It cannot be gotten for gold. Neither shall silver be weighed
for the price of it. It cannot be valued with the
gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx or the sapphire. The gold
and the crystal can't equal wisdom. And the exchange of it shall
not be for jewels of fine gold. No mention shall be made of coral
or of pearls, for the price of wisdom is above rubies. It can't be bought. The topaz of Ethiopia shall not
equal it, neither shall it be valued with pure gold. Whence
then cometh wisdom? Where is the place of understanding,
seeing it hid from the eyes of all living, and kept close from
the fowls of the air? Destruction and death say, We
have heard the fame of it with our ears. We have heard about
wisdom. God understandeth the way thereof,
and He knoweth the place thereof. He knows wisdom, and He knows
where it is. For He looks to the ends of the
earth, and seeth unto the whole heaven. He makes weight for the
wind. He weighs the waters by measure.
When He made a decree for the rain and a way for the lightning
of the thunder, He saw wisdom, and He declared wisdom, and He
prepared wisdom, and He searched out wisdom. And unto man He said
this, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom. and to depart
from evil is understanding. Remember now, thy Creator, the
riches of the full assurance of understanding, the acknowledgement
of the mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ, in
whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Well,
the second thing we want, we want fame and fortune. Won't necessarily call it fame
and fortune, but that's what we want. We want to make a name
for ourselves. And we want to have some fine
things. Homes, vehicles, food, go to the best places, enjoy
the finest things. That's what we want. I wanted
that. I wanted that. I went up to Nashville,
Tennessee and got involved in the music business. I was involved
in it for ten years, almost ten years, about eight, nine years. And I saw the most competitive
business I've ever seen in my life. I think probably the only
other thing I would think it would be more competitive might
be professional sports. I've known a couple of professional
athletes that told me that it's all-consuming. You have to give
everything to it. And that's how that business
was. They said in Nashville, Tennessee, there's 75,000 songwriters. And when I was in that business,
it was at a height that hadn't been at ever. Making more money
than it ever had, that industry was. And there was a slot for
about 1,200 songwriters. And I had one of them. I had
one of those slots. But when you have 75,000 people
wanting that job that you have, you're considered a very worthless
thing. Because as soon as you stop producing,
they got somebody better that can produce better. So this year
you write 65 songs. Next year you write 80 songs.
You thought you've done that you exceeded last year's amount,
you thought, well, they'll be pleased with this. Next year
we want you to write 110 songs. You went from writing five days
a week to six days a week to seven days a week and still can't
satisfy them. You went from thinking about
it when you woke up in the morning and at lunch and at supper and
when you laid down at night When you watched TV, when you watched
a movie, when you read a book, to when you picked up your Bible
and read it or listened to a preacher preach, you sat and tried to
find a hook for a song, an idea for the next song. That's how easily this world
can consume us. And it don't have to be. Melinda
used to ask me, how is it that your job's any different from
my job? It's the same. It is. Any profession can consume
you. Any profession can consume you. And the more you get, the more
you want. You'll never be satisfied with
your bank account. You'll never be satisfied with
your treasures. You'll never be satisfied with
those things that you have. It's kind of a funny statement,
but I've heard one singer say this. He said, money can't buy
happiness, but it can buy a big yacht and take you out to a remote
island and you can anchor down mighty close to it. But that's
just for a moment. Then you're looking for the next
happiness. The happiness that never leaves us and that we always
have and is the the pearl of great price, the riches of infinite
worth and value is to know Christ Jesus the Lord. I want you to
know Him. I think of A.J. If he left here and he went to
school and he learned film, it would thrill my soul. It would
thrill me to my soul. If God saves that young man and
he ended up back here and ran a film television broadcast for
us so we could get the gospel out, wouldn't that be a good
thing? That would be a good thing. Sarah's taking guitar lessons.
It would thrill me to my soul. Not if she went to Nashville
or L.A. or New York and became a famous
songwriter, but if she learned to write Songs like Fanny Crosby
had thrilled me to my soul. You see what I'm saying? There's
two paths you can take. You can take a path for yourself
to get all you can get, and in the end, you're going to say
with the preacher, it's all vanity. It's all vanity. My life has
been spent for nothing but vanity. Or you can seek God. You can
seek Christ right now, starting now. and seek Him. And in the end of your life,
have a good testimony. We want a family. We want a spouse.
We want children. There is no better picture of
a husband and a wife than Christ and His bride. Christ entered
into a covenant for her, just like a husband vows to keep his
wife. Christ provided all Her needs,
just like a husband provides for his wife. Christ laid down
His life for her, just like a husband lays down his life for his bride.
Her daily needs are provided by Him, He sustains her, He keeps
her, and He's given her more children than she ever expected
to have. A multitude no man can number.
She trusts Him, she loves Him, she depends upon Him, and they
are one flesh. That's a beautiful picture. But
let me tell you something. Just any wife won't do. And just
any husband won't do. Listen to me. Young ladies, young
men, listen to me. I was determined if I had to
go through this life a single man, I would go through this
life a single man. If God was not pleased to give
me a bride who loved Christ more than she loved me. You wait for a believer. You
won't do that unless you are a believer. But if God makes
you know Him, if He calls you to trust Christ, you wait for
a believer. You hold out for a believer.
An old man told us, the same old man that said, remember now
thy Creator to me, he told Melinda and I when he married us, he
said, if Christ is the head of the house, if both of you love
Him more than you love each other, He'll bless your union and you'll
have a happy life together. That was 10 years ago and it's
just still getting better. Still getting better. These things that we want cause
us to think we have obligations to keep us from Christ. We have
one obligation. What does the end of this say?
Look down here at verse 13. Let us hear the conclusion of
the whole matter. Fear God, keep His commandments,
for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every
work into judgment with every secret thing. Whether it be good,
your best works are going to be judged beside the righteousness
of Christ. Or whether it be evil, it's going
to be judged beside the righteousness of Christ. Well, let me give you one or
two more things here. I know I'm going over time, but
hold on with me. Just hold with me. Luke 14, 16. Luke 14, 16. Our obligations
are to meet with God's people around the feet of Christ every
chance we have. I don't want to just see you
meet at this place every chance we have. I look forward to the
day when I see you take vacations to go to conferences to hear
a week's worth of messages preached. I know people that do that. I
know people that do that. Their whole life revolves around,
how can we hear more about Christ? Raising our children in the nurture
and admonition of the Lord, remembering now and every day our Creator,
seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. That's
our obligation. Believers don't arrange their
life around the worship of Christ. They do arrange their life around
the worship of Christ. They don't arrange the worship
of Christ around their life. They don't do that. Believers
clear everything off that's going to interfere with worshiping
Christ. And that's what they do. They want to. If you don't
want to, don't. If you don't want to do that,
don't do it. And if you don't want to, you won't. But if God
makes you willing, you will. You will. Look here. Here's what
these things do for us. Luke 14, 16. The Lord gave this
parable. Then said He unto him, A certain
man made a great supper, and he bade many, and sent his servant
at suppertime to say to them that were bidden, Come, for all
things are now ready. And they all with one consent
began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I bought
a piece of ground. Got some land. I gotta go see
it. I pray thee, have me excused. Just this one time. I'm just
going this one time. I just bought a piece of land.
It's a big piece of land. It's a land deal we got going
here now. And I gotta go there. I gotta be there now. Have me
excused. Another said, I bought five yoke of oxen. And I've gotta
go prove them. I gotta go see if they're good
oxen or not. I'll just, I'm just going to
miss this one time, just miss this one supper. I'll come to
the next supper you have. I pray thee have me excused."
And another said, I've married a wife, and therefore I cannot come to
the supper. So that servant came and showed
his lord these things. And then the master of the house,
being angry, said to his servant, ìGo out quickly into the streets
and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor,î they donít
have land, donít have cattle, ìthe maimed, the haught, and
the blind. Bring them into my supper.î And
the servant said, ìLord, itís done as thou hast commanded,
and yet there is room.î And the Lord said unto the servant, Go
out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that
my house may be filled. For I say unto you, that none
of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper." If we're not careful, we let
this world come in between us and God. I've given you that
illustration how that Sometimes you look at the moon and it's
a reflection of the sun and it's just so full and just can't get
any more full and it's just so beautiful. So full of light. It's a picture of the believer.
The light shining from Christ into him and it's just so beautiful.
And sometimes you look up there at that moon and all you can
see is just a little sliver of light. Just hardly any light
at all. What happened? The world came
between the sun and the moon. When we let the world come between
us and our light, there's very little light. Very little light. Well, all these things are fine
in their order. Gaining wisdom. Get a good education. Enjoy what God gives you. And
even our families, provide for them. It's right and it's honorable,
but don't let anything come between you and the Lord of glory. This
old fisherman down in Mexico, He was fishing and just had a
simple boat, some simple nets. And he'd come in every day and
he had more fish than everybody. All the other fishermen, this
man had more fish than everybody. There's a businessman on vacation
down in Mexico and he comes along and he sees this, notices this
fisherman. Keeps seeing him come in every
day in this little bitty boat. Men got boats bigger than him.
coming in, they don't have near the catch this man had. So he
approached this man and he said, sir, he said, what do you do
with all these fish? And he said, well, I throw quite
a few of them back. I just keep what I need. And
he said, take them home, feed my family. And he said, well,
what do you do with the rest of the day? He said, well, I
raise my children, teach them. He said, we go and worship together. And he said, then I get up the
next day and go back to work. Catch my fish, enough for my
family, come back, feed them, teach them. We worship God. And
the man said, let me make a proposal to you. He said, how about this? How about I invest with you and
you go out and you fish and you catch these fish and then after
lunch go back again and catch more and let's keep them all
and let's sell the excess and whatever you make in selling
it I'll match it and soon as we get enough we'll buy another
boat we'll double our production and then we'll buy a whole fleet
of boats and we'll quadruple our production and then you can
be head of the whole operation and run it and we'll be hands-on
in this thing and we'll we'll make sure this operation runs
and we'll start making money hand over fist and man it'll
be a grand operation you can buy things that you wouldn't
be able to buy you can give your family a better house better
living all these things you can provide for them but now you're
gonna have to be here with me to make this thing a success
and we're gonna and the old man kept saying well well then what
do we do He said, well, then once we build it to this point,
we'll incorporate this thing, we'll sell stock in this thing.
And we'll get the world involved in it. And then we really can
make some money. And he said, well, then what
are we going to do? And he said, well, then you get to a point
where after you've made enough and you're satisfied, you can
retire. And the old fisherman said, then
what would I do? And he said, well, then you can just go fishing
and catch enough for your family if you want to and teach your
kids. Go worship. Just live like you want to live. That's what he was doing. That's
what he was doing. We get carried away, don't we?
You got big dreams. I got big dreams. My big dreams
are that Christ would save you. That you'd fall in love with
Him. That old man that quoted me that scripture, he was a simple man. A very simple
man. And he didn't have a lot. He
had a little piece of land, a simple house. And, uh, pastored a congregation
of 15 people for 30 years. And, uh, died pretty, just a
unknown nobody, really. No fanfare, no carrying on over
his death. They didn't put up any plaques
in memory of him. Won't be any days named after
him, anything like that. But that same man, the first
scripture he ever quoted to me was, Remember now thy Creator
in the days of thy youth. And when I sat by him, when he
was about to draw his last breath, he got up enough energy to make
a little bit of a smile. And I was crying. I was crying
for him. And he just patted me on the back. And he said, son, for me to die
is gang. It's gang. I thought that's pretty good
testimony. Start out with remember now thy creator in the days of
thy youth. and end with, for me to die is
gain. If you do that, this world may
not recognize you, but the one who made it and rules it and
is going to burn it up, he will. He will.