Gateway Church's Podcast
Great Lessons That Build Your Future
But I want you to open your Bibles to the Ecclesiastes chapter 2 if you were please chapter 2 verse 10 This is a sermon about life and since I'm crossing over I thought this I kept wondering why are you teaching this? I don't know. I just kept bothering me So I thought well, why not work with it and it's not bothering me. I'm getting older It's just this message, you know, I had another sermon I wanted to preach and I just couldn't do it I wanted to talk about this, so repeat the topic with me, please say great lessons That build our future You are building a future whether you know it or not You are in the process of making something The real question is what are you cooking up? I? Have a saying you know be careful that you don't cook the gumbo blind Need to pay attention to what you're putting in too much strife too much tension. You can create a life you don't like a Future that when you get there you don't like what you've created My goal today is to show you some practical lessons that will help you understand how to properly Build a life that you want to have I've not been perfect, but I've gained some experiences that have shaped my view and affected my life and I've affected my future and so have you Some of the things you've learned in life have affected you and shaped you they've had a great impact on how you see the world How you love how you forgive things you hold on to I? Have seven great lessons from my personal life I want to share and this is before we declare ses. This is this is my story you get 50 years people This is it summarize and seven statements Number one here's what I've learned right this time. This is good stuff time will keep moving That's the business, but it's true. It doesn't stop Sometimes you want it to stop when you're in pain and when you're going through something is it just stop the world and you go? No, I just it won't stop Time keeps on moving number two Kids will grow up They really will I know when they're two and they're screaming. You don't believe it But eventually they grow up and they're happy they let you know I am now grown As a parent of grown children now. It's amazing. It's now a negotiation. I am an advisor now. I used to be in charge Now I'm saying could you consider that again? Would you pray about that? It's a whole different emotional experience But kids grow up. I See parents one time we saw a parent She was sitting in a restaurant and this kid was giving her a fit and my wife went over to her We both wanted to say listen you'll survive this You will live past these days Grandparents know that that's why they're so cool They knew they just know it they go to your house. Oh, they're all screaming good. They'll be fine You know what I grew when a child falls out on the grandparent is a whole different thing when it's a new parent There's a pride thing especially a guy. All right. I said be quiet and they're screaming and hollering They're and so the parent who has experienced a grandparent walks in and says oh, they'll be fine Then scream steps right over them. No problem Good for your lungs let it out let it out Because they realize they will grow up Third lesson of my life love can grow stale That's surprising You know you said at the author you said those words. I do I do and now you look at her and you don't You look at him and you don't feel the same and you don't know why Love can grow stale between you and your wife you and your children It's amazing. You don't expect that Even on a job you love Things in your life that you love people that you love if you're not careful if you don't nurture it right It can grow stale. That's a big surprise The fourth one is a really big surprise to me You're taking notes time will keep moving number one two kids will really grow up eventually number three love can Grow stale number four friendships really end man if you ask me out of all the surprises Which one really caught you by surprise is this one? There's some certain people I just knew would be with me forever. I Mean we were really close But all of a sudden something happened What it was I can't explain We couldn't communicate the same we couldn't dialogue the same and then you go to their house and you try to pretend And you're sitting there saying why am I here? I need to leave and it just isn't the same Nothing big surprise for me In 50 years of living There's some people that I thought would be with me on this journey are no longer that close to me number five Money can run out You know mr. Money has a real attitude he tends to not stay will you tell it? You put him in your chicken account and say stay right here and you look up and he's gone Money always has a tendency to slide right out of your hands if you're not careful in order for it to stay you must focus on it It must be intentional and for some Christians. They think that's this conflict of interest But it's not we'll talk more about that later, but money can really run out number six Opportunities don't last forever They really don't You don't have that window open forever to become an entrepreneur at some point in your life You have to make a decision the decision to take on a new task The opportunities don't always stay You have to decide Then the last lesson my big win number seven God was right all along At the end of it all that's what you conclude God was really right all along No matter how you try to avoid it at the end of the day you have to admit He was right about love about relationships about everything and he cleans. Yes, he's chapter two Solomon gives his testimony and you must understand that when we get here in the book of the Ecclesi This is a profound book because it's his last word this is last well as I want to say will in testament, but I'd say these are the last recorded words of Solomon and It really summarizes for him what he learned a guy who came into power 20 years old and migrated up to build a great temple and had all these great experiences and now He is coming out of the most embarrassing season of his life. He had 700 wives and 300 concubines Incredible there's only 365 days in a year What were you doing something? What happened to you? Did you marry them by the dozens? I take 12 of those and four of them? I mean, what was that? You were the wisest man wrote the book of proverbs and now all of a sudden we're watching your life fall apart and this book is the record of him coming Out of that season and as a series I do call limping out of darkness where here he comes out of darkness He's messed up now. He's tainted his name and now he's limping and He's a limbs out of darkness Solomon has learned some great lessons And there are five lessons I pulled out of the text and I want to just show you there more But there's just five I want to highlight number one look at chapter two verse ten of the Ecclesiastes It says whatever my eyes desired. I did not keep from them. I Did not withhold my heart from any pleasure for my heart rejoiced in all my labor and This was my reward from all my labor Wow First lesson was he realized that materialism was not enough He withheld his heart from from no pleasure. He said whatever I want to build or do I did it was as if If I build this stuff if I get this stuff this material stuff, I'll be okay One of the great lessons of success is it's not enough You'll never own enough homes. You'll never have enough cars. It's just not enough and Chapter one and two he chronicles all this stuff. He built vineyards and houses and lands It's an incredible study. I will say this is a sidebar It's interesting to read later on in life when he's dead and his son railbomb is leading The servants view of how he led. They said he was hard to follow his materialism made it hard to follow him and They asked the new king would you please just be kinder than your dad and he said no I'm gonna be harder than my dad It's amazing how materialism can make you hard and insensitive sometimes You can have a great home and a great life and a great business and a great career, but no one likes you You know, I have a saying you can be right, but you need to be liked Need to make sure that it's not just success that drives you at the end of the day The people that will slave for you in your business that work for you Go smile at them embrace them There's something profound about understanding the power of materialism when it's used in the right way Solomon learned That's not all there is to life Second thing I noticed in the text chapter three verse one Solomon realized that life is and always will be seasonal Chapter three verse one life is and always will be seasonal To everything there is a season a time for every purpose under heaven Life is seasonal. Don't you wish it would just stay one season all the time? Sometimes you just wish it would never change, but it doesn't Life is Solomon said seasonal and learning to adapt to that is a great sound of maturity For some people They're acting as if they're still in their high school season And you're not We don't change many things in our lives. Sometimes we keep things and we don't even notice it You know often say if you were to go to your drawer and open your drawer You'd be surprised and this is a simple example But it really illustrates the point and you ask the clothes in your drawer. How long have you been there? If they could talk me so I've been here since 1972 We don't change things. We don't buy new things. We keep stuff We want to keep and hold on to the seasons and Solomon said they come and they change Third thing I want you to notice that it's interesting about his life as a chapter 7 the third thing he learned You learn the valuable good name He realized that a good name is extremely important Remember he messed up his name now The wise man had made a great mistake chapter 7 Please ask these verse 1 says a good name is better than precious ointment and the day of death than the day of one's birth We're not going to highlight the day of death part of this But we do want you to notice a couple of things notice number one. Here's a guy who really really learned The value of maintaining your name you know how people view you is crucial and Valuing that working to maintain it. It's important because some sometime in the future. That's all you have Is your name? Sometimes when you're having a great financial challenge and you go to the banks or you've got sometimes is your name You've had rough business season that you've flown through And when you stand before them and you're trying to get the new deal done Sometimes your name can help you cross the bridge a good name can open doors for you can help rebuild bridges Solomon said, you know, I've learned the value of a good name The next thing he learns is in chapter 12 in chapter 12. He closes out the book and he says Let me give you if I can my final two If you're taking notes, he realized that materialism was not enough number two. He realized that life is seasonal number three He realized that a good name is important and number four. He realized that serving God while you're young is key Look at verse one remember now your creator in the days of your youth before the difficult days come and the years draw near When you say I have no pleasure in them Solomon said if you want my advice start early Remember God when you're still young don't wait until you get older and you're limping like me Remember your creator in the days of your youth There's something profound about starting early young people. You will avoid a whole lot of problems Unnecessary memories. You won't create a future that you don't like You have a great advantage That's why you need older people in your life Because they help you learn great lessons. They look you in the eyes and say listen to me I know it looks good now. It may feel good now, but it won't later There's the other side of following the lifestyle of getting high and living in the street and roaming around and Living any way you want and giving your heart your any pleasure feels good now, but it won't later Remember now your creator in the days of your youth And the fifth thing and the final thing he says is in verse 13 Now what's profound about these these last statement is this is the end His last recorded words Here's what he says Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter fear God and keep his commandments, but this is man's all No, he said God was right all along That's what he said the same thing I learned he realized that God was right all along all of his life The whole bottom line is fearing God referencing God Solomon says, you know I just lost my way, but now I'm clear now Question is a you clear What is your bottom line? Well, there's one more guy. I want you to meet you turn to Joshua chapter 1 He'll help us see a final thought here that I think would be helpful to you The two men in the Bible that I wanted to highlight today one was Solomon because he's the rich guy. He's the guy that lost his way He's the guy that really and truly had all the promise Had great. Well, Josh was the guy without great. Well. He's an average guy. He's a number two man Great staff guy the guy in scripture. You find no problems with he never catch this. He's never rebuked in the Bible He is a this is the guy who stands out. He comes on the scene at Cadish Barnea He's one of the two guys who says we can go over and conquer the land He's bold. He's courageous. He's strong Oh, this is the kind of guy. You just love to see he walks with Moses through hard times Holds his arm up doing battles marches with Israel 40 years in the wilderness. This is the guy Oh, this is the one you want to hire people. This is the man in Joshua in the midst of the most difficult time of his life Receives some great words Moses dies There are five things that I want you to notice about this man's life number one notice verse one The first thing God told him Joshua chapter one verse one after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord He came to pass the Lord spoke to Josh the son of none of Moses assistance saying Moses my servant is dead Not therefore a rise go over this Jordan you and all of this people to the land which I'm giving to them the children of Israel Notice what he says first of all Joshua. You must learn how to accept loss Moses is dead now a rise go over this Jordan Moses is no longer here Your great mentor your great leader How do you handle loss? I think it's important for you to notice that in order for Joshua to go forward the first thing that's this to him is you have to get over loss Loss can hold you down losing someone close to you and Plague you for the rest of your life You're looking at a guy who is the son of a single woman who never married her name was Laura Laura Laura my mama bless her And let me tell you she was amazing Spunky and full of spirit never lived in a house. She owned until I bought it for never never had a new car until I bought her one She said I want a truck I said I'm not buying you a truck. What are you gonna haul I? Told you I want a truck. Okay, so I take I tell you what red cougar. Yeah, now. That's a car so I bought her cougar red and You know in the middle of all of this my mom man She was spunky but one thing she wouldn't do she wouldn't go to the doctor and get checked She um we talked about it, you know, but she she had this little saying for me She says, excuse me. Listen you don't boss me You don't boss me. I want you to understand if you want to boss anybody you have a wife You can boss your wife and If you get tired of bossing her this these are exact words. You can boss your two children and If you get tired of bossing them you have a whole staff you can boss and if you get tired of bossing You never have thousands of people in your church go boss them, but you cannot boss me It was really funny I Until she died And it wasn't fun anymore $15 to go to the doctor That's all the copay. That's all it was She wouldn't go Here's a question. Have you gone lately? It's the thought this are for me. Let's talk about you Why don't you go? What happened to God? You love your family. You're working hard for them. You're trying your best to provide for them Working long hours, but you never get yourself checked How does that balance out? Why don't you call tomorrow? Why don't you make an appointment tomorrow? Why don't you really show them that you love? I'm trying to say your mother didn't love you. No, my mother loved me. It's all over her But she didn't get checked and So now how do I deal with loss? Oh boy? I can drag you along for life, you know, I made a decision Celebrate our life celebrate our memory and live on You have to learn to embrace loss. Just you will you will never cross over You will never get to the other side if you don't learn how to adjust to loss Loss on this side, I know I'll see her in heaven, but I'm talking about the pain you feel on this side of the planet And for some of you You came here this morning just to hear that Because it has followed you every holiday every birthday and You have not been able to cross over it and what's really sad is if you talk to them, they would say please live your life They would say this is not a way to remember me breathing every day Second thing he told him was this he said Joshua not that much of not accept loss He said you must learn how to accept boundaries chapter 1 verse 3 Every place the soul of your foot will tread upon I've given you as I said to Moses From the from the wilderness and this Lebanon is as far as the Great River the River your Fridays all the land of the Hittites To the great sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your territory Once you'd understand he says only to look Joshua. I'm gonna map out for you what you conquer You don't own everything You have to know your boundaries You know heard some of us we don't know our boundaries You're trying to do too many things You can't do every right thing. You can't be every right place Joshua these are your boundaries third link Joshua you have to have a certain attitude verse 5 through 6 you have to be strong and courageous look at verse 5 No man should stand be able to stand before you all the days of your life as I was with Moses So I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you be strong and of good courage For to this people you shall divide in inheritance watch us now You shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them You have to be a strong and courageous person. It cannot be a weak person. You know I understand Life can be intimidating But Joshua you're gonna have to step to life You're gonna have to be a person who has fortitude you stand strong your courageous. You look at it. You face it There's an illness in your life. You don't win by being afraid You win by standing up to it. You have to be strong and you have to be courageous And then I love the fourth thing he told him in verse 7 You have to be consistent if you want to prosper Joshua. You can't start and stop look at verse 7 He said these words only be strong and very courageous that you may observe to do according to all the law Which Moses my servant commanded you here's the part I want you to see do not turn from it to the right hand Or to the left why that you may prosper. Wherever you go You really have to play your feet someplace sir Now why would you have to tell Josh with this because now he's in charge? It's one thing to follow somebody. It's no thing to be the man now driving the ship Some of us were fine as long as we were helping somebody else, but now you're in charge. You prayed for the promotion now you have it The temptation is to be fearful The temptation is to run you prayed for the church to grow now all the comes of growth the buildings the cost the expenses the multiple services You have to if you're not careful talk to yourself You have to see and I do that sometimes. I'll look in the mirror and say temple. How you doing? Okay? You mean you answer yourself. Yes, I know there's nobody else around Every now and then I have to tell myself be strong be courageous plant your feet Don't bend don't go left. Don't go right trust yourself The last thing he tells him He says watch how you think First aid. He said these words to him. He said the book of the law shall not depart from your mouth But you shall meditate in it day and night that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it For then you will make your way prosperous notice if you meditate in it then night then you will make your way prosperous and then you will have good success After all I've said to you today, if you don't control your thoughts, it doesn't work If you allow your thoughts to run loose and run while in your mind They'll never win It's when you tell your thoughts. No, that's not true Here's what I'm going to do. Here's how I'm going to think here's the way I'm going to view this If you refuse to allow yourself to be lost In the mele of life and say no, I will plant my mind this way What I want you to do today is this look at your life Look at what you're doing right now and ask yourself. Where will this leave me? Look at your life lessons the lessons you have everybody has a library. I Told you mind, but whenever something happens in your life You I believe you develop a library book and you develop your own library pull it off the shelf and ask yourself Have I really learned from the things that have happened in my life? For me is my 50th birthday coming Celebrating my life, but the real question is what did I learn in 50 years? Look at your future and ask yourself. What can I now do to make my future better? I? Want to create a future that I will like when I get there. What can I do? Well, you know, it's amazing You've got somebody now with all this experience you You've learned a lot when you date a turkey one time you learn One turkey one turkey it helps you see the light you recognize the gobble gobble right away So let me give you if I can Some things to look at Suggested that might help you along the way number one stay spiritually focused Don't lose your spiritual focus number two stay financially focused Pay attention to your money Look at your resources be honest work at developing them nurturing them number three stay physically focused you know, I was in the airport and I was I had to go back to the ticket counter forgot something several years ago and I had to run and as I started to run my body started a conversation My my niece is what is he doing? My back says I think he's running My mind said tell him to stop I Keep we don't do that. We just pray and stuff like that. We don't run As a real wake-up call for me Stay physically focused school walking three times a week eat right pray About what you're doing with yourself physically Some of you know how to do it. You just stopped number four state Relationally focused go picture relationships talk to your kids hang out with your wife your husband and Then lastly stay personally in touch with you. I Have this thing I do I journal a lot and I call them my thought documents and I write down what I thought 30 days ago 90 days ago and I read it and I can't believe I have some little thoughts But you know what it helps me do stand touch with me Some of us have been so busy. We've lost touch with ourselves These are some lessons that I've learned great lessons and they're gonna help me build a great future I hope they help you would you stand with me and let me pray for you