The wisest man that ever lived, King Solomon, has a lot to say about the true nature of life, and the inherent danger in having too many birthdays. Preached live this morning at Bethany Baptist Church in Saint Augustine, Florida.
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00:01One day Jesus is coming. You may be at church. You may be at work. You may be asleep. God grant that you will be ready when he makes his personal appearance.
00:23My God! What if his appearance occurs on a Sunday morning? My prophetic word to you this morning is get ready! Get ready!
00:53The Lord bless you, and keep you. The Lord make his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and yield to you.
01:08The Lord bless you, and keep you. The Lord make his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace.
01:26With your soul this morning? All right, open up to the book of Ecclesiastes.
01:36We're going to do a little bit of a ride through the Old Testament this morning.
01:40And I don't know about you, but some parts of the Old Testament are more exciting than some parts of the New Testament.
01:48Now, I know that sounds like heresy, perhaps, but let me tell you something.
01:52The main theme of the Bible is not Jesus on the cross.
01:57You know what the main theme of the Bible is?
01:59Jesus says this in Hebrews 10, verse 7,
02:03Lo, in the volume of the book I come, to do thy will, O God, it is written of me.
02:09The main theme of the Bible, and we're very, very glad that Jesus went to the cross and made a way for us to get to heaven.
02:16And as Christians, we tend to focus on that rather heavily, especially if we're looking to see other lost people get saved and join us.
02:26But that's not the main theme of the Bible.
02:28The main theme of the Bible is the coming king and the coming kingdom.
02:33That's what the whole book from cover to cover is about.
02:37And in the book of Ecclesiastes, we are going to see something here that is often overlooked.
02:47But this is the wisdom that God gave to Solomon.
02:51What would you do if God appeared to you in the dream and said,
02:55Hey, I'll give you anything you ask.
02:59I'm God.
03:00I make everything.
03:02What would you like for me to do for you?
03:04Well, I'd like to pay all my bills, right?
03:08Like to live in a big house and like, I wish I could get a new car.
03:12And there's a lot of people who would say something like that.
03:15But you know what Solomon said when God appeared to him in a dream and said,
03:19Solomon, what would thou that I do for thee?
03:23He said, give me wisdom that I may rightly judge among the people.
03:27And God said, man, if that's not the right answer,
03:30that's door number three on the old, let's make a deal show, right?
03:35And who would have asked for that?
03:37God, give me wisdom.
03:40And he asked for the right thing.
03:42And then God told him, because you have not asked for riches,
03:47like what most people would ask for, or a long life,
03:51which is what most people would ask for, like Hezekiah,
03:54give me 15 more years, right?
03:56God said, I'm going to give you riches, I'm going to give you a long life,
04:02and I'm going to give you my wisdom, all right?
04:06Now, Solomon may not have always followed that wisdom,
04:09and we're going to see that perhaps there were some places where he dropped the ball.
04:14But that is not to negate the fact that when you read the book of Proverbs
04:19and you read the book of Ecclesiastes,
04:21it is all directing your attention to three things,
04:26knowledge, wisdom, and understanding.
04:29And wisdom is the most primary thing that the Bible says that we need.
04:35My text for today is found in Ecclesiastes chapter 12,
04:41and let's look at verse 1.
04:46Ecclesiastes 12, verse 1.
04:48Let me start again.
04:52Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth,
04:55while the evil days come not,
04:57nor the years draw nigh,
04:59when thou shalt say,
05:01I have no pleasure in them.
05:03Heavenly Father, we thank you, Lord,
05:04for the word that was taught this morning in Sunday school,
05:09for the word that was sung this morning,
05:11for the giving that was done,
05:13and now be with me as I bring the message that you've laid upon my heart.
05:16Let it be a blessing for the people.
05:18And, Lord, we continue to commit this service to you.
05:22In Jesus' name, amen.
05:26Solomon was the wisest man who ever lived in this book of Ecclesiastes,
05:30which means the preacher, and that's what he was.
05:33He was a preacher.
05:35Enoch was a preacher.
05:36We don't read much about Enoch, okay?
05:39It says that Enoch walked with God,
05:42and Enoch was not because God took him.
05:44And it's not until you get to the book of Jude that you see Enoch.
05:48He is a fire-breathing preacher,
05:51and he's warning, he's prophesying about the second advent of Jesus Christ,
05:56and the things that Jude says that Enoch preached in Genesis chapter 5
06:01go hand-in-hand with what John writes in the book of Revelation, okay?
06:07So Solomon was a king.
06:10He was also a preacher.
06:11And this book, Ecclesiastes,
06:14this is kind of like the sum total of his wisdom all in one book.
06:20And this is what I call chapter 12, I call it the big finish.
06:25How many of you have been to the fireworks in St. Augustine on the 4th of July?
06:30Raise your hand.
06:31Have you ever seen the fireworks on the 4th of July?
06:34We stopped going there because it got too crowded.
06:36But back in the days when only 10,000 people showed up, okay,
06:41they would have a really good 45-minute firework show,
06:46and then there would be a lull,
06:48and they'd be getting everything ready,
06:49and then they would fire everything off from cover to cover
06:53until there was nothing left,
06:54and that's what they call the big finish.
06:57This is what I call Solomon's big finish in chapter 12.
07:01And just some fun facts about that number 12.
07:05There are 12 sons of Jacob.
07:06There's 12 tribes of Israel.
07:08They sent out 12 spies in Canaan.
07:11Elijah built an altar with 12 stones.
07:13There's 12 minor prophets.
07:16There's 12 unleavened cakes in the temple on a weekly basis.
07:20There are 12 apostles.
07:21There's 12 baskets of leftovers.
07:24Jesus is found teaching in the temple at the age of 12.
07:27And then when they arrested him, he said,
07:32think ye not that I could ask my father,
07:33and he would send 12 legions of angels.
07:37There's 12 foundations and 12 gates in New Jerusalem,
07:41and the 144,000 is 12 times 12,000.
07:47So biblically speaking, the number 12 is a very, very important number.
07:52Remember, the number seven is the completion of what God is doing in any particular situation.
07:59You get to the end of a week, it's seven days.
08:02There's not more week.
08:04There's a new week.
08:05When you get to number seven, you're at the end.
08:08Okay?
08:09So I want to show you a few things this morning from the book of Ecclesiastes,
08:12and let's just read the first six verses of Ecclesiastes 12.
08:22Remember now thy creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not,
08:27nor the years draw nigh when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them.
08:32I remember my grandmother.
08:34She died just a couple of days short of being a hundred years old,
08:38and I used to love as a kid to sit with her, and I would make her tell me all these stories.
08:45What were you doing when you first saw electricity?
08:48Do you remember the first phone call that you ever made?
08:51She was in her 20s before she ever even made a phone call.
08:54Okay?
08:54She was born before the computer, before the airplane,
08:58before, almost before electricity.
09:01That's 1888, 1889.
09:04And my grandmother lived in a very, very different and faraway time.
09:10And she had really good health up to the last six months of her life.
09:15And then five days before she dies, on an Easter Sunday,
09:21I gave her the gospel, she got saved, and that Tuesday, she passed away.
09:26Okay?
09:27What Solomon is saying, now my grandmother lived a hundred years.
09:32That is a long, long, I'm only 64, and I feel like I'm a hundred sometimes.
09:39Not because my body's breaking down, and I'm going to tell you this story from the eye doctor,
09:45which kind of inspired this message today.
09:48But I can look back, and I'll watch a documentary about the Vietnam War,
09:55or something like that, or the gas rationing back in the 70s,
09:58and I'll say, wow, look at those funny videos.
10:00That's really old.
10:02And I'm like, no, I was 14, I was 10.
10:04It's like, man, have I really been around all that long?
10:08And I'll tell you, I had a very rocky start.
10:12I was in a wheelchair for two and a half years.
10:14I had to have a life-saving stomach operation.
10:18I was born with pyloric stenosis, and I was starving to death at six weeks old.
10:24And I had hernia, and all these different medical procedures, and wheelchairs, and operations.
10:30But then I resolved that I was going to get strong.
10:34I was going to work out.
10:35I was going to take, my parents made me take football, and dance lessons, and all these things.
10:40And so all through my 20s, and 30s, and 40s, and 50s, I've actually felt pretty strong and pretty good.
10:50Getting ready to move here 14 years ago, I'm moving all these boxes,
10:54and all of a sudden, I felt something pop in my right eye.
10:59And I'm thinking, oh, man, am I having a hemorrhage?
11:01Was that a stroke?
11:03Is my face numb?
11:04And I was really, really concerned.
11:06So I had somebody drive me to the eye doctor, and he said, well, this viscous, whatever it was, it broke.
11:15And now you're going to have floaters in that eye.
11:18I'm like, what does that mean?
11:20He says, well, it just means you're not as young as you used to be.
11:24I said, could I have done something to prevent this?
11:27And he said, no, you're just not as young as you used to be.
11:30And then I moved here, and I'll never forget, I was swimming in the ocean, and I felt the left eye pop.
11:36And now the floaters in the left eye.
11:39Flash forward to, what day was that, Lori, that we went to the eye doctor?
11:43Wednesday.
11:44Flash forward to this past Wednesday, and I've been having trouble with my eyes,
11:49and I've been looking, sometimes you'll see me looking for verses, like last Sunday.
11:54I was looking right at Revelation 19.6, and I couldn't find it.
11:59And there's a reason for that.
12:01So we went to the eye doctor on Wednesday, and I've been having this vertigo and dizzy spells and stuff like that.
12:08And he said, well, the good news is, the good news is, your arteries are good.
12:14They're not constricted.
12:16You're, you know, what was the other thing?
12:18It's arteries, and there was something else.
12:22He said, your cornea is good.
12:25And he said, but you have cataracts.
12:30And at some point, you're going to have to have that taken care of.
12:34And cataracts, and I'm picturing this, right?
12:37That's the first thing that went to my mind.
12:39And that's what went with my grandmother, is she lost, she lived a long time, but she lost her vision with,
12:46I don't know whether it was macular degeneration or cataracts, but she had one of them, maybe both of them.
12:52And I looked over at Lori, and just one little tear fell out of my eye.
12:56Now, look, cataracts, compared to what people are dealing with these days, it's a very small thing.
13:01They have operations to correct it, but it makes you wince a little bit.
13:06So I turned, when I caught my breath, I turned to the doctor, and I said,
13:13do I have these cataracts because I had LASIK surgery?
13:18Am I not taking the right type of vitamins?
13:20What did I do wrong?
13:21Do I spend too much time on the computer screen?
13:23He says, nah, it's not any of that stuff.
13:26I'm like, well, what is it?
13:27And without even looking up and missing a beat, he says, too many birthdays.
13:33That's what he said.
13:34And it made me smile a little bit and took a little bit of the anxiety off me.
13:40But when you think about that, too many birthdays, we don't think about it.
13:45We have cake and candles.
13:47Yesterday was our son-in-law's birthday, Cameron.
13:50And we all went out, and we had a big family meal at this Mexican restaurant up in Palaca.
13:57And they really put on a show, and they bring you this flan and the whipped cream and all that.
14:04And very loudly, if you've never seen a Mexican birthday, it is loud, and it's joyous.
14:13It's very nice.
14:13It's very nice.
14:14And he was 28 years old.
14:20The problem is, is we don't think about the number of birthdays that we have.
14:23We just pile them on like logs on the log pile.
14:28And we'll say, well, I'll get to that.
14:30I'll get to that.
14:32I'll get to that.
14:33I got time.
14:35I'm only 30, 40, 50, 60, 70.
14:37I have time.
14:39And what we fail to take into consideration is that sometimes we have too many birthdays,
14:46and that has lulled us into a false sense of security.
14:50And so with that in mind, remember now thy creator in the days of thy youth.
14:56Well, when the evil days come, why are they evil?
14:59Because there's a clock ticking against you.
15:03Back in the 1950s, there was an old black and white soap opera.
15:07As sands through the hourglass, so goes the days of our lives.
15:13And that's not Bible, but that is true.
15:16And that could have been taken right from here.
15:19You know, most of the times you watch a movie and it has some Bible truth in there,
15:26but they didn't mean to put it there.
15:28And then you go and you read the credits and you see it was Jewish people that wrote the
15:32movie, Jewish people that created Superman, Jewish people that creates Indiana Jones and
15:39the Temple of Doom and the Lost Ark.
15:41And there is so much unintentional Bible truth in our world.
15:46Remember now thy creator in the days of thy youth when the evil days come not, nor the
15:51years draw nigh when thou shall say I have no pleasure in them.
15:55While the sun or the light or the moon or the stars be not darkened, nor the clouds return
16:01after the rain in the days when the keepers of the house shall tremble and the strong men
16:07shall bow themselves and the grinders cease because there are few and those that look out
16:13of the windows shall be darkened and the doors shall be shut in the streets when the sound of the
16:19grinding is low and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird and all the daughters of music shall
16:25be brought low.
16:26Also, when they shall be afraid of that which is high and fears shall be in the way and the
16:32almond tree shall flourish and the grasshopper shall be a burden and desire shall fail because
16:39man goeth to his long home and the mourners go about the streets or ever the silver cord
16:45be loosed or the golden bowl be broken or the pitcher be broken at the fountain or the
16:51wheel broken at the cistern.
16:54You know what Solomon's telling you?
16:56He is telling you that if the Lord tarries, this is where each and every one of us are going.
17:03Hebrews 9.27 says that we have an unbreakable appointment for it is appointed unto man but
17:11once to die and then come at the judgment.
17:15If you die as a lost person, the judgment for you is Revelation chapter 20.
17:20It's called the great white throne judgment.
17:23If you die as a saved person, Paul says absent from the body, present with the Lord, but you
17:28still have a judgment that's found in 1 Corinthians 3 and 2 Corinthians chapter 5.
17:34It is called the judgment seat of Christ.
17:37Now look at verse 7.
17:39I started reading this by telling you all the different 12s that there are in the Bible,
17:45and there's dozens more than just the 15 or 16 that I gave you.
17:5012 is a very, very important Bible number.
17:53So here we are in Ecclesiastes chapter 12, written by the wisest man that ever lived,
18:01and look at verse 7, the number for completeness.
18:06Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was, and the Spirit shall return unto God
18:12who gave it.
18:14Game over, time's up, lights out.
18:18It's going to happen to each and every one of us.
18:23Friday, we did a podcast about a man by the name of Abdullah Hashem Abu al-Sadiq.
18:31Now, it doesn't roll off the tongue easily.
18:34I'll say it a couple times, get better at it.
18:36But this man, Abdullah Hashem Abu al-Sadiq, he's made some amazing claims.
18:43He has a huge following on social media.
18:46I posted a video of just him saying about a minute and a half worth of stuff.
18:51It's been viewed half a million times since Friday.
18:55Okay?
18:56This man is an absolute game changer.
19:00You know who he says he is?
19:01Abdullah Hashem Abu al-Sadiq.
19:04He says that he is the fulfillment of the Messiah to the Muslims,
19:10which is the Mahdi, and the Messiah to the Christians and to the Jews.
19:16He is the real Pope.
19:19He replaces the Apostle Paul.
19:23And he says that he is the Messiah.
19:28And he has a huge following.
19:30We did a podcast on that on Friday.
19:32Now, I don't think he's the Antichrist.
19:37The Antichrist wouldn't reveal himself like that.
19:40And he doesn't call himself the Antichrist.
19:43I call him the Antichrist because he claims to be the Messiah
19:47for the Muslims and the Jews and the Christians.
19:50And only one person fits that bill.
19:53And I'll show you why.
19:54Turn to Zechariah chapter 14.
19:56A lot of the times, people will talk about the Abrahamic religions, right?
20:08And over in Abu Dhabi, they built something called the Abrahamic Family House.
20:16And we wrote about that, and we warned about that years before it happened.
20:20And I guess just to make us look good, they went ahead, and they built it,
20:24and they did it.
20:25And you can go to Abu Dhabi right now, and you can worship as a Muslim,
20:30you can worship as a Catholic, and you can worship as a Jew.
20:35And Muslims built all three of those things.
20:38So a lot of people like to talk about the God of the Abrahamic faiths.
20:44Well, let me show you in Zechariah 14.21.
20:49Let me show you what happens to the Muslims, okay?
20:51Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the Lord of hosts.
20:57And all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them and seethe therein.
21:03And in that day there shall be no more the Canaanites.
21:06That's the Palestinian in the house of the Lord.
21:09Now, I'm not picking on the Muslims today.
21:13I'm not even picking on the Catholics.
21:15I am just simply telling you that if somebody comes along and they say that they are the Messiah
21:22to all three groups, the Bible does not treat all three groups the same
21:26and does not treat all three groups equally, okay?
21:31The Bible says about Jesus Christ that at the name of Jesus,
21:35every knee shall bow, every tongue shall confess
21:39that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
21:43It's all about Him and all the religions and everything is all going to crash and crumble
21:50when He comes back.
21:53Go back to, amen, go back to Ecclesiastes chapter 12, verse 7.
21:59Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was,
22:02and the Spirit shall return unto God who gave it.
22:05Vanity of vanities, sayeth the preacher.
22:07All is vanity.
22:09You know why it's vanity?
22:11It's vanity because you can't keep it, okay?
22:15It is vanity because there is, we live in a sin-cursed world.
22:20We eat food out of a sin-cursed ground.
22:23And even after we get saved, we still reside in this sin-cursed flesh.
22:30Do you realize that if the rapture was to happen right now while I'm preaching,
22:35my body as I'm taking up would be transformed.
22:39This body is not going to heaven.
22:42The blood in my veins is not going into heaven.
22:45And Paul says that one day our vile body, earthly, why is it vile?
22:52Do we smell bad?
22:54No.
22:55Paul says that we have a vile body because we are made in the image of Adam.
23:01We're not all God's children.
23:03Why do you think people have to become born again?
23:06Have you ever wondered about that?
23:08You know, when I got saved back in 1991, the big question that I couldn't find anybody to answer for me is,
23:16yes, I got saved and I'm born again.
23:20But what is it?
23:21I didn't know.
23:23I didn't know.
23:23In Acts chapter 8, you have the Ethiopian eunuch and he's reading Isaiah chapter 53.
23:31And the Holy Spirit sends along Philip and says, hey, understandest thou what thou readest?
23:37He's like, no.
23:38How can I?
23:39Except there be some man to guide me.
23:42And back in the early days of me getting saved, I had no Bible teacher.
23:46I had no man to guide me.
23:49And I didn't understand these things.
23:52When you go to John chapter 3, three times Jesus tells Nicodemus,
23:58if you want to see the kingdom of God, if you want to enter into the kingdom of God,
24:03you've got to become born again.
24:07Marvel not, verse 7, that I say unto thee, ye must be born again.
24:12Keep your finger in Ecclesiastes.
24:15Turn to Genesis chapter 5.
24:16Do you know why you have to become born again?
24:22Because of verse 3.
24:25And Adam lived in 130 years and begat a son in his own likeness after his image and called his name Seth.
24:35When you were born, you may have been a very cute, cuddly baby.
24:39I have never yet seen an ugly baby.
24:42They're all cute.
24:43They all do amazing things.
24:45I just love to look at little babies.
24:48They are new and they are fresh and they are, you know, whatever shade, whatever color that they are doesn't make any difference.
24:55They're just a brand new baby makes everybody smile.
24:59But that brand new baby, Adolf Hitler was a brand new baby.
25:04Okay, every serial killer that ever lived was a brand new baby at one point.
25:09And we are made in the image and likeness of Adam after they fell.
25:16And this is why you have to become born again.
25:19Ecclesiastes chapter 7, verse 8.
25:22Vanity of vanities, sayeth the preacher, all is vanity.
25:26A couple of years ago, I saved up some money and I went to the Jeep dealership and I got a lot of money for my old car.
25:38It was at the height of the pandemic and everything was going crazy and used cars were off the charts and new cars were off the charts.
25:46And I got a lot of money for my old car and I went to the Jeep dealership, right?
25:52And I got the best Jeep that I could afford, all right?
25:57Costs like $50,000 of paying it off for six years, okay?
26:02And when I got that car, I was just stunned.
26:05I turned to the salesman and I said, whose car is this?
26:09He said, well, this is the car that you just bought.
26:11It just, you know, we just took it off the truck.
26:13I said, this car is for me and every part of it was fresh and clean and gleaming and beautiful.
26:22Yesterday, Lori and I took that same Jeep to the car wash and there's dog hair and there's cat hair and whatever it is the kids do in the backseat, I have no idea.
26:32Sometimes I don't want to go in the backseat.
26:34And under the mats, there is crumbs and candy and plastic soldiers and Dunkin' Donuts coffee.
26:40And even up front where Lori and I sit, there's coffee stains on the coffee cup carrier.
26:48And I even said to her yesterday, you know, I'm thinking about trading this car in.
26:53Why?
26:54Because it's getting old, starting to show some wear, starting to look a little shabby.
26:59It's nowhere near as bright and gleaming as it was when I bought it in, well, 2021.
27:07Everything wears out.
27:09Everything wears down.
27:10Everything is vain.
27:12Solomon says, vanity, vanity.
27:14All is vanity.
27:16You can't keep it.
27:17Okay?
27:18You fall in love.
27:19You find the perfect person.
27:21Either you die, they die, or the rapture happens.
27:25We don't get to keep anything in this life, but our salvation.
27:31That's the only thing that we get to keep.
27:35Vanity, vanity.
27:37All is vanity.
27:40Verse 9, and moreover, because the preacher was wise, and here's where it's, I know it's
27:45a little depressing, and I can see the looks in some of your faces.
27:48This is not a happy set of verses, okay, but it is a true set of verses, okay?
27:57The eye doctor didn't tell me what I wanted to hear.
28:01He said, you have some problems with your eyes, and they're going to have to be fixed.
28:06You know what he did for me?
28:07Now, what he told me brought tears, ironically, at the eye doctors.
28:12What he told me brought tears to my eyes, but he told me the truth, okay?
28:19Paul says, have I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth.
28:24And moreover, because the preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge, yay?
28:28He gave good heed, and sought out, and set in order many proverbs.
28:33How many of you know that Solomon wrote all the proverbs?
28:37Raise your hand if you know that.
28:39Yay.
28:40And he still taught the people knowledge, yay?
28:42He gave good heed, and sought out, and set in order many proverbs.
28:46The preacher sought to find out acceptable words, and that it was written was upright, even words of truth.
28:55The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies,
29:02which are given from one shepherd.
29:04Who's the one shepherd?
29:06Jesus Christ.
29:08Keep your finger there.
29:09Turn to Acts chapter 9.
29:13Acts chapter 9.
29:14This is what Jesus said to Saul when he knocks him down on his way to Damascus.
29:20Verse 4.
29:25And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him,
29:29Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
29:32And he said, Who art thou, Lord?
29:34And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest.
29:37It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.
29:40Well, that's exactly what Solomon just said in verse 11 of Ecclesiastes 12.
29:47The words of the wise are as goads.
29:51And that's what Jesus was saying to Saul.
29:56Okay?
29:57He knocked him down with the word of his mouth, and with the brightness of his glory, he blinded him.
30:03And he said, Saul, it is hard for you to kick against the pricks.
30:07You can't do it.
30:08But the words of the wise are as goads and as nails fastened by the masters of assembly,
30:14which are given from one shepherd.
30:18Friday, we did the podcast on Antichrist.
30:23And then yesterday morning, I posted a very, very, very different type of story.
30:29And it's just kind of funny that they're both back-to-back on our website today.
30:34Raise your hand if you've heard of the New York Mafia and John Gotti.
30:41Raise your hand.
30:42Okay.
30:44Raise your hand if you've ever heard of a man by the name of Sammy the Bull Gravano.
30:48Raise your hand.
30:50Okay.
30:50He was John Gotti's assassin.
30:54When Gotti wanted somebody dead, he said to Sammy, make my problem go away.
31:00And for years and years and years, Sammy the Bull Gravano, he later confessed to 19 murders,
31:07but it was probably a couple dozen more murders than that.
31:11And Sammy the Bull Gravano was as nasty a person as it is capable of being.
31:19He was Hitler without Germany.
31:21Okay.
31:22He was just a natural born killer with no compassion, no empathy, no sympathy.
31:29He'd shoot people.
31:30He shot kids.
31:32He was, when I say that this guy was a killer, he was bad, just like Saul.
31:39Saul was a killer too.
31:41The Bible says in Acts 22 that he hailed men and women into prison and was consenting onto their death.
31:47Saul did that.
31:49I'm not comparing Sammy the Bull Gravano to the Apostle Paul, but let me tell you about a little video that I came across yesterday morning.
31:59It was a picture of somebody getting baptized.
32:02And I look quick.
32:03I'm like, that almost looks like Sammy Gravano.
32:06And I stopped what I was doing and I put the screen big and I hit play.
32:11And here is Sammy the Bull Gravano with tears in his eyes, confessing his need for a savior, that he needs redemption, that he needs forgiveness, and that Jesus Christ is the only person that can give it to him.
32:29He got saved and he got baptized.
32:31He's baptized, and when you think about that, he's 79 years old.
32:39Sammy had a problem with too many birthdays also.
32:42He's on the verge of running out of birthdays, okay?
32:45My grandmother got saved five days before she turned 100, and then she died.
32:53Can you imagine living for a century and then dying and going to hell?
33:01It is just absolutely mind-boggling.
33:04So two years ago, I was watching a video with a man, also a former mobster, who got saved years ago.
33:11His name is Michael Franzese.
33:13And he has a YouTube channel, and he's a Christian, and he's popular.
33:18He talks about the mob.
33:19Well, two years ago, they put Michael Franzese and they put Sammy the Bull across each other at a table, and Michael Franzese told Sammy the Bull, I'm praying for you.
33:33And Sammy threw something at him and reached across the table.
33:36He said, I'll kill you.
33:37Don't pray for me.
33:38And none of that was scripted.
33:41You could see the hate in his eyes, even at him.
33:43He was 77 at the time, and you could just see the hate that he had for this man.
33:49Well, flash forward to this week, and Sammy the Bull Gravano heard the gospel.
33:56Not the first time, not the second time.
33:59Something was different.
33:59He couldn't put his finger on it.
34:01Somebody brought him to a Christian church, and he went back, and he went back, and he went back.
34:06And he said to the pastor, whatever this is, I want it.
34:11And the pastor told him, Sammy, you have a sin problem.
34:14You need a Savior.
34:16You can't talk your way out of this.
34:17You can't muscle your way out of this.
34:19And I posted that video of Sammy the Bull Gravano getting baptized.
34:24And if you haven't seen it, go look at that.
34:27I mean, there is nothing fake.
34:29The look on his face, that is a saved.
34:32I know that look.
34:33I've seen it many times when people get saved.
34:37He's a saved individual.
34:38But look at what Solomon says.
34:42The words of the wise are as goads and as nails fastened by the masters of assembly, which are given from one shepherd.
34:49And further, by these, my son, be admonished.
34:52Of making many books, there is no end.
34:55And much study is a weariness of the flesh.
34:57Now, let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter.
35:01Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.
35:07For God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil.
35:13Now, I just want to wrap up this short little message today that I've entitled Too Many Birthdays.
35:21And you don't have to turn there.
35:23I just want to give you a couple of nuggets, because he referenced the Proverbs.
35:28And I just randomly picked a few out.
35:32Proverbs 1.7
35:33The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
35:39Proverbs 2.5
35:41Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.
35:45You see how the Bible wraps up being afraid of God, fearing God.
35:50Now, people say, well, I understand the Bible says the fear of God, but we're not supposed to be afraid of our heavenly father.
36:00You should be.
36:01You should be.
36:02Because when you read further in this book and you realize that God uses Satan as his rod of correction,
36:09you don't ever want him unleashed upon you to get you back in line.
36:14The apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians says, for this cause, many of you are weak, many of you are sickly, and many of you sleep.
36:23Why are they sleeping?
36:25Because God killed them.
36:27Right?
36:27It is a very healthy thing to do, to have a little bit of fear of the Lord, seeing how powerful he is and how powerful we are not.
36:39My favorite verse in the whole Bible.
36:42Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not to thine own understanding, but in all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths.
36:51Proverbs 4.7, wisdom is the principal thing, therefore get wisdom, and with all thy getting, get understanding.
37:00Proverbs 5.21, for the ways of a man are before the eyes of the Lord, and he pondereth all his goings.
37:07And here's Proverbs 6.6,
37:11You know what's interesting about him writing that in the days before microscopes and science?
37:25The male ant is only used to make more ants with the queen.
37:30It is the female ant that does all the work.
37:33So, if Solomon would have said, or if he would have said,
37:41Go to the ant thou sluggard and consider his ways, the Bible would have been wrong.
37:47Because the male ants don't work.
37:49Only the female ants.
37:52Proverbs 7.1,
37:53My son, keep my words and lay up my commandments with thee.
37:57Proverbs 8.34,
37:58Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the post of my doors.
38:05Proverbs 9.6,
38:06Forsake the foolish and live, and go in the way of understanding.
38:11Proverbs 10.28,
38:13The hope of the righteous shall be gladness, but the expectation of the wicked shall perish.
38:18And then Proverbs 11.30,
38:20The fruit of the righteous is the tree of life, and he that winneth souls is wise.
38:28Now, give me five minutes, and I'll give you my message for today.
38:32That sets the table for my very short little message today.
38:36We are living in a day and age where people are popping on the scene like Abdul Hashem Abu al-Siddiq.
38:46And is he the Antichrist?
38:49No, I don't believe he is the biblical Antichrist.
38:52But who sent him?
38:53Where does he come from?
38:54Who funds him?
38:55Where does he get all his followers from?
38:58What's his point?
39:01Where is he leading people?
39:03What is he raising them up to do?
39:05We live in very, very uncertain times.
39:09Paul says that these last days that we live in right now,
39:14Paul calls them perilous times.
39:17And there are perils everywhere that you look.
39:21But it is the duty and the obligation of the Christian.
39:25God is still in the soul-saving business.
39:28Okay?
39:29And you have people like Sammy the Bull Gravano who gets saved.
39:34He hears the gospel.
39:35Right?
39:36Because there are still faithful preachers and pastors and evangelists all across this country.
39:43And they are still standing in the gap.
39:46And they are still warning lost people.
39:48That's number one.
39:50And then they're warning saved people that you make sure that whatever course it is that God gave you,
39:56that you finish it because you're going to be judged on that course at the judgment seat of Christ.
40:03You know, the Bible says in Daniel 11 that the Antichrist will seek to wear out the saints.
40:12And Revelation 13 tells you the same thing, that that time period, it wears you down.
40:18It wears you down mentally and physically and emotionally and spiritually.
40:25But what are we?
40:26We are witnesses of the Lord Jesus Christ.
40:29Have you ever seen that meme of some guy with a forklift truck and it's this massive warehouse
40:36and he puts the load in the wrong place and the entire warehouse falls.
40:42And it says at the bottom, you had one job.
40:47Right?
40:48Well, you have one job.
40:50Did you know that?
40:52You each and every person in this room has one job.
40:57Turn to 2 Timothy chapter 4 and I'll show it to you.
41:022 Timothy chapter 4.
41:05Look at verses 6 through 8.
41:112 Timothy chapter 4, verse 6.
41:16Paul says this.
41:17For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.
41:28I have fought a good fight.
41:30I have finished my course.
41:32I have kept the faith.
41:33Henceforth, there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness,
41:37which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day,
41:40but not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.
41:45And then the last verse, Acts chapter 20.
41:50Acts chapter 20.
41:53Look at verse 23.
41:56Acts chapter 20, verse 23.
42:00This is the Apostle Paul once again.
42:03And he says, verse 22.
42:06And now, behold, I go bound in the Spirit unto Jerusalem,
42:10not knowing the things that shall befall me there,
42:13save that the Holy Ghost witnesses in every city,
42:16saying that bonds and afflictions abide me.
42:19But none of these things move me,
42:21neither count I my life dear unto myself,
42:24so that I might finish my course with joy,
42:27and the ministry which I have received to the Lord Jesus Christ
42:31to testify the gospel of the grace of God.
42:36You have one job,
42:39and I just gave it to you.
42:41That's the one job that you have
42:44is to finish the course that God gave you.
42:49That's it.
42:50If you do that.
42:51Now, I don't know what course God gave each and every one of you.
42:55I know what course he gave me,
42:58and I'm doing it this morning.
43:00And I'll do it again tonight.
43:02And I'll do it again on Wednesday, Lord willing.
43:05And do it again next Sunday.
43:06And when we have the camp meeting,
43:08in a couple of weeks,
43:09I'll do it for three days in a row.
43:11And every day when I sit in front of my computer
43:14and I write stories and do podcasts
43:16on people who think they're the Antichrist
43:18and mafia killers getting saved and baptized,
43:22what am I doing?
43:22I am fulfilling the course that God gave me.
43:27And I wasn't aware of it in the beginning.
43:30It kind of snuck up on me.
43:33And over time, I wrestled with it.
43:35Can God really be calling me to do these things?
43:38And I didn't believe it.
43:39So I dropped it.
43:41And every time I dropped it,
43:43God would convict me and convict me
43:45and say, well, let me know when you're ready.
43:47Because you've got to finish that before you go.
43:51And over the last 34 years,
43:53God has hammered me and hammered me
43:55and hammered me with those goads
43:57that Solomon talks about.
43:59I got the scars on my back from those goads
44:03where I strayed off the path.
44:06And God said, nope, you're getting back on
44:07and you are going to finish the course that I gave you.
44:13Now you might say, well, that's just the preacher.
44:15That's just the man in the, no, no.
44:18We are not Roman Catholics.
44:20There's no ecclesiastical hierarchy.
44:23Peter's not higher than anybody.
44:25Paul's not, Paul said he was the least of all the apostles.
44:29He put himself last.
44:32Level playing field.
44:33I became all things unto all men
44:35that by all means I might save some.
44:38Everybody's down in the ground, okay?
44:41We do have a bishop.
44:42We do have a captain.
44:43The Lord Jesus Christ.
44:46But believe me when I tell you,
44:49the time is short.
44:51The days are few.
44:52The days are evil.
44:53The time clock is against you.
44:58And one of these days,
45:00it's going to tick, tick,
45:02and then it's going to run out.
45:03And if you'll take the time to make sure
45:07that you know what course God gave you,
45:11and I say this with 1,000% certainty,
45:15God has given everybody who saved a course.
45:20It's up to you, right?
45:22When he came to Isaiah and he said,
45:27and who shall we send?
45:29Who shall go for us?
45:31Who'll speak on our behalf?
45:34You just picture God doing this.
45:35I could just find one person.
45:38Well, what did Isaiah say in chapter 6?
45:41He said, here am I, Lord.
45:43Send me.
45:45Right?
45:46Here am I, Lord.
45:47Send me.
45:48And it's my hope and my prayer
45:50that when this service is over,
45:53and hopefully you're thinking about it later,
45:55and you'll ask yourself,
45:58well, what is my course?
46:00Do I know what it is?
46:03And more importantly,
46:04am I doing it?
46:06Heavenly Father, God,
46:08we thank you
46:08for your goodness and your mercy.
46:12We thank you, Lord,
46:13for all these that you've gathered here.
46:14And Father God,
46:15we pray that if there's one lost,
46:18either here
46:19or when this sermon
46:20is played online later,
46:22if there's a lost person
46:24listening to the words
46:25of this message today, Lord,
46:26we pray that something
46:28was said and done
46:29to lead that lost soul to you.
46:31And for those of us
46:32that are saved, Lord,
46:34the Apostle Paul
46:35seems to put a lot of emphasis
46:37on fulfilling your course
46:40and fulfilling the ministry
46:41that God has given
46:42to each and every one of us
46:43as his witnesses.
46:45And he left us here
46:46for a reason.
46:48And God,
46:49I just pray
46:50that it would be
46:51the heart's desire
46:53of every saved person
46:54to want to find out
46:55what their course is
46:57and then to seek your face
46:59and to do it.
47:00And we just thank you
47:01and praise you, God.
47:03In Jesus' name,
47:04Amen.
47:05Amen.