It's. It sa. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Glad to see everybody here today. Hope you are doing well and. And welcome. You look good, don't you? Yes. Just in case you haven't looked in the mirror, I'll let you know. You look good. Most of you, glad you all are here today and why don't we. Why don't we just do a little bit of singing here? Isaiah is out this out at Grandma's in Cuesta. So I am announcing the music and leading the music today. How about that? And we are going to do a little Blessed Assurance. How's that sound? Let's. Let's get some singers up here to help me out. Brenda, Dan Luca, Jack, you singing with us today? Does your sister sing? I mean it's her first time here. Yes, Linda. Did I. Who did I miss? Let's stand together. We're going to sing hymn number 446. I'll find me a hymnal here. You find you a hymnal there. 4:46. Blessed assurance Jesus is mine. And let's. Let's just sing all three verses. Listen. Assurance Jesus is mine O what a fort is the glory divine Heir of salvation Virtues of God Born of his spirit Wash in his blood this is my story this is my song Praising my Savior all the day long this is my story this is my song Praising my Savior all the day long Perfect submission Perfect delight Visions of rapture Lepers on my side Angels descending Bring from above Echoes of mercy Wasps of love this is my story this is my song Praising my Savior all the day long this is my story this is my song Praising my Saviour all the day long Perfect salvation Always at rest I and my Savior am happy and blessed Watching and waiting Looking above Filled with his goodness Lost in his love this is my story this is my song Praising my Savior all the day long this is my story this is my song Praising my Savior all the day long and let's have a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for the story and the song that we have and the ability to praise our Savior. You've given us life and breath and movement and thought and intellect and all these things that come together along with the word of God that give us the story to tell. And we do so today with with enthusiasm and with vigor and with precision and are grateful that we can do it prayerfully all the day long. We ask that the way we do it would be acceptable unto thee, O God, our rock and our redeemer. We ask it in Jesus name amen God bless you. You may be seated. Thank you all for joining us together here for today for a little music and a little preaching and. And how about a little announcements? We'll do it. We'll do a few announcements as well. And we are going to. Let's see, we've been to the Homestyle Dinner Festival on Wednesday night. And last week was pork chops. They were pretty good, wasn't it? And thanks. Thanks, John. I appreciate that. And this week we got stuffed bell peppers. Has it been a while since you had a stuffed bell pepper? Not that long. No. My mom used to cook stuffed bell peppers, but I think Shelly and I did it, what, 30 years ago. She's giving me a look like. And we ain't doing it for another 30 years either. I don't know. But stuffed bell pepper, that'll be good Wednesday night. And you can bring whatever goes with stuffed bell peppers. I don't know what goes with stuffed bell peppers, but you can bring it. What'd you say? Mashed potatoes. That goes with stuffed bell peppers. You're right. Spaghetti. What are we going to do with this boy? I'll tell you what, if you'll come, I'll bring a can of Spaghettios. Oh, you're not going to be here. Okay. Back in school already. Wow. Whatever happened to the good old days? God bless it. It's time for school. There you go, boys. I hope it. Hope it goes well and got men's breakfast again Thursday this week. The other things. Hey, normally we do potluck on the second Sunday of the month. Last month we switched it. This month we're switching it. Next month we're switching it. How's that? We're free from the law. And so we're going to do it the 24th of the month. We've got a number of reasons for doing that, but the 24th of the month will be potluck. We're also going to do the Lord's Supper on that day and be a nice day of worship and fellowship together. August 20th. It. Amen. Amen. Why don't you take your hymnal then? And let's turn to number 475. We're going to sing 475 and 476 right in a row there. And Jesus is all the world to me. I come to the garden. Come on up. Choir and congregation just remain standing here. 475, 476. And we'll. We'll be good to go. My life, my joy, my hope. He is my strength from Day to day without Him I would fall When I am sad to Him I go no other one can cheer me so When I am sad he makes me glad he is my friend Jesus is all the world to me my friend and T.R. i go to him for blessings and he gives him more and all he sends a son she sunshine and the rain he sends the harvest golden grain Sunshine and rain Harvest of grain he's my friend on the last Jesus is all the world to me I want no better friend I trust him now I'll trust him when life's leading Fish shall end Beautiful life with such a friend Beautiful life that has no end Eternal life, eternal joy he my friend and right across the page to hymn number 476 in the garden. And let's sing the first and the last. I come to the garden alone While the dew is still on the roses and the voice I hear calling on my ear the Son of God is close and and he talks with me and he tells me I am his own and the joy we share as we tarry there none other has ever known I stay in the garden with Him Though the night around me be falling but he bids me gone through the voice of love his voice to me is calling he walks with me and he talks with me and he tells me I am his hope and the joy we share as we tarry there none other has ever known. And with that, you may be seated. And we do have a new Missionary of the month here, this month being August, and you've got a picture there on your bulletin of Juan and Lucretia Chavez and their children. They are working to be going soon to Paraguay to be missionaries there. And we rejoice with them. They work through Grace Ministries International, an organization we've helped a number of missionaries with and we appreciate the way that they share the word of God, rightly divided through South America and many other places. And so this month, if you give mark towards missions, it goes to Juan and Lucretia and their startup costs for getting to Paraguay and beginning to be missionaries there. And we'll pray for them this month. Also back on the table there, I put a missionary newsletter, their last newsletter, this one's from July so it's fresh and up to date. You can get that and get to know them and their little. Their. Their children and know what's going on in their family life and sign up for their information network and whatnot if you would like to do so. Once again, market towards missions this month it goes to them. Leave it Unmarked, it goes to the work of our church right here. That has been blessed to be able to serve here for 90 years. And. And God just, you know, keeps having people put money in the offering plate. And we go another 90 or 100 or 10 hundred or whatever it is till the Lord comes back. Let me lead us in a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, we're most grateful for your. Your blessing, your watch care over us and the encouragement that we have in you. It is our prayer that the Chavez family would be blessed as they make their move to Paraguay. And that the service that they give unto you there would be one that brings men, women, boys and girls to a saving faith in Jesus Christ. And grows them in the Word as they grow to be perfect and thoroughly equipped for every good work. This is our prayer. In Jesus name. Amen. Well, let's do a little offering this morning. By the way, let's pass the plate because we got our boys, the ushers here. And let's see, we are one boy short, aren't we? Yes, we are. Luka, come on up. There we go. Now we got our boys right here. Turn and turn and face the audience they want to see. There you go. That causes them to give more money when they see good looking boys that are starting school tomorrow bringing in money for the Lord. Give them a big smile. Yeah, that's right. A wink doesn't hurt either. At your age. Just, you know, when you look down there, give them a wink. Can you all wink? There you go. You got it. There's a plate and there's a plate and you all help them out. Luca, you can wink too if you want. God bless you. It, that's Sam. Amen. And now if you will turn in your bible to Ecclesiastes, the 12th chapter. And by the way, there's only 12 chapters in the book of Ecclesiastes. We've been walking through the book of Ecclesiastes. This is, I believe, our 15th sermon, if I'm not mistaken, in our journey through the book of Ecclesiastes on these Sunday mornings. Been encouraging and given me, I don't know about you, but given me a new outlook on the book of Ecclesiastes and what it's all about. You know, it has kind of a reputation of being sort of a downer book. Nothing works. Bummer. Wow, that one failed too. I just about give up. Well, I guess all you got's God. That's sort of the reputation of the book of Ecclesiastes. But as we have gone through it what it really is is an old man, the king of Israel, who gathers together, calls himself the preacher. That's a term, as you know, didn't have anything, wasn't a religious term in his day. They didn't have Baptist preachers back in the Jewish kingdom. But nonetheless, it's a term that really kind of meant, hey, pull up, sit down, let me tell you some things. A gatherer, an assembler, and he comes together and gives sort of the off the cuff sitting. I don't. I don't know my. I don't know what term he would have used. So I'm going to say he's sitting on the Truman Balcony and he is giving a talk in his old age, a little bit of reflection on his own life. And he, he really doesn't say all these things are worthless. What he says is all these things are fleeting. You get some joys, you get some value, you get some blessing through all of these things. That's not, in the end going to help you out when you get old and face death like I am. And so he wants to point people beyond. Now, as you can see, not only from our artwork here, but also we have talked about a number of times how the, the. The. The Jewish people take the book of Ecclesiastes and they read it every year cover to cover during the feast of tabernacles. They go out in one of their tabernacles and they read the book of Ecclesiastes as a reminder to them. Here is a book that is about life in the tabernacle. Not now. The tabernacle was the tent, the booth, the. The thing in the wilderness. You weren't quite there yet. You weren't in the promised land. You hadn't arrived. You were on a journey. Ecclesiastes is about that journey. And so, as we and many others have called it, it is life under the sun. When you live on this side of the sun here, Book of Ecclesiastes gives some great wisdom. There are other books, and we'll even see this today. There are other books that are much better if you want to know what happens when you die, what happens in the future, what happens in eternity out there. The book of Ecclesiastes is not about that. The book of Ecclesiastes is. You ain't there yet. You're in the tabernacle in the wilderness, in the, in the tent, in the wilderness and making your journey. And so what are you going to do in it now? In chapter 11, which we looked at last week, he gave Sage advice for the young. And really, if I could summarize chapter 11 for the young. He. He. He said, enjoy it. Live. Live young while you're young. Right? Live young while you're young. Its vanity, that is. Poof. It'll be gone all of a sudden. It's not there anymore. You're not young anymore, as a few in here could attest to. And it disappears. It goes away. Okay, what then? When you get into chapter 12, he begins to describe old age. And I think that probably several of you will agree with me when we get into this poetic description that he's writing from the point of view of a guy who's experienced it. He knows what's going. Not only has he experienced it now in his own life. We don't exactly know how old he was when he gathered people together, but every. Everything we can pick up here and there is. You know, he's an old man. He doesn't have much time left, and he knows that, and he's gathering them together. So he, he. He closes out that advice to the young in verse, chapter 12, verse 1, which is 1 of the more memorable notes of. Of the. Of the Book, when he says, remember now thy creator in the days of thy youth. Why don't we stop right there? Remember now thy creator in the days of thy youth. Here is. I've given you some artwork today, being in Taos. Taos is art. There we have it. This is a French artist whose name I am not going to attempt. But here's a young man at his window. There you go. 1875. A young man at his. We can almost see the guy as he's thinking, you know, hey, I'd like to open a deli. I'd like to have a hot dog stand. I'd like to. I'd like to create an empire, whatever it is. All the dreams of a young man as he stands there in what appears to be a pretty nice little balcony and thinks, wow, I have the world ahead of me. I've got the world in my hands. So he says to that young man, he really, I. I think if Solomon were to look at this picture, I'm only going by. I have this year taught Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. Proverbs on Thursday nights. Ecclesiastes here. And so I've walked with Solomon just a little bit. And all last year we studied the life of David. So I know his grand. His dad. Pardon the grandpa part there. I know his dad too well, from everything I can see, I think Solomon would Not look and chastise this young man and say, oh, here you are in your wealth and, and there's people who are hungry out there and you're just standing there doing. I don't think it would be any of that view. I think he would say, good for you, young man. You got a nice suit and a cushioned chair and you've got a great view and you've got life out in front of you. Enjoy every minute. One thing I would like to add to it. Remember now thy creator in the days of thy youth. Do it now while you are young. Remember is a. Is a is a pretty strong word, especially if you pull out the nuance of the Hebrew here. It is not just, yeah, I, I mean, who could forget? Yeah, I know. You know, my mom taught me about him. It's not just sort of the recall, it really is, hey, give some loyalty to hold to walk with thy creator. Understand thy creator. Learn the way. Learn. Learn who he is. Because you're created in his image and his likeness. Begin to live that out. Recognize the claims that God has upon your life and especially during these days of the covenant that they were living under, he had some covenantal obligations. Live that out, carry that out. Do what you are supposed to do. Have a loyalty there and remember it now. Remember now thy creator in the days of thy youth. By the way, it's a good message for boys going to school is the not only remember grandma and make her happy, but remember you have a creator, God. God made you. He gives you all of this world of opportunity. I. I think here in the room here. Arsenio, what grade are you going to be in? Second grade. I think in this room here, probably nobody wants to be a second grader. We remember those days of second grade, but there are. We would like to be able to run and jump and think and lear all the things that you have before, before you to be able to carry out. So to, to say, hey, right here, while I'm young, I can set my trajectory. I can set some things that are going to determine what it's going to be life when I, when I'm old, what it's going to be like now. Remember now thy creator in the days of thy youth. He goes on middle of verse one, while the evil days come. Not now, right now. I want to say don't take evil in a. In an ethical sense. In the King James, the word evil, as we've mentioned a number of times even in this series, the word evil had a pretty broad usage earlier in English language, it was sorrowful, painful, hurtful, more so than wicked, wicked, sinful, iniquity. There were words obviously for that. But typically, if you find the word evil, especially in poetry as it is here, it means, hey, there's a, there's a. There's some rough days out there. Those evil days. It's not that they're from the devil or anything, it's just that there are some days that are going to be a little more painful than the days you've got now. So while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them. Okay, I think this describes. Obviously I have. I'm. I'm a very young man, obviously, so I can't testify to what he's talking about, except that even at 60, I can look and I can say, okay, I don't jump quite as high as I used to jump. I don't run quite as eagerly as I used to run. You know, there are some things that I'd rather. Rather slow down and smell the roses, except that I don't want to bend over, you know, all the things that begin to come in. And for some things, indeed, even the pleasure begins to go away. And as a pastor, certainly I've worked with enough older people who come to these days to say, okay, there, there does seem to come for a lot of people. If we live long enough, we, we can get to that point where we say, I'm ready to go. I've heard that as a pastor many times. Hey, pastor, I just want you to know I'm ready to go. My pleasure is not in these days anymore. That's not the time to start thinking, okay, I want to learn about my Creator. It's much better to be able to look back on life and say, hey, from the days I was young, now I'm old and gray. I. I have made it all the way remembering my Creator. Now, a couple of things here that I want to give. This is more pastoral counsel. This is these bullets right here that I want to give to you to, to say as, as, as I hear Solomon saying, those days do come. And as I, with my own eyes observe life from pastoral way, I think that some people get to those days of not having pleasure in the. In life anymore too soon. There's no need to rush that that day probably is going to come, you know, unless we die suddenly or get raptured out of here, whatever the probably, the day is going to come where we say, oh, you know, lord, take me Home. But you and I have met people who were not enjoying their days from the time they were about 35. You know, all of a sudden they just doom and gloom and agony on me. Everything was bad. I, I composed a list, going through some scripture and I started doing, I want to take scriptures from Solomon. And then I broadened this out. But a couple of things that, again, it's free advice. You want to enjoy all the days. One of the things I would say is keep learning, right? There's something about going to the first day of school and the freshness of that and the excitement of that to say, hey, you know what? I could learn something else. I. There, there's. There's something that I don't know about, and I could do it. And isn't it nice in, in these days that we have so many more resources at our fingertips? I, I was, I mentioned in the early service video that Luke and I watched this week about the physics of dissonance and harmony and how they can, they can map out by, by, by vibrations whether or not this note and that note's going to be harmonious or it's not going to be harmonious. And they can all the prediction that you can do everything that you can, you can put all that together. And, and I watched all that. It was about a, what, 28 minute video or something like that. And at the end I thought, that is absolutely amazing. I don't know what he was talking about. There's a lot of physics in there that I thought, whoo, you know, someday I might need to learn some physics. I don't know. I don't. How did you get to all this? It's math. But keep on learning. And, and I think that the desire to learn something that you don't already know does cause you to want to say, I guess I better have breakfast. Maybe I should plan on being here tomorrow because it's going to take me more than today to learn this. So keep on learning. Number two, don't sweat the small stuff. You can get really bummed out in life if you let everything bum you out, right? And how many times have you worried about things that now you look back and say, I don't know why I was worried about that. Does anybody here ever worry about money? Have you ever worried about money? Oh, we have a few volunteers. You know, I can, I can remember many times in my own life where I was like, there is no way I can pay that bill when it comes due. I, I can't. I pictured myself in debtors prison coming. I'm going to lose the house, I'm going to lose the car. I'm going to lose everything because I can't pay that bill. And now that I look back on it, I always paid those bills. So I don't know how I paid those bills because I couldn't pay those bills. I mean, I was a business major. I can do a calculator, you know, I figure this out. You can't pay those bills. But what I found is there's always something you forgot to calculate. You didn't put that in. You didn't think of this path. You didn't. We somehow we get there, don't we? And if we are going to resign from life too early, we'll just get to say, okay, I'm, I'm done. These days aren't any fun. Let a lot of that stuff go away. Don't sweat the small stuff. Don't grow into worry. This, it's like sweating the small stuff. But you can if you want. You can wake up every day with a new worry, can't you? You can go to bed at night with a new worry. You can think of all the 10,000 things that could possibly happen to you and to your loved ones and to your house and to your town and to your country and, and I see so many people that do. And part of this is because we're online too much and we see all these things out here. You know, they said that the sun's not coming up tomorrow because there's too much cow farting. And we get worried over all this stuff. Or we can say, I guess if it doesn't come up tomorrow, Jesus, here I am. So live a life where you don't worry. It'll make you die young worrying. Enjoy simple living. You know, can there be a blessing in, hey, I'm going to make a new recipe. Hey, I'm going to eat spaghetti. I'm not going to make a new recipe. I'm going to eat spaghetti and I'm going to slurp it and enjoy it. Find simple things in life that really can give you a blessing. I learned this week that peacock feathers, the, you know, the bright ones, peacock feathers actually emit laser light. They are light emitting. I did not know that until this week. It's not just light reflecting, they are light emitting. I don't know how that works. I just thought I'd throw that in there. Gives you something to live for, doesn't it? Keep, keep, keep. Something to look forward to. Try to Stay healthy. Here's. I'm skipping that other one. But try to stay healthy, but acknowledge the limits. There's only so much you can do to stay healthy. And, you know, someday probably we're all going to quit breathing, right? There's only so much you can do to push that off forever. But at the same time, you know, if you. If you. If you do everything to cause you to quit breathing earlier, it's going to cause you probably words of years of pain and discomfort and all that. So my word here on try to stay healthy but acknowledge the limits is, yeah, try to stay healthy. But when Whataburger does come out with a new shake, don't. Don't prohibit it from your life. That's something to look forward to. I just realized, you know, I've been liking the banana pudding shake. It's seasonal. I like that Whataburger has something seasonal because it always gives you something to look forward to. And I just learned, in case you want to know, BlackBerry Dr. Pepper is the next one. Shake not. They already have BlackBerry Dr. Pepper. They're gonna make it into a shake. I don't know when this is happening, but we should get together now. Sometimes we could be like, that thing's gonna kill you. I'm like, that thing is gonna make me live. This thing is gonna give me some. Someday I'm gonna have a bummer of a day, and I'm gonna say, I'm going to get me a Dr. Pepper black berry shake. There you go. Large. Moving on. Don't live judgmentally. You want evil days to come? Start judging everybody around you. They don't dress right, they don't talk right, they don't move right, they don't act. You'll just live such a bummer of a life that you're better off in all this. Surround yourself with good companions. Laugh often. You know, you know, all those lists of things. There's. But in. In the acknowledging, not acknowledging our Creator, we acknowledge, hey, he has made us to enjoy some of the things that he has even, you know, it's the last chapter that said, eat, drink and be merry. Tomorrow you die. Enjoy the life you've got. Live the life you've got. Remembering your Creator in the days of your youth before the evil days come and the. And the days draw nigh. When you say, I have no pleasure in them. Verse 2. While the sun or the light or the moon or the stars be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain. Now, again, he's speaking somewhat poetically here and he just says, hey, there's. There's the day. The. The sun is going to grow dim. The. The. The moon is going to cease to shine in your. In your. In your own life. The clouds are going to take over. Why don't you remember. Remember the. The. Thy Creator in these good days, that for most of us here, this is one of those good days, right? We are still in our youth, all of us here to say, hey, why not? Today I'm just going to start remembering my Creator, honoring my Creator, learning about my Creator, living for my Creator and, and pushing off those evil days. Okay, let's go on to verses three through five. When he definitely gives poetry. The. He gives a picture of a house, if you will, and the decline of a house. If you go up the canyon up here towards Angelfire, just a little bit past Valle Escondido, there on the left, you see an old house, an adobe house that is dilapidating. And I've been watching it for about 10 years dilapidate. And it's 10 years worse than it was then. And, and one of the things that interests me is I saw somebody posted. I don't know why, but they posted a picture of that house with a family sitting out on the porch in the 1970s, and there was a kid and a bicycle and, you know, all the things. And this has been what, 50 years? It was a little dilapidated then, I can tell you, but I. I look at that house and I think, sort of, hey, everybody moved out. Nobody's home. You. You couldn't restore that thing. I don't think I couldn't, I can tell you that. You know, this is. This is done with this. Ha. He uses that kind of illustration as he begins in verse three. He says, in the days when the keeper, keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves and the grinders cease because they are few, and those that look out the windows be darkened. I almost think of, you know, that. That house and somebody. Somebody used to be there in the kitchen, you know, making some tortillas. And dad was out gathering the wood and the kid was out taking care of the chickens and all that. And slowly, you know, the kid moved up and moved on and dad died and mom didn't want to make tortillas anymore. And. And you know, eventually it's all. All said and done. It's a sad story in a sense, but it is the story of life that we somewhat have to acknowledge. And. And so he goes on again in verse three, that those that look out. The windows be darkened. Verse 4. And the doors be shut in the streets. And the sound of the grinding is low. And he shall rise up at the voice of the bird. Now here I think he's talking a little bit about him. Not, not. Not quite dead yet, but you've seen how sometimes when we grow older, can't hear anything. Yeah. And then the little bird tweaks and wakes us up. It's like, oh, startles us. So again, here's that. That picture. That. Yeah, this is a reality. It comes. So rise up at the voice of the bird. And all the daughters of music shall be brought low. And when they shall be afraid of that which is high. Okay, Trying to decide what I should say with boys in the room. But all boys stand on the roof and think, I can do it. It's not that high. I can do it. And now I'm like, I wonder who I can pay to clean my gutters. Just like, I ain't getting up there. So you. You grow. It's like, okay, you had no fear now, verse 7. Afraid of that which is high. Fear shall be on the way. The almond tree shall flourish, the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail. Because man goeth to his long home and the mourners go out about the streets. He speaks again, poetically, of this. This thing that in so many ways, again, is. Is a bummer. That's not what we want. What's the guy's name? Brian. Somebody who has spent millions and millions of dollars to reverse aging. Have you seen him on. Online? And he was some tech millionaire billionaire, I think. And. And he's. I don't know, 40 years old. It looks like he's trying to. I don't know, 39 maybe, but. And. And I think I. I may be wrong, but I think he spends like $2 million a month to rejuvenate to. To stay young forever. I haven't watched it, but I think in the last month or so I've seen a few headlines that, hey, maybe he even. He's saying, I think I'm wasting my money. This ain't working. I'm. I'm just going to grow old so good when you're young to say, you know what? I'm young now. I got these opportunities now. I'm going to enjoy every day between now and the time they put me in the grave. And that's because I remember my creator. He's. He's created me. I'm fearfully and wonderfully made. I've been Given a life, I just as well go and I just as well enjoy this life. And there is going to come the day when things are sort of going to begin to fall apart as, as the old house. And that's going to happen in me. And even when it happens, I am not going to forget my Creator, then curse God and die as Job's wife told him. I am going to try to enjoy that day. I'm going to make the best of it as this comes. But I think there is a it. We're not really supposed to preach a bummer of a sermon, right? And this is one of those sermons that says, gee, you're getting old fast. But I think there is an encouragement in saying, hey, this happens to everybody. There is a cycle in life. This is what takes place. And here's a man who's experiencing it and gives us some good way. Now, one thing I want to say about verses three through five, there are. When you look into commentaries and other sermons, whatnot. On, on this passage, there are some who take each one of these poetic things here. You know, the sound of the grinding is low, and they associate that with something directly physiological. Like I read, you know, you lose your teeth, the grinding is low. Yeah, the, the almond tree flourishes. I. The one I read about, that is your hair turns gray. Mine didn't. My almond tree does not flourish. But actually if I let it grow, maybe it would. Who knows? So honestly, I don't see the need to make. Here's. Here's a biblical hermeneutics thing. How do you interpret the Bible? Typology has to have a connection with everything. If there's a type poetry, it's trying to give you a little picture. I don't know that this one's about the knees and that one's about the eyes and that one's about the teeth. You know, you can, you can imagine that all you want or carry that out all you want. I think he's just giving a poetic description, saying, hey, the old house is going to come down one of these days. And that's, that's the realization he, he wants the young people to recognize as he goes through there. Okay, now we pick up in verse six, where again, this is one of the more famous lines in the book of Ecclesiastes. It says, or the. Or ever the silver cord be loosed or the golden bowl be broken. Just stop right there. The silver cord be loosed or the golden bowl be broken. Now, clearly it's poetic language. What exactly is it talking about? I. I don't feel the need to try to figure out, okay, is that the spinal cord? What are we talking about here? I think, again, this is poetry. But that phrase, the silver cord be loosed and the golden bowl be broken has really kind of come in our society, wherever you go, even outside of the Bible. It's, it's. It's come to mean. Oh, you mean you die. The silver cord is broken. And so the silver cord be loosed and the golden bowl be broken. This poetic way of. Of saying, even, even in this house, the finest of things, the silver cord, the golden bowl, you leave it there long enough and it too is going to suffer all of the manner of. Of degradation. So the silver cord be loose, the golden goal be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern. That wheel, by the way, is the wheel on the bucket that you let down into the cistern. And, you know, eventually it breaks. The bucket falls down. No way to get the water out. This thing's over. And so, so there's the word. Now let's close and go home. Boy, wouldn't that be a bummer of a place to stop right there. But there really is something beneficial about. Again, recognizing death is going to come. I'm not going to rush it. Old age is going to come. I'm not going to exaggerate it. I see. This is the reality. I'm going to live the best I can between here and there, honoring my creator, being loyal to my creator, remembering my creator. And someday death really will come. I think that as Christians, we should. We should not have a theology which gives us any idea that, hey, God's going to come back and take care of this before I ever get old. You know, the rapture is going to happen, the second coming is going to happen, the. Whatever it is, you know, whatever our theology that's. That's going to come and, and fix it all. Maybe so. You know, I've got a strong eschatology. You can buy it in the book Systematic Theology. Yeah, I got an eschatology. But I'm also living as if. I don't know if that's going to happen in my life. Maybe I'd love for it too. That'd be exciting. Maybe not. Maybe it won't. Maybe I'll grow old blind, incapacitated, scared of a step, you know, the heights, all that. Maybe, in fact, if you use any logic, we would probably have to say, probably, most likely. Maybe even if you use the actuary tables, we would Say, yeah, not as far off as I think the day's coming there when the silver cord will be loosed and the golden bowl will be broken, and we, we. We factor that into our lives. Now verse seven then goes on to say, then shall the dust return to the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it. Now, what exactly is that? You know, you know that I forgot I had pictures here. How about that? I just now looked back. There's the old man. I got it. I, I worked so hard to bring you pictures this morning, and then I just forgot them. I must be getting old. The old blind man. There we go. An allegory of the vanities of life. It, it shows there all the, all the, the finery of life and the books and the learning and the skull. Right there you got an allegory of life that is given, and then that's the next picture. Okay? So remember, in 4, 5, and 6, I said, I don't think there's a need to tie each poetic line to some specific reality. Now, I think when you get to verse seven, there is the, the same need. He's still in verse seven, is talking poetically, obviously all the way through. He's talking about you get old and you die. And he poetically paints that picture. Now, in verse seven, I think there is a, a possibility that you would create some kind of theology of life after death. From verse seven, I understand it, and I certainly believe in life after death. I just think there's better places to build your theology here where he says, then shall the dust return to the earth as it was, and the Spirit return to the God who gave it. Now we can easily put in there, yeah, dust to dust, ashes to ashes. And to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. And put this together. You know, my body is going to be done with. It'll be buried in the ground, and I'll go on to be with, with Jesus. But I don't, I don't really think that's what we've got here. I think your theology of life after death should come from some book other than Ecclesiastes, because Ecclesiastes is a theology of life under the sun. It's on this side. So when he says, then shall the dust return to the earth as it was, I do think he's talking about you die. You turn to dust. By the way, to help prove my point a little bit, is anybody theologically shaken if we did something to a body so that it did not turn to dust. I didn't think you would be. I understand. Today they're like, people are buying grave plots on the moon because, like, you won't disintegrate or something. And now Elon can get us up there for $2.95 or something like that. And they freeze dry. People, you know, stick them in formaldehyde, you know, all sorts of things you can do with the body so that it does not return. Can you still go see? I was freaked out by this as a kid. Can you still go see Mao in China? They had him, like, in a glass coffin for a long time. Maybe linen also. I don't know. I don't care to make the visit. But anyway, you know, you. You can. You can preserve the body and. And honestly, none of us have a problem with that, right? Okay, so let's say, you know, I. I think I'm so important that I am going to put myself in formaldehyde and prop me up behind the pulpit now and forevermore. If you're not careful, you might say, ah, his body didn't return to dust, therefore his spirit didn't return to the God. You know, you can create some crazy things. I just want to say. He's talking poetically. He said you're going to die. That's what he said. Don't. Don't build a theology into poetry. You'll just get yourself in trouble every time. Now we need a theology of what happens after death, and we can find it. I'm just not sure that poetry is the place to do it. So he goes on, then shall the dust return to the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it honestly, in its strictest sense. I think it says, one of these days you're going to quit breathing. What do you say? He's not talking about whether or not you're going to go to heaven or everybody's going to go to heaven. He's going to say, the breath in you is going to be gone. God gave it to you. He's going to take it away from you. It's done. It's all she wrote, in a sense, is what. What he's saying here. So you get old, you die. That's the passage. Are you encouraged yet? You get old, you die. So remember your Creator in the days of your youth. Sometimes youth is relative, but nonetheless, not a bad word there. And to. To recognize that again says, okay, how can I make the best of every day I've got for my Creator, honoring him through all that I am and ever hope to be. How can I do this? And he doesn't give the answers to there. He's given some earlier in the book of Ecclesiastes, but nonetheless gives a. A good, A good view. Now, I want to add one more thing here just so that you can pass the test on Ecclesiastes, chapter 12, verses 1 through 7. And that is, here is a picture of the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem done in 1890. There is a rabbinical interpretation of this. We talked earlier, I think it was in chapter three, about the. The Jewish understanding of time and how so much that takes place in time has a. A prophetic echo to it, if you will. We won't go back into that sermon, but because of that, a lot of Jewish interpreters take 12, 1 through 7 to be prophetic, maybe about the destruction of Jerusalem or about the fall of the kingdom, kind of. Kind of a Jeremiah kind of stuff, where Jeremiah, in a sense, you know, as he goes to Judah and he's saying to Judah, remember now thy creator in the days of thy youth. And there's some things that when you look through there, you can see. Oh, okay, I kind of see, like, I don't know. Take verse three. In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, the strong men shall bow themselves. The grinders cease because they are few. Those that look outside the windows be darkened. What if you just put that not in the sense of an old house falling down, but you see this in terms of the kingdom and the Jewish kingdom, and there's a little bit of warning that Solomon is giving poetically not only to the individual but also to the nation to say, hey, nation, we better remember the Creator in the days of our youth, because there's going to come the time when we may be surrounded on this around this temple that I have built. And the keepers of the house will tremble and the strong men will bow themselves and the grinders cease because they are few. The windows be dark in verse four. The doors shall be shut in the streets. The sound of grinding is low. He that rise up at the voice of the bird and the daughters of music shall be brought low. You know, you can take that and say, oh, this isn't about a house falling down. This is about a nation being encompassed about by warriors gives a completely different view to it. Now, I think in. In its primary usage, it's talking about me and you growing old and die. But there are some things that the rabbis aren't completely wrong in saying, hey, the nation should remember The Creator in the days of their youth as well. And so as we finish. I'm out of time here, but as we finish, I think one of the things that we. That you and I can say here is that, hey, here we are, a young man living under the sun. God has given me his word. I want to use my mind to learn it. I want to treasure it up. I want to put it in my heart. I want to meditate on it. I want to come to know it. I want to rightly divide the word of truth. Standing before God as a workman who had no need to be ashamed, all of these things. And not only in the direct things of religion and remembering thy creator, but what did he create me for? He created me for fellowship. He created me for dominion. He created me for purpose. All these things that I ought to say, hey, I want these in my life, you know, I think that one of the sad things about youth today is that we as a society removed God from the discussion. He's out of the classroom. He's out of the family life in so many ways. He's out of the. Even the philosophical discussion. That's. That's gone. And so there's no remembrance of the Creator. And as soon as you take that away, you've kind of lost all purpose. What. What am I here for? What am I doing? What. What do I do today? And it becomes this defeatist, nihilistic kind of philosophy where, you know, okay, so I'm going up and I'm. Remember the. Who was it? The sang. I owe I O. So off to work I go. Yeah, One of the dwarfs, yeah, he really said, hi, ho. But, you know, only reason I'm going to work is because I owe money. And, you know, once I pay that, then I'm. I guess I'll owe more money or I'll have money or. And there's a lot of young people today who. Honestly, we see this around Taos all the time. But. But I think that's. It's everywhere. There are a lot of young people who are just saying, I don't want that stuff. All I got to do is dust it, you know, and take what. I don't want stuff in my life I don't want. You know, I don't want to get married. I don't want to have kids. I don't. They don't want stuff. They don't want a wife or a husband. They don't want to have any kids. They don't want to have any church. And only thing they've got is some ecstatic experience, and that doesn't last very long. And so they have to get a new ecstatic experience. And so, you know, they go from alcohol to marijuana to drugs to, you know, on and on, just trying to find some kind of purpose in life. I think that if you just take and say, remember thy creator. Oh, I'm created, that changes everything, doesn't it? I'm not an accident. I'm created. Being created now I can find some reason and some purpose in life. And then to read Ecclesiastes and find out that our creator is not an ogre that doesn't want us to have any fun in life or do anything good in life. He actually wants us to get out and enjoy the sunshine. And he's encouraging that to. To honor him. I think it makes such a great difference if, like boys like this when they remember thy creator. In the days of your youth, if you're. If you're not about to go into second grade, but you're about to go into 70th grade, remember thy creator in the days of thy relative youth. And it's all a blessing. Let me lead us in a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, thank you for the word of God that gives. Does give us this tremendous insights into. Into life. We could have figured out without the word of God that we're going to get old and sick and decrepit and eventually die. But to hear, hear to see that we can do it with grace, we can do it with. With knowledge. We can, we can even enjoy the journey in and through. Knowing that someday we do die gives us the. The reminder that the, the tent, the tabernacle we live in today is just temporary. There's a promised one out there. And so we go to the places in scripture which teach us about the gospel of Jesus Christ and the hope of Jesus Christ that is given through his death, burial and resurrection. We rejoice in Jesus name. Amen. Thanks for being here today. I hope that none of you have the silver cord loosed and the golden bowl broken this week, but that all of you are ready for that and enjoy every good day between now and then. Amen. And if you make it as far as Wednesday, we've got stuffed bell peppers and there's something to look forward to. I don't know. When the, when the new shake comes out at Whataburger, I will research and let you know. God bless you. You're dismissed. I have to tell Jeff. Yep, he was, he was a major addict in that show. Put the Yard Rock. He was his first name. His name came John Wayne. And then all the other people that was in there was like, second train. We have one girl that looks 3 years old, 1 son 14 months old. Funny side note to that is presenting at the sword. And then when I bought the sword. Appreciate it. Thank you. I appreciate it. Yeah. Oh, thank you. Thank you. And did all the opposite stuff. And he said, wow, it probably only works for five minutes, but if you can score, that's a great, great illustration. Yeah. Yeah. Certainly has a physiological that. Yeah, exactly. See you. Thank you. La. See. Yeah. See you guys later. Enjoy it.