In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the brevity and fragility of life. He uses the imagery of broken objects to illustrate how quickly and unexpectedly life can change. The preacher urges the audience not to waste their lives and reminds them that they are not guaranteed another day. He also mentions a personal story of a tragic accident to emphasize the unpredictability of life and the importance of making the most of every moment. The sermon concludes with a call to draw closer to God and seek His grace.

Thank you, Brother Harold. You had so many. Just one more things I thought that you're going to preach the whole time. Appreciate Brother Harold. He's been such a joy to me. And there was a I think about four years ago, a season I was kind of in a funk, I didn't know what to do in a circumstance. And it was just a blessing to be able to go to. I think we're down in Roanoke area and we went to his house and I don't know why. You know, any guy that has his own backhoe at his house, he's a he's a pretty cool guy. And so Brother Harold had his backhoe and I've never used a backhoe. And so we're digging holes and just kind of run around back there and talking about the Lord. And God really used Brother Harold in my life about four years ago. And it's this really knit my soul to what is trying to be accomplished here. I do love I do love people and God's put it in my heart. And I don't it's not a and I look at all of you and I want every single one of you to to walk with Christ. And if if I could make the choice for you, I would. But I can't. And each of us have to make that choice to follow and seek after Christ. And I pray that this these few days together, as I said before, wouldn't be wrote. I'm seeing some familiar faces. And so sometimes familiar faces come to familiar programs and they just treat it like it's familiar. And we're going to spend some time learning how to pray. That's that's not to be just something we do just because we're supposed to. There's going to be responses or opportunities for response at the end of the services. It's not just to do. We want to get closer to God. And he does promise that if we'll draw nine to him, he will draw nine to us. It tells us that he resists those that are proud, but he gives grace to those that are humble and we need more grace. We need God to work in our hearts. I wish my family could come. My wife and I have four children and a grace is five. She's just a just a real mild mannered sweetheart. And William, he's our wild child. He's three. And he's just a lot of fun. He takes after probably me and just a real fun boy. He in turn, I was taken to his first all boy birthday party just two nights ago. And as I was driving him over in this little golf cart and we're getting closer, I'm saying now, William, this is somebody else's birthday party. So don't open anybody's gifts. They're his gifts, not your gifts. And don't eat cake that's not on your plate. And don't I was getting all these do's and don'ts, you know, and he said, but Daddy, there's just something in me that wants to do wrong. And I'm like, we're going somewhere. I said, well, that's sin. He goes, No, I know about that. It's something else. And so I thought, oh, back to square one again. And he's just a fun child. Just have a lot of fun with him. And then Lily, she's going to be too. If you remember, if you were here for the youth prayer advance in the south two years ago, I left here to make it to the birth of Lillian and made it by a day or two. And then and then Timothy David Valor came into this world on June 7th. And so he's about two months old. And I made that birth by about an hour and a half. And so we praise God for his kindness. It was supposed to be where I was going to be there about four or five days early. And the baby, though, decided that or God decided that the baby needed to come out of this world. My wife called me. I was up to about one thirty the night before she called me. And I woke up. It's like six twenty. And I'm like, I'm like, she said, I'm going to have a baby. I said, Well, that's great. Oh, you have a baby. So I'm on the I'm trying to change my ticket and I'm taking a shower. My shower door is open. Water is going all over the trailer. I'm concerned she's going to call back. I'm packing. I don't know if you've ever seen a guy who's having his fourth baby pack before, but I'm taking whole piles of stuff and there's throwing them into the suitcase, not folding anything. Don't care if it matches. Just want to make sure I get the essentials and just get zip up. And I'm driving as fast as I can. That's legally allowed or that they pull you over for. And I'm getting to Green Bay and fly out and get to Minneapolis. She says, Oh, the we're not going to have a baby. I said, Well, I'm coming anyway. We were we've been pushing this too close anyway. And so I get to Denver. She says, Well, they'll just come pick me up. They're going to send me home. I drive to the hospital and I get there and she says, I'm going to have a baby. And an hour and a half later, Timothy, David, enter in this world. And we just praise God for our four that God's entrust us with. And it's a great responsibility, but a great privilege. My wife and I, we travel in full time evangelism. We've been doing this on our own for about three years and travel for three years. Single with evangelist by the name of Steve Pettit. And then Christie and I then got married and traveled another three years with him. So really been in evangelism for, I guess, now it's 10 years. It's hard to believe. And so we just praise God for the opportunity to serve him. You know, being in the will of God is the best place to be. There's some of you, you are called into the ministry. You will not be satisfied anywhere else. There's some of you, you are called to work in a job that's not full time ministry and you will be dissatisfied and agitated doing anything else. But the will of God is sweet. The will of God is where you really want to live your life. Take your Bibles and turn to Ecclesiastes. It's here in Ecclesiastes we're reminded of our creator. Thank you, brother. Brother, what time we did be done? I've got again, three fifty, four fifty. Ecclesiastes 11, verse nine says, Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth and walk in the ways of thy heart and the sight of thine eyes. But know thou that for all these things, God will bring the end of judgment. Therefore, remove sorrow from the heart, put away evil from my flesh for childhood and youth are vanity. Remember now thy creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them. Remember your creator. The process of remembering your creator, don't waste your life, father, I pray that you would give us attention. Father, that you would give us an affection for you, that, Lord, we would rejoice in our youth. But that we would remember you, our creator. In Jesus name, amen, a little bit, I'm going to give us five reasons why we ought to remember our creator, and then before we get there, I'm going to tell you, what does it mean to remember your creator? But if we were to look in context of the scripture, we see that it tells us to rejoice, O young man, in thy youth and let thy heart cheer thee. Why is it that so many of us, we enter into these spiritual types of emphasis and subtly we believe that it's the world that has fun and it's us who are bored. Why is it that we look at the world as they are the ones that enjoy life and we in turn are the ones that are constantly bored? My friend, that's not the way it's supposed to be. God wants you to have joy. God wants you to have peace. God wants you to love others. Simply called walking the spirit, love, joy, peace. My son, he loves to have fun. We're sitting there eating ice cream and he's licking the ice cream with sprinkles. And he looks at me and goes, daddy, ice cream makes me happy. He's getting a spanking and the spanking didn't quite get everywhere on his bottom because I think he wiggled or something. Then he then in turn, the next day got another spanking, but this time it was 100% bullseye where it's supposed to go. And he looked up and he goes, daddy, you spanked my bottom. My back is happy. He said, my, my bottom's happy. No, my bottom's sad. He's just enjoying life. And God's called us to enjoy life. But in the process of enjoying life, many of us, we forget that there's a God. The process of enjoying life. We forget that there's one who reigns in the midst of our busy, self-focused, fun life. God tells us to remember now your creator in the days of thy youth. What does it mean to remember your creator? Well, Ecclesiastes 12, verse 13, it says, let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. To remember your creator is not just a mental recollection of a thought process. It's truly where you have this awe of God that results in an obedience to God. To remember your creator is to live in awe of his presence. If for a moment your eyes were opened up and you could actually see God. You would respond like Peter and you'd say, depart from me, for I'm a sinful man. If your eyes could see God, it would be like Isaiah. If just for a second you could breathe a big breath of heaven. Remember your creator in the days of thy youth is to live in awe of his presence, but it's to remember your creator is to submit to his will and to his word. It's a God focus that results in obedience. To fear God, it cuts through all the busyness, all the fog of this world. To remember your creator is a God focus that results in obedience. It's where you daily practically see God and then you in turn say, God, I just want to serve you. I just want to love you. I just want to please you. Can I tell you something? You cannot earn God's acceptance. Did you know that you are born with sin? Some of us, we get frantic. We're trying to earn God's acceptance. No, his acceptance comes through Jesus Christ. And in Jesus, we are loved completely. But when we see God, it is a motivation and we see his holiness and our lack of holiness, we see his vastness and we see our smallness, we see God and all that he is. And at that moment, we realize we deserve judgment and then we know of his grace and his mercy. And then the love of Christ constrains us. And now we say, God, though I deserve judgment, you gave me mercy. And though I deserve your holiness to burn through me, God. God, I just want to love you. God, I just want to walk with you. I just want to enjoy you, God. So God focus that results. In obedience to remember your creator is to live in all of his presence, to remember your creator is to submit to his will and word. But then you say, well, why must I remember my creator? Why do you tell me to remember? It's because you forget three things about God and you forget two things about yourself. You forget three things about your creator and you forget two things about yourself. You forget. First of all, your creator is God. We get very good at becoming practical atheists. We forget that when it says, remember now, my creator in the days of my youth, that is your creator that made you. It's your creator that knows all about you. It's your creator that we are to serve. We forget that our creator is God. We become practical atheists that drift through our life. We live like David at the point of David's sin. Did David raise his fist up to God as he's getting ready to commit adultery with that sheep and say, God, I hate you. Or at that moment, did he just forget that his creator was God? And so many of us at the point of our sin, we choose to forget about our creator. We choose to forget that our creator is God. This world is so loud. I just got on an airplane. I just walked to an airport. Do you know the lust of the flesh is available for those that want to consume it anywhere you go? Did you know that? Did you know that pornography is available in a airport? The lust of the flesh. The lust the eyes. We live in such a consumer mentality. We don't understand as Americans, how much we really have. And this world bombards us with thoughts of you need to get cash. You need to get a job. You need to get a degree. You need to do these things because you need to be, have a position of power. You know, I've been places in Africa. We're all a little boy had was a little loin covering and AIDS. How many pairs of shoes do you have? How many articles of clothing are in your room alone? How much food is in your house? Take the fridge in the kitchen, take the fridge in the garage and the deep freezer downstairs. How much food is in your house? You have so much, you know why you need to remember your creator? Because you forget that your creator is God because this world and its immorality, this world and all of its consciousness and possessions, this world and all of its drive for position and the fear of man. That is so great. We start living our lives this way. As long as I have a certain standard, then I really don't need to have a heart for God. That's bogus. I've known teenage boys that they found a video game that was rated E for everyone. And therefore, since it's okay, it's rated E. There's nothing immoral. There's no swear words. There's no graphic violence. It's okay for me to play and waste my life. And so they sit down and they give eight hours of it. Just because you find a website that's okay, that doesn't have immorality or some other thing doesn't mean you just give away your whole soul. Oh, friend, it's more than just avoiding the immorality. It's more than just avoiding having your heart given to possessions. It's about a heart that loves God. Remember now your creator in the days of our youth, we forget that our creator is God. No, he's at the Lord. He is God. And if he that has made us and not we ourselves, we are his people and the sheep of his pasture. Your purpose, your purpose is to know God. Your purpose is to enjoy God. Your purpose is to glorify God. Your purpose is to serve God. You forget that your creator is God, but you forget that your creator is good. Rejoice. Oh, young man in thy youth. Why? Because your creator knows what's best for you. You forgot that your creator is God, that he owned you. You forget that your creator is good, that he does what's best for you. We buy the lie of Satan, don't we? Christianity results in bitter discipline, humdrum life. Oh, I wish I could watch that. Oh, I wish I could do that. Oh, it's so much more fun out there. And so we live under the subjection of our parents and the conformity that they put on us. And the minute there's a little key of freedom, we bust open out of the conformity and we go drowned ourself because you missed it. You missed it. Remember that your creator is good. Day one, he creates the universe. Day two, he creates the sky. You ever looked up at the sky? You ever been somewhere outside of Virginia that has clear skies? Anyone ever been outside of Virginia? Come from Colorado. I've driven my Volkswagen. I used to have a Volkswagen van and I drive it from where I went to college back to Twin Falls, Idaho. And sometimes in those crisp, crisp winter days and driving across Montana, it's called big sky country. And you're looking out and you're seeing these clouds and you're seeing this sky and it looks so beautiful and so unbelievable. You know, God created, could have created the sky to look terrible, but he didn't because he's a good God. Your creator's good. Day two in creating the sky, my son and I were sitting down and we're watching this little cotton ball clouds go by and he's going one, two, three, and then out of the blue, he goes, I could eat them. God's good. You ever seen a sunset? You ever watched a sunrise? Day three, he makes the vegetation, the landscape, the garden of Eden was called the delightful place. God could have made all of this world to be ugly, but your creator's God and your creator's good. And he's given us all this food. Who here enjoys food? Would you raise your hand? God could have created food to be bland. I'm so glad I'm not a cow grass. Oh, great. My favorite. Oh, look, there's some more grass. It's on the other side of the fence. Can't wait. God lets us eat food. That's that's that tastes wonderful. You have a steak, you have Chinese, you have Mexican, Italian, you go through the list and your creator is so good. Day four, he makes the sun, the moon, the stars. Who's ever been outside with somebody you care about and you're just looking at the stars, you're enjoying it. Maybe it's a mom, a dad, a brother, sister, or somebody else. Raise your hand. Who's ever done that? Of course you have. God could have made it where the stars don't make constellations, but no, he wants us to enjoy his creation. Day five, he makes the sea animals and the birds. Who here has ever put on some snorkel gear or some scuba gear and you've gone under the ocean and you've looked at all the beautiful things underneath. Would you raise your hand? What colors? It's unbelievable. Day six, he makes the land animals. How many have a pet? Would you raise your hand? How many like your pet? Raise your hand. How many hate your pet? Would you raise your hand? No, you put your hands down. My kids, they love animals. We live in a fifth wheel trailer, so we're not having animals in our trailer. But my daughter, she's always asking, daddy, do you think we could just get a small little kitty? And I'm telling Anna Grace that Anna Grace, small little kitties turn into big stinking kitties. But daddy, they're so cute. I hope I don't give in one day. God could have made every animal to be boring. We love to go to zoos. We've been to all sorts of zoos all over this country. Why? Because our good God, our good creator, he made all of these things. And day six, he makes man and he makes woman. And you know, my best friend is my wife. I love her with all of my heart. We'll stay up late at night and she'll tell me jokes and I'll laugh. Not because the jokes are funny, but because she can't tell jokes and I'll laugh and I'll, I'll suddenly make fun of her. And then I get a pillow shoved down my throat. Boom, boom, boom. She called while brother Harold and I were just eating lunch. And I said, Hey, I'm eating with brother Harold. And she goes, Oh man, that sounds so much like fun. I hang up. I think what a great person. God sure soon knew, sure knew who I needed to marry. You know what? I love my wife. I love, I love talking to her. I love giving my heart to her. I love getting kissy kissy with her because God is good. God's way. God's timing is the best timing and it's the most soul satisfying timing because the Bible says in James, every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the father of lights with whom is no variableness, neither the shadow of turning of turning. God knows what will bring us creation pleasure. He made you girls. God knows what you need when you need it. Can I hear an amen from this side? You know, guys, God knows what you need. He knows what will satisfy the heart for him. Because it said of God that will show him the path of life and that presence is the fullness of joy and our right hand, our pleasures forevermore. It says they shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house and now shall make them drink of the rivers of thy pleasure to like thyself also in the Lord and he shall give you the desires of thine heart. God is good. Your creator is God and your creator is good. And the biggest lie that Satan continually comes to is he says, I can make you more happy than God can. I can give you more joy than your God can. If your God loves you, why aren't you having fun right now? If your God loves you, why does he take away those good things and your flesh goes to the world and says, oh, I just want a taste of it, I just want the lust of flesh, I just want the lusty eyes, I just want the pride of life. But you need to remember your creator this this this afternoon, why? Because you forget that your creator is God, you forget that your creator is good, but you forget that your creator will one day judge you. It says it right there in Ecclesiastes 12, verse one, while the evil days come not, nor the years drawn, I will now shall say I have no pleasure in them. Ecclesiastes 12, 14 says, for God shall bring every good work into judgment with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil. The judgment of God is not just a far off entity. It could be that there are people here that right now are undergoing the judgment of God. According to this text, the scripture tells us three things about the judgment of God. It says, first of all, it's a life of pain. It says the evil days, the reference is specific seasons of affliction, days of calamity that come from sinful choices. Finish this proverb, the way of the transgressor is. Say it again, the way of the transgressor is. How many of you already in your short life have already shed tears because of a sinful choice? Would you raise your hand? Who's been there? How many of you have ever felt? The sting of a broken relationship because of your mouth, the bitterness in your heart and the hardness who hears felt the dull ache of covetousness and that covetousness wells up to a point that you cave in and purchase something that you can't afford, and then the guilt settles in thereafter. The lost. A curious search for nudity that in turn produces actions of sinfulness. Guilt. Could be you've watched an older brother or sister already. Ron. Sells birthright for a mess of pottage. And though they sought it afterwards with tears, could not find it. The way of the transgressor is hard, be not deceived, God is not mocked, whatsoever, and so is that shall he also reap. I was driving that Volkswagen van back to Idaho. I was coming cruising through town. There's this guy, he's just he looks just messed up. I'm thinking I got room in my car, I should give him a ride. It's just me. Open up the door, kick it open. This guy looks at me, he goes, well. I go, Kelly. I hadn't seen him since sixth or seventh grade. And every other word, the swear word. Slang, I mean, just this rough way, hey, do I messed up my life, man? Kelly, what's going on now? I got hepatitis C, dude. And they already cut out half my lung because marijuana. How'd you get hepatitis C? Well, I don't know. I think a dirty needle. Man, my girlfriend's got it. And like our baby does too, dude. I'm probably going to die. Kelly, man, you got to go to the doctor. No way, man. I'll go to the doctor. That doctor's going to tell me to lay off the alcohol because like hepatitis C attacks the liver, dude. Do you know that? There's some of us in our pristine little environment. We don't think that we would ever stoop to those lows. But you know, not the power of sin, a life of pain. But the text tells us a life of boredom. When thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them. See, there's a point where your sinful behavior no longer excites. There's a time when the sins of this world no longer stir the heart. You see, God created you to have a mission and a vision of serving God and loving God and knowing God. And when you're not fulfilling that mission, guess what? You are bored. You know what? Some of you are very bored people. This summer was boring. You know how you know if you're bored when you go and check multiple email accounts and when you check them, there's no new email. You are bored. If you've checked a website that updates itself once or twice a day and you've been there multiple times in a day and it's not updated yet, guess what? You are bored when you're calling a friend like every five minutes and they haven't got home yet. You're bored. You're throwing down the game controller. You're bored when you've been playing and you don't even like the game. You've read the book seven times. You don't even like the book. You're watching the show. You don't even like the show. You're bored. Just going through life, a senseless existence. You say it from your words. Mom says, what's the matter? I'm just bored. Well, if you want to do want to be bored, I'll give you some work. I'm not bored, but you're bored. Don't you understand? It's a judgment of God. God's trying to teach you the drudgery of life without him. He's trying to show you that life without vision and life without mission is a boring, boring life. It's it's God's judgment. You read the context of Ecclesiastes and that's what Solomon discovered time after time after time after time. Life without God is boring because sorrow comes to those that want greatness without God. Wisdom without God leaves you in despair. Sexual pleasure outside the will of God results in disappointment and despair. Hard work without God creates a hatred for life. High standards without God breeds emptiness. Religion and devotion without God fosters self-righteousness. Wealth without God brings temptation and a snare. Godless existence is vanity. Vanity of vanities. And that is the third judgment, a life that counts for nothing. Vanity of vanities. Can I challenge every single one of us with one phrase? Look up here. Don't waste your life. This is not a dress rehearsal. Don't waste your life. One man comes with his riches and Jesus said they were of covetousness for a man's life consists of not in the abundance of the things which one possesses. We preach this to the world. You've got lost friends that are wealthy. What does it profit a man? He'll gain the whole world and lose his own soul. But many of us, we just go through life with enough Christianity so we don't get in trouble but we don't give our life to God. Don't waste your life. Girl sitting in my office last year, senior, high school. She's sitting across from me. Oh, I got a boyfriend. We don't go all the way. Oh, yeah, I go to movies. I don't watch really bad movies. Oh, yeah, I listen to wrong music but it's not like really, really bad music. Oh, yeah, I'm going to go to, I'm going to go to state college and then I'm going to, I'll be in church on Sundays at least. I looked at her and I said, can I ask you a question? Have you done anything that's going to last for eternity? She goes, no. I said, so basically you're wasting your life. Wasting my life. Don't waste your life. Remember your creator, that he is God, that he's good, that he will judge you. But you forget two things about yourself. You forget that you're growing older. That's what it says right here in verse two. While the sun nor the light nor the moon or the stars be not darkened. One day you will not be able to serve God. Your strength is gone. Your teeth fall out. Your eyesight gives way. Your ears are deaf. In verse four, your sleep is hindered. In four, your fears increased. Your body begins to age. You are growing older. Every choice to free it. God is ingraining the habit deeper in your lives. You will be what you are becoming. How many of you have ever looked forward to, you know, some next new privilege that comes with getting older? Would you raise your hand? How many could ever remember like an elementary school that 10th graders looked huge? Do you ever remember that? You know, 10th graders, oh, they're big. How many 10th graders are there? A couple of you are kind of big. You're not big, man. No, I'm joking. Put your hands down. If I can remember 10th grade, oh, I can't wait because junior year. We got our license in Idaho at 14, but my parents didn't let me drive till 16. And I have this Volkswagen bug that we, my dad and I, we redid. Not one of these new bugs that are like nice and clean. This is like one of those old school loud bugs. You go in there and you smell like, like fuel, you know. Couldn't wait till my 16th birthday. I was going to get a drive. And then, then I can't wait till I'm 18. And I go maybe to college and then I can't wait to, to graduate. And then I can't wait to get married. And then I can't wait to have a ministry. And then I can't wait for kids. And, and then I can't wait to retire. And then I can't wait to die. And I'm 33 years old. And there's sponsors here looking at me like, man, that dude is young, man. He's a young buck, right? Wait, wait till he has teenagers. Some of you are even older school. You're like, oh, wait till he has grandkids. He'll understand. There's so many teens that you're looking at me like, man, that dude is old. Let me just tell you something. It happened so fast. Man, I looked at brother Harold. I thought, man, he's aged. No, I'm joking. I've only been away two years, but man, he's been through like 10 years. Just look at him. It happens so fast. Your life is a vapor. My granddaddy, he gets saved at 84 years old. It's awesome. I'm sitting there watching Boston Red Sox with him. Giving a play by play. Cause he can't see. Then he picks up his broken old sightless body. He shuffles to the kitchen. Oh, I'm thankful. He's going to heaven. But he wasted his life. Don't waste your life. How old are you on the end? Okay. How old are you in the stripes? 15. How old are you in the purple? Okay. How are you in green? 11. And how old are you behind him? 13. How old are you? Okay. How old are you, Tim? 18. How old are you? Don't waste your life. You hear me? Don't waste your life. Don't let another day go by. You are not assured of another breath. You see, we forget the fifth thing. One day we're going to die. See, it tells us right there, because the man goeth to his long home and the mourners go about the streets wherever the silver cord be loose or the golden bowl be broken or the pitcher be broken, the fountain of the wheel broken in the cistern. How many of you have ever broken something by accident? Would you raise your hand? How many ever pushed up a glass something off of the counter? Would you? It's like slow motion, isn't it? No. Life speeds back up. Comes quick. Camper broke his femur. Goes home, gets a waterproof cast. Thought he could go swimming. His broken femur ripped open the largest artery in his body. He bleeds to death. 15. Last August, one of the counselors at the camp where I was working at, he had a little brother, senior in high school, region for your senior. Senior goes to pick up a check. He's going, he came from sports practice. And the mom, the husband, wife, trucking, driving team said, they just watched his car go right in front of them. They hit the brakes, they smashed into his car. They throw him 35, 45 feet. He's dead. And the academy asked me to come. They know I was driving through. They said, just preach one chapel. I'm looking at 50 high school seniors and juniors and sophomores. I preached from this text. I said, don't waste your life. You do not know that you'll live to be 30. You do not know. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God, keep his commandments for this is the whole duty of man. To remember God is to live in awe of his presence. To remember God is to submit to his will and word. I'd like you to just bow your head. You don't need to close anything. Just your eyes.