In this sermon, the speaker focuses on the importance of diligence and keeping one's heart in Proverbs 4:23. He uses the example of a man named Yanni who did not keep his heart diligently and suffered the consequences. The speaker emphasizes that laziness can lead to poverty and that government efforts cannot create wealth if people are determined to be lazy. He also highlights the importance of being diligent in one's studies and work, as there are job opportunities available for those who are capable and motivated. The overall message is to encourage the audience to be diligent, forward-thinking, and to build a prosperous future.

We thank you, Lord, for this opportunity which you grant us, and for keeping us till this present moment. Many, O many, Lord, have passed on and have died. Please quieten our hearts and open our ears to hear properly what you have to say. Send your Holy Spirit to lead us into all the truth. Lord, we have heard your child share with us how attentively we should listen to what you have to say. Just as children would listen if the inheritance of the will of their father is being read out to them. Amen. Nehemiah 2, verse 17. Then I said to them, You see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lies waste and its gates are burned with fire. Come, let us build the wall of Jerusalem that we may no longer be a reproach. We are in great distress in our country and through the whole of Africa. The walls are broken, the gates are burned. We are in great distress in our country and through the whole of Africa. Quite recently an international team was here in South Africa and they did aerial photography of places where they found graves, graves upon graves, red soil, black soil, fresh graves, just showing the awful situation. Some in China, some in Russia, places like India, who say Africa is ours. They are already looking beyond their borders in this direction because they can see what is happening, the devastation. Also, while whites are emigrating, there are people who are ready to move in. And I am determined to speak the utter truth, I have said, pray to the Lord, Lord let my lips rather turn into mud than that I should speak untruths. And the present situation, the crisis in which we find ourselves in this country, is something that we spoke of before you were even born, most of you. And recently somebody said, well, that's what you were speaking about at that time. Our text says, you see the distress in which we are. Now I ask, do you see the distress in which we are? Some people have their eyes blinded by Satan's like he's thrown sand into their eyes. And Africa does lie waste. The gates burned with fire. But come let us build. Let us build the walls. Let us no longer be a disgrace to the world. Regarding that dreaded disease referred to just by three letters, it is something that is where Africa leads the world by miles. Go to the Indian population and see, are they dying at this rate through AIDS? And they will speak straight, if you try and strike up a relationship with them, they'll say, hey, I'm not your kind. So girls, what are you made of if you just allow yourself to be abused? You just give yourself up to anybody. You don't know where they come from, where they're going to, but you give them a ride. You give them a ride, but you don't know where they're going to. While they take you for a ride, it is a known fact that lorry drivers, even from as far as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, they drive right down to our ports and they pick up girls along the way, like the tolls along the way in your escort. Then at the next toll, they'll drop them and pick up more. And so this disease is known as a disease on wheels. From one city to the other. Where they can see girls standing along prostitutes selling themselves. The walls indeed lie waste and the gates are burned and there is utter destruction. And anybody walks in and out as they please, but as the Zulu proverb says, you just fly away and do your thing, say, I'm just going to live my life well, you will bear the consequences later. Maybe it will only dawn upon you when you lie wasting away when you are just skin and bone. Some will only wake up when it is the day of that blowing smoke from the pit and when the books are opened. And all their works are read out before heaven and earth. Our creator, the Lord of hosts must be feared. Now, maybe you treat your parents like dirt, but don't do the same to the most high. And how disgraceful if you find the older generation also involved in shameful promiscuity. I don't say that you should respect people like that and listen to them. And it is known that there is terrible sexual abuse by men within families. Uncles, brothers, fathers who abuse the children, it is an awful thing. I don't want to tell you a story about a young man who built badly. Because remember, this theme is about building. Some build well, some don't. I don't want to tell you a story about a young man who built badly. In the letter to the Corinthians, God speaks how some build with wood, hay, stubble, others with precious materials, but everything will be revealed by fire on that day. Let me tell you about a young white man who built with the cheapest and frailest of materials. His name was Yanni. Now this Yanni, he was a constructionist but didn't build properly. I want to look at a text, I think it's somewhere around Proverbs 4, could be verse 23. Keep your heart with all diligence above all else. I remember a time back when the province still held prayer meetings and they asked me to speak. This was a text I use where it says here in Proverbs 4, 23, keep your heart with all diligence for out of it spring the issues of life. Now Yanni did not keep his heart or watch his actions. He was certainly not diligent. Much is spoken about poverty and there are some who are not locked into poverty just because of circumstances but because they are bone lazy. And no government effort will ever succeed to create wealth and prosperity in a nation of people who are determined to be lazy. Then wealth just drifts away. Fire will just burn it up as it does the chaff of maize. Or that the fire going through sugar cane. It's a French word where they speak about the leaves, the dead leaves of the sugar cane and that is burnt called the fire and they burn that up and it burns very quickly. The Bible says he who does not work ought not eat. Now this Yanni, an Afrikaans young man was lazy by nature. At school he would make a nuisance of himself while the teacher was trying to teach and the other children trying to learn. He would be chatting and just causing a disturbance. He was trying to show the others that he was the main O and that he is not the lackey of the teacher. He would pinch others and cause them distress. Homework was something which he just avoided. And so his marks were bottom of the list. He started drinking alcohol and smoking whilst still at school. And he would boast about it. He would proudly tell the others about his achievements with these things. He didn't know that it was something, he didn't realize that it was something bad but he thought he boasted in his shame. He quickly dropped out of school. He quickly gravitated towards street gangs sitting on corners. He was busy smoking and drinking and going out to steal. That was his life. Well, when he was a bit older he got married. Now, the white people don't have much trouble with it because they don't pay dowry or lobola. The customers, just that you ask permission from the parents of the girl, if they agree, fine. If he's got enough money to buy a ring, fine. If he doesn't, well, they go ahead anyway. And so he got married. But he had no house, had no money. Neither was he forward thinking regarding at least putting some money aside for his future, for his family and his children. No, that was completely out of his mind. He just was driven by the lust of the flesh and got married. If he did get hold of some money, he would go to the local shop and buy alcohol and cigarettes and share things with his pals, not with his family. His poor wife suffered greatly. She was miserable. She didn't have enough money for salt or the very basic necessities. She'd have to go and ask neighbours and go and ask if she could get little jobs with the next-door neighbours to get some money. She'd have to go and ask neighbours and go and ask if she could get little jobs with the next-door neighbours to get some money. Remember, it's better to sleep in bed at night, not to be chatting to your pals, than to be asleep in the service. Now it so happened that his wife, Morrie, was a very good and diligent girl. She was a very good and diligent girl. I don't know why Morrie got herself married to this guy. She should have had more discernment, but that's what it's like when girls are swept off their feet and infatuated. They don't ask any questions and they just rush headlong into stupid decisions. A certain wiser girl had a young man coming and trying to woo her and she wised up to him. Remember, there's no one who can lie like a young man who's trying to woo you. He'll promise you the earth, he'll say he'll take you on a plane, a world trip, but after that he gives you a kick. All he wants is to get you. I don't know why Morrie got herself married to this guy. He should have had more discernment, but that's what it's like when girls are swept off their feet and infatuated. When a young man is wooing a girl, does he tell her everything? Does he tell her the truth? Of course he doesn't. He says, but I got you. Can you vote for me? Yes, he got them. And then they say, he's very wise and clever. And indeed, he was clever. He got them. So when a young man comes and promises you, girl, all the things that he's going to buy you and the special fan, stove and whatever, just don't believe him. That's what it's like when a young man comes and promises you, girl, all the things that he's going to buy you and the special fan, stove and whatever, just don't believe him. But Yanni got hold of Morrie and married her. I've got a number of daughters. I've pre-warned them and said, look, with your sense that you've got, don't just be swept off your feet. Pray and seek God's will about marriage. Don't just accept offers of engagement. Yes, yes. Let it be a no one day. But some become too desperate. Remember I told the story of that young lady getting into her late twenties, early thirties. She was now extremely troubled because she wasn't married yet. One day she was so distressed. She went outside when it was very dark at night and she knelt under a tree, praying earnestly, praying aloud, saying, Oh God, please, you can see I'm getting old now. And perhaps even towards the time when I can't have children, I need a husband. Please give me a husband. Let me get married, Lord. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. It must appeal to God and it appeals to others who say amen. And I think it's a spirit. They fail to discern between the soul and the spirit. She got to the front. Amen. Now she said, give me a husband. What did just anybody know? Just anybody know? Now, as she reached emotional heights in her prayer, she didn't know that there was an owl sitting up there sleepily, like some people do in services and owl does that. Now it was up there and it got a fright when she was praying so loudly, it got a fright and said, whoo, whoo. And she thought it was the Lord responding. She said, Lord, anybody, just anybody. Don't make that your first goal. Girls, ladies, don't let that obsess you. Monkeys get married too. Don't be one that follows around and you always after the boys or the men. If I see such a lady, I'll say, if I need you, I will speak, but don't follow me around. I'll come to you. You didn't come to me. We are created in the image of God, not in the image of animals. So this Maori got married to this washout of a man. And then one day, a married couple, white couple came to Maori, she had worked for them before she was married, she had been working for them. She was loved by them. They regarded her with much affection because she was very diligent and very good to them. And they paid her well because they were rich people too. Now they came to visit her to see how it was with her after marriage. They were heartbroken at what they saw. There was nothing in the house. There was nothing in the pantry. As the husband and wife chatted on the way back, they said, can't we try and do something about the situation? Maybe offer her a job. And so Maori got a job with them. Maori became the breadwinner of her home. At the end of the month, her husband would demand the money and say, where is your salary? And he would go and squander it. He would say, you are so keen to get your Adam, but you will experience suffering if you go that route. Then that couple suggested, how about we offer a job to Yanni? They said to her, well speak to my husband about it. They said to her, you tell your husband about it. And she went home, she was delighted. She said, my husband, Yanni, they are offering you a job as well. So Yanni accepted the job, but his heart wasn't in it. He would just be laid back, still hanging around with his pals. It was evident that his heart wasn't in his work. Now, Maori though was thoroughly diligent. She kept her little home clean, sparkling. You could eat food off the floor, so clean it was. But that couple that were trying to support her, they were increasingly distressed. They said, can't we do something else to help her? Then the boss called Yanni and said, come along. Put him into his car. Yanni said, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no . Now this man was so wealthy had a beautiful home in the city. and he had a farm outside and he took Yanni into the hills and said, look Yanni, this is my property. I would like to build a beautiful home here. I'm going overseas with my wife for an extended holiday, many months, and I want you to oversee the building of my house here. He pulled out a big piece of paper rolled up, it was the blueprint of the home, and he said, Yanni, can you oversee this? I'd love to return back from our holiday with you having finished the home. Yanni said, of course I can do it, it's no problem, easy. And the man said, but Yanni, I want this to be built with the finest quality material. For instance, I want those face bricks that have that yellowish shine to it, those very expensive ones. And I want you to put in the best windows. And on the floor I want you to put the best boarding. And the best wood, and I want the doors to be of the highest quality. And so Yanni said, yes sir, no problem. I'll do it. But in his thoughts already he was starting to think ahead of this foolish boss he said to himself, I'm going to really fix this man. And the man said, Yanni, I'm also going to pay you very well. And I'm going to give you half your salary now, when I come back and see the completed house, you'll receive the rest, the other 50%. He said, yes sir. And so the gentleman went off with his wife on a trip on a boat, on a ship, on an international ship cruise. And he said, Yanni, I'm going to give you half your salary now, when I come back and see the completed house, you'll receive the rest, the other 50%. Yanni began scheming. And so he thought how he could do his boss out of a deal and buy the cheapest materials and then cover up. Like bricks, why should he get the most expensive bricks when he can plaster it and paint it? Why should he get the best doors? He'll just get cheap wood and he can just cover up with paint. Now, Yanni, for instance, wouldn't buy the best baked bricks. He would get those that are half baked or not baked at all. And he said, I'm going to fix my boss. When there's a big rain, it'll cause these bricks to come to a point where it'll just fall, the house will fall upon him. By going for minimum, he siphoned off funds for himself. He wouldn't get the correct amount of cement for the mixture or for the reinforcing. And as a side business, he would sell some of those products to his friends. And so he was able to pick up a lot of friends. Because they smelt money, he was able to buy them more alcohol and drugs and dacha and all sorts of things. And he would go around with them. He was like a piece of dung attracting green flies. In the mornings, he would have hangovers. He would have hangovers in the morning because of the heavy drinking the night before, get up only by 10 to go to the work site. And Mari, the wife, was very disturbed when she saw this. And he got his pals to come in and help along. But not properly, not building in the right way. He would say, look, don't worry even about putting cement between the bricks here and there. It's fine because I'm going to cover up anyway. And so with the extra materials, he would sell off cement and siphon the funds to himself. And with plastering and painting, he was able to try and make a pretense of it so that when his boss would return, he wouldn't notice. And then the day came when his boss returned. He asked him, Yanni, have you completed my house? He said, indeed. It's a marvelous house, sir. And Yanni tried to appear accountable, pulled out receipts and said, sir, just look at these receipts and here are one or two that are not paid, that you'll have to fix up. Here it is all. So the gentleman put Yanni into his big expensive car and he drove him up to where the house had been built. And as they parked outside, he said, Yanni, I can see you've really made a good job. Thank you. Thank you very much. I congratulate you. And he took out some notes and he gave it to Yanni, some papers. And he said, Yanni, these are the title deeds to your house. This is the house that I present to you. The gentleman said, Yanni, your wife served us so faithfully over all those years and we wanted to reward her and give you and her this home. Yanni was utterly horrified. His knees turned to water. His intestines went cold. He was dazed. He said, oh, what a fool I've been to himself. He had not kept his heart from which the issues of life spring. He thought that he was fixing and punishing the rich man, but in fact he was punishing himself. And so Yanni lived a miserable life in his home. Any wind that would come up, any storm, he would tremble. He would hear the roof fluttering there because he hadn't bounded properly to the walls yet. Come let us build. You defy your teachers. You don't know how to respect older people. Well, you are punishing yourself. You are the fool. Don't think you're punishing your teacher by being lazy at school. He or she has already got their degree. They are already settled and they've got their earnings and their wages. You are the fool. You're the one who'll come out without a proper education and be able to speak English properly. You will suffer. But what's your favorite dish, miss? And you might become like that one beauty queen who is on record as having been interviewed after winning the beauty contest. She was interviewed over TV and they said, now, you miss beauty queen, what is your favorite dish? She said, tapuwe. She didn't understand the language. Why 30? What's your favorite hobby? I do not hobby. She hadn't been diligent at school. She hadn't listened. She hadn't studied languages properly at school. If you are just distracted by the opposite sex, no wonder your marks are so dismal. A certain white lady came from the Salvation Army in England to come and do work here in Zulu land. She came not knowing how to speak Zulu. She ended up staying in my home. She told me many a story. Now, she ended up having to do anything and everything. Although she was a nurse, she had to do things like even pulling teeth. One day she told me a big Zulu man came with a very generous stomach which he would touch with pride and he had a bad tooth that needed pulling. She came with the pliers to extract it. This gentleman, Zulu man, was seated in this chair with his mouth sitting there. She, not knowing Zulu, spoke in a fungalo and said, open your mouth. He just sat there with his mouth shut tight. She said again in fungalo, open your mouth. Now, she was a young white lady at the time. He thought that she was just being cheeky. She thought that now she was really going to use the strongest language to get his mouth open. She thought, now let me use the strongest language possible to get him to open his mouth. Now, she didn't know Zulu and she said, she thought she was rebuking him. She said, I love you in Zulu, thinking it was something opposite and he broke out in a smile. He didn't know Zulu. He prayed, and when he prayed he said, I love you as my ancestor. He said, I love you as my ancestor. He said, this is a great news. And so she called another Zulu person to try and translate for her. she said I don't understand when I try and rebuke him with a strong nasty language he smiles all the more and this person asked for what you say and she said I say these words I love you and she didn't know what it meant and she said oh how embarrassed I was when I discovered my language mistake now that just goes to show learn languages study hard young people at school study languages it will help you to be more employable otherwise you'll find yourself the victim of unemployment a certain lady told me she's so sorry she didn't learn she had she didn't want to learn Afrikaans when she was younger and now she's nursing older Afrikaans people and she has to start trying to learn the language from the beginning she said it's so difficult to try and learn the language when you're old but this back to this gentleman Zulu who smiled broadly when she said mistakenly I love you and then now this lady related to me how when he had smiled broadly and she got stuck in with her pliers to extract his tooth she was a little lady she just couldn't work up the strength to get it out so this man a very big and strong man took his two hands over hers and he helped her extract it so that it shot out and hit the wall on the other side now Yanni thought he was getting extracting his revenge on the owner that rich man but he was only punishing himself maybe at school and you just want to be out hanging out with your pals and you don't do your homework you don't study properly and when you do get homework you just copy from others what does it help if you really in an exam if you if you think you're punishing your parent by disobeying them when they say stay at home don't be promiscuous and you say I'll fix them and I'll go out anyway well who's going to suffer you the one who's going to get AIDS you the one who will suffer for you have not guarded your heart from whence the wellspring of life springs you're not punishing your Sunday school teacher your parent your teacher by not listening to them or your preacher but you the one who is finally going to have to pay the consequences and you'll suffer we want you to have a blossoming future get educated study properly be diligent but if you don't you the one who will be the beggar the drunkard while others prosper now we want you to prosper we want you to go ahead if you disobey and disregard these things you're going to suffer if I think of the drugs and the alcohol and the things that you go out to do I think of the many young white men who come here they've toasted their brains they have smoked so much dacha and marijuana they cannot think properly they are permanently damaged they cannot work they can't do any time at all so you find such people becoming drifters from one thing to the other and we say in a proverbial way well he's got ants in his pants he can't stick to one job they just up there and there and anything getting food I'm a shoo-ma-ma-ta in trees I've been to be food now by a car I've been in the box a baby got in England now sevens but for now I'm going to attend the game I'm going to court I'm going to oh gosh it oh God now you find that the employment rate is so awful there's so much unemployment and I really say if you don't have a job it's because you are a youngie you have the potential we get phone calls I get phoned by companies where they ask for up to 30 people at a time they say do you know somebody who's diligent who's capable who's got incentive you see how there are jobs available but you need to be the right person we want you to succeed we want you to go forward and prosper that's why the theme of this conference is come let us build the other side of it is also true that you might end up in prison but let it not be for criminals criminal reasons let it be for righteousness sake because then you know that you're there with the Lord or if you end up as poor as Lazarus at the gates of the rich man knowing where you are spiritually rather than to be in the shoes of the rich man who went to hell how can you be properly employable if you have on your conscience the fact that you have raped other girls you have abused others or you are in the sin of homosexuality it's Sodom and Gomorrah even if they allow you to get married it's become Sodom and Gomorrah I have been a Yanni in the past in that I have squandered my life but I want to change today I want to give my life to the Lord I want to start afresh with the Lord it says guard your heart talk to your heart and say Lord Jesus I want this heart to belong to you I've been a Yanni I want to surrender this to you let's bow our heads Lord Jesus work by the power of your Holy Spirit that it would dawn upon each and every one that the light would dawn on the Yannis amongst us who thought that they were punishing others who come to their senses now and realize that they're only destroying themselves that they realize that they haven't been building their lives but instead they've been breaking it down where they say we have burnt our own gates so that anyone just comes in Lord those who are remorseful before you and turn their hearts to you wouldn't you open your book record their names in your book of life today