Do you want to live a life of purpose?
A life fulfilling that destiny for which you are called?
Or do you just want to make money?
"I want to make money."
"I don't care how my health suffers and all that."
"Alright, I want to make money."
"I don't sleep well, nevermind."
"Money, money, money."
Or "I just want to live for pleasure, pleasure, pleasure."
Each one of you, you were birthed into this world
with a purpose and a calling.
I want to really impress that on you, because
I want you to not find your purpose and calling later in life.
It will be too late. Yes, God can restore the years.
But you missed out on what could have been. You know, there's a saying
that you climb the ladder of success. Make sure that the ladder
of success that you climb to the top is on the right building.
No point climbing a long, tall ladder all the way up, it's a long way up,
and then finally you find yourself on top, but at the wrong building.
Amen. And the years have passed. And I feel that you need to know
your calling. You need to know your purpose. And the calling is given,
like the Apostle Paul says: "God separated me in my mother's womb to"
"reveal His Son in me." And yet the Apostle Paul, you find him chasing
down believers, thinking that he's doing God's service by killing
Christians or bringing them, throwing them into the dungeons,
into the prisons. And he's thinking that he's doing God's service.
"Because this grace people, they are just advocating lawlessness."
Amen? "We keep the law. And we need to stop these people."
And he doesn't realise that he was coming against the Lord. And when the Lord
appeared to him, the Lord says: "It's hard for you to kick against"
"the goads." The goads are the instruments that they use to prod a
bullock from moving on the field. So he started pursuing, the Apostle
Paul, who was then Saul, thinking that he's doing God's service, but
you can see that all the giftings are already showing up in the wrong
direction. Amen. He grew up at the feet of Gamaliel, the best Rabbi at
that time, and he wanted to learn about the Word of God. Why? Because
there is a teacher, there's an apostle in the making. Right, but
he was, his ladder was on the wrong building. Amen. He didn't believe
Jesus is the Messiah, the Savior of the world, and God had to deal with
him. So when the Lord met him, the Lord says: "It's hard for you to"
"kick against the goads." Try your best, something sharp, a knife,
kick against it. You will only hurt yourself. So a lot of people think
that you know, they hurt the cause of Christ, they hurt Christ, they
blaspheme and all that. Or they use the name of Jesus in vain. You only
hurt yourself. The Lord cannot be hurt. He can touch a leper, and he
doesn't catch what the leper has. The leper catches His healing. He
cannot be affected or be defiled. Amen. So you use the Lord's name in
vain you see your friends doing whatever, they are hurting
themselves. Amen. Because angels, they revere that name. They honour
that name. So just like the Apostle Paul, there are people, who are,
they love like, you know, they love ministering to the kids. They might
be studying psychology, for kids in school, right? Mental health and
things like psychiatry, psychiatric studies, is because there's a
calling to join Rock Kids. Amen. And you will find your fulfillment
in life, in your calling, in that purpose for which God birthed you
into this world. And you know what, it will not be a struggle, because
if God calls you into the area, God has equipped you with all the
gifts, the anointings with all the charismatas that go with it. Those
who say: "Actually, I don't want to serve, you know, as an usher."
"I don't like meeting people." Listen, that's not your calling. You don't
have a joy for it. It's not easy for you. It's a burden for you.
Some people don't feel it is a burden. Some people are like:
"Welcome to church! It's so good to see all of you!" That one is
called. We just need to restrain him. We just need to pull him back.
And then we need to pull him back a bit. Are y'all with me so far? But
if you got no joy, whatever it is, there will be a joy, there will be
a flow. Amen. But in the natural, it might seem the opposite. But
sometimes your weakness is an indication of your calling. Like
for example, I had a stammering, stuttering problem for the longest
time in school, both elementary as well as high school, speaking for
our friends overseas. Alright? And as a teenager, do you know how
embarrassing it is in front of the all the girls and all that. But
when God called me, and I gave Him my tongue, my voice, my vocal
cords, and I told Him to use it. I was, I was appalled. I was amazed,
it shocked me that when I stood up, there wasn't that stuttering
anymore. So some of it will come, some of it is an indication that
you are called for that. So don't just shun it. As you go along. But
there must be—if you say: "I got a voice to sing." How many of you
believe they have a voice to sing. Right? And they insist on singing
in the pulpit, but the thing is when they sing, they have a
ministry of clearing the church. And they really think people have
gone to their corners to pray, no, they have gone home. So if God
calls you to be—Amen. He'll give you the voice. Take my advice.
There's a book called Ecclesiastes. And it starts off by saying, the
son of David, King of Jerusalem, who is that? Solomon? So why is
that book there? That book, when you read the book, you can get
depressed. If you don't know the purpose for that book, you will get
depressed because it starts off by saying, I remember when you study
the Bible, the key to the book of the Bible, what the Bible that book
is all about whether it's Ephesians, whether it's Genesis,
the key is always at the door. The first few lines, the first chapter,
the key is there. Like Genesis, what is it all about? "In the
beginning, God created." So it's all about the book of
Genesis—beginnings, the beginnings, amen. So, likewise for
Ecclesiastes, in Hebrew, Kohelet, which is preacher, a preacher. But
then it starts off by saying, the key is "vanity of vanities, all is
vanity." What an opening. That means in Hebrew "hevel" is vanity.
Empty, empty. Take it from someone, this book is there for a purpose.
It is showing you if ever there was a man who has achieved everything,
whose cup of the world, pleasures, worldly pleasures, and anything
that you can enjoy in this earth, this side of heaven. And he has the
ability because of his position and he was the most powerful king at
that time. And his domain was such that he extended the furthest ever
for Israel, all the way to River Euphrates in Babylon, and all the
way to Israel. And his domain, his power was so vast and his wisdom
was so admired. People came from the Far East to come all the way
there. And then the Bible says that even the kings of the East look up
to him. His wisdom was far exceeding the kings of the East and
the wise men of the East. Think about all the wise men of China at
that time, of names that y'all can just quote, you know, we still read
some of their books and all that. And even in history, we know about
them. The wisdom of Solomon exceeds all that because he asked God for
wisdom. So think about it. A man who has wisdom, who musters all the
languages and in Ecclesiastes, he says that I tried singing, I tried
music to find fulfilment, there. Right. He said that it gave me
nothing. Vanity. It is empty. I tried—now in terms of fulfilment,
right? God gives all music and things like this for us in our
lives to enjoy. Amen, but not to find fulfilment in. So it starts by
saying: "Vanity of vanities." Another phrase that appears often
besides vanity of vanities is "under the sun." "Under the sun."
So remember this, the next book is Song of Songs, is about the One who
is above the sun. Once your eyes and focus, and priorities in life
is on the One, the Son of God who is above the sun, amen, you will be
fulfilled. He tried everything. He is a man. You know, he wants
something he says, he says that in Ecclesiastes, he wants something he
get it. Amen. He has 700 wives and 300 concubines that's 1000 women.
One year, work out the math. Imagine the number of
mother-in-laws he has. That power isn't the wisdom of God operating.
So he has the wisdom, you will see that at the same time. There's a
there's a natural wisdom. And then he says that as a man. There's
never been a man who can try anything and everything. He was the
most powerful. He made his own law. Even the richest man today is bound
by the laws of the land. He can't just go and you know,
but he had everything and anything.
He tried everything. He said he tried horticulture. He tried
buildings. Everything came to emptiness, he said. So the book is
there for all of us to learn. Because sometimes, as you know, as
a guy, we start thinking, you know, I want to achieve this, then I'll
be fulfilled. If I make X amount of dollars in my life, this is my
financial statement, then I'll rest, I'll be happy. And the Bible
says Jesus shared a parable about such a person who built—and then
Jesus says. But that night, He said: "I will build greater barns."
He is planning without God in his mind. And the Lord says that God
appeared to him and says: "Thou fool, this night your soul shall be
required of you." Ecclesiastes is basically telling us: "What does it
profit a man if he gains the whole world, but he loses his soul?"
Amen. But when he looks at the One, he says everything is a vexation of
spirit. But then he's looking within himself, he's looking at all
the earthly pleasures, and don't misunderstand many of these earthly
pleasures like food and all that, all that's given by God. Amen. But
he had access to all of them. He looks for fulfilment in them, and
he came up by saying, it's all empty. But in the next book, is the
Song of Songs. Why is it a Song of Songs? Song of Songs means a song
beyond any other song. All your love songs that you sing, boy girl
songs. romantic songs, is not at that level. This song is sung above
all songs. Amen. Why? Because this song about the Son of God, a man
and his love for you. It is a romantic and lovely song. Amen. It
starts with: "Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth." Amen. So
it is like let me experience His love, His personal love. That's
when you find fulfilment in life. So don't make the same mistake. You
know, by the time you arrive to 60 years old, 60 plus, you say: "Well,
I got my financial statement there already." Amen. "I can rest." And
then you find that your got other battles, maybe health wise, and now
you're trying to use all the money you made to get back the health you
lost. Vanity of vanities. Amen. Enjoy the Lord. Now! Amen. Find out
more about Him. Now. He's the only one who comes to us saying that: "I
am the water of life." He told the woman at the well: "If you drink
this water, you'll thirst again." And by that, she knew what he meant
because she was looking for love in all the wrong places. Amen. But the
God gave us relationships. Yes, in the beginning, the Bible says God
made male and female. Amen. And a man shall leave his father and
mother and the two shall become one flesh. God ordained marriage. So
marriage is of God, right. But God is telling us even in your
marriage, and it's the key to having a successful marriage is
actually not to look to your spouse, to fulfill your innermost
desires. Yes, there are other desires, you have other ones and
all that. But look to the Lord, for only what the Lord can give. Amen.
Don't make your your spouse your God. I pity those who don't have
the Lord, because they look at their spouse, and they draw from
their spouse and the spouse also draws back from them. So when they
can't get it, they hammer them verbally. And then they can't get
it, they hammer back, you know, because they are drawing, they're
looking to each other. Why they can be so hurt by each other is because
they are looking to each other, for the fulfilment and when he's
thwarted that they don't receive what they want to receive, they
transfer that to their spouse. It is because of her. I need a new
spouse. Get a new spouse, guess what? The problem is still there.
Amen. Because you are still there. Give us the preaching, start
preaching, Pastor. Wait, let me mess up first. I'm standing on your
foot. I just want to stand there for a while. I just want to tell
you. It's for your—Church, this is what studying the Word of God is
all about. Don't pursue things just to make money. Are you sure that if
you will have the extra million, okay, another 5 million, now a
million is nothing. Oh, I want a billion. You sure you'd be happy?
You sure? I mean, that's a guy who is more, who is worth more than a
billion to date. He is probably a trillionaire. But maybe more than
that based on, you know, inflation and all that. You look at Solomon.
He's the richest man in history. If he's here today, he's richer than
Elon Musk. Plus no restriction. He was king, absolute sovereign on the
throne. By his word, a man can die. By his word, a man can be saved. In
those days like Nebuchadnezzar, sovereign! You think about it,
people. The purpose, the calling, the destiny that God has for you is
a beautiful destiny. Flow in it. Can I have a good Amen? Amen.
Praise the Lord.