The speaker refuses to be a spectator in life, using Bruce Lee as his model for personal victory. He argues that society's age limits on ambition are false, and that life is designed for you to be a champion, not a cheerleader, at any age.
Chapters
And I've determined that I'm going to go after some major, major achievements in my life. Amen. I refuse to sit on the sideline, Bishop, and be a cheerleader in someone else's moment. Amen. I don't want to not go after what I can have and what I can do simply because I'm too busy praising and celebrating someone else. Amen. Amen. Amen. I remember when I was a little boy, we used to watch Bruce Lee on television. And whenever Bruce Lee would walk into a room and kick 3 or 4 men's behind and the movie goes off, me and my brothers and my cousins, we would go outside in the yard and play Bruce Lee. And I want to make sure that I end up winning like Bruce Lee. Yeah, I go to kick it and chop it and say, hiya! And doing everything that I can because I felt like if I saw someone else do it, then I should be able to do it too. Yeah, but most folks, ladies and gentlemen, when they see other folk doing things, instead of them believing they can do it, they sit back and just clap and cheer someone else on. But that's not how life was ordained to be. Life is ordained For you to get in the fight and win, for you to get in the race and win, for you to get in life and win. It's designed that way. Amen. It's not designed for you to be a cheerleader for someone else. It's designed for you to be a champion yourself. Yes. Say this with me: my life, my life is what I make it, is what I make it. I believe this. I believe that when it comes down to living your life, that you gotta have a dream. Yeah. And for years and years, we go through life without a dream. When you see somebody that's not going anywhere, that's not doing anything, that doesn't have any aspiration, doesn't have any goals, that's because they stopped dreaming. Yeah. People dream when they're in their teens. They want to grow up and be a lawyer. They want to grow up and be a doctor. They want to grow up and be a psychiatrist. They want to grow up and be an engineer, an architect, a judge, a surgeon, a police officer. They want to grow up and do great things. They're dreaming at that time. And then some, when they get it out of high school, they lose that aspiration to make that dream become a reality. Some keeps going, some goes off to college, some goes off to the military, some get a job, they— some work on it. But most folks sit back and they settle. And then by the time you get into your 30s, if things are not happening like you want, then you begin to try a couple other things, trying to see if you can spark a fire. Yeah. Trying to see if you can turn it around. Then you get into your 40s, and if things still looks the same, then you start doubting yourself. You start giving up on yourself. You say, well, it's 40 and I'm not married. I guess I'm supposed to live this way. It's 40 and I don't have any children. I guess the time of my flower has passed. It's 40 and I don't have my own house. I guess I'm going to have to rent the rest of my life. I'm 40. I'm 40, I'm 40, and I don't have what I dreamed of. Yeah. So I might as well just settle for 9 to 5 just to pay my bills and survive. Yeah. And then by the time a person hits 50, they're not thinking about starting life over. Right. Who's thinking about going back to school at 50? Who's thinking about starting a business at 50? Who's thinking about remarrying at 50? Who's thinking about raising a family at 50? Who's thinking about parenting at 50? See, society teaches you that when you get a certain age that you should have everything you want by now. You should be focusing on retirement. But society has jacked up our understanding because God never said to slow down at 50. God never said to sit down at 50. God never said to lay down and to give up at 50. God said Be not weary in well-doing, because in due season you will reap if you don't faint. Amen. So I say to you, many of us owe ourselves an apology. That's right. For giving up on us just because we made it past 50. Yeah. Some may even say, well, I'm 70, and okay, is it okay to give up now? Well, say that to the congressman Mm-hmm. That's getting up at 70 and 80 years of age. Say that to, to President Joe Biden. That's right. Who is 83. Come on. Who is still pleading for 4 more years on the job. Come on. When you give up, then your harvest freezes in time. When you give up on you, you have no expectations anymore. That's right. How can you give up if you're not living in your own home? How can you quit when you're living off of government subsidy? How can you give up if you're living off of welfare and child support? How can you give up if you're living on a fixed income? That's right. Amen. We got to change our thinking. Yeah. See, you need a dream. Say this with me: I need a dream. I need a dream. Yeah.
