Amen. So I'm going to preach a sermon tonight entitled wear out or rust out,
wear out or rust out. And I actually got this title, uh,
from a book that I was listening to. And in this book,
they quoted Theodore Roosevelt. So, uh, you know,
our 26th president, uh, they quoted him and he's, uh,
famous for saying we must all either wear out or rust out.
Every one of us, my choice is to wear out. And when I heard that, I thought, man,
that's such a great philosophy on life.
That's just a great way to look at life because of the fact that one,
as he said in this quote, we must all either wear out or rust out.
Every one of us, you know, if these are your two options in life, really,
you're either going to wear out or you're going to rust out.
You're either going to work hard and still get old and still, uh,
have your strength and your ability fade over time.
Or you can just do nothing and still have that happen to you, except instead of
wearing out and go rust out. And obviously we have a choice to make,
just like he said there, my choice is to wear out. So I love this vote,
this, uh, this quote because of the fact that, you know,
it's telling us that death is inevitable and that's, you know, beloved, you know,
became a church tonight.
And that's what I wanted to tell you that death is inevitable. Of course,
we probably all knew that, right. And that, uh, decay is certain, you know,
that we know as we grow older and we go on in years,
our abilities and our strength physically,
and otherwise it's going to weaken over time.
It's not typically something that gets stronger. Of course,
there's an arc in life, you know, as we start out young, we kind of peak,
but then, you know, our physical abilities, the things that we can do, uh,
they seem, they kind of diminish over time. And there's a really,
I think this is an important thing to keep in mind because we don't want to go
through life having not used our strength for in the service of God.
I think Joshua or excuse me,
Caleb rather here in the book of Joshua is a great example of this.
If you look there in verse seven, of course,
this is where they were dividing up the land.
If you were listening and he's,
he's reminding Joshua that he was promised a certain land there and he goes
references back to when they were going to first go in and spy out the land.
He said, 40 years old was I,
when Moses the servant Lord sent me from Kadesh Barnea to a spy out the land.
And I brought him word again as it was in my heart.
So if you remember the story,
there was the 12 spies that were sent in to spy out the land.
You had Joshua and you had Caleb who brought back the good report,
right there. The, there were, you know,
the two that came back brought the good report.
The 10 brought up an evil report and as a result they wandered in the wilderness.
Well, Caleb was one of those that brought back that good report and you know,
said, Hey, let's go in. We can, you know, the Lord is for us.
We can win this battle. He goes on and says in verse eight,
nevertheless,
my brethren that went up with me made the heart of the people melt,
but I wholly followed the Lord my God.
Now that's important to take note of that he wholly followed the Lord, his God,
that he, you know, was all for it. And even unto this day,
you could still say that about Caleb at this point in his life,
even all these years later, he's still saying, look,
I have still wholly followed the Lord my God.
And Moses swear on that day saying,
surely the land where on thy feet have trodden shall be that inheritance and
thy children's forever because thou has wholly followed the Lord my God.
He's saying, look, I was bringing back that good report. I had the faith.
This promise was made to me because I help, uh,
wholly followed my God that I would have this land. And he goes on and says,
and now behold, the Lord has kept me alive.
As he said these 40 and five years. So do the math. It's pretty simple.
You're looking at a man who's 85 years old, right?
He's now 85 and he says, even since the Lord spake this word unto Moses,
while the children of Israel watered in the wilderness. And now lo,
I am this day four score and five years old, as yet,
I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me as my
strength was then even so is my strength now for war,
both to go out and to come in. And if you know the story,
he's asking for it to take a mountain, you know,
the Amorites that was where they had chariots of iron and the giants were
there. So he's not asking for some easy task. He's saying, look,
this land that was promised to me, isn't inhabited by a very formidable foe.
I don't care. God is with me. Even an 85, 85 years old,
I'm just as strong then at 40, I'm ready to go in.
I still have the strength for war to go out and to come in. He says,
I can go out there and I could fight this battle and come back.
I can come back victorious. And of course that's an ideal.
Isn't it? A lot of times you'll hear people say, man, when I'm 80,
85 years old, I want to be just like, uh, I do want to be just like, uh,
Caleb here. You know, I want to be just like him.
I still want to have that strength, but here's the thing. That's not reality.
Okay. You have to remember that this, uh, you know,
Caleb's prolonged vitality is a miracle just like Moses's.
This is not how it typically goes.
And really what we're seeing here is that the exception proves the rule.
If you would go to second Samuel chapter 19, second Samuel chapter number 19.
So this,
this vitality that he has to be at 85 years old as strong as the days he was at
40, which, you know, from what I'm getting in the context,
there must be, must be about the prime of life. You know, when you're in that,
you're at those early at 40, 41, 42, is it 43 today? 44.
So prime of life, brother, right? We're, we're, you know, 40 years old, right?
I mean, he's going, he's saying, Hey,
I'm as strong as I was when I was 40. You know,
this is all to help with my own insecurity right now and to reassure myself,
right? 40 is, is the, is a great age and it is by the way.
But here's the thing, you know, that is an exception to say, Hey, I'm at 85,
80 years old, just like Moses, who was 120 years old when he died,
his eye was not dim nor his natural force abated. You know,
he still was able to see well, he still had the strength to be able to do what
he needed to do. He was wanting to go into the promised land and lead that war.
You know, he was told that he couldn't. Okay.
These are exceptions to the rule. The reality of life is, you know,
if by reason of strength, we get forced quarantine, you know,
we don't all get all these, all these, we're not all going to get 80 years.
We might get 70. You know, we, we talked about that last, uh, you know,
last Thursday, none of us is guaranteed tomorrow. And here's the thing, you know,
the typical average,
the way it typically goes just naturally is that by the time you're 80,
85 years old, you're not going to be as strong as you were at 40 years old.
You're not going to have the strength.
You're not going to have the ability because we all wear out or we rust out that
it's inevitable. You can't avoid it. And I, and I know people say that, you know,
and I've even said the same thing early on my Christian, like, man,
I'm going to serve God and I'm going to,
I'm going to serve the Lord and he's going to give me the strength. I'm,
I'm never going to get old. I'm going to be just like Caleb. And you know,
eventually I'm going to be like Moses.
I'm going to be this old and never have my natural force abated.
The exception proves the rule folks. That was a miracle. You know,
Moses was also buried by God. I don't expect God to come down and, you know,
be one of my pallbearers at the funeral either. You know,
so I'm using this to kind of get the,
make the point and get it across to us that we all have to make a choice.
Are we either going to wear out or are we just going to rust out?
Because I think that's a great way to look at it because of the fact it's
inevitable. You know, you're going to get old, you're going to, you're, you're,
your natural force, my natural force, it will abate. Our eyes will become dim.
Our strength will wane over time.
That is the natural progression of life. Don't read stories like that and think,
Hey, yeah, that's me. That's probably not going to be the case. I mean, Caleb,
Moses were exceptions to this rule. Okay.
The natural progression is to grow weaker with time.
The Bible says that the glory of young men is their strength and the beauty of
old men is the gray head. You know, the,
the beauty of a young man is the fact that he has that vitality,
that he has that strength, that he has that, that ability.
He has had a potential to do great things, to work hard, to,
to wear out rather than rust out.
But that's something that's attributed to young men, that strength.
That's something that we lose as we grow older. Okay.
Look at second Samuel 19 verse 31 and Barzillai,
the Gileadite came down from Rojelim and went over Jordan with the King to
conduct him over Jordan.
So I remember this is when they're bringing King David back into the kingdom.
Okay. And it says in verse 32, no Barzillai was a very aged man,
even four score years old. That's 80.
80 in the Bible is very aged, right? When you hit that 80, you are old.
Okay.
And had provided the King of sustenance while he lay at Manaim for he was a very
great man. So he's somebody who has worn out in time because he's,
but it says he's a very great man, meaning he has abundance.
He has a lot of wealth. He has a servant here. We'll see. And he has, uh,
he has the ability to provide the King sustenance and all those that were with
him. Remember,
they were sending the provisions that they needed and things like that while
they were escaping from Absalom. Right.
He was able to do that because he was a great man. You know, this is a,
this is a good guy, Barzillai, the Gileadite,
and he's a very aged man. And it's apparent, you know,
because of the fact that he has this wealth, you know,
that he has chosen to wear out in life rather than to rust out,
that he's applied himself,
that he has used the strength of his youth to get him to where he is at this,
uh, progressed age in his life. And it says in verse 33,
and the King said unto Barzillai,
I come over with me and I will feed thee with me in Jerusalem.
And this is a very, almost depressing, a few verses right here. And Barzillai,
depending on how you look at it, Barzillai has said to the King,
how long have I to live that I should go up with the King in Jerusalem?
And he's saying, look, I'm 80. I'm very aged. You know, I could go anytime.
You know, if I go across this river, I might never come back. You know,
if I go with you, I'm, I, there's a chance I'm going to die over there. I could,
I could go at any moment, right? This is that,
that's the reality that he's living with at 80 years old. Okay.
I am this day four score years old. Verse 35. Now notice,
can I discern between good and evil? And when he's talking about between that,
that which is good and bad, he's talking more, not,
not about he lacks discretion and knowing what's right and wrong because
obviously he's siding with King David, right? Against Absalom. He did that.
So it's not, that's not what it's referring to.
Can thy servant taste what I eat or what I drink? He's saying,
I can't really appreciate the finer things in life.
I can't discern between that which is fine and that which is common,
that which is good and that which is evil. I can't, I can't discern what I taste
or what I eat or drink. He's like, my taste buds are gone. Okay.
Now I, if that's part of getting old, I don't know if I want to make it that long.
You know, I don't, I guess I'm going to have to find,
I guess hopefully I find out that there's more to life than just food and drink
by then. Right. And he goes on and says,
can I hear any more of the voice of singing men and singing women?
So I am going deaf, you know,
and this is something I can actually appreciate a little bit. You know, I,
I have a persistent case of, I don't know how you're supposed to say it.
Tinnitus is how I say it or tinnitus. I don't know.
But the ringing that high pitched ringing in your ears,
that's something that I have all the time. It's not something I always had,
you know, and I, and I don't know exactly how I developed that,
but as I've gotten older, you know, that has gotten worse and worse.
And I,
sometimes I wonder if it's going to get so bad that maybe I'll become very hard
of hearing. I don't know.
I can feel it already that I find myself turning my ears more to people just to
hear what they're saying. And I'm thinking, man, is it going to get worse? Right.
But that's just part of getting old. You know,
we could sit there and lament that and feel bad. And you know,
when we get older and start having the aches and the pains and the losing this
sense and losing that sense and not having the strength that we once did, you know,
we could sit there and lament that or just understand that that's just a natural
part of life. As Theodore Roosevelt said, we all wear out or re-rust out.
We have to choose which one it's going to be. Okay.
He goes on and says, can I hear any more of the voice of singing men and singing
women? Wherefore then should thy servant yet be a burden unto my Lord, the King.
Thy servant will go a little way over the Jordan with the King. And when,
and why should the King recompense it me with such a reward? He's saying, look,
I did everything out of the kindness of my heart.
And he ends up sending his servant Jim Ham with him.
My point is this, is that as you know, Theodore Roosevelt said,
we're all going, every one of us is going to rust out and wear out.
That's a biblical, that's just a fact of life.
That's something the Bible explains to us.
Don't read these stories about Caleb and Joshua and think, Oh, that's me. I'm sorry.
I hate to burst your bubble, but that's not you. And that's not me.
That's not any of us. Now, obviously if we serve God, God can bless us.
God can preserve us. God can give us strength. If we use wisdom,
we live wisely. You know, we can age well and things like that.
But regardless, we're all going to fade over time.
We're all going to become weaker. Our senses are going to become duller.
We're all going to wear out or we're going to rust out.
We have to, the only thing we,
choice we really have in the matter is the method of decay when it comes to life.
That's the only thing you get to choose.
Are you going to rust out or are you going to wear out? You know, you're,
one of the two is going to happen.
The only choice you have in the matter is the method by which you decay. Okay.
Wear out or rust out. And this is, you know, a great illustration of this,
you know, is like our church van. Okay. Look, our church van,
I should have checked the odometer,
but it's like 240,000 miles in that thing or something. I mean,
it's up there and she's still going strong. Okay. But I mean, that van,
those of you that have been in it, no, that's a worn out van.
That is a very worn van. I mean, the seats,
the tops are like folded over from having weight put on them, you know,
having different things store, uh, ship or transported in them. The,
the seats, it smells like a gym locker in there sometimes, right?
It smells like a locker room.
That's why we put those covers on there to try to take care of that.
Those unsightly, unsavory seats that we have,
the carpets like worn down to like a hard, almost plastic in areas.
What about the rattling, right? The incessant rattling that I've, you know,
maybe that's part of my tinnitus. I don't know. I've gotten like deaf to that.
I have selective hearing now because I'm just so used to it.
I hear it almost every day, just especially here in Tucson.
Good night. You come up mission and it's like, I have to,
it's like driving in Michigan. I just like,
I do the drive with one set of tires in the bike lane. Whoops.
Say that just so I can avoid all those potholes and everything, you know,
and have somewhat of a more smooth ride because it's just so jarring.
But you've been in it. I mean, I'm putting, you know,
all that plastic that's along the side of the van.
It's like coming off and snapped all the clips are missing and it's just like
hanging off the side and I have to like put screws in there and JB weld and
gorilla glue and try to hold that thing up. Right. I mean,
we replacing alternators, we replaced a motor in that thing. We've, we've,
we've done a lot of work because that, but here's the thing,
that thing that van has accomplished a lot. I mean,
it's missing a hubcap right now. You know, the door squeaks when you open it up.
You know, I'm trying to get, I'm trying to get the linkage replaced.
I had the whole new unit in there and found out that that Chinese knockoff I
bought off of Amazon,
the one cable that was broken was about three inches too short after I put it
all up in there.
Anyone who's ever worked on linkage inside of a door knows how frustrating that
is. So anyways, I mean, all these things are breaking and snapping on it,
but you know what? It still goes down the road.
It's still carrying people out soul winning every week.
It's still getting a lot done. Is it getting worn out? Yeah,
but it's not rusting out. You know, I mean,
I've had that thing out on the Navajo reservation doing soul winning out there.
I've had that thing down two tracks. Just like, I mean, I'm like, uh, you know,
off-roading that thing. What's the rally racing? I've rally raced that man.
You think I'm joking. You think it is funny. I'll give you that. But you know,
there's been people that are there.
I've had that thing just tearing down these little two tracks along the telephone
poles, trying to get to these far flung houses. You know, I remember,
I've been in on the patch or the, uh, the, yeah, the Apache.
I've had to have that chain.
So depth that I think pulled out of the clay and the mud and everything that
van, if it could talk, would, would bring you to tears.
The things it's been through and would probably call me a few names, right?
It would probably have a few unpleasant things to say about me.
If that van could speak, it's been worn out. It's gone through, you know, uh,
some, some trials and tribulations and it's time.
But what else has it done? It's gotten a lot of salt,
a lot of gotten a little soul saved. I like to call it, you know,
our chariot of salvation, right? That's what I'll call it. Sometimes.
It's the gospel express that van, the ladders on the side read J E S U S,
all aboard, right? That thing has, has gotten out there and gotten people,
you know,
been instrumental in getting thousands literally of people saved.
But in the process it's been very worn out. Here's the thing, you know,
we could have just parked that van and never used it, but eventually, you know,
it would, but eventually it's still going to rust out. It's all,
everything tends towards disorder. Everything rots,
everything grows old and decays.
Everything's either going to wear out or rust out in life, you know,
and here's the thing you think, well, you know, if you didn't use it like that,
then it would last longer. But actually when you think about it,
leaving it parked would be even worse for it. You know,
here's a little automotive tip for those of you that, that might need it.
The worst thing you can do for a vehicle is not drive it. Did you know that?
You just let a vehicle sit and for long periods of time,
that's one of the worst things you can do for it because the oil doesn't get
moved around. You know,
all those little parts and things don't get lubricated and then the corrosion
sets in all the little gaskets dry out and start to crack and you develop leaks.
You know, if you want to preserve a vehicle,
you need to start it up on a regular basis, you know,
once or twice a week probably and get it out there and get the fluids moving in
it. So things don't dry out and crack. I mean, it might look nice.
It might look good. You know,
you might be going on Craigslist and see that, you know, 1980, you know,
wood panel Jeep Wagoneer, you know,
that grandma had parked in the garage for, you know,
several decades and drove once a week to Rite Aid and think, Oh man,
it's only got 20,000 miles on it.
Run away screaming in the other direction because it's been sitting and being
unused, been unused, and it's been, uh, just, just drying out. And,
and you know, inwardly there's corrosion, things falling apart.
It's rusting out because over time everything either wears out or it rusts
out. Okay. We want to be like the church fan. You know,
we don't want to be that nice mint condition vehicle that's just left in some
garage or covered up and put in some barn somewhere might look nice,
but it's completely unusable because we're just as old as some other vehicle.
You know, now all these repairs are going to have to be made.
It's gonna be a whole new vehicle to get that thing where it needs to be.
Whereas if we had just been, uh, you know,
working and being driven and going out there and doing the work, yeah,
we would have been a little bit worn out, but you know what? We,
we would have gotten the parts replaced as we need it.
We would have gotten the oil changed as we need it. And in the process,
we would still have gotten a lot of work done. Right. You know,
another illustration would be my wife's Pontiac Sunfire. When I,
when I married my wife, not only did I get free haircuts,
as I mentioned this morning, but I also, uh,
I don't know if inherited is the right word, but I gained a Pontiac Sunfire,
a little red two door Pontiac coupe. And, uh, you know,
I thought, wow, great, we've got another vehicle and it was fun.
But you know what? I killed that vehicle,
I think within a year and destroyed it. You say, what'd you do?
Did you treat it like the church van? No, I didn't. I just drove it.
I drove it up and down highways. I was going out,
I had to work at a job like an hour away and I was driving long distances.
I mean,
that thing went from a four cylinder to a three cylinder in the time that I had
it. And I drove it on three cylinders and it was a, it was a,
it was a manual, wasn't it honey? It was manual. Yeah.
I can't remember if we lost a gear at some point,
although I did drive a vehicle that didn't have reverse for awhile.
I drove a Toyota Camry that had no reverse. And believe me, you,
you figure out how to park real fast and you don't have reverse.
You can be very conscious of how you're going to maneuver that thing, right?
Grades become very important to you. Like the, the, the slope of a parking lot.
Okay. And that's another story.
But I had this Pontiac Sunfire for my wife that we, you know,
we shared after we got married and the thing just fell apart so quick.
And it was low miles. I mean, it was, it was maybe 60, 70,
maybe 80,000 miles, something like that. It was a pretty low mile vehicle,
right? Wasn't, it wasn't over a hundred thousand.
I don't think it even got to the point where like the electrical system was
going and I had to literally, I'd be at a stoplight and it would just, boom,
it would just die. And I'd have to get out with like a jumper pack. I'm like,
you know,
four lane Boulevard at the red light and throw the hood open and connect this
jumper pack and get it going. You know, cause we were just, it was just that,
it was just falling apart.
We didn't have money at the time for just to just go splurge on a new vehicle.
Eventually we did, but this, I had this thing say, well, why did,
why did such a nice vehicle that was driven so gently over the years by my
wife prior to me coming into its life? Uh, why did it so quickly fall apart?
Because it got actually started getting used the way it was supposed to be used.
Cause here's the thing where my woman was just my wife driving it, you know,
she drove it like maybe a mile or two,
typically most days from her like where she was living to this,
to where she was working and it was all 25 miles per hour.
And it was all just stop and go, which is the worst thing for a vehicle.
Let's see, you might not get anything else about this sermon,
but you're going to get some sound mechanical advice. That's going to,
you can use to, you know,
get your vehicles to last longer because here's the thing.
Modern vehicles are designed to be driven at higher speeds so that they get up
to higher temperatures internally. And when you don't do that,
you have a lot of condensation that builds up within the engines.
You get this like, it almost looks like a, like a, like a,
like a milk chocolate pudding. It looks like it almost looks edible.
It looks really good though.
All the oil condensation and eventually, you know,
it was coming out through the air intake and everything. But you know,
why was that? Because it was not being used as it was intended.
It was rusting out. It was not being worn out. You know,
it was never being driven at 65, 75 miles per hour for, you know,
20, 30 minutes at a time so that all that condensation and things could be
burned off and not build up within the engine. That's what ultimately killed it.
So low miles is not always a good thing, right? We want,
and I'm using this as an illustration for ourselves. Look,
we don't want to be people who just kind of take it easy in life.
We don't want to just people kind of our whole point in life is just be at ease
and just to kind of go through life very easy. Never have to do anything
strenuous, never having to do anything difficult.
That will actually be worse for you in the long run.
You're still going to rust out. You're still going, you know,
if you get that old,
you're still going to wear out and decay just like anybody else.
But what will you have accomplished? What will you have you done?
Are you going to be like that Pontiac sunfire that was just lightly used over
the years and then when any kind of actual driving was tried to be done with it,
it quickly gave out because of the poor condition it was in from its gentle use.
Or you're going to be like that ugly church van that we have, right?
That worn out rattling mess of a church van with the squeaky doors and
everything else, right? You're going to be like that van that, Hey,
maybe it's a little more worn out. Isn't exactly what you would, uh, you know,
used to pick up some VIP or something, but Hey, it's,
it's shuttled around some VIPs and it's time, you know, it's gone out,
it's gotten some important people out to do some important work.
It's accomplished something and it's like, that's what we want to be like folks.
We want to, we want to wear out in life. We don't want to rust out.
They don't want to just take it easy and do as little as possible, you know,
in life generally speaking or when it comes to serving the Lord.
So the question is this, you know, you have to choose your method of decay.
Are you going to wear out or you rust out? Basically what I'm asking is,
how are you going to spend your time? You know,
and this is something that maybe older people can sometimes get a little bit,
uh, downtrodden about. They can get a little depressed over. They can think, Hey,
you know, I didn't get saved earlier on in life. You know, I got saved,
middle-aged, I got saved in, you know, my more advanced years or whatever.
And they could think, well, I can't do as much. Well, yeah, but so what,
what you can't cry, why, why cry about spilled milk? You know,
why worry about the past? Why not do with, you know, uh, uh,
what you can, because here's the thing, no matter how old you are right now,
no matter how much of your strength is already abated,
no matter how much weaker you've already become in your older age,
here's the thing. You're only going to get weaker. You know,
another decade goes by, you're going to be even weaker than you are now.
You're going to be able to do even less than you can now. Think about that.
You know,
sometimes older people,
they just sit there and they lament all the things that they couldn't do.
What you should be focusing on is the fact that that's not going to change and
boo hooing about it isn't going to change anything. Another decade goes by,
another year is going to go by and you're,
you're going to be even weaker and more incapable than you are now.
And I'm not saying that in a disparaging way. That's just a fact of life.
That you either wear out or you rust out. That's inevitable.
That's for all of us. I mean, I keep that in mind for myself. I say, Hey, you're,
you know, you're 40 something right now. What's it going to be like when you're 50?
What's it going to be like when you're 60, 70, 80 years old? You know,
I'm already counting on the fact that I'm probably not going to be able to do
everything that I do in those more advanced years. I don't know.
Maybe by the time I'm in my late sixties or seventies, Lord willing,
I'll still be able to get up and preach and still have enough of my mind and my
ability to, to, to preach the word of God at least once a week. You know,
that's something I think of. I was like, Hey,
when we get another guy in here to kind of hand over off the pastor and get
another pastor in this church, it'd be kind of cool. You know,
if I could still get up and at least preach in my old age once a week.
And that's when I think at least once a week, because I'll tell you something,
you know, preaching is a very taxing thing.
Getting up and trying to use all your mental fact. I mean,
you see me struggle, you know, that's true.
Get up here and just struggle to make a coherent sentence sometimes to actually
get a point across in a way that makes sense to other people.
They're not going, huh? You know,
what is he talking about when everyone starts doing this and you start to get
really worried or they look at their Bible and they're going, you know,
you don't know what I'm talking about. I see it all the time.
I'm just kidding. Right. But I'm just saying that, Hey,
that it's a strenuous job. It's difficult. The soul winning that we do. I mean,
people get older, they can't,
you're just not going to be able to do this kind of soul.
And you're not going to be able to go out there for hours on end in the desert
heat. The older you get, it's just a fact of life.
What's important is that we understand that that we're going to wear out or
rust out and choose to wear out for the Lord and not to be idle and not to
just lament our old age or think that we have all the time in the world,
you'll rust out just as quickly. You don't want to be, you know, the, the,
the car that's just kept safe from any real work.
You want to be that church fan that, that is put to use and wears out.
So to the aged, I would say, you're not as weak as you will be, you know,
I'm sorry. That's just the fact of life. Keep that in mind. You know,
that should prompt us to use the strength that we still have while we have it
to the young. I would say you won't always be as strong as you are now.
And this is the thing about youth. Youth is wasted on the young, as they say,
you know, that should, that should, uh,
hopefully that's not what would be said of the youth in this church,
that their youth was wasted on their, on the, on the young, right?
Cause here's the thing you think, Oh, I'm strong. I got all my life. Yeah.
But here's the thing. You're not going,
going always going to be as strong as you are right now. You know,
you're going to get weaker over the years. You know,
maybe it's going to be a while. You know, I, I'm 40 and I still haven't,
I'm just kidding. Even at 40, you're already like, man, yeah,
I'm already, I already can't, I can't run and jump in the back of a pickup.
You know, I used to do that on the job site. You know,
they leave the tailgate down.
I could just take a few gentle strides and just just jump up into the pickup.
You know, I obviously don't have to do that anymore,
but I'm sure that if I had to do that,
I'd have to sit on the tailgate and then like get a leg up on it and they can
get them like a certain position and then stand up, up, up, right. It would be,
there would have to be like a whole process that my mind goes through in order
to figure out how I'm going to get this lug of a body up there,
this big, just hunk of, you know,
bones and muscle up into that back of that thing. Right.
I'd have to figure that all out. There'd be, you know,
there'd be math involved at this point. Whereas before it was just,
you know, it was like Mario or something. You just jump up there, you know,
but here's a good test. You know, how do you know how old you are?
Ask yourself what, what, uh,
value of currency are you willing to bend over and pick up off the ground?
Right. You know, when you're little, it's like, Oh, a penny. Oh, a penny.
A little kids are just like, I found a penny. At my age, if I saw a penny,
I'd just be like, there's a penny. It's not even worth bending over. I could,
I could, I mean, I could be out for a week. You know, I could be,
that would something really, something gets popped in the back there.
I tell you, I'm at the point where it's like even a quarter. If I saw a quarter,
I probably been over for a quarter. Right. You know, some of you,
if it doesn't fold, I would leave it alone. You know,
anything that jingles, just leave it on the ground. Right. And you know,
there's a way to kind of test, you know, are you getting some change out?
Are you going to try me out? And he's going to throw a dime.
Right. The point is this, you know, at the old, you think you're young, but,
and you are, and you think you have less time, but that,
that strength that you have, it's once in a lifetime. And once it's gone,
it's gone. And whatever you've done with it, that's what you've done with it.
I should have had you gone to first Chronicles 16,
go to first Chronicles chapter number 16. I'll begin reading verse 27.
It says, glory and honor in his presence, strength and gladness are in his place.
Give unto the Lord or you can do the people give unto the Lord glory and
strength. He's saying, give unto the Lord, glory and strength. You know,
your strength is something that you should give unto God.
If you're going to wear out something in life, wear out for the Lord.
If you're going to wear yourself out, if you say, you know what,
I'm going to live as Theodore Roosevelt said, a strenuous life.
I'm going to strive for something. I'm going to work towards something.
I'm going to endeavor to do something.
I'm not just going to rust out and fade away. I'm going to actually try to, uh,
you know, wear myself out and something. Give that strength unto the Lord.
Give the Lord your strength and your youth. Look,
this is something that I was told in my early twenties and it changed my life.
I said, you know what? I'm going to be in church.
I'm going to serve God however I can. I'm going to live for God. I'm going to,
I'm going to be there for the Lord.
I'm just going to try and serve God to the best of my ability. And you know what?
God has blessed me for it. All glory to God for that.
And I'm just repeating that same message that was repeated to me that the Bible
also reiterates that you should give the Lord your strength.
And so many young people you see today, they want to reserve their,
they'll say, I'll get around to serving God later in life. You know, and,
and you know what? Sometimes that's the case for some people.
Some people get saved later, but you know what?
You could get so much more done if you just start serving God now as a young
person. Start reading the Bible now. Start memorizing scripture now.
Start, you know,
knowing the word of God now doing the soul winning now learning how to live for
God. Now do that now making the, when you have to make decisions,
make decisions with eternity in mind.
Now give the Lord your strength. The Bible says, give unto the Lord,
glory and strength. Give unto the Lord the glory due to his name,
bring an offering and come before him. Go to first Chronicles chapter number 26.
What did Jesus say was the first and great of all of the first of all the
commandments. The Lord, our God is one Lord,
and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul
and with all thy mind and with all thy strength.
All thy strength,
all the strength that you have at this present moment should be given unto the
God unto God. Now,
all the strength that you have over the course of your life ahead of you should
be given unto the Lord.
Wear yourself out for God because you're going to decay either way.
You're going to rust or you're going to wear out. It's inevitable.
I say let's wear out for God. I say let's give God whatever strength we have left
in our life. Give it unto God, wear it out for him.
First Chronicles 26 verse one, it says concerning the divisions of the porters.
So this is one of those long Chronicles, right?
Where he's talking about the porters that are serving the house of God,
the Levites here. Verse six it says,
also unto Shemaiah his sons were born that ruled throughout the house of their
father for they were mighty men of valor. These are, you know,
porters in the house of God. These are like the doorkeepers,
those that were at the entryway in the temple that were being allotted into
these certain roles, right?
But notice the kind of men that they were,
that they were mighty men of valor. What were they doing?
They were serving in the house of God. Verse seven,
the sons of Shemaiah, Othnai, Raphael, and Obed, and Elzabat,
whose brethren were strong men, Elihu and Samichiah.
So the Bible is describing these men that were serving God as mighty men of
valor, as men that were strong. Verse eight,
all these sons of Obed-Edom, they were, and their sons and their brethren,
able men for strength for service. They weren't just able,
but they were also had the strength for service. You know,
serving God takes strength and you should use that strength
for the Lord. Serve him with it. Like these men. Verse nine, and Meshelemiah,
the sons had sons and brethren, strong men,
eighteen. You know, these men that were mighty men,
these men that were strong men,
these men that were able and had strength for the service,
they used that strength in the service of God. They said,
I'm going to wear out for God. You know,
they weren't out there trying to make a bunch of money.
They weren't out there trying to just, you know,
live for the world and live for the pleasures of sin and just make life all
about fun and idleness and all these things that are out there that you can just
waste your youth on that are vanity. They said, you know what?
I'm going to use it in service for God. That's what they did.
And what they ended up doing is they ended up giving God something to bless.
And this is something, this is a mantra that I'm constantly thinking about.
Give God something to bless. Just give God something to bless.
Notice in verse four, it says, moreover, the sons of Obed-Edom,
so we're backing up, where Shemaiah, the firstborn, and Jehoshaphat, the second,
Joah, the third, and Sakhar, the fourth, and Nethaneel, the fifth,
Amael, the sixth, Issachar, the seventh,
and Polithi, the eighth, for God blessed him.
I mean, Obed-Edom and all these men were men of strength and they were men that
were blessed of God. You know, if you give God your strength,
it's not going to be wasted.
If you give God whatever strength you have in life and serve Him, you say,
I'm going to wear out. I'm not going to rust out. I'm going to wear out for God.
If you give that unto God, God will bless you for that.
I absolutely believe that,
that God will see that and God will honor that because that's a commandment of
God. And if we obey God, He will bless us. If we keep His commandments,
and those commandments are to give, to love the Lord our God with all our
strength, with all our might, you know, if we do that,
God's going to be pleased by that and God will bless us for that.
So that's what I say. Wear yourself out for the Lord. Use your strength for God.
Now think about this too, that things that are worn out, you know,
they're still maintained, aren't they? When you're wearing,
when you have a tool or a particular tool that you use you know,
on a regular basis and you, you know, you might wear that thing out,
but it doesn't, it doesn't seize up and, and, and, and become you know,
it doesn't rust out and become seized, right?
Because it's constantly being used, right?
Because it's constantly on the mind of the one that is using it. You know,
if I have a particular tool that I'm using every day, you know, I'm,
I'm always checking on the condition of it. Like, you know,
like my holster and the high decks, a kydex holster for my pistol,
you know, before I, from time to time, I'll make sure that that clip, you know,
the screws aren't coming loose on it. So it doesn't start flopping around,
you know, make sure you get the screwdriver. Why is that?
Cause I use it all the time. It's being maintained. You know,
things that are worn out have to be maintained.
You have to maintain certain things.
If you're going to choose to wear out for God, there's some practice.
You're just getting things you're just going to have to maintain in your life.
You're going to have to maintain the Bible reading.
You have to maintain, you know, serving God, the soul winning,
going to church. Those are things you have to maintain in order to wear out for
God. You know, you have to keep certain things in practice.
So things that are worn out from use, they are maintained, but you know what,
things that are left to, to just rest things that aren't used,
things that just get set on the shelf, things that aren't put into practice,
things that are just kind of left there,
cars that just get parked indefinitely and covered. They might look nice.
They might be in nice condition when you put them in there, but over time,
even they will rust things that are left to rest rust.
That's what they do. And they become unusable over by the time, you know,
you could have two things like you have two tools, right?
You have one that you're using every day. Yeah, it's getting worn out,
but it's still being able to be used. Even, even after, you know,
years go by that tool is still operable because it got used and
maintained little parts got fixed or, you know,
it never was left there to just rust and seize.
Whereas if you took another tool and you just kind of set it there and you just
left it and never used it, eventually that thing would seize up and be unusable.
Although it was never used. You know, we don't want to be like that.
We want to be things that are used and don't get to a point in our lives where
we're just worthless and we can't be used for anything.
We want to be not, we don't want to be left to rust.
We want to be continually being used,
being put in practice.
And the worst thing about things that are just left to rust is that they don't
produce anything while they're sitting there. You know,
you take that tool off the shelf that you haven't used in a long time.
You know, all the components are seized up because they've never been turned
ever. You know, the sat,
the worst thing about them is although they might look a little nice,
they might look nicer than some other tool that got used.
They have, they have accomplished nothing. They've never driven a single screw.
They've never drilled a single hole. They've done nothing productive.
They've done nothing that of value. So here's the thing,
if we want to wear out in life, you know, it might take its toll on us,
but at least we'll get to the end of it and say, Hey,
at least I accomplished something. At least I got some things done for God.
You know, no matter where you are in life, if you say, Hey,
whatever strength I have left, whatever years I have left,
if I use them for God, at least I'm not going to get to the end of it and say,
what have accomplished nothing. At least have something to show for it.
So, you know, whether you, whether you labor, whether you're lazy,
you will wither. Whether you are labor or are lazy,
you will wither. It's a fact of life. Don't think that, well,
if I just take it easy, everything's going to be better.
Not so you're going to either wear out or rust out.
It's just a fact of life. The question is,
when you get to the end of that light, what will you have to show for it?
You know, you might be like that church man.
You might have some dents and some scrapes.
You might even smell a little worse than some other van that was parked and
maintained and always had that fresh, you know, pine tree, uh,
scent hung up in it, right? Never had a bunch of sweaty bodies, you know,
soaking into the seats. No one's ever going to get in that church van again,
right? You know, you might be like that church van.
You get older in life.
You might have some dents and some dings and some scrapes.
You might have some high miles, but you know what?
It beats just having a bunch of rust, doesn't it? It's, it's,
it beats having just a bunch of seized components that accomplish nothing.
So we have to decide in life what you're going to do.
Are you going to wear out or are you going to rust out?
I say we wear out. I say we, we go ahead and put on the high miles.
I saw we go ahead and take on, uh, you know,
the dents and the scrapes of life that come with serving God and get something
done and accomplished. It's good.