at Calvary, burdens are lifted at Calvary, Jesus is very near.
Cast your hair on Jesus today, leave your worry and fear,
burdens are lifted at Calvary, Jesus is very near.
The Savior can see,
Every morning can hear.
There is a way to check out the way,
Jesus is very...
wonderful scene let's start off our service with a word of prayer Lord God
Heavenly Father we thank you for giving us another day and another year that our
church has been here Lord and serve you faithfully we ask that you please bless
our service today bless the entire day Lord we ask that you please bless our
service this morning each and every aspect of it
we ask that you please bless the singing fill us with your spirit Lord and most of all please
fill the preacher with your spirit as he preaches unto us and gives your spirit in the congregation
as well Lord that we may leave here edified in Jesus name we pray amen you may be seated
please turn your song moves to song number 288
Song number 288, I Am Resolved.
Song number 288, all together nice and strong on that first verse.
I am resolved no longer to linger, shot by the world's delight.
Things that are higher, things that are nobler, please have a Lord my side.
Great singing happy anniversary to you all. It's exciting to be here this morning. I'm glad to be back
I heard there's a lot of heresy being preached and so I have to kind of come and correct now
I'm just kidding now. I know you guys did a great job
Thank you for the men who who filled in for me while I was gone
And thank you for your prayers for my wife and for my newborn and happy anniversary to you all today
Is our church anniversary? Let me go over some details today
Of course, we welcome you to come back to our Sunday evening service.
Typically, it's at 5 p.m.
But today, because of our anniversary, it'll be at 3 p.m.
And I'll give you the schedule for today in just a bit.
But we do welcome you to come back to our Thursday evening service,
our Bible study at 7 o'clock.
We are currently going through the book of John,
and we will be in John chapter 8 this coming Thursday.
So I hope to see you then.
If you're new to our church, we are family integrated,
and so infants and children...
stay with their parents in the service.
But for your convenience,
we do have mother baby rooms located
throughout the building.
Should your child need some diversion,
so if your baby or infant,
your child gets a little out of hand,
you can take them out of the service.
You can ask one of the ushers for these rooms.
There are changing tables, speakers,
and screens available there,
so you can still tune into the preaching
and come back in at your discretion.
And so just keep that in mind there.
You see the so many times in teams
listed there in the middle,
and the list of expecting mothers,
if you can keep them in prayer.
We have the stats there for Salvation and Baptisms for the month of August.
Great month there.
And of course we want to encourage you to help us meet our 2000 goal for the end of the year.
2,000 salvations by the end of the year. I know a lot of people have been putting in a lot of work for this
Not just adding in adding in an extra souling time
But even doing the omie TV and that is very effective
And so of course I do want to give the the disclaimer regarding omie TV. It's a it's a jungle out there
Okay, and so it's a little weird out there
So you just got to beware and I don't recommend young children to go on there at all of course
And so just just be aware of that, but it's very fruitful
I've gotten a lot of people saved on Omi TV so pray that we'd hit the 2000 mark by the end of the year.
On the right-hand side, we have the upcoming church events, as I mentioned today, as our church anniversary.
And let me just go over the schedule. Of course, we have our morning service, our regular preaching service.
We have lunch from one to two. That's what we've been announcing.
But we're going to start a little earlier from 12.30 to two.
And so lunch will be provided in the fellowship hall. If you're still interested in going soul-winning today, you can get your lunch.
And you can coordinate with your soul-winning team.
Leader regarding the area, but just keep that in mind. That'll be from 12 30 to 2 o'clock
That's when the food will be put out and then help yourselves, of course
And then we have our evening service at 3 p.m. And then activities will follow there after and so please
Listen here. We do need the cars to be cleared out starting from the old foyer
Which is right here. I believe right the old foyer the old foyer door to
the end of the building here and the trash bin area
to make space for the jumpers and mechanical bull.
So we're gonna have jumpers out here,
we're gonna have jumpers for the bigger kids,
jumpers for the little ones,
and then we have the mechanical bull for the big kids,
the really big kids, right?
The men, and we will have gift cards available
for those who are able to stay on the bull past,
I mean, I don't know, what was the last time?
Do you guys remember last year's?
Who had the record last year?
Was not Maury
Come on now. This is the house of God. Let's not let's not lie. Was it brother Adrian?
All right. Well, we'll see if we get brother. Hey, where's brother Adrian at? What was your time for the Adrian?
Okay, thank you for opening the door and telling me that was that
12 seconds. I think it was longer than that. Well, we'll see who can last the longest on the mechanical bowl today
And so of course, these are anniversary
So we're gonna have some fun and want to encourage you to be a part of that
It's gonna be great and but just of course keep in mind clear out the cars here after the service or at least before 3 p.m
Because they're gonna come drop that off for us
And so that is it for that.
TJ Mission's trip is coming up on Saturday, September 27th,
leaving the building at 9.15 a.m.
Of course, the expenses are paid for.
Just make sure you bring your passport,
coordinate with Brother Ulysses Hernandez.
That is a very fruitful mission field.
We've got a lot of people saved there.
And so even if you're not a Spanish speaker,
you want to be a silent partner,
we welcome you to participate in that as well.
Homeschool Field Trip to Legoland
is coming up on Tuesday, October 14th.
You can get the details at the guest center. Of course that is also free and so all the activities
at our church are free. We don't charge for anything here, but if you'd like to participate
you can get the details there. If you have any questions you can talk to my wife Sarah for
more details about that. Ladies Prayer Breakfast is coming up on Saturday, October 4th, meeting at
the building at 10 a.m.
Of course, Mrs. Janelle Gonzalez heads that up.
And so if you want to participate
or you want to help in any way,
you can talk to her for more details.
And lastly, please make sure you silence your phones
during the preaching so as to not be a distraction
during the service.
That is it for our announcements, 248.
Now I belong to Jesus, song number 248.
Long number 248, all together, nice, strong on that first verse.
Jesus, my Lord, will love me forever, from him no power of evil can sever.
him now I belong to Jesus Jesus belongs to me not for the years
lost in sin's degradation. Jesus came down to bring me salvation, lifted me up from
sorrow and shame. Now I belong to Him.
Jesus has saved me, freed me from sin that long had enslaved me.
great singing. At this time the ushers will come forward to receive the offering.
You can turn your Bibles to James chapter number four. James chapter four.
morning we're in James chapter 4. James chapter 4, the Bible reads,
From whence come wars and fightings among you? Come they not hence? Even of your lusts that
warren your members? You lust and have not. He kill and desire to have and come not obtain.
You fight and war, yet you have not because he asked not. You ask and receive not because
he asked amiss that you may consume it upon your lusts. You doltors and doltresses, know
Whosoever, therefore, will be a friend of the world as the enemy of God.
Do you think that the scripture saith in vain, the spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to
envy?
But he giveth more grace, wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace
unto the humble.
Submit yourselves, therefore, to God.
Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.
Be afflicted and mourn and weep.
Let your laugh to be turned into mourning and your joy to heaviness.
Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and he shall lift you up.
Speak not evil one of another brethren.
He that speaketh evil of his brother and judgeeth his brother,
speaketh evil of the law and judgeeth the law.
But if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law but a judge.
There is one lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy.
Who art thou that judges to another?
Go to now ye that say today or tomorrow we will go into such a city and continue there a year and buy and sell and get gain
Whereas you know not what shall be on the morrow for what is your life?
It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanisheth away for that yacht to say if the Lord will we shall live
And do this or that but now you rejoice in your boastings all such rejoicing is evil
Therefore to him the knoweth to do good and do with it not him it is sin. Let's pray dear Lord God
Thank you again for blessing us with this church.
Thank you for our pastor.
We ask that you would strengthen him now,
phone with your spirit as he preaches your word.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Okay, today is our eight year anniversary and so I want to thank God for everything that he's done
Over the last eight years all the souls that have been saved the growth of our church and just all the wonderful things that God has done in our
personal lives and our spiritual growth and just the trials that God's allowed us to go through of course the
Relationships that we've been able to build here. It's been exciting and I honestly can't believe that it's only been eight years
I'm like man. We're barely getting started
and we haven't even reached the 10-year mark yet and of course this isn't a milestone but every
year is a milestone that we get to serve God in and so in light of the fact that today is our
church anniversary I want to preach on the subject on the brevity of life the brevity of life and
of course with the recent things that have been going on in our world and even in the churches that
you know, are related to our church,
churches that we associate with.
You know, we've heard a lot about a lot of deaths, right?
And it's caused me to just kind of ponder
on the fact that, you know, life is very short.
And we know that, we talk about that fairly often,
but it hits home when it happens just within the last week
or it happens to a church that we know about.
And so I wanna talk about,
I wanna give you a reality check this morning
about the brevity of life,
the fact that you can die today.
You can die tomorrow tomorrow is not promised us
And so we need to make sure that we live in such a way we live with that in mind
Recognizing that life is short in fact look at James chapter 4 if you would and verse 13
Says go to now ye that say tomorrow today or tomorrow
We will go into such a city and continue there a year and buy and sell and get game
What is this person saying he's saying you know we're gonna make plans for tomorrow?
We have a schedule for tomorrow.
These are the goals.
These are the achievements that I want to accomplish.
And God is saying here, yeah, go ahead and make those plans.
Make that schedule.
Make those goals.
But hold on a second.
Look at verse 14.
Whereas, you know, not we shall be on the tomorrow.
We can plan for tomorrow all we want,
but at the end of the day, we don't
have the foresight to know what's
going to happen tomorrow.
He says, for what is your life?
It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.
In other words, you can be here today listening to the preaching today, making plans today
for tomorrow, but at the end of the day, because your life is a vapor, it can be gone tomorrow.
Just like that, you can be gone from the face of this earth tomorrow.
And in fact, look at verse 15, it says,
for they ought to say, if the Lord will,
we shall live and do this or that.
So the Bible's not against us planning.
The Bible's not against us scheduling.
The Bible isn't against us creating goals
and achievements for ourselves
and making sure that we have the proper planning
for the months to come, the years to come.
But hold on a second, we need to make sure
that we say, if the Lord wills.
not be presumptuous in our living, recognize I want to accomplish these
things this week if the Lord allows me to. I want to be able to win this many
souls to Christ if the Lord wills. Why? Because plenty of people in this world
who are planning for tomorrow, they will not make it tomorrow. There's plenty of
people who are planning for the following week, but guess what? There won't be here
next week.
For that we ought to say if the Lord wills this is what I will do
Because at the end of the day my life is in his hands, and if it's in his will I might not be here tomorrow
I may not be here next week
And so we see that presumptuous living, assuming that we're going to be here tomorrow, assuming
that we will be here next month, assuming that we will finish off this year is presumptuous.
And in fact, we're going to go on to say in verse 16, but now you rejoice in your boastings.
Oh, I'll be here.
Oh, nothing's going to happen.
Oh, I'm going to be just fine.
All such rejoicing is evil, the Bible says.
Now let's just be honest, we all participate in that
in some way, shape, or form.
Maybe out of ignorance, maybe because we do presume
upon the future.
We make plans.
We don't think that we're gonna die tomorrow.
We don't think we're gonna die next week.
We don't think something bad's gonna happen
to our family members.
We just assume that we're gonna be here
to the end of the year, five years from now,
10 years from now.
That's just what we assume.
But the Bible is giving us the harsh reality
and the reminder that all such boasting is evil.
Verse 17 says,
therefore, to him that knoweth to do good
and doeth it not.
Listen to this, to him it is sent.
In other words, God is saying, because you know that your life is a vapor and because the Bible teaches you that you could be here today, gone tomorrow, you need to make sure that you do good today.
You need to make sure that you live righteously today. You need to make sure that you serve God today. Why? Because you know that you may not be here tomorrow.
And to Him that knoweth to do good and doeth not, to Him it is sin.
Out of my sermon is the brevity of life
I want to give you the reality check this morning that you could die today
You can die tomorrow, and I'm not trying to be doomed and gloom today
But folks if I can motivate you if I can inspire you if I can help you to be more eternally minded today
So you can change the way you live today. So you can change the way you think today, you know, I've accomplished my job. I
Want to give you a couple points this morning regarding the brevity of life
And again, I'm not trying to be doom and gloom this morning.
This is just the reality.
And here's the thing, folks, you know,
at the end of the day, if you were to die today,
it's all good because we're saved
if you believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, by the way.
You know, I'm not afraid to die.
I'm not afraid to go.
I'm not afraid to die.
I'm not afraid to go to heaven
because I know that I'm saved.
I know my sins have been forgiven.
I know that when I close my eyes here on this earth,
that I will open them in heaven.
I will behold my Savior.
I will be eternally with the Father and with the Son.
I will be there with believers from all generations.
I have no doubt in my mind of that.
I know for a fact that I'm saved.
And I would assume that many of you do.
There might be people here that don't though.
And if you don't know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you're saved this message is also for you because your life is still a vapor
And it's even scarier for the person who doesn't know that they're saved if they're gonna go to heaven when they die
Why because you're one step between life and death
You can die tomorrow and guess what once you die the Bible says that you will descend into the lower parts of the earth
You will suffer the consequences of your sin in hell, but that can change today if you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
exclusively to be saved
Your life is also a vapor, but I'm speaking to believers this morning
And I want to talk to you about the brevity of life the fact that our life is but a vapor
Appears for a little time. What's the little time 80 years? That's a little time in the grand scheme of things
70 years, that's a little time compared to eternity
Even if you're to live for a hundred years on this earth, it's still not even a drop in the bucket
compared to eternity
And it's rightfully compared to the vapor that appears briefly and then it just vanishes
Sometimes without a trace
You know ten years from now if you were to die today ten years from now people would probably forget who you were
You just fade away. That's how life is
Let me give you a couple points this morning go to James chapter one if you would James chapter one
in light of the brevity of life
Let me start off by saying that you need to grow as a Christian while you still can
Grow as a believer while you still can don't take Christian growth for granted
Don't take your Bible reading for granted don't take coming to church for granted
Don't take obeying the Bible for granted don't take Christian growth for granted because there's gonna come a time when you can't grow anymore
Look at James chapter 1
And verse number 10 folks your life just like grass will fade
Goes on to say in verse eight a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways
Let the brother of low degree rejoicing that he is exalted
But the rich and that he is made low
Because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away
For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the
flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth.
So also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.
Blessed is the man that endureeth temptation for when he is stride, he shall receive a
crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.
Essentially stating that life is not just like a vapor,
but it's like grass, it's like a flower that appears,
and then it just fades away.
Think of a flower, a vegetation,
and with all its splendor and beauty,
it tells us in verse number 11,
that the grace of the fashion of it perishes,
meaning beauty is vain.
We all get old, amen.
We all get wrinkly and old and things start hurting though the older you get and you start losing your hair
And you start gaining weight and you know what life just happens to you your glory begins to fade
Your fashion begins to perish and it's like that flower
You know a flower only has a small window of time to grow from the ground where it's planted
And you've been rooted and grounded in the Lord Jesus Christ and may I say this you only have a little window of time to learn the Bible
You only have a little window of time to grow in your faith
Like no, I think I have years. I think I have years to grow not necessarily. No
And young teenagers, may I say this?
You also have a small window of time to grow.
Don't think that just because you're a teenager
that you're just gonna live forever on this earth
and you can start serving God at 30 years of age,
you can start serving God when you're 50.
No, now's the appointed time to serve the Lord.
Now's the appointed time to start reading your Bible.
Well, I'll start reading my Bible
and get really serious about my Christian growth
once I get a little more mature.
If you're mature enough to have that thought,
you're mature enough to read the Bible.
Start reading the Word of God today.
Well, it's too hard.
Then start putting in the work today to understand it.
Why? Because you're like the grass.
You're like the flower.
And you know what?
It grows, and yes, it grows over a period of time,
but just as soon as it grows, guess what?
It fades away as well.
It is blown away by the wind.
The sun scorches it and it's gone.
The splendor, the beauty, the glory of it,
the fashion of it will fade as well, my friends.
And you know what?
Yeah, it's important to take care of ourselves physically.
It's important to exercise.
It's important to eat right.
It's important to brush your teeth.
It's important to take baths and showers
and take care of yourself.
But folks,
Far more than that is to renew the Spirit,
making sure that you're feeding the Spirit
and not fulfilling the lust of the flesh,
making sure that you're reading the Word of God
and you're feeding the Spirit with the Word of God.
Did you read your Bible today?
Did you read the Bible this week?
I know you got on Instagram.
I know you got on Facebook, boomers.
I know you got on ex-groopers,
I know I know I know you got on the social media platforms. I get it
I want to know if you got on the button in the Bible though
That's the question
Have you been in the Bible today? Have you been in the Bible this week?
You know what you can think to yourself. Well, I'll renew my commitment to read the Bible tomorrow, but who told you you have to tomorrow
Who told you that?
Who told you that you have this week to just renew your commitments to pray again to read the Bible again
To memorize the scriptures again. You're like a flower. You're fading
You're not promised tomorrow your fashion will perish
You will grow like the grass and like the flower, you know, we're beholding your beauty today
You're a beautiful Christian today, but you know what it doesn't mean you're gonna be here tomorrow
grow while you still can.
Take advantage of the fact that you can read the Bible,
that you can hold the Word of God in your hands
and read the Bible.
And you know what?
Obviously I'm referring to the fact
that you can die tomorrow,
but you know what?
Other evils can come upon your life
that doesn't necessarily include death,
but that can incapacitate you
and impede you from reading the Word of God.
I think of my father-in-law who can't pick up a Bible in his hand and literally put it to his face and read it himself
He hasn't done that for the last 13 years or so because he's been incapacitated now
He listens to the word of God thankfully
But he doesn't have the power to be able to pick up a book and actually read it you do
You have that capability. You know, I guarantee you there's people out there who wish they had your abilities
Who wish they had your eyes? They wish they had your hands. They wish they had the opportunity
To grow, but you know what their flower faded
Parished
Go to first Peter chapter one first Peter chapter one if you would I'm gonna read to you from Job 14 and verse number one
You go to first Peter chapter one Job 14 and verse one states this man that is born of a woman is a few days and full of trouble
Well, thank you Job for reminding us of that
He's like hey if you're born
You got a couple days and guess what they're all filled with trouble
Now, obviously, the guy's been being a little negative,
and we can see why he's filled with trouble
at this particular moment,
and we've all been in that situation where it just feels
we're just compassed with a lot of trouble.
But he is giving a good reality check here
that our days are few, and let's just be honest,
sometimes they are filled with trouble.
He says in verse two, he cometh forth like a flower,
and it's cut down.
He fleeth also as a shadow and continue with not so aside from the fact that you know the flower fades
Really at the end of the day. That's the best-case scenario
Meaning you live a full life
But you die, but you know sometimes you don't get the opportunity to fade someone sometimes someone cuts you down
Right
Sometimes you perish before your time because someone cuts you down
They cut down your flower they cut down the grass
You don't get to fade
Your your fashion does not get to perish it gets cut down
You know what this is the harsh reality for us as Christians today that we need to make sure we give heed to and of course
What am I referring to I'm referring to brother Kevin Rowe
The Kevin Rowe faithful word about this church was a was a was a golly man a young man married
I believe for a very short period of time
He has this he had a six-month-old a
faithful soul winner and
When I say faithful so what I'm not just saying that just to kind of like honor him like the man was responsible
for being the for creating the the cruise ship mission trips
they got
Thousands of thousands of people saved and thousands of more getting saved over the years to come
This man visited multiple countries,
led multiple people to Christ.
The man was a faithful soul-owner.
And let me just say this.
You know, he died because he was cut down by a drunk driver.
He said, what was he doing?
Well, let me just tell you what he was doing.
He was working a second job to pay other people's way out
for missions trips.
How about that?
Think about that, my friends.
He wasn't working a second job to pay for his bills.
He was literally working a second job
so he can pay other people's way out to the mission field
so that other people can get people saved.
And what do we see with that beautiful flower?
What do we see with that splendid flower?
It got cut down.
Let me remind you today that you can be serving God today,
but you can be cut down tomorrow,
not because you're wicked, not because you're evil.
Obviously that happens sometimes,
but sometimes you just get cut down.
Why? Because life is brief.
And you know what Kevin Rose a beautiful flower
Got to enjoy him for a season. He inspired
Hundreds of people to win people to Christ and and and he survived by his wife and his six-month-old daughter
He's in glory today, and you know, obviously we're left with a lot of questions. Are we not?
Even I as a pastor who contemplates eternity every week and communicates eternity to my congregation every single week
Sometimes I wonder like why why?
He was such an asset to the work of the Lord. He got so many people saved. Why I'll tell you why my friends at this point because
Sometimes the flower gets cut down
And it's not the flowers fault is just the way the life is and his death should be a reminder to us
That your flower can also get cut down therefore grow while you still can
You know what Kevin Rowe did a lot in the time that he was here
He accomplished so much and it's possible, you know that he's in heaven
And I know that he's in heaven, but I'm saying it's possible that he's in heaven and someone's telling him in heaven like
You may think that your life was cut short and to a certain degree was but your life will influence many other people to win
More people to Christ
It's gonna get more people saved because all things work together for good
What am I saying make your life count
You know make it count because you can get cut down
Yeah, you know the best case scenario is that we just fade
That's my hope is is that I live till 90 hundred years old
Still dead lifting at 95 still trying to hit that 500 number fire is never gonna happen, you know
Eating my protein trying to take care of myself as best as I can and and hopefully I just fade one day
But you know unfortunately
It's not promised though
You know and I can stand here and say well, I'm serving God. I'm a pastor. I'm winning people to Christ
I have six children. I have a wife, you know, I have so much influence. I have this that but that doesn't matter though
This flower can still get cut down short and so can yours
I'm gonna read, continue reading here.
You are in 1 Peter.
I'm gonna read to you in Job 14 and verse five.
It says, seeing his days are determined.
Listen to this.
The number of his months are with thee.
Thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass.
Meaning there's a certain boundary of life
that you're just not gonna pass.
Certain amount of years that you're just not gonna pass.
Now, obviously sometimes God makes an exception
like with Hezekiah, right?
But at the end of the day, we're all just going to die though, it's a fact, even if we're granted 15 more years of life
We're still going to die
So grow
Learn the Bible love the Bible
read it
Wake up in the morning get your cup of coffee and say man. I'm so thankful that I could just read the Bible today
And read it
Read it pray
Pray because the day that you die guess what the prayer the prayer hour is over
Fair well, fair well, sweet hour of prayer.
Look at 1 Peter, verse 24.
1 Peter chapter one verse 24 says this,
for all flesh is as grass,
and all the glory of man as the flower of grass,
the grass withereth, and the flower thereof,
falleth away.
but the word of the Lord endureth forever and this is the word which by
The gospel is preached unto you the Bible says what is it saying?
You know our lives are short our life is but a vapor our life is like a flower
So let's invest in things that endure forever
Meaning that you should invest your life as a flower your life as grass and that which is the eternal by reading the Bible
Learning and understanding who God is
Fulfilling God's will through his word
Why because the word of the Lord and earth forever?
Go with me if you would to let's see here
Go to Ecclesiastes chapter 12 Ecclesiastes chapter 12
I'm going to continue reading here in Psalm 103 as you're turning to Ecclesiastes
Psalm 103 verse 14 says this for he knoweth our frame he remembered that we are dust as for man his days are as grass
As a flower of the field so he flourishes
So he's saying you know we are like the grass we are like the flower we flourish we grow
But then in verse 16 says for the wind passeth over it and it is gone and
The place thereof shall know it no more the Bible says you know what that means you will be forgotten
That's a harsh reality is it not now obviously we're not gonna be forgotten before the Lord
Our names are written down in heaven.
We can have fame in heaven, but let's just be honest,
according to the Bible, we as flowers and grass
upon this earth will fade, we will be gone,
and the place where we were will not be remembered.
So what's the point?
The point is this, serve God and the eternal,
grow while you can now,
while you still have the opportunity to do so.
Cause the wind will pass one day.
And what is the wind significant of?
Well, it is the symbolized trials, tribulation,
Evil, the wind that comes and just takes you away.
Isaiah chapter 40 and verse 6 says the voice said cry and he said what shall I cry all flesh is grass and all the
Goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field the grass withereth the flower faded because the Spirit of the Lord
Bloweth upon it surely the people is grass the grass wither at the flower faded
But the word of our God shall stand forever may I say this regarding us being grass and the flower
Utilize the strengths of your age
to serve God the way you still can.
I'm looking at a group here of very young people,
and I don't want to say very old people,
because that sounds pretty bad, older people,
and very young people, right?
And there's this temptation for maybe the older generations
to think, well, I can't really serve God as much as these
young people who have all this fire within them.
They have so much energy.
Well, utilize what you can to serve God, though.
God's not expecting a 50 60 70 80 year old to serve God with the same vigor as the
17 18 year old, but he is expecting you to serve God though
Look at Ecclesiastes 12 verse 1 says 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
The Bible says so this message particularly is for you young people
Serve God now remember your Creator in the days of your youth. Don't waste your time. Just do it with frivolous activities
People with people who don't matter who are not eternally minded. Don't waste your life
Serve God with your strength
You're able to literally sleep like four hours three hours and function properly the next day
I hope I did when I was like 17 18 years old
working long hours and being able to just, you know,
and back then we didn't really have like,
like as many Red Bulls as we do now.
But, you know, God gives the young man his strength.
And unfortunately, sometimes the strength
is wasted on the youth.
Use your youth to serve the Lord, to grow.
Use your time to memorize more scripture.
Memorize concepts to listen to the Bible, to read the Word of God, to grow in your faith, to mature beyond your physical age, to grow in wisdom, whatsoever thy hand finds to do, do what thy might.
You know, we got a lot of young flowers in our church, a lot of young flowers, and thank God for that.
You know from 15 a little maybe below that all the way up until 25 and even 30. That's still young, right?
Now it is, huh? Well when pastor turned 30 that was really old
Yeah
All of a sudden doesn't seem that old now does it?
And now I'm like, I'm turning 40 this year and I'm like,
ah, but you're going to turn 42.
You're going to fade just as I am.
And you're going to be like, you know 40 is not that old.
It's like prime right there.
It is prime.
The point that I'm making here is that I want to encourage
you as your pastor to grow.
Make spiritual growth a priority in your life.
and invest more time into your spiritual growth.
I beg you to do that.
I implore you to do that.
Please, don't take this lightly.
Don't take your Bible reading lightly.
I promise you, you will regret it if you don't.
You will regret it if, God forbid,
your flower were to be cut short today,
you would be cut from this earth.
I promise you, you will regret it later on,
that you didn't read the Bible as much as you should.
I hope that you're keeping up with your Bible reading
I hope that you keep I hope that you plan on finishing your Bible reading this here at least once
Those of you who committed to twice may you finish it twice? I hope that you do
Go to Psalm if you would go to Psalm chapter 90 Psalm chapter 90
Now I've already hit on this particular point, but I want to talk about this some more obviously you know with the brevity of life
We need to recognize that we are as a flower that fades a flower grows and then is gone
The point that I'm making there is that you need to take advantage of spiritual growth today
Take advantage of learning biblical concepts today. You know time in the Bible is not wasted time
Time spending hours and and months and years, you know
Studying to show yourself approved into God is not wasted
Spending time in prayer is not wasted spending time scouring the word of God for biblical truths is not wasted
but may I also say this is that
Considering the brevity of life may you serve the Lord while you still can as well
Now, the first point is about learning the word of God,
growing in your faith.
The second point is about living out your faith,
serving the Lord while you still can,
because you may not have this opportunity tomorrow.
The Bible says in Job 7, you're in Psalm.
Let me read to you a couple of verses here.
My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle
and are spent without hope.
Oh, remember that my life is wind.
Mine I shall no more see good
Wind is something that comes and goes and you say your life is like that when it comes gives a quick breeze
and goes
Job 8 and I I understand that you know
I'm quoting Bill dad here and you know Job's friends aren't necessarily right about Joe
But a lot of what they say is correct. It's just not right about Joe
He says in verse 9 for we are but of yesterday and know nothing because our days upon the earth are a shadow
Shall not they teach thee and tell thee and utter words out of their heart Job 9 25 says now my days are
Swifter than a post they flee away. They see no good
They are passed away as the swift ships as the eagle that hasteth to his prey you're in Psalm 90
I'm gonna reach you from Psalm 39 and verse 4 says Lord make me to know my end and
The measure of my days. What is it that I may know how frail I am now this is important
Because what is the Psalm is saying? He's saying you know, help me to realize how short life it really is
Help me to know my end the measure of my days. He's not saying give me the appointed time where I'm gonna die
Just help me to know that I'm gonna die
Why because I need to know how frail I am
You know what these last two weeks have taught me how frail I really am
Not just me though my kids are very frail as well my spouse is frail
My family's frail.
Man, my church members are frail.
He's like, are you calling us weak?
I'm saying that you could die.
And I don't think we think about that enough, right?
I feel like we don't think about the fact
that I'm looking at you right now,
but the truth is, I may not be looking at you next week.
You could be gone because you're frail.
You could be looking at me, but I may not.
This might be my last sermon.
Why?
Because I'm frail.
Look at Psalm 90 verse 9 says for all our days are passed away in thy wrath
We spend our years as a tale that is told now. What is he referring to there?
Well, you know if you've read the Old Testament for example
You go through the historical books you can literally read about someone's life in a matter of two verses
Right, so you read about a king and it's just like it just literally goes over like 60 years and just a verse or two verses or something
And you know what you're two verses to you're like a tale that is told
Now hopefully we get more verses so to speak right some people are like half a verse
Some people in the Bible don't even get mentioned or something you know
But we are as a tale that is told
Verse 10 says the days of our years are three score and ten years excuse me three score years and ten
And if by reason of strength, they'd be four score years,
yet as their strength, labor, and sorrow,
for it is soon cut off and we fly away.
What is he saying?
You know, if by strength we might live up to 80 years of age,
and obviously we know many people who live beyond that,
but just on average what it's saying,
you know, someone who lives up to 80 years of age,
it's a testament of how strong their body is, right?
But he's saying like, you know, we would love to live up to 80 years of age even 90 years of age
But here's the thing though is that their strength labor and sorrow afraid to soon cut off and we fly away
So it's just like 80 years then it's just gone
Who know what the power of thine anger even according to thy fear so is thy wrath and I want you to notice this in verse 12
So teach us to number our days
That we may apply our hearts unto wisdom
In other words knowing that our life can be cut short knowing that we're not going to be here long
We need to live with purpose and
Apply wisdom to our lives. Lord. What should I do today of significance? I don't want to waste my life
And, you know, the main point that I want to get with this particular point here is the fact that the Bible, in the first point, said that we're like a flower, we're like grass.
And go to Psalm 102 if you would, Psalm 102.
And in this particular point, the Bible also compares us to like a shadow.
He says in verse 11 of Psalm 102 my days are like a shadow that
Declineth and I am withered like grass. What is he saying? Well, you know a shadow is cast in the daytime
When the Sun shines upon a particular object, it'll cast a shadow
But that shadow begins to decline over the day and soon enough the night comes
The shadow is gone
It only has a small window of time to make an impression to cover something to do something
But then it's gone and the Bible says that our lives are like that shadow go to act chapter 5 act chapter 5 if you would
I'm gonna continue reading here in Psalm 144 and verse 4 as you're turning to act chapter 5
Psalm 144 verse 4 says man is like to vanity
His days are as a shadow that passeth away.
Ecclesiastes chapter 6 and verse 12 says,
for who knoweth what is good for men in his life,
all the days of his vain life,
which he spendeth as a shadow?
For who can tell a man what shall be after him
under the sun?
Look at Acts chapter 5 and verse 10, verse 14, excuse me.
It says, and believers were the more added to the Lord,
multitudes both of men and women,
insomuch that they brought forth the sick into the streets
and laid them on beds and couches.
And I want you to notice this,
that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by
might overshadow some of them.
There came also a multitude of the cities
round about unto Jerusalem, bringing sick folks.
And then which were vexed with unclean spirits and they were healed every one
You know we like Peter have a small period of time to cast a shadow to make a difference to serve God with
You know what obviously there's not we can't go too deep into this
But you know what we can relate this to is just preaching the gospel
What cities have you cast a shadow in today and what lies have you cast a shadow in today of the gospel?
Where have you shown the light of his glorious gospel
to someone's life?
You know what, if there's anything that I wanna do
in this life, aside from preaching God's word
to God's people, is I just wanna get people saved.
Because you know what, there's plenty of people out there
who claim to be Christians, who profess to be Christians,
who go to church, and yeah, they may love the Lord,
they may read the Bible, but you know what,
a very small percentage of people in this world
actually get people saved.
That's just the fact.
It's just a fact and you know what? I don't want to be a part of the other percentage
I want to be a part of the percentage that is preaching the gospel getting people saved
Casting my shadow in this world. Why because of the fact that the night cometh when no man can work
Night cometh when no man can work, you know, I preached this sermon years ago called business hours
And in that sermon I was talking about the fact that you know Jesus Christ said I must be about my father's business
Right the age of 12. He said I must be about my father's business and he talked about the fact that you know
I have you know meat that you know not of and he talked about the work of God that he was completing and his business hours
We're literally three and a half years
And in John chapter 9 he said you know the night cometh when no man can work. What does he mean?
Death comes upon us
And when death comes no man can work thereafter
You're done
You know what the same goes for us now Jesus Christ had three and a half years to do that. We may have more
But you know what you might not have more
Your shadow will decline and you will disappear
Go to Ephesians chapter 4 if you would if you I'm sorry Ephesians chapter 5 Ephesians chapter 5
Ephesians chapter 5
Ephesians chapter 5 serve God while you still can
And those of you who don't know how to preach the gospel learn how to preach the gospel
learn
Why because you may not be able to next year
Hey get someone saved this week get someone saved this year why because you may not have that opportunity next week
You may not have that opportunity next month. You may not have that opportunity to come in a year
We don't know I can't tell you when you're gonna die
And you know you should make it your goal in life to learn how to preach the gospel
I'm not saying to get on the corner somewhere with the blow horn and yellow people. That's not preaching the gospel
That's annoying people. That's a drive-thru
It's what it is
I'm talking about going to someone,
opening your mouth boldly to make known
the mysteries of the Gospel,
taking them through the Romans road,
showing them what it means to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ,
helping them to call upon the name of the Lord,
giving them that eternal security,
gaining them saved.
This is one area in life that we can all be equal in.
No matter what you do.
What is that?
Just preaching the Gospel.
And that is the goal of our church,
is to get people saved.
We're First Works Baptist Church.
The First Works is preaching the gospel.
And you know what, if you men, young men,
if you grow up and you never become a pastor
and you never become a deacon,
you never become an evangelist,
that's okay as long as you become a preacher of the gospel.
If you could live the rest of your life
preaching the word of God to other people
to get them saved, that's success right there.
I don't want you to finish your life
not getting people saved.
I don't want you for the flower to be cut short
to fade away without getting someone saved.
And let me just ask you,
did you get someone saved this week?
Did you get someone saved this month?
Let me hit you with that hard question.
When's the last time you got someone saved?
Well, that's kind of hard though,
getting people saved is just kind of, I don't know.
You're asking, that's easy for you to say you're a pastor.
No, there's plenty of people here
who get people saved every single week.
We've all been commissioned to preach the gospel to get people saved
It's how much work you're willing to put into it to actually do it
God has commissioned us. He's given us the ministry of reconciliation. We have his holy spirit
We have a systematic way of presenting the word of God to get people saved you can do it
You know what and you know, we don't need to send them an Instagram video of someone's
Testimony of someone who got saved. Why don't we just show them the word of God with our mouth?
May I say this is that
You need to serve God while you still can
And you think to yourself, oh man, it's easy for you to say you're young
Right, right. That's what you would say, right?
Me, you know, I got saved later on in life and you know
I have wasted so much of my life or whatever. Well, look at Ephesians chapter 5 verse 14
Wherefore he saith awake thou that sleepest
Arise from the dead and Christ shall give the light. Stop being such a sleepy Christian
apathetic
sleepy
lazy not wanting to serve God the Bible saying Christ shall give the light
Wake up a
Rise from the dead and in fact in another portion in first Corinthians 15 says oh wait to righteousness and sin
Not for some have not the knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame
Verse 15 says see then that you walk circumspectly not as fools, but as wise and here's the kicker verse 16
redeeming the time
Because the days are evil
What does it mean buy back time?
You got saved later on in life buy back time. Well, how do I do that by getting busy today?
Make up for lost time
If you wasted a lot of your life with frivolous living that's okay. You're here now and you know what you can start preaching the gospel now
You can start serving God now because let me tell you right now. You're not promised tomorrow
You're not promised next week
So you better start buying back time today
And you know this doesn't just apply to the older folks in our church. It applies to younger people too
because quite frankly if
This is your last year on this earth. You definitely have to redeem the time
Well, how do you know?
I don't know.
This just might be.
Verse 17 says, wherefore, being unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.
Know what God's will is.
And at your base level, at the foundational level, we know this.
God wants us to read the Bible.
He wants us to be in church, and He wants us to get people saved.
There's a ton of other wills of God for our lives, but at base level that's for sure and if you can just fulfill those things
You are a successful Christian
You will live a fulfilled life. You will not waste your life just doing those things right there
Go to 1st Timothy chapter 6 1st Timothy chapter 6
You as a flower are fading and God forbid that you should be cut off, but you might be cut off
If you're not cut off, you will fade.
You, as a shadow, are declining at 12 hours upon us.
And the night cometh when no man can work,
and your shadow will no longer be there
to cast upon someone else and make a true difference.
We are like the flower, we are like the shadow.
May I also say this in regards to the brevity of life.
Loosely hold the things of this world.
Don't get so attached to the things of this world.
The possessions of this world. Hey the ideologies of this world
The systems of this world don't get so attached to them loosely hold them
Why because there are nothing in comparison to eternity?
Loosely hold to your tribulations why because they're not always gonna be there
Let go of bitterness
Cuz it's not always gonna be that way let go of resentment cuz it's not always gonna be there
Loosely hold your finances your riches your houses your your things that will
perish because you're not always gonna have them first Timothy chapter 6 verse
7 says this for we brought nothing into this world and it is certain that we
can carry nothing out the Bible says you didn't bring a yacht you're not leaving
with the yacht you didn't bring a house you're not leaving with the house
Oh, but I've invested so much time. I know and you know what sometimes we got to invest in the temporal things
But don't don't hold it so tightly though
As if you'll never lose it
Why work so hard for this car? I know
But you know let go of that steering wheel a little I'm not when you're driving of course
That's bad advice
Don't grab on to it too tightly because it's gonna go one day
All our possessions everything's gonna go
Liquidation just everything's gonna go one day. Everything's just gonna disappear
and
You know you could accumulate all types of wealth all types of possessions
But let me tell you this and you're if you're on your deathbed none of that stuff matters
It's just won't matter to you
You know who's gonna matter to you your wife
your husband
children me
Eternity, people, look at verse 19, you say, are you saying we should just be poor?
You say that I can't really enjoy possessions or something?
No, he's given us all things richly to enjoy, right?
You know, I think the gift of God is to be able to enjoy the fruits of your labor.
If you could afford a nice car, go for it.
I'm just saying, you know, if it's taken away from you, don't fall apart.
And the Bible seems to indicate that we can enjoy these things if we can afford these things.
But what the Bible also teaches is that if you really want to be rich, you need to focus
on eternal things, not the temporal.
Because it says in verse 19 laying up for laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come
That they may lay hold on eternal life and in its context. It's referring to the riches
It's referring to the fact that if you really want to be rich you should be rich in faith
Send the riches ahead
invest in the work of God, invest in the things of God,
loosely hold the things of this world.
And again, I'm not just referring to possessions,
I'm referring to ideologies as well.
All of us have some ideologies
that aren't necessarily found in the Bible.
And there's a lot of us who have ideologies
and there's strong convictions about our worldview.
You need to loosely hold to those things.
Because I promise you in heaven,
none of that stuff's gonna matter.
I just don't want you to be regretting.
Investing so much time in ideologies that just don't matter
Nothing wrong with having convictions preferences, but maybe may we be more heavy on the biblical convictions
than on the other ones
Why cuz it's gonna it's gonna be gone
So it's not gonna matter
Loosely hold those things
Turn with me if you would to for your actually you're in 1st Timothy stay in 1st Timothy chapter 6
Let me read you from 1 Peter 2 verse 11 says dearly beloved I beseech you I want you to notice this as
strangers and pilgrims
Abstained from fleshly lust which war against the soul. So the Bible says that we're strangers. What is that? We're immigrants
That's what a stranger is. Do you guys know that?
Foreigners
Yeah, you got you Republicans heard me did you guys hear me correctly? We're strangers in pilgrims
How dare the Bible call me that well according to the Bible if we're saved that's where our citizenship is in heaven actually
That's where we that's where we're from. Where are you from from heaven?
That's that's my citizenship. I know a lot of people don't like to hear that but I'm not here to tell you what you want to hear
I'm here to tell you what you need to hear
And no no no dirty look is gonna change what I'm when I'm telling you right now. You are a stranger
You are a pilgrim
And I'm telling you right now, your citizenship,
if you're a safe person, is in heaven.
And the stuff here does not matter.
That doesn't mean that we shouldn't
be law-abiding citizens.
Obviously, we should be.
Doesn't mean we can't have preferences and convictions
in this world.
Yeah, but loosely hold to those ideologies.
Loosely hold to your identity here in this world.
Why?
Because one day you're not going to be here.
And I'm sorry, your favorite political party
is not going to miss you.
They're just going to miss your vote.
Strangers and pilgrims, but the Bible specifically saying that we should abstain from fleshly lust which war against the soul
So in other words, you know, we should invest our time loosely hold the things of this world
But also fight the spiritual battle though
Don't live a life just constantly indulging yourself in sin
In iniquity and things that waste your time.
Why? Because of the fact that the Bible says
that we need to abstain from fleshly lust.
We should endeavor to live a life of sanctification
in this side of eternity.
Work on yourself.
Work on getting sin out of your life.
Be a good repenter, amen?
Work on repenting of your sin.
You know, obviously to a certain degree,
we're all worldly, because we're here.
But you know, can we just,
can we work on not being that worldly though?
Can we work on just being like, you know, at least an average Christian?
Can we work at just being endeavoring to be godly and holy and Christ-like and Christian?
None of us are perfect and none of us will reach that perfection inside of eternity, but I want to I want to know that
At least I'm trying to though
I'm not gonna just throw up my hands and say well. I'm just a carnal person. I'm just a fleshly Christian
I'm just just that's just how I am. No, I want to fight
against the flesh the flesh less than against the spirit the spirit against the flesh
Don't be the type of Christian who allows sin to just have dominion over you to reign over you
To have false ideologies reign over you, you know have a winning chance
Fight the battle like oh man. I've just lost this battle so many times they fight again
Adjust man fall is seven times and rise it up again be a stubborn Christian against your sin
Be a stubborn Christian against your failures and you know what?
I rather fail my way through life trying to serve God then succeed
I just stay down I rather succeed at getting knocked down and getting back up over and over and over again
Then getting knocked down and staying down
You know, I admire the boxer who gets knocked down and he's just getting up and he still wants to fight
He's just kind of like because he still wants to go at it
Instead of the guy who's just like
Got no fight in him I
Want to get up and swing at the ref because I think he's the boxer. He's the one I'm fighting
Have some heart
Have some heart in you have some conviction. You know what fathers be a man of conviction for your family
Why cuz life is brief and you only have a small window of time to influence your children to be godly to be Christians to get saved
to make Jesus Christ the center of your home.
And I promise you, let me tell you right now,
I promise you, there's gonna come a time when you fade
and you're gonna wish,
you're gonna wish you did when they were younger.
Do the hard thing today by placing Christ
as the centerpiece of your home,
the Bible is the centerpiece of your home,
make church important to your kids.
Make it a priority to your children make reading the Bible a priority make godly speaking in the home a priority
Get worldliness out of your home get full of get godless philosophies out of your home
Talk about the Lord Jesus Christ talk about the Bible talk about souls talk about the souls that you got saved
Talk about what you learned in the Bible
Why because there's gonna come a time when you don't have that opportunity and you know what you may not be cut short as a flower
But you will fade and one day your kids are gonna get married
They're gonna leave the house and you know what you're gonna hope to God that they serve the Lord
You're gonna hope to God
That you train them up in the way that should go so when they are old they will not depart from it
But you know that's not promised to you
But what is promise is that if we put in the work to train them that they will
But if you're not but if you're not doing that in your home, how can you expect those results?
You know, that might not even be important to you today
That may not be important to you because sometimes it's not the people
I'm here to try to make it important to you and to remind you how important it is
I'm speaking to you of the eternal at this moment. I
Know we're meeting here in Anaheim Hills on orange store at First Works Baptist Church
But this is the eternal that I'm trying to communicate to you right now
You're in first Timothy. Let me also say this in light of the brevity of life. I
Mentioned this already, but it's worth mentioning it again. Don't waste your life on meaningless pursuits
Don't waste your life on meaningless pursuits
Don't fight battles that you don't belong in
Don't fight battles that just are just meaningless
And just because everyone else in this world is fighting that battle doesn't make it worth it
The worthy battle is the battle of the Lord
to fight the good fight of faith
Don't follow everyone also everyone else off a cliff
Every other Christian is doing it, but does the what does the Bible say about it though?
Look at 1st Timothy chapter 6 verse 10 for the love of money is the root of all evil
Which while some coveted after hat they have aired from the faith and pierces themselves through with many sorrows
But thou oh man of God making a distinction between the man who loves money loves the things of this world
and the man of God, but thou, O man of God,
flee these things.
What does that mean?
Run away from it.
Run screaming in the opposite direction.
To what?
Follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love,
patience, meekness.
Yeah, but that's not as popular
in mainstream Christianity.
Who cares?
Mainstream Christianity is like the worst type of Christianity.
I don't care if it's popular.
Who cares?
We need to do what the Bible says. You know, I'm not interested in being famous in this world
I'm interested in being famous in heaven
And the Bible's telling me to follow after these things
Look what it says in verse 12 fight the good fight of faith not politics faith
Layhold on eternal life. We're unto thou are also called and as professed a good profession before many witnesses
Hope you're fighting today. I hope you're fighting
You know the the assassination of Charlie Kurt has left me so unsettled in so many ways
first because I'm a father and I'm a husband and
You know, it's sad and we live in such an evil wicked world and
You know that that someone could get murdered just for giving their opinion
It's godless.
It's such a godless thing to do.
But, and you say, well, did you agree?
Like, well, what do you think about Charlie Kirk?
I don't think it matters what I think about Charlie Kirk.
I believe, I personally believe he was saved.
But me saying he was saved doesn't change the fact
that he's not if he wasn't.
And me saying that he's not saved
doesn't change the fact that he is if he was, right?
I think he was, personally.
mainly on Zionism and you know but here's the thing though is that he
tragically lost his life. He was a flower that was cut short and I don't
think that was right for that to happen. I think it was godless what took place
and I do believe that guy deserves the death penalty just for just for the
record. He deserves of the firing squad for the record because that's what the
But you know what? I'm not gonna spend my life fighting for those things. I'm gonna spend my life fighting for the Bible
And I'm not gonna blam. I'm not gonna blur the lines between the two either
And you know what? I know that all things work together for good. So I know that his death will bring pride
It'll probably bring more people to church
Cause them to seek the Lord
It'll cause them to you know, maybe search out what the Bible says about salvation. I don't know
I know that at the end of the day God allowed it for a particular reason
And you know what? I don't know why God allowed Kevin Rowe to die either.
But I know God will work it together for good.
The point that I'm making is that I don't want to spend my life fighting frivolous fights
that I believe the Bible does not emphasize.
And I want to make the line very clear.
And you may not agree with me and that's okay.
You don't have to come here to agree with me on every single point.
I'm just here speaking from the eternal.
And sometimes I have the unsavory responsibility to tell you what you just don't want to hear
But that's okay
You'll thank me one day for
Go to 1st John chapter 2
The death of Kevin Rowan the death of Charlie Kirk
And by the way, I do believe Kevin Rowan is far more famous to me at least than Charlie Kirk
Kevin Rosa, oh you say who is he? Well he is someone of whom the world is not worthy
But you know what their deaths have inspired me to think about eternity more
Charlie Kirk woke up in the morning. He didn't know he was gonna die that day
Charlie Kirk hugged his wife for the kisses wife for the last time he held his children for the last time
That can happen to any of us
So regardless whether you agree with them or not
This is the reality of life
That life is brief
Folks first John 2 15 says love not the world neither the things that are in the world if any man love the world
The love of the father is not in him
For all that is in the world the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the father
But but is of the world and the world pass it the way the luster of
But he that doeth the will of God, abideth forever.
What is it saying?
Don't spend your life with frivolous matters.
Waste your life.
Spend your life.
Make your flower fade and vanish
doing the will of God.
It's worth it.
Go to go to 1st Peter chapter 2 and we're done
I'm gonna briefly go over this last this second the last point because I want to get to my last point
We're done. I do want to say live with the end in mind
Prepare to meet your God
Live with the end in mind
I'm not saying we need to be doomed and gloom, but we do need to recognize that we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ
There will be a day where
The Lord Jesus Christ will judge us not for our sins
because our sins have been forgiven.
Past, present, and future, amen.
Once we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ,
but we will be judged for our works, for a reward.
We need to think about that.
It's so hard as a human to think about that
because we're so temporal, I'm temporal.
You know, I'm hungry right now, you know?
What am I gonna eat?
I see those wheels back there, you know?
I see the food back.
And it's like we have to like it right there miss Kelly right back there
Just have faith in me that I'm telling you the truth right now. I'm just
We have but you know I have to look beyond hey listen I have to look beyond the wheels though I
Got to breach the wheels
And look into eternity why because I because the end influences how I live today
You know what the end does it causes me to read the Bible when I don't feel like reading it
You know what the end does it causes me to like go to church even when I don't feel like it obviously
I have to go to church because I'm a pastor
You know the end doesn't it makes me think like I need to preach the gospel today
You know what the end does it makes me think I need to love my wife is Christ love the church
I need to raise my children and nurture the admonition of the Lord
You know at the end does it makes me think this stuff is not stuff doesn't matter. I need to like focus on
the eternal
Because it's hard to think about the end sometimes is it not because it's so like far away. It's it's so out there
You know, it's like in a different realm
We don't know when it's gonna happen, but but here's the thing it's gonna happen though
So we need to like think about we need to set our affections on things above none of the things of this earth
Live with the end in mind. Here's my last point
And this is very important. So please pay attention and we're done
regarding
the brevity of life.
May I say this?
Don't take people for granted.
Don't take your spouse for granted.
Don't take your children for granted.
Forgive.
Spend time with your spouse.
Hug your spouse.
Hug your children.
Love your children.
Love your brethren.
Love them.
expected to see Kevin on Sunday just I expect to see you on Sunday you expect
to see me but it's just not promised to us don't take people for granted hey hey
kids don't take your parents for granted make sure you call them today you
tell them you love them appreciate them it's not always gonna be here don't take
We get on each other a lot, and it's good.
I like when we roast each other.
And I like when we get on each other.
But you know, tell each other how much you appreciate each
other too.
Don't be gay about it or anything.
I'm just saying like, no homer or anything.
But tell each other, I really do appreciate you.
I got a lot of love in my heart for you.
Why?
Because there might be a day you can't do that anymore.
Look at 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 17 it says honor all men love the brotherhood fear God honor the king
Romans 12 tense is be kindly affection one to another with brotherly love and honor preferring one another
First Peter 3a says finally be all of one mind have compassion one of another
Love his brother and be pitiful be courteous not rendering evil for evil or railing for railing
But contrary wise blessing knowing that you are there to their unto call that you should inherit a blessing
For he that will love life and see good days let him refrain his tongue from evil and his lips that they speak no guile
Let him a shoe evil and do good and let him seek peace and ensue it
forgive your wife
forgive your husband
Forgive your mom forgive your dad forgive your brother your sister
Don't take him for granted because he could be gone and let me just give you this this this reminder here
And one day you will bury me.
That's the reality.
I'm looking at you right now, but one day I
will be looking at you in a casket.
And one day you will be looking at me in a casket as well.
One day you will be gone from my life,
and one day I will be gone from yours.
So don't take people for granted.
That's the brevity of life.
Love life.
I love eternal life. I love my Christian life. I love my wife. I love my children. I love my church. I love serving God
and
You just got to realize that
We're just not all gonna have it
So don't take it for granted
Let's pray father. We thank you so much for your word
Thank you for the brevity of life Lord. If we could just live here forever
Who knows how we would behave Lord?
But the window of time that we have helps us to realize that there's only so much we can do
You need to make the right decisions walk in wisdom
love our people
love souls
Help us not to hold grudges
bitterness anger clamor
Help us to forgive Lord to serve to be patient with people to be patient with our children patient with our spouses
Patient with our brothers and sisters in Christ
But also Lord help us to serve you with everything that we have
It's worth it. Help us to preach the gospel when we don't feel like it to serve you when we don't have the desire for it
Help us to live with the end in mind
Love you Lord, and we thank you pray this things in Jesus name. Amen
Please turn your song books to song number 44
Song number 44, we'll work till Jesus comes.
Song number 44, all together nice and strong on that first verse.
Oh, land of rest for the ice I went, will the moment
at home. We'll work till Jesus comes, we'll work, till Jesus comes, we'll work, till
Jesus comes and we'll be gathered home. To Jesus Christ I plan for rest, he bade,
I saw that once my Savior sighed
Wonderful singing, you are dismissed.