Anyway, look at John chapter 10 and verse number nine.
John chapter 10 and verse number nine.
Just one quick thought from this chapter.
It says, I am the door by me.
If any man enter in, he shall be saved
and shall go in and out and find pasture.
The thief cometh not but for to steal and to kill
and to destroy.
And notice the next words.
I am come that they might have life
and that they might have it more abundantly.
Okay, more abundantly.
You know, Jesus wants us to enjoy life.
You know that?
You know, He wants you to today have a smile,
to be happy, to be thankful for this day
that God has given us.
And you know, the sermon this afternoon
is not gonna be anything too deep.
It's not gonna, I'm not gonna be hitting
some groundbreaking passages and you know,
I just wanted to get to a bit of basic things.
We did look through first Peter, which is quite meaty
and just wanted a lighter sermon because again,
you know, just, and I know I've talked about
some of these things, but we're in COVID-19 world.
People are downcast, people are depressed,
people are frustrated.
I'm a little bit frustrated still, you know,
just not knowing exactly, not having a clear picture
of what's gonna happen in three months,
in five months, in six months.
And it can be very tempting to, you know,
be looking at news sources, which is giving you,
you know, sad information, bad news,
constantly giving you bad news.
And it's easy to be downcast in the current environment.
And so the title for the sermon this afternoon
is six ways to enjoy life.
Six ways to enjoy life, okay?
Now you can move away from the book of John.
That's all we wanted to look at, John.
I'm gonna get you to turn primarily to Proverbs and Psalms.
I'll read to you some other passages,
but if you wanna find yourself,
go to Proverbs that's out there,
go to Proverbs chapter 17, Proverbs chapter 17.
So like I said, I'll get you to primarily
Psalms and the Proverbs, and I'll be reading to you
some other passages.
And Proverbs 17 verse 22, please.
Proverbs 17 verse 22 says,
a merry heart doeth good like a medicine,
but a broken spirit dryeth the bones, okay?
What is the best medicine for your life?
A merry heart, a happy heart, okay?
Now I don't know, did you guys ever read
the Reader's Digest?
I grew up, we used to get this Reader's Digest,
you know, mailed to us every month or whatever it was,
right, it's a thing.
And I think one of the, they had all these jokes,
and one of the titles was called
laughter is the best medicine.
That's come from Proverbs there, right?
That's where they get it from.
Laughter is the best medicine.
Yes, having a merry heart, being happy
is the best medicine you could possibly have.
You know, being downcast, being stressed,
being worried and depressed
is not just an emotional reaction.
Yes, it starts with the emotions,
but it has an effect on your body.
You know, one reason people have ulcers in their body
is just because they're constantly stressed,
and the body struggles to live a life of depression, okay?
You know, we've been called,
yeah, we've been called, you know,
God's design for us is to just be happy,
just to enjoy life.
You know, I think I've found the ingredients
to just be happy.
I mean, I'm just always happy.
You know, I hear some bad news,
I'm like, well, that's sad, that's bad.
But you know, thank God for whatever.
You know, I can usually turn to something positive
and have my mind set on that.
And so six ways to enjoy life.
Now, please go to Psalm nine,
please go to Psalm nine, Psalm nine.
So the very first thing, you know,
I could have turned this whole sermon
into just, you know, serve God, point number one.
Number two, just pray to God.
Number three, you know, just read your Bible.
You know, so all I wanna do with my first point
is just summarize all of that into one main point.
Psalm nine verse two, Psalm nine verse two reads,
I will be glad and rejoice in thee.
Hey, this is a decision.
The Psalmist says, look, I don't care.
I'm gonna be glad.
I'm going to rejoice in thee.
I'm gonna rejoice in God.
I will sing praise to thy name, O thou most high.
So point number one to enjoy life
is God must be the center of your life, okay?
God must be the center of your life.
If you try to live a life without God,
you're not gonna be happy.
You know, you can emulate some level of joy, okay?
But it's not going to be a true joy.
It's not gonna be a true merry heart
that is good like a medicine, okay?
So all I wanna do with point number one,
God must be the center of your life,
is just wrap up all those major points
that we have about living the Christian life.
So now go to Proverbs chapter three, verse one,
Proverbs chapter three and verse number one,
because I do wanna give you some more practical things
that will give you joy in your life
with the other five points, okay?
But Proverbs chapter three, verse number one, all right?
So we wanna be able to rejoice in thee,
rejoice in God.
That means you have to have a fellowship with God.
He's gonna be an important part of your life.
You're spending time with God.
In Proverbs chapter three, verse number one,
it says, my son, forget not my law,
but let thine hearts keep my commandments
for length of days and long life
and peace shall they add to thee.
You say, I wanna have a happy life.
Well, you know what's gonna contribute to your happy life?
The length of days, a long life, peace, okay?
How do I have these things in my life?
I don't feel peaceful right now because of COVID-19,
because of coronavirus or restrictions or whatever.
Can't cross the border because I've gotta,
you know, what is it?
What's the word?
Not isolate.
Huh?
What's that?
Quarantine.
I've got a quarantine, right?
I'm not happy.
Well, don't forget God's law.
Keep his commandments.
Learn what God says, do what he says,
and the promise is you're gonna have peace,
you're gonna have a long life,
and you're gonna have a happy life.
That's the promise from God.
You know, just know what he says in his word
and live in accordance to that.
You know, in John chapter 15, verse 10,
it says, if ye keep my commandments,
these are the words of Jesus,
if ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love,
even as I have kept my Father's commandments
and abide in his love,
these things have I spoken unto you
that your joy might remain in you
and that your joy might be full.
What is Jesus saying?
He says, keep my commandments.
If you wanna be full of joy,
if you want the joy to remain in your life,
he says, just keep my commandments.
And then he says, even, what did he say?
Even as I, just Jesus,
even as I have kept my Father's commandments.
You know what this tells me?
That Jesus was full of joy.
You know that every day, you know,
if you went to spend time with Jesus,
you went to listen to him preach,
you would have said, hey, that's a happy man.
Hey, that's a man full of joy.
He enjoys being on the earth.
He enjoys walking the earth
because he's keeping his Father's commandments.
That's how I can be sure.
You think Jesus will constantly walk around with a frown?
Listen, was he walking on a sin-cursed world?
Absolutely.
Was he surrounded by false prophets,
false teaching, false doctrine,
people full of sin and Israel
that were supposed to love God
with all their hearts, minds, and soul,
and they're not doing that?
Yeah, but was he just constantly frustrated about that?
No, he was keeping his Father's commandments,
tells me he had great joy, okay?
Even in the face of being in a bad place.
Now God, out of all places, you know,
could find joy even in a sin-cursed world.
And so what is it that's gonna give you joy here, brethren?
It's keeping the commandments of Jesus,
keeping the commandments of God.
It's not that my life needs to emulate pastor's life, okay?
That's not gonna give you joy, okay?
Or your favorite pastor or your favorite preacher.
My life has to be like my favorite preacher's life.
That's not going to give you joy.
I hope your favorite preacher, your favorite pastor
is keeping the commandments of God.
I hope they're finding joy in keeping commandments of God,
but you're gonna find joy keeping commandments with God,
okay, the commandments of Jesus Christ.
It's not about emulating somebody's life.
That's not gonna give you the joy you're looking for.
In Isaiah 55, verse 11, I love this passage.
You don't need to turn there.
This passage says, so shall my word be
that go forth out of my mouth.
It shall not return unto me void,
but it shall accomplish that which I please,
and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I center it,
for you shall go out with joy and be led forth with peace.
The mountains and the hills shall break forth
before you into singing,
and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
Brethren, what else is gonna give you great joy?
Speaking the words of God, you know?
And yes, I think of this as a soul winner going out.
I don't know if you think about this, brethren,
but those that went soul winning between services,
you know what?
The mountains, the hills broke forth into joy, into singing.
The trees were clapping their hands as you went out there
preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ.
I mean, think about that.
Creation rejoices when you're full of joy,
when you're full of peace, taking the good words,
the good news of Jesus Christ, okay?
So speaking the things of God,
yes, soul winning will give you joy.
Maybe not immediately.
Oh man, get up there, walk the streets,
I'm probably gonna get rejected.
Hey, but I'm telling you,
when you're able to give just people, John 3.16,
you're just able to open up,
hey, you can be sure of going to heaven.
You know, your desire is for that person
to just hear God's words,
because those words have given you great joy.
You want them to find that great joy as well.
But it's not just soul winning.
It's any time you speak God's word.
Yes, right now I find great joy preaching God's word,
but even during our fellowship,
get into the habit of speaking about the things of God.
Speak about the things you heard during the sermon.
That's good.
Or just other things,
how God has blessed you during the week.
Hey, talk about God.
We're in church amongst fellow believers.
You know how hard it is to just find like-minded brethren
that you can spend time with, all right?
I mean, for those of you that have not had a good church,
you know, you've just been dying.
I just want to have,
is there another family that believes like we do?
Is there another family that I know is saved, right?
Who wants to read the King James Bible?
I want to be able to talk to them about God.
Well, this is the opportunity.
Church, all right?
Use the opportunity of fellowship.
Yes, we can talk about other things,
our homes, our families, our jobs.
That's all important,
but let's not forget to talk about the words of God,
which gives us great joy.
Please don't be that person that everyone knows
when we start talking about God,
are they gonna change this topic about something carnal,
something worldly,
because they're uncomfortable talking about it.
Don't be that person.
Don't be that person,
because we're trying to find joy in the house of God.
You know, you gotta learn to talk about God,
even if it makes you uncomfortable.
You know, this is something
that should be at the tip of our lips,
because this is gonna give you joy.
And lastly, John 16, verse 24 says,
here the two, these are the words of Jesus,
here the two have ye asked nothing in my name.
Ask, and ye shall receive,
that your joy may be full.
That your joy may be full.
What?
What's gonna give us joy?
Praying, asking, saying, God, I have needs.
I need presence, Lord.
You know, I'm in a difficult position, Lord, help me.
That's gonna give you joy.
And when he answers those prayers,
it's gonna give you that fullness of joy.
Now look, I could have made any of these points,
I could have made that point one, point two, point three,
but I just wanna make it point number one, right?
Point number one is God must be the center of your life.
No God, no joy, okay?
That's a simple equation for you.
Must have God in your life.
That's point number one, okay?
So now we can build from there, okay?
Now I'm trusting that God is the center of your life.
Now you probably want some more practical things
that you can do in your life
that's gonna give you great joy.
Well, if you can please, actually, I'll get you to turn here,
go to Genesis chapter three, go to Genesis chapter three.
No, actually, no, go to Ephesians chapter six.
Go to Ephesians chapter six for me.
Point number two, remember it's six ways to enjoy life.
Point number one was God must be the center of your life.
Point number two is fulfill your role or your purpose, okay?
Fulfill your role or your purpose, all right?
I'm going to read to you from Genesis three.
You go to Ephesians six.
Genesis chapter three verse 19.
God speaking to Adam, he says,
"'In the sweat of thy face shall thou eat bread
till thou return unto the ground.
For out of it was thou taken, for thus thou art,
and unto dust shalt thou return."
You know, when God speaks to Adam,
it doesn't sound like he's expecting Adam to retire.
Because it says, till thou return unto the ground.
He says, look, you gotta just keep working at him, okay?
You gotta work hard, okay?
That's your role, that's your purpose.
You've gotta be the provider for your family, okay?
That's what I've created you for, Adam,
to be a hard worker, you know?
To sweat, to the sweat of the eye face.
I remember when we started this church
and we were meeting at the old hall,
or no, in the shed, and now hot,
and I was, you know, I'm not used to the humidity
of the Sunshine Coast, and my shirt's just wet, sweat.
Hey, I'm working, the sweat of my face, praise God.
Listen, we need to get to that, you know,
bring that manliness back and we just work and work hard
and be sweaty and be dirty.
Hey, we gotta work hard.
You know what, that's gonna give you joy.
It's gonna make you tired, yeah,
but it's gonna give you joy.
Just doing what God wants from you,
I'm telling you, men, you know,
if you're not working a full-time job,
I'm telling you, find yourself lacking in joy.
You just work a full-time job,
you're gonna find great joy.
I'm productive, I've got something to do with my time.
I'm accomplishing something, I'm saving up.
I'm providing for my family.
Listen, that's what God's put into a man, to work, okay?
I know this word is saying to you,
try to retire as early as you can.
Invest here, invest there, invest there, and enjoy life.
You're not going to enjoy life like that, you're not.
You know, working hard is what's gonna give you joy
doing the function that God has given you.
And you might say, well, Pastor Kevin,
that's easy for you, because you're the pastor.
Your job right now is to preach God's word.
Hey, you're in full-time ministry, pastor,
it's easy for you to say that.
I'm stuck in some dead-end job.
You don't know about my boss, my boss makes my life hell.
You know, I hate where I work and stuff like that.
You know, brethren, I don't, you know,
if I was not a pastor, I would be just as happy
doing any full-time job.
In fact, I've found great joy in my previous jobs, okay?
I, it's not like I had to become a pastor
and I'll only be happy in my life if I become a pastor.
I think, in fact, people that don't like that,
I don't think they should be pastors, okay?
Because how can you tell other people how to have great joy?
You know, if the only way you could find joy
is being a pastor, how, you know,
because not everyone's gonna be a pastor, right?
I don't think that person's fit for the ministry.
But this is why I love Ephesians 6, okay?
Ephesians 6, verse 5.
You know, it's, there are some verses
that for me are just so, I've got so many favorite verses
and this is definitely one of my favorite,
well, passages in the Bible, okay?
Because yes, I am, I guess, in full-time ministry
for the church and people make the argument,
are you in full-time ministry?
Well, yeah, I am, I'm serving Jesus full-time,
I suppose, if you wanna measure it that way.
But I truly believe, and I mean this
from the bottom of my heart, that all of you,
all of you are in full-time ministry to Jesus.
All of you are, okay?
You don't need to be in the house of God
serving as the occupation to be in full-time ministry.
Because look at Ephesians, chapter 6, verse 5.
And for those of you that are working a secular job
and you've got a boss over you,
please meditate on this passage.
It says, servants, be obedient to them
that are your masters, according to the flesh,
with fear and trembling, in singleness of heart,
as unto Christ.
You know what, you know who you work for in your job?
Christ.
What company do you work for?
You know who's overseeing that company?
Christ is, okay?
If you're full-time in that company,
do it as unto Christ.
Give it your best, okay?
Be productive, it'll give you joy.
Look at verse number 6.
Not with eye service as men pleasers,
but as the servants of Christ.
No, no, no, I'm an employee of McDonald's.
No, you're a servant, you're an employee of Christ.
That's your real job, okay, if you're saved.
Servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart.
Hey, how hard should you work?
With all your heart, put your heart into it, okay?
That dead-end job that you've got,
guess who's your employer?
Jesus Christ has given you that job.
And if you set Jesus as your boss, you're gonna love it.
Hey, I'm serving Jesus full-time, amen, okay?
Some of you, let's keep going, verse number 7.
With good will, doing service as to the Lord,
and not to men.
Do you get it now?
You're in full-time ministry.
You're not serving just some men, okay?
Some employer, you're serving Jesus.
You're a minister of Jesus.
That's your full-time job.
Mothers, you raising your children,
looking after the house, being a help to your husband.
That's your full-time job.
You're serving Christ.
That's what Christ has left you to do.
In fact, go to 1 Timothy chapter 5.
1 Timothy chapter 5.
You know, some of you guys are going to be doing more
for Jesus in your full-time capacity
than most pastors do behind the pulpit.
You know, there's a lot of lazy pastors.
There's a lot of lazy pastors that don't do anything.
You know, they don't preach hearty, you know,
services, sermons.
You know, they don't spend time in the word of God.
They don't spend time in prayer.
They don't spend time soloing.
It's like, what do you do with your life?
You're meant to be in full-time ministry.
What do you do?
You know what?
How many of you guys are just there,
9 to 5, Monday to Friday, working hard, you know?
But you set Jesus as your boss.
You said, no, I'm going to be a servant of Jesus.
I'm going to give everything I can.
I'm going to work hard.
I'm going to make Jesus happy in my job.
Hey, you're going to be doing more for Jesus Christ
than many pastors behind the pulpit.
So please, you know, enjoy the job you have.
If you can find that joy, look, that's been happy.
You're going to find joy just serving Jesus Christ
in your full-time ministry, okay?
So I don't want anyone to come to tell me that,
hey, pastor, you're in full-time ministry.
I'll be like, yeah, you're in full-time ministry.
If you're not serving Jesus,
if you don't put Jesus as your boss,
who are you serving there, okay?
We're all in full-time ministry.
Children, you're in full-time ministry.
Your job right now is to study, do your work,
if you're homeschooled or whatever it is,
you know, give it all you've got.
You know, make Jesus your principal.
Make Jesus your teacher.
He's trying to give you skills, trying to give you wisdom
so you can grow up to be an adult and serve him full-time.
Okay?
1 Timothy 5, verse 13.
I focused on the men there,
but just onto the ladies.
1 Timothy 5, 13.
I'm still up to point number two,
fulfill your role or your purpose.
And it says here, and withal, they learn to be idle,
wandering about from house to house, and not only idle,
so that, actually, these ladies, they're not actually idle,
but tattlers also, and busybodies,
busybodies, there it is again, busybodies.
We looked at that in the first service.
Speak in things which they ought not.
Look, this should not be, this is not the role of a woman.
This is not God's will for a woman, to go house to house,
be in a busybody about other people's matters,
going about gossiping.
That's not what you should be doing.
Yeah, that's, so many people do this, okay?
I mean, churches can be full of gossip as well.
It's bad, it's horrible.
If you wanna just destroy a church,
just start gossiping about each other.
Listen, I know, I have some faults in my family, all right?
I have some faults.
You have some faults.
We all have faults.
None of us are perfect, okay?
None of us are always righteous.
So is that my freedom now to just go gossiping
about all the problems you have,
telling other people about all your struggles?
You going about telling all my struggles that I have
to other people, and just tearing the church apart?
Listen, that is a wicked thing to do, wicked, right?
Verse number 14.
I will, therefore, that the younger women marry,
bear children, guide the house,
give none occasion to the adversary
to speak reproachfully, for some are already turned aside
after Satan.
You know what, Paul is telling Timothy?
There's already people in your church,
or in the other churches that you've gone to minister,
where ladies are gossiping,
and what are they, they're doing the work of Satan, okay?
They've already turned aside after Satan.
Satan's got his claws into them.
They're going out, being a busybody,
going house to house, gossiping about this family,
about that family, that brother, that child,
that wife, whatever.
That is a wicked thing.
You can see, this is the goal of Satan,
for the church to become that way,
full of gossip, full of busybodies, okay?
I already know you've got issues,
and I know I have issues,
and you probably know something, I don't know, okay?
Let's just support each other, okay?
We're all trying to live this life,
we're all trying to find joy.
You think gossiping busybodies is gonna give you joy?
You know, it's almost like just tearing down other,
I mean, that's what the world thinks, right?
Just, if I tear down others, I'll feel better about myself.
Well, why don't you lift them up, okay?
In fact, edifying someone else, lifting them up,
someone that's depressed and making,
giving them joy, giving them comfort,
is gonna give you a lot of comfort,
knowing that God can use you to edify a brother in Christ,
okay?
So point number three, brethren, is, or two, sorry,
fulfill your role and your purpose, okay?
Men, work hard, ladies, guide your house,
be a help to your husband.
If you have children, hey, raise your children well,
raise them for the Lord.
If you don't have children, hey, do what you can
to be the best support you can for your husband, all right?
Go to Proverbs chapter five, please,
Proverbs chapter five for me.
Point number three is find joy in your family.
Find joy in your family.
Now, I've got 11 kids, you know?
I've gotta find the joy, okay?
Because it can be loud, it's a lot of work.
Just coming to church in the morning's a lot of work, okay?
Just, I mean, I don't know how many nappies I've changed,
and I'm not even the main guy doing it, it's mainly my wife.
But I would say it's in the tens of thousands.
I don't know, right?
That's not a pleasant job to do, right?
And so, you know, taking care of families is a lot of work,
takes a lot of work, and so we need to find joy.
You're spending, look, you spend a lot of hours at work,
going to work, eight hours at least, whatever,
but then you're spending all the other time,
I hope anyway, with your family,
hey, let's find joy in our families.
You know, I won't read Proverbs five just yet.
Ephesians six verse two says,
"'Honor thy father and mother,
"'which is the first commandment we've promised.
"'Why should we honor our parents?'
Verse number three, "'That it may be well with thee,
"'that thou mayest live long on the earth.'"
Hey, we wanna have joy, you wanna live long?
You want it to be well with you?
Start with honoring your parents, okay?
Be thankful for mom and dad, okay?
Be thankful that they've given you life.
I don't care if they're saved or unsaved,
I do care if they're unsaved, but that's not important.
Whether they're saved or unsaved,
you still honor your parents, okay?
You know what, your unsaved parents,
your mom still carried you for nine months,
she still went with the pain,
she still labored in the hospital,
she still gave birth and there are risks to giving birth,
she still went through all of that just to give you life,
even if she's unsaved, okay?
There's still a reason, there's still a way
you can honor your parents,
even if they reject Jesus Christ, okay?
Honor your parents, your dad,
you know, my dad was never in my life.
Well, you know what, without him, you wouldn't have life.
It wouldn't be you if it wasn't for your dad.
Even if it's some guy you've never met,
you've never seen his face,
you don't even know who he is potentially, I don't know,
you know, we all, you know,
people come from different challenging backgrounds, right?
But listen, your call is to honor your parents, okay?
So you give honor to your parents
and God promises you, it'll be well with you
and you'll have a long life.
Now, brethren, I don't think this is the hard thing to do,
really, I don't, I mean, you say,
because your parents are Christians
and you grew up in a good house, yeah, I did,
I'm very thankful for that, okay?
But just thinking about just what my mother went through
to give birth to me, you know,
my mother was suffering with some type of diabetes,
I think she was in hospital most of her nine months
to give birth to me, all right?
In fact, I think she went into hospital,
I don't think my mom would mind me saying this,
but to remove her uterus,
because she was having some major complications
and so they were going to do some operation
to remove her uterus and they said,
well, we can't do that just yet
because you've got a baby, okay, that was me, all right?
But then she was stuck in hospital, you know,
pretty much the whole time
and I can't remember exactly what my mom suffered with,
but just thinking about what my mother went through
to give me life, that's enough to say,
I've got to honor her, you know?
I need to appreciate what they've done for me
and you know, brethren, this is going to give you joy,
just having joy in your family,
being thankful for what they've done to give you life.
Look at Proverbs 5 18, Proverbs 5 18.
It reads, let thy fountain be blessed
and rejoice with the wife of thy youth.
Hey, find joy, men, husbands, find joy with your wives, okay?
Hey, when you were dating her,
when you wanted to win her over, woo her,
yeah, you know, you probably had a lot of joy then,
right, you're trying to win her over,
but now that you've been married for 10 years,
20 years, 30 years, we've kind of drifted apart,
you know, we don't find the same joy,
that's not good, that's not good, okay?
Please find joy in your wife.
You know, one reason I'm excited to get down to Sydney,
it's not the main reason,
it's just so somebody can babysit our kids
and I can take my wife somewhere, all right?
Just spend time with her, just to have joy with my wife,
okay, I have joy with my kids, we'll look at that soon.
You should have joy with your kids as well, okay?
But you know, you've married that person,
that's for life, you've made a commitment,
till the day I die, you're gonna be my wife or my husband,
whatever it is, right?
You've made that commitment, so find joy in that.
How bad would it be if you're just frustrated,
angry at the person you're gonna spend
the rest of your life with, all right?
Find joy with your wife.
If you can go to problems 15,
I'm going to read to you from Song of Solomon 516,
the wife says that her husband, his mouth is most sweet,
yea, he is altogether lovely, this is my beloved
and this is my friend, our daughters of Jerusalem.
I love that verse, I love that verse, right?
Because this wife, she's got friends,
she's got daughters of Jerusalem,
other ladies that she talks to, okay?
But her friend, okay, her beloved is her husband.
She says to her friends, her girlfriends,
she says, look, my best friend is my husband,
my beloved is my husband,
that's the guy I wanna spend time with,
that's the person I wanna spend time with, see?
The wife in the book of Song of Solomon
is able to find joy in her husband, okay?
Yes, she spends time with some of her friends,
but her main joy is spending time with her husband.
Find joy in your family.
Proverbs 15 verse 20, Proverbs 15 verse 20.
A wise son maketh a glad father,
but a foolish man despiseth his mother, okay?
The first part of that is the wise son
maketh a glad father.
Parents, you wanna be happy, you wanna be glad?
Well, you've gotta make your children wise, okay?
Don't just let them grow up without knowledge
and wisdom and education.
Teach them, guide them, instruct them, okay?
So they can grow up and be wise.
You know, this is a bad analogy, all right?
But my kids have been playing soccer the last few weeks.
Last season, they lost all their games.
Did you lose all your games last season?
I think so, or most of them, most of them.
This season, the last three weeks or four weeks,
they've won every game, all right?
And I'm watching them play, and okay,
this is a dumb analogy, I know,
because sports, you know, it's vanity.
It's not the most important thing in this world.
But what I see is growth.
What I see is playing smart, playing with wisdom.
And guess what?
I'm watching them like, oh, wow,
look how good they're doing.
It's given me a bit of joy, okay?
It's given me a bit of joy.
But you know what?
Not just that, but when I see my children grow up one day,
grow up, they grow up and be married,
my sons get a full-time job,
that's gonna give me gladness as well to know,
hey, my children are doing well, okay?
They've learned, they've grown,
they're applying themselves in this world.
They're gonna be able to look after themselves, okay?
So we can find joy in our children,
but only if they get wisdom,
only if they mature and gain knowledge, you know?
If we treat our children and let them just be a bogan,
you're not gonna find joy in that, right?
Just a low-life bogan.
You're not gonna have joy in your children.
Yes.
Sorry.
Go to Psalm 113.
Was there a better word to use than bogan?
All right, all right, okay.
Bozo, all right.
Psalm 113, verse nine.
These are all passages I've covered in the past,
but it's important to be reminded.
It said, he maketh the barren woman to keep house.
What a promise, okay?
Barren woman.
You know, being barren is an issue,
or a complication that even women in the Old Testament had.
You know, when I married my wife,
she was told she'd be able to have no kids.
We were in the first nine months, you know,
Christina would not fall pregnant, right?
But what's the promise?
It says here that he will make the barren woman
to keep house and to be a joyful mother of children.
Praise ye the Lord.
A joyful mother of children.
Mothers, can you say about yourself
that you're a joyful mother?
I want that for you.
I want you to find joy in your family, okay?
So let's raise our children to love the Lord,
to serve the Lord.
They're gonna make mistakes.
Yes, they're going to sin, yes.
But hey, we use those opportunities to instruct them,
to guide them, so they can learn
from the mistakes that they've made.
Look at Psalm 127.
Psalm 127, verse five.
Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them.
They shall not be ashamed,
but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.
Happy is, maybe that's why I'm happy.
A quiver, am I quiver full?
I don't know.
Should I keep going, Christina?
It's up to you.
Let's keep going.
If the Lord blesses us, let's keep going.
Looks like the more you have,
it says like you're happy.
The more children you have,
the happier you will be, okay?
And you say, well, it's too late for us.
We've only had this many children.
Look, just find joy in the children
that God has given you, okay?
Find joy in the children God has given you.
And you know what?
Even if you don't have children,
you know how you can have children?
You preach some of the gospel,
you get them saved, they're born again.
Hey, you're like a spiritual parent to that person.
You've given spiritual birth to that new soul,
and you can find joy in that.
In spiritual children, just as much, okay?
Proverbs 23 verse 24 says,
the father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice.
The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice,
and he that begetteth a wise child shall have joy of him.
Okay?
So let's understand this, okay?
Having a queen with four children will give you joy, yes.
But as I said, parents, you need to give them wisdom, right?
You need to help them become righteous.
Do what's right, do what God wants from them,
because it's said the father of the righteous
shall greatly rejoice, greatly rejoice, okay?
You know what that means?
That means if your children are not righteous, okay,
you don't teach them between right and wrong,
they destroy their lives, they become bums,
they become bozos, right, with their lives,
you're not gonna be able to greatly rejoice, okay?
Me having 11 kids, that's wonderful,
but what if I just let them all go to the world?
You know, live after Satan.
You know, not care about the things I've got.
Do you think I'm gonna be rejoicing?
First thing I'll be doing is stepping down as pastor
before my kids go to the world like that, all right?
I'm not gonna have joy in that, all right?
So it's not about how many kids you have,
it's raising them to love the Lord,
raising them to know the difference between right and wrong.
So point number three is find joy in your family.
Now, if you can,
what can I get you to turn?
Go to, if you can, yeah, go to 1 Timothy,
chapter six, 1 Timothy, chapter six.
Point number four, and,
well, point number four is this,
and some people, I don't know, I think some Christians,
or some pastors may not necessarily wanna preach
point number four, but I see it through the Bible, okay?
Point number four is enjoy the fruit of your hands, okay,
or the fruit of your labor, the fruit of your hands.
I told you that one of the things that we need to do
is find joy in the role that God has given us.
Live out that role, you're gonna find joy,
and you know what?
When you're doing what God wants from you,
you're gonna be able to reap the harvest.
You're going to be able to earn.
You gotta work, you earn a paycheck,
you're gonna be able to buy the things that you need.
You might even buy some of the things
that just give you some joy in your life, right?
There's nothing wrong with enjoying the fruit of your hands.
I'm going to read to you from Ecclesiastes 2.24,
which says, there is nothing better for a man
than that he should eat and drink,
and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labor.
This also I saw that it was from the hand of God, okay?
So whatever possessions you have,
whatever wealth you amass in this life,
don't live for the riches,
but God gives you what you need.
God has given you probably more than you need,
and there's nothing wrong with enjoying
the fruit of your hands, the labor of your hands.
And I've got a brother down in Sydney,
he's got a really fancy car.
I don't even know what it is right now,
it's some really fancy car.
And we have church in Fairfield,
which is, yeah, it's not the greatest area, right?
And then you have this nice car rocking,
it's like, wow, look at that, right?
And he said to me, I just feel really bad,
because obviously he bought it before,
I think he bought it before he was saved,
it was worldly, all that stuff.
And he goes, I don't know, should I sell this car?
It's making me feel, look, it's the labor of your hands.
You've worked hard, you've got it,
just be thankful to God now that you have it,
just enjoy it, as long as you're not
setting your heart on that, okay?
As long as that's not what gives you purpose in life.
Now I'm not gonna go out of my way and buy a car like that,
I don't think I'm gonna find joy in nice cars anyway.
You know, I'm quite happy with my Toyota Corolla,
that gives me joy, all right?
But you know what, just whatever you have,
whatever the fruit of your hands is,
just say God has given this to me,
what I've eaten, what I've drunk,
the good of my labor, God's given it to you,
just enjoy it, there's nothing wrong with that,
nothing wrong with that at all.
Look at 1 Timothy chapter six, verse 17.
1 Timothy chapter six, verse 17.
It says, charge them that are rich in this world,
that they be not high-minded,
nor trust in uncertain riches, okay?
So don't trust in the riches, but in the living God.
So that's who you trust in, in the living God,
look at this, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy.
This is preaching to a rich person,
a person that might have a big house,
and nice cars, and have the possessions,
have a nice swimming pool, I'm not living for that,
but you know, some people might fall into that situation
for whatever reasons, right?
Maybe some inheritance, whatever,
or maybe they just lived for that before in the past,
and now they've put that, well you know what,
you've got it, just trust in God, he's given it to you,
hey, and realize that God has given it to you richly,
all things to enjoy, just enjoy it.
You know, God wants you to be happy in life.
So why don't pastors wanna preach this,
because it sounds charismatic almost.
It almost sounds like a Pentecostal teaching,
some of you Baptists don't teach, right?
No, but you know what, if God's given it to you,
just be thankful, don't trust in those uncertain riches,
trust in God, be thankful God's given it to you, use it.
Now you've got a pool, hey, you know,
write the kids over for a swim, whatever it is, right?
I mean just enjoy what God has given us,
if you look at verse number six, same chapter,
1 Timothy chapter six, verse six, it says,
but godliness with contentment is great gain, okay?
Godliness with contentment, what's contentment?
Happy, being happy, being satisfied
with what God has given us, enjoy the things
God has given you, we live in a good country,
we live in Australia, you know, I don't feel guilty
going to the lake and going for a swim,
I don't feel guilty about enjoying this nice land
that God has given us, you know, there are other believers
that live in hell holes, I understand,
places that aren't as pretty as the Sunshine Coast,
but you know what, God's put me here,
he's given me this lovely place, I'm going to enjoy it,
I'm gonna enjoy it, I'm gonna find joy in life,
there's nothing wrong with that whatsoever.
Please go to Psalm 118 please, Psalm 118, Psalm 118.
Point number five, point number five is live everything
to its fullest, live every day, every day, yes today,
live it to your fullest, okay, you come to church,
we sing songs, hey, sing to your fullest,
you're listening to preachers, give your fullest attention
you can to the preaching of God's word, right,
and have time of fellowship, hey, use it to the fullest,
enjoy the time one another, you've gone soul winning,
hey, just labor hard, give the best you can
as you go door to door soul winning,
and just enjoy every day that God has given us,
look at Psalm 118, verse 24, Psalm 118, verse 24.
This is the day which the Lord hath made,
we will rejoice and be glad in it, okay,
you say that's a Sunday, no it's Monday,
that's Tuesday, that's Wednesday, that's Thursday,
that's Friday, that's Saturday, that's every day
that you have, every day that you wake up,
that you've got life, you haven't passed away in your sleep,
say this is the day that God has made,
I'm going to be glad, I'm going to rejoice in this day,
be thankful for every day that you wake up,
because so many people did not wake up to this day
that we have today, many have died, gone to hell,
a lot of people go into hell every single day,
you get to wake up in this life, hey, enjoy it,
find joy in the day that God, look, it's a day
which the Lord hath made, you know what,
what's gonna happen on Halloween, on that day,
that evil day where people celebrate things,
you know what, I'm gonna wake up on Halloween,
and I'm gonna say this is the day
that the Lord has made, I'm gonna be glad and rejoice in it.
Whatever day the world or Satan wants to take for himself,
I don't care, God made that day,
and I'm going to be thankful to him,
I'm gonna rejoice in that day, okay?
And don't forget, Halloween,
when's Halloween coming up, October?
I'm gonna miss it, aren't I?
Oh, don't forget, that's our soul winning day, okay,
because people are expecting door-to-door visitors.
Okay, we did it last year, we had great success,
you know, even if I'm not here,
let's make sure we do it, okay?
Brother Michael, that's your job, Halloween, okay?
It's a day that the Lord has made, you know,
people are gonna get saved on that day, you know?
Can you go to Psalm 90, go to Psalm 90?
You know, we should be looking at every day
as a day that we can accomplish something, okay?
Don't let it be a day of waste,
where I just turn on the TV,
I get a bowl of chips or a bowl of ice cream,
whatever your choice is, and I'm just gonna,
that's all I'm gonna do, I'm just gonna watch some TV show,
I'm gonna watch some movie, gonna catch up on some,
you know, I'm just gonna, look,
that's just, you're just wasting the day.
Do you think that's why God gave you that day?
Did God give you that day just so you can get on
and just play some video games all day,
watch TV all day and just be a bum all day?
Is that why God gave you the day?
No, okay?
Why did God give you Sunday?
To be in church, okay?
To be thankful, to rejoice in the Lord,
to sing him praises, think of every day,
what can I accomplish today?
What is it that I can accomplish, okay?
Psalm 90 verse 12, Psalm 90 verse 12, it says,
so teach us to number our days,
that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom, okay?
Not to apply our hearts to television and video games
and just wasting your life away, right?
Teach us, so this is something
we don't fully get in our minds.
You know, we think we're gonna be here tomorrow.
We think we're gonna be here next week, a month from now.
We think we're gonna be on this earth 10 years from now,
okay?
No, we need to be taught to number our days.
You know what, tomorrow, you're gonna have less days
than you had today on this earth.
You know, I'm, what am I now, 39?
That's less days, I've got less days to live on this earth
than I lived when I had when I was 10 years old, all right?
Every day that goes by is a day
that will not be returned to you.
It's not coming back, it's gone, okay?
Time, time keeps going.
You know, there was a time in my life
when I was sort of working hard.
Now, when I first started to work, got married,
money was really important to me in the sense,
not that I set my heart on those things,
it's important because you need to pay rent,
you don't need to pay the bills, right?
You gotta put food on the table, you know?
And so it was really important for me to make sure
that I could save up as much as I can for a rainy day.
But as I've gotten older,
and as my responsibilities have increased and my time,
you know, with different family members,
with different people, takes up more of my time,
time has become more valuable to me than money, okay?
Honestly, I'd almost just rather spend
some crazy amount of money if it saves me a lot of time,
because I'm not gonna get time back.
Money comes and goes, but time doesn't return, okay?
Yesterday, Saturday, it's not gonna come back, it's gone, okay?
And if you wasted Saturday, that's a waste,
you've wasted a day.
You need to learn to number the days and understand,
every day that I get is not guaranteed,
God has given me this day,
I need to do something productive with it,
that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
Can you do that?
At least let's start there and say, look,
when you wake up tomorrow morning,
you say, I'm gonna apply my heart to wisdom.
There's something I need to learn today,
there's something I need to do today,
something I'm gonna be productive in today.
Just make that a decision every day.
Don't let a day go by that is wasted.
Point number six, if you can go to,
go to Philippians chapter four, Philippians chapter four.
And I know I've already preached on this,
but I need to preach it again.
And I think I'm gonna have to keep preaching this
until the COVID-19 thing goes away.
And if it doesn't go away,
I'm just gonna keep preaching it, okay?
Philippians chapter four, please, Philippians chapter four.
So let me just go for those points again.
Point number one was, God must be the center of your life.
Point number two is, fulfill your role or purpose.
Point number three is, find joy in your family.
Point number four is, enjoy the fruit of your hands.
Point number five is, live every day to its fullest.
And point number six is, think on the positive, okay?
Think on positive things.
There's too much negativity, too much, brethren, okay?
When I talk to you, when I fellowship with you,
do you think I wanna have a negative experience
or a positive experience when I talk to you, okay?
I mean, what about me?
You come to me, do you wanna have a positive interaction
or a negative one, you know?
After you talk to me, do you wanna feel encouraged,
motivated, or do you wanna feel a bit downcast
and upset and sad and worried?
Which of those two things, right?
And basically, you can kind of tell
by the person you talk to,
whether that person dwells on positive things
or if he dwells on negative things, right?
Yeah, look, there's nothing wrong
because the world is negative, okay?
There is a lot of problems, there's nothing wrong
with discussing these things,
but don't let this become all you're engrossed about,
you know, just how wicked this world is.
You know, I remember, and I've said this,
I've used this before, I remember as a child,
I thought everyone wanted to be good.
Whether you're saved or unsaved,
I thought even the unsaved wanted to be good people, right?
Because again, you ask people,
well, what do you have to do to go to heaven?
I've gotta be a good person.
So I think, okay, maybe you're trying to be a good person.
I can't remember how old I was, 12, 13,
where it dawned on me.
Actually, everyone's wicked.
It's like, you know, my heart is desperately wicked.
Who can know it, right?
I mean, all of a sudden I realized
instead of people just naturally wanting to be good,
actually, because of our sin nature,
everyone naturally is trying to be bad,
and being good is the effort.
It's harder to be good than to be evil,
to be wicked, right?
And it dawned on me.
I remember when Nicholas watched
Psychopath Repubates, the DVD.
I mean, he was left in trauma.
For how long, was it a month?
I mean, he couldn't believe how wicked people can become.
All right, because it's not,
and as a child, you think everyone's
just trying to be lived good,
trying to be righteous, you know?
Trying to work their way to heaven, be a good person.
And then it dawns on you, wow, this is a wicked world.
And then you start wanting to know
maybe how wicked the world is.
You know, you become inquisitive,
you get down some rabbit holes,
and boy, you know, I can't even,
my brain doesn't even process how wicked this world is, okay?
And then you can get downcast,
and then COVID-19 happens,
and because you've invested so much time
trying to learn about the wickedness of this world,
there's a conspiracy at every corner.
You're just constantly a victim, okay?
And it's just negativity.
It's just gonna be negativity,
and that's all that's gonna come out of you.
You know, fear, worries, concerns, stress,
because that's what you spend all your time on, okay?
And so in Philippians 4.8, it says,
finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, okay?
What's true?
That's something honorable, genuine, right?
Yeah, genuine or true.
Whatsoever things are honest, okay?
Whatsoever things are just, what's just?
Things that are right or lawful.
Whatsoever things are pure.
Pure is something that is free from contamination.
Whatsoever things are lovely, what's lovely?
Things that are beautiful, delightful, pleasing.
Whatsoever things are of good report.
Hey, that's good news.
That's not turning on channel seven news
or channel nine news.
That's not good news, brethren.
It's bad news.
Good news does not rate, okay?
You don't get viewers when you're giving people good news.
We've got daughters all giving good news all the time.
You have thousands of people following you?
But I tell you, you start a YouTube channel with bad news,
you're gonna have tens of thousands of people
logging in and subscribing to your YouTube channel.
If there be any virtue, what's virtue?
Moral excellence.
If there be any praise, what's praise?
Being grateful, being thank worthy about something.
Think on these things.
I can't stress this enough.
You wanna find joy?
You wanna be happy today in a COVID-19 world?
Think on these things, okay?
Things that are true, honest, good report, pure, lovely,
just things of virtue, things of praise.
Think on these things, please.
The TV is gonna drive you nuts, okay?
Listen, 10 years from now,
labor will still complain that the liberal party
is all about big business.
And the liberal party is still gonna be complaining
that labor overspent, okay?
10 years from now, I promise you,
you're not gonna miss anything.
Switch that stuff off, all right?
10 years from now, what else is gonna happen on the news?
There's gonna be some natural disaster.
I promise you, in 10 years,
is there gonna be a natural, you're gonna turn it on,
there's gonna be some earthquake,
Christchurch broke down again, you know,
fell apart again, okay?
There's gonna be some,
what else is gonna be on the news in 10 years time, huh?
Pandemic.
You think there'll be another pandemic in 10 years time?
Maybe, maybe 100 years from now, there'll be a new pandemic.
There'll be something to be stressed about, okay?
Something.
What else is on the news in 10 years?
Rugby, yeah, you know?
Soccer.
Yeah, amen.
AFO, yeah, someone won.
Someone won and someone lost, Reverend, okay?
In the game, and what else?
Oh, the RBA, the Royal Bank of Australia,
they may be lifted interest rates
or they decrease interest rates, okay?
In 10 years, it's gonna happen again, all right?
You're not gonna miss anything by turning off the bad news
that just gets you depressed and cast down, okay?
Get rid of it.
Now, you say to me, you know what?
I can still watch that every day.
I don't have to watch this stuff every day.
Anyway, I can still watch this every day
and I still am happy.
I'm still a happy person, good on ya.
You know what's gonna make you even happier?
Turn it off!
Get rid of it.
In fact, if you turn it off for a whole month,
I promise you, even if you say you're a happy person,
you're gonna be even happier.
You're gonna be even happier turning that stuff off.
You say, well, Pastor Kevin,
that's why I don't watch the mainstream media.
I go to the alternative media on YouTube.
It's even more depressing
because instead of being focused on wickedness of this world
when I go to the truffle movement,
it's just, well, it's wicked because everyone's satanic.
Everyone's just drinking people's blood
and there are babies being sacrificed.
It's like, man, this is even worse!
What are we to be thinking on?
Good news, things of good report.
If Brother so-and-so gets a promotion, that's good news.
I'm gonna think about that.
Praise God he got a promotion.
Hey, he got a soul saved, praise God, yes!
That soul got saved for all eternity.
Things that are lovely, beautiful, delight.
Yes, get out there and then look at the ocean, yeah.
Brother Jason sometimes takes nice photos on Facebook.
I'm glad it's not some crazy meme all the time,
but there's some nice scenery there.
That's lovely, that's beautiful.
I'm gonna think on that, yeah.
I wanna go where he went.
I wanna get some of that fresh sea breeze,
some of that fresh air into my lungs.
Things that are, look, things that are,
remember what it said, things that are true,
what sort of things are honest?
These are basically the same thing.
It's saying the same thing twice, true and honest.
I've said this before, a lot of those conspiracy theories,
there is truth, there is a lot of truth,
but is it completely true?
No, there's a lot of opinions of man.
Okay, there's a lot of false ideas, all right?
This thing with Syria, this bomb, it's sad, okay?
But I'm gonna think of positive.
I'm gonna say, God, can you raise some people
to go soul winning in that area?
Can you raise someone to go and give people the gospel?
They need to hear it now, Lord.
They're hurting people, they're hurting right now.
That's what I'm gonna be focused on,
you know, the positive side of it.
What can we get out of this?
Instead of thinking, oh, this is the, you know, that's it.
The Antichrist is gonna come tomorrow, okay?
And we're gonna lose our lives, get beheaded now.
Get ready, brethren.
You know why I don't preach about that stuff all the time?
Like, why I don't, you know?
And there's a lot of preachers
who just focus on the end times.
I was doing the end time series
before the COVID-19 restrictions.
And I just found myself with the COVID ideas
and just speaking about, you know, tribulation,
I decided to feel a bit downcast about it.
I need to preach something positive, you know,
change it up a little bit.
Because, you know, throughout history,
every Christian that's gone through some difficulty,
some, you know, Spanish flu, some world war,
they've always said, this is the end.
The Antichrist is around the corner.
And every time they've got egg on their face.
You know, I'm not gonna tell you,
until I see the abomination of desolation,
until I see the Antichrist exalting himself,
come back from the dead, whatever that looks like,
claim to be Jesus, then I'll be saying to you,
brethren, this is it.
Until then, it's just another strange day in this world.
Thank God this is not my world.
Thank God this is not my home, okay?
Think on the positives.
And you're in Philippians.
I'll read some other passages to you.
First Peter chapter three verse 10 says,
for he that will love life and see good days,
see good days, we covered this last week,
let him refrain his tongue from evil,
and his lips that they speak no guile.
You wanna have good days, brethren?
Like I said, don't go around gossiping.
Don't be tearing other people down.
Use your mouth, use your tongue for good,
for edification, okay?
Think of positive things.
Yes, sister so and so let you down.
But you know what?
She's also got really good attributes about it as well.
You know what?
She's your sister in the Lord.
She's been saved by Jesus Christ.
You know what?
She's learning the Bible.
She's trying to live for God.
Can you think about the positives
rather than all the little issues that she has in her life?
Or brother so and so, right?
Proverbs 15 verse 23 says,
a man have joy by the answer of his mouth,
and a word spoken in due season, how good is it?
You know what?
If you have a positive message,
you have something that can help someone
in some difficulty, some trial,
you can encourage someone, it says here,
you will have joy by the answer of your mouth.
Your own answer can give you joy
because you've been able to help somebody else
because you're thinking,
how can I be a positive influence to others?
And so brethren, the title of the sermon was
six ways to enjoy life.
Number one, God must be the center of your life.
Number two, fulfill your role, your purpose.
Number three, find joy in your family.
Four, enjoy the fruit of your hands.
Five, live every day to its fullest.
And number six, think on the positives.
Let's pray.