But you may recall, potentially, maybe not, the last sermon that I've preached at this church was a sermon called
Have a Heavenly Perspective, and the idea of course is the fact that while we live on this earth
we want to make sure we don't get caught up with all the turmoil and sorrow and struggles
that come in this limited carnal world and always maintain our eyes
and the big picture from a heavenly perspective, I believe the title was called
Have a Heavenly Perspective, something along those lines.
And while that's true, and I'll quickly, you say there in Psalm 9, so I'll just read to you this very familiar passage
that I read going back for the last sermon, but Hebrews 11 verse 9, speaking of Abraham
By faith he sojourned in the land of promise as in a strange country
dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise
and so we saw there that as Abraham is living on this earth, even though he's on the very land of promise
that God has told him, he's sojourning, he's just passing by, you know, it's a strange country to him.
He doesn't want to be tied down to, you know, earthly ideals, his heart is in heaven.
Dwelling in tabernacles, he had no interest in building a brick home, you know, a place of a permanent residence.
He's happy to be in a tent and move if they have to move.
He's there with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with the same promise, and then he says in verse number 10
that he looked for a city which have foundations whose builder and maker is God.
And we saw that that city that he was looking to is heavenly Jerusalem, it's the eternal state,
it's where we've got for all eternity, that's what Abraham was truly looking for as he sojourned on the land.
And so that's why I taught that it's so important that we have a heavenly perspective as we live our lives.
But, and I kind of covered this last night with New Life Baptist Church,
a lot of things in the Bible, when it comes to Christian living and Christian understanding,
you must have a balanced perspective on things, alright?
What am I saying? Okay, yes, we're excited about heaven, we understand that,
we understand that what we do, we want to do things that matter for eternity,
but we also don't want to lose sight of the journey, because it is a journey, we're sojourners,
we don't want to lose sight of the journey that God has allowed us to go through in this world, okay?
You know, God, the fact that you're living today, the fact that you took breath this morning
and you've not gone home to be with God in heaven today,
means that God has meaning and purpose for you in this life, right now.
And so we need to maintain this balance.
As good as it is to look forward to the end goal, which is eternity and heaven,
that the city who's built it and maker is God, yes, as much as we have to look forward to that,
but we can't lose sight of the fact that God has given us this life to live,
but we don't want to be bogged down with this life, thinking of earthly and carnal things,
and chasing those things, we also understand that we're sojourners, we're passing through.
And the reason a sermon like this is important, especially in our generation,
is that we are sort of this impatient generation, we're this fast food generation,
where if you're waiting at McDonald's longer than five minutes for your meal,
you think they're taking too long, all right?
I mean, we want everything instant.
You know, you want an answer to the question, oh, just Google it, you know, just find the answer,
or chat GPT it, or, you know, I've got this struggle with this verse, I don't know what it says,
should I ask God, God might take a while, maybe I'll just ring pass and get the answer straight away.
When we live in this fast food generation, just we want it now, we want the solution now,
we want the answer now.
And it's kind of that perspective that, you know, if you've got this mindset,
well, I just want to have it now, you lose sight of the journey.
You see, the journey is important.
And you're there in Psalm 9 to look at verse number 9,
and I know the context of this Psalm is about the wrath of God,
but just setting aside the wrath of God for a moment,
let's look at some basic principles that we see here in verse number 9,
For all our days are passed away in thy wrath.
We spend our years as a tale that is told.
You know, our years of life is like a story.
You know, a story begins and the story will have an end.
You know, when you pass away, potentially, you know, if you've had a good influence on people,
even if you've had bad influence, people are going to tell stories about your life.
You know, one day when I pass away, my wife passes away,
you know, I believe my children are going to talk to each other,
hey, remember that time when Dad did this, remember that time when Mum took us out here?
You know, there's going to be stories of our life.
And then it says in verse number 10, it says,
The days of our years are threescore years, that's 60 years and 10, so that's 70 years.
And if by reason of strength they beforescore years, that's 80 years,
yet is their strength labor and sorrow,
for it is soon cut off and we fly away.
Verse number 10 says here that the average age that people are going to live
are between 70 and 80 years.
You know, if you've lived a life of strength,
you know, you're going to get to those 80 years of life.
I believe the average lifespan for an Australian is about 85 years.
But the average lifespan in the whole world, if you look at all the world, it's 75 years.
So this Psalm is basically spot on, okay?
But those are how many years we have and,
but you know, even though we might live 70, 80, and look, Lord willing, 90, 100 years,
if the Lord allows you to live that long.
Notice that it says in verse number 10,
Yet is their strength labor and sorrow.
You see, this life, you know, as much as God has given us the days and the years to live by,
it's going to be times of labor and sorrow.
In other words, there's difficulties in life.
There are challenges in life.
And sometimes when we go through challenges and difficulties,
we have this attitude as Christians,
I just want to go to heaven.
You know, just take me home to be with you, Lord.
I'm sick of this earth.
But no, God's given you the labor and the sorrow, you know,
and then it says for it is soon cut off and we fly away.
So one day we're all going to pass away.
And of course, if you're a believer, ideally you're going to fly away.
The angels are going to carry you, right, into Abraham's bosom,
embraced by Abraham, Lord willing, if that's, or maybe another man of God, right?
And we're going to be with God for eternity in heaven.
Hey, but those days were cut off at some point.
And so the point that we see here is that even though we're so journeying,
there are trials and difficulties in this life.
You can't avoid it.
You can't avoid the problems.
But then drop down to verse number 12 very quickly.
So teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
You see, we only have a number of days.
The Lord knows exactly when he's going to take us home to be with him.
And we're asking the Lord, Lord, we don't want our life to be a waste.
You know, we don't want to just be thinking this fast food mentality,
just want to get to heaven, doesn't matter what happens on this earth.
No, part of life is so journeying in this land.
There is a journey that the Lord wants us to go through.
The title for the sermon tonight is Enjoy Life's Journey.
Enjoy Life's Journey.
You know, the destination is amazing.
The destination is exciting.
But I want you to learn how to make the journey exciting as well.
Okay?
You know, one thing that I – I don't know if you ever – when you guys were younger,
I don't know, you guys – when I was a teenager, it was common to collect cards.
You know, whether they were, you know, usually basketball cards was what I really liked, right?
Collecting certain, you know, players.
If you got Michael Jordan, you know, especially got the Michael Jordan rookie card or something,
it was worth a lot of money.
And so you'd have these collections and part of the excitement of getting the collection
was just the process of buying new packets, opening those packets,
trading them with another person at school because you've got doubles or triples of this
and they've got what you need and you've got what they need.
Part of that fun is that collecting is that journey.
But have you ever gotten to the end of the collection where you have it all?
Have you ever done anything like that where you've got the whole collection?
I don't know how you feel but I remember once I had the whole collection,
I was like, oh, I got to the end but that's not fun anymore.
Like the enjoyment was the journey through the process.
Like I thought what was going to be super exciting is when I get to the end of it
and I've got the whole set.
But really what I found was that the journey was just as fun, was just as exciting, okay?
And, you know, when it comes to something that matters as much as eternity matters,
God wants us to enjoy this journey of life that he's given us.
But this journey as we saw in verse number 10 has labour and sorrow.
There's challenges. There are difficulties.
Sometimes when we think of what is enjoyment and something to rejoice over,
we might think of the fact, oh, well, when we have no responsibilities,
when I'm on holidays, when I'm having fun,
that's when I find enjoyment.
But you see, God wants us to enjoy even the fact that there's going to be labour,
sorrows, hardship in life because all of these things God will use in our life
to refine us to understand the love of God, you know, to be changed and to grow and to mature.
But I just want you to really appreciate your life's journey.
Like, I really want you to appreciate this very day, this Thursday that God has given you,
and when you wake up tomorrow, Lord willing, if he gives you that opportunity,
then enjoy tomorrow as well.
And regardless of what age you're at, I'm 42. I'm 42. I'm going to enjoy my 40s.
And if you're in your 30s, I want you to enjoy your 30s.
And if you're in your 20s, enjoy your 20s.
If you're a child, if you're a teenager, enjoy those years that God has given you.
But I just wanted to use Psalm 90 as the platform to build the rest of the sermon.
If you can come with me to 1 Corinthians 13.
Come with me to 1 Corinthians 13.
1 Corinthians 13, verse 11.
You know, I'm a strong believer of letting children be children.
I'm a strong believer of that.
And, you know, children, are they going to sometimes do foolish things?
Are they going to be silly sometimes and say silly things? Of course.
Are they sometimes going to be loud and a little bit annoying? Kids, yeah, they do that.
And, you know, one thing that I promised myself when I became a pastor
is that my children are not going to be pastor's children.
And my wife, she's not going to be the pastor's wife.
My wife is Kevin's wife, not the pastor's wife.
My children are Kevin's children, not the pastor's children.
Because I want them to be children.
I want my wife to be a woman who looks after my needs and looks after the children
and not have some expectation, which is not even in the Bible,
which people are going to judge them by.
No, it's important that young people are young.
And one thing that's always bothered me in church
is when I see parents trying to make their children into little adults.
They can't move, they can't make a single sound.
All right, now I believe children should learn how to sit still in church and pay attention,
but they're going to make noise.
They're going to get distracted because they're children.
And when you look at 1 Corinthians 13 verse 11, 1 Corinthians 13 verse 11,
Paul says, when I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child,
I thought as a child, but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
There are two great lessons found in this verse.
Number one, if you're a man, if you're a grown adult, stop acting like a child.
It's not appropriate for you.
If you're 20 years old, act like a 20-year-old.
If you're 30, act like you're 30.
You know, one of the most weird things that's out there and annoying things
is when someone's like a 40 or 50-year-old man and they still act like a teenager, okay?
But what's also equally weird is when you see little children trying to act like a man,
like an adult man, because it's true.
Once you become a man, once you mature, once you grow, it's time to grow up,
it's time to mature, set aside the childish things, all right,
and have some seriousness in your life.
But not to take away what we saw earlier in that verse, when I was a child,
so if there's any children, I speak as a child, that's fine.
I understood as a child, that's fine.
I thought as a child, that's fine, because you're a child.
And what I see in this verse is let children be children
because that's the only years of life they're going to have
where they're not going to have major responsibilities on their shoulders,
years where they're learning, years where they're growing,
years where they're observing, their minds are like sponges, you know,
and they need the process of being a child and making silly mistakes
and saying silly things and being corrected in order to grow to be responsible adults.
But what I'm trying to say is there's a time to be a child, that's when you're a child.
And when you're an adult, guess what, now it's time for you to be an adult
and put away those childish things.
But I want you to understand that all of these stages in life
is something for you to appreciate and enjoy.
You know, I don't want you to look at life, because look, I'll tell you this,
I remember being a teenager and going, man, I can't wait to work a job,
I can't wait to have my own life, I can't wait for these things,
and yet I got it, but now as I got older I started to think, hold on,
I kind of wish I'd enjoyed my childhood a little bit more,
I kind of wish I enjoyed my teenage years a little bit more,
because all of these areas of life God has given us to grow and mature
and to enjoy the different developments of our ages.
Can we meet to Ephesians chapter 6 verse number 1?
Ephesians chapter 6 and verse number 1.
So we don't want children to be adults, we don't want adults to be children,
but we want children to be children, we want adults to be adults.
And in Ephesians chapter 6 verse number 1 you all know this passage.
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.
Honor thy father and mother, which is the first commandment we've promised,
that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.
Did you know that's the only commandment,
where God specifically gives a child a certain commandment?
He says to the children, look, it's very basic for you children,
all I expect you to do is to obey mum and dad.
Honor your parents, and if you do this very simple thing,
God's going to give you a long life on the earth.
That's a great promise that he's given children.
And so that is a child's responsibility, honor mum and dad.
Obey the commandments, you know, in the Lord.
Come with me to another passage, Ecclesiastes chapter 12.
Ecclesiastes chapter 12 and verse number 1 please.
Ecclesiastes chapter 12 and verse number 1.
But we have the Lord giving instructions to different ages,
as we mature and grow physically.
And of course we understand that we're also growing and maturing spiritually.
But Ecclesiastes chapter 12 verse number 1,
and this is also spoken to children or young adults or teenagers,
which says in chapter 12 verse number 1,
remember now thy creator in the days of thy youth.
So what does God want from the youth?
Say what is an age of the youth?
I don't know, let's say all kids, all teenagers.
I guess once you hit 20 you're an adult, let's just say that, okay?
But he says to the children, to the young people,
remember your creator from your youth.
And notice the next phrase,
while the evil days come not,
nor the years draw nigh when thou shall say,
I have no pleasure in them.
You know what God is telling the children?
Look, enjoy your years now,
before the evil days come,
before things get complicated,
before you're having to deal with all kinds of problems.
Enjoy your days now in your youth,
because the days are going to come when you say,
man, I don't enjoy these years.
There's problems, there's trials, there's difficulties.
See, God's telling the young people,
just enjoy your youth,
because you only get one chance at it.
And let me encourage you, you know, parents,
you know, there's a few young children,
let your children enjoy their youth,
because they're not going to get it back, okay?
These are the years where they don't have any major responsibilities.
You know, I kind of think back and, you know,
you sometimes don't appreciate the years
where you didn't have to pay the rent or the mortgage.
You didn't have to think about whether there's going to be food on the table.
That was all mum and dad.
You didn't have to worry about clothes.
You didn't have to worry about the cost and the bills.
Mum and dad are taking care of that,
and God says, look, enjoy your youth,
but don't forget your creator.
Remember your creator.
You see, if you learn as a child
to remember the Lord God in your youth,
well, when you go through those challenges as you get older
and you have the responsibilities that you didn't have before,
you're going to be in the habit of calling out to God,
your creator, when you're having those difficult times,
when you're having the times of labour and sorrow.
Come with me to Isaiah 46,
Isaiah 46 and verse number 3,
Isaiah 46 and verse number 3.
So let's talk about the transition.
Once you're a child, once you're a young person,
once you're a teenager,
God says, enjoy your years,
but you know those years are going and you're getting older
and you're maturing, all right?
I just wanted you to notice the transition here in Isaiah 46 verse 3,
Isaiah 46 verse 3.
The Bible says,
The Lord God is expressing Israel as a little child that's been born,
obviously not physically here,
but as a little child God delivered them out of Egypt.
They were a young nation and they've matured and grown as a nation.
But then he says in verse number 4,
I am He.
Here's what's wonderful about God,
here's why young people need to remember the Creator in their youth.
The Lord is promising that He's going to be there at every stage of our life.
From a womb, being carried in the womb as a little child.
And then you get old.
God says, even to your gray hairs, you become an old man.
He says, will I carry you?
Because sometimes as you get older your body breaks down.
Sometimes as you get older you need the wheelchair,
or you need assistance.
And God says, you know what, even as you get older I'll be there.
I'll carry you, no matter what age you're at.
And so as we go through life's journey,
even though we are experiencing changes in our life
from a child to an adult to a hoary hare, an elderly person,
God says, look, I'm going to be with you every step of the way in your life's journey.
And this is why we can truly enjoy life.
Because it's not like God is only at the end destination, heaven,
and that's where I'm going to be with the Lord.
The Lord God is actually in church right now.
The Lord God is with you every single day of your life.
Every time you open your mouth in prayer to God,
He is there, He will never leave you, He will never forsake you,
but He's given you this life.
He's given you these opportunities.
He's given you these trials and these problems so you can grow closer to Him.
So God can refine you and make you a little more like Jesus Christ as the years go by.
Come with me to another passage, please.
Psalm 71.
Psalm 71, verse 17.
The reason I'm passionate about a topic like this is
I want to be happy in life.
I want you to understand that.
I understand that there's a time for sorrow.
I understand there's a time for mourning.
But by and large, if anyone remembers my life after I passed away,
I would like for people to say, you know what, that Kevin was a happy guy.
He had joy in the Lord. I hope that's what people would say about me.
I don't know. I don't know if that's what I would like.
And that's truly what I want to experience in life, joy.
But I know that life sends hardships.
And of course, there's a time to deal with that.
But by and large, I want to be rejoicing every day that God has given me.
And I think it's so valuable that we have life.
Our life is not a waste.
Our life is not just this, well, we're just getting through it now.
And ultimately, heaven is what matters.
No, what matters is now.
Your life matters now.
And especially as believers, you have eternal life right now, today.
And this is your opportunity to do great works for God
before you go to be with Him in heaven.
Psalm 71, verse 17.
The Bible reads,
You know, it's important that we go to church
and we learn of God and we read our Bibles in our youth.
God wants to teach us in our youth.
But look at verse 18.
And thy power to everyone that is to come.
Notice, no matter what age you're at, whether you're a youth, verse 17,
I hitherto have declared thy wondrous works.
You know, when I compare this church to other churches,
other churches have a lot more gray hairs.
There's a lot of younger generation here, okay?
So let's just say you're that youth right now.
What's that? Oh, you've got no hair.
But look, it says,
And I love the fact that you guys are soul winning.
You know, I thank God for the fact that you're going door to door
declaring the wonderful works of God,
you know, the wonderful gospel message of salvation.
But then, when He's old and gray headed,
He says,
I still want to show the strength of God unto this generation
and thy power to everyone that is to come.
You see, the Psalmist has a right.
He goes, regardless of my age, as I go through life,
I want to declare the Lord to the people that are around me.
I want them to know what God has done for them.
So His life matters.
Whether it's in the youth, whether it's old age,
He wants to declare to the generations what God has done.
So I want you to enjoy this life, you know?
And, you know, as a pastor, I get a lot of phone calls
and I'm not having to go if this is you
because it's right and proper,
but of heartache and sadness and hardships that people go through.
And of course, as a pastor, I'm going to pray for you,
but the key takeaway when it comes to trials and difficulties
is that God wants to see you through that.
God does not want to remove the trouble for you.
He wants you to learn through the trouble.
He wants to refine you through the trouble.
He wants you to grow through the difficulties.
And it's the only way to mature and to develop.
But I'm saying to you, enjoy the process.
And it's not easy when you're in it, but try to enjoy it and say,
you know what, Lord, you've given me this opportunity to grow
and so I'm going to be thankful for you.
You've given me this opportunity to learn.
You're guiding me, you're teaching me something, Lord.
I want to know what that is.
Lord, you want me to be more like your son.
I want to figure out what that is, Lord, as you're refining me through this process.
And strangely, even in the times of difficulties, you can enjoy it.
You know it's for your profit.
You know God has his love in hand upon you.
As we grow, this has been my experience anyway.
I'm sure some of you are familiar with this as well.
Like I said, as a child, you kind of want to play, right?
Children want to learn.
They want to laugh.
They get to enjoy the little to no responsibilities,
though they don't recognise that at the time.
But they do get to appreciate that.
And then when you become a teenager, your mind starts to mature.
You start asking different types of questions.
You start to challenge some of the things that you've been told.
But the point is, as you become a teenager, one thing that you learn is that,
hold on, my parents aren't perfect.
Like little children don't recognise that.
Little children think their parents are everything, wonderful, special, amazing.
But when you become a teenager, you start to realise the cracks in your parents.
You start to realise, hold on, my parents, they're sinners like me.
My parents are sinners like everybody else.
And what's important as you become a teenager is that you learn to transition
your eyes upon your parents and you start to set your eyes upon your Heavenly Father,
you know, which has no defects.
Your Heavenly Father that is always right.
Your Heavenly Father who's always making the right judgement, okay,
that knows all things and you go through that process.
And as you become a teenager, it's important to learn how to develop thick skin
because, hey, life is not easy.
You're not going to always want to cry and get offended by every little thing.
You want to learn how to keep yourself from sin and to protect yourself
and not to give in to peer pressure.
Then you become an adult, let's say 20 plus years, seems to be the biblical number.
You're more likely to work on challenges as you grow.
You know, you start to think at that age where, you know, at some point
I need to transition from my old family, you know, of my siblings and my parents
to my own family where I'm going to get married to my spouse
and start my own family and have my own kids.
And I do believe it's important, especially for young men, to think about this seriously,
to prepare for that future, you know, to work hard, to save up, getting yourself ready,
you know, through the Lord's allegiance to someone to meet.
But what I'm trying to say, during that whole process,
like, think about people that are singles, you know.
Sometimes singles are, man, pastor, I just want to get married.
You know, and again, it's that destination.
Marriage is where I'm going to have joy and it's true, there is joy in marriage.
But I also want you to learn how to rejoice and to enjoy being single.
And then, when you're married, enjoy that time that you have with your spouse
and your spouse alone because in, you know, at the very least,
nine months or more, right, you're going to have a child
and now your priorities are going to change in your child
and that time that you have with your spouse won't be there anymore.
Where it's just you and her or you and him, you know, alone.
But enjoy that time, you know, as a spouse.
You know, as a spouse.
And then when you have your first child, enjoy your time with that first child
because other children are going to come.
And then when you have other children, you know,
enjoy the time of seeing the siblings also develop a relationship in life.
And then as your children become teenagers,
enjoy the time of seeing your kids develop and grow,
you know, and their personality is going to be more so on show
and enjoy the teenage years.
The reason I'm saying this, because I've been,
look, I've not been a pastor my whole life.
I've worked secular jobs.
And you know what?
Probably the number one conversation, at least from my experience,
is amongst people in the workplace.
Ah, my husband.
Ah, my wife.
Ah, my kids.
Ah, teenagers.
Why do they have to be so difficult?
Ah, I can't wait for my kids to go back to school.
School holidays are, you know, and I'm thinking, hold on, what?
This is your life, enjoy your life?
How can you complain about your spouse?
Thank God you're married.
You know, there are singles that wish they're married.
There are singles that wish they had a partner.
And all you do is complain about your spouse.
Then you complain about the kids, which are meant to be a blessing from the Lord.
You see, the world doesn't even enjoy their life.
But we're believers.
And everything that God has given us, whether it's our years,
or whether it's people, our relationships, the next generation,
I want you to learn to enjoy that moment in time.
Because it goes so quickly, we saw earlier.
It goes so quickly.
We say, Lord, help us to number our days.
And look, we're a soul winning church.
Keep soul winning.
But God has given you other things to be focused on in life.
Other people, relationships, edifying your brethren,
appreciating the families and the people God has surrounded you with.
All of this is important.
And enjoy it.
Because it's not always going to be there.
Enjoy your teenagers.
Because they're not always going to be there.
They're going to grow up and they're going to leave the home.
They're going to start their own families.
And when they start their own families, enjoy your son-in-law.
Enjoy your daughter-in-law.
How many times do you hear about mothers-in-laws and daughters-in-law problems?
Is that enjoying life?
You know what? You've had your time with that person.
Go and enjoy their marriage.
Support them in their spouse.
You know what? They've started a new family.
Just get behind them. Pray for them.
Enjoy that time.
And instead of arguing and being in competition between the in-laws,
why don't you just appreciate that God has given you a daughter-in-law or a son-in-law.
God's given you someone else in your family.
And then the grandchildren.
Enjoy the grandchildren.
You know?
And when you have grandchildren, you're still developing.
You've lived a long life.
You've grown. You've matured. You've got the hoary heads.
You've got experience.
You know the dangers of this world.
You can be a great influence, a great support to your children and to your grandchildren.
And, Lord willing, your great grandchildren.
But enjoy it.
Be thankful for the wisdom and experience God has given you as you mature and you grow.
And you know what? As you get older, what's going to happen?
Your body starts to break down.
Even in my 40s, I feel like my body's already starting to break down.
You know, bodies break down.
You lose your hearing.
You lose a bit of your eyesight.
You know, you go for these physical problems.
And when that happens, you know what?
Now it's time to get excited once again.
Why?
Because you know that one day you're going to receive new resurrected bodies to come.
Bodies that will never age.
Bodies that will never corrupt.
Bodies that will never break.
Bodies that will never sin.
And that's going to be for all eternity.
See, God allows us to go for the experiences to enjoy and to be excited.
You know?
For the life that God has given you and the future that God has given you.
So can we meet to Titus chapter 2?
Titus chapter 2 and verse number 1.
Titus is our church pastor and we've got the Apostle Paul teaching Titus how to guide his church.
And I love this chapter because Paul breaks down different age groups and the different sexes as he's telling Titus how to preach.
But he says in verse number 1
Then verse number 3.
You know, there is a struggle that ladies have.
It's just true. Don't get offended.
The gossip in
Did you know family's so and so?
Did you know that?
Did you know this? Did you know that?
It happens.
You know, even if I preach it behind the pulpit, it still happens.
That's why we have this instruction.
Look, don't be false accusers.
Don't speak nonsense.
In fact, be good teachers.
Teaching who? Verse number 4.
That they may teach the young women to be sober.
To love their husbands.
Love their husbands.
Love your husbands' wives.
I told you, when I go to work, when I've gone to work, it's all I hear every single day.
How much I hate their husbands.
How much their husbands let them down.
And I just got a vet to another woman.
Because my husband doesn't understand me.
Love your husbands.
Honor your husbands.
Look, next thing, love their children.
Didn't I tell you?
That's the next thing they complain about.
Their kids.
To be discreet.
Chased.
Keepers at home.
Good.
Obedient to their own husbands.
That the word of God be not blasphemed.
You know, if you're a young woman, these are the instructions that God has given you.
And then verse number 6.
Likewise, exhort to be sober-minded.
You see, the Bible is for all.
The Bible is for all age groups.
The Bible is for man and woman.
The Bible is not for transgenderism or gender fluid.
If that's you, the Bible doesn't belong to you.
This is not the church for you.
But it's for man and woman.
It's for young and old.
And God wants to develop us.
Not just as young people.
But even as we get older, God wants to give us instruction and development.
And God wants you to enjoy your life.
Enjoy it. Be productive.
Be fruitful.
Be an encouragement to other people.
Be an encouragement to the younger people.
If you can come with me to Proverbs 17.
Come with me to Proverbs 17, verse number 6.
Proverbs 17, verse number 6.
I mentioned earlier, when you're a grandparent, enjoy your grandkids.
There is something, you know, within the nature of human beings that God has created.
Where grandkids are a special thing.
Because in Proverbs 17, verse 6, it says,
Children's children, those are the grandkids, are the crown of old men.
And the glory of children are their fathers.
Children's children are the crown of old men.
You know, there is something, I know, when my parents are around the grandkids.
I see my parents' face light up.
You know, there is something, you know, just a wonderful love.
You know, whether it's seen, the fact that we've been able to bring forth generation after generation.
And there's a legacy being left here.
But they are a crown of old men.
Children's children.
You know, I strongly encourage parents to let your children see their parents, their grandparents.
Let them spend time with their grandparents.
And sometimes within church, someone might say to me,
But Pastor, you know, you don't understand, my mum's not saved, and my dad is an alcoholic,
and I'm trying to keep my kids away from those kinds of influences.
And look, I understand, you know, that you're not all going to have a Christian heritage in life.
And I understand there might be concerns of the grandparents' influence on the grandkids.
But just as important as it is for grandparents to experience and to enjoy the grandchildren,
it's also instrumental to the grandchild's life to understand what their legacy is,
or what their ancestry is, what their identification is.
And look, again, if you have concerns, you can limit that time.
You can limit the time of the grandparents.
Or you can supervise that time.
You know, you don't have to leave and be.
But every time someone says to me, I'm just concerned about this influence by my grandparents
or that relative, one thing I always remind people, yeah, but that time is only going to be half an hour.
That time is going to be an hour.
You've got seven days a week with your kids.
You've got 24 hours, seven days a week.
The greatest influence on a child is going to be the parents.
And so it's important that we teach our kids, look, we need to love grandma, grandpa,
but at the same time, they might be unbelievers, and we are believers.
Or you observe this or you heard some nasty language.
We need to understand that God's expectation on us is to live like this and to live like that.
Come with me to Proverbs 16. Proverbs 16, verse number 31.
Proverbs 16, verse number 31.
This is, again, as aged people, as you continue to get older, it says,
The hoary head, again, the head with grey hairs, the hoary head is a crown of glory.
But then it says this, if it be found in the way of righteousness.
If it be found in the way of righteousness.
So, brethren, as we get older, what does God want us to do?
To live a life of righteousness.
And he says if you're living a life of righteousness in your older age,
then your grey hairs, your experience, your age is a crown of glory to you.
But you can see that you can actually get to an old age and not live the way of righteousness.
And in that time, your age is not a crown of glory.
See, I want us to grow and mature as we get older.
I don't know when the Lord is coming back.
You know, I'm not living my life thinking that tomorrow is going to be the tribulation.
And if it is, I'll cross that bridge when I get there.
But I'm expecting that I'm going to have a life and I want to understand what God is expecting of me.
As I get older, as my hairs get grayer, I want to make sure that I'm walking in the way of righteousness.
Because I want God to be able to look down and say, boy, there's a crown of glory upon Pastor Kevin.
There's a crown of glory upon this brother or upon this sister as they mature and grow.
Come with me to Psalm 92, verse 13.
Psalm 92, verse number 13.
I guess the key takeaway, brethren, of this sermon, I just want you to enjoy your life.
I want you to enjoy the years that you're going through right now.
Like I said, I'm 42. Guess what? My 30s aren't going to return to me.
My 20s are not going to return to me.
So I'm going to enjoy my 40s.
I'm going to say, Lord, let's have a great time.
Let's see what you can develop in me. Let's see what I can do for you, Lord, in my 40s.
And if you're in your 30s, you ought to be saying the same thing.
If you're in your 20s, you ought to be saying the same thing.
Forget the years that have gone by. You can't go back to the past.
But, Lord, now you've given me these days.
Help me to number my days. Help me to enjoy my life.
Help me to do great things for you.
Help me to be a blessing to my brethren.
But this is so important here in Psalm 92, verse number 13.
Psalm 92, verse number 13.
Because I want you to do well in life.
But notice how important church is to that equation.
Verse number 13.
Now what was the house of the Lord there in the Psalms?
It was a tabernacle.
It eventually becomes the temple.
The house of the Lord in the New Testament is your local church.
Reverend, do you want to flourish in the courts of God?
You know, when we stand before God,
do we want to be seen as that good and faithful servant?
Do we want to be, you know, where God can look down and reward us faithfully for what we've done?
Where we don't have to be ashamed for the life that we lived on this earth?
You need to be planted in the house of the Lord.
You need to be planted in church.
This is so important in your life.
You know, church is such an important institution that God has given us.
And then look at verse number 14.
But even in our old age, we can still see souls saved.
We can still flourish in life.
We can still do well in life.
As long as we're planted in God's house.
Verse number 15.
So what we're doing as we get older in life,
we want to make sure we have the stability of our local church.
We want to make sure that we're able to do great things for him.
That we're appreciating the life that he's given us.
As we then proclaim, of course, the righteousness of our Lord God.
That we glorify him.
That we lift him.
That we make him the priority of our life.
Come with me to 1 Peter chapter 2.
1 Peter chapter 2, verse number 1.
1 Peter chapter 2 and verse number 1.
I just want to end on this.
These passages will go through pretty quickly.
But I've been speaking about our physical life.
From children to teenagers to young adults to aged men.
But don't forget, we also have a spiritual growth to go through.
Like you can be an adult.
You can be 30 years old, for example.
Recently saved.
And be a babe.
Be a little child in the things of the Lord.
Okay?
And so we have 1 Peter chapter 2, verse number 1 here.
Wherefore, 1 Peter chapter 2, verse number 1.
Wherefore, laying aside all malice and all guile and hypocrisies and envies and all evil speakings.
As newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word that ye may grow thereby.
So if so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.
Reverend, you see that the moment we're saved with these newborn babes.
We're born again.
We're spiritual babies.
And we ought to desire the sincere milk of the word that we may grow thereby.
You see, as much as we ought to enjoy our physical life that God has given us.
The years that God has given us.
We also should enjoy the spiritual life that God has given us.
There's a time to be a baby.
There's nothing wrong with being a spiritual baby.
You know, specifically if you've been saved recently.
But if you've been saved for 30 years, 20, you know, 50 years and you're still a babe.
There's something wrong with you.
If you've not grown in the Lord, there's something wrong with you.
You need to mature and grow in your spiritual life.
Or you're going to miss out on this development.
Come with me to Ephesians chapter 4.
Ephesians chapter 4, verse number 11.
And while you're turning there.
You know, our church, the primary strength of our church.
There's probably two primary strengths of our church.
When I compare it to other churches.
Number one, we're a soul winning church.
We're not the only soul winning church.
But that is one of our strengths.
The other strength is our doctrinal teaching.
Okay?
And sometimes, they can be young believers in the faith.
And they feel a little bit overwhelmed by the meat that gets taught in church.
And they're a baby in Christ.
And then they try to chew on that meat and they can't digest it.
And they might even speak foolishness.
There's nothing wrong with being a babe.
There's nothing wrong with being a child in the faith.
It's just, you need the sincere milk of the word.
You need to get yourself grounded in the fundamental truths of the faith.
You know, and when you've learnt some answers in the Bible.
So it's a very fundamental thing, very basic things.
Then you just lock those in.
And you say, look, I've seen it in the word of God.
I know it's true. I'm not going to be moved.
And once you've established a lot of these positions, these fundamental truths,
as you grow in the Lord, you'll be able to take in things that are a little bit deeper.
But don't neglect the milk.
Because if you neglect the milk, you won't be able to take in the meat.
And if you're someone that's new in Christ, if you're a babe in Christ,
and you say, some of the things the pastor says, they're going over my head.
Just absorb the things that you do understand.
And the things that you do understand, just make those changes in your life.
And it's those changes that will allow you to grow and be more like Christ Jesus.
I told you to go to Ephesians 4, didn't I?
Ephesians 4, 11.
Ephesians 4, 11. This is speaking about the context of church.
And he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers
for the perfecting of the saints.
See, the Lord wants us to be perfected.
He wants us to be well-rounded, matured, for the work of the ministry,
for the edifying of the body of Christ.
What does it mean to edify? To build up the body of Christ.
Look at this, verse 13.
Verse 13.
You know what this is telling me?
Because I know in this life that I live, I'm never going to reach the fullness of Christ.
I'm never going to get to the point where I've reached the level of Christ in this current life.
But, as we come to church and we grow and we learn together,
we are being perfected and we are aiming for that measure of Christ.
And the Lord's expectation is we become more matured as Christians,
we become more Christ-like, we become more like his son, Christ Jesus.
So when people look at our lives, they see just a little bit of Jesus in us.
But there's this maturity, there's this growth that we're to take part of.
Why is this important?
Because then it says in verse number 14,
Is there anything wrong with being a child? No.
But does God want us to grow? Yes.
He doesn't want us to remain as children.
Why? What's the problem with children?
Because it says,
Whereby they lie in wait to deceive.
You know how I said earlier,
there's nothing worse than a 50-year-old man trying to be a kid.
A 50-year-old man acting like a teenager.
Or a 50-year-old woman dressing like a teenage girl or something like that.
Well, it's the same thing.
If you've been saved for 50 years,
there's nothing worse with that 50-year-old Christian acting like a child.
Because they've never grown.
They've never absorbed God's word.
God's word.
And so we ought to grow.
Because if we remain as children,
we're going to be deceived.
Every time another preacher comes with a better argument,
a better position, oh, maybe that's true.
Oh, maybe that wasn't right.
Maybe that's the right position.
You need to establish those things as a little babe in Christ.
And then it says in verse number 15,
But speaking the truth in love,
may grow up into Him in all things,
which is their head, even Christ.
You know, in our spiritual life, we're also growing.
We're trying to grow up to be like our Saviour.
We're trying to grow up to be like our Lord Jesus Christ.
And that will be fully realised, of course,
at the day of the resurrection, at the day of the rapture,
when we are made like unto Christ Jesus.
But the main principle that I wanted to cover against Dave Brevin
is to enjoy the journey.
You know, if you're recently saved,
enjoy being recently saved.
You know, some of those early years of salvation
are going to be the most zeal, the years of the greatest,
you're going to have the greatest zeal in those years
because you're going to learn so much.
It's like everything that you hear preached,
every passage that you read,
you're going to be like, wow, man, this is amazing.
This is awesome.
And then as you get older, it's not so awesome
because you already know a lot of these things.
You're not going to be learning as much as you did
when you were younger.
It's still a great time to experience
because now you can be a teacher.
Now you can be someone that is guiding and directing
those that are younger in the faith.
The title for the sermon tonight was Enjoy Life's Journey.
We are going to be in heaven.
That's not going to change.
That day is going to come, okay,
for all eternity with our Lord Jesus Christ.
We don't want to be bogged down with love in this world
and just trying to compete with the standards of this world
but we don't want to lose sight of this life that God has given us.
Enjoy your days.
Where are you at in life right now?
Just think about that right now.
Are you single? Are you married?
What age group are you in?
Enjoy it.
Say thank you, Lord, for where I am in life.
Yes, I am looking forward to that period of life
but right now, that time will come.
Right now, Lord, help me to be just focused
and appreciate the day you've given me.
Help me to number my days.
How can I serve you?
How can I find rejoicing and comfort?
How can I be used to be profitable for you, Lord?
Because it all matters.
All these experiences that you let me go through matter.
All these trials and difficulties and tribulations
that I go through, Lord, I know it's for your purpose.
I know you're developing me.
I know you're profiting me, Lord.
And Lord, if you give me tomorrow,
help me to enjoy tomorrow.
And Lord, help me to be in your house
because I know if I'm going to flourish in life,
if I know I'm going to flourish in your courts,
then I know that I need to plant my feet
in a place where I hear the truth of God's word.
All right, brethren, enjoy life's journey.
Please do.
Don't just be focused on the destination.
Be thankful for what God has given you today.
Okay, let's pray.