Amen. All right, well, let's look down at verse number one in Ecclesiastes 3, and these
are the verses I'm going to springboard off of, and it says to everything there is a season
and a time to every purpose under heaven. A time to be born, a time to die, a time to
plant, a time to pluck up that which is planted, a time to kill, and a time to heal, a time
to break down, a time to build up, a time to weep, a time to laugh, a time to mourn,
a time to dance, a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together, a time
to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to get, a time to lose, a time to keep,
and a time to cast away, a time to rend, and a time to sow, a time to keep silence, and
a time to speak, a time to love, and a time to hate, a time to war, of war, excuse me,
and a time of peace. The title of my sermon this morning is, Is Youth Wasted Upon the
Young? Is Youth Wasted Upon the Young? And, you know, what does this saying mean? It's
actually a saying that older people will say about the youth because basically it's just
a phrase. I think there's somebody that actually came up with a quote named George Bernard
Shaw. I'm not, I don't know anything about him. He's probably a wicked devil. I don't
know. But he is, okay. But, you know, because a lot of people to, you know, they want to
find this fountain of youth and go back to their youth, and when you get older you start
to get the aches and pains and things aren't as easy as they used to be. It used to be
you could work a really hard day and not really feel it so much. I mean, obviously if you
work a hard day you're going to feel it. But as you get older and you work really hard
days, it wears you down a lot more than when you're young. And so the phrase, the youth
is wasted on the young, the young fail to appreciate what they experience is basically
what the quote is supposed to be saying. So, again, I'm not advocating the person who's
attributed to the quote, but it is a question that people that are older will ask themselves,
like, you know, these people just don't realize how good they have it right now because they're
young and energetic and they have their life ahead of them. They're as strong as they're
going to be. They're as good looking as they're going to be. They're probably making the most
money that they could make or whatever it is. And then you'll see that the youth complain
or fail to appreciate the experience that they're having in life at that time. Because
there is a time and a season for everything in our lives. And obviously God made us the
way he did for us to be able to grow up and enjoy our lives and then at some point we
reach a pinnacle of our life that's called our prime. And those are the best days of
your life. They should be anyway, as far as physically speaking. You know, when you're
young you retain a lot more knowledge, you can learn a lot more things. And I'm just
saying young as a generality today. But, you know, what do kids really want? They want
to grow up, don't they? Isn't it weird how, you know, we want to go back, those of us
that are older in this room, we'd love to go back and be in our prime if you're not
in your prime anymore. If you're in your prime, then you're, you know, enjoy your prime while
you have it, you know. But those of us that are older, we'd like to go back to how we
felt when we were 20, 25, 30, 35 or whatever. And then, you know, we'll see people complaining
about how rough their life is when they're in their young age. And it's because, you
know, we, it's just the way human beings are. We like to complain about whatever state we're
in and look back or look forward to something that might be or once was. And so, you know,
the term, here's another definition of the term wasted, the youth is wasted on the young,
refers to the immaturity that comes alongside the energy of youth, meaning that despite
having the energy to do many things, young people will waste that energy on silly and
trivial things. And this is true, you know, it's true as the day is long, but it's also
true that older people will complain about how they feel right now and wish they could
go back to their other time. But here's the thing, we should just enjoy whatever time
that we're in. And even if it's, even if you are in rough shape or maybe you are worn out,
maybe you have a lot of ailments and things like that, you know, but just God wants you
to live in the now and look circumspectly to the future. So maybe you have wasted your
life, maybe you got saved later on in life and you're trying to catch up, that's good.
That's a good thing to do. Don't look back and say, well, if I was as old as some of
these young people that are in here today who are just complaining or not doing as much,
then I would be doing a lot more. But, you know, the thing is, maybe you just didn't
get saved until later on in life. That's why the Bible says we're supposed to redeem the
time, okay? So, but as a young person, you're at the time in your life when you can learn
the most, you're the strongest you're ever going to be, like I said, the best looking
you're probably ever going to be, and all that stuff. And so enjoy that time while you
have it. If you're a young child, you know, don't just be so ready to grow up and be a
big boy or a big girl and then think about all, you know, because a lot of times the
youngest kid in the family will try to grow up the fastest, if you ever noticed that,
because they have their brothers and sisters and so they learn things quicker because they're
watching them and they want to be as, you know, as athletic or good at things as they
are. And so it's just kind of one of those things where the youngest wants to grow up
faster. But let me just say this, kids, enjoy the time that you're young because there's
going to come a day when you will be responsible to care for a family. You will be responsible
to pay bills. Your family will be depending on you for whatever role you're in, male or
female, to do the things that an adult has to do. And adulting isn't always fun, okay?
When you're young and you don't have bills to pay, you don't think about that stuff,
you just think about, well, I wish I could have this or I wish I was as old as this or
I wish I could have a boyfriend or I wish I could have a girlfriend or I wish I could
be married. Hey, there's plenty of time to be married when you get married. Don't obsess
over the person that you want to marry someday. You know, I think that it's just a natural
order of things that when you start to turn into a teen, then you just start obsessing
about who you want to marry. And I know girls do it more than boys, but boys do it too.
Why don't you just wait until you're old enough to get married and then get married and enjoy
your marriage, but while you're young, enjoy the things that young people enjoy. You know,
nobody makes fun of little children for playing with toys, do they? Like, what are you doing
playing with those toys? Oh, Hot Wheels? What are you, three years old? Yeah, I'm three
years old. I like playing with Hot Wheels or whatever. I like playing with my dolly
or whatever, you know, toys you play with, but if I was up here holding a baby doll,
wouldn't you think that was weird? I'm sure you would think it was weird. Like, why's
he got a baby doll on his hand? Is he practicing or something? What's going on? My point is,
is that when you're a kid, that's when you play with toys. When you're a kid, that's
when your imagination runs wild and you play pretend and all that kind of stuff. And it's
fun, but when adults do it, they're called, you know, furries or whatever. It's just weird.
There's a time for everything in our lives that we need to be age appropriate to where
we're at in our lives right now. It'd just be like if I was up here wearing some hipster
outfit or some kind of, you know, just casually dressing with a see-through pulpit and a glass
of scotch and a cigar in my mouth, you know, and trying to, you know, wear those jeans
that have holes. Looks like someone blasted them out with a shotgun. And they're, you
know, got the rhinestone things on the back pockets or whatever. It's just like, you look
like a fool when you're older wearing that kind of stuff. You look like a fool anyway,
but you look more of a fool when you're wearing that stuff in your 50s or 60s trying to stay
relevant, you know. And don't try to stay relevant. Just be who you are. Just be whatever
age you are. So, and it's funny that people just want to be everything that they can't
continue to be. The old want to be young and the young want to be old. And it's just, you
know, we should be what God wants us to be at the time that we're there. So, and think
about this, kids always want to be taller, don't they? I want to be big, they say I want
to be bigger. I want to be tall. And we measure kids' age against like the wall and we put
like so and so's name, how tall they are at this time. You know, the boys will stand on
their tippy toes trying to get an extra inch in or whatever. And it's just like, you know,
it's cool to measure your height. It's cool to do that kind of stuff. I'm not against
that. I'm just saying that boys always want to be taller. They always want to be bigger.
They always want to be stronger. That's something they strive to be. But again, be what age
you are and enjoy those things while you can enjoy them. And the same thing within the
twilight of your life, you know. Enjoy that twilight of your life for whatever it is you're
supposed to be doing at that time. Turn over to Daniel chapter 1. I'm going to read Matthew
chapter 6 verse 27. Matthew chapter 6 verse 27 says, which of you by taking thought care
can add one cubit unto his stature? You can't just think about being tall and you're going
to be tall. You know, I'm tall but have you ever considered this, that I'm not the best
at hide and seek? When I got to a certain height, it was like, you can't hide no more.
Like when I'm around, people see me coming. When someone's looking for me, all they have
to do is look up in a crowd. They can find me really easily and that's not always the
best, you know, the best situation. Especially if I was a soldier. I mean, they're like,
you know, let's get the giant. He's right there. He's easy to find. You know, I'm the
first one you're going to be able to shoot in the head or whatever. It's not, you know,
everybody has their own lot in life. God's going to make you as tall as you're going
to be and nothing you can do or say is going to change that. And so don't have an attitude
if you're a short person. I think when people that are short have really serious attitude
problems, I call that the Napoleon complex because Napoleon was really short and what
did he want to do? He wanted to conquer the world and wanted to be called emperor and
all this other stuff. So even people that are short can get this short man's complex
or whatever you want to call it, but why don't you just be what you are? You know, the apostle
Paul started, people called him Paul because Paul means little. His name was Saul, but
he called himself Paul because, you know, he was the opposite of the Saul, King Saul.
King Saul was head and shoulders above everybody else, but Paul was little. So that must mean
that he was, you know, he would say in his epistles things like, you know, I'm weak and
contemptible, you know, your words are powerful coming across of the Bible, but when we see
you you're weak and contemptible. So Paul was probably a frail, you know, obviously
been through a lot, but probably not an Adonis physique so to speak and, you know, when people
saw him he was short, he was little, that's what Paul means is little. So anyway, you're
in Daniel chapter 1, look at verse 19. So, and this is for the teens, enjoy being a teen
and while you're a teen make wise choices. Is it possible to be that? Absolutely it is.
Look at verse 19 it says, and the king communed with them and among them all was found none
like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, therefore stood they before the king and in
all matters of wisdom and understanding that the king inquired of them, he found them ten
times better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in his realm. So, and Daniel started,
how did he start off being wise? He said, I'm not going to eat the meat that the king
has provided, I don't want to drink the drink that he has provided because, you know, obviously
it was breaking their dietary standards as set forth in the Old Testament law. But the
point is, is that he was willing to keep God's commandments so much that God blessed him
and his friends with supreme intelligence and obviously they stood before the king,
the king of the whole earth basically at that time. Nebuchadnezzar was the ultimate
powerful ruler in the world and he's got these young teenagers that are 10 times wiser and
better than anybody else. So is it possible, and they're saved, right? So is it possible
for a saved teenager to be 10 times better than those people that are in the world? It
absolutely is. It's not just a one-off, but it's what you're applying yourself to. What
are you thinking about? What does your daily life consist of? You know, don't be lazy with
learning. Learn as much as you can. Get wisdom. If you want to learn a second language, now's
the time to do it. Not when you're old. It takes thousands of hours to learn another
language but for a younger person it's a lot easier. You know, I know that a lot of Russian
friends of mine, they teach their children Russian, they talk to their children in Russian
and so they're going to be bilingual when they're older. That's a good thing to do.
So why don't you, as children, pick up some things and obviously there's a time to have
fun and a time to play. I'm not saying that there isn't, but be serious when it comes
to your knowledge and understanding that you can get and God will bless you for seeking
that wisdom, for seeking the wisdom of the Bible. A lot of kids, you've got a lot more
time on your hands than adults do. You can read the Bible a lot more times than your
parents can because you've got more time. You're like, well it's boring. Well I'm sorry
that the Word of God bores you. Maybe you won't be ten times better than everybody else
then. But obviously the goal isn't to be better in the sense of just being able to brag about
how much you do and know, but obviously as you learn and you get wisdom and knowledge,
you're going to be better because you probably won't have that attitude. You're going to
be more humble than other people because the Bible, if it teaches anything, it teaches
you that we should be humble. So enjoy being youthful, about 20 to 35 years old is kind
of what I would consider youthful. So you can do the most with your young body during
those times and you can learn the most with your brain during those times, more than you
can when you're older. And you can apply yourself to many things during that age bracket
too. I wouldn't suggest that you just gain worldly wisdom. You can learn worldly wisdom
as far as your vocation, your job is concerned, but you should try to get as much godly wisdom
in those years as you can. But everybody gets saved in different times in their lives so
obviously I can't cover every single situation, every single age. I'm just trying to kind
of group things together, but look at Proverbs chapter 4, Proverbs chapter number 4. In Proverbs
chapter 4 verse 5 the Bible says, Get wisdom, get understanding, forget it not, neither
decline from the words of my mouth, forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee, love
her and she shall keep thee. Wisdom is the principal thing, therefore get wisdom and
with all thy getting get understanding. It's not just enough to gain the wisdom but get
understanding with that wisdom. It says, Exalt her and she shall promote thee, she shall
bring thee to honor. When thou dost embrace her, she shall give to thine head an ornament
of grace, a crown of glory shall she deliver to thee. Here, O my son, and receive my sayings
and the years of thy life shall be many. You want your life to be long? Well one of the
promises in the Bible is to respect your parents, obviously honor your parents, but also gaining
wisdom from the Bible about how to live your life, what sins to not get into, what sins
will cut your life short, and the things that you do on this earth do matter. So yes we
do teach that you can be saved very easily with no works, but what life is going to be
better if you have two saved people and one is just filled with sin until the day they
die or the one that really works at trying to be as sinless as possible and keeping God's
commandments. This person's life is going to probably end sooner over here than the
person over here, or at least it's going to be way tougher because the more you sin,
the more God's going to punish you. If you're God's child, he's still going to punish you
on this earth and what's better to walk through this life with the wisdom and knowledge and
understanding of what God says is off limits to you, some people just ignore those things
and God's going to take it out on you for doing those things. Why? Because he wants
to correct you from doing those things and he wants you to have a blessed life, but a
lot of people just, they can't get through life without getting beat a lot. Some people
learn things the hard way all the time and it's a rough road, it's a tough road to hoe
as they say. So then obviously after your prime, which is I guess 20 to 35 or whatever,
maybe I'm wrong about the prime of life, but maybe that's just when I felt the best
in my life, but after the prime comes the downfall, the gradual downfall of everything
in your life. You start to get uglier, you start to get, you know, it's harder for you
to lose weight, it's harder for you to work 12 hour days and not be fazed by it or whatever.
It's you know, but you know, enjoy the things that you can enjoy while you're getting older,
while you're declining and what would I, well enjoy your family, enjoy your grandchildren
and you know, those are good years also because you know, I know that like my wife really
wanted to have another child but it just wasn't something that was possible. I just said well
you know, we're going to have grandchildren soon and then we can rock them, we can hold
them, we can love them and then we can hand them back for their parents. And we still
love our grandchildren, we still enjoy our grandchildren, but that's the time in our
life where we're at and you know, Jacob was happy to see his grandchildren, obviously
Abraham was happy to see his grandchildren and we can have an effect as older people
that have grandchildren or older children that your life can be blessed in those things
also because it's good to be able to pass on your knowledge to the next generation and
if the next generation wants to hear it, that is, because a lot of times people are too
prideful to admit that they might not know something that you already know, which is
weird, but and I would say this young people that have children, hey, not everything that
your parents did or believed in or did, you know, I'm just talking about in child rearing
in general, not everything that they did was wrong, you know, so you might have thought
that when you were a kid growing up, but as you get older, hopefully you get wise enough
to understand that there's some things you can still learn from your parents. So don't
be a fool, but a wise elder. So as you start to get older, you should be getting wiser,
right? So, you know, don't work all your life and then go and buy an apartment across from
an Indian casino and then that's all you want to do is go to that casino every day and spend
all your hard-earned money at a place you worked all your life coming up with this money
and then you're just going to go and throw it away on gambling instead of, you know,
bringing a godly inheritance or an inheritance to help out your children, just feel like,
well, you know, because that's the mentality of boomers, isn't it? That they just want
to store up all this money and they want to make sure all their money is there for them
to have a good life afterwards. And look, it's your money, you can do whatever you want
with it, but, you know, you should probably try to use your, if you're a saved person,
it's not just, hey, the kids are out of the house, now it's time for us to live our, you
know, 50 is the new 20 or whatever. You know, you should be there for the next generation,
you should be there for your children when they're adults, you should be there for your
grandchildren and hopefully even your great-grandchildren. So don't be a fool, be wise, look at some
Proverbs 16 verse 31. Proverbs 16 verse 31. Now when you get older, you start to get gray,
gray hair and things like that and people want to dye it and cover it up and all that
kind of stuff and I get it because, you know, there's nothing that makes you look older
than having gray hair. This is all the ministry, this is, my hair was completely not, you know,
not gray. I'm just kidding. But look what the Bible says in Proverbs 16 verse 31, it
says, the hoary head is a crown of glory. So when your hair goes gray, it's a crown
of glory. That's what the Bible is saying. If it be found in the way of righteousness.
So there's also a saying there's no fool like an old fool. And, you know, obviously we should
be respectful of elders. That's kind of been lost on a couple generations to be respectful
to elders. Now you have people in Portland attacking elderly people and pushing three-year-old
children off of the train station dock for the MAX. I mean those are two things I saw
last week. One guy attacked a 78-year-old man at a MAX station, then another MAX station.
Somebody just walked up and just pushed a three-year-old onto the train tracks. I mean
it was a pretty high fall too. That just shows that there's lack of respect for human life,
there's lack of respect for people that are too old to fight back. But we want to be,
as Christians, when our hair starts to turn gray, we want it to be found in righteousness
not in foolishness. Turn to Leviticus chapter 19 verse 32. Leviticus chapter 19 verse 32.
And God, you know, he wants us to have respect for our elders. And how do I know that? Well
look at Leviticus chapter 19 verse 32. It says, Thou shall rise up before the hoary
head. And of course a hoary head is talking about white or gray hair, right? And honor
the face of the old man. And fear thy God, I am the Lord. Look, not everybody that's
older is an idiot. They might be more smart than you realize. And some people gray early
or whatever, and a lot of things are genetic, I get that. But when someone, children and
young people in this room, when a person with a hoary head or a gray-headed person or an
elder person walks in, do you stand up? Because this is what the Bible is saying to do. Rise
up before the hoary head. Give them respect. And obviously if it's some God-hating atheist,
it's basically talking about people that are your people, and obviously anybody. If someone
walks in, if they have gray hair, I try my best to rise up before them and rise up before
the hoary head. But it's just a way of saying have some respect. Have some respect for people
that have come before you, and honor their wisdom. Because, I mean, you think about Rehoboam,
you know, what did he do? He followed the counsel of the young men instead of the elders
that his father had before him, and it was a bad move, right? It was a bad move to just
go with a bunch of people that had no experience in counsel, they just were not wise like the
people that were in Solomon's counsel. So he ended up being stripped of everything because
of that, except for two tribes. Now, Ecclesiastes chapter 4 verse 13, turn to Ecclesiastes 4-13.
Bible says in Ecclesiastes 4-13, it says, better is a poor and a wise child than an
old and foolish king who will no more be admonished. So, it's good to be a wise child,
and you know what? When God looks at you, if you're wise, you get wisdom, you're respectful,
then God thinks that that's better than even a king who's old and foolish and will no more
hear the counsel that he is getting. He won't hear it, he won't take it, so, you know, I
guess my point is, is if you're going to be, when you get older, get wiser, because
you should have more life experience than people that are younger, and you can impart
that wisdom upon other people, but also you can help your own life get better in your
older age. Because, you know, I'll just say this, I'm a lot more patient than I was when
I was younger. My wife would probably say, no, that's not true, but, in some ways, okay?
I guess, you know, the older you get, you know, have you ever heard that term, grumpy
old man? There's a reason why that term is there, grumpy old man. So, but, like, if you're
wise, you're going to try to refrain from being that way. But, obviously, you know,
I remember when I realized when my grandpa was starting to lose his hearing that he would
say something, or you would say something and go, what? Huh? And, like, he would be
angry because he didn't hear what somebody said, because it's really frustrating to not
be able to hear. And, I mean, I think my hearing is okay, but it is frustrating when someone
says something, you have to keep asking them what they said, isn't it? So, there is a danger
in being older where you could be more grouchy, you know, because why? Because you're hurting,
your ailments and things like that. The older you get, the more ailments you get, because
ultimately you're headed towards death. It's not going to get better and better, it's going
to get worse and worse. And, if you think about this, you know, older people at some
point remember this, that someone is going to have to care for you when you're older.
So, how you treat people now might reflect on how people treat you when you're older.
So, we should be treating younger people and our children and our grandchildren good
because don't you want, when you're in your time of need, to be taken care of also? You
know, who wants to be that parent that nobody wants to take in because they're so annoying,
they're so grumpy, they're always complaining about every ailment that they have, you know,
they're just causing problems. You know, if you want your kids to take you in, you should
be like a gracious parent, a gracious grandparent because, you know, you want somebody to love
you when you're kind of unlovable. You know, and I'm not saying that we shouldn't love
older people, I'm not saying that we should love them, but it's a lot easier to love an
older person when they kind of are a little more kind hearted. You know, and maybe your
children will look past how crotchety and mean you are when you're older if you're nice
to them when they're younger. You know, I mean, it's just kind of reaping what you sow.
Now think about this, babies, when they're first born, are helpless. They have wrinkles.
They're kind of ugly. Let's just be honest. I mean, I know that you think your baby boy
is the cutest baby boy that ever was the day they were born and most parents feel that
way and you should feel that way. Well, let's just be honest. Babies, the first day they're
born, they have like wrinkles and like, you know, press marks from when they were trying
to get out. They scratch themselves or whatever. You know, they kind of look like, you know,
those Sharpay cats on their head or whatever. They don't always look, I'm just being honest
here, okay? And the women, they're probably going to disagree with me, but it's true.
They're uglier than they are like a week after they're born. Let's just say that, okay?
When you're first born, you know, at some point, you know, you have to be carried, don't
you? Actually from the very beginning of your life, you have to be carried from one place
to another. Someone has to dress you. Someone has to push you in a stroller or carry you
on one of those little baby backpacks or whatever. What do they call them? Baby backpacks? Okay.
Alright, well I'll go with that. But they have to be, they have no teeth. They can't
eat good food. And even if they could eat good food that we like, they don't have the
taste for it. They'd rather eat McDonald's than like a T-bone steak, you know? So they
can't eat solid foods. They don't enjoy savory food. They're cranky. They're always crying.
And they have a hard time communicating with us, don't they? So they cry because they don't
have any, that's their instinct to cry when they need something because they can't talk,
right? They have a bad memory. Who remembers the day they were born? Anybody in here remember
the day you were born? No. I think that most people probably don't have memories of their
early childhood. They're very limited. And even I can think back to times, specific memories
I had when I was two, three, four, five years old. But how many of those memories do I actually
have? Not very many. And usually it's just glimpses of a memory. You don't remember the
whole day. You don't remember every moment of every day from when you were little. You
require 24-hour care. And so that's how we start our lives. We come into this world kicking
and screaming. You know, the doctor swats you on the butt or whatever. I don't know
if they do that anymore or not. So the baby will cry and get whatever out of their lungs
or whatever. And then they're poking and prodding them and they're trying to get food
and you know, babies when they start to try to breastfeed or whatever they're just like
ah, yah, you know. They're grouchy when they can't latch on, right? That's just how it
is. Why I think about this stuff I don't know, but think about when you're older though.
And when you're getting to the very end of your life, we're also helpless. We're also
wrinkly and uglier than we used to be. And you know, we have to possibly be carried or
pushed in some kind of a chair or helped or you know, use a steady hand to help somebody
that's older. And sometimes people, when you get to a certain point, you have to dress
them. And then they lose their teeth. And so now they can't eat the foods that they
once enjoyed when they were at the prime of their life. They can't eat solid foods.
And even if they could eat the foods that they wanted to, it doesn't taste good anymore.
You have to salt it more to be able to, you know, have you ever noticed that most older
people put a lot of salt on their food because why? Because they can't taste it anymore.
And so their palate is kind of ruined. And you know, like I was saying, older people
get cranky. You know, when they're hurt, when someone's hurting, they get cranky. And
sometimes they're unable to clearly communicate. And then they begin to have a bad memory.
And they require possible 24-hour care. I'm not saying this is in every instance, but
I'm just saying if you think about it, how we come into this world is the same way that
we leave this world in a lot of cases. Unless you die young, which is possible.
In Job chapter, go ahead and turn to 1 Timothy chapter 6, 6. I'm going to read for you Job
chapter 1 verse 20. In Job 1, 20 it says, Then Job arose and rent his mantle and shaved
his head and fell down upon the ground and worshiped and said, Naked came I out of my
mother's womb and naked shall I return thither. The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away.
Blessed be the name of the Lord. And Job just, you know, he shaves his head and he tries
to look as much as he looked like when he was a little baby being born. And he basically
makes a statement, hey, I came out naked and when I leave, I'm going to be naked. You know,
I don't think that your clothes go up with you when you die in this world. I mean, I've
never really thought about it until I was just like kind of looking at this verse last
night. I was like, yeah, that's kind of true. I mean, whatever form that is, you know, I'm
sure we're going to have clothes on in heaven or whatever, but the clothes that you're wearing
when you die, if you're wearing any, they're not going with you. Nothing you have in this
life is going to transfer up there or transfer in hell. Alright, so in 1 Timothy chapter
6 verse 6 it says, But godliness with contentment is great gain. We ought to be content with
the things that we have in our lives. And stop whining and complaining about what we
don't have and what we wish we could have or where we wish we could go back to or wish
we could go forward to. Be content with what we have. This is what the Bible teaches. For
we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. Fact,
okay? And having food and raiment, let us be there with content. But they that will
be rich fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and hurtful lusts which
drown men in destruction and perdition. See, desiring to be rich as a Christian, the Bible
is warning against us doing that. Why? Because it's going to bring foolish and hurtful lust.
There's nothing wrong with wanting to support your family or to make enough to live somewhat
comfortably, but to have that be your only motivation and the only thing that you really
truly care about, you're going to go down. You're going to go downhill. Good. It says
in verse 10, for the love of money is the root of all evil, which while some coveted
after, they have erred from the faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows, through
with many sorrows. So look, don't waste your great health and your prime years complaining
about how bad you feel now. You know, always listing your ailments is what old people like
to do. In England, they like to talk about the weather, and it's always bad. It's raining,
cloudy, I mean, when we're there it's hot it seems like, but you know, but listen, in
reality nobody wants to hear about all your problems. They don't. If you're just constantly
always negative in front of people and you're always just complaining about what's going
wrong in your life, it gets old to people and negativity can spread. And so, yes, you
might be hurting, yes you might be in pain, yes you might be having a hard time in your
life, but just if everybody in your life, if that's all they ever hear from you, it's
going to get old. So just keep that in the back of your mind as you get older and as
you get more pain. I'm sitting here talking about all the, you know, I have pain, but
I want to try to have a strike of balance here so you're not totally annoyed with me
about how much pain I'm in all the time. But you know, I was just thinking when I was writing
this sermon, I was in pain. My hip hurt. And I was just sitting down. But that's what happens
when you get older, the ailments start to stack up on you and then it's like all you
can ever think about is, wow, I'm just in pain all the time. I'm hurting all the time.
I wish I had the memory capacity that I had back then or whatever. We've got to be careful
with how we do those things because if you're constantly complaining about your life then
that means that God's not blessing you. That's kind of what you're saying to him. That's
what you're saying to other people. Oh yeah, I'm saved, I'm living a great Christian life,
but all you can do is complain? That's not a way that we should live our lives. Don't
constantly complain. And look, I can go toe to toe with the best of you with some of the
ailments I have. But what's the point? One day there's going to be a day when there is
no pain. There is no tears. There is no sorrow. We can run a marathon and never get tired.
Those days are going to come. So instead of looking or feeling bad about how we are now,
what about in the future? We are blessed beyond all recognition because God is going to give
us a new body that can never hurt, never experience pain, never need dandruff shampoo or deodorant
or toenail clippers or whatever it is. I know I make that joke all the time, but it's true.
You're going to be strong again. You're going to be the best you can be in that new body.
And so we do have those things to look forward to. And look, enjoy your youth. Do the most
you can for your family while you can do those things. And don't be an over worker to the
point where you never spend time with your kids, young people, young families. You know,
a lot of people regret having children or having so many children. But the day is going
to come when you feel bad for the fact that you thought that way. While you're here, right
now, young, able to take care of your kids to the best of your ability, don't complain
about how much they're bogging you down. Bogging you down from what? What are they
bogging you down from? The fun you want to have without them? I just want to be on Facebook
24-7 and these kids are just in my way. I just want to be able to watch TV, whatever
I want on TV or whatever it is that you feel like you're missing out on in the world. While
you're sitting there with your kids there thinking with that attitude and having that
attitude, you're missing it right then and there. And you're going to grow up and you're
going to regret every single time that you thought that way. And you're going to look
back on that and you're going to weep. And you're going to be sad and you're going to
be sorry. Enjoy your kids while they're your kids, while they're young and you're home.
Because you can't go back and re-raise them. You can't go back and spend more time with
them. The time you're going to spend with them now is all the time you got. Obviously
we'll be in heaven with them if they get saved. But that's a good thing to do is also have
your kids get saved. Enjoy your children. And yeah, they're cranky and they're needy
and they cost a lot of money and all this other stuff but you know what? You would gladly
give all that money back to just spend more time with them than you did before. And you
know men tend to be workaholics sometimes. Or maybe if your home is disorderly you don't
want to be there because you know that when you're walking in the door you're walking
into well wait, wait till your dad gets home. And then like you walk in and it's just like
negativity, negativity. So I mean there's lots of different roles you can play as far
as how your life is now. You don't have to you know regret that your children are young
and annoying and needy. But what about the times that are great with them? I know when
you're up all night sick with them, they're puking, they have a fever and all that stuff.
Those are hard times. But you know what? When you're older you're not even going to think
about those things. You're going to think about I wish I could have spent more time
with them. I wish I could have had more quality time. That's what you're going to think. So
people like to live in the past and in the future. Just the way the people are. But it's
wise to enjoy it now. Enjoy serving the Lord now while it's easier. Because the triple
decker apartment complexes don't get easier. They get more hard. The older and more beat
up you are the harder they are and you're like. And then all the young families with
their kids in the strollers are doing all the lower levels. And you know I'm not hating
on you. But it's funny because the other people that don't have the children are the
ones that are doing the high rises or whatever. But there's nothing wrong with that. Enjoy
those times too. Because there's going to come a day when your kids won't be in your
home and you're not going to be pushing around in strollers. And you're not going to be on
the lower levels. You're going to be on the higher levels and you're going to be like
man I wish I could help my kids again so I could push them around in strollers and only
do the lower levels. Perspective is everything right? So turn to Ecclesiastes chapter 1 verse
2. Ecclesiastes chapter 1 verse 2. We need to take our seasons of life as they come and
be glad that we're in them. You know obviously sometimes we're in hard times. We're dealing
with death. And that's just a fact. Death is a fact of our life that's going to happen.
People in our lives that we love are going to die. And the way we live our life you know
should you know there's some stupid country song that I don't know the name of it but
it's like talking about living your life like you were dying. Because I mean if you're in
the prime of your life you're not dying. You're in the prime. But as we get older you are
inching closer to your death. So why not live your life as if it might be your last day
on earth because it actually might be. We're not promised tomorrow. We're not promised
today. We could die today. You know? That's a fact. We don't know what's going to happen.
It says in Ecclesiastes chapter 1 verse 2 it says vanity of vanity saith the preacher
vanity of vanities all is vanity. Turn to Ephesians chapter 5 verse 14. We need to wake
up and realize that some of the things that we find so important right now are not really
that important. When the preacher says all is vanity and he lists off all the stuff that
he did, all the things that he took pleasure in, all the things that he was trying to learn
to do and he knew about apes and peacocks and flowers and all these different things
Solomon. But in the end he's just like all that stuff was vanity. I'm sure he would have
wanted to give all that back to not marry all those wives that basically ruined his
life because he wouldn't listen to the wisdom that he was actually preaching himself. Ephesians
5 verse 14 says wherefore he saith awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead and
Christ shall give thee light. See then that you walk circumspectly not as fools but as
wise. And so what does that mean that circumspectly it means to when you're doing things and making
decisions you're thinking about how those outcomes are going to come out later on. How
it might even affect your posterity. The things you do today are the decisions are what you
have to live with tomorrow. And so we should walk in this life thinking about people that
are around us, thinking about how the things and the decisions we make now are going to
affect the future and affect our relationships in the future. So and then verse 16 it says
redeeming the time because the days are evil. Now days are evil, so evil has two different
meanings. It could actually be something that's wicked or whatever but it also could
just mean harmful. The days are harmful and we live in a fallen world that's why when
you get saved you know if you get saved no matter how young you are you should redeem
the time that you have. Don't waste your time thinking well in 10 years I'm going to do
more stuff but right now I'm just going to have fun in my life. That's the world talking
buddy. That is the world teaching you what to do instead of the Bible and God teaching
you what to do and your parents. So it says be not unwise, wherefore be not unwise but
understanding what the will of the Lord is. What is the will of the Lord? That you would
serve him, that you would be wise, that you would walk circumspectly, that you'd wake
up out of the sleep that you're in and the slumber. You know we can be backslidden and
still be in church. You can be backslidden in heart and still show up and put on a pretty
face or a nice smile. But you know that you're asleep. You know that you're not paying attention.
You know that you're thinking about the Mexican restaurant across the alleyway over here,
the parking lot. You know you're thinking about food. But again what are we in? We're
in the preaching time. This is the time to learn something. This is the time to be encouraged
and also be admonished for the things that we need to be doing. Turn to 1 Corinthians
chapter 13 verse 11. 1 Corinthians chapter 13 verse 11. So if all is vanity, why don't
we take our time and our energy, and I'm not saying don't have fun. Just let me say this,
I'm not saying don't have a hobby, don't have fun, put on sackcloth and ashes, come to church
every day of the week. I'm not saying any of that. We should obviously live a good and
decent life here and have fun from time to time, but life isn't just about fun. When
most men that work, work at least 40 hours a week. Who works more than 40 hours a week
in here? Hands all over the building. If you work more than 40 hours a week, then you understand.
But you know there's places in the world where they work a 30 or 35 hour work week and they
want full bennies and everything for that. But you know we that have little time in our
days we should utilize what we can for the Lord also, but my point is is that work is
called work, it's not called fun. You're like oh I'm just not having that much fun. Well
when you grow up kids, you have to work. You have to pay bills. You have to buy clothes.
You have to buy food. And if you have children you have to do all that for other people besides
yourself. I've been talking about this lately a lot, but you know people are complaining
about how expensive their kids are when they're little. Guess what? When they're older they're
way more expensive. I tell this to the families with young children here, it's like oh these
kids are so expensive. It's like you have no idea. Yeah I know diapers are expensive.
I know that. Like they've really gone up in price since I was having to buy them, but
once you get out of them then you're kind of in this, then they just start eating more.
You know like when our kids were little and we just had a couple kids or whatever, it's
like you could give them a little tiny plate of food and that would be enough. Like good
more for me or whatever. But as they get older, and especially young boys, they get hollow
legs and then have dessert pockets left over. Like where are you putting all that? You know
they got two hollow legs and then like I'm still hungry for dessert. Like you just ate
all the food. Am I lying? Anybody in here that's feeding an army of kids knows that
the older they get then they start competing with you for food. Uh uh. I can still beat
you. So 1 Corinthians chapter 13 verse 11 says, When I was a child I spake as a child,
I understood as a child, I thought as a child, but when I became a man I put away childish
things. And I'm only reading this for you to understand that again there's a time to
be a child. There's nothing wrong with being a child. That's not what Paul, and Paul, this
isn't even really the context of what Paul is saying, but it's still a fact. Once you
become a man, it's time to put away childish things. You know and I'm not saying if you
play video games every once in a while or if you, you know, whatever you have some kind
of RC car hobby or you like to collect guns or whatever. I'm not saying don't do those
things. Well kids don't collect guns generally. But, or work on cars or like cars, or ladies,
whatever the hobbies that you like to do. Um, I'm not saying that you shouldn't be able
to do some of those things, but like what is it saying? When I became a man I put away
childish things. And so, just realize this kids, at one point, at some point you're going
to be an adult and you can no longer play with your toys. I remember when I put my GI
Joes away for the last time. I'm embarrassed to say what age I was. But I was like, maybe
I think it was in eighth grade, going into eighth grade. It's pretty old. I remember,
you know, putting them in the cigar box that I had for the last time and putting them away
and thinking I'm not, I'm done playing with toys. I wasn't a man. But like there just
comes a time when it's time to put the toys away. Who's had that time in their life? They
had to put the toys away. Kids enjoy the time when you have toys. Don't be just wanting
all this stuff that's way out of your age range. Enjoy what you have now. But yeah,
when you're a man, it's time to put the GI Joes away. If I was still playing with GI,
if I was just like up here setting my battlements up, because the way I play with toys I would
just set them all up and then I would just be like, yeah it looks good. Then start all
over again. My brother's just like, you know, playing with them like that. I'm like, quit
being so rough on your GI Joes. You're hurting them more than their, you know, than the battle.
But anyway, so I'm just saying be age appropriate. I'm not saying don't have fun. Okay? So, and
then maybe you're not young, but you're young enough to do, you know, all these things.
Keep your mortality in perspective, like I was saying, and keep your body in perspective.
A lot of young people do a lot of foolish things. You know, like people have asked me
to go skiing for years, but I was young when Sonny Bono hit the tree and Christopher Reeves
was in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. Two famous people that hit trees skiing, I'm
like, well if famous people can die or have, you know, be in a wheelchair for the rest
of their lives, then I don't want to do that. And I just thought, you know what, I only
have one body and I'm probably not built for skiing. When I hit the snow, it's going to
hurt. You know, I know that like part of learning how to ski is like you fall down a lot. But
when big people fall down, it hurts a lot more. So yeah, I'm not going to, you know,
and people like to go out and buy motorcycles. And if you've ever done a, you know, done
the motorcycle thing, you know, just guys just like to ride motorcycles. As soon as
the sun comes out in Vancouver, you know, you got the biker gangs and all the biker
clubs and all that come out. But, you know, I'm not going to get on a motorcycle ever
again. Never, ever again. Because you can't protect yourself on it. You can't, and I know
someone in here that got into a pretty bad motorcycle accident and, you know, it was
very devastating. You know, and luckily, you know, a lot of people don't walk away from
motorcycle accidents. They die. And so we got to think about, if you're a young man
and you have a family, think about the things that you're willing to do with your body because
even like I know that lifting is a big thing, like power lifting and weight lifting is kind
of a big thing in churches like ours right now. But if you think about it, you only have
one back. So all you have to do is pop one disc one time or blow out some disc because
you're like, I'm trying to get my gains, bro. And then your back's toast forever. It's toast
forever. And then you're going to be like that old person that's complaining constantly
about how bad things are and you did it on purpose. I mean, you were trying to get stronger
and bigger. You didn't try to blow your back out. But it happens. And once you do something
to your back that's permanent, you're going to deal with that pain for the rest of your
life no matter if you're young or old. You're still going to deal with it as you're young.
And so I'm just saying that don't be such a risk taker when you have so much to risk.
When you have people that are counting on you and depending on you, being some daredevil
that jumps off of things and jumps out of airplanes, no offense, I know people have
done that too. I was invited to jump out of the airplane too and I was like, nope. If
I was meant to fly, God only gave me wings. You know, I'm not flying. So if I was meant
to fly, jump out of an airplane or whatever. There's always that nightmare of the chute
not opening up or whatever. It happens. I'm sure it happens. People die from jumping out
of airplanes too, don't they? Turn to Proverbs 27 verse 1. So keep not only your physical
mortality, you know, your body, think about who's counting on your body to be good, not
taking too many crazy risks when people are counting on you, but also, again, thinking
about your own mortality that you aren't promised tomorrow. It's just a fact. The Bible says
in Proverbs 27 verse 1, Boast not thyself of tomorrow, for thou knowest not what a day
may bring forth. Don't brag about what you're going to do tomorrow because you don't know
whether you're going to make it to tomorrow or not. You could have a brain aneurysm and
die in your sleep. And then where's your bragging? Where's your boasting? Turn to James chapter
4 verse 13. James chapter 4 verse 13. The Bible says, Go to now, ye that say, Today
or tomorrow, we will go into such a city and continue there a year, and buy and sell and
get gain, whereas you know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It
is even a vapor that appearth for a little time and then vanishes away. Our life is,
you know, I'm going to be 48 this year. And, you know, I feel like it's gone by very fast.
And I'm looking, I'm thinking, well, how much time do I possibly have left? Nobody knows.
I don't know. And so I definitely don't want to get to the end of my life and have regret.
But I want to make sure that I keep things in perspective, that I could go tomorrow.
I could go next week. I could go next year. So we should try to live our best life in
the present, in the now, and not just count on things that we're going to try to do in
the future. You don't know what your future is going to bring. It says, For you ought
to say, If the Lord will, we shall live and do this or that. But now you rejoice in your
boastings. All such rejoicing is evil. Therefore to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it
not to him it is sin. You know what you should be doing, but you're not doing it. And you're
thinking, I'll do it tomorrow. I'll start tomorrow. I'll start the Bible reading challenge
next week and I'll catch up or whatever. You don't know. You just don't know. You don't
know whether you're even going to live past tomorrow. So you've got to keep those things
in perspective in your life and not wish to go back or wish to go forward or think that
you're going to do something because you just don't know. In Psalm chapter 90, go ahead
and turn to 1 Timothy chapter 4. I'm going to read Psalm chapter 90 verse 12. Psalm chapter
90 verse 12 is written by Moses and he lived a long life. But even he said in Psalm chapter
90 verse 12, he says, so teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts to wisdom.
Teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. Remember that the
days are short. A vapor, you know if you cook something and it starts to boil, you see the
vapor coming up, how long do you see it for? You don't see it for long. You see it just
for long and it kind of dissipates into the air. That's what the Bible is trying to help
us understand is that our life is very short. Shorter than we realize it is. And here's
the other thing about, I just want to mention this again really quickly. I talk about how
you only have one back, only have one body. When you're older, this is a trap that older
people fall into too, is we think we are still as good as we were when we were 25. We still
think we have the skills and the strength and the speed that we did when we were younger
and it's just a lie. Just don't believe that guys. Don't believe that gals. My wife, she
said, we were talking about this last night and she said, I remember I was, she used to
try to race the teens and she used to be able to beat the teens in foot races and stuff
like that. But she got to a certain age, she went and did a cartwheel and when she did
the cartwheel, she hurt herself. And she tried to play it off or whatever like it wasn't
that bad but, because nobody wants to, you know, you already look dumb enough when you
don't pull it off but then, or to be hurting really bad because you tried to show the young
bucks that you still got it or whatever. That's a trap that we fall into. We're not as tough
as we used to be, we're not as strong as we used to be, we're not as graceful as we used
to be. So when we fall, you generally start to break things as you get older. So that's
a trap that we don't want to get into. But 1 Timothy chapter 4 verse 12 says, let no
man despise thy youth. Nothing wrong with being young. Paul said to Timothy, hey you're
a young preacher, you're a young pastor, let no man despise thy youth. But be thou an example
of the believers in word and conversation and charity and spirit and faith and impurity.
As a young person, you can still be a great leader but be a knowledgeable and wise person,
you know, don't let anybody despise the fact that you're young. I was on a live stream
with this guy who's trying to organize national soul and trying to get the old IFB back at
the doorstep. He's 18 years old and maybe he doesn't understand everything. But you
know, he understands when he looks out and sees that the fundamentalist movement is dying
out, he wants to do something about it. And there's nothing wrong, you know, I admire
the fact that he's 18 and he's putting all this stuff together and I think, man, I wish
I would have been like that when I was 18. But I wasn't. I wasn't even saved. This guy's
got all the advantages. He's saved, he's sharp, he's young. And you know, the sky's the limit
if he stays humble. But don't let anybody despise the fact that you're young. You can
still be a great servant of the Lord, you can be a great man of God, you can be a great
lady in the Lord, and be young. There's nothing wrong with being young. It's not some slight,
okay? But the same would hold true as an older person. But it says, look at what it says,
until I come, verse 13, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine, neglect
not the gift that is in thee, which was given by thee by prophecy with the laying on of
hands of the presbytery. So he's, you know, he's also talking to Timothy, who's obviously
a pastor, but he's saying, hey, read, read the Bible, you know, go and learn doctrine
from God's Word, and don't neglect the gift that God gave you. See, a lot of people neglect
the gifts that they are given, and they don't follow after those gifts. God gives us gifts
for a reason, and everybody has areas that they specialize and have gifts that weren't,
you know, a gift is something that's given to you for free, right? So maybe your gift
is organization, maybe your gift is hardworking, maybe your gift is, you know, being able to
learn multiple language. Whatever your gift is, don't neglect those things. When you're
young, it's the time to pursue those things, and then when you're older, you already have
that all in your repertoire. It's already good to go. It says, meditate upon these things,
give thyself wholly to them, that thy profiting may also, may appear, excuse me, to all, and
take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine continue in them, for in doing this, thou
shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee. Turn to Isaiah chapter 40 verse 28.
I'm going to read Philippians chapter 3 verse 13. Listen, if you're older, don't, and I've
repeated this multiple times in this sermon, because I want you to get this. If you're
older, don't live in your past failures. You know, what are we supposed to do? What did
I say last week in the sermon on Sunday morning? Brethren, I count not myself to be, to have
apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching
forth unto those things which are before. I press toward the mark for the prize of the
high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Don't live in your past failures. Move forward in
your life, and reach forward towards the prize. What is the prize? Knowing Christ, getting
Christ, finishing the race, finishing the war, right? Doing your best for Christ every
single day, and then being steadfast in the faith and not falling out, right? Now, and
again, don't wish to be young again. It's not possible to be young again. It's just
not, so stop dwelling there. Isaiah 40 verse 28 says, hast thou not known, hast thou not
heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth fainteth
not? Neither is weary, there is no searching of his understanding. God never gets tired.
God is filled with energy. He's all powerful. We're not. But what does he do? What does
he promise that he'll do? Verse 29, he giveth power to the faint, and to them that have
no might, he increases strength. So when our strength fails, when our flesh fails, when
our minds fail, you know what? God can still give power to the people that are faint, people
that are worn out, people that are weary. Verse 30, even the youth shall faint and be
weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew
their strength, and shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary,
and they shall walk and not faint. See, if you're running low on fuel, God can fill it
back up. God can, if you're just taught, you're like, well pastor, you don't understand, I
only have, you know, one day off a week, and then you expect me to be in church. Well,
you know what? God can fill your gas tank back up. God can give you that power. God
can give you the strength. Do you ask for it? Or are you just, oh, I'm just so weary,
I'm so tired, I'm so hurt. Look, God can help you. You've got to go to the source. You've
got to go to the person that never faints, the person that never runs out of energy,
and ask, hey God, can I get a little bit of that energy? Instead of drinking a Monster
Energy drink, get an energy drink from God. Tap in. Because it says they that wait upon
the Lord. Now, a lot of people take this to mean, you know, that you're waiting for an
answer for prayer or something like that. But the way I view this verse, and maybe I'm
wrong about this, but the way I view it is that we're servants of God. And servants
wait on people, don't they? And so I believe that if we're waiting upon the Lord, we're
working for God, that He's going to renew our strength. He knows how much work we're
putting in. He knows how hard you're working. And you know what He's going to do? He's going
to say, I know you're tired, I know you're weary, but here you go, here's some wings
so you can fly. Here's unlimited energy drinks so you can just keep going and keep doing
more for God. And as old as we get and as frail as we get, we can still do great things
for God, and maybe you can't walk and go up the, you know, whatever. We have finite bodies
at this point. But you know what? You can pray. There's other things you can do. You
don't have to go door to door. We're going to get past that point, folks. Everybody gets
past that point. But while you're young and strong, that's when you should be doing the
most you can for not only just your family and you, your spouse, but also for the Lord.
Because again, we're dragged into this world kicking and screaming, and nobody likes being
born, do they? And nobody likes dying either. We're born into this world kicking and screaming,
do babies like being born? What do they do? You know like, I was warm, I was cozy, I was,
I had the amniotic fluid. I was on a permanent gas tank. I liked what you were eating. It
was coming right through my umbilical cord. And then when they get kicked out, they're
like, ah! Nobody asked to be born. Nobody asked to die. It's just a fact of life. And
we need to keep our minds in circumspect wisdom understanding these things. Be purposeful
in your life and realize the state and age that you are and act accordingly. Let's pray.
Dear Lord, we thank you so much for this church. I pray, Lord, that you'd help us to keep things
in perspective and, Lord, that the youth wouldn't be wasted on the young. Lord, that the young
people in this room would realize that now is the time to work as hard as we can in our
lives. And Lord, I pray that you'd help us as people that are getting elder and older
and those that are elderly. Lord, I pray you'd help us to, Lord, have a good positive attitude
and even though we might be hurting, we might have ailments, that we can't look back on
the things and accomplishments we did in the past, but we need to still look to the future
and put those things behind us and our failures behind us. Lord, we thank you for all that
you do and all the power and wisdom that you give us through the Bible. In Jesus' name
we pray. Amen.