Living For Eternity | Todd Wagner

[Applause] [Applause] well hello porch friends how are we doing yeah it's good to say hello to my friends in Dallas and Fort Worth Houston Joplin Tulsa where you guys are watching from online and it's great to be with you I'm Todd I get to hang out here water warm for my friends JP and dee Marv and others so it's awesome to be here we are in a series called the afterlife and we've been talking about what is on the other side there's a lot of speculation the first week we talked about this horrible thing called Hell and if when you talk about Hell it doesn't bring you a great deal of just sadness and an overwhelming sense of almost a burden then you really haven't talked about Hell there's such a misconception about that topic like you know I hear friends say all the time like well man I might be going to hell but least I'll be there with my friends first of all let's say you got to think who your friends are rethink that whole thing and and secondly what I would just say is no no no no you need to understand hell is the place where there is nothing there that would even remotely remind you of a kind and gracious gods and that would include friends and if you think well may at least we'll be good music and sex drugs and rock'n'roll we'll just get after it all day long meet a some sex is a gift from God you can scratch that off your hell list of things to do music it's a gift of God read your Bible God's the one who gave it scratch that off the things you might do and chill while you're in hell hell is a place where it can best be defined as we said two weeks ago as the ultimate FOMO you're gonna not just have a fear of missing out you're gonna miss out eternally because there will be nothing there that will ever remind you of the kindness and goodness of God there's two kinds of people in the world those that will say to God at this particular moment God your will be done and those that God one day will say to them hey your will be done you don't want me even though my prevailing general grace was available to you and over you and around you you know the world that you were in I told you why it was the mess than what I did to rescue you from it and to give you hope in the midst of it you don't want anything to do with me I will grant you your request I will put you someplace where nothing will ever remind me of you again that's why it's even eternal because you would love nothing more than just to eradicate life and to go to sleep forever hell does not involve sleep it doesn't involve death it involves nothing but darkness and everything that is the antithesis of God and if you can talk about God without just a real if you can talk about Hell without a real sobriety you haven't really understood hell I will tell you I had this people ask me all the time you know what do you think Todd is the number one thing gonna ask God when you get to heaven and I'm not really sure with the number one thing I'm gonna ask him about that I didn't really know you know when I was here on earth there's a ton obviously we'd all love to ask him but I can assure you there's one thing I'll have a problem with in heaven if God doesn't let me see him for who he really is and that's gonna be the idea of hell if I don't get my arms around the eternality of God the love of God the the reality of who he is when I get to heaven I'm gonna have a real problem with Hell and I can take it by faith right now why it's there and I've taught on this before like JP did a couple of weeks ago but let me just say this hell is not something we should joke about a delight and it's something that we should in understanding be grateful that God has delivered us from because that's all of our destiny apart from grace and we should do everything we can to help people understand the opportunity of God's given us to get out of it heaven on the other hand is just the opposite as we talked last week the best way for you to understand heaven is when the Bible talks about it having roads paved with gold we kill for gold here gold is the one form of currency that has survived almost every civilization has ever lived the things that men go to war over and fight to attain and have you'll walk on it in heaven I'm not really sure you're gonna get there in the streets we'll have gold instead of asphalt but that's the best the writer could do with the words that he had to describe the glory of what awaits us heavens not a place that's up there it's the earth restored in all the ways that God intended it's when God will be with us again not by faith but by sight it'll be an amazing thing we'll love you and I'll be friends without sin and if grace gets us there grace will sustain us and we'll get to experience the kingdom it's God intended it heaven is everything on earth fully and completely and actually realized and is there sex I do this little thing called real truth real quick I actually did one called will there be sex in heaven check it out you might be kind of curious on why there was or what but let me just say this to you cuz right now you can't like man there better be right because if you didn't know ty this is largely a single crowd and we're trying to be chaste and so if we happen to go home before we get married and we're waiting it better be there on the other side because word is it's alright you know so let me just tell you it's alright okay is a guy who's enjoying the beauty of that in the marriage we're but let me just tell you this it's kind of like listen I'll say to you this it's kind of like when you talk to a five-year-old but what heaven might be like alright and he goes what's it like is it like is it like a candy store where this like oh the bubble gum is that what it's like as you get older like daddy is there is heaven gonna have is it gonna have like bobble common I call the chocolate I could ever eat like if you tell a kid like I don't know man I'm not sure there's gonna be ice cream a bubble gum in heaven that kids like well I'm out I want I I'm out alright because to a five-year-old the only thing that would make sense am being eternally worth pursuing is a place with us a lots of bubblegum and ice cream but as you get older you're like man I hope it ain't just bubblegum and ice cream right I think there's a little night go check it out you'll see some more that but heaven is everything you've ever wanted and it's amazing now here's the question what do we do if by the kindness of God we've escaped the judgment do us what do we do with the reality of our understanding of the grace of God that helps us avoid the judgment that that all of us who are separated from God that are a downline of sinners all of us are born into sin we all come from moms and dads every single one of us that are rebels against God and we do a good job of kind of continuing the family business and every single one of us has got to get to a place where we deal with our sin that's innate in us and God in His grace makes it known to us and so what do we do we just hang around and wait do we get to go to heaven while we kind of endure this less than God's ideal on earth and why are you holding a stick okay so let's talk about these things it's the story I want to share with you that goes with a stick it's told it's just a story is told of a guy that was a very wealthy man and a very wise man he had many servants and he had one service that couldn't do anything right he was just a fool he was just the dumbest guy he ever met and he just one day out of exasperation with this fool he said man you're such a fool I've never met anybody else like you I'll tell you what here hold this stick and I want you to hold on to the stick until you meet a bigger fool than you and so this servant got this stick and you know I mean whether he's just humble or he really was as dumb as the master in his exasperation declared him to be he carried the stick around with him everywhere he always had the stick his entire life and then yet in kind of a strange way that we often do this this this foolish servant who just couldn't seem gaming right there was a soft spot his master's heart about him and so as the master age and offensive was about to die the master summoned all of his servants and said I'm going to fool the guy with a stick does he still have the stick oh he's still got the stigma bring the stick carrying fool in here and so he walks in he sees his master there and he's just at the end of his life and and the master knew he was a fool so he couldn't really explain even death to him and so he just said I just want to let you know I'm leaving and the food goes will master where are you going well what would we do without you here he's just just listen to me he said I'm going on a journey so will master wait where's the journey wait where are you gonna go well I don't know where I'm going well master you're a wise man you're educated what do you mean you don't know where you're going what what king will you meet when you get there you'll I don't I don't know who the king is in the land that I'm going to because you don't know what Cawood what do you need master to be successful on your journey because I know what I need really frankly is master you how long have you known you were gonna go on this journey well I've known my entire life and the fool said master do you mean to tell me that you knew that you were going on a journey your entire life that you didn't you didn't prepare for that journey you didn't know what you needed to take with you on that journey to be successful and you didn't know who the king was and the ruler was of the land that you were going to and how you might be at peace with him master your stick don't take it personally okay but you think about that if you kind of like hey that is kind of crazy isn't it I mean this is something like I mean that I don't know if you guys have noticed but the statistics for death are rather impressive and for every person that born is born that person dies it's kind of like you better begin to deal with it I mean it's tax day okay if you're watching this in the future and what do we same is not very many things in life that are certain but certainly death and taxes are certain and we know they're coming you may not have done your taxes and you can delay ultimately that thing coming but and pay him a little bit later but you're not going to avoid the day and what do we do in light of that we know the fact that the day is coming let me tell you one of my favorite places to go in scripture I I hardly can talk to this crowd without looking at it it is in Ecclesiastes chapter 7 and then also in 12 we're gonna go there rather quickly and we'll we'll bounce to other places in just a moment but but let's take a look at these verses and Ecclesiastes chapter 7 1 & 2 we we kind of have the master of the story that I told the very beginning just the wisest men that ever lived the wealthiest men that ever lived Solomon I love to describe this way he is the guy that ran out of mirages before he ran out of money what do I mean by that Solomon was the guy that had the resources to chase after everything that looked life-giving and he never ran out of enough resources to chase the next thing when the thing that he was chasing do provide for him what he wanted he is the old testaments rich young ruler now let me just remind you this before I even read from Ecclesiastes chapter 7 let me tell you what's unique about the rich young ruler the rich young ruler is the guy that shows up in your new testament has the interaction with Jesus and this is a rich powerful has it made guy and they the question that he asked Jesus is telling he says in Matthew 19 to Jesus he says hey what good thing shall I do that I might obtain and he uses the word eternal life now that word eternal is a couple of different words in the original language that are translated eternal or abundant but this particular word means basically this what he said is Jesus what must I have that I could have enduring life now what he means there is not just so that I can have life after the grave I think what he's saying is I've got everything a man could want and yet like Solomon's about to show you I don't have what every man wants which is some sense of satisfaction some sense of peace I I have all that most of these people around you are seeking and yet I don't perceive I have what they have and so good teacher what what what what am i lacking what do I need to do that I can have life indeed it's what he's asking for not just life at the grave but life right now in fact this is what Jesus says in John chapter 10 verse 10 it's the very familiar verse it just says this you know that the thief the liar he comes to steal and to kill and to destroy but Jesus says I'm here that you might have life and that you might have it abundantly what Jesus is saying right there is I want you to have life to its fullest life that is exceedingly abundantly beyond anything that you will get pursuing anything else but me and when God doesn't offer people life apart from him it's not because he's mean it's because he can't life doesn't exist apart from him and since men have chosen not to far Oh God but to go their own way they're not experiencing what it is they ultimately longed for and there is the sense of haunting this sense of emptiness and we cry out what bono right sings I still haven't found what I'm looking for what must I do that I might have this enduring sense of life in first Timothy we're told to have nothing to do with worldly fables fit only for old women have nothing better to do but just chitchat about old stories and wear life but might comfort but on the other hand says discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness because body the discipline is the little profit there's nothing wrong with what taking care of the body you have it's the only body you have on this journey until you get home but godliness is profitable for all things since it holds promise for the present life watch this and also for the life that is to come when you pursue the good way as Jeremiah wrote about when he was watching the people of Israel that that had left God had given himself away to all kinds of idolatry it Jeremiah and speaking for God and in chapter 6 verse 16 he just basically says hey listen it says come back pay attention to the ancient pass where the good way is and walk in it and then you will find rest for your souls this old proven way the way that leads to life indeed you'll never find it by pursuing just riches on this earth or all that this world up but if you want to have extraordinary more than usual abundant life you're gonna find that in God's way listen to me folks this is so important for you as you walk through which you need life you need to understand God gives you Commandments so that you can experience blessing the very first words that God spoke to humankind in the history of the world were a commandment it says God blessed them and said to them do this now watch what he's saying is not if you do this I will bless you he's saying I'm going to bless you I'm going to tell you where life indeed is this is the thing heaven is more a person than it is a place and when you are in the presence of God when you when you walk with the Ancient of Days you walk according to the ancient past where the good way is and you walk with him and it gives you rest for your souls God isn't mad at you because you're sleeping with one another and swiping left and swiping right and and and you know just trying to you know find life and all the ways that the world sells you we understand I mean I understand the world is selling me and God's not mad at us and judging us because we pursue life in other areas the things that we pursue that are false gods that aren't enduring life are the judgment we find ourself having like the rich young ruler fleeting moments of satisfaction vacation and buzzes and highs but the buzz always ends the intense pleasure isn't enough the fleeting validation from another human being doesn't satisfy our soul and so what it says in the scripture says in proverbs chapter 19 it says it's not good for men to be without knowledge it says he who makes haste with his feet heirs and then it says when men suffers and the consequence of that it says their heart rages against God how many times have you and your life saying God what is up with you why why can't I and he's just like hey listen I want to bless you do this fill your earth with these things walk with me and act like me you're made in my image and so what I filled your heart with and and and this gimmick setting that you're in with fill your life with and you'll continue to experience the blessing God said look here I love you look at the world I made it it's beautiful it's perfect it's that you go through this world because you need to hear this God understands right now that this world is not her home we are aliens and strangers in it we live our lives in a way that people go who are you people that aren't trying to figure out how to find life on your own you live as if you have a script and an understanding and an insight that most men don't have because even when evil befalls you you don't freak out and get filled with bitterness and vengeance and rage there is forgiveness there is a perspective in your life that I want to know what the source of it is and we go here's the source 7 my King has told me that the world that we're in is not the world he intended the world that ran is a world wracked with sin sometimes I know that part of the trouble I have is because I've made choices to not walk in the ancient path where the good way is and so sometimes the trouble that I'm in is trouble about a part of myself but often I'm not doing anything except trying to live faithfully and there's loneliness because this world is broken there is sickness and disease because this world is broken there is betrayal because this world is broken and Jesus tells me to take heart this world isn't my home have courage speak hope with others are in the world and one day it will be all that you longed for meanwhile have peace and joke yourself with others who live according to the ancient path who want to fill their relationships and fill their world with the good way I want to bless you first John 5:3 this is the commandment of God that we keep his Commandments and His commandments are not burdensome listen don't miss this I'm gonna show you some Scripture a little bit later that legalist will tell you do these things and God will bless you that's not your Bible the Bible is let me bless you I love you do this do you understand that the law that God gives us is is basically instructions from a loving father and he's just saying look this is good for you now listen we'd none of us do everything a loving father wants us to do that's called sin and it leaves us brokenhearted and it leaves us when we choose to go this way when God says that way we have offended God we're turning away from him and that's where God says listen I understand why you do that because you you come from a downline of rebels but I'm gonna I'm gonna make provision for you and when you turn the wrong way and you come to your senses just acknowledge this isn't the right way confess which means to agree with this is the right way what am i doing I've left the ancient path I've turned to the left or to the right I have not trusted in the Lord and lean not on my own understanding I have not in all my ways acknowledged him and that's why there is now pain that's why there is now regret that's why there is now shame that's why there is now guilt praise be to God who gave himself for me praise be to God for my Living Hope let me make amends with everybody that I've wronged in my going the wrong way let me celebrate my risen Lord and let me get back on the straight path let me confess my sins to God that I might be forgiven and let me might confess my sins to others that we might heal our relationship that's the word of God and off we go I love talking with you about how we live in light of eternity in light of the reality of the horror of life without God and in light of the hope that's coming with life with God see here's the thing you just need to know this if you're going home if Jesus is the provision for your sin if you've acknowledged that you have a tendency to leave the ancient past like all of us have and all of us do and you know that that's an offense to a holy God and you say God I know the wages of my leaving you is death but I praise you that you've shown me the free gift is eternal life is is full and and in continual life with Jesus but not just in a life to come but right now I can live a life that's different than the rich can live I can live a life that is extraordinary almost alienness I'm not a slave to the world's demands I'm not gonna be filled with its despair because I'm gonna live with a perspective that's just a little bit unusual because I have more than the usual wisdom the scripture says things which I hasn't seen here hasn't heard things which don't enter into the hearts of common men all these things God is freely given to those who love him and so we are people of great hope and great perception and why we should discipline ourself that's fine you know to have good bodies it's just as make sure you stay attentive to not just bodily discipline but especially to godliness for its profitable you're gonna start to experience a little bit more now here's the thing if you're going home this is your hell if you're going home to heaven if if Jesus is your king this is as bad as it's ever gonna get and if you're a person who rejects the provision and the kindness of God you're living on an earth that is filled what is what it's called common grace the rain falls on the wicked and the unjust just like it does on the righteous and the godly it waters your ground when you're a sinner and you Nick yourself and you start to bleed God has in your body the ability for that that that blood to thicken to coagulate and stop the bleeding there is music on earth for the sinner and the righteous alike there is the ability to experience temporary pleasure through human relationship for the sinner and the righteous alike if you are a rebel against God this is your heaven and it's never going to get better than this and so I don't want to say drink deeply but what Solomon would say is hey yeah eat drink and be merry for tomorrow you die so the believer he would say hey listen man this world is into your home to live as Christ to die is to gain so eat drink and be merry and all that you do do it for the glory of God for tomorrow you die and you're going home one leaving hell behind forever the other losing even a whisper of what heaven might be like so what are we doing lad of this the answer is is we start to enjoy what God wants us to enjoy right now because what God has done is he's made provision for us right now on how to experience more than usual extraordinary super natural life now that's who we are if you're a believer there is there is a condition upon you when you walk in the ancient pass where the good way is when you walk in it because God blesses you and you no longer think the commandments of God are burdensome or rules and you got to perform or things you have to do so he doesn't backhand you but you realize it's the words of a loving father and just trying to encourage you and help you and he knows you're not gonna be perfect child so I make provision for you the right sirs falls seven times and gets back up again with God there to encourage you and to bring about the completion what he's begun and the more you see the goodness of his way the more you walk according to it and the more you escape the horror of self pain still live in a world that's broken but even then you can sing because you understand why watch this Ecclesiastes 7 it just says this a good name is better than good ointment is what my Bible says your Bible might say is better than perfume okay which is kind of fun even if I got a perfume or a good name I mean give me the good name but the idea here of what perfume represents or oil or good point Minh it represents the sense of joy it represents prosperity but here's the thing a good name is enduring when you put perfume on it's not long before just the joy and the fleetingness of the moment leaves you and you're left with a rank life no matter how sweet you can make your smell self smell for a moment you're not really experiencing the richness and the sweetness of life that God intends for you so he's just saying is don't look for temporary things to please you and that's why he says in this next little line the day of one's death is better than the day of one's birth you have to follow Hebrew poetry here what he's saying in verse one a if you want to call it that in Ecclesiastes chapter 7 he's just saying listen if you live a good life and when you die that's better than the day of one's first why because the day of one's birth is joyful and there's nothing but the potential for prosperity ahead but there's also drama and there's also the potential to give yourself the fleeting things and what Solomon is going to say is you might have moments with just real sweetness but in the end you're gonna have a rank life if you don't be attentive to the ways of God and so Solomon's saying man it's better if you've lived a long life then and been faithful than just starting where you may screw up that's kind of his perspective because what he's going to do the rest of chapter 7 is he couldn't kind of walk through and he's gonna tell you hey there's some people that when they prosper it screws them up and there's some people when they go through suffering it screws them up because they don't understand how to handle prosperity or they don't have any category to explain corruption so if Solomon's going to do to help you is in verse 2 as he says this he says listen it's better go to a house of mourning than it is to go to a house of feasting you're to hang out at funerals more than parties because when you're at a funeral you see what ultimately matters it as we were singing here I don't know if your phone's dinged if you follow different news channels that Barbara Bush died former first lady the president knighted States it was interesting because you know I'd seen we knew that Barbara Bush was sick and all people are going to end up where Barbara Bush does in terms of passing through this earth were earthly bodies that are condemned to death until God resurrects our bodies some to judgment and some to life Barbara Bush there was a famous commencement speech she gave at an all-girls school and one of the things she said the end of the day you're not going to at the end of your life one to have won one more case gotten one more nice outfit won one more argument you won't regret one test that you didn't do as well in as you wish you would have what you're gonna regret other times you didn't love and care for people the times you didn't prepare yourself to invest in the only things that matter and everything you gave away the fleeting things are not going to be sweet to you on the deathbed one time there was a guy that walked in and I have sat I have sat in chairs next to beds of billionaires feeding them ice chips where I have seen their wealth be useless to them I've been in the homes of people who were in palliative care and and their homes these these homes that I will never live in of of people who are doing exceedingly well and and the one man whose home I was in was was surrounded by immense wealth this one time and in a sense he didn't say this but another time in a story like this you might say what is all this that is around you and the answer is these are things that make a death bed terrible because you feel like you're letting go of everything you've ever invested in instead of following the counsel of God who wants you to go hey while you're alive use the things that I've given you to bless others not to just continue to mount up comfort for yourself you're not here to make a living you're here to make a difference it is more blessed Jesus says the Bible says to give than receive he doesn't tell you if you don't give more than you receive you're going to hell he says you want to experience a little bit of heaven on earth then be like me for though I was rich I became poor that through my poverty you might become rich who do we get in this room and sing songs about who seated at the right hand of God who's been given the name above all names it's the answer is Jesus I think about william bordon you may never have heard of william bordon before his name is Borden of Yale yeah you know Borden it's the picture of him because you drink his family's wealth right Ellis Lee the cow comes from the Borden family this is the Borden dairy dynasty at the turn of the 19th century moving into the 20th century young William Borden graduated from high school and as part of his graduation gift his wealthy family gave him a chance to to travel around the world and so bill Borden was a man that went around the world when he went around the world though he went with a man of faith and that man of faith didn't just take him skiing the Swiss Alps he took him to certain places where there were people groups that did not know about the ancient past there were people that had been part of human history that had rejected God in his ways and have given himself over to superstition and myth and entire generations and cultures were living in the midst of paganism and billboard and saw this and he was a man who had a faith and while it was over there God sparked in his life a desire for the nation's to understand what he understood not to have the wealth that he did but had the wealth of understanding that the grace of God had given him and so bill Borden went back home and he went and got his education at the time at Yale University and while he was there his freshman year when he showed up the president the university spoke up and and gave a speech to kind of all the incoming students and he told them you all must have a fixed purpose in life and boardin walked out of that room incredibly agitated and his friends he was just making so why are you so frustrated he wrote down quote this president neglected to say what our purpose should be can I have my stick back he just said you've gotta have a great purpose you gone on journey on this life you you now you're not at the end you're at the beginning this is the beginning and he said you must have a purpose but he says he neglected to tell us where we should find our purpose and where we should get an ability to persevere in our purpose where we get the strength to resist the temptations that will have us only seeking after fleeting joys while we're here this man failed us and so what he started to do is he said I'm gonna show you guys where purpose comes from he didn't wait till he went on the mission field to go reach these unreached people he went to his fellow students at Yale and he turned to one friend he said I'd love you to get up with me in the morning and pray that God will allow us resist temptation that God will allow us to live according to the purposes that he's given us as men on earth that are moving through this world is not our home and every morning he said bill and this one guy we get up he would read his Bible and he would tell his friend with the Bible meant and how God had given them a purpose there that was greater than making fortunes or living underneath the fortunes and others have made and then two people joined and then three people joined and then four people joined one guy just said this when we met bill it became obvious to us that there was something about him that strengthened the rest of us and what it was it was a man with a convictions a man that understood things would Yale students didn't understand yell presidents didn't understand the philosophies and elementary instructors of the world weren't giving them that purpose and Bill looked around he saw the immorality and the hopelessness and the despair of men that were living by the time he graduated four years later it wasn't one or two men that were with him 1,000 of the 1,300 Yale students were in Bible studies that bill had coordinated and led at Yale University do you hear that 1,300 students at Yale University the time and Bill gave them a purpose and there was a revival that broke out in the Yale campus after he broke out from the Yale campus he went on to Princeton to get further theological training and while he was there he became convinced that God wanted to reach about 10 million Muslims that lived in China and so he told his family that he was going to go and give his life to reaching these people who did not know Christ and were in bondage to Islam living inside of China his dad said if you leave you'll never have any part in the family business and so he took his Bible and he wrote upfront he said no reserves my father's told me there will be no fortune if I don't go back and live in the family because my dad was okay with me having a faith he just didn't want my faith to inform everything that I did don't be too radical don't be too serious about heaven and hell and the ancient pass no reserves he wrote in his Bible and then he got over there and as he got on the ship he actually was gonna sail first to Cairo because it was in Cairo that who's gonna learn Arabic so he could speak to the Muslims inside China and as he got on that boat he wrote down no retreats there's no turning back he arrived there in basically January of 1919 and he was there learning Arabic and three months later he contracted spinal meningitis and 19 days after that he died right before he died he wrote in his Bible no regrets you see the Bible says that that God should we pray in Psalm 90 verse 12 that we should pray that God will teach us to number our days that we might present to him a life of wisdom one of the things that is just certainly true of most jelly's most poor cheese is that we go I'm not really sure what I'm gonna die but it certainly isn't soon so I'll just do my thing for a while I'll be successful and then I'll move to significance and and and boardin of Yale said no I am going to live right now in light of what I believe is the most important thing to do and He gave His life to it not just because he went over to Cairo and eventually was making his way to China but while he was at Yale he distinguished himself instead of generation on fire there was a trust that had been given to him that he heard about before he died and he intended that that entire trust would be given to people that would study the scripture and teach it in all of its fullness with all of the solid doctrine that he had learned himself as a young theological student in his later training and the legacy of Borden of Yale's life has led to multiple lives being transformed for Christ see he didn't know that he was gonna die in his early 20s but he was ready and he did what he should do on that journey to make the most of it no reserves no retreats no regrets Bible says in proverbs chapter 20 verse 9 the glory of young men is their strength but the honor of old men is the gray hair in other words young people never think they're going to get old and they focus on their strengths but old men know they're gonna get old and know they're gonna die and that gray hair that sign of wisdom is sweeter than the the perfume of youth charm is deceitful beauty is vain but a woman who ages whose beauty isn't what it was in her 20s who continues to fear the Lord that's the woman you want to run with and so you find a young man who walks with the wisdom of the ages and yoke yourself with him you find a young woman who'd mean she might be charming and beautiful the young man might be strong but you find one who is wise and you find one who fears the Lord and you will be blessed so that's what God wants you to do in light of eternity begin to enjoy the God that you're trusting your forever to if you can't trust him with your now what does that suggest about whether or not you really trust him with your forever this is what Solomon says at the very end of his book just very quickly he just says this in Romans and in Ecclesiastes chapter 12 verses 1 through 8 he just assist remember also your Creator in the days of your youth this is a solemn at the end of his life when he had spent his youth and his strength and his riches in fleeting things and he had lost his good name he's saying oh don't make the mistake that I did remember your Creator while you're young before the evil days come and the years draw near when you will say I have no delight in them because as you get old you can't do the things you used to do in the world changes and so you use this metaphorical language watch this before the Sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened and clouds return after the rain there is such a thing called seasonal affective disorder if you ever heard that I mean literally the Ford is sad and it's closed and a lot of folks up in Washington state have it because it's just gloomy and it rains it's dark and it's cloudy there's never any Sun there's never any break in the weather and literally in fall through winter they see people there's a spike in depression a spike in suicide a spike in despair and they call it sad seasonal affective disorder and really what Solomon is doing long before we had people who put labels on such things he's saying that's what the end of life is like there's nothing but clouds and then rain and the clouds go back again after the rain and it is sad that's old age in the day when the watchman of the house trembles that's that's just like the watcher of the house of the arms right you you know you ever see the guy for you get away right the arms are the hands you know they shake they tremble like Parkinson and the and the mighty minutes the leg stoop and the grinding one sets two teeth stand idle because they are a few like everybody turns into a Kentuckian late in their life right you guys do know how we know that the toothbrush was invented in Kentucky if it was invented anywhere else that have been called a teeth brush and so I know I'm just good kid sorry I stay with me stay with me I I've got more all right but if this basically says this right it just says that that that where were we we're somewhere in here we need teeth where are the teeth the grinding ones they're in verse 3 it says those who look through the windows grow dim its its eyes Solomon's describing old age the doors on the street are shut that's littering okay liked it it's what he's talking about the sound of the grinding mill is low the you're not chewing like you were and one will arise at the sound of the bird you're up at 4 a.m. and all the daughters of song will sing softly like what who's singing that's Adele I can't hear her okay and so then it goes on furthermore men are afraid of a high place when I built my house this is true I build a house 15 years ago and I walked in and they'd put this railing that goes up my steps and I go you gotta get rid of that railing I just don't like that I like the smooth wall and it looks like just a railing that this it's an old person's railing they just throw its code all right I've gotta have the railing on there if you want to get the screwdriver out if they inspect it and they give you a certificate of occupancy you can do it and I'm like well I'm gonna do it let me just taste them I could never come downstairs now if that railing was not there I'm not kidding you guys I'm 55 years old and I get there the top of the steps in the morning I'm like Oh crud right that's Ecclesiastes chapter 55 in my knees my ankles my plantar fasciitis I mean with I'm just like back and I'm just kinda like damn right and so I don't want to sit my butt and cut like a little kid I go thank God didn't take that railing down it's kinda like okay right I warm up later the dad can run up and down it but early in the morning when I wake up the sound of the bird I'm glad the railing is there let me just tell you because men are afraid of high places the white tree blossoms that's an almond tree has as the almond tree blossoms almond tree has white flowers just as your hair gets white the grasshopper drives himself along you know no longer bouncing around he's just being just the caperberry is ineffective you put capers next to salmon to increase your appetite and and make you know just kind of offset it and it was it was a accelerant in terms of food was also believed to be an aphrodisiac it was kind of ancient days if you will viagra and it's the bro doesn't matter how many capers you're pouting down it ain't doing it for man goes through eternal home while mourners go down the street remember and they just basically says life is over and verse 8 vanity of vanities all is vanity giving your life to fleeting things solomon saying it's just not good and so he ends the entire book there in verse 13 the conclusion Woodall's been hurt is fear God this is what you do in light of what you've come to know about who Jesus is fear God and keep his Commandments in FOMO you ought to have a FOMO that you're gonna miss out on the blessed way and Solomon saying it's for young people what do most people say hey go have a good time when you get a bit late get serious about God well here's the lie you're not gonna have a good time if you're not serious about God that's the Solomons point he's just standing up with his gray hair stooped back and he's just saying let me just tell you I've done it all I've looked everywhere you know where life is it's where I was when I was young and I began my life with a fear of the Lord and then I left the ancient past where the good was away is and I didn't walk in it and I have not addressed for my souls my life has been vain and vanity and so let me beg of you this is how to have a successful life you want to have life indeed you want to have life that's more than more other people you think there's life down there and lower Greenville you think there's life in Cowtown down there by the stockyards you know life is with your king Gordon of Yale newer life was that doesn't mean you got to get a ship and go to Cairo it means while you're at Yale you're not there in this university where there's a world of ideas the bay about where life can be found you're not participating because you've already found life indeed you know why you're here and where you're going you know what your purpose is some of you will have your opportunity to be faithful as bankers and lawyers and teachers and mothers and fathers as as some of you guys will will have careers maybe in more full-time ministry but every single one of us has a chance to walk with God and keep his Commandments this is what you do in light of a God who rescues you from a life of despair without him and promised you to you more of him he's telling you this is me this is my life heaven is where you're gonna go and it's gonna be all me all the time my will will be done in heaven you want a little bit of heaven out walk in my will the world that you're in is not heaven this isn't your home but walk with me bless says God made man and woman and He blessed them and he commanded them do you see that we get it backwards we think God commands them do this so I'll bless you know the commandments are blessing this is the love of God that we keep his Commandments and His commandments are not burdensome that's Ecclesiastes it's what you do in light of knowing the truth and then you're like born of here you're like I don't know what else I want to do I just want to make sure wherever I am with I stay at Yale or get on a ship to go to Cairo so I can go to China I want men to know what I know because my kind and gracious and good God has told me where life is I love the statement that meant early conversion saves not only a soul from eternal judgment but it potentially it points an entire life towards the blessing right now that God wants for you it's why I love this generation love talking to you listen I mean I mean God does promise forgiveness to your repentance he doesn't promise tomorrow to your procrastination okay there is there is one deathbed conversion in your Bible so that you might find encouragement that if you dilly-dally through this world trying to find life in fleeting things like Solomon that maybe that you can say Lord remember me on this day as I get ready to die there's one deathbed conversion so that you might be comforted but there's only one so that you may not presume and what God's trying to do right now what you guys need to understand what I love about speaking to you guys the fortress the 20s is when you want to figure out how to go through the journey it's a fool who says I don't know where I'm gone I don't know where I'm gonna find life I'll just pick around like everybody else I'll get around other fools we're gonna manipulate and use and sleep with and seek pleasure for one another and we'll see if it works out even though I know it doesn't work out cuz I've got already some foolish guys I've yoked up with I'll kick life ahead of me I'll keep kicking myself and hate myself and I won't listen to a loving God who just says hey I'm not mad at you are you sick and tired of being sick and tired this is the beginning of wisdom and love it while you're young don't go through life carrying a stick that you beat yourself with find the God who hung on a piece of wood that you might be delivered from it if it's true that Christ is God he died for me there's nothing that he would keep you from that's good let me tell you one thing that we ought to be about okay listen none of us none of us are perfect okay none of us are gonna do this exactly right that's why we got to encourage each other day after day the siren songs of the world keep pulling us back into harbors that aren't safe but we need to encourage each other we need to be around William boards need to wake up we need to pray God this is the day you've made let me begin my day the way Kings always double sing of your loving-kindness and justice when that song when I wake up I want to put on songs that remind me that you're a God who is good who has my best interest in mind I want to serve you want to fill my heart with the things and I want to go about my day seeking and serving you and to find friends that will encourage me and together we'll go out into the world and we'll we'll be honest about the brokenness that's in our lives and the lives of the world of others around us but we'll tell them about the redemption we found and the good way that we're walking in and the rest we find in our souls even when we're sorry maybe we're still single or even when we're regretting the choices that we made we find forgiveness and redemption and healing come and we invite others to come we invite them in and all along our journey we're not here to make a living we're here to make a difference and to tell others what we have found that's what you do in light of eternity you fear God and you proclaim his Excellency's and you call others out of darkness into his marvelous light can I just tell you one last story there's a guy named Nicholas ver time I'm gonna use this you know with the whole body this Sunday at watermark because we're wrapping up the book of Acts and at the end of the book of Acts the acts of the kindness of God don't end it got still working through his people that's who we are we're here right now all of us who know him in order to be means of grace to other people Jesus when he came and he wanted folks to have life he said I'm gonna leave and I'm gonna let you tell us a few about life and the reason I'm waiting is not because I'm slow as some kind of slowness but I'm patient towards man I don't want anybody to go to hell and so there's gonna be a day when I roll up the creation but I don't want people to go to hell and so I'm gonna leave you my children behind I'm gonna fill you with my spirit which is a sense that I am holy and good and you're gonna walk in the ancient pass and you're gonna declare to people where when they don't walk in the ancient past like you did that they can be forgiven through Jesus Christ and you're gonna be the world filled with trouble and you're gonna pour yourself out like I did and greater things than I did you will do and you're gonna be faithful and live for me and so the acts of the kindness of God have not stopped in acts 28 they will continue and I want to tell you if you'll live your life with the same intensity and perseverance that that Solomon exhorts you to that that borden of Yale wants you to when you're like CT stud who said listen someone to live with in the sound of church bells no I'm gonna run a rescue shop with a yard of hell I want to be a person who is doing everything he can to help people understand them you'll never regret it so go to your law firms go to your sales jobs be godly mothers and fathers be great athletes but in everything you do do it for the glory of God you you live your life with a sense that wisdom beyond your years informs you not trusting in your strength or your charm but fearing the Lord and walking in the ancient paths and telling others for the good way is Nicholas 14 was that guy he actually changed his name from Nicholas vert Heim to Nicholas Winton when they moved to England he was a German Jew his parents had left and left Germany and when they left Germany they they moved to England his family educated young Nicholas and he actually became a follower of Jesus Christ which is the most Jewish thing you can do you do know that Jesus is the Jewish Messiah Jesus says I am the Messiah and he gave evidence to back it up are you the Messiah go tell him the lame walk the blind see captors being set free I'm the Messiah Nicky understood that Jesus was the way the truth and the life and he had a chance to go away and was gonna go skiing himself in the switz Alps and he decided to take a detour because he saw what was happening back in Germany to people and he went to Czechoslovakia which was occupied by Germany at the time and he went in there and the story's kind of long but he put his life at risk to start to rescue Jewish children and to use whatever money he could find of his own to bring them out he wasn't there to make a living or to make comfort he was there to make a difference he didn't tell anybody but his mother what he was doing there were over 600 kids that he used his fortune and risked his life to get out of Czechoslovakia as parents were being captured and began to be sent off to AH switz and other concentration camps for 50 years he didn't tell anybody what he was doing and then his wife was in their attic in 1987 and she found a book and she starts flipping through the book and she sees just names of these young Jewish children of pictures and passport numbers and documents and addresses that were in England and she gave it to a person who was a historian about the Holocaust and they went in their research thinking oh my goodness these are Jewish children that were smuggled out of Czechoslovakia during the time of Hitler's Final Solution and your husband must have had something to do with it and so they went and they found a bunch of these children in a 1988 without telling Nicholas why they got him on a show called that's life and this is a guy who had risked his life for others watch this little clip all the letters but back here is the list of all the children this is Vera diamond not very guessing we did find her name on his list Vera Gissing is with us here tonight hello and I should tell you that you are actually sitting next in Nicholas Winton and it was just so wonderful so terribly terribly touching [Music] anyone in our audience tonight who owes their life to Nicolas winter if so could you stand up please [Music] now watch that and I think about you know what I want to do at the end of my life I want to be somebody who live with no reserves with no retreat and with no regrets so that the end of my days when when I possibly can lay you know my my gifts down I stand up there and having to Tod command where to show you something hey would anybody that my grace worked through Todd Wagner's brokenness as he poured himself out his best he could to rescue them from a dark sinister world that sought to steal kill and destroy them if any of you heard about me and had a passport to hope because of the way he lived his life would you come here and I want to just I want I want to have that kind of moment I want to go that's what I want my life to be about that's what you should do in light of the reality of heaven in hell you should just go listen if it's true that Christ is God he died for me the no sacrifice for him is do great and if it's true that there is a L and there is a heaven I won't do everything I can to tell people about why I know I'm not going to hell I'm not going to what I do but because I want them to have a way out I've got papers I want to give them papers and I'm gonna use my lies my fortune and my sacred honor to do it that they might be free so that they would thank God that he allowed me to be a vessel for them that's what you do friends and you'll never regret it father I pray that we would jump into the Holocaust of the deception that is in this world and that we would just be individuals who just go while we're young Lord let us get our life and start living on purpose we have an entire seventy years if you carry in front of us many of us in this room and we have opportunity after opportunity to tell others about the kindness of God that we have received that in your grace we have come to know at an early age we are people who though we are not old in our youth learn to fear God and escape vanity and the perfume of pleasure that our world tells us will satisfy us O Lord we come to you and we say how can I obtain more life than the world offers thank you God that in your graciousness you say what you begin to walk with me you see that I'm good and I've given my life for you all of my word will lead to life follow me and do others the favor of declaring to them the kindness of Who I am and share with them the hope you found in me live excellently among them and when you make mistakes confess the sin surround yourself with others that will spur you on but no it's more blessed to give than receive don't just go through life in the vanity of making a living make a difference sing my song tell others of me or if there's anybody here who doesn't know who you are I pray you were just drawn through this song through the friends that are in this room and those of us who know you may we sing this song now and forevermore in Christ's name

Channel: The Porch

Views: 5,403

Rating: 4.8139534 out of 5

Keywords: Todd, Wagner, The Porch, Jesus, Christ, Young Adult's Ministry, Young Professional's Ministry, The Afterlife, Living For Eternity, Heaven, Hell, Purgatory, Dallas, Fort Worth, El Paso, Tulsa, Houston, Texas, Watermark, Community, Church, Launch, God, Holy Spirit

Id: Txb6EsUBuZ0

Length: 60min 16sec (3616 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 19 2018