Well, good morning, everyone. Welcome, as we gather again to study God's word together. Today, we're going to be going over Psalm 71 verses 17 through 18. And there will be two passages as we start out today. Psalm 71, 17 through 18 is the first one. And if you would please stand as we read God's word. O God, from my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds. So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those who come. Now we'll also be reading from Psalm 92, verses 12 through 15. Again, that's Psalm 92, verses 12 through 15. The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. They are planted in the house of the Lord. They flourish in the courts of our God. They still bear fruit in old age. They are ever full of sap and green to declare that the Lord is upright. He is my rock and there is no unrighteousness in him. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for the blessing of gathering together today, for the joy of studying your word. Father, we ask that you would give us wisdom and understanding today and that you would help us to develop a right understanding of what it means to grow old in your kingdom. Pray this in the name of your son, amen. You may be seated. Well, several years ago, there was a global survey, and these surveys happen all the time, but several years ago, there was a survey that happened that asked people two questions to start. And the first question was, how would you define old age? And depending on people's age, the answer varied. Some people didn't want to group themselves into one category, and so it would shift a little bit. But in general, people answered that old age was generally after you hit the age of 65. Well, the survey followed up with a second question, and it said, what are some terms that you would use to describe old age? Now, the four most common terms were wise, frail, lonely, and respected. Now, most people in the United States tend to think of old age as a time when there are less responsibilities, and in many cases, less usefulness. They tend to either think of a couple happily enjoying retirement, and you can picture a couple out playing golf all the time, or they picture the lonely nursing home resident that's been pushed there because she's either too much of a burden or because the family just doesn't know how to deal with that stage of life. Now, we can think of many more examples. We used to run 5Ks, and there was this 80-year-old man who would always beat us. And so in my mind, that's one of the first things that comes to my mind when I think of older men. Now, these are extremes. But if you notice the categories that our mind often goes to, we either tend to think of physical or mental health, or we tend to think of independence and autonomy. What is someone capable of doing on their own? Now, our culture, it commonly associates old age with this lack of independence and a gradual decline in involvement and a sense that the person's usefulness has passed. And we often have this thought of, well, they've run their race, now it's time to pass on the baton. Now, what I want to ask today is, is that the right lens to be looking at? Is this the way that the Bible describes old age? And is this the way that we should be thinking about those who are aging? And what I hope you go away with today as we look at this topic of old age is not just a sense that some of the trues of our culture are trues, some of their observations, but what I want you to go away with is this sense that the Bible's vision is far broader and far more positive. Now, as we begin, we have to start like that global survey did, with a fundamental question of what is old age? How do we define this term? In the Bible, old age doesn't refer to a specific number of years. If you look at how the Bible uses this term, uses it for people who are less than 80, it uses it for people who are 150, there's this broad spectrum. It's not specific, it's more generic, that it's someone who's advanced in years, someone who's lived a long life. And oftentimes, that also includes some of the signs of age. So gray hair, a weaker body, but also wisdom and experience. Now, for instance, in 1 Kings 1, it says, Now, King David was old and advanced in years, and although they covered him with clothes, he could not get warm. So here, there's both an indication of long years, but also of degrading body. There is corruption that happens, the decay of our bodies. And we see similar language used throughout the Bible to speak of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Gideon, Joshua, anyone who's lived through many years is described as being old. But that's not where the Bible stops. The same term for old age is also used throughout both the Old and New Testament for elders. And if you look at the function of the elders in the New Testament and also in the Old Testament, you see this function where there are these people who are the respected authorities. They're the judges. They're the advisors to the king. They're the diplomats that are sent out to invading armies. And so you have this sense that these were individuals who were trusted and they were respected in their communities. So if we were to come up with an initial description of old age as it's presented in the Bible, we could say that old age is both described as a state in which one is advanced in years, but also that that advance in years is typically marked by a lessening of physical strength and an increase in wisdom and experience. Now, there are many of you here today who might say, okay, yes, I'm all on board with that definition, but your mind still is going to just this physical weakness and this physical decay. But again, what I want you all to go away with today is that that second part is just as, if not more important for us to realize. Now, this sermon, even though it's about old age, it's not just for those of you who are more advanced in years. Because for those of you who are younger, hate to break it to you, but you are also aging. And so for all of us, we are all in that progression of we're going through our days. There's one person that said, from the moment we were born, we start to die. And that's, in some ways, there is this observation of we are moving on this course towards death. So what I want all of those who are younger to realize is how you live your life will also affect how you end your days. All right, now today I want to look at three different aspects of old age. The first is that old age is a time in which our sorrows are increased. And this is, in many ways, the easiest aspect for us to grasp. There is truth in the fact that old age does bring with it physical decline in many areas of our lives. So our bodies grow weaker. Our minds don't work quite as well. There are more doctor's visits. There are more things that are failing. And so as we get to that point, we start thinking back and going, wow, I used to do all these sports. And I used to be able to sprint around, and now all I can manage is a jog. Or now all I can do is just plod along on a walk. And old age brings with it that steady decline in strength. There's one person who I run with regularly, and he likes to tease me and says, yeah, yeah, you will never be as fast as you once were. And so he says, yep. You know what? You're past your prime. You're in your decline now. And so I go, OK, well, there may be some truth in that, but I'm not quite to that point yet. But again, there is truth in that. We can't deny that we do pass that point of having the full strength of youth, and we do start to decline. Now, I probably will never be as fast as I once was, and that is OK. Now, along with this physical decline, we also experience other sorrows. We begin to reap the fruit of poor decision we made in younger years. And Paul says in Galatians, do not be deceived, God is not mocked. For whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption. Now those of you who are young, I want you to remember this truth, that what you sow now does have consequences in the future. both for good and for bad. So be very careful of what seeds you are sowing now. As many can attest, bad decisions made while you were young will come back to plague you in the future. And that can be poor financial decisions. It can be relationships that you didn't meant, or maybe some impropriety that you had when you were young. Sometimes it's feelings of pride and self-entitlement that are gradually solidifying into grumpiness and just bitterness. Whatever it may be, your decisions now will have consequences for the future. But even that is not all the sorrows that old age brings. We'd like to stop there, that it's just physical decline and it's poor decisions. But the problem is that there are even more sorrows that old age brings. As we get closer to this point of death, there is also a regret that sets in oftentimes and a fear of death and what it brings. We have a sense of urgency and often a sense of powerlessness as we get close to that time. And we know that there is only that small amount of time left. And in some cases, we start to worry about what might happen. We start to worry of, okay, well, is this going to be it? As this sickness comes around, am I going to die of pneumonia or cancer or COVID or whatever it might be? There's so many things that can come to plague us. And there's often this desire to do more, but there's also this feeling that it's physically impossible. Now we'll come back and address some of these ideas because it is important to understand the answers. But what I want to point out at this point is that this is where we often stop when we think about old age. We stop here and we think, yep, being old is pretty sad and I want to avoid it at all costs. And so you see our culture doing all sorts of things to try and push off aging as far as possible. And the truth is, it is sad in many respects. Again, we can't deny that there are sorrows to old age. However, as Christians, there is so much more to old age than just this. And so what the Bible calls us to is a different mentality, because the second aspect of old age is that it also brings greater joy and greater blessings. Now, if you look back at Psalm 92 that we read at the beginning, verses 12 through 15, It says, the righteous flourish like the palm tree, grow like a cedar in Lebanon. They are planted in the house of the Lord. They flourish in the courts of our God. They still bear fruit in old age. They are ever full of sap and green to declare that the Lord is upright. He is my rock and there is no unrighteousness in him. And in light of what we've talked about so far, it might seem odd to have this psalmist giving the statement of, this description like a tree that's still just as green and full of sap as when it was young. And so we have to ask, okay, well, how do we reconcile what the psalmist is saying here with what we know happens in old age? How can we still talk about old age as this time of fruitfulness and greenness and freshness? Now, if we look at the psalm, the first thing to notice is that it says the righteous flourish. Now, when we talk about the blessings of old age, we have to start with the recognition that it is the Lord who brings blessings to his people. The wicked may enjoy prosperity for a time, but ultimately, they're under God's judgment. Now, if you look just a few verses earlier on in Psalm 92, what you'll see is that the psalmist writes that the wicked flourish also, but he describes them using a different term. He says they sprout like grass. Now, if you think about grass, grass is nowhere near as resilient and as longstanding as trees. And so, what the psalmist says is, the wicked flourish, they sprout like grass, but the Lord will bring judgment on them. The Lord will destroy them. Now, the righteous though, they are blessed by the Lord. They're like those tall, strong trees that are given lasting peace and fruitfulness, even into old age. Now, second thing to notice from this passage is notice where they are planted. They are planted in the house of the Lord and they flourish in his courts. And so true fruitfulness is rooted in being in God's presence. And as Pastor Walker said a few weeks ago, In order to be fruitful on earth, we must be heavenly minded. And this passage reminds us of that. Being planted in the house of the Lord implies that we are worshiping him, that we are praising and serving him. And so those who want to finish well must also run well. We have to be diligent in prayer and praise to the Lord starting now. Now we talked earlier about how Paul speaks about our reaping what we sow, how in Galatians he talks about what you sow that will you also reap. And so there's the negative aspect that we reap poor decisions that we made in our past, but there's also the positive side to it. Old age does bring with it the blessing of good decisions made in the past. And similar to before, that may be relationships. It may be those relationships that we invested in for years. It may be good financial decisions. It may be skills that we practiced and developed. And all of those can bring benefits in old age. But even more than that, though, If we start to saturate our hearts in the word and are diligent in prayer when we are young, old age brings with it knowledge and wisdom and peace because we have learned to rest in the Lord. And that is ultimately at the core of this passage. What is said here is we want to be saturated. We want to be planted in the house of the Lord. So approaching death may be a sorrow in one sense. But in another sense, it's also a blessing. Again, there's this negative aspect to the sorrows that we often focus on, but there's also the positive side that we often miss. For those who have spent their days meditating on God's word, the day of dying is not something that we fear. It's not fundamentally a day of pain or a day of sorrows, but it's a day in which we meet our friend and our Savior face to face. Now, for those who have spent their lives meditating on God's word, they've had an entire lifetime of experiences that they can look back on and they can say, yes, the Lord was working here. The Lord was working there. This is how the Lord orchestrated all of these things to get me to this point at this time. And so, like the psalmist at the end of that passage, we can declare that the Lord is upright and that the Lord is our rock. Now, in my work as an engineer, I sometimes get to go visit building sites, and it's always fun because I work so much just in this realm of my mind on paper that seeing something actually get built is one of the highlights. And so recently, I was out at a site in Modesto, and they're getting ready to build this 40-foot tall, 300,000-square-foot warehouse. And so they're preparing the site for this building. And so they're going out, and there are a lot of steps just to pour the foundation. So first they have to clear the site, take out all the weeds. Then they have to grade the site and get it to the right elevation. They have to remove some of the bad soil. They have to put back new soil. They have to pack it down. They have to build formwork for the foundation and lay reinforcement. Then they have to pour the concrete. Then they have to work the concrete. There are so many steps that go in. But in the end, what they end up with is this huge foundation for this building. Now, for this particular building, all of that process took six months. Now, if you were to guess how long it would take them to raise the walls, again, on this 40 foot tall, 300,000 square foot building, what would your guess be? About five days is what they're planning. Yeah, it's crazy. And so, as we think about this, we go, okay, well, why would they spend so much time on the first part when the second part is so fast and easy? Well, the fundamental thing here is that if you don't have a good foundation, everything else is worthless. And it does no good just to go out there and pour concrete on the ground. That is not going to be what they need out there. Now, the same thing is true for our lives. We know that the only good and the only true foundation is Jesus Christ. And so if our lives have not been built on the recognition that he is Lord and that our salvation is through him alone, then our walls will soon come crashing down. It's like we've just tried to go out there and pour that concrete on the ground. Someone may be thinking, okay, well, that's all good and well. It's good to know, yes, foundation is Christ. But the problem is that's not how I lived my younger days. Yes, I believe now that the Lord is God. I believe now that Jesus is my king, but what about my past? I have built decades on a poor foundation. And right now, all of the walls are coming down. It's like someone's come and just blasted out all of my windows. They're all shattered. What do I do? Well, the truth is that God excels in home repairs. And so, yes, it's true. You may have to take out that old foundation, just like that site that I was talking about. One of the first things they had to do is knock down the old house that was there. And that is oftentimes what we have to deal. But the truth is, that the Lord can still bring fruitfulness even in old age. Even if you are starting now to build on that foundation, that good solid foundation, that is the best thing you can do right now with your time. Now whether we are old or young, one of the blessings that God gives us is experience. And as we go through our lives, we see actions and reactions, we see character flaws, we see poor decisions, And we see changes in our culture and in the world around us. As we meditate upon God's word, a lot of times we get a new perspective on all those things. And again, whether we're young or old, we start experiencing these things. Whether you've lived a life of uprightness, whether you've lived a life of sin, the Lord still has given you those experiences. And so as you meditate on his word, you start getting this new perspective, begin to see that the Lord is patient and just. Proverbs 16 says that gray hair is a crown of glory. It is gained in a righteous life. And so we know that a life well lived is one that has honored the Lord. It is one that sees that the Lord has given blessing from those gray hairs. And we often treat gray hairs like a disease. And we treat it like, oh, there's that first gray hair. I need to pluck it out, get rid of it, or dye my hair. I need to do something to hide this. That's not the sense we get from scripture. Scripture says that gray hair is a blessing. It's an honor. because it's a sign that the Lord has given you wisdom, that the Lord has given you experience. And so gray hair is a sign of God's blessing in your life. In cargo ships, there are several ways that you can load a ship, load the cargo on. Now you can either put all of the cargo weight on top, you can lash it down, you can strap it down, or you can put some of it lower down, you can put it in the hold. Now, if you put all the weight on the deck, problem you run into is that the first wave you hit, all of that weight on the top, the boat tips, and it starts to capsize because all of the weight just carries it over. But if the weight is distributed lower down, then all of that weight starts to right the boat. Now, as we get older, as we get that experience, it's often like we're learning how to load the ship better. We're learning to load that weight lower down. And when we're young and inexperienced, every wave causes us to scramble. I mean, a lot of you younger families can attest. Life sometimes feels just crazy because everything that happens, it feels like you're running around the boat trying to strap that weight down again, trying just to avoid the boat capsizing. But as we get old, we've endured many of those waves before. And even if those who are older can't yet tell you how to load the boat correctly, they can at least tell you how not to load the boat. And again, there's blessings to experiences, both good or bad. So that brings us to the third thing to realize about old age. And that is that old age brings with it greater responsibilities. Now, the wisdom that God gives us as we age is not simply to be cast to one side. because we're retired or have already spent years in service to the Lord. There's often that sense like we talked about at the beginning of we've run our race, now it's time to pass on the baton. And that's not fully capturing what we need to be thinking about here. There's become that idea that we need this younger generation to come and lead companies or take on all of these responsibilities. And even in our church and churches throughout the nation, there are sometimes these tendencies to think, well, we need to keep younger families at our church because we need to breathe new life into these things. And even just recently, I was out at seminary a few months ago, and they were talking about churches that had older populations. And there was this natural sense of, oh, well, that's not a good thing. And so this thinking has just infiltrated every area of our life where we go, okay, well, we need the young people. We need to attract the young people. And so some of you may be thinking, okay, well, yes, we do need to pass on that baton, and I completely agree. But again, the problem is how we normally apply this. The problem is that we put so much emphasis on the passing of the baton that we forget what happens to the people who passed it off. Now we think that once people reach that retirement point, they're no longer needed. The baton is gone. They've run their race, now they can sit on the sidelines. And some willingly do this, some willingly step down from their responsibilities, but others are pushed into this. They're pushed into retirement homes, into communities to be with others their own age. Some are sent to nursing homes so that they can get ongoing medical care, but most begin to be ignored by the younger generations. One of the main things that nursing home residents complain about is that their families rarely visit them. and even visits from friends are rare, and so they sink into this cycle of loneliness and depression because they're not seen anymore. Now, we've already seen that one of the blessings that God gives to the older generation is wisdom, experience, and hearts that have learned to trust in the Lord. And to older men and women, the Lord, therefore, gives a special responsibility. If you look again at Psalm 92 and at Psalm 71, look at the purposes that are described there. In Psalm 92, the righteous flourish to old age, too, or so that they can declare that the Lord is upright. And as we read earlier in Psalm 71, it said, O God, from my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds. So even to old age and gray hairs, oh God, do not forsake me until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those who come. And so friends, I want you to hear what is being said here, because this is the important part. This is the whole crux of the issue. God has a purpose for old age, and there is a reason for getting older. In Titus 2, it says, older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness. Older women, likewise, are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled. Show yourself to be a model of good works. And in your teaching, show integrity, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say of you. So what do we see here? First off, in the older men and older women, we see maturity. They are dignified. They're reverent. They're not slanderers. They're self-controlled. We also see rootedness in God's word. So not only are they mature, but they are rooted in God's word. They are to be sound in faith and to teach what is good. We also see that they are trainers of the next generation. And so that maturity and that rootedness, that doesn't end there. But what they do is they pass on that wisdom to the next generation. The maturity gives them stability. The rootedness in God's word gives them wisdom that they can pass on. And this is in many ways a radical shift from what we typically think. And we typically think of just the older couple in retirement. Many churches even have well-meaning ministries in which they group seniors into one class. And I was reading, as I was preparing for this sermon, I was reading about this one church that had three different older age groups. And they called one the old group, they called one the older old group, and they called the other the oldest old group. And so, I mean, it's sad that they even have those categories, but so often, we see churches that have, even if not those defined categories, we see them with seniors groups that are just seniors over a certain age, and they're all there to encourage each other and to grow. And again, from one aspect, there is nothing wrong with that. We want those who are mature in the word, we want them to continue to grow. But again, think about what we've done there. If the old are only with people their own age, they can't train the next generation. You can't train people you never interact with. And so, in the very act of trying to help one group, we've also hindered some of their effectiveness. Now, is it wrong for older people to want to avoid some of the chaos of the younger generation? Oftentimes, that's partly why we make those groups. There's chaos, there's a lot of energy in the younger generations. So is it wrong for the older people to want to avoid that chaos? Now, again, if we go back to that analogy of loading ships, If you've already figured out how to sail your ship properly, do you want to always be going to these other ships where you see someone running around the deck trying to strap it down? No, that is scary at times. And there's a lot of energy and effort that's expended in the younger generations as they scramble to try and figure things out. But think about what would happen if every one of those boats where you saw the people scrambling and floundering, imagine what would happen. If you had an experienced sailor step on board and said, no, no, no, you know what? You should load the ship differently. Or, you know what? I see you're tying a knot there. Let me teach you a better one. Or, ah, there's a wave coming. You know what? As we get to this point, you need to turn the boat like this. That way you don't capsize. Imagine what would happen if we had every single boat being taught by an experienced sailor. Not only would the boat be safer, but all of that energy that was previously expended, that would be saved. There would be so much more focus and purpose to the sailing of those ships. Now, those of you who are younger, we do our brothers and sisters in Christ a great disservice when we treat them as if they simply need our help. And specifically, our older brothers and sisters in Christ, as if they simply needed our help. Yes, they may need us to help clean their homes or bring them meals or help with some of these tasks, but how much are you losing by simply treating them as needy passengers on your boat instead of as the experienced sailors that they are? The younger generations need the older generations just as much, if not more, than the older needs the younger. Now, let me bring this home a little bit more because we do actually as a church have a ministry to a nursing home. And so TNRC in Turlock, for those of you who haven't been, it's a wonderful opportunity to interact with those who are older. But as we interact with them, our attitude should not simply be that we are there to make them feel comfortable or that we are there simply to be their friend. Rather, one of our goals should be to encourage them to be mentors and examples, to be teachers and disciples. And so, how do we do that? Well, we ask them to tell them their stories. We ask them to teach us. Now, some of the residents here, there are so many things that you can learn from those sweet people. There is one former resident who was a secret FBI agent who traveled all over Southeast Asia. And so she had just some bizarre story. She couldn't tell her people, her parents about it until she was later on in life. They didn't even know where she had gone. There's another current resident there who's a renowned artist. She actually has a painting in the Presidential Art Collection. Now, not every resident has such a distinguished past. Most of them are just average people that have had a lot of struggles, have had a lot of trials in their lives. But all of them have something to teach. And as those of us who go there, we are to be there as those who they can teach. Now, it doesn't stop there, though. We also have members in our congregation who are also advanced in years, who are full of wisdom. And so what we need to do for those of you who are younger, we need to seek them out, ask them to be your mentor, and show them respect and honor. Now, above all, it is easy to forget. And so we cannot forget that they are there. Remember, it's easy if we're on those boats, it's easy to just think of, oh, well, there's this storm coming and I need to make sure my boat doesn't capsize. But the Lord has placed those people in your lives for that very reason. They are there to help you through those storms. Now, this also applies to those who are absent. It is easy for us to forget people like Jane Gibson, who is absent from our congregation because of physical hardship. Now, if they cannot go to you, seek them out. Remember, these are the experienced sailors who are there to help you. Ask them to share their wisdom with you. Now, we need to pray for those who are older. We need to miss them when they are gone, but we need to do more. We need to encourage them to disciple and to train the next generation, to declare the Lord's works. Now our culture says that old age is the time of retirement and rest. But the Bible points to old age as a time when you are most productive and most needed. Your lives may have changed pace since you no longer have children at home. For some of you, some of you have regular jobs that you no longer have to worry about. You're past that stage. But the Lord still has a special role for you. Now if we keep going with this ship analogy, you're like the Coast Guard. So you're to be patrolling the shores, you're to see the waves that are coming, the storms that are coming to shore, and to go out and to warn the boats that are there. And for those who haven't made it to safety, again, one of the Coast Guard's jobs is you are there to help those people. You are there to help them through that storm. But what does that practically look like when you live far away, or when you do have physical struggles, or when you don't have a car that you can drive? How do you go about mentoring and training? And it'll look different for each person. There are different situations that we are all in. But here are a few things to think about as you start. First, start by prayer. Start to pray specifically and intentionally for those whom you mentor and those whom you see struggling. And you can pray with and you can pray for them. And even if you do nothing else, this is something that you can do no matter where you're at. If you are physically with that person or if you're talking with them over the phone, you can even just say, hey, can you just sit here quietly while I pray? And even that, showing by example, is one of the best ways that you can mentor. Now second, reach out. Again, younger people are so often running about at 90 miles an hour, not knowing what to do, and they're not always thinking about the fact that they need your help. And so sometimes all it takes is a call or a note or some mention out to them. to break through that and to start forming that relationship. There are times even nowadays, I have notes from even some people in this congregation from a long time ago that I have still saved because those letters just had so much wisdom in them and I'm able to come back and read them over and over. And that, it may seem scary to jump in like that. You may think, well, I don't want that chaos, but again, This is precisely when they need you the most. Third thing, invite them to come to you. If you can't go to them, practice hospitality and fellowship. That's something that the Bible calls all Christians to, but it's something that the older generation can be special examples in. Show the younger generation what it means to be hospitable. Invite them to come to you. And as we age, we are to grow in that depth of relationship with the Lord. We are to grow in wisdom and in character. And so our home should be a safe haven for others to come to. So start by prayer. Reach out. Invite them to come to you. And fourth, be intentional. If you're unable to go to them or they are unable to come to you on a regular basis, be intentional about the times that you do have. Or be intentional about making time through phone calls. Now for many of you here today, Sundays like this, these are the main times that we interact with others as a body. And so as you are coming today, as you come on future Sundays, be intentional about this time. This is a valuable time for you to be able to check up, and to be able to teach those whom you mentor or see struggling. So be intentional about these times to check in with those people. Now, brothers and sisters, God gives us this vision of a church that is an effective body, that is made up of old and young, of people of all sorts. And so we're to be laboring together as generations serving the Lord. Now think about the power of the Lord's fleet. If it wasn't just a few ships out in front while the rest floundered near shore, think about the power if every ship had a crew that had been trained by a master seaman. And every ship is sailing out in this mighty armada as we go out to serve the Lord. Think about the effectiveness of that army. Think about the joy that it would be to look over and to see this fleet going out. And so for those of you who are tired, who just want to rest on the sidelines, the news today is that there is a final lap to be run. Yes, the Lord will bring us heavenly rest, but right now you are still needed. We still need your help here. And so, as Hebrews says, let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. And so, as we run that final lap, as we approach the finish line, what the world should be hearing is not just our feet as we're pounding down the track. What they should be hearing is both our excitement as we reach that finish line. and our praises as we proclaim the Lord's works and the Lord's goodness and the Lord's greatness to the next generations. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for the blessing of having both the old and the young in our congregation. Lord, we thank you for the honor of both the wise saints and of those who are young and energetic. And Father, we pray that even as we are surrounded on all sides by improper views of aging and sorrows in our older years, Father, we pray that you would not let us forget the blessings that you also bring. Lord, we long to see a church united. We long to see a church that is bold in the work of the old teaching the young, the young honoring the old. And so, Lord, we ask that you would give such unity and such purpose to our congregation here. For this in your name, amen.