and it wasn't about anybody else and you know now I've seen that time come and pass and of course I've long past that age of 50 when that first 50 came on place for those time that were at the beginning of the age of the baby boomers and I've wondered where all those days have gone and how soon there will be a day hopefully You know, hopefully I won't. Truly, I joke about the 85-year-old Walmart greeter, but hopefully I won't have to be him. But if so, I'll be a happy Walmart greeter, as long as I get some snacks in between to keep me going. But hopefully there will be a day where I no longer have to worry about that, and I can say so long to the labor on a mandatory basis. Of course, as you can see from me, I don't do a whole lot of manual labor, but this mine, I'm telling you, is torn up daily. It has worked overtime. You just can't see it, but if you're to cut it open, you're like, he has overworked. He needs a break. But in this spoken episode, it talked about the me generation. They talked about how many are forgetting all that's close to them, and they move away to a whole other state. They've lived their life. At the beginning, I've seen so many people that were part of that. They lived their entire life, all but maybe 19 years of their life, they lived, say, in Michigan. Since I was from Michigan, I can relate to this. And so I hear people that came from the South, because it was tough in the South. Before everybody left Michigan, I went to Texas in the 80s and stuff, and they said, the last one out of Michigan, please shut off the lights. Back then, it was like people from the South coming to Michigan for hope. And a lot of people, they come from the South and stuff when they were like 18, 19, come to Michigan, lived there for 40 years, got their entire life there, their children they raised there, their family they raised, their loved ones. Growing up, they got grandkids. And now all of a sudden, they hit that magical age of retirement, and in their mind, I'm going back home. I may have heard somebody say that. I'm going back home. And I thought to myself, brother, I thought home was here. This is where your life is. That was like a you know, 20% of your entire lifespan so far and you're saying going back home like this was your life and now everything here means nothing. You just set it aside and it's time for me and I'm going back home. And you know, we don't have to be obligated to anybody else. We don't have to be messing, you know, having people mess with our freedom and our ability to come and go. And like I said, we all have our definition of what retirement means, but let's take a look at what the dictionary defines retirement as. If you look up retirement in a dictionary, it says to withdraw from one's position or occupation, conclude one's working or professional career, or this is what really got me, to withdraw from circulation or from the market. And so what I want to talk about today is the last part of that definition that has transferred in to the Christian life and to the child of God and within many people that when retirement takes place is that we're just not retiring from our main occupation that we provided for our family from, but we're careful not to withdraw from circulation or from the market of a lost and dying world that has sinners going into an everlasting hell one day to be cast into the lake of fire where the worm doth not and the fire is not quenched. Nowhere in God's Word, and I've searched it high and low, and I got a little razzing earlier today, but we joke about it, but nowhere in God's Word does it tell us or are we told to retire from God's work. Nowhere. Now there's going to be times that we need to take a break. Even Jesus needed to rest. And so I'm not talking about times that we need to take a break and times that come upon us that we need to rest. But never in God's word will you find chapter and verse that will tell me that he tells you you've reached this age. It's time to withdraw from circulation. You won't find it. In fact, Paul said so appropriately that he, as him, we should press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God and Christ Jesus. So you might say, but you don't understand. I'm tired. I'm weary. And I just don't have anything left in me. And it's time for someone else to take the baton. You know, we always talk about, and I've heard preachers talk about it. Brother, we're in a relay race, and it's time for me to pass the baton. My friend, for the work of God, there is no relay race to pass the baton. The baton is always in our hand, and we're always carrying it forward for the cause of Christ. So when somebody says, did someone say retirement, it should never be said about the child of God in our works for the Lord Jesus Christ and in our walk and our lifestyle. Paul's response to this thought about weariness and someone else taking a response was in 1 Corinthians 16, 13, where he said, watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit ye like men, be strong. Now a lot of people think quit you, it meant to quit, but that meant not to quit, it was like reverse. Don't quit you, don't get away like men would tell you that it's time to worry about yourself and it's time to enjoy life and let everybody else take care of what needs to get done. But he said we need to stand fast in the faith and we need to be strong. Even when our bodies feel like they're weak, even when our minds feel like they're giving out, we need to stand fast in the faith, and we need to not quit like man would do in our normal flesh. We need to not rely on our flesh. See, that's one thing that'll happen. But tonight, this afternoon, I just want to take some time and look at some important things that will help maybe give us an exhortation of why it's important that as a child of God we don't retire. We don't withdraw from circulation because there's a great need out there and that need starts with when it comes to raising children for Christ. Turn over to Genesis chapter 17. Genesis chapter 17. Verse 1 says, And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram and said unto him, I am the Almighty God. Walk before me and be thou perfect. Now turn over to chapter 21. And verses 1 through 8, and it says, And the Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did unto Sarah as he had spoken. For Sarah conceived and bare Abraham, a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bared to him, Isaac. And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac before eight days old, as God had commanded him. And Abram was a hundred years old. And when his son Isaac was born unto him, and Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me. And she said, who would have said unto Abraham that Sarah here will laugh with me." And she said, I'm sorry, and said, who would have said unto Abraham that Sarah should have given children suck? For I have borne him a son in his old age, and a child grew and was weaned, and Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned. Abraham and Sarah were well past their ages, obviously. Well, Danny, I don't think you could think about having a child newborn right now. And it would be a miracle, I'm sure, if you two had a newborn, just like it would be for Joyce and I. But it was a miracle here for Abraham and Sarah too, so things can happen, you never know. All right, hopefully we're, I'm just kidding, and the Lord won't bring that to light. But God will provide if he does. But they were well past ages of childbearing and also bringing up a child in the world that they were in by all means. And by everybody there, including their own. But God had a nation to raise up. And Abraham was to be that person tasked with the responsibility to carry it out. And you know how it began? It began with a baby boy. Isaac. Born to Abraham and Sarah. It all started with a baby boy. My friend, children are our future. I know you hear that over and over, and I'm so glad to see what Jackie is doing with the kids, and to see more getting involved, Andrew's children getting involved, they astonished me. I think for the first time, even with Andrew's children, I was wondering how they were going to act, because it's a new experience. And it's new in a whole facet. But they were so well-behaved. They were so well-focused. And the fact that they can memorize God's Word when I struggle with memorizing God's Word. Of course, their brains are like sponges right now. So what better time to get them into memorizing God's Word? And some would come negative and say, you know what, they don't even know what they're saying. So what's the big deal? My friend, it's still God's Word, and God's Word has the power to enter man's heart. And whether they understand exactly what it means right there and then, it's still God's word going in their heart, and they're memorizing it. And one day, God, through His glory, if He so chooses, will bring that to light and make a permanent change. But we need to start while they're young, raising children for Christ. I couldn't imagine, you know, at their ages, you know, I think of parents my age, They have kids that are like six and eight years old, and I'm thinking, are you crazy? You know, more and more people are having children at an older age, and I just can't fathom it, but to think of Abraham and Sarah at the age that they did, I just, I can't fathom it. But God was with them, and they brought up a son named Isaac, and great things came because of that. And he's been replicated as the sands of the sea, per se. you know, in number. Regardless of how old you are, though, if you're a child of God, my friend, there are children out there and in your life for you to raise within this world for the cause of Christ. and for you to exhort others to raise for the cause of Christ. We need to encourage when we see things happening with the youth. We need to be excited. We need to encourage that. We need to foster that. Even if we can't participate in it, we should joy because my friend, it starts with a baby boy. It starts with a baby girl. All of us who are in Christ Jesus were once born. And if we weren't born, we would not be here today. And if we did not hear the word of God, some heard it later in life, some heard it younger in life. Some had the privilege of being raised by a father who was a pastor, so they were raised from birth. Some had the privilege, like our children, who, you know, I was called to preach and surrendered to preach while they were really young, you know, in like, you know, pre-toddler age and stuff. And they were always in church. But others, I didn't grow up that way. I was raised United Methodist and I went to the church once in a while. My parents didn't go, but once in a literally blue moon. And I didn't have the truth proclaimed to me, but God saw in his fitness, you know, in his wisdom and his love to save me and to redeem me and bring me unto him. And so, but how much greater could have been if I would have had somebody bring Christ to me when I was younger? Now, God is all in his planned time and he redeems in his special time. But we still have a responsibility to start while children are young. Raising children for Christ. Children are our future. And I've said it many times before and just say it once more, if we don't raise them right, the world is more than happy to be there to raise them for the devil. They have all kinds of things that are exciting, that are joyous, that keep them attentive, and they never get bored. Never get bored. Because this flesh will naturally hunger toward that anyways. So we have a job ahead of us, and how much easier is it for us if we start while they're young? What are our guidelines? God's word. We don't need any special books to tell us how to raise our children for Christ. We got the most special book here from Genesis 1-1 to Revelations 22-21. There is no greater book on the face of this earth. And it's a living book. It's alive. It transforms lives. It blows sin out of man's heart and sets our feet on solid ground. And how much better for us to realize that of starting while they're young, even when we think that they're not even understanding, or they don't even have a care of what's going on. But it first starts by loving the Lord thy God with all thine heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy might. From Deuteronomy 6, 5 through 9. We can't raise children for Christ if we don't first love Christ ourself with all our heart, all our mind, and all our soul. If we don't have a hunger and a passion for what Christ has done within us, then how are we to share that with our children, with the children around us, even if they're not ours. But we do have plenty of grandchildren, and some have great-grandchildren, and letting them see Christ work in and through us. But it first comes from our first self being committed to the Lord our God with all our heart, all our mind, all our soul. And then once we get busy raising children for Christ, We need to not retire when it comes to conquering mountains, because mountains will come. You know, we talk about trials in our life, and they're part of mountains that come our way. There's valleys that even Both of those can be bad. Sometimes we're on the mountaintop and it's a good mountaintop and we're able to see above the clouds and we're able to see the beauty and see clearly and enjoy us and see how God has brought us through things. But sometimes we're in the valley and we're climbing up that mountain and it's a struggle. Turn over to Numbers 13. Caleb was a man that had determination, and he was determined not to retire from the land God had promised him. And age was not going to be an excuse to deter him from realizing that promise. In Numbers chapter 13, verse 2, it says, send thou men that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel of every tribe of their fathers. Shall ye send a man, every one a ruler among them? Then drop to verse 17. And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan and said unto them, get you up this way southward and go up into the mountains. Now drop to verse 30. And Caleb stilled the people before Moses and said, let us go up at once and possess it, for we are well able to overcome it. We had a man that was not ready to retire. He was old at that time. Some suggest that maybe he was in his 90s. I don't know, but he was not ready to retire. And in chapter 14, In verse 24 it says, But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went, and his seed shall possess it. Then over in chapter 26, verse 65, It says, for the Lord had said of them, they shall surely die in the wilderness. And there was not left a man of them save Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua, the son of Nun. My friend, God blesses his people when they climb the mountain with determination that I am making it to the top. There is no mountain high enough, as that song says. It's not a Christian song, but it can be for this message. There is no mountain high enough when it comes to the work of God, when it comes to the blessings that God has for his people that are determined to not retire from the work that is set before them for the cause of Christ, and for the work of Christ, that He may be glorified, that He may be lifted high and up before a lost and dying world, that He may truly be proclaimed as the only way, the only truth, and the only life for man to receive. Turn over to Joshua chapter 14, verses 6 through 14. Then the children of Judah came unto Joshua and Gilgal, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Chesonite, said unto him, Thou knowest the thing that the Lord said unto Moses, the man of God concerning me and thee, in Kadesh Barnea. Forty years old was I when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh Barnea to spy out the land, And I brought him word again, as I was in mine heart. Nevertheless, my brethren that went up with me made the heart of the people melt. But I wholly followed the Lord my God, and Moses swore on that day, saying, Surely the land whereon thy feet had trodden shall be thine inheritance. and I've children's forever. And because thou has holy father, Lord, my God, and now behold, the Lord has kept me alive. As he said, these 40 and five years, even since the Lord spake his word unto Moses, while the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness and no now are now low. I am this day four score and five years. That's 85 years old. as yet I am as strong this day as I was in a day that Moses sent me as My strength was then even so is my strength now for war both to go out and to come in now Therefore give me this mountain whereof the Lord spake in that day for thou heard us in that day how the Anakins Were there and that the cities were great and fenced if so be the Lord will be with me then I shall be able to drive them out as the Lord said and And Joshua blessed him and gave unto Caleb the son of Jephunneh Hebron for an inheritance. Hebron, therefore, became the inheritance of Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, the Chesnaite, unto this day, because that he wholly followed the Lord God of Israel." So here's it come to fruition. So he was 49 when he went out to sentencing land. And they took over and it was promised unto Caleb. Caleb comes back years later at 85 years old and said, the Lord promised me, you promised me this land. I don't need you to give it to me. I'm plenty good enough to take it myself. So he didn't even expect, which he could have, to have it handed to him because of the promise being fulfilled. But here was a man so determined not to retire that he said, I don't even need you to give it to me like it was promised. Just give me the go-ahead, and I'll go get it myself. And God blessed. Don't let man, the world, or the devil, my friend, keep you from conquering those mountains. God has promised you. If God has made a promise to you to look to him to bring it to light, I will lift up mine eyes unto the hill from whence cometh my help. Psalms 121 verse 1 says. Then go after it. go after as we go through life we may most likely will not will enter new territory bringing mountains God did not put before us mountains that are not designed to bring us joy but suffering realizing that though God may not have put those mountains before us right away he did allow it And if he allowed it, my friend, he'll bring us to the other side. And first, Peter, chapter one, verse seven and eight, we talked about this in Sunday school, but said the Lord shall preserve thee from all evil. He shall preserve thy soul. The Lord shall preserve thy going out and coming in from this time forth and even forevermore. My friend, that just means that God will be there for you. That doesn't mean that tough times won't come. That doesn't mean that danger might not come upon you. And that doesn't mean that harm might not come upon you. But my friend, God said, I'll be there with you if it does come. And there is no time that He will not be with us. So we need to realize that. So we need to be faithful. And we need to not retire even when climbing those mountains. And that goes to the third one, is that we need to not retire when it comes to proclaiming what God has for His people and His love. Eyes hath not seen nor ears heard what God hath prepared for them that love him. Jeremiah chapter seven verses one and two says, the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord saying, stand in the gate of the Lord's house and proclaim there this word and say, hear the word of the Lord all ye of Judah that enter in at these gates to worship the Lord. We're tasked with that same task, my friend. If we're a child of God, that means we're an ambassador for Christ Jesus. And we're tasked to proclaim the word of the Lord. We're tasked to proclaim the love of Christ that constraineth us. Let us not retire from proclaiming to all before us that which God hath done in us and for us and of his love through it all. John refers to Christian love within his epistles more than 25 times. It's in His love that the very foundation of our salvation is wrought. So let us proclaim it. For God so loved the world. Do you ever emphasize that when you talk to somebody about the love of Christ? Not for God so loved the world, but for God so Love the world. There's a different kind of love than the love that man knows about in that soul. And that's the love that was talked about this morning. There is a Savior. There is a Savior. Many times, though, we find ourselves talking of our own goodness instead of His, don't we? Oh, you should see what I did. You should see what happened to me last night. Instead of saying, you should see what God did for me. You should see what God did in my life. My friend, we're here to exhort Him. Increase Christ. Decrease us. We can't do that when we're talking about ourself, but I have to tell you, my flesh tends to enjoy talking about myself. And we have to fight, a lot of us have to fight against that. Because it's not all about me. It's all about He. He who is and will forever be. Let us be quick to decrease ourselves and increase God. For a faithful man He will be who does so. Then we need to not retire when it comes to just performing great tasks. Turn over to Genesis 6. It says, It came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them. that the sons of god saw the daughters of men and that they were fair and that they took them wives of all which they chose and lord said my spirit shall not always strive with man for that he also is flash yet his day shall be a hundred twenty years there were giants in the land it goes back and and verse five and god saw that the wickedness a man was great in the air and then In verse 7, the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast and the creeping things and the fowls of the air, for it repenteth me that I have made them. Verse 8, but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. But Noah, Noah, my friend, had been given a great responsibility. I don't know any responsibility that you or I have ever thought that we've been getting that we got or received that we thought was great. He was like minute, was this much of the great task that Noah had been assigned. And he is given that task to secure a remnant of God's creatures and carry humankind for him. You might never receive such a task from God, such as Noah did, that being to make sure life continues. But each one here, bought by the blood of Jesus Christ, has been tasked to bring the gospel of Jesus Christ to a lost and dying world. And my friend, may I say, there is no greater task. Now, for man speaking, what a task Noah had been tasked with. What an opportunity. Oh, as a child, you read that and you think, oh, how great it must have been for Noah. Oh, the people must have thought he was just something. Oh, how it would be if God would give that. Just think what people would think about me. Again, remember I talked a little bit earlier about me. Not all about me, it's all about He. But we have that task, my friend, greater than Noah ever had. And that's to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's to bring the lost to Christ. For He can only save. And if we don't bring Him there, they will not have an opportunity for salvation to impart them. There may be other great tasks that God calls you to perform. I don't know. But when and if that happens, do not run away. Instead, say, Lord, here am I. But God won't use those who aren't doing the first task. If you're a child of God and you're not proclaiming God's word, which is his first task for you to do as his child, don't complain of saying, why isn't God seem to use me? He just don't have me doing anything. Well, my friend, you're not doing the first and most important thing that God has tasked you on the day of salvation, and that is to proclaim what Christ did for you in the work of salvation to all those that you know that are lost. and then we need to not retire even when the world tries to retire you revelations chapter 1 turn over there revelations chapter 1 verse 9 John I John who also am your brother in companion and tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ." Now here's a man like you and I who may have dreamed that things would get easier, things would get lighter for him, And he wouldn't be tasked with the sweat of his brow like he once did. But God wasn't done with them. And how God lets people know they're not done with them is different. And sometimes boggles our mind why things happen against people that are some of the greatest workers for the Lord ever. But John here who was one of the greatest men of God that ever walked the face of the earth, was exiled to Patmos for what? What I just told you earlier you should not retire from. Proclaiming what God has for his people and his love. He went through great suffering. Some say he had tar poured over him before he was thrown out into the Isle of Patmos. But he was exiled there basically to die. But God had other things in plan for him. And he penned one of the greatest books that was ever penned, the book of Revelation. This still man, the child of God should I say, struggles to comprehend and fathom all that it possesses. And yet he took him on a ride like no man had ever ridden. To be able to see things that no man had ever seen. To hear things that no man had ever spoken. And yet there was things he couldn't even write because he was told not to. But what a blessing. The world and even the devil tried to retire old John, but could not. And Revelations was penned because of it. So don't let anybody put you out to pastor, as they all say, as a race, old race horse, that's no good, especially yourself. You know, we do ourselves the worst harm when we ourselves put ourselves to pastor and say it's time to retire. It's time to let somebody else take that baton. Well, if you can tell me in God's Word, you can show me chapter and verse where God says that, then we might have to have a conversation to think about it. But until then, there's not. So, we go back to the beginning. Did someone say retirement? Not God. And I pray not yourself either. Appreciate that very much.