The Third Season of Life

[0:00] Thank you, Jesse. Morning, everybody. As you have heard, my name is Tom, so thank you for those kind words. I do have a very long history with Jesse and Hayley.

[0:12] She used to be in our youth when I and my wife passed at a church in Cape Town. It's at the tip of the continent of Africa, in case you're not sure. So we trained Hayley, and then he came and stole her away.

[0:26] So long history. It's great to be here, Jay. The thing I love about this site, and especially Jesse and his team here, Elliot and the other guys, it's always about the heart.

[0:38] We always want to get to people's hearts so they can know Jesus better. And if we know Jesus better, we can serve our communities better. And so that is something that I have gained from you guys big time, and I really appreciate that.

[0:50] And you should be very grateful that you sit in a place that that's the heart of the place, not to be the biggest and the zhuzhiest and the pantiest. But man, can we get to know Jesus better? So something's flashing at me.

[1:03] Have I gone over a speed trap or something? So South Africa won the rugby. I don't know if you know much about rugby.

[1:14] Yeah, it's like a proper man's game. You don't wear padding and all that kind of stuff. You tackle skin on skin, and it's really out there. So if you watched it, well done.

[1:25] And yeah, privileged to be here this morning. So we're in the series, and we stepped out of Mark for a while. May go back to that. Mark was a phenomenal series.

[1:37] We really enjoyed it. And each of us is sort of touring all the sites and talking about a particular topic. And mine this morning is third season of life. That's what I'm going to talk about.

[1:47] So it's kind of going to be more like a discipleship moment. And I'll try and bring some things in that really just lift our souls as well. But this is like, how do I live my life? There's this third season.

[1:58] What does the Bible have to say about that? And to be honest, it has very little to say. This has been one of the hardest preachers I've ever had to put together. Because the word retirement does not appear in Scripture anywhere or any shape or any form.

[2:12] In fact, retirement is a very modern thing that has come into the Western world. In biblical times, you just carried on working until you dropped down dead or you couldn't. Then you'd sit at the side of the field, and you'd instruct your kids and your grandkids how to mow the corn or whatever they were doing there.

[2:29] But it's just not a thing that's in Scripture. Except for one or two places, I think. So I think I've found some Scripture that will help us this morning. And I look forward to sharing that with you.

[2:40] So let me pray. Lord Jesus, be with us. Well, you are with us. We've worshipped you. We've sung. We've watched this cool little guy tell us that he loves Jesus with all his heart to the point that in front of all of us, he will bury himself in this water and then be raised from that as a picture of what Christ has done in his heart.

[2:59] And so we love that, Lord. And so be with us. There's a whole bunch of us that know you. We want to be better disciples. That's why we come to church. That's why we go to home group. That's why we study your Word.

[3:10] And so do that for us this morning. So we ask this in Jesus' name. So greetings from Swansburg. If you're a visitor, great to have you. And so we're going through this series.

[3:21] And generally at One Harbor, just so that you know, we usually go through books. We're stepping out. But I think that's a good spiritual diet to go through books. But every now and then, no matter how good your diet is, you need some kind of little additives, some little supplements along the way.

[3:36] Even if your home diet is absolutely perfect, you need some supplements. So this little series is kind of like a little supplementary series. And so I want to set the stage for this third season of life.

[3:48] So here's a big idea we're going to put up there. This is what the big idea is. Be fruitful for Christ by making the most of your retirement or in brackets third season of life.

[4:01] So that's what we're talking about this morning. So in the Bible, you only read the word retirement on one occasion. And it's an occasion where the men who were slaughtering all the animals for the sacrifices, when they turned 50, they had to retire from that job.

[4:16] It's very vague why. It seems maybe two reasons. One was that dealing with so much blood so much of the time could actually cause some kind of illness or something. That was the best I could do in researching 38 biblical encyclopedias on your behalf.

[4:31] And then the other reason that they stopped at 50 was so that the younger guys could come through and take over their job. And so they retired out and apprenticed the young guys.

[4:43] That's the only place you find retirement in Scripture. So how is this thing going to help us this morning? So how should those of us who have or will in the future have stepped away from our means of livelihood into the season of life called retirement?

[4:57] How should we be living this third season of our lives as a disciple, a follower, a lover of Jesus Christ? And the way we get to the third season is, I don't know who does this, insurance places or government departments, but baby to young adulthood, 1 to 30.

[5:13] So there's some of you like that here. Adulthood is 30 to 60. So there's some of you here. And then the mature, really cool people, the mature adults, the 60s to 90s.

[5:26] And there's a few of us here in the room. Those are the three seasons of life that someone divided them up. And so obviously we're talking about the 60s to the 90s. But it applies to everyone. Because everyone in this room, if you're going to have a job one day, you will retire one day.

[5:41] And I think it's important to know what does Scripture say about that. If anything, if we can discover something. I've got to be honest, up until this moment in my life, I've been in ministry well over 40 years.

[5:53] I've never heard one sermon on retirement. I never did one sermon on retirement. And now I've done three. This is the fourth one in a row that I'm doing. And it has been an eye-opener to me.

[6:04] It has been fantastic. And I hope it is the same for you as well. So we retire out, let's say. And we leave our job. And we want to still live to the glory of God.

[6:16] And average-wise, people will still live another 20 to 25 years after retirement in Western world. So I had to go and dig into all this other stuff in other countries and all the rest of it. And so this is a big deal.

[6:28] You retire from your job and you've got another 20 years to live. Are you just going to go and put an RV next to a putt-putt course at Emerald Isle, eat Bojangles every day, and do nothing?

[6:42] If that is God's plan, I think it is horrible. I think it sucks, if I have to be honest. Our God could not get past.

[6:55] And obviously, of course, He's got a plan. That is a Western culture thing that has been created and that has been laid on us. He is not silent about this.

[7:06] And the reason He's not silent is because from the years 65 to 90, that is still life. And discipleship is about life and how to live that life for the glory of God.

[7:17] And so He must say something, and He actually does. And I'm going to show you. He actually calls people who retire out, He calls them palm trees, which in Scripture, I mean, you may not think that's flattering. If I walked up to you and said, hey, Niyambi, you're such a wonderful palm tree.

[7:31] You may think like, hang on a minute. I don't know if that's a compliment or something horrible. You're calling me something like a vegetable or what is your problem? But in Scripture, it is one of the most valuable plants that you will ever find in Scripture.

[7:46] And right at the end, I'll show you that. So this is kind of a one big point sermon. I'll give you the big point in a moment. And then a couple of little friffy bits around the edge. And then we'll be done. And you're going to live your retirement to the glory of Jesus Christ.

[7:59] So what I'm trying to say, it's a very crucial part of our lives. Very important. Culture tries to undermine that. And it's important for this reason.

[8:11] Because it's the last lap we run before we see Him face to face. And folks, if you think you're going to just walk into heaven, there'll be some clapping, hand out milkshakes.

[8:23] Maybe. Maybe. I hope that's something of what happens there. That there's a celebration that we've come home at last to the King. But there's also going to be a reckoning. The Bible says we'll account for every idle word we have spoken.

[8:37] For me, when I read that again, it's in Matthew, I think it's 16 or 26. It terrified me. Every idle word I've said, I'm going to account to the King. And then there's these things called rewards.

[8:51] Now, I wish we could get into that. Now, we're not going to have time to do that. But you can go and read a book about heaven by Randy Alcorn. And he writes this thick book on heaven.

[9:03] And in that, it gets into this whole thing of what's going to happen there. There's actually going to be rewards for the ways that we've served Jesus. And so that could motivate us, how we serve Jesus. I don't think it should.

[9:14] But then I do think it should. Because I think this is what's going to happen. And I can't prove it theologically this morning because we ain't got the time. But I believe if I walk through the pearly gates of heaven, there's my Jesus.

[9:26] Oh, my gosh. He doesn't have a beard. It's all different to what I thought. And then I'm checked out. You know, they adjudicate me or however that's going to happen.

[9:37] Because we don't really know. We just know it is going to happen. And then, Tom, here's your rewards. I don't think I'm going to say, okay, where's my little mansion? Where's my pad? And go put it down there and stick it in the backyard and sit and look at it.

[9:51] My gosh, look at this. You know, when I preached at New Bern, look at this big reward I got because it was so hard to go up there and do this thing for the king, you know. Actually, I think we will use every one of those rewards to worship the king of kings.

[10:05] I don't know about you. I do not want a little basket of fake eggs to worship him with. Oh, my Jesus. I want big.

[10:19] And part of our retirement is that, that we live those last 20 years to the glory of Jesus Christ, our king. It is not sitting on a beach somewhere.

[10:34] And I'll get into some of that as we go along. I want to try and do this quickly just to help us with time. So this is what's going to happen. Many of you are going to have worked for 30, 40, 50 years.

[10:46] You're going to retire out of that. And then you're going to go sit at Emerald Al Beach and have a latte every day of your life until you pass on to the next life. Now, I know I'm being a little Aussie-ish and facetious, but I think that's a trick of the enemy.

[11:03] Because most of us, when we retire out, will still have some energy. We will have 20, 30, 40, 50 years of skills that we have learned. We will have served Jesus for a fairly long time, most of us.

[11:17] And so we will be well-discipled. We will know the word well. And then we go and sit on a beach in Florida for 20 years or chase a golf ball around for 20 years, which I would really enjoy.

[11:31] I've got to be honest, but I'm so useless, it wouldn't be very good. Instead of taking those 20 years and finding something in Scripture that tells us how we ought to live that to the glory of the King.

[11:42] I remember years ago when we still lived in Africa, we came to America for something. I managed to save up enough money. You and I managed to save up enough to bring our kids.

[11:53] And so we landed in where Disneyland is, and we were driving through Florida. And I remember these huge billboards. I mean, they're the biggest billboards I've ever seen in my life. It looked like a drive-in cinema kind of screen thing.

[12:06] And it was these adverts for the retirement. And we looked at these things and read them every time we went past. And at the end of the day, if I had to summarize what it advertised, it was spend a really big bunch of money, buy a house here, and do nothing.

[12:20] So this was an advert to give all your money to some really rich guy somewhere else and then just do nothing for the rest of your life. It was just so weird in that time.

[12:32] I mean, this was 20, 30 years ago. And that's what our culture will tell us. Like, get your house, get your RV sorted, get a beach cottage somewhere or up in the mountains, your little igloo so you can go and hang out there once in a while.

[12:47] And then do nothing constructive for the rest of your life. Yeah, but I can go and see my grandkids and pour into them. Yes, that is constructive. But what about the bigger picture?

[12:58] Does God's will for you stop the day that you retire out from your job situation? Of course it doesn't. And we want to see some of that in here.

[13:08] So, you know, it was very hard to find materials and all the rest of it. But I'm going to give you the best book, I think, that you can read on this, which I would recommend. J.I. Packer, premier theologian in America and Canada, wrote one of the greatest theology books, Knowing God.

[13:23] If you haven't read that, you should go and read it straight away. And this is the title of the book, Finishing Our Course With Joy, Guidance from God for Engaging with Aging. That's the title of the book.

[13:34] And here's his little intro. Aging is not for wimps. So far as bodily health allows, we should aim to be found running the last lap of the race of our Christian life flat out.

[13:47] Retirees are admonished in our day to relax, slow down, take it easy, amuse yourself, do only what you enjoy. I see this agenda, well meant as it is, is wrongheaded in the extreme.

[14:00] I think it is one of the huge mistakes of our time about which some frank speaking is in order and overdue. It lacks Christian content and focuses on the fact that it prescribes idleness, self-indulgence, irresponsibility as the goal of one's declining years.

[14:17] This overtime will generate a burdensome sense that one's life is no longer significant but has become quite simply useless. The challenge that face us is not to let physical slowing down produce spiritual slowing down, but to cultivate the maximum spiritual zeal for the closing phase of our earthly life.

[14:36] Our last lap of life lived with maximum spiritual zeal with and for Christ, J.I. Packer. There you got it. My whole sermon.

[14:49] But I'm a preacher and I'm going to add a few more things here. 10,000 people hit 65 every day in the United States. Can you imagine what percentage of that is Christians and what kind of an army that could create?

[15:02] If you had to just start dreaming a little bit? And if we don't know what the scripture says about this, then we're just going to follow the cultural trends because that's just where we're at.

[15:16] And I totally get that and I understand that. And the cultural trend does not come from a Christian viewpoint. It's consumeristic. It's profit mindset. It's motivated by those kind of things.

[15:27] And as I've already said in the Bible, you just carried on working right until the end and lived with your family and all the rest of it. And I like that. I'm making some plans. Retirement was first introduced into the Western world, 1889 by Germany.

[15:45] And after that, it took off right across the earth. And most Western nations that were pretty prosperous. And most Western nations now, as we sit here, are fighting the retirement date because the government spent all the money that was saved.

[16:00] And now the government's got to refill the car. Yeah, I can see some of you older folks, you mature saints nodding. Yes, they're trying to get us to retire at 80 now, 85 or whatever the case might be.

[16:11] And it's a problem in the world that should never have happened because it's not a biblical way of doing this. So it's found in prosperous Western nations. So I found a whole bunch of pushback on retirement.

[16:27] I found jokes wives were making. I'll just tell you one of them. This wife said, I've got double the husband but half the money. I don't like that. And then they did a survey on the wives and said, what would you like to change about retirement?

[16:42] And a huge percentage said, could he please go back to work? Because it just wasn't, he's just loafing around. It's not working out this thing. It's just silly.

[16:53] It goes against the grain. It goes against God's image that's inside of us. So, Psalm 71 verse 5. So here's a clue.

[17:08] From my youth. Oh 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.

[17:21] Until I proclaim your might to another generation. Your power to all those to come. So even to old age and gray hairs, oh God, do not forsake me.

[17:32] Until I proclaim your might to another generation. Your power to all those to come. So we saw this very wonderful young man get baptized just now.

[17:45] And there's some of us with gray hair in this room. We can help tell that generation about Jesus. You know, some of you may have bought RVs, which is a cool thing.

[17:56] I'm not saying it's a sin or anything to buy an RV. But you need to use it for Jesus. Get a bunch of those kids, maybe with their dads. And you organize a dad trip. And you go and see some cool museums.

[18:07] And teach some history about America. And then you tell your story about how you met Jesus. And teach them how to pray. Who knows what you could do if you begin to let your imagination run.

[18:19] That's got to be better than a latte and a lazy boy on Emerald R. In the sense of glorifying the king. Now is it wrong to go and sit on Emerald R.

[18:29] With a latte and a lazy boy? Well, if you can get your lazy boy down to the beach, good for you. It's not wrong. That's not all that God has called us to.

[18:42] You've got to look both. There is rest. It's in the Bible. There is rest. This church teaches about rest. But there's also productivity until my last breath is breathed for King Jesus.

[18:54] And you've got in this congregation, you've got so much ammo to get your hands on and raise up these young guys. And then it says this, Psalm 92. It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to your name, O Most High.

[19:07] To declare your steadfast love in the morning and your faithfulness by night. To the music of the lute and the harp. To the melody of the life. For you, O Lord, have made me glad by your work and at the works of your hands.

[19:20] I sing for joy. How great are your works, O Lord. Your thoughts are very deep. The stupid man cannot know. The fool cannot understand this. That though the wicked sprout like grass, like grass just shoots up, and evildoers flourish.

[19:34] They are doomed to destruction forever. But you, O Lord, are on high forever. For behold, your enemies, O Lord. For behold, your enemies shall perish. All evildoers shall be scattered.

[19:46] But you have exalted my horn like that of a wild ox. You have poured over me fresh oil. My eyes have seen the downfall of my enemies. My ears have heard the doom of my evil assailants.

[19:57] The righteous flourish. Here we go. Here we are, the older folks. The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. They are planted in the house of the Lord.

[20:08] They flourish in the courts of our God. They will bear fruit in old age. They will ever be full of sap and green to declare that the Lord is upright.

[20:18] He is my rock and there is no one righteous in him. Do you notice it doesn't call older folks saps? It says we are full of sap, which is fruitfulness and life.

[20:32] Yeah. That's good. So if you're over 60 this morning or 60 and over, hello palm trees. Nice to meet you. We're going to start a new ministry at one hour.

[20:43] But palm tree ministry. Tea, cool t-shirts. Why should all the young guys have their cool t-shirts? Ryan Marshall, we on our way. This is the one main point.

[20:55] We have a career and we have a calling. That's what scripture teaches us. Your career is your job. Your calling is what God has called us to do, which is to serve him, spread the good news of Jesus Christ throughout the earth.

[21:13] And your career will stop someday. For some of you, your career has stopped. You've done your 50 years or whatever it might be. And maybe you've already retired out or you've got plans and all the rest of it.

[21:24] But your calling never stops. In fact, before you were born again, before you met Jesus as your savior, that calling was on each of us. But we were rebellious and we'd walked away from God and we didn't want anything to do with him.

[21:36] And certainly not with the calling that he put on us to spread the goodness and fame of Jesus throughout all the world. And then somewhere, somehow, maybe through an older person or a youth group, a youth camp, we heard the good news of Jesus Christ.

[21:49] We accepted Christ as our savior. And if you don't know him today, that can happen in this room. The miracle of all miracles. And when we accepted Christ as our savior, we were restored back to this calling that we are called to live for his glory till our last breath.

[22:03] Every day of our lives. Every day of our lives. Have a career and a calling. When Jesus saved our souls, his mission was accomplished and our mission began.

[22:23] Following and serving Jesus is our calling. It's not our career. Our career is a tool to give us a salary and, you know, skill sets and all the rest of us.

[22:37] You and I have a calling, folks. They call that t-shirt, that palm tree t-shirt, I am called. And on the back, it says something like, I'm busy living my calling.

[22:51] I should go and design t-shirts or something. I don't know. I don't know. in 1st Peter I'm not going to read the passage but 1st Peter says there's this new this this this people that God is raising up a chosen race a royal priesthood yeah it's this this people who know him as their lord and savior young old middle-aged etc etc but this morning we're addressing those of us who are in our senior years special years we are to both treasure and make much of Jesus we call to live in a manner in retirement that puts him on display in every facet of our life and every facet of Jesus life finishing life to the glory of God means finishing life in a way that makes Jesus look amazing it means living and dying in a way that shows Christ to be the all-satisfying treasure that he is it includes for example not living in ways that make this world look like your treasure but Jesus is my treasure it means that most of the suggestions that the world offers us for our retirement years are generally bad ideas these ideas call us to live in a way that would make this world look like our treasure and not Jesus finishing life to the glory of Christ means resolutely resisting the typical western American dream of retirement it's very fascinating and this is not a you know I'm from Australia this is not a little knock or anything but in Australia you can be replowed back into the the work community the government has realized this retirement thing that they inherited from England and other European countries it's not that good I can go back to Aussie I'm 67 I know that sounds like really old but it's not I can go back to Aussie and I can be trained in seven different apprenticeships if I want plumber electrician motor mechanic pilots not in there I'd go for that one if it was there you can go back and be re-put into the marketplace because they just believe you still got juice man you still got fruit the kingdom of God knows that into old age until the next generation here's the good news you will continue to bear sap and and fruit and the palm tree can bear up to 200 pounds of fruit a year it's one of the most fruitful trees you can find in scripture that's palm trees fruitful because we've got a little brains we got some skills we're not so insecure when you're younger and all those things you know it's rock the world I feel like a revolution coming on what are you doing to me here it means being so satisfied with all that God promises to be for us in Christ that we are set free from the cravings that create so much emptiness and uselessness and retirement instead knowing that we have an infinitely satisfying and everlasting inheritance in God just over the horizon of life makes us zealous in our few remaining years here to spend ourselves in the sacrifice of love not the accumulation of comforts desiring God I read a story of a really senior gentleman lying in a hospital bed and he couldn't speak anymore and he believed this stuff and you know what he did he used his eyes to just look at the nurses and doctors with such love and the story goes that staff that were feeling down would just go and stand by his bed so he could look at them and through his eyes before his last breath he was still giving off sap and fruit and changing nurses and doctors lives just by a look of kindness and gentleness and passion because he got it he got it so we're living and dying to make Christ look great that call never stops it's the key to finishing life well

[26:52] it's the key to living a life that is totally satisfying with him our king it's a life marked with love and service which the retirement gurus tell us that should not be our portion we deserve to be loved and served it's not our time to love and serve back it is it's our greatest moment I think in the years that we've all lived we stop using people for our needs we become Christ servants and meet their needs in the last year of our lives we must be 100 satisfied in him and with him we have a calling you you can't take that away when you when you get up when I leave this church today or this building today and go back to swansboro I stay calling's there I can't dismiss it I will stand before the king and give an account for it and he made a way for us to live in all of that so let me talk a little bit quickly on being a palm tree let me tell you a little bit about yourselves psalm 92 verse 12 to 15 I'm just going to read this again 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

[28:11] 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 when we see a noble palm tree standing erect sending all its strength upward in one bold column and growing amid the death and dearth and drought of the desert because that's mostly where you find them we have a fine picture of a godly man or a godly woman who in or her uprightness aims alone at the glory of god and independent of outward circumstances is made by divine grace to live and thrive where all other things would perish spurgeon so what is a palm tree what is that a picture of in scripture because picture uses scripture uses one is it's a picture of genuineness and sincerity because if you cut a palm tree what's on the outside is exactly the same as what's on the inside so if we if we walked up to you palm tree person on the outside you're all happy and nice to see you great to be at church what a beautiful day grumpy but on the inside mr grumpy what happened to jesus and i get it i'm older i get grumpy if i go to a particular store to get a particular thing i like eating and they haven't got it there i'm grumpy i know none of you do that you're looking so innocent i'll wait till there and see when you get tested in the deal there we're the same it's a picture of humility it's a picture of genuineness and sincerity it's a picture of the rest that god has for us because when the children of israel came out of egypt into the promised land he took them to an oasis that was surrounded with palm trees we restful people because we've been with the king just poured out into us it's god's rest it's his shade his protection and and palms have very deep roots and this goes exactly to what you guys talk about here so much because a palm tree can actually bend 50 to a 50 degree angle before it falls over in a storm and that and part of the reason is it has very good root system so like we want to be rooted in jesus we want to we want our hearts deep buried into jesus that's why we read the scripture and all the stuff jesse and the guys teach here but they also close by and each other's roots help each other stay strong remind us of a coming king they represent fruitfulness and i'll close with this you know you you you about to leave this building and hit uh newburn there's restaurants here in newburn hey good thank you you can go and be a blessing today i um when we planted swansboro this is we just said this by accident it's become a thing for us like you're about to leave you know at the end here someone will get up and say you know push back darkness all for the sake of the gospel and let's go out there so we just added in like let's be these little navy seals slipping into restaurants and starting and being a blessing to people there let's give the waitresses and waitrons the biggest tip they've ever had in their lives let's be kind when the waiter spills the coke on you just love on them say no it's okay babe this is this is fantastic i love it it's my favorite thing to do well don't lie and so people did that and the city took a survey

[32:11] of the shopkeepers and said the church up the road we don't like them but do you want them to stay they said absolutely said our staff have never been happier and they've never made so much money because boy can that church eat so we used to say we still say every sunday like we need secret little navy seals so a couple of months ago two men in the church young guys it's just we were sitting on a very dark porch i think it was a setter they said hey can we just chat to you a little bit yeah sure so one is an ex marine raider and the other one is a current active marine raider which i'm told now after that moment are more vicious than the navy seals i don't know if that's the right word vicious more scary so they said you know tom we say this thing often about the little navy seals he said you know both of them said you know we don't have any navy seals in that church so that's just a saying so i said well you know we do have marine raiders and we're sitting with you here on this porch that's very dark so i get the point now we say marine raiders but it's the same principle you're about to head out there whether you're young or old but us i'm talking to those of us who are a little older so i have in-laws not not my wife's parents but my daughter's in-laws as hayley knows them their name's andre nanita so they live in south africa if you look at the tip near cape town's place called france hook means france's corral and uh he made some good money he wrote uh tax software for for countries he did a lot of work for the emirates and all that kind of stuff but they've moved out to this little place built a very basic home it's comfortable enough for them and when grandkids and that want to come visit their space it's not ostentatious you you wouldn't pick it up above any other home they move out there got cars that are really old because they just don't want to waste money because they want to waste money on people for jesus and so one of the things they do when they visit out here they collect as many old used laptops as they can find and darby my son-in-law in new york helps i try and get some for them and they collect these laptops together and then they've rented a really crummy old room we're hoping one day we can build something better for them and they'll put people from the very poor community into that room and maybe in a year 20 30 40 of them will get taught how to type on a computer not fancy just a few basic sentences because if they can type on that computer they can get a job as a till checker at the local supermarket and the local local supermarket's got the best jobs in town your food is cheaper there because you get a discount it's a set rate you get some benefits you get a uniform because most of those people only have one change of clothes but they got to sleep in and go to work in and so here's this couple that did really well for themselves in their senior years just changing a community one person at a time with secondhand laptops just down the road there's a lighthouse like we have at cape lookout and they went to look at it one day and it was closed and they said why is it closed and there's some cottages there you could rent out to make some money for people and people could be maids and cooks and all that so the guy said here's a key go help yourself the lighthouse open now by the beginning of next year those cottages should be open and starting to bring money it's just this just a retired couple this guy his first his main job was was designing a nuclear weapon for south africa which they did pull off

[36:15] and helped israel with it but here he is maybe there's a rocket hidden inside the lighthouse i don't know he's helping people just find life in his retirement how hard can that be for all of us so i i hope you hear my heart today this encouragement to think about this part of our life better than we've ever done today so if you don't know christ today he's here in this place and you can meet him and if you're not sure how to do that one way is just right there where you see that if you if you believe that he's here and he wants to save your soul just ask him so jesus i believe today that you died in my place rose again from the dead meaning you paid for my sins i want you as my king if you're not sure then come chat to us afterwards we'll help you on that journey with that not a not a hassle at all we'd love to have a chat with you and talk to you and then there's those of us who've known jesus for a long time and so in a few moments we we're going to break bread together and we're going to do like you normally do and i hope i get this right we're going to walk to the table you'll get the elements and go back to your seat and then i'll pray and i'll lead us in that but if you already know jesus maybe good just to think on these things for a few moments just my retirement how am i thinking about that should i start engaging in some other ways with this or maybe you already retired like hang on a minute i get this i can bear fruit i can have sap and greenness and all the stuff flowing out of my life i'm not going to believe the rubbish that i've been told out there i'm going to change this we're starting a palm tree group in this church i'm in talk to the king there's others of us you know the king may want to say something to you not not retired people or older people but just us where your king wants to address something in your heart to just to give him that moment to do that and then we'll break bread together amen all right thank you for the pleasure of sharing with you so i'm going to pray and you uh take a few moments there and then we will go to the the elements to the communion table so father we pray just for a few moments that we would still our souls before you as we head to communion we thank you for your body absolutely smashed so that we might live this unpayable sacrifice that faced us lord that separated us from the king from our father from the glorious god lord jesus you came and got smashed so that price could be paid we are overwhelmed and grateful this morning and then your blood spilled lord jesus a pure sacrifice of blood was required and none of us were ever going to be pure because we're born into this thing called sin but you were pure and you died in our place my place their place so that we could go free we love it that on the third day after your burial you rose from the dead signifying that the father said the sacrifice is good it's pure it's clean it pays the price for every boy and girl man and woman that was ever born and ever will be born we give you praise for that today lord there's those who don't know you jesus we pray you draw them to you this day

[40:19] pray for the as we've laughed and said this morning the palm trees in our midst today people heading towards that stage of life lord come and lead us on an adventure of note i mean get re-camouflaged and retooled and re-armed to adventure with you in a way like we've never done before help us to see all the things we've got our home our ovies our little boats or whatever it is lord that we can use to just love on other people and care for them come and do something amazing in all of our hearts i pray so bless the cup lord bless the bread in jesus name amen