Life Is a Journey

Well, it's not exactly that. I'm glad to have some younger people. I thought, well, a lot of it's geography. You know, some people might have come here, except it's only a few miles from their house over to the campground, and some people might have been tempted to camp if it weren't halfway across the state, for those of you that live further to the east. But I... and starting on this sermon, I thought, what is it that makes people want to camp? Now, those of you here might be thinking, well, what makes them want to go do that? I think if you ask ten different people, you might get ten different answers. I thought back in history, there's a legend about Daniel Boone, famous frontiersman in our history, that says he wanted to stay near the frontier to not be crowded in. And as I said, this legend, I've heard it attributed to him, and some people would say it's attributed to others, but the idea was, he said if he could see the smoke from his neighbor's chimney, that was too close. Time to move further west. That does tie into an interesting major theory in American history, in my field, so I didn't realize it was a major theory until I was reading it, but it's one that's attributed to Frederick Jackson Turner, who was a famous historian a hundred-some years ago. But he... it says that one of the major influences on the character of America and its people was the existence of a frontier. And I think that's something many nations have not had in their history. And that frontier where people could quickly get out into a wilderness and embark on a journey cut off from the people and places before them. And of course, that seems obvious when we think about that, in American history, from the time the first settlements were planted on the east coast, just a short distance to the west, there was a place where they could be away from civilization. And of course, that frontier kept moving further west, but it was there for the first several hundred years of settlement in America. In the American mind, the frontier represented an ever-present opportunity. Hope. No matter how things... how bad things got for a person or a family, they could think, well, there's a place I can move out and start over. Now, we don't think that way today in an industrial society. It's not so easy. But if you go back 150 years, any family or individual, if they went out into the wilderness, they could get almost anything and everything they needed for a subsistence living. Now, subsistence isn't luxury, but it's still... it's not starving or dying. And the frontier also provides a means of escape from past mistakes. Without the internet or telephones and in many places, even newspapers, a person could move west and reinvent himself. You know, whatever mistakes he'd made before could be left behind. Nobody would know them unless he wanted to tell.

And this isn't a story that had to be included, but... excuse me... cough drop in here. I didn't mean to bite down on it, but that was the case for one of America's most famous frontiersmen, Simon Kenton. And, of course, we know the name. We've got counties and towns named for him. And if you've ever read the book The Frontiersman, you're familiar with his story. But as a young man growing up in Virginia, Kenton didn't plan to be a frontiersman. Actually, he got into a fight with another local fella.

If I remember correctly, it was over a girl. But they got into it, and he knocked the guy out, and he saw blood, and he thought, Oh no, I've killed him! And he hightailed it out of there. You know, he didn't mean to kill him. So he moved west, and moving towards that frontier. And as he moved further west, you know, this was late enough in the 1700s, the frontier wasn't real nearby, but settlements got further dispersed, and he made up false names. As a matter of fact, he decided to be clever about it. Before he'd leave one town, he'd ask, Well, can you tell me about the settlement up ahead?

And you'd find out who were the prominent families. And, like, if the wealthiest family was named Jones, he'd come into town and say, Yeah, my name is Simon Jones. I'd say, Oh, a long-lost relative! They'd take him in, treat him real well. And he'd move on. And, of course, Kenton lived many years on the frontier. You know, he fought against Indians, he became friends of Indians, he famously saved Daniel Boone's life at least once, maybe a couple times. And eventually he learned that that fella he thought he had killed was not dead at all.

He just knocked him out. And the irony of the story is, later that fella was charged with Kenton's murder, because Kenton disappeared, and so they thought, Hey, you must have killed him and hid the body. Since they never could find the body, the guy was led off, and they reconciled later on.

But Kenton's life story shows us what was possible with a frontier, with a wilderness offering a person a new start. Now, we can make easily several parallels with that and Christianity. We all understand about a new start, about repentance moving on. And I want to focus on another thing, that journey, going off into the wilderness and journeying. There's something unique about that. And I did note in my mind that while we're thinking about people camping, we're at the, I believe, 210th anniversary of the greatest camping expedition in American history, the Lewis and Clark journey.

They went up the Missouri River as far as it would go. It's funny, I started off saying, sailed up the river. Well, they sailed, and they paddled, and sometimes got ropes and dragged their boats. And they went into unknown territory. It's exciting to think what they did. They had to bring all their supplies. There was no super-Walmart along the way. And I say that because it's funny, whenever I go into another town, if I know where the Wal-Mart is, not that I'm a huge fan of Wal-Mart, but you know you can get just about anything you might need.

They didn't have that opportunity. They were going off to nowhere. They had to bring enough lead to melt into bullets, enough gunpowder to hunt for food. They brought reams and reams of paper and ink. Because they weren't on a mission of conquest. They were on a mission of discovery. I've heard some historians say that what they accomplished was equal on par for their time of when we sent men to the moon and back. Because you realize that journey to the moon, they were cut off.

They had what they took with them and nothing else. Now, you might be wondering where I'm going with all this. Talking about history, wilderness, journeys into the unknown. But it's partly because I think there are some spiritual lessons we can learn thinking about the journey, the trip into the unknown. And even when we're not camping, which, you know, if we say there's a divide in the church, there's at least one. There are those who want to camp and those who don't particularly want to camp, at least for whatever reason.

But if we're on a journey even when we're not camping, I think we know that. And this is hinting a little of something we're going to be celebrating and considering ahead when we come to the Feast of Tabernacles. Life is a journey. We're on a journey all the time. It made me think there was a song. I don't remember who sang it. I think some auto manufacturer used it as one of their commercials, saying, life is a highway, right? Life is a highway, I'm going to ride it. Well, whether it's a highway or not, it is a journey. Going on a journey is a major theme that appears in folklore, in literature, it's been the subject of movies, TV shows, and some major stories in the Bible, which, despite all this, I am going to get to the Bible eventually.

But people love stories about epic journeys. I think we can all relate in certain ways. One of the central greatest pieces of literature in Western civilization is named The Odyssey. It's about these fellas, they go off in a battle, and then their trip home is this great, epic journey. It's so much so that Odyssey is a synonym in English for wild, complicated journey, where you meet interesting people and have interesting experiences on the way. If you're not familiar with The Odyssey, I'm trying to think, I did finally read The Odyssey as an adult, and I said, hmm, that's not the best reading I've ever read.

Stories interesting. When I was 14, I read a book called The Hobbit, which I learned recently has been made into a movie, but I like the subtitle is There and Back Again, The Journey.

There's a whole genre of movies called road movies. And it's interesting, the basic plot is always the same. There's a person or a group of people that have some big reason they've got to get somewhere. They've got to go there and maybe accomplish something. And on the way, they have these experiences, they meet interesting characters, and almost always it turns out that The Journey was much more interesting than the trip, and all the things they learned and experienced were a bigger impact than whatever it was they were going to.

That theme's used for all kinds of characters and all kinds of settings.

Most of us have probably seen The Wizard of Oz. They go to all this trouble, they get there, and basically, the wizard's guy behind the curtain, he says, you don't need a heart, you've already got one, and you're smarter than you thought, and you've got the courage, look at what you've done. Or, of course, one of my old favorite, Star Trek. Part of their mission is to boldly go where no one has gone before. Are there stories like this in the Bible? Well, not about starships and not about wizards, but there are a lot of stories in the Bible that involve journeys. So much so, some scholars say, boy, are there so many stories in the Bible that involve journeys because this is a popular thing in literature and folklore? Or, I might say, is it popular in literature and folklore because God has used that genre to explain things and for His people to learn lessons? Our understanding of God's overall plan for mankind tells us that our life here on the flesh is what we call a sojourn. I like that term. It doesn't come up in modern English very often. We are all sojourners. Or, if you prefer the term, pilgrims. Let's turn to our first scripture, 1 Chronicles 29. 1 Chronicles 29, we'll read verses 14 and 15.

David says it very eloquently in a prayer to God. I'll mention that David says similar things in some of the Psalms that I won't turn to. This, of course, when David is talking about wanting to build the temple, which, of course, he wasn't able to do, we had some interesting discussion last night talking about David and Goliath and David cutting off his head. Some of those things, when God said, David, you're a pretty bloody guy. I'm going to have your son, who's not involved in all these wars, build the temple. But David's heart was right that he wanted to do it.

And he says this, Who am I? Who are my people that we should be able to offer so willingly as this? Meaning to God. For all things come from you, of your own we've given you. For we're aliens. We're pilgrims before you. As were our fathers. All our days on earth are a shadow and without hope. Now he doesn't mean that we have no hope, but on our own, trusting our own resources, our days are a shadow and without hope.

Let's turn back to the end of the New Testament, or near the end, to 1 Peter. 1 Peter chapter 1. We'll see something similar. As I said, these are themes that I'm not going to dwell on extensively at this point, but it's good for planting the seeds, because the Feast of Tabernacles is not far off. I've been working on a new speaking schedule, and it kind of surprised me. I said, boy, you don't go very far into that new schedule before you're at the Feast, and then thinking about what sermons you're going to give afterwards.

Of course, I don't like to think about the afterwards so much. We want the Feast to...we want that sojourn to last a good long time. Let's look at 1 Peter chapter 3 and verse 17. For it is better if it is the will of God to suffer for doing good than for doing evil, for Christ also suffered once for sin, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being near to... That's not what I wanted to...I wonder if I wanted to be reading in 2 Peter. Or did I want a different chapter? Oh, yeah, I wanted 1 Peter chapter 1, not chapter 3.

Let's try this again, will we? 1 Peter chapter 1 and verse 14...or verse 17, that is, If you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear. I just read from the New King James. The original King James says, The time of your sojourning here, for whatever time you have on this earth... Basically, he's talking about your life as a sojourning, your stay here.

You can almost say, your visit here, conduct yourself a certain way, knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold, for your aimless conduct received by the tradition of your fathers. Let's turn over the next book to 1 Peter chapter...no, 2 Peter chapter 1. Usually I don't have this much trouble getting a scripture correct. 1 Peter, 2 Peter, I'm looking at chapter 1 and I'm saying first. The second book of Peter, the first chapter in verse 13, Yet I think it is right, as long as I'm in this tent, or you might have a version that says, tabernacle, to stir you up reminding you...it's interesting now, when I give this this afternoon, I could look over, I'll have a tent set up there.

Long as I'm in this tent, but Peter's not talking about a place that he's sleeping, he means this physical body. It's like a tent, it's a temporary place. So he says, as long as I'm in this tent to stir you up reminding you, knowing that shortly I must put off this tent, just as our Lord Jesus Christ showed me. And that applies to all of us, shortly is a relative term. Now, I remember when I was 15, I thought, yeah, one day I'll die, but that's so long from now, it's not even worth thinking about.

But the days between now and then went by really fast, and the days ahead seemed to be going by faster. But the good thing is, we're going to put off the tent and put on something much more permanent. So even if a person lives a long time and stays in one place their whole life, it's still temporary. Now, we understand, of course, modern man throughout history has thought that he had an immortal soul, and that after his life here on ends, he'll go somewhere else. And that fits with the whole theme of journeying. But we understand the Bible says that's not the way it is.

Man does not have an immortal soul. Man is a living soul. And that soul can die, and it's over. But we also understand that God's word shows us that if a man dies, he can live again. He can resume that journey.

So, life is a journey. One that we're experiencing now, or the life that we are experiencing now, might only be just one leg on that journey. Now, so far I've been speaking a lot of generalities and platitudes. I wanted to set this up because I want to look at some specific journeys in the Bible, and maybe look at them in a way that's, you know, try to make them a little more real than we do other times, and then draw some lessons from them.

Now, the first story I think of as far as journeying is that of Abraham. As a matter of fact, this came up, well, it wasn't part of my purpose last night, but we were looking at David, and I mentioned to the people, the very first time that I served on staff at summer camp, a friend and I had first traveled Europe with our backpacks, which is something I always tell people, when you're young and single, if you can do that, it's a wonderful thing to do. We got a Ural pass and had three weeks of riding the train, sleeping in the trains at night, staying with brethren a lot of the time.

But I felt like such a vagabond, and my Bible study said, maybe I can draw some inspiration for this. There are other stories of other people wandering like this. The first one that came to mind was Abraham. So I looked at his story. Boy, did he have that. We know in Genesis 12, God told Abraham, leave your homeland. I want you to go out to a strange place I'm going to tell you about. And in turn, of course, God promised, I'm going to give you great blessings.

You're going to become a great nation, and your descendants will possess the gate of their enemies. You're going to have all this great stuff. But those benefits that would come to Abraham's family were in the distant future. But for the right then and there, Abraham had to just plain get going. Pack up, you've got to go. Back then, there was no moving with U-Hauls or calling a van line to load up. The family could only take what could be carried. Now, I've wondered sometimes how wealthy Abraham was before he left.

We knew later on he was pretty wealthy. I'm guessing they had some wealth, so probably they used pack animals. They probably had a number of camels and donkeys. And just imagine the start of this great journey. If he'd owned property, probably God, he figured from what God had told him, he might as well sell that.

If you have any bulky things, you know, I was thinking of bulky tools. I doubt that he had a big hydraulic press or a lathe or something, but if he did, you might as well sell that. You can only take what the donkey can carry. And one morning, I don't know which morning it was, Genesis doesn't tell us, but just a picture, one morning Abraham and Sarah woke up, finished their last things and walked out, and there was a line of camels and donkeys.

And Sarah was probably concerned about how some of the stuff was packed. I don't know if they had fine china. There were probably some things she wanted to take care of. Abraham might have been thinking more of, do we have enough food? How much do we have? Are we going to be able to purchase some where we're going?

He hadn't been there before. He couldn't get a AAA guide. Is there going to be a chance where we can stop and plant crops and harvest? How long is this journey going to take? Whatever it was that was going through their minds, though, at one point, the people and the animals and everyone involved had to start walking. Just imagine that. And going down the road. And I guess that's part of the journey story, which intrigues me, because I've always liked roads.

Because within a continent, it seems if you get on a road, you can go from almost anywhere you are to almost everywhere else. It's amazing how they're interconnected. This is a carryover from when I was about eight years old, when that first dawned on me. But I still think it's really cool. I could go out and get on that road, and if I've got enough gasoline or some means to transport, I can end up almost anywhere between the Arctic Circle and, what is it, Tierra del Fuego down at the Straits of Magellan.

I'm not sure how many roads there are getting down there, but... But you see my point. Now, Abrams household might have traveled, perhaps, on a good day. They might have made eight or ten miles in a day. I've studied enough about armies, which this isn't an army, but armies are lucky to make eight or ten miles, and this might not have been any faster.

Certain animals don't do well when they're hurried. And we know, reading later in Genesis, Jacob made that point to Esau. And when they reached a point where they were going to stop for the night, food had to be unloaded to feed the animals and the people. Tense had to be put up. They had to gather water. It's a daily routine of things that have to be done. I expect when they did find a good water supply, they might have said, well, let's stay here a day or two. You know, some clothing might need repaired, harnesses and things like that.

But always, soon it would be time to move on again. Abraham had been given instructions. You're going to wander. You're not going to settle down. But he did know he was going to a Promised Land. It's interesting that once he reached the Promised Land, God said, well, keep moving around. I don't want you to settle down. I find that interesting, though. At least then he was within a certain area. Now, traveling by foot, the Promised Land, probably seemed pretty large, but Abraham became well known. One of the ways we know that is when Sarah died, and Abraham wanted to purchase a plot of land for a burial. He went to the sons of Heth. How did they treat him?

They told him, you're a great prince among us. They respected him greatly. Abraham had spent years while wandering, building up a reputation, at least. And I wonder, you know, he must have known people at different places.

We don't have that experience much, but have you ever gone back to the same feast site several years in a row? And you get to know some people a little bit, you know, maybe a restaurant operator, or somebody at a hotel, and as you're going, you think, I wonder if they're still there? And you might exchange greetings, and it's kind of a happy time. I wonder if it was that way for Abraham and Sarah, as they moved into an area, maybe it'd been eight or ten years since they'd been there, and they might be thinking, I wonder if so-and-so is still there?

How big are there... have their kids gotten? And they'd catch up and hear about who married who, and what kids had been born, and things that had happened. It's hard to have close relationships, though, when you're always journeying. You miss a lot of the things that happen over the years. One of the things I love about a journey is that usually there's that goal at the end of returning home.

That's funny, I'm thinking, tomorrow afternoon, when I'm driving home, even though it'll be one night in the tent, I'll probably say, ahh, nice to get home. But I wonder, was Abraham's journey missing that? Or did he develop a different idea of what home was?

Or at least his end goal? Now, I'm going to come back to that thought a little bit later. Now, if we move ahead in history, looking at another epic journey, we know at a certain time in history when Abraham did have many, many descendants, they were on a journey, and they had a very fixed goal in mind.

They were looking forward to returning home. Well, I shouldn't say returning. They were looking forward to coming to a home they'd never seen. When the Israelites left Egypt, one thing was clear. The one thing that was clear was their end goal. They were going to the Promised Land. But they sure were going to have quite a journey getting there, weren't they? They didn't know how long it would be when they started.

But this wasn't one family loading up some donkeys and camels. This was hundreds and thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions of people and animals. I always think of how that worked from the perspective of the top down. Probably because that's the way Moses wrote about it and described it. We know he was at the pinnacle of an organizational chart with captains of thousands and captains of hundreds and captains of tens. Once the camp of Israel was set up, it became fairly well organized. They camped in a circular pattern with a tabernacle in the middle, three tribes... I'm trying to think.

That's east, if I remember correctly. Three tribes camped in the east, three to the south, three to the west, three to the north, and the Levites forming a semi-circle around that temple. So when it was time for them to move, they did it in an orderly way. Interesting, as I said, with Abraham and Sarah, they probably had to have some organization, but this required a lot more planning. The first to pull up stakes would always be Judah, Issachar, and Zebulon. Camp to the east. Of course, that's helpful if you're going to go that direction, which I'm guessing they normally left heading east.

After that would be a family of the Levites who would carry all the folded-up tabernacle. They packed it up, and one of the families of the Levites was assigned to carry that. And then following them would be the tribes that had camped to the south, Reuben, Simeon, and Gad. They would swing up, forming a column. After that, more of the Levites, who had packed up all the things that go in the tabernacle.

See, they're planning not only the departure, but when they arrive, when they arrive, the tabernacle would have already been set up, and they moved the things in. Swinging behind them, following directly from the west, were Ephraim, Manasseh, and Benjamites. All the families of Joseph. Then the northern campers, Dan Asher and Naphthal, I follow in, and you've gone from a big circular camp to a column, moving however far they did. As I said, I envision this as though I'm up on a mountain, and watching these little tiny figures.

You know, if you can organize that many soldiers or ants or whatever, that's the way it would look.

It's harder for me to imagine what was it like for the folks at the bottom of that pyramid? If you weren't a captain of 100, or even a captain of 10, you're just in your family. For 40 years, they had a portable lifestyle. They didn't have a store of food other than... or of other goods. God preserved their clothes, and we read that later. He made it so their shoes didn't wear out, their clothes didn't wear out, so they had what they had. And no extra. Packing up might have been a lot quicker. As I said, if I said, I wonder if Abraham was worried about how much food he had stored, Israelites didn't have that. They had one day's supply each day. Except on Fridays, they had two days' supply, because God worked a miracle for the manna to keep. And so, part of their portable lifestyle, they had to wake up in the morning before the desert got hot enough to melt the manna, and go out and gather some up. And I wonder, then, they would look and say, are we leaving today? If so, finish packing and follow. If not, you know, if the pillar stayed in one place, then, okay, we're going to be here for another day, and they'd take care of other things. They knew all along that their destination was the Promised Land. But on a daily or weekly basis, as they journeyed, they had a pretty limited view. They didn't know where they were going from day to day. And I'm just speculating, I'm guessing an experience like that would either build a person's faith and their obedience, or it might fester into bubbled-over rebellion. And the account shows I think both happened in different families at different times. Let's consider one more famous journey. This is the other one, as I said, when I would be going to camp. I started reading about Abraham, and when I finished that, I got to the end of Genesis, and I said, well, another person that I know had some interesting travels was King David, only before he was king. And so actually, and I'll let you in on this, I've told campers at times, I've developed a tradition since then, and in suing, I think it's been 26 years that I've served at camp, I always read the story of David while I'm at camp. And that's why it's easy, I know a lot of those details off the top of my head, I read it pretty often. But it's inspiring to me. As I said, David had a lot more control of his daily movements while he was on the run from King Saul, but he didn't have control of when this journey would end. He wasn't yet called King David. He started a flight for his safety. He said he'd been anointed king, he had training and experience, he was viewed very favorably by a lot of the people in the kingdom, but the man who was currently wearing the crown wasn't eager to step aside and hand it over. The accountant, 1 Samuel 19, describes how Saul sent soldiers to kill David. It always amusing me. The first ones came back and said, well, because his wife said, well, he's sick, he's in bed. So they came back and said, well, we can't kill him, he's sick. Saul said, bring him here in the bed, I'll kill him anyway. Which is funny because I think our prison system does the same thing, don't they?

If someone's on death row, they won't kill him if they're sick. I'm not sure if I see the reasoning, but anyways, after David escaped through a window and went on the run, he was on the lam for years. We don't know exactly how many. He had a group of followers came with him, but they were dodging Saul one day and the next. There's one account where it says, Saul and his army were coming around one side of the mountain, so David and his men were going around the other. Luckily, there was that mountain in between them. David eventually sought shelter in a foreign kingdom. He actually went and took refuge under one of the Philistine kings. He gave him the city of Ziklag and said, you can stay here. But David knew his journey wasn't ended. That wasn't the kingdom he was journeying to. He was still unsettled. He was a stranger on a journey, had steps on the way.

And that should sound familiar to us.

Jesus sent his followers on a journey also. And Jesus' followers, Christians, seek a kingdom. I think we know that. There were a couple of times that Christ organized his disciples into two-man teams, and he sent them out. I want you to go out and preach the gospel. Don't take extra food or clothes. You'll be provided for on the way.

And God did. And they were amazed when they came back. They were so excited. Why? You won't believe it. Even the demons do what we tell them to. And all the things you said came true. People provided for us. People listened to us. The story was exciting. And Jesus said, well, don't get so worked up about that. What you should really rejoice isn't that you can cast out demons, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.

And then in heaven, boy, talk about a journey. That's a long ways off. But, of course, that's not our destination either. Jesus at no time told his disciples they were going to heaven, but he said rather he was going to go there and come back when he prepared a place for them.

In the meantime, he said, there's another journey you have to embark on. Go to all the world and preach the gospel.

Go to all... make disciples among all nations. That's part of an ongoing journey that's been happening for Christians from that time up till now and continues on. We are part of that journey. We don't know exactly when it will end.

So while we think about these various examples from Biblical journeys, let's think about some of the lessons. There are lessons from these. I wanted to just look at the stories, maybe have a different feel. But let's look at some lessons that we can learn from them. There might be countless ones. That's one of the reasons they're in the Bible. But a couple of pretty big ones jump to my mind. The first, I think very important, and it fits in with the seven laws of success, which I haven't talked about in a while, but one of the first laws of success is set a goal. Our journey should be forward, should be toward something, not running away from anything.

Now, it's not hard to understand that Abraham was doing that. If you'll turn with me to Hebrews 11, see this principle applied to him and to the rest of the family. Hebrews 11, we'll begin in verse 8.

Now, this gives us the idea that Abraham had two goals in mind. The Promised Land was his goal, but he was also looking for something even greater, a kingdom whose builder was God. It wasn't made with hands. Let's skip down to verse 13.

Abraham could have gone back, but he didn't. It wasn't that God put up a barrier and said, once you cross this line, you can never go back. Now, he could never go back and still have the opportunities, and he didn't want to go back. And that should be true for all of us. We started a journey, and you could say our forefathers, our ancestors in the church started it before us. We don't want to go back. We're looking ahead. Now, the ancient Israelites, the descendants of Abraham, when they were journeying those 40 years, they were focused, interestingly, on the same land. They didn't have as clear a vision of the dual purpose, but they were aware, or were aware, of the symbolism of leaving Egypt, leading Egypt's pictures, leaving sin, and that lifestyle behind, and going towards the Promised Land. Keep that in the back of your mind, but it's worth noting those Israelites were going to the Promised Land. That in itself was a pretty worthy goal. Let's turn to Deuteronomy 8, and notice that. Deuteronomy 8 will begin in verse 7.

I like to read this now, then, because for some reason, I get it in my head. I've seen images of the Middle East today, and I always envision them out there in this stark desert with sand dunes and oases every now and then. Yeah, they're going to the Promised Land, but it was this arid desert. Who would want to go there? Well, the climate's changed quite a bit since then, and God says when He was taking them in here, it was a place they would want to go. Let's begin reading Deuteronomy 8, verse 7. It says, The Eternal, your God, is bringing you into a good land, a land with brooks of water, of fountains and springs that flow out of the valley hills, a land of wheat and barley, vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey, a land in which you'll eat bread without scarcity. And that must have meant a lot, because remember, they've been going day to day getting as much as they were going to eat that day, and they didn't have a supply for tomorrow. Here it's told, you're going to go to a land where there's going to be bread without scarcity. You're never going to have to worry about having enough. And which you'll lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper. When you've eaten and are full, then you'll bless the Eternal, your God, for the good land which He's given you. But He says, when this has happened, beware that you don't forget the Eternal, your God, by not keeping His commandments, His judgments, and His statutes, which I command you this day. Now, as I said, I know the climate's changed some, but so I don't doubt that this was true of the Promised Land back then, but I also suspect that God was writing this as a dual prophecy, because the ultimate land that Abraham's descendants would inherit is the land we live in today. And I imagine God had that in mind. He was thinking that land across the ocean that I'll bring your descendants to eventually, it's a land where they're going to be great harvests, and there's rivers and mountains and every natural resource you could ever want, and everything you can enjoy. That's good to remember. We just celebrated the Fourth of July, and I've been reading a fair bit of history lately. Sue signed us up for a summer reading program at the library, and I think we can get free appetizers at some place if we read enough books. And I think, boy, I could have just bought the appetizers. So I set aside my Winston Churchill. I've been reading through his account of World War II, and it's like a six-volume set, and each volume is like 800 pages. So I'm still working my way through that, but I set that aside and was reading. I read a book about the Lewis and Clark expedition, and the rivers and the resources and the Louisiana Purchase, and how much God just dumped on our land. As I said, I started a sermon looking at some of those things that I was going to give Fourth of July weekend. I'll bring it around a little bit later if I want to finish it and just focus on that. But it's good for us to remember God has brought us to the greatest physical wealth. We've reached the conclusion of that journey in a sense, but then that's only a type of the spiritual promised land that's going to be even so much greater.

But the ancient Israelites, as I said, wondering that 40 years in the wilderness, they had their sights on a goal that was a good thing. So they were moving ahead towards something. I lost sight of my goal there momentarily in this section of the sermon. Remember, one of the lessons to learn is to be journeying towards something.

We're not running away. We leave the Egypt. We come out of sin. But that's not because we're not as fearful of the punishment as much as we want the reward of God's way. We don't scare you saying you're going to burn in hellfire and the tortures are going to be exquisite and you'll be roasted. Boy, I thought if I had planned on saying that, I could have really developed it.

There have been some good hellfire sermons over the years. But that's not what motivates us. We know that if anyone voluntarily chooses not to live God's way of life, he'll let their life just come to an end quickly, peacefully, and they'll be done. No torture. So we don't have a reason to fear, but we have things to move forward towards.

And our spiritual journey, we've got the greatest goal we could ever imagine. Now, I only cover two of our journeys. There's one. You might stop and say, Wait a minute. We're talking about David. Didn't you say he was running for his life? He started his journey for a different reason. And actually, I think that's important. I want to look at that. His journey started out with him fleeing danger. But him purposely continuing the journey, that happened for other reasons. And because he started knowing what was ahead.

Now, I'm going to turn to 1 Samuel 24, but I'll summarize rather than read the whole chapter. But there's a point where David realized that he didn't have to fear. He didn't have to run to save his life. He came to learn that God would trust him. And I'm not sure if this is exactly when he learned it, but it was illustrated very clearly. Saul and this chapter learned that David was in the wilderness of En-Gedi. I love some of the names. En-Gedi. And so they send to Saul, say, He's out here hiding. Saul gathers up 3,000 soldiers and they march in there.

We're going to find him. I think there's one point he says, even if he's like a partridge in the woods, I'll search him out. And I'm all the thousands of Israel. But as Saul and his army are marching and they're searching for David, there's this point where Saul feels, what we saw, the call of nature. He looks around for a private place. You know, there's a cave. Okay, I'm going to go in there. And the King James says that he covers his feet. It took me a long time to figure out what in the world he's saying, until I realized a lot of times what men do when they go into the restroom is they unfasten their belt and drop the drawers down, they cover your feet while you're taking care of business.

So he's in there doing that, but what he doesn't know is this cave goes back further than he realized. And hiding back in that cave is the guy he's looking for. David is there with many of his soldiers. Have you ever read the account of the mighty men that traveled with David?

It was 30 men, one of whom killed 800 guys in one battle. These were powerful, strong men who could take out an enemy. And they look and say, I can't believe it. Not only is Saul here who's been trying to kill you, but he's utterly defenseless. They nudge David, God has answered our prayers. God is delivering him to you.

How could it be otherwise? So David, you know, creeps up. He could have killed Saul, takes out his sword, and then he realizes, I don't have to do this. God has delivered him into my hand, but I'm not out to just escape danger. Now, to prove a point, he slices off a bit of his robe. You remember that. And as Saul was leaving, David comes out after him. I can't remember who the painter was. I saw a reproduction of a famous painting that shows that, and I thought it was a good rendition, it shows Saul, only Saul is dressed like a European king, because painters in the Middle Ages had things a little backwards.

But David's coming out, and he's got this corner of the robe, and he basically boldly calls out to Saul. He's like, how can you believe that people say David wants to hurt you? You were right there, vulnerable. I could have taken your life. God delivered you into my hand. But David said, I'm not going to raise my hand against the one that the eternal God is anointed to be king. And that's the point of what I'm saying. David realized now that he was no longer fleeing danger.

He wasn't fleeing from Saul, but rather David was moving ahead. He was on a journey towards what God wanted to give him. And he was figuratively, at least, taking the high road. He was going to act above reproach. So let's read in verse 20, 1 Samuel 24.

After David explained to Saul what was happening, we can see this confirmed in Saul's words. Verse 20, this is Saul speaking. And he says, I know indeed you shall surely be king. The kingdom shall be established in your hand. Therefore now swear to me by the eternal that you won't cut off my descendants after me, and that you won't destroy my name from my father's house.

So David swore to Saul, and Saul went home, but David and his men went up to the stronghold. I find this interesting. Like Abraham, if David had wanted to return, he could have. Remember we read that in Hebrews 11. If he was mindful to return to the country he left, Abraham could have gone back to Ur of the Calides and lived out the life he had, but he wouldn't have had the goal that he was seeking. David, Saul now is saying, okay, it's okay, I know you're not trying to hurt me. Perhaps David could have worked it out to go back and work in the court, maybe be a captain of a thousand again, serve in the army. No, he didn't want that. He cared more for the goal he was going towards. God was bringing him towards a kingdom, and he would be the king.

David knew that God sets up rulers. God brings them down. So David said, I'm going to continue this journey until God brings me into the kingdom.

He was so certain he made the same decision again, not that long after. Actually, we've turned over a page or so. In 1 Samuel 26, in verse 7, this is a time when I think God wanted to prove the point. Saul and the company lay down, and God makes them fall into a really deep sleep. And David says, who's going to go down there with me? And everyone else says, chicken. His nephew, Abishai, says, yeah, I'll go with you. David and Abishai come to the people by night, and there Saul lay, sleeping within the camp. His spear was stuck in the ground by his head. Abner and his people lay all around. And Abishai said to David, God has delivered your enemy into your hand this day. It's obvious God has worked a miracle. He's right here. So now, therefore, let me strike him once with the spear right to the earth. I won't have to strike a second time. And you can believe that of Abishai when you read about him. He was a mighty warrior. He said, this isn't going to take two shots. It's going to kill him quick and easy. But David said, do not destroy him. Who can stretch out his hand against the Eternals anointed and be guiltless? And David said, furthermore, as the Lord lives, the Eternal will strike him, or his day will come to die, or he'll go out to battle and perish. But the Eternal forbid that I should stretch out my hand against the Eternals anointed. Please now, take the spear and the jug of water that are by his head and let us go. I wanted to read up to that phrase, because I think that last phrase makes my point. David said, let's go. Let's journey. We're on a journey here. I'm not worried about what I was leaving behind. That's here. Saul was what he left behind. He wasn't fleeing. He said, let's go. The goal is ahead of us. Now, David had a physical goal of becoming king in Israel. But I think, since we know that he had God's Holy Spirit, like Abraham, he was looking for a city and a kingdom that was made without hands. Of course, David did make the point, once he got away, of calling and waking everybody up and saying, hey, by the way, I could have killed you, he let Saul know what he was journeying towards. I think we know that the apostles were also journeying towards a kingdom toward receiving a crown and a throne. Let's turn to Luke 22. Because when I say the apostles, I do mean them, but all of Christ's disciples, through the ages down to today, should have a clear view of the goal ahead. We're not running away from something. We're moving toward something. Luke 22 and verse 29.

Jesus said to them, I bestow upon you a kingdom, just as my father bestowed one on me, that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Theirs would be a physical kingdom and a spiritual one. Now, when the time comes, they are literally going to sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel, and they will be spirit-born sons of God in his kingdom. Now, and of course, I've already been making that logical progression. Christ wasn't speaking just for their sake. He had it recorded. Now, we're not going to rule over the twelve tribes of Israel. Those spots are taken. But we're looking ahead. The goal of our life's journey is also a crown and a kingdom. We could see that if we turn to the book of Revelation, chapter 3. I was thinking about summarizing it, but it's not far to go. We might as well read the Scriptures. We are moving ahead, as I said, towards a crown, towards a throne. Now, there's warning for us to keep our eyes on that goal and not lose track of it. Here in this is the prophecy, I believe, to the church of Philadelphia. Revelation 3, 11 says, Behold, I'm coming quickly. Hold fast what you have, that no one take your crown. We're moving towards that crown. Hold fast. We don't want to let anybody take it. I want to read also verse 21. And I think this is significant because there is discussion. Are we moving into the era of Laodicea? Are we Philadelphia? Are we neither? But both Philadelphia and Laodicea have the same goal. Here at Laodicea, it says, To him who overcomes, I'll grant to sit with me on my throne, as I also overcame and sat down with my father on his throne.

So regardless of what era we're in the church, all the way from Ephesus to Laodicea, our goal is that throne, that crown in God's kingdom.

Of course, this is a common goal that we did share with those people that we've already read of. Let's go back to Hebrews 11. Remind ourselves of that.

I was looking at the clock saying, that can't be right. I forgot, it's morning still, isn't it?

It's funny how you lose track when you're up here. Oh, I lost track of where I was going. Hebrews 11.

We might end up a little bit early. I hope nobody will be that upset if that happens. Hebrews 11 and verse 15, we read this earlier, it says, Truly, if they called to mind that country from which they'd come out, they would have had opportunity to return, but now they desire a better. That is a heavenly country.

So I said, that's our goal. That was the goal of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them, for them and for us.

And we want to keep that in mind as we look ahead. Let's turn it over to Philippians chapter 3.

I always like to read this verse, but especially after all this discussion of the journey and the goal, it seems to come out as, or it seems especially poignant. Philippians 3 and verse 13.

Paul is writing, and he says, Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended. That means I haven't got it yet. It's not in my hand. But one thing I do, forgetting the things which are behind, reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press towards the goal for the prize of the upward call of God and Jesus Christ. Therefore, let as many as ever mature have this mind, and if anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you. So press forward that high calling. Forget whatever is behind.

We're on a journey that's only going to be successful when we reach that goal. The more mature spiritually we become, the more we should firmly set our sights on God's kingdom. Nothing can compare to it. Nothing is worthy to turn back for.

Well, I hope in some ways that's intended to get us revved up. We're ready to go. We want to make that journey. I said, we're not starting the journey. We're well on it. But, like many folks, and I say, I have an illustration show this, I would say especially young men, we risk getting lost if we don't know where we're going. We might see the end goal, but how do you get to it?

What direction does this journey take? I say young men. I was thinking in terms of, for years I did the activity at camp we call the Amazing Race, where teams are formed and they're given directions, go to this place and then you'll get instructions for a challenge. One of the challenges we've used over the years sometimes is they come to a place and there are some compasses and they're told, here's a bearing, you've got to go out in the woods and find a particular marker and bring an item back.

And because there's different teams racing, each card has a different direction and a different item. What's amusing is we found the young boys would tend to get that and go, you've got to go in the woods, get something, and take off! And they're gone. And they get partway out in the woods and say, hey, where are we going? They didn't pay attention to the direction and this is such and such bearing.

Now, sometimes they take out the compass, but there are several yards away so if they take the bearing there, it doesn't help them. Parade back to where they were, sometimes have the staff member, now let me explain to you how you're supposed to do this. So get that direction and then follow the guidance. And of course when they do that properly, they could find, usually it'd be a toy car or a rubber ball, I think I've always used my Gumby. I was a big Gumby fan when I was a kid. Now, I'm picking on the boys.

I should mention, now there's the other side of it. One of my staff members, the first year we did this, found it very amusing because he described how, especially the young boys, the 12, 13 year olds would do this time and again, but he said, the girls would get there and say, okay, we have to do this.

And they'd sit down and hold a meeting. And he'd tell them, well, eventually you do have to follow those directions, you got to go out there. So the guys would charge off, not knowing where they're going. The girls would plan out so thoroughly that they didn't actually leave. Well, they did eventually. So, as I said, there's balance in all things. Now, I'm going to look at some of the examples, but I think you all know where this is going to end up, the conclusion.

In order to get direction and guidance, our journey depends on guidance from God. We need His direction. Now, we'll remember, I'm not going to turn there, but we're going to go to Genesis, so if you want to turn there. In Genesis 12.1, though, God spoke to Abraham and He said, get out of your country, go to a place I'm going to show you. That's pretty clear direction. Pack up your stuff and go. So Abraham had to do a lot of things. He had to show patience.

He was going to wander his whole life and not get to settle down, but he had it good in one particular way. God talked to him and told him where to go. Don't sometimes wish on your journey in life you'd get that. The phone would ring and God would say, okay, today you need to do this and don't do that.

In Genesis 13, verse 17, once Abraham got to the Promised Land, then God gave him further instructions. Arise, walk in the land, through its length and its width, for I give it to you. So Abraham moved his tent and went, you know, and it basically he traveled. God says, okay, wander around here. Now you got to the place, wander around. Let's move ahead a few chapters to chapter 26, because it didn't stop with Abraham.

God talked to Isaac. I'm not sure how often he spoke to him, but at one point, God did something for Isaac that I wish he would do for us at times. Isaac made a decision, you know, there's a famine, I'm going to go down to Egypt, where there's food, and the phone didn't ring, but somehow God spoke to Isaac, and the eternal appeared to him and said, don't go down to Egypt. Live in the land which I'll tell you.

Dwell in this land, and I'll be with you and bless you, for you and all your descendants. I'll give all these lands, and I'll perform the oath which I swore to Abraham, your father. But wouldn't you love that? For God to say, no, don't go over there. Don't do that. Do do this. Now, you might already have a thought in the back of your mind that applies to that, but keep that on hold, we'll come to that later.

I do want to address the large, the thousands, millions of the children of Israel, and they were wandering. It wasn't, God couldn't show up and speak to each one of them. He did talk to Moses. But let's turn over to Numbers, Chapter 9. Another case of God giving very clear direction. Numbers 9 will begin in verse 15. Passives can seem a little long, but I wanted to go through this. Now, on the day the tabernacle was raised up, the cloud covered the tabernacle.

The tent of the testimony, from evening till morning, it was on the tabernacle, like the appearance of fire. This is what we call the pillar of cloud and fire. At day, it looked like a cloud. At night, it turned into fire, which must have been the greatest night light ever. They didn't have overhead street lights, but they had this big fire over the temple every night, so it was never completely dark.

And so it was always, for 40 years, the cloud covered it by day and the appearance of fire by night. Whenever the cloud was taken up from above the tabernacle, after that the children of Israel would journey. And in the place where the cloud settled, the children of Israel would pitch their tents. They're a pretty clear system. At the command of the eternal, the children of Israel would journey. At the command of the eternal, they would camp.

As long as the camp stayed above the tabernacle, they remained in camp. When the cloud continued long, many days above the tabernacle, the children of Israel kept the charge of the eternal and did not journey. So it was, when the cloud was above the tabernacle a few days, according to the command of the eternal, they would remain encamped. According to the command of the eternal, they would journey. So it was, the cloud remained only from evening to morning. When the cloud was taken up in the morning, they journeyed.

Whether by day or by night, whenever the cloud was taken up, they would journey. Whether two days, a month, a year, that the cloud remained, the children of Israel would remain encamped and not journey. So it's summed up in verse 23.

At the command of the eternal, they remained encamped. At the command of the eternal, they journeyed. They kept the charge of the eternal at the command of the eternal by the hand of Moses. Don't we all wish that God would do that for us in some of our decisions? Keep your eye on this thing. If it moves, you move. If it stays, you stay. And do what it does. That's pretty easy in a direction in life. Well, He doesn't do that for us. And a lot of the decisions we have to make are more complicated than, should I walk that direction today or not? Sometimes they are, but I've been, yeah, I guess especially those of you that hunt. I'm not a hunter, but I have been out in the middle of the woods and stopped and suddenly say, hmm, I wonder which way I should be going right now. It'd be nice to have that fire saying, okay, follow that. But we do have direction. I'm not going to turn to the story of David, but I'm going to turn to what David wrote if you turn to Psalm 119. This is a pretty well-known scripture. So if you want me to just read it to you. We have this direction, as David said in Psalm 119, verse 105. Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. I was trying to remember who made that into a song. Was it Amy Grant? As thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. It's great when you have the harmony. I love that song. I've heard it done for special music. But yeah, that's what you want. When you're on a journey, a lighted path. Just like in that airline crash that happened last week, they talked about the smoke. Those lights show up, and they go down and point the exit. That's what we want in life, a lighted path showing the way to what we need to do.

But God's word says His word is like that. Let's turn over to Proverbs chapter 3. There are a lot of statements like this in Proverbs and in Psalms. Proverbs 3 and verse 5. Trust the eternal with all your heart. Lean not to your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. In all your ways acknowledge Him. Trust Him. Say, God, okay. I'll do what you want. Pray to Him. Ask for direction. And it says He'll direct your path. His word is like a lighted path.

Now, of course, God doesn't do it by talking to us audibly, like He did with Abraham and Isaac. He doesn't show up and say, by the way, here's what I want you to do next. But He puts it in print. It's so complicated. We were discussing before services how you can read the same Scripture that you've read a bunch of times and suddenly you see something that you didn't before or you understand it in a new way. I think that is why we keep the Holy Days year after year. We're still learning. You've been keeping them 40 years. You'll probably learn something new the next time. I know I will. But we rely on more than just the printed Word. We also count on the Holy Spirit to help us to understand. Let's turn to John 14 to see that.

John 14, we'll begin in verse 3.

Actually, I wanted to read this because I found it a little bit amusing. This talks about Jesus going on a journey. In verse 3, He says, And if I go and prepare a place for you, I'll come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am you may go. And where I go you know, and the way you know. And Thomas said to him, Lord, we don't know where you're going. How can we know the way? Always find it, you know where I'm going and you know the way. And John said, wait a minute, we don't know where you're going.

How do we know the way? Jesus says, I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. And I imagine some of them say, yeah, yeah. And then they might have said, but wait a minute, we still don't know.

You're the way, but you're talking about going. So later he makes it a little more clear in verse 26. I'm not sure if any of you have ever thought about that and found it as amusing as I did. But someone tells you something and you go, yeah, yeah. Oh, wait a minute. No, I don't get it. In verse 26 he says, but the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father or which the Father will send in My name, it will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. So you're going to get this Spirit that's going to work in your brain.

You'll remember everything I told you and help you understand it. If we look over at a page or two to chapter 16, chapter 16 and verse 13, if I'd been in a hurry I would have read just this one because it does sum it up. However, when the Spirit of truth has come, it will guide you into all truth.

It won't speak of its own authority. Whatever it hears, it will speak, and it will tell you things to come. But I want to focus on that. It will guide you. The Holy Spirit will guide each and every one of us. We've got God's Word. That's the light, the lamp. The Holy Spirit helps us to understand it. So that comes back to something we already know, and I didn't mean this sermon to be something to give us great new truths. I don't know if there are any new truths out there. Sometimes we just come to an understanding of a truth that's always been there. But it's good when we're looking at our life of a great journey to remember we're not stumbling blindly along.

We do have guidance. God's Word tells us the way to go. And the Holy Spirit gives us understanding. It directs us in the way to go. It tells us the way to live. Now, I think about that camping. Whenever we have a chance to separate ourselves from our ordinary lives, take the chance to get into some untamed wilderness, that will seem more appropriate when I say it this afternoon than here. This doesn't seem quite so untamed. Although it's funny, when we've had the overnight, you come here at night and there's a movie playing, you say, what is this place?

It looks different than before. But if you're sleeping under the stars or driving down a road you've never been on before, it's good to remember our whole life is a journey. We're on a journey. This world and the life we live in the flesh is temporary. It's a temporary state. Even our homes are temporary dwellings, as are our physical bodies. As I said, it's not bad to plant that in our minds. Of course, I think it's something that's with us all the time, but with the feast coming up, it's good to think of it.

Our life is a journey. It was that way for many notable people before us. And in this journey, we don't want to move on because we're running away from something. Not a danger, not a threat, nothing. We press on towards our ultimate destination, the Kingdom of God. We're on a journey towards the Kingdom of God. We've got the greatest goal and destination anyone could ever have. We'll live and reign with Jesus Christ. And while we're on the journey, and like Abraham, we don't know for sure how long the journey is going to take, but we've got a guide every step of the way. God's Word will lead us and show us the path. God's Spirit will give us understanding of where we're going. God will make sure that as we take this journey, that we never lose our way.