Some say there are 3 main problems in life. First is, “Where are men from?” We are created by God and He is the Lord of our lives.

Secondly, “Where do we go in the future?” Whether you’re saved or condemned? When we are living in this world, what is our responsibility? Ecclesiastes 12 tells us we need to fear God and keep His commandments. This is the duty of every man. In the world, you have to fear God and love men. Everything we do we should glorify God and edify men.

Is this road of life a straight one? Is it always smooth sailing? In fact, it’s not necessarily so. Some will have it smooth in their life and regardless of the storms, they’re safely delivered. Some say such people are born with a silver spoon. But the thing is not everyone has a similar circumstance. The journey of men is not easy, like the Israelites in the wilderness. We turn to Exodus 13:17-18;

17 ‘Then it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, “Lest perhaps the people change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt.”
18 So God led the people around by way of the wilderness of the Red Sea. And the children of Israel went up in orderly ranks out of the land of Egypt.’

These verses tell us that after the Israelites left Egypt, although it was near for them to enter the land of the Philistines, God didn’t allow them to walk this journey for God was afraid they’d be afraid so God asked them to turn around. We sang hymn 402, and we sang that the way of God is the best for us. We often say our footsteps are made by ourselves but our footsteps must be led by God then this journey will be beautiful. If the Israelites just went straight into the land of Egypt many may be killed, regret and return to Egypt because they were slaves and most didn’t have war experience. God gave them the opportunity to be tried and learn, that’s why it’s a journey around the land.

Today in our life, although you feel the way is not straight, it may be an easier way. If you were to walk straight up the mountain and you come down straight, it’s not easy. Although the road is smooth, men may lose caution. Some roads may have boulders, some may have a turn, you’ll be more careful. Likewise, the life of men isn’t always straight and God will allow you to go through bends. When you’re going around, God will give you many opportunists and way to follow. Men say, if the mountains don’t turn, the roads have to turn. If the roads don’t turn, then the hearts have to turn. Your hearts have to turn towards God.

When Job was suffering from trials, his wife told him to leave God, “You’ve believed in God but He didn’t take care of you.” But God didn’t leave Job and he knew God has His ways. Job’s blessings at the end doubled and God allowed him to experience bitterness to sweetness. He said, “God knows my ways.” We turn to Job 23:10;

‘But He knows the way that I take; When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold.’

When you are suffering there is a thorn in the flashes and you ask of God for His grace. The grace of God will be sufficient for you. The pain allows you to mature. If you haven’t undergone this thing, you would lose a lesson. Some describe this as a tuition fee because the Lord Jesus allows him to learn. We need foresight and wisdom because God allows you to take a bend and there will be a way out. This way may not be smooth, but you must not lose hope and lose your way. Christians cannot commit suicide. Although you may be suffering, God will help you. There’s a way of escape.

Some in the Bible ask for death. Moses felt that he couldn’t bear his stress. Jonah vent his anger on God and even Job asked to die for his sufferings were too great. Elijah was once weak and also asked God for death. When we ask for death, it is because men cannot bear the burden. You ask to die out of weakness. But when you’re weak, God will help you and add to your strength. Paul says, “When I’m weak, that’s when I can have strength through Him for the power of God is perfected in the weakness of men.” Although he had a thorn in his flesh he felt the love of God is sufficient for him.

We have many testimonies in the church because God has given them a way of grace. Like in Psalm 65:1;

‘Praise is awaiting You, O God, in Zion; And to You the vow shall be performed.’

Every day and year when you turn around and look you will see that it’s the grace of God in your life. Although it’s a bend and the journey is tough, we read in Numbers 21:4;

‘Then they journeyed from Mount Hor by the Way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; and the soul of the people became very discouraged on the way. ‘

The journey was difficult but you still have to go ahead. Even if you ask for death you can’t commit suicide because life is in God’s hand. God won’t leave you alone and God will help you as long as you have faith.

Once the speaker attended an evergreen fellowship. These are the elderly members of the church. There was a sister attending the hymnal session and she chose a Hokkien hymn, “Jesus Accompany you”. Jesus will accompany you. The first sentence talks about how the journey of life is difficult but Jesus will accompany you. The elderly sang with much conviction because they felt that God has truly helped them in their life. They are still in the Lord even in their old age and the Lord is really accompanying them. Another group of people singing this shed tears as they sang. They felt though that life is very difficult for them, the Lord has been helping them.

A brother wanted to commit suicide and he prayed before attempting so, “Jesus I’m really suffering. I’m so tired. I want to die, please help me.” As he was praying, he fell asleep. As he was praying, he shed tears. While he was sleeping, he dreamt that he went into a beautiful place. There were many people and angels dressed in white singing a hymn. He had never heard of this hymn before and it isn’t in the hymn book. As he sang, he was deeply moved. The words of the hymn were simple and he could understand and hum the tune. After he listened to this hymn, he awoke. It turned out to be a dream. He thought, “I wanted to commit suicide, how was it that I didn’t die? Jesus still loves me, I cannot die.”

After a week, a preacher went to the church and this brother testified to the preacher. the preacher asked him to hum the tune and he did. The preacher wrote down the tune and asked for the lyrics. They were along the lines of, “When you are in sorrow, the Lord Jesus will accompany you eternally. When you’re in pain, when you’re in sorrow, when you’re in sickness, regardless of what you’re in, Jesus will accompany you eternally”. The preacher helped him to write down the hymn. This preacher is now Elder Lai who has been here (Singapore) before. Recently Elder Lai composed a hymn and put the words into this hymn, “The Lord Jesus will accompany you forever.”

When we read Exodus 13, during the day there was a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire at night. Whether in or out, God was always with them. Let’s turn to Exodus 13:20-22;

20 ‘So they took their journey from Succoth and camped in Etham at the edge of the wilderness.
21 And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so as to go by day and night.
22 He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day or the pillar of fire by night from before the people.’

God is always guiding our path. Today in our journey of life, we have the words of God like the light of our path comforting and guiding us. We have the Holy Spirit. When we’re weak, the Holy Spirit helps you and add to your strength. They can be compared to the pillars, so you can always walk ahead.

When Elijah was victorious against the Balaam prophet, he was hurt by such a few words by king Jezebel. He was weak and asked for death from God. Later on, the angel appeared and told him in 1 Kings 19:7;

‘And the angel of the Lord came back the second time, and touched him, and said, “Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you.” ‘

This was when Elijah asked for death because he couldn’t go ahead. Sometimes because of a few words and small things, men may lose heart and are unable to move ahead. Men are weak in the flesh, but who can bear it when we’re weak in the spirit? When weak physically we need food, and we need spiritual food when we are spiritually weak. We have to rely on the words of the Bible as well as prayer. The Holy Spirit will help you to go ahead. So when the angel awoke him (Elijah) the first time to eat and drink, he slept after doing so. The second time he was awoken, the angel said, “The journey before you is still very great.” He awoke. When you lie down and cannot move, you have to stand up and move ahead. He walked ahead 40 days and came to the mountain of God.

We have to rely on God to give us strength, like Elijah. We have to care for the believers through visiting, words in the Bible, testimonies and prayer. Visiting is like the work of the angels to awake the person to their senses and encourage them in their hearts so they can be like a fire brought alive. Then, he can be strengthened.

Our life is a journey. Some of us have crossed more than half of this journey. For our children, they may not know the journey before them and the early generations have to teach them well and so in our church we have Religious Education (RE). As stated in Proverbs 22:6;

‘Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it.’

Some opposed to infant baptism and that baptism should only be for when they’re older. Today for a child to grow up, can you say that he doesn’t have to eat or sleep? If he doesn’t want to study, “It’s okay, let him decide if he wants to study when he’s older”? There are things parents have to teach them. Today, eating, drinking and studying has to be guided so they can have this good habit. Likewise in the life of faith, you have to teach them well. When your child fears God, he will depart from evil. If he doesn’t fear God, he won’t. If he doesn’t fear God, and you give him everything you have but he doesn’t know the right way, one day he’ll gamble it all away. He doesn’t know the morals but if he knows the right moral, he will walk the right way. He will fear God and be filial to his parents. He will fear God and love men. This is treating a child in the way he should go.

Since our life is a journey, the older have a responsibility to teach the child. We encourage that once believed, we teach others to believe. The faith and family are intermittently related. Sometimes God chooses someone in the family to save the entire family (The family of Noah and Abraham, are saved through one man) and even Joshua says, “As for me and my household we shall serve the Lord.”

We need to lead our entire family to believe in the Lord. We also have to pastor the family because the family is a unit God wants to save and also the objects of our evangelism. Apart from our family, we also have to preach the gospel to our relatives and their family. This is our responsibility. We should also reach out to our friends and colleagues. There are people without faith and don’t know God, they don’t know the right way in their lives. Faith provides a direction in our life. Jesus says He is the way, truth and life. This is the way we should walk. No one will say that this is the way to go, except Jesus. So Jesus says apart from Him no one will be saved.

When Jesus came into this world, He died for our sins, resurrected and ascended to heaven. When he was on earth, he told us that the journey of our men’s life has to go through believing Jesus. He also told Nicodemus he has to be born of water and spirit then he can enter the kingdom of God. Nicodemus was a humble person because he realised that he has come about the end of his life and was seeking the truth of life. He also considered the questions and purpose of life. He knew that Jesus came from God.

Jesus knew the hearts of men. Although Nicodemus believed in Jesus because of signs, Jesus knew his inner heart. Jesus was speaking to Nicodemus heart to heart, so He said, “You have to be born of water and spirit then you can enter the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus was a humble man and he listened.

All of us will grow older and older. When you are old, one day you’ll be faced with sickness and death. When you’re older you’ll fall sick, it’s natural. When we’re sick, we need to take care of ourselves to bring peace and health to our physical body. Our life is limited. You can live up to 100+ years, but physical life will one day come to a stop. Recently an author wrote a book, 天黑得很慢. When you’re older, you have to prepare yourself. People say that as you grow older you become 三等国名 (3 types of citizens). The first type is the citizen of food, the second is the citizen of drinks, and lastly the citizen of death.

Some say that you have to live well, grow old slower, and walk fast. You have to live well and grow old slowly, and fall ill less. But we know that today we have to depend on God. When Jesus was on earth, He already told us the way we should walk for He is the way, truth and life. But there are people who go astray and are lost. So Jesus says that there is a way wide and many people enter but they meet with death. However, there’s another way where the gate is narrow, very little enter, but the way to salvation. We turn to Matthew 7:13;

‘“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. ‘

What is the way we should walk today? Some think there are two ways because of this verse. But we have to change this concept. There’s no two ways, only one way. You have to walk the right way towards God. Don’t walk to destruction. The words of the Bible and of God is eternal. When we’re walking the way of darkness without directions, sickness, trials and hardships, we can only depend on God.

Let’s turn to Luke 1:78-79;

78 ‘Through the tender mercy of our God, With which the Dayspring from on high has visited us;
79 To give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, To guide our feet into the way of peace.”’

Although the day may turn to dark slowly, when people are in pain and sickness they aren’t able to see the light. There are people who are old and retired and they see no hope. But we must know that only in the Lord Jesus, He will guide us in the way of peace and will be to us a ray of sunshine. The sky may turn dark but when you see the sunrise, it’s day time. When we die, it’s not the end of everything because we have the blessing of the heavenly kingdom and hope of eternal life.

In Jesus, we can be like Abraham. He says we are but strangers in this world. We are visitors. When we think of homeland we can rejoice. We have a homeland in heaven. Heaven is a much more beautiful home. We must be prepared and Jesus has also helped us prepare. Life is not long, we are still walking on this journey but one day this journey will come to an end.

Let’s turn to 1 Kings 2:1-3;

1 ‘Now the days of David drew near that he should die, and he charged Solomon his son, saying:
2 “I go the way of all the earth; be strong, therefore, and prove yourself a man.
3 And keep the charge of the Lord your God: to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, His commandments, His judgments, and His testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn; ‘

King David when he was about to die says, “I’m going the way of all men”. In 2 Timothy 4:6-7;

6 ‘For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand.
7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. ‘

“the time of my departure”, “I have finished the course,” In Paul’s preaching some told him to not go to Rome for he will be captured there. But Paul says he must finish this course. Meaning he’s not afraid to die, and his hope is in the future reward. In your journey of life, you have to make the right decisions. What kind of path do you want to walk?

We turn to Psalms 25:12;
‘Who is the man that fears the Lord ? Him shall He teach in the way He chooses.’

In our entire life, we must fear God. He is the objective of our faith and life. May we walk in the way of the Lord believing that God is always there to help us for we know who holds tomorrow. Although yesterday is the past, we have today. We don’t know what we will happen tomorrow, but we know God will lead us step by step. Whether smooth or difficult, whether sweet or bitter, God is there.

Holy Communion
We turn to Hebrews 12:1-2;

1 ‘Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.’

These verses tell us that we have to be diligent in walking the journey to heaven. Jesus says that the kingdom of God is for those who are diligent. V1 tells us that we have many witnesses. In Singapore, we have a history of 90+ years and in a few years, it’ll be 100 years. We have received 100 years of grace and God has given us many ways of grace. We also see our seniors who can be compared to the cloud of witnesses surrounding us. Whether we’re from Malaysia, China, or different countries of the world, we’re all the same. Some came to believe when they were young or some came into contact when they come to SG and are baptised into TJC. In our journey of faith, we believe that the Lord guides us through His hands of might and mercy. We all have our own experiences in our faith and our seniors are like the clouds of witnesses. Some have already left and no longer walking on this journey. Some are weak and walking slowly, but we are still walking diligently of the Lord. We have to uplift and encourage one another. Do not allow the deception of wealth to entangle our hearts and our hearts must be turned to God. Though we may be weak at times, we must help one another. Unity is a strength. Our life is a community because it’s the body of Christ. We are all individual members of this body. If you have a part of the body that is weak and sick, you hope that you’ll recover quickly so you can be healthy again and be full of vitality.

Likewise in our journey of faith. We can be weak but we have to fix our eyes on Jesus. When you use your faith to pray, Jesus will help you. In Proverbs 3:5-6;

5 ‘Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding;
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.’

When we have God, brothers, sisters and parents in our lives, we must be diligent to walk ahead. We also pray for the divine work in the church. Jesus loves us so that we can live in His grace. Jesus loves us with His eternal life. His love is beyond measure and height. In hymn 351, Day by Day, the Lord treats us as His special one. God’s love is for us forever and He loves you in a quiet manner. Children may not completely understand the love of their parents but we must gradually understand the love of God. It’s not just beyond length, breadth, width, and height, it’s also unchangeable. Let us be preserved in the love of God in our whole lives. Jude 20-21;

20 ‘But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,
21 keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.’

You have to keep your hope keep yourself in the most holy faith, pray in the Holy Spirit, keep yourself in the love of God. When a fish leaves the water it cannot live. Men without oxygen cannot survive. God has given us water and oxygen to survive but it’s also true that our spiritual life also needs water, sunlight and air to sustain. We have the light of God shining upon us, protecting and giving us peace. We also have to receive the word of God to receive this truth. Let us be built up in our spiritual life, and be prayerful. May our faith regain strength and may blessings come in our entire life. May our church be energised for all of us is walking on this same journey. May the Lord Jesus help us.