 Amen. I've never heard so many people pronounce my name correctly in my entire life just for the record. Go ahead and turn to James chapter 2. Keep a bookmark in Proverbs chapter 14. We'll get back there in a second. We're going to do a quick little Bible study before we get into the sermon. I want to clear something up real quickly. Turn to James chapter 2. So James chapter 2 is a pretty popular misunderstood chapter in the Bible where a lot of people think it's teaching works, righteousness, and works salvation, works-based salvation, when really it's talking about being profitable up to your brother. It's talking about how we can be profitable. Specifically, if you look down at James chapter 2 and look at verse number 15, the Bible says, you know, it gets pretty specific here. It talks about our brothers and sisters. Instead of a brother and sister, a brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food. And one of you saying to them, depart in peace and be warmed and filled. Notwithstanding, you give them not those things which are needful to the body, what doth it profit? So what profit are you if you don't help that person that's in need? So this is what I want to get at this morning. Brother Ray didn't have a tie on this morning. And the reason Brother Ray did not have a tie on is because I am wearing Brother Ray's tie. So it was the first time in 23 years that I packed my own suitcase. And I didn't pay attention to detail, apparently, because I forgot to put a tie in. And it was funny because I mentioned to the guys this morning, I was, you know, I like to be ready and organized. And I didn't have a tie. I didn't want to come to the church looking like a slob. They didn't wear a tie. And especially preaching here. And I told, I texted Brother Ray and he's like, for sure I've got a tie for you. And he hands me this tie. I didn't notice that he wasn't wearing a tie himself. And he hands me this tie and I went to the bathroom at the hotel to put the tie on. And you can tell when a tie's been recently tied. And I'm like, what, man, what did they like take this tie off to some guy? They go into like a Pentecostal church and take a tie from somebody and give it to me. Either way, anyway, thank you, Brother Ray. The point I'm trying to get at is Brother Ray is profitable. So he's not backslidden. He is profitable. Okay. All right. Now let's get back to Proverbs chapter 14. Just keep your place there. So to give you a little bit of an introduction on this morning's sermon, I just had a birthday. So, you know, thank you. Just stop. I had a birthday on June 1st. I turned 45 years old. Okay. I turned 45. And now I planned to live to about 90. So I figured that I'm middle-aged. You know, if you want to do the math on that, I am now middle-aged. So I'm thinking, maybe I'm due for a midlife crisis is what I'm thinking. Now let me ask you just an honest raise of hands. Who has seen someone or witnessed someone in their life that they believe to have gone through something that they believe to be a midlife crisis? Just raise your hand. So I mean, this is a pretty popular thing. So I mean, I figured I'd preach a sermon on this since, you know, maybe I'm due for one. And let's look at it this evening. Okay. So let me first define, let's look at Wikipedia. That's where all truth is on the Internet, right? Wikipedia. So Wikipedia says this about a midlife crisis. A midlife crisis is a transition of identity crisis and self confidence crisis that can occur in middle-aged individuals, typically from 45 to 65 years old. The phenomenon is described as a psychological crisis brought about by events that highlight a person's growing age, inevitable mortality, and possible lack of accomplishments in life. Now, I generally agree with this and I've generally, I've seen, I'm kind of joking about myself having a midlife crisis, but I've seen several people in my life go through midlife crisis. So I generally agree with this assessment. Now, basically, I mean, I'm going to come at this again. Sorry, ladies, from a man's perspective, but this pretty much applies to anyone in their life this evening. You know, most midlife crisis that I have seen have been men. And that's just the nature of where I've worked, the circles that I've been in. And I believe that especially in our circles, most midlife crisis will be men as well. Ladies, you're blessed and I'll explain that later in the sermon. But the typical causes, if you go look up typical causes on psychology.com or, you know, all these Internet sites, the causes are this, you know, finances, that's a category. Career. You know, basically, people, they get to 45 or 60 or whatever and they're like, I just don't have enough money. I thought I would have more money than this. And it just, you know, everything comes crashing down for them. Their career, this is probably the one I've seen the most, is where you have a man that, you know, turns a certain age and he just, he thought he should have been further. He thought he should have been at the top of some ladder or the top of some chain that he was looking up at for 20 years, 30 years or whatever it was. The fourth category is kind of dumb, in my opinion. Physical changes. You know, as if, you know, as if you think like, oh man, I'm 50 and I don't look like I'm 20. It's like, all right, you know, are you like, are you still a child? I mean, why do you think that that's something that you should expect? And then, of course, family changes, divorce, etc. I've seen that one as well, unfortunately. Let me just give you kind of a trend of what I've seen before we get into Proverbs. But basically, I've seen men, they start off, you know, this is kind of the trend that I've seen. They start off in life really ambitious, right? They're really ambitious. They start a career. They start a craft. They start a trade. They start some job. And, you know, maybe they go into that job. Maybe they stare at a cubicle for 10 years. You know, maybe they, maybe they get a promotion. Maybe they miss a promotion. You know, maybe they get some, you know, they then they stare at the wall for another 10 years or so. Then I mean, this is a really big one that I that's triggered midlife prices that I've seen. Maybe they get laid off from that job. Look, I'm not trying to trigger any crisis is here tonight. Okay. But then they just realize that, you know, I'm getting older and I'm not in my crime anymore. And is this, is this it? You know, is this it? I actually, I actually knew an engineer. He got laid off when he was about 40. And he literally moved to Nicaragua to live in a hut. And like, I have not, I have not seen him since. And it's not, not, I don't know if he's still there or other people have heard from him. But I was like, what are you doing? He's like, I'm just gonna go and I'm just gonna live a simple life in a hut. And he is kind of like, I mean, he kind of sort of lost his mind to a lot of people that we're looking at. But look, this, this happens to people. You know, this happens to people. So let's look it down at Proverbs chapter 14. Let's see if we can avoid this in our lives. Okay, let's see if we can avoid this. Here's the first problem. Okay, look at Proverbs chapter 14. And look down at verse number 23. So look, the problem that men have, unfortunately, is men define themselves by what they do? I do this all the time. If you see a group of men get together and talk and introduce each other, one of the first questions that you'll hear asked is what do you do? Because men, they define who they are by what they do. You know, whether that's, you know, a job, a career, worldly goals, whatever that is. But, you know, that's the first issue right there is that they define themselves by those things. Look down at Proverbs chapter 14 and verse number 23. The Bible says here, it says, in all labor, there is profit. But the talk of the lips tendeth only to penery. So look, the Bible in Proverbs, you know, a lot of Proverbs are opposite. So they say in the verse, they'll say one side, and then they say the other side of the coin in the same verse. It's, it's, it's brilliant, really. And, and, and this is one of those cases. The Bible here is saying in all labor, there's profit. But the talk of the lips tendeth only to penery, penery meaning poverty. Okay, so what the Bible here is trying to convince you in Proverbs 14 23 is, is to work, is to, to labor is trying to convince you that, that, you know, hey, choose labor, get to work is what the Bible is saying here. So, you know, for the kids, for the young people in the room, I was just having a conversation with a young man just before the service. Here's kind of what you have to understand. It doesn't really matter what you do. And don't, don't get me wrong. I mean, hopefully you and your parents, you know, you know, your strengths, you know, your interests, you know, things like that. But the thing is, all you are trying to do is provide for your own and, and fulfill that part of your covenant. It's just part of your covenant. You know, I don't want to say don't overthink it, but don't overthink it. Okay, because look, in all labor, there's profit. I knew a guy once that he couldn't hold a job. And it was like, it was like literally for years, it was one every one month, every two months, it's just a different job, a different job, a different job, because he's like, this one just isn't for me. No, this isn't what I was meant to do. This is not it. You know, just again and again and again, this guy just kept, he's just killing himself, looking for this perfect trade, this perfect career. I mean, at the end of the day, it was the labor that that guy didn't like. But my point is the same. In all labor, there's profit, the Bible says. Look, it's called, I mean, I tell my kids this all the time, I mean, it's called work, not fun. You know, it's not like, see, kids, I'm going to fun. It's called work for a reason. I mean, the feminist lie that you need to go and you know, throw off, you know, being a mother and a keeper at home to go chase this career. Look, it's work. It's work. It's called work and not fun for a reason. So the Bible says that in all labor, there's profit. All you're trying to do is fulfill that part of the covenant that says that you're to provide for your own. That's all. That's that part of the covenant. Now, this is the key for the Christians. What you do for that part of the covenant should not define who you are. It's the key for us right here. As long as you are laboring, as long as you are providing, you're good. That's, that's what the Bible says. You know, that labor, that profit, I mean, whatever you're doing, whatever that trade is, I mean, because look, I mean, as messed up as this country is, sorry, I'm losing my voice a little bit here, as messed up as this country is, if you go out and you work hard, you can still make it. I believe that you go out and you work hard at whatever job it is or skill that you're learning, you can still make it in this country. Turn to 1 Timothy chapter six. So what is that? What is let's get to the root cause of the problem? What is the root cause of the midlife crisis? Look at 1 Timothy chapter six. 1 Timothy chapter six. Look down at verse number 17. 1 Timothy chapter six, look down at verse number 17. The Bible says, charge them that are rich in this world. Don't be rich. It's not even saying like, don't be rich. It's just saying, you know, the rich people in the world need to understand this is what this verse is saying, is what this passage is saying. Charge them that are rich in this world that they be not high minded, nor trust in what? In uncertain riches, but in the living God, who what? Who give us, give us us richly all things to enjoy. Ecclesiastes three says that like the good of our labor is the gift of God. So what the Bible here is saying is that the problem is that God gives us the riches that comes from that labor. The problem is that what people do is instead of realizing that it's the gift of God, they start to trust in that in the riches. That's what this is saying. This is warning against. It's trusting in those things that are the problem. It's realizing that they're not gifts of God, forgetting that part and then trusting in those uncertain riches is the problem. Look, the riches are not the prize. The riches are not the prize. That is the key. Your job, your career, your trade, your craft, it has a purpose and God through that blessing will give you things to enjoy. But it is not the prize and it should not define who you are. Because why? Because it's uncertain. That's why. Turn to Isaiah chapter two. Let's look deeper at this. So what if I do define myself through those things? Because look, it's easy for people to fall into that. Is it not? Isaiah chapter two. Look at Isaiah chapter two. It looked down at verse number 12. Isaiah chapter two, verse number 12. This is a great passage in the Bible because verse 13 through 16, it becomes our problem. I have brackets around verse 13 through 16 and my brackets in my Bible says the strength of man. And verse 13 through 16. But let's read it together. For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon everyone that is proud and lofty. And upon everyone that is lifted up and he shall be brought low. So the Bible here is saying that anybody that's proud and lifted up is going to be brought low. Look at verse 13. And upon all the cedars of Lebanon that are high and lifted up and upon all the oaks of Beishan and upon all the high mountains upon all the hills that are lifted up upon every high tower things look things men built materials men used to build strong things and upon every fenced wall these defensible cities and forts and upon all the ships of Tarshish you know these strong navies and strong fleets strong vessels and upon all the pleasant pictures. The Bible is talking about all the materials the abilities the powers of man here. And about how man you know they get lifted up because of these things I mean look I just flew over I just flew over LA at night you ever seen that my goodness you can't see the whole thing. It's crazy I've had some privilege to see amazing things that men can build on this earth. But the problem is the problem is is that God says that those things are they're uncertain things. They're uncertain things turn to Matthew chapter 13. See with the parable of the sower the seed that fell upon the thorns go to Matthew chapter 13 and look at verse number 22. You know the the seed that fell upon the thorns was the the word that was sown and then the deceitfulness of these riches these uncertain riches you know it choked that word. It choked the word of God. Let's read it together look at Matthew chapter 13 verse 22. He also that received seed among the thorns is he that here at the word and the care of this world there's the problem right there. And the deceitfulness of riches choked the word and he become unfruitful. So here's the thing that's parable the sower here is telling us that you know the care of the world the deceitfulness of riches it chokes the word but here it's even worse. It's even worse if we look back to Isaiah chapter two because what the Bible is saying so we can see that that trusting these things these things that cause these crises and people's lives we can see that that will choke our spiritual life the Bible is saying it'll it'll choke it out it'll make it starve it'll make it die. It's what the Bible is saying but it's even worse because the seeders the oaks the ships the pictures the cities the machines the houses the cars the house that's not big enough the car that's not good enough the material things the nicer things you know that I wanted to be the boss by now I wanted to be the bosses boss by now those things will literally drop you off a cliff because why because they're uncertain that's why so yeah they're going to choke your spiritual life that's the first problem but then they're going to drop you off a cliff on the other end I mean the Bible is warning us about these things about trusting and caring in these things that I mean why why are they going to drop us off a cliff because they go away they go away and you know Isaiah chapter two is saying if you if you who are profitable start to trust in those things God's going to make those things go away so that's a problem the Christian has uniquely however look here's the thing I mean look God is a jealous God God is a jealous God anything especially this crew anything that is stopping you from you know being spiritual being fruitful as Matthew 13 and said God's going to God's jealous of that God's going to crush those things also Isaiah chapter two is talking about anything that gets high and lofty God's going to bring low is what he's talking about but look even aside from that here's the thing folks let me just give you some reality there's good years and bad years anybody that's over 40 can tell you that I mean you know I don't know they say oh we're going into a recession oh well you know what there's good years and bad years there's always been good years and bad years what do we do the same thing we did last year serve the Lord there's ups and downs with these things turn to John chapter 15 turn to John chapter 15 there's good years and there's bad years and there there's going to be gift years and maybe years there's not as many gifts you know it's just a matter of of recognizing that in our lives you know I mean God's still on the throne in the bad years just as much as he is in the good years look at John chapter 15 and verse number one but really for us if we're not bearing fruit because of trust in these things look at John chapter 15 verse number one says Jesus says I am the true vine and my father is the husband man every branch in me that beareth not fruit he takeeth away and every branch that beareth fruit that's you what does he do he purgeeth it that it may bring forth more fruit so that means that means God's constantly looking for for these things in your life God's constantly looking for those thorns that are starting to wrap around your neck and choke the word for you he's like but I'm bearing fruit that's why he's doing it he's going to pair you down why so you can bring forth more fruit that's why look you better fix those things if you're trusting in those uncertain things or God's going to fix it for you look he's going to break up your ships Isaiah 2 says he's going to break up your navy whatever it is that you're trusting in that's aside from what you you know what you should be trusting in fix it or God will fix it for you is what he's saying here go to Proverbs chapter 8 go to Proverbs chapter 8 here's the key here's the key just as in all labor there's profit look all labor there's profit let's let's start pairing that down now look at Proverbs chapter 8 and look at verse number 19 Proverbs chapter 8 look at verse number 19 I'll let you turn there I'm going to take a drink my Proverbs chapter 8 and verse number 19 the bible says in Proverbs 8 19 it says this God says look he says my fruit is better than gold yay than fine gold and my revenue than choice silver look the bible saying that bearing fruit as a christian is better than gold I like to pay attention to all these like value statements in the bible like this there's a lot of them and we'd be wise to just think about the value statements in the bible my fruit is better than gold so what do people do they trust in gold but God says my fruit is better than gold I mean the bible says there's a lot of these value statements in the bible and so much pain and suffering would be saved in the christian life if people just pay attention to these value statements in Proverbs 31 it talks about the virtuous woman being you know she has she's her value is it's not rubies she's not like the same as rubies her value is far above rubies I mean think about that in Proverbs 22 it talks about a good name I can't for the life of me figure out why more people don't care about that a good name is better than great riches in Proverbs 22 like these are these are things we need to pay attention to Proverbs 16 wisdom understanding knowledge same better than gold and in Proverbs chapter 8 my fruit he says my fruit is better than gold God is trying to stop the midlife crisis here that's what he's trying to do there's nobody that hears this that should be anywhere near a midlife crisis how could it be better than gold you say because it doesn't rust it doesn't corrupt even better than that go to Psalm chapter one go to Psalm chapter one go to Psalm chapter one Psalm chapter one look at verse number three actually look at verse number two because this kind of fits in with what we were talking about this morning Psalm chapter one and verse number two the bible says but his delight is in the law of the lord it's talking about blessed as a man who has this characteristic okay blessed as a man and it says but his delight is in the law of the lord and in the law that he mediate meditate sorry day and night and he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth his fruit in his season his leaf also shall doth not wither and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper so like the waters like the word of god just like feeding us right and the bible here says that like you know your leaf will it will never wither because guess what you're eternally secure you're eternally secure so you know what the beauty of of being eternally secure is you know so you're i mean you're like well i'm never going to go to hell that's pretty good i get it but guess what you know what else is eternally secure your fruit your fruit is eternally secure your fruit that you go out and you went to the lord and you bear forth in this world is eternally secure just like you are so here's the thing i joked about you know live into 90 right i mean i you know just because it worked out with the math you know but here's the thing i could drop dead tomorrow and my fruit's eternally secure you could drop dead tomorrow and all your fruit that you've had for whatever is eternally secure no one could ever take that oh wait that fruit still remains that fruit could remain for generations if you do it right dads if you follow that through correctly so we see how how silly that this idea of the midlife crisis is yet so many people go through it i mean ladies you know you're blessed because you know hopefully you know you're you're doing what you were called to do in this life i before i became a pastor i would always tell my wife about my secular job i'd always say like your job is way more and look i believe this from the top of my head to the bottom of my feet her job is way more important than mine i mean she's raising our children she's raising she's teaching our children the bible i mean she's she's she's doing what she is supposed to do with her life that's what just it just blows me away with these ideas of feminism attacking that because it's way more important than any career that i could have or any any secular job that anyone could have is raising that next generation it's it's what they're supposed to do now i have seen this with women where they buy the lies of feminism and maybe they they they forego that or they put that in the back seat or whatever and then they're in the same risk as the men that i've been talking to you about because it's the same theory they're putting their trust in career in uncertain riches and they're just putting all of those things all her all her trust all his trust it doesn't matter and things that are going to drop you off a cliff so look it doesn't make any sense for a christian to have a midlife crisis it doesn't make any sense at all one one thing here's the great irony of the midlife crisis and often i often talk about this out soul winning if i if i get somebody saved i'll often spend several minutes with them after getting them saved just talking about the future of their life and one thing that i ask people all the time is i always ask people i said okay you know this person's got saved and you know i talked to them and i say okay here's here's a question i always ask how many lives do you have and you know unless they're a cat they say one you know and they say one and i say okay would you like to waste that life i've never had anyone say yes they want to waste their life but here's the great irony of the midlife crisis okay no one wants to waste their life yet everyone is that that's that's the irony of the midlife crisis right there it's it's the midlife crisis is people waking up to the fact that they're wasting their life that's what it is that's all it is but then it gets it gets it gets stupid from there because it's a man he wakes up and he's like man my ships are sunk he's like it didn't work out like i had it planned when i was 20 and you know i mean for that guy i'm like okay at least at least better late than never that you realize that you've been you've been wasting your time putting your trust in the wrong thing but then instead of fixing the problem instead of going out and getting saved getting in church serving the lord you know bearing that eternal fruit they go and they buy a corvette or whatever something you know something they they can't afford you can't probably can't even it's probably not even the car you can't afford you probably can't afford the car you can't afford anymore but the point is they patched the whole with more i mean they patched the whole wasted time with wasted money or stupid decisions it doesn't make any sense it doesn't make any sense at all so this isn't for us this isn't for us i mean if you could die by irony though i mean seriously look the prophet that should define you remember all labor turn to first Corinthians chapter nine the prophet that should define you is the prophet that you impart to others that has eternal value it's all about that eternal value folks and here's the thing here's another here's another thing i just want to point out real quickly the the whole midlife crisis thing it's really rooted in selfishness it's really rooted in this idea that you know what i need to be a great man you know what i had this vision of me being this great man when i was 20 when i was 30 or whatever but look what paul says in first Corinthians chapter nine somebody had lunch brought this verse up and i didn't say anything today because i knew i was preaching so sorry guys first Corinthians chapter nine look at verse first Corinthians chapter nine look at verse number 19 look what paul says he says for though i be free from all men yet i have made myself servant unto all that i might gain the more you know what paul says here what what's paul talking about and we'll read the next few verses but what he's talking about is how can i have more eternal fruit it's like how can i do it he's like i want to have more eternal fruit look this is a great man this is a great man here all he's trying to do is sit here and think about a methodology that he can bear more eternal fruit that's what he's trying to do and how he's doing it how's he doing it he's he's saying i need to be this big powerful guy i need to become chief of this or whatever he's like no i you know i'm servant to all he's like whatever these theories that we read in these next few verses he said i'm servant to all though and that's how he's gonna he's gonna be better at what he's going to gain the more look at verse number 20 and under the jews i became as a jew that i might why gain the jews to them that are under the law is under the law that i might gain them that are under the law to them that are without the law is without the law being without law to god but under the law to christ that i might gain them they're without the law he's talking about you know going to the jews and then going to the gentiles he's like you know what i'm gonna i'm gonna fit in here and fit in there i mean one of the guys brought up at lunch a good idea here is or a good application is like learning another language like learning a culture a language or something like that to become as them why so you can win them so you can gain them and then look what he says to the weak became i as weak well that doesn't really fit in to the midlife crisis right there that's not really the the guy that wants to be this big powerful somebody he wants to have his name known you know forever or whatever it is or some lofty it's it's all rooted in selfishness is what i'm trying to get you to understand because paul's only concern as great of a man as paul was and as i mean look at the man as great of a man as paul was all he was concerned about was what he could do to get more people one to the lord jesus christ and this i do for that why look at verse 23 this i do why this i do for the gospel sake that i might be partaker thereof with you he's saying all these things i'm going to be servant to all i'm going to go and i'll learn languages or all learn cultures or what he's not talking about sitting in their culture whatever he's doing he's just saying all these things for the sake of the gospel that's it there's no him there's no power i mean the man was in prison when he wrote a lot of his letters he wasn't about that so look turn to psalm chapter 90 turn to psalm chapter 90 turn to psalm chapter 90 the guy that went without a tie today that guy was a servant today you know so some guy that forgot his tie could have a tie i mean it's a small example but you see what i'm saying it's not it's not about you know it's not about like no i'm not going to go in there without a tie good luck with that you know i hope you're warmed but look it's about being a servant that's it and then you have more of that eternal fruit look at psalm chapter 90 look what the bible says psalm chapter 90 look at verse number 12 so what do we do psalm chapter 90 verse number 12 the bible says so teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts under wisdom you say i want to i want to spend my time profitably i don't want to go down this road of of you know trusting uncertain things and you know risking having some kind of crisis like this the bible is saying you know number our days number our days that we may apply our hearts under window so number number them so like say i was going to live to 90 i'd number all my days up to 90 and like you know so 45's halfway and then up to 90 there's another 45 but look it doesn't matter there's nothing i can do about the 45 that was already that are already gone that's what the bible is saying here it doesn't matter what has happened all that matters is what is going to happen you see so don't waste more time so if you sit there and you're like you know i i've wasted some time look i've wasted time i wasted a lot of time in my life just don't waste more time you know number your days and figure out what you're going to do and look i mean a good way to prolong your days is to be this fruitful person that god looks down on and says look at all that profit down there and keep that guy around for a while that's a good way to i mean that's my theory you don't have to that's my method that's the one i'm running with i'll let you know how it works out if i die in a plane crash tomorrow i'll just don't go with that one no i'm just kidding but the point is is like you want god looking down on you this is like the opposite of what he did in isaac too okay you don't want god to look you want god to look down on you says this guy's got his priorities straight this gal's got her priorities straight there's just profit everywhere there's just profit everywhere i'm gonna keep him around for a while because obviously we don't know how many days we have left turn to luke chapter nine turn to luke chapter nine so the midlife crisis i don't know why i've seen it so many times it's it's it's largely unsafe people we have no excuse there should be no midlife crisis amongst the saved at all i mean we should be you know you're like well i'm not you know i don't feel like i'm doing well then do what you're supposed to do you know what you're supposed to do look at luke chapter nine and verse number 62 again i mean jesus is just like quit focusing on looking backwards jesus says in verse number 62 he says jesus said unto him no man having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of god don't look back and go to verse uh go to ecclesiastes seven don't look back i mean i i kind of think about you know people that get depressed about their past and things like that is kind of like somebody who was lost in the woods and they found a map or somebody gave them the map and they said hey here's a map in a flashlight and the direction out is that way and they just sit down with the map and they sit down with the flashlight in the middle of the woods and they cry it's like that doesn't make any sense but that's what people do just because they wasted some time in their life you know big deal don't waste any more don't look back there it's okay look at ecclesiastes chapter seven and the bible even gives us even more encouragement in verse number eight of ecclesiastes seven it says better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit look the bible says and it's not easy to do either go study up the kings and see how many ended well i mean some of them started well but very few started well and ended well go go go just you know i think i think i actually did the math on it it's like four percent or something but it's very very low okay that but guess what ending well is better is what the bible says ending well is more important than starting well it's like be thankful for that be thankful that ending well is better so look it's it's the message is a simple one tonight you know if you see people that are having a hard time you know getting older and you know then it's it's not it's not a it's not an issue with age it's not an issue with age it's an issue with where they're putting their priorities their trust and you know they're trusting things that are uncertain that's why they're getting shaky as they get older that's why and and all the unsaved people out there that have midlife crisis is and will continue to have them i think i think i know some people that have had several of them some people i'm thinking it's just a reason to go buy a car but there's some people out there that they just go out there and they just like they just keep wasting their time and they keep wasting their life and it's just like you're trying to beg these people that's why we need to beg these people that we get saved we need to tell these people hey you got one life man use it for something you know i mean everybody that you go and i mean not everybody but the vast majority of people that you go and you give the gospel to they are not the only one in that house at that time think about this and then you give them the gospel and they they got it and they're saved hey would you like to be a profit to your kids would you like your life to matter for your children because here's another question that no one will ever say you want your kids in hell no one will ever say yes to that no one oh yeah i do yet they just do nothing with their salvation you know i think i mean i just think all the time like how can i be more persuasive to people to not do this to not to be saved to take that gift put it in their pocket and walk past their family every single day and never take that gift out of their pocket and never be a profit to anybody else so next time you see a midlife crisis that's all you're seeing you're seeing people that have wasted their life and are choosing to keep wasting it that's it personally i think i'll skip it i think i'll skip it let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer you're heavenly father thank you for this day i thank you for this church i thank you for the people in this church lord and i pray that you just help us to just bear that eternal fruit and just to to remember that i mean no matter what happens ups downs that it doesn't matter because our trust is in the eternal here word i i thank you for the opportunity to be able to come here and and fellowship and preach here and just be a small part of this ministry lord in jesus name i pray amen