LIFE IS A JOURNEY – PASTOR AKINSANYA ADUBI
TEXT: EXODUS 40:34-38
34Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. 35And Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the congregation, because the cloud abode thereon, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. 36And when the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the children of Israel went onward in all their journeys: 37But if the cloud were not taken up, then they journeyed not till the day that it was taken up. 38For the cloud of the LORD was upon the tabernacle by day, and fire was on it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys.
My prayer is that God will guide you in all your journeys in Jesus name.
I have discovered that different people see this life from different perspectives, thus we handled and treat it differently. The way you see this life is the way you are likely to take, handle and treat it.
For example, some see this life as WAR or A BATTLE GROUND. For people like that you see them fighting forever, and living their lives as fighters. For such people, they fight for husbands, fight for wives, fight for children, fight for money, and even they fight for God. When they sing, they sing war, when they read they read war, when they pray they pray war and when they preach they preach war. That is the perspective from which they see this life. The thing about it is that at the end of their lives, they wonder whether they have actually won or lost. One musician said he did not realize early enough that the this world is a battle zone, he would have prepared when he was young, he would have brought to this world bows and arrows, machetes, a gun with two shooting outlets is called double barrel, but he said he would have armed himself with a gun with six shooting outlets, (I do not know what they call that type of gun). My prayer is that you will not be a loser in Jesus name.
Some see this life as a competition, and competition also is about winning, who comes first, who is the best. In Olympics, they say that the spirit of Olympics is to participate and not to win. However, you will agree with me that, that is just on papers. Up till today they are still cancelling, the results of competitions held twenty years ago if they discover that someone cheated. Some results of several years are still being debated up till now. So the spirit is to win. This means that there is tendency to cheat when you see yourself loosing. We see people like Ben Johnson taking drugs for enhancement, Mike Tyson, biting opponent ears. The same in politics, the spirit of competition leads to killing, cheating, embezzlements, and unfortunately and sad as it is, it has affected the church. Churches are supposed to complement each other, however the church today is about competition, which is the biggest, which is the largest? May God deliver us in Jesus name. The situation with people who see life as a completion is that at the end of their lives, they wonder in which position I am?
I can go on and on about how people see and treat this life. Some see this life as an expectation, so they wonder at the end of their lives; whether they meet up with usually unattainable goals they set for themselves, so they are either happy or disappointed. Some see it as a drama, at the end; they wonder whether their life is a comedy or tragedy. Some see it as a market place, to buy and sell, and they wonder at the end whether they have made profits or losses. Some see it as a restaurant, to eat, to drink and die. Some see it as a joke, and wonder whether it is funny or not. And some see it as nothing.
I do not know how you see this world and honestly God did not instruct me to convince anybody that life is like this. This message is not to change your perspective either about what you believe this world is? As I said earlier, God did not tell me to do that. And secondly, I do not want to cause any unnecessary arguments, however, I know and I am sure that whatever and whichever you take this life and how you treat it, one day you will give accounts.
I want to see, take and treat this life as a journey. A journey is simply a movement from one place to another. Jesus said in John 16:28 that “28I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father.
The Message paraphrased it like this “First, I left the Father and arrived in the world; now I leave the world and travel to the Father."
Also in John 14:3-4, the Bible says “3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. 4And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.
New Living Translation says “3 When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. 4 And you know the way to where I am going.”
Message paraphrased it as follows “4 "Don't let this throw you. You trust God, don't you? Trust me. There is plenty of room for you in my Father's home. If that weren't so, would I have told you that I'm on my way to get a room ready for you? And if I'm on my way to get your room ready, I'll come back and get you so you can live where I live. And you already know the road I'm taking."
I also see this life as journey because I was told that I was born in a particular hospital in a city, I have NOT been previledge to see this hospital and the city as an adult. I have been moving father and father away from that city since my birth. Two attempts to reach the city and take photographs of the hospital were not successful. The journey continues anyway.
I am not here to convince anybody or change anybody’s perspective, because on a journey, you may see war, battles, markets, drama and many other things, there will also be an expectation, so I am not here to prove you right or wrong but to present my own perspective and how I think I should go about it. A journey is a movement from one destination to another. For a journey to be fully a journey, there must be a starting point, a connection (way, road, route, path, street, boulevard, avenue, etc) and the final destination. The starting point at times may also be the final destination, so we have what we called a return ticket, a two way journey as described by our Lord Jesus. So it is imperative to know where we are coming from and most especially where we are going. Today I will not be concentrating on our starting point since it is not a naming ceremony and will not be talking about the ending point, since this is not a funeral ceremony, I will be concentrating on the connection point, (the road, highway, route, way, etc.) and what we are likely to see and how we should handle them.
Traveling on a long journey such as life will involve a lot of what I call turning points. Turning points means leaving one aspect of journey to another, leaving one route, highway to another. When you look at a MapQuest, you are likely to see something like travel 30 miles and make a right turn to take I 98N. The words used are “to take”, that is you are not on I 98N yet, but you are advised to take it. When you take it; that is what I call a turn or a turning point. When you take it, you are then likely to see or hear Merge onto I98 N or South as the case may be. When you merge then you are likely to see or hear travel on I 98N for so number of miles and keep to the left or keep to the right and so on and so forth.
Deaconess, I want to use this opportunity to congratulate you today for your life’s journey. You are taking an exit from I 40 TO I 50 and as you are about to make that turn, my prayer is that you will make a successful turn onto I 50 in Jesus name. You have seen peace, battles, wars, fights, struggles, pleasant and unpleasant situations, but the journey continues. My prayer is that you will end well in Jesus name. On a journey as good as I 50 there are considerations that the Lord wants me to put in your front and my prayer is that you will listen and obey the Words of the Lord in Jesus name.
Your first consideration is which I50 I take, North, South, East or West. I will strongly advise that you take I 50 N. Why the bible says in Psalm 48:1-2 that “1Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness. 2Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the NORTH, the city of the great King.
The Message version says “1 -3 God majestic, praise abounds in our God-city! His sacred mountain, breathtaking in its heights—earth's joy. Zion Mountain looms in the NORTH, city of the world-King. God in his citadel peaks impregnable.
The Amplified says “GREAT IS the Lord, and highly to be praised in the city of our God! His holy mountain, 2Fair and beautiful in elevation, is the joy of all the earth--[a]Mount Zion [the City of David], to theNORTHERN side [Mount Moriah and the temple], the [whole] city of the Great King!
Also Isaiah 14:12-15 says “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! 13For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the NORTH:
Also Psalm 76:6-7 says that “6For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. 7But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another. If promotion is not from the East, not from the West and not from the South, then it can only be from the North. (The Bible did not mention that promotion is not from the North.)
Thus, taking I 50 N means taking a path that leads to God through Praise and Worship, thanksgiving, deliverance, (Mount Zion). Taking a path of holiness, it means taking a path of joy and other qualities of the fruit of the Spirit. It means joining forces with the host of heavens to bring satan and his kingdom down. It means taking a path where God and only God can promote and elevate you.
On I 50N, the second consideration are what are the things you are likely to see? I specifically mentioned your own highway, because people see different things on a highway. What are the things I want you to pay particular attention to?
The first thing you are likely to see when you are at the junction or intersection of your I40 and I 50 N is a STOP sign. I want you to pay special attention to this sign. The sign reads STOP. It means to stop and look to the right, look to the left, front and back before taking the next step. The sign says stop and not Slow Down.
ILLUSTRATION: Pastor John Hagee told us a story of a driver that refused to stop at a STOP sign; he was then pulled over by a cop. The cop told him that the reason he pulled him over was because he refused to stop at a STOP sign. He replied that he slowed down, the cop then explain to him that the sign reads STOP and not slow down. He then gave him a ticket. The second day, the same driver refused to stop at the same sign, the same cop pulled him over, the same accusation and the same defense, he was then given another ticket. The third day, the same driver refused to stop at the same STOP sign, he was pulled over by the same cop, and was accused of not stopping at the same STOP sign, again, he told the cop that he did slow down. The cop then took a big stick and started hitting him with it on his head very fast, he then asked the driver, since you are finding it difficult to understand the difference between STOP and SLOW DOWN, here I am, hitting you with this stick on the head very fast, now do you want me to slow down or stop? Thus the sign reads STOP.
STOP may also means or translate to WAIT. Wait and carry out an evaluation of where you are coming from, where you are and where you are about to turn to. The Bible says in Psalm 25:3 says “Unto thee, O LORD, do I lift up my soul. 2O my God, I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed, let not mine enemies triumph over me. 3Yea, let none that WAIT on thee be ashamed: let them be ashamed which transgress without cause.
Isaiah 30:18
18And therefore will the LORD wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the LORD is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that WAIT for him.
Isaiah 40:31
31But they thatWAIT upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
e Micah 7:7
7Therefore I will look unto the LORD; I will WAIT for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me.
WHAT ARE THE THINGS INVOLVED IN WAITING ON GOD
Be more prayerful, Psalm 25:4-5 says “Shew me thy ways, O Lord, teach me thy paths. Lead me in thy truth,, and teach me, for thou art the God of my salvation, on thee do I wait.”
Be more patient, Psalm 37:7 says “Be still in the presence of the Lord,and wait patiently for him to act. Don’t worry about evil people who prosper or fret about their wicked schemes.
We must be expectant, Psalm 62:5 says “my soul wait thou only upon God, for my expectation is from Him, psalm 123:2; “behold as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress, so our eyes wait upon the Lord our God, until that he have mercy upon us.
We must have hope psalm 130:5 says “I will wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in his Word do I hope:
We must wait Quietly Lamentations 3:25 - 26 says 25The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. 26It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD.
And we must wait Continually “6Therefore turn thou to thy God: keep mercy and judgment and wait on thy God continually.
(Dakes Annotataed Bible)
What are the blessings of waiting on the Lord. Salvation, Provision of daily necessities, Divine Instructions, Answers to Prayers, Courage, Protection and Help, Inheritance, Hope, Justice, Renewed Strength, Blessings , Boldness, Goodness of God and Power of the Holy Spirit. Freedom from shame, Integrity and uprightness, preservation, Life, and Mercy, Patience and Counsel, Revelation , justice, Eternal things, Holy Spirit Baptism, Second Advent.
IN Psalm 40, David summarized his own blessings of waiting on God as; God turned towards him, God heard him, God brought him out of the pit, God brought him out of the miry clay, God set his feet upon the rock, and established his ways and he put a new song in his mouth.
EXAMPLES OF WAITING ON GOD
Jacob waited on the Lord and the Lord showed him His salvation. Gen 49:18, David waited on the Lord, He showed him, mercy, he was not put to shame and he triumph over his enemies. Psalm 25:4-5, 21, 33:18-22
Jeremiah waited on the Lord, His sins and that of the people were forgiven, God showed them mercies, their heavens were opened. Jeremiah 14:20-25:
Simeon the Priest waited on the Lord, the Bible recorded in the book of Luke 2:25-28 that “And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him. 26And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord's Christ. 27And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law. Deaconess, as you wait on the Lord, you will not wait in vain in Jesus name.
Another thing you will see on Highway 50N is YIELD To yield simply means to let go. Give Him the right of way. Do not contest, do not struggle. There are many things you have to let go as you are on your route 50N. The first one is your past, your past convictions, unbelief, doubts, and the past generally. You have to let it go. Paul says in Philippians 3:13-14 “13Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 14I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Yield is also about forgiveness. To forgive yourself first of all; and forgive others. Forgiveness is to let go so that I will be free. Example of someone that have forgiven is Joseph; he forgave his brothers and the generational curse over that family was broken.
Steven forgave those that are stoning him, heavens opened unto him and he saw Jesus on the right hand side of the Lord. Acts 7:54-59. David forgave Saul, please join the list.
Also yield yourself to your OWN husband. I know you have been yielding, but continue to yield.
At the same time you have to yield yourself, your substances, offerings etc. unto God so as to turn His wrath away. II Chronicles 30:8 says “… but yield yourselves unto the LORD, and enter into his sanctuary, which he hath sanctified for ever: and serve the LORD your God, that the fierceness of his wrath may turn away from you.
Cain refused to yield Himself to God, he refused to yield his offering unto Him, and he was cursed. In Genesis 4:12, God Himself said to Cain “12When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.
One thing you must not yield yourself to is unrighteousness, sin and ungodliness. Romans 6:13-15:says 13Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. 14For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. 15What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.
Shadrach, Meshak and Abednego did not yield their bodies to idols, and Nebchadnezzar said in Daniel 3:28 that “28Then Nebuchadnezzar spake, and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who hath sent his angel, and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the king's word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God.
God was glorified in their lives for not yielding to unrighteousness; God will be glorified in your life too in Jesus name.
Another thing you will see are several EXITS
Exits are routes leading from your highway to another routes. There are correct exits on your I50N and there are wrong exits. My prayer is that you will not take a wrong exit. Wrong exits may mean trying to take a short cut. Daddy GO has been teaching us this year about things that can fast forward appointments with death. You will not fast forward your appointment with death in Jesus name. Wrong exit may be wrong advice; it is not every advice that will be useful to you on this journey. An advice that was good and useful for you on I40 may not necessarily be good and useful to you on this route. Risks taken when you were in your 40s, may be disastrous at this age, things generally done when you were younger may prove fatal at this age, you need to be careful about friends giving you advice, any advice that is contrary to the message of God in the Bible will amount to a wrong exit. Elkana and Naomi took a wrong exit in their life, and it was not a pleasant situation, pleasantness and sweetness in their lives turned to bitterness, your case will not be like that in Jesus name. You need to pray for wisdom and consider advises given to you so that you will not take a wrong exit.
Taking a wrong exit may means wasting time unnecessarily on certain things, I went to Louisiana one time and I took a wrong exit, it took me another 31 miles before I could find a way to come back to the right route. A lot of time was wasted doing this. The same thing happened one time when I went to California for the Purpose Driven Conference. Do the right thing at the right time; be firm when taking decisions and God will bless you in Jesus name.
At the same time do not miss the right exit, one good way to miss your exit is to be on a wrong lane, so be on the right lane. Right lane is to be prayerful, be holy, obeying the commandments of the Almighty God. Be prepared at all times to take the opportunities that the Lord will begin to send way. Opportunities will begin to come your way in Jesus name, but be prepared, develop legs and eyes of faith, see and walk by faith and not by sight and it shall be well with you in Jesus name.
Another thing you will see are ATTRACTIONS
One thing you will never see written on your I50N is Distraction, what you will be seeing are attractions. But I want to tell you that some of the so called attractions on your I50 N are actually distractions. People will always talk, people will always comment, people will always react rightly or wrongly to what you do and what you say.
Parts of distractions are people that are travelling along with you, your friends, what they say and their comments about you. There are drunk drivers on the road, (people who do not care what happens to you). There are angry drivers on the road, (people that are not happy with the progress that you have made, the progress that you are making and the progress that you are still going to make). There are immature drivers on the road, (people who do not really understand what you are doing). There are drivers without licenses on the same road you are traveling (adolescents and teenagers in thoughts, action and deeds, but fifties in their physical ages). There are people that want to pass you by all means, there are people that are fighting, competing, eating, distracting, jokers, unserious people; people that see life as I described at the beginning of this message..
I can count on and on, you need to watch out for all these and pray to the Almighty God for wisdom so that in attending to these people you will not lose your own way.
On your I50 N, you must be very vigilant because there will be dangers, stoppages, interruptions and so on and so forth. On your I50N there are Police or cops with radars, red light, tolls, construction sites, red light and speed cameras.
These include people that are there just waiting for your mistakes. Accusers of the brethren, they may be physical or spiritual. There are enemies that will pretend to be friends; the families of Judas are still here on earth, you have to pray for wisdom to track them out. There are people that will want to stop your progress, Samballat and Tobias are all over the place, and you will need a radar detector. Studying of your Bible, meditating therein, fasting and praying are your radar detectors. There will always be people that are interested in only what they can suck out of you, there are people that may want to cause problems, you may have to pay them tolls, so that you can move ahead. At the same time, there are people that you may see as enemies; maybe because of the way they say the truth, you will perceive them as enemies. You need to pray that God will help you to locate where you too are wrong, where you are to slow down, and where there are dangers. You will not fall into any danger in Jesus name. These may also be traps of the enemy, snares of the enemies, God will deliver you in Jesus name. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Bible says that the Lord delivers him from all. May the good Lord deliver you from all afflictions in Jesus name.
You will see SPEED LIMIT SIGNS on your I50N.
God wants you increase your speed in spiritual things, to give more speed in terms of more of your time, more of your substance, more of everything that He has blessed you with to Him at this point in time. Gradually, begin to decrease your speed limit to the things that are mundane, things that will have little or no value to your final destination. That is, this is the time to do more for God than ever before. In the book of Numbers chapter 4, God asked Moses to number the sons of Israel by the house of their fathers from thirty years old, (30 years later reduced to 25), and upward even unto fifty (50) years old to do the work of in the tabernacle of the congregation. This may imply that one is to retire from the work of the Lord at the age of fifty years, but in the same book of Numbers 8:26, it shows that the ministers over 50 years old are not to retire entirely, but to assist the younger ones by way of giving advises, and other various ways when called to do so. Thus you should be more involved in helping the younger ones to move up in the Lord and the Lord will answer you in Jesus name.
CONCLUSION
The text we read in Exodus 40, apart from the fact that the cloud was the symbol of the presence of God, it was also a sign or guide for the children of God; the Israelites either to move on with their journeys or to stop. May God continue to give your signs and guide you on this journey of life in Jesus name.
Also the book of Leviticus 25:10 says “10And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.
Verses 18 – 19 say “18Wherefore ye shall do my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them; and ye shall dwell in the land in safety. 19And the land shall yield her fruit, and ye shall eat your fill, and dwell therein in safety.
As you have embarked on this journey on I50N, my prayers are the earth will yield her increase unto you, that you will eat the best of the lands, you will eat the fat, drink the sweet wine of the land, and will send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared, this day will be holy unto the Lord, you will not be sorry, the joy of the Lord will be your strength, as your days are, so shall your strength be. This year marks the beginning of your liberty from every work of darkness, you will no longer be oppressed in any way, the only fear that will come your way will be the fear of the Almighty Lord. You will not sow for others to reap, you, your children, your children’s children will possess their possession in the land of the living. In Jesus name Amen.
