My Trip

All right, good to see you here tonight. And what I'd like to do is start off with this message and then we'll get to the video. So turn to John chapter 14 if you would please. The book of John chapter 14. It's good to be back here at Ohana. We've been traveling all over the world. Um we went from here all the way to Rome. Uh the second half of the journey we got first class and that was really nice. And then uh coming back, we came from Paris back to Hawaii again. And the first half of that journey, we got first class. I'll tell you what, when you get first class, it's hard to be back with the peasants again.

Uh you know, it's just hard to hard to do that. But uh it was a blessing. And we got to a lot of different countries. We were we went to Italy first and then over the Alps to Germany and then we went on a river cruise down through Austria and some other countries to to Hungary and Budapest. And then we went from Budapest to Prague. And then we went from Prague to Onsbach, Germany to see our missionaries. And then we flew from Nerburgg uh to Paris again and to Par to Paris. And then we uh took a train from Paris up to Normandy. Got to see the the beaches and where they landed there. And boy, I'll tell you what uh it just gives me more respect for our military.

Uh what you have to go through in battle and uh seeing that was just uh it was just pretty amazing and uh inspiring as well. And then we went from Normandy to Paris and and spent our last few days there and then flew back here to Hawaii uh via Minneapolis and and uh and Seattle. And all that journey we had to get from one place to the other. And John chapter 14 beginning with verse number one, it says, "Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also me. In my father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there you may be also.

And whether I go, you know, and the way you know. Thomas saith then, Lord, we know not whether thou goest, as how can we know the way? And Jesus saith then, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the father but by me. And and so when you're going somewhere, wherever it is, whether it's locally here in Hawaii or whether it's across the mainland or across the world as we did, one of the things that you got to do is figure out, well, how am I going to get from here to there? Now, back in the old days, what we would do is we would follow the map. Long before GPS and and Carmen and all the rest of that, uh, you had to have a map to get your way.

And in verses 5 and six, Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whether thou goest. How can we know the way? Jesus saith to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the father but by me." And you want to make sure when you're trying to get from one place to the other that that you get to the right place. Um the train is how they get around in in in Europe a lot. Uh we had a Euro pass and so we were traveling a lot by train from Italy to Germany and Germany to the station to the river cruise and then from there from Budapest to Prague and so on. And in all those times in the going on the train, we're always worried, are we going to get on the right train?

How many have ever been to Europe? Raise your hand. And how many ever seen the train stations at Europe? Raise your hand. Uh it is it is amazingly uh disastrous there, you know, trying to figure a way around. You're trying to read other languages. You got all these different rails that can go through and which one and we were always so worried we'd be on the wrong train. And uh you know, the thing is you got to realize is this. All the trains don't go to the same place. And when we were going from Italy to uh Germany, uh all the trains didn't go there. And so we had to make sure we were on the right train to get to the right place.

And all ways don't get you to heaven. You see, a lot of people say it doesn't matter which way you go, you're going to get to heaven. Uh no, it's just like saying doesn't matter which train you get on, you're going to get to the place you're going to. You got to make sure you're on the right way. In Luke 19:10, it said, "For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost." And and you know, the one of the ways you can get to heaven is is to is is getting there is to find someone who's already been there. One of the parts we loved about the trip was being with the missionaries. Because when we were the missionaries, not only do we get to enjoy being with them, but also they knew the language, they knew the culture, they knew the directions.

We didn't have to worry about anything. Just said, "Oh, tell us where to go." And and and they had already been there. And you know, Jesus is the one that's been to heaven. And he is the one that's going to show you the way. So to get somewhere, you either got to have somebody's been there or you got to follow the map. In John 5:39, Jesus said, "Search the scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me." And so you got to make sure we are we on the right way. Not I hope or I think. I remember getting on one train. We were traveling along and I said to Diane after the train already pulled out of the station, I said, "I I think we're on the right train."

Uh that's not a good feeling to think you're on the right train because you might be going the wrong way. In 1 John 5 and:es 12 and 13 it says, "He that hath the son hath life. He that hath not the son of God hath no life. These things have been written to you that believe on the name of the son of God that you may know that you have eternal life." When you get on the train, you want to know you're going the right way. And when you die, you want to know that you're going to heaven. You got to make sure you have your ticket. Some of you know that about halfway through I got pickpocketed by my phone, but somebody took my phone when we were in the train station trying to get to the next train.

And uh the the worst thing about it is not only did you not have communication or texting or all the rest of stuff, but we also didn't have our tickets cuz our rail tickets were on my phone and you could only have them on one phone. And so we we were we had to get on the train. So we got on the train. We had a little paper printed out ticket, but that was just for the seat reservation. It wasn't for the rail ticket. And so the conductor comes along and he doesn't speak English and I don't speak his language. And he says, "Tickets, please." And I handed that paper ticket. He said, "No, your ticket."

And uh he tried to get I tried to communicate, "I don't have it. My phone was stolen." And he's looking at me like, "I'm going to kick you off this train." And uh he said he said, "Come back." And I said to him, "Come And so I got on the email and try emailing URL and we're going back and forth trying to get him to change it over to my wife's phone. And he came back three different times trying to get me to get that ticket. And and I think the last time he was like, "You're going off this train if you don't get this figured out." You know, you got to have your ticket and and you got to make sure that you know that you're going to heaven.

In Matthew chapter 7, there's those said, "Lord, we've we've done all these wonderful things in your name." He said, "Depart from me. and I never knew you. And that guy had every right to say, "Get off this train because I didn't have my ticket." And you got to make sure that you have that way to heaven, which is Jesus Christ as your savior. And and there's nothing you can do when you get on that train, by the way, but enjoy the ride. There's nothing we can do to make that train go where it's going to go. In Ephesians chapter 2:es 8 and 9, for by grace are you saved through faith, then not of yourselves is the gift of God, not of works, lest a man should boast.

that we weren't going to get that train up and over the Alps. It's the engine that was going to get us there. We just needed to get on and go for the ride. And that salvation is trusting Jesus Christ to take you to heaven. There's nothing you can do. Now, listen folks, I would rather go first class than coach. Uh, one of the things with our rail pass because of our age, we got first class tickets. So, everywhere we went, we got first class seating. And, and that was really nice cuz it was less crowded. It was more enjoyable. Uh everything was better about that. You know, if I'm going to heaven, I'd rather go first class than coach.

I'm going to heaven because of Jesus Christ, but I might as well get in the first class seats. In John 10 verse number 10 says, "See, the thief cometh not, but for to steal and to kill and destroy. I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly." See, God wants you to enjoy the journey to heaven as well. You can know you're going to heaven because Jesus Christ. The coach people got to to to their destination just like we did in first class. But you know what? When you are going to go, you might as well enjoy the journey. So I wonder today, do you have Christ as your savior?

In Romans 10:es 9 and 10, if thou shalt confess with thy mouth and believe in thine heart that God has raised from the dead, thou shalt be saved. The Bible says, "Whosoever call shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." And and you can't I I can lose my ticket, but I'm thankful I cannot lose Jesus Christ. And once I have him as my savior, I have my way to heaven. And I wonder today, do you know where you're going when you die? Because once you die, there's no changing. We could get off the train and get on a different train, but you can't do that when you die. You're either going to heaven or you're not.

And you need to make sure you're going the right way now before you die. Now, one of the things about traveling by train is you don't check your baggage in. You carry it with you everywhere you go. In Matthew 11 28 and 30, it says, "Come unto me all ye that labor and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest unto your souls, for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." You know, when you're on this journey, whatever baggage you have, you're going to have to carry it. And that's one of the things we realized when before we left, we said, "Let's not have these great big suitcases.

Let's keep it down to one carry-on and one backpack." Uh, that didn't last very long. We ended up having a carry-on. And we had a bigger bigger luggage as well. And and uh and we had to have all that. And and and every time we get on a train, we have to pick up that luggage and put on the train. We have to pick it up and take it off the train. We had to carry it with us everywhere we went. And one of the things I realize when you travel like that, get rid of some stuff. You know, once we are on the journey, we realize why did we bring this? Why did we bring that? Why are we carrying this around?

And and there's a lot of stuff that we brought that we didn't need. They weren't bad things, but they were baggage. And the Bible tells us in 2 Timothy 2:es 3 and 4, thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man at warth entangle himself with the affairs of his life that he may please him who had chosen to be a soldier. God says, listen, when you're going into battle, you don't carry all that extra baggage with you. And when you're traveling through this journey of life on your way to heaven, get rid of the baggage you don't need. There's some things you don't want to bring at all.

I mean, there's a lot of things in my home that I wasn't going to bring at all because they weren't worth anything. But there's other things that are not bad things, but they're you're having to carry them with you through this journey of life, and you need to get rid of those things. Now, sometimes you also need help. You know, when my wife and I were traveling, she that suitcase was kind of hard for her to get around. So, sometimes I take her suitcase and I'd take my suitcase and help her to bear a burden. In Galatians chapter 6:es 1 and two, brethren, if a man be overtaken of fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.

Bear you one's burdens so fulfill the law of Christ. In verse number five, it says, "For every man shall bear his own burden." You know, you've got to be willing to carry your own baggage. But sometimes we need help. Sometimes we need somebody to reach out and just give us a hand. And I'm thankful for those that helped us on our journey and helped us to carry some of that baggage through that journey. And that's what a church is all about. Having people that can help you to carry some of the baggage of life. But you know, you got to know where you're going and then you've got to stay the course.

In 2 Timothy 4:7, I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course. I have kept the faith. You got to finish the course. And to finish the course, you got to follow the GPS. Uh, you know, we were talking if we had to go by the old map system, find our way around Europe, we'd have been lost all the time. Uh, was so thankful to have that GPS to tell us here's where you are and here's where you're going. And, you know, it's it's good to have GPS in life as well. And the GPS for us as Christians is this, God's personal spirit. God's personal spirit. In Romans chapter 8 verse number N, but you're not in the flesh, but in the spirit.

If so be the spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his. When you get saved, God gives you his GPS. He gives you the Holy Spirit. In verse number 14, it says, "For as many as are led by the spirit of God, they are the sons of God." And God wants to lead you through life like you follow the GPS. You need to say, "God, guide me on my journey. Guide me to where I need to go." And and God wants to give you his personal spirit to do that. God wants you to follow his spirit in your life. In John 16:13, "How be it, when he, the spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth.

For he shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever shall hear, that shall he speak, and he will show you things to come." God gave you the Holy Spirit to guide you into all truth. And just like when you're in a place you don't know, you get out that phone, you punch in the place you're going, and you follow that little dot step by step by step. And that's what God wants you to do in life as well is every day pull up the Holy Spirit and say, "Spirit of God, guide me through this day. Guide me to my next place on this journey." And that means you have to trust him. You know what? Sometimes I didn't trust Siri.

Sometimes I was looking at the GPS say, "No, it's this way. It's this way." You ever argue with your GPS? You ever argue with it? and and Proverbs 3:5-6, "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." I'm amazed at how we as people can follow the voice of a GPS on our phone, but we won't follow the voice of God in our lives. We need to be willing to follow. God says this is the best way to go. See, GPS not only knows which way you should go, he knows all the detours and all the little shortcuts and all the rest of that.

And here's the best way for you to go. And that's what God wants for you as well. And we need to listen to his voice. And that means we need to take it just one turn at a time. You know, we were trying to get through Paris. We were looking on there and say, "How are we going to get from here to there?" The way to get from here to there is take the next turn. My wife said, "Don't look at the blue dot. Look at where it says to turn next. Just look where we got to turn next. And in 200 meters, turn right. In 100 meters, turn left. Look where you're going to go next. And the Bible tells us in Psalms 37:23, "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and he delightth in his way."

It's taking it one step at a time. You see, I can put in my GPS how to get to the Eiffel Tower, but I'm not going to get there until I take that first step, which is out the door and turn right. And then next step, go down to the end of block and turn left. You see, you got to take it one step at a time. You got to realize that you can't get there from here. Sometimes you can't get there from here. In Genesis 247 24:27, the servant said, "I being in the way which the Lord led me." You see, you've got to you've got to be in the way that God is leading you. And too many of us, we're not in the way the Lord led us.

We're in God's way and we've got to get out of God's way and be in the way that he is leading us. And to do that, you got to have a starting point. In Psalms chap 139 23 and 24, it says, "Search me, oh God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts and see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting." You see, whenever I put in a a place to go on my GPS, you know what the first thing it says to me? Where do you want to start from? Do you want to start from your location? And before God can lead us to where he wants us to go, we got to know where am I right now? Where am I at spiritually?

Am I saved? Am I obedient to the Lord? Is there sin in my life? Am I in the wrong place spiritually? See, before you can go where God wants you to go, you need to stop and ask him, "God, show me where I am." And I would challenge you tonight to ask God to show you where you're at spiritually and where you're at in your walk with the Lord right now. And then ask God, "What is my next turn?" Look over at, keep your marker in John 14. We're going to come back there, but go to James chapter 4. James chapter 4 and look at verses 13-1 17. James chapter 4. Apologize for my voice about halfway through the journey.

I got sick and it's still uh holding up a little bit here. James 4 13-17. Go to now ye that say today or tomorrow we'll go into such a city and continue there a year and buy and sell and get gain. Whereas you know not what shall be on the tomorrow? For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appearth for a little time and that vanishes away. For you ought to say, "If the Lord will, we shall live and do this or that." But now you rejoice in your boastings. All such rejoices is evil. Therefore, to him that knoweth good and doeth not. To him it is sin. Before we left for this journey, we had planned it all out.

But we found out as we were on the journey, plans change. And it's just realizing that you got to take it one step at a time. What's the next step? You know, I' I'd say, "Well, where we got to be next week?" She said, "No, where do we have to be tomorrow? Where do we need to be tomorrow?" And that's what's important is make sure we're in the right place today so we can be in the right place tomorrow. So maybe some of you the next step for you is getting saved. Maybe for some of you the next step for you is getting baptized like some are tonight. Maybe the next step in your life is to join the church.

Or maybe that next step is start giving or serving or whatever else it might be. See, we need to ask God, what is my next step? Because if I'm going to get from here to there, I've got to take the next step first. And so, what is the next step in your life? One of the things, go over to Acts chapter 16. Acts chapter 16. Sometimes as you're on that journey with that GPS, it does this thing called recalculating. You know what I'm talking about? All of a sudden, it says, "You're not where I thought you were going to be, and we're going to recalculate this and and change your direction." In Acts chapter 16 and beginning with verse number six, Paul was uh it says, "Now when they had gone throughout Versia and the region of Galatia and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in in um Asia, uh after they were come to my to go into uh Bethany, but the spirit suffered them not."

And they passing by my came down to Trrowaz. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. There stood a man of Macedonia and prayed him, saying, "Come over unto Macedonia, help us." And after you seen the vision, immediately we endeavored to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering the Lord had called for us to preach the gospel unto them. My wife told me one thing she was afraid of when we went to Europe is that that I was going to feel God was calling us to go to Europe uh to do a ministry there. And uh I there's so many places there that I was burdened for to see uh the Miettas in Italy and they're doing a great job, but there's so many cities that don't have the gospel.

And then in in the central Europe area around Budapest again and in Germany, there's just such a great need. We didn't find any in Paris. I'm sure there's some there. And and and and there is a great need. And Paul had a burden. I want to go I want to go into Asia, but God said, "No, I'm going to close that door. I'm going to recalculate and I'm going to send you to a new place." And he says, "I'm sending you Macedonia." And you know sometimes God changes the direction of our life. Some guy we have to be realizing that God wants to recalculate and we were thought we were going this way but God says no I want you to go that way.

You know what you need is follow God's GPS. God's spirit. Now I heard there's a new Baptist GPS by the way. Did you hear about that? There's a new app with a Baptist GPS. It always turns right. Um but anyway second Peter chapter 2 vers1 15. which have forsaken the right way and gone astray following the way of Balum the son of Bus Basar who loved the wages of unrighteousness and maybe it's a point where you need to stop and recalculate and say where am I going and ask God just to make sure I'm going the right direction I'm going the way he wants me to you know you know and and God changes our direction and we also need to listen in John chapter 14 go back there and look at verse number 23- 26 Six says Jesus answered and said, "If a man love me, he will keep my words, and my father will love him, and will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

He loveth, he that loveth me not, keepeth not my sayings, and the word which he hear is not mine, but the fathers, which sent me. These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you, but the comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name. He shall teach you all things and bring all things your remembrance whatsoever said unto you." You see, God wants us to follow him. Like I said earlier, I argue with my GPS sometimes. No, not this way. But you can't argue with God. Proverbs 14:12, there's a way which seemth right unto man, but the end there of the ways of death.

Sometimes in our life, we realize we're going the wrong way. In Jeremiah 8, it talks about the people of Jerusalem sliden back by a perpetual backsliding. They hold fast to seed and they refuse to return. You sometimes that's the way we are in our lives. We know we're going the wrong way, but we keep going it. I saw a bumper sticker one time. It said this, "I'm lost, but I'm making good time." You know what? Being lost and making good time doesn't get you where you want to go. We were at one point we were going the wrong direction in Paris there. And we realized it and we had to walk back a lot of distance that we had covered because we had to get back to the right place.

And maybe that's where you're at right now. you're going the wrong way and you need to turn around. That's the word repent. Repent means to turn. In Ezekiel 33:14 again when I say unto the wicked, thou shalt surely die if he turn from his sin and do that which is lawful and right. So God says, listen, turn from the wrong way to the right way. In Acts 26:20, "And they should repent and turn to God and do the works meet for repentance." In other words, turn to God for salvation. Turn to God for dedication. In Proverbs 1:23, "Turn you at my reproof. Behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you. I will make known my words unto you."

God says, "Listen, turn. Turn back to me. Turn back to the right direction." Because if you want to get there, you've got to follow the right way. One of the things that's probably frustrating for my wife when we travel is I I'm always kind of like that little kid. Are we there yet? Are we there yet? I want to be there now. And there's two different ways you can travel in life. One is the scenic route or one is the direct route. On some of our train trips, we had a choice to take the scenic route or the direct route. Now, the scenic route is usually longer and slower, but it's beautiful. The direct route's faster, but not quite as.

And in life, sometimes God leads us the scenic route and sometimes God leads us the direct route. In Romans 1:10, Paul said this, "Making a request, if by any means now at length I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto you." Paul said to the church of Rome, he said, "I want to come to you and I'm praying God will do that." Do you know what God sent Paul to Rome, but do you remember how he did it? As a prisoner in chains. That's not the scenic route, folks. That's not the way Paul was thinking he was going to go to Rome, but that's the way God brought him there. And sometimes in life, God takes us a direct route that's not the scenic route.

And sometimes in life, we got to take the harder route because God wants us to get us to some place in our life where we need to be. And so what we need to do is we need to get started. Acts 16:10, you know, when Paul was praying and wanted to go to Asia and he said, "No, I want you to go to Macedonia." This is what he said in Acts 16:10. And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavored to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathered the Lord had called for us to preach the gospel unto them. Once he knew this is the way God want me to go, he didn't wait around. He didn't just just sit and wait.

He got up and he said, "Let's get going." And folks, maybe God's leading you in your life and you need to take that direct route and you need to just get up and get going where God wants you to go. And so I want to challenge you. Follow God's personal spirit in your life. Take it one step at a time, one turn at a time. Yeah, it's good to look ahead and plan and where am I going next? But sometimes God changes your plans. And some God said, God says, "I want you to go here instead and be willing to follow his spirit and to follow his direction your life. And if you're going the wrong way, repent. Turn around. Get on the right path.