50 and Better|Blog for the more experienced…

This past Sunday night our Pastor was talking about Jacob coming to a meeting with Pharoah and he was asked by Pharoah, “How old are you?” Jacob remarked that he was one hundred and thirty years old and he pronounced a blessing upon Pharoah.  I have been thinking about that this week and want to give some thought this week for us to the subject of Growing Old Biblically.

There was a gentleman who went to the doctor and asked, “How can I live to be 100 years of age?” The doctor replied, “eat plenty of bran, cut out all red meat and sweets, and exercise regularly. ” The man asked, “will that make me live to be a hundred?” The doctor replied to him, “no, but it will sure make it seem like it.”

Our own Savior, Jesus Christ, is the perfect model of aging biblically. In Luke 2:52 we see the four areas in which Jesus grew in accord with the will of God; wisdom, stature, favor with God and favor with men. I believe it is important that we seek to mature in these four areas as well as we progress on our pilgrimage with the Lord.

We need to work to keep our minds active, engaged and involved. People can keep their minds active in many different ways. Many who are in the 50 and Better stages of life are using computers now effectively for this. Guess who has shown the fastest growing increase in computer useage- those who are in their early 70’s! Nearly a third of this group has a computer in their home and have broadband Internet (how did we ever make it with dial-up?). You can become an entrepreneur; Dave Thomas and Colonel Sanders both started their businesses after the age of 60. There are more Soduko puzzle books worked by folks over 50 than any other age group. In all of these, and other ways, we should keep our minds active.

The area of “wellness” today covers the thoughts of stature in scripture. How do you look at a glass of water, is it half full or half empty. At this station of life we are at, or past, halftime. Our attitude toward aging will determine much of the effect of aging. God has given us a wonderful “temple” in our bodies and if we are to worship Him properly in our bodies we should work to get proper nutrition, sufficient rest, meaningful recreation and exercise, and maintain a positive mental attitude. We must always seek to glorify Him in all that we do, say or think. We need to look at life from a positive perspective, keep actively looking for the hand of the Almighty in all facets of our lives, and be very careful not to carry burdens that we were never meant to bear. Jesus is our solution to every burden.

Let’s look at the last one next, in favor with men. This is the area of winsomeness and Jesus grew in that as well. Proverbs 18:24 says, ”He that hath friends must show himself friendly.” In our world today, where people have hundreds of friends on their facebook, friendship is taken very lightly. If you have a few really good friends you should count yourself blessed and continue to develop friendships with others.

Worship of the Father is the fourth area of growing old biblically that Jesus grew in. Our relationship with God is the most important part of our days each and every day. How wonderful it will be to be able to say with Paul “I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.” (II Tim. 4:7)  We should seek to worship him personally and corporately, witness for Him to the lost around us, disciple the saved and keep our walk sweet and fresh as we grow in our trusting Him day by day! As a reminder in this area of witnessing I’d like to share this with you. It is from Dr. Lindsay, Sr., who said that “when Christianity does not spread, it is because its “news” has become stale to it’s possessors”.

I pray that you and I will all age biblically, just like our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! Let’s spend our days trusting Him and walking with Him in grace and peace, glorifying Him each and every day!

What a glorious time of the year-  the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! It’s Easter! This is a time when we are called into deep devotion and worship of the One who loved us all with His whole life and died for us to satisfy the Father and pay the price for our sin on the cross. Jesus’ atonement for our sins includes the work He did in His life, death, and resurrection. Hallelujah what a Savior!

As I watched our Passion Play here at First Baptist Church on three occasions this past weekend (since my family was participating I was at each of the performaces, which by the way, I thought were all very God uplifting, glorifying and honoring) I was reminded of several awesome events in the life of Christ that I pray will give hope during these days in your life:

1. Jesus is the Son of God. We discussed this truth last week in our Sunday School lesson. Jesus “is” God- not “was” God. How thrilling it was to see Jesus in the Passion Play repeatedly praying to the Father for wisdom to know the Father’s will and strength to do His will.

2. It was necessary for Jesus to die for our sin. As Jesus was in the Garden praying, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will,” (Matthew 26:39) we know that for Him to accomplish the work that the Father had sent Him to earth to complete, for you and I and the others in this world the Lord will save to be redeemed by the Father Jesus had to die on the cross.

3. The resurrection of Christ from the grave is very important. If Christ had not resurrected then our salvation would not be complete, we would not have His power and presence at work in and through us today, and we would not be justified before God. His resurrection assures us as his saints that one day, when He returns, we will have a new body, a resurrection body.Through Him we have

So, as you celebrate Easter this Sunday morning in church, whether here at First Baptist or somewhere else as you travel to be with family, remember the reason that we celebrate- He is not here for He is risen! He is risen, indeed!

Sort of a strange title for this week’s edition? Well, if you are a University of Tennessee fan the tourney may be over, but for 4 teams it is still going on. I have been thinking quite a bit lately about athletic events. I have been looking into some scripture about athletics as well. I was reading 1 Corinthians 9 the other day and wanted to share a little with you from verses 24-27. Here they are:

²⁴Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. ²⁵And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. ²⁶Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. ²⁷But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.

We see the great discipline required of athletes highlighted in these verses and, to an even greater extent, the discipline required of us in our Christian life. We are all to stay engaged in the Christian life , to be disciples of the one who saved us, to be wholly devoted to Him and to building His Kingdom day by day. Paul even told us in these verses that he disciplined his own body.

We also see the great motivation for our Christian lives in these verses. We aren’t motivated by earthly gain like athletes are. I’ve been reading the last few days about coaches who are being paid millions of dollars to coach basketball and football. Athletes who sign lucrative deals to play sports and entertain us. When you look at history, you find that Rome had sports and entertainment industries that were well funded for their day and they’re not here any longer. But, our motivation is not like that, according to verse 25. As Christians, our motivation is eternal. Our victors crown is an imperishable one, a crown that we won’t even wear, but we will present our crown to King Jesus in Heaven!

I’ve also been thinking a lot about our upcoming Passion Play here at our church. My wife and daughter have been heavily involved in this years’ pageant and our week has been consumed with errands and practices in preparation for the Pageant. (By the way, you should plan to attend one of the services this weekend!!) As I think back to last years’ Pageant, I remember the majesty of the finale and as I think of placing the victor’s crown at the feet of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ, I’m reminded of that scene. The song was taken from Revelation 5:13, where we read:

¹³And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying:

“Blessing and honor and glory and power

Be to Him who sits on the throne,

And to the Lamb, forever and ever!”

Oh Praise God! Oh, What a Savior, Hallelujah!

Well, if you are like me and a fan of the University of Tennessee Volunteers, then it is over for you, too! Our men’s and ladie’s teams both lost in the first game of the NCAA tournament this year, so we’ll just have to wait for football to come around and then the next year of basketball. As I was thinking about this year’s tournaments I saw an article on Wayne Chism, one of the players on our UT men’s team. Wayne had a broken thumb on his left hand. He is now in a cast. Bruce Pearl, our coach, was quoted as saying, “He never made a big deal about this injury. He demonstrated tremendous toughness.”

Preparation for the game is required of all athletes. There has to be a mental toughness for a team to make it to the championships. That reminds me of the instructions of the Apostle Paul, in the ending portion of Ephesians 4 beginning with verse 22:

²²that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, ²³and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, ²⁴and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.

²⁵Therefore, putting away lying, “Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor,”^£ for we are members of one another. ²⁶“Be angry, and do not sin”:^£ do not let the sun go down on your wrath, ²⁷nor give place to the devil. ²⁸Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need. ²⁹Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. ³⁰And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. ³¹Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. ³²And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.

We are called upon in these verses to take action. We are to “put off” and to “put away.” It is interesting the things we are to get out of our lives: the old man, lying, anger, thievery, speaking corruptly, grieving the Holy Spirit, bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, evil speaking, and malice.This list is pretty long and there is something there for each and every one of us to do daily. We are called upon by our Lord to acknowledge our sin and unrighteousness daily and to come to Him for cleansing. 1 John 1:9 says, “if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Remember, we know this is talking to us as Christians because of 1 John 5:13.

There are some things mentioned here in these verses that we are to put on as well. We are to put on the new man, being renewed in the spirit of your mind (the middle of our belief system and the driving force in the way we act and motives we embody). We also are to be kind, one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving of one another. When we read these verses we see the motive behind it all, “because Christ has forgiven you.”

Ever wondered why some people have such a hard time forgiving others? Could it be that they have not experienced the true grace of God upon their lives and His forgiveness of their lives for eternity’s sake? Oh, that we who are more “experienced” in life will be this example to those who are younger in years and in the faith as we live out the words of Ephesians 4: 22-32.

We are all in this “game” of the Christian life and we need to be prepared. It is not an easy life, one we can just float through. Let’s be eternal champions for Christ- the crowns’ await!

Many folks across the country teach the Bible in seminaries, on the university campus, in churches, small groups,  and homes. When we come to this very special time of proclaiming God’s Word to people in these settings there is one great question that we should ask of ourselves- Am I just sharing knowledge with folks or am I leading these people who are my students into a growing relationship with God through His Word?

For many years I have been a proponent of teaching for life change. An aim in all the churches I have served has been to develop teachers who taught with this outcome in mind. It is a privilege to serve here at First Baptist Church, Jacksonville, during these days as we endeavor to lead our leaders to be Theologically Driven in all that we do, including the area of teaching in the Sunday School.

I believe that some of our problems in church today stem from the fact that we don’t know what our place of ministry is and how we fit in the overall church ministry. The Sunday School is to be “the foundational strategy for leading people to faith in the Lord and developing them into on-mission Christians through Bible Study groups that engage them in evangelism, discipleship, fellowship, ministry, worship and prayer”. In our Bible teaching ministry for life change we must involve our students in all 6 of these areas to accomplish life change.

When we encourage folks to teach for life change, what do we mean? How can a person who is 50 and Better (or our most mature folks at church) really experience life change; can you “teach an old dog new tricks?” The answer to this question is completely YES! A Christian is a disciple. A disciple is constantly growing to be like the One he/ she is a disciple of.  So, regardless of our age, as disciples we must be willing to change as the Master gives us direction and as we gain that direction from studying His Word in private devotion and corporate Bible study events.

When we teach for life change we teach from a student centered approach rather than a teacher centered one. By that I mean how does the teacher determine they have been effective at the end of the day? In a teacher centered approach, the teacher is effective if they cover the prescribed material effectively each week. Whether the students have learned anything or life change has occurred is not as important as “getting through the materials.” A teacher who teaches from a student centered approach knows they have been effective when class members are letting them know the truths they have heard from the lesson that caused life change to happen.

In line with student centered teaching we really must examine the amount of material we are projecting to our students on a weekly basis. In the average church, a member comes to Sunday School and Worship, Discipleship time and Worship on Sunday evening, and a Wednesday evening service and probably participates in an off campus Bible study during the week, plus their own personal quiet times. If that is true, a “normal person” may be having as many as 14 different messages minimum that they are entertaining during the week. We wonder why people don’t apply as much Bible to their lives as they are hearing and that is because we hear so many different and varied messages during one week’s time. In our Sunday School classes, if we are going to teach for life change we need to make sure that each and every lesson has one major theme and application area we are asking our students to work on.

Remember, teachers, that no curriculum writer knows your people. You, as the teacher, must determine the major thrust you are proposing for life change through that lesson you’ll teach. Keep the life station of your members, and your personal knowledge of where they are in mind as you pray and develop the lesson plan for Sunday.

As you consider teaching for Life Change you may wish to click the link that follows the end of this article. By doing so, you will be taken to a power point from our recent Pastors Conference where I taught on this subject. I pray that God will raise more and more teachers in the days ahead who are asking God to change the lives of the members of their class through the teaching of His Word!

Teaching for Life Change

One of the great privileges of my life in ministry has been the blessing God afforded to me and my family to serve with Dr. Homer Lindsay, Jr. In the four years that Laurie and I  served on staff here with him and his sweet wife, Shirley, God taught us so very much and blessed our lives in so many ways through them. One of Dr. Lindsay’s favorite hymns was “Peace in the Midst of the Storm.” The chorus to that song goes like this:

There is peace in the midst of my storm-tossed life;

Oh, there’s an Anchor, there’s a Rock to cast my faith upon.

Jesus rides in my vessel so I’ll fear no alarm;

He gives me peace in the midst of my storm!

The author of that hymn had it right in so many ways- Jesus is our peace and our Rock in every storm. I believe that Jesus is not only riding in my vessel- He’s the Captain of the ship, my ever-present help in time of trouble! Praise the Lord!

Many of you know some of the struggles we have faced in recent days in our own family with problems relating to health. When we turn on the news on television or read it online it appears that there are many problems around us, struggling economy, war in Iraq, house prices, gas prices, cost of food, etc. Chaos seems to rule the day, but God reminds us in His word, that He is the ruler of our day and is still in control.  Many of the things that God is placing in my path in devotion and ministry opportunities are dealing in this area. I thought it may be of help to us all for me share with you some of the things that God is teaching me in these days:

• Trust the Lord in all things: In Philippians 4:6- 8 God’s word tell us to, ⁶Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; ⁷and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.⁸Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. God has reminded me in these days that I am to take Him at His word, and that I am not to worry, or even to call it being concerned, rather I am to trust and leave everything to Him! And with that said, the mind is a powerful thing- what we think on will captivate us, so God is saying in these scriptures that we are not to dwell and think on negative things- keep your mind fixed upon Him and His Word- dwell upon Him and His glory manifested all around us.
• Completely believe that God will work it all out. In Ephesians 1:11-12 we read,¹¹In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, ¹²that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. Through all the trials around us, one thing is sure; God will work everything out for His glory and we can trust Him. As I look back overy my life I can see the hand of God moving and working to bring me to the place that He wanted me to be at. As we trust and obey we can have full confidence that God is at work and He has not abandoned us! Praise the Lord. Whatever yoru situation, you can rest assured that God has plans to work it all out. He is working in counsel with His own will. Because of this knowledge we can just relax and praise Him in the midst of it all.

Having served for many years as a Minister of Music as well as Education Pastor, the hymns bring much comfort to me. Many of them have been memorized over years of standing and leading worship in churches. One of these that I would like to share the words to with you is entitled He Giveth More Grace.

He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater;

He sendeth more strength when the labors increase.

To added affliction He addeth His mercy;

To multiplied trials, His multiplied peace.

His love has no limit; His grace has no measure.

His power has no boundary known unto men.

For out of His infinite riches in Jesus,

He giveth and giveth and giveth again!