this evening to two places.
Number one, Matthew chapter 28.
You know that that's our theme verse for
this series on the Disciplines of Life series,
Matthew 28.
And as soon as you get there, then
jump way, way back to the Old Testament,
to 1st Samuel chapter 8.
So, Matthew chapter 28 and 1st Samuel 8.
And I can tell by the rustling of
the pages when you'll get there, because it'll
calm down.
It sounds awesome from right here, by the
way, to hear those pages turning.
Matthew chapter 28, verse 18, Jesus said, All
authority has been given to me in heaven
and on earth.
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father
and of the Son and the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all things that I've
commanded you.
And behold, I am with you always, even
to the end of the world.
Number one, Jesus makes this statement about discipleship
just before he leaves them and ascends back
to heaven.
But then he turns right around and says,
I'm going to be with you even unto
the end of the world, which is a
radical statement.
Because that statement means that Jesus Christ is
in the earth, moving today, and has been
for the last 2,000 years.
But how does he do that?
Ever since the day of Pentecost, the birth
of the church, the Holy Spirit has been
that amazing, appropriated power of God working in
the life of the believer.
It's the Holy Spirit's job to disciple people.
And Jesus said, I'm going to be with
you.
And what he meant by that was, in
fact, he said it in John chapter 14.
He says, I'm not going to leave you
orphaned when I leave and go back to
heaven.
I will come to you.
He said, I will send the Holy Spirit
to you.
And that's how Jesus Christ dwells in your
heart today.
And that's the work of Christ in your
heart today is by the power of the
Holy Spirit.
Now, 1 Samuel chapter 8, verse 1.
1 Samuel 8, verse 1.
We're going to read part of the verse
and use this as we look at tonight,
our title.
1 Samuel chapter 8, verse 1.
It says, Now, it came to pass when
Samuel was old that he and we leave
it there.
Why?
Because he's going to not only say something
to his sons, he's going to accomplish a
tremendous work.
We're talking about what we'll name this evening
the disciplines of decline or the disciplines of
declining days.
Each week we're going through and tonight is
our sixth week in 31 week series of
the disciplines of life.
And when we talk about the disciplines of
decline, what are we talking about?
The first temptation tonight, listen, is for the
young people tonight.
Remember earlier, I asked you to raise your
hands if you're 18 years of age of
over.
Well, if you're 18 years of age over
or younger, if you're alive tonight, you need
to hear this because this is stuff that
you may not think applies to you.
And that's part of the trick.
It's amazing.
We're going to be talking about our lives
as they decline in this world.
What does that mean?
Well, it doesn't sound very uplifting, but if
you listen all the way through to the
end of the message, it should be very
encouraging.
But you and I are living in a
time and in an age that no matter
how prosperous or how threatening it may be,
we live in the time of declining days.
You say, what do you mean by that?
Well, listen, aren't you a year older right
now than you were last year?
Well, so, well, so that's a big deal.
We're going to talk about that tonight.
It's a very important thing.
Quite frankly, as we consider this series on
discipleship, it's something that is rarely talked about.
And that is what happens as you grow
older as a Christian.
What's to be expected of you?
And what are you to be doing?
And what are you to expect in life?
For the Christian, we're not often thinking like
that.
We're in this mindset.
And I have to tell you, I am
all the time and I have to discipline
myself to think beyond.
But I so believe that Jesus Christ is
coming back in my lifetime that even on
my deathbed, I'm still going to be expecting
him to come back any moment.
Look, that's the way I was brought up
spiritually.
It's biblically accurate.
It's what's called expectation.
And in Bible prophecy, it's the eminency of
Christ.
That is, he could appear at any moment
for the church.
I live like that.
And I want you, if you don't, I
want you to live like that, too, because
all those who have this hope, says the
Bible, purify themselves even as he is pure,
meaning I'm going to see him soon.
So let's get ready.
You say, well, what if I live to
be an old man?
Then you have lived to be an old
man living the right way.
Man, I'm only 16.
Why should I care?
You should care the most.
Us old people, we're close to the end.
It's you youngins that have got to put
up with this world.
Man, I got to tell you, hey, anybody
who's bold enough to say so, listen, if
you're older, would you ever be coming back
to this world again younger?
Would you want to be younger again in
this world?
No, man, as a Christian, I want out
of here.
It's amazing.
We have a huge hope.
Listen, my future retirement program is awesome.
It's around the throne of grace.
Jesus is on the throne.
There's angels flying around.
It's going to be incredible.
And the older you get, the more excited
you get about it.
But the truth of the matter is, how
are we going to manage those declining days,
those declining years of our lives?
In Matthew chapter 25, verse 21, this is
what you and I are living for.
Jesus said that in the end, he'll say
unto his faithful servants, well done.
Don't you want to hear that?
Every Christian that I've ever met, that's what
they want to hear.
That's what we're living for, is to hear
from Jesus, well done, thou good and faithful
servant.
That's what I want to hear.
Listen, as people criticize you or encourage you,
when they pat you on the back or
kick you in the rump, listen, understand this.
You're living for just one opinion, and that's
his opinion.
When he says, well done, it's like, yes.
Can you imagine?
Oh man, we are gonna see Jesus someday
face to face.
You're gonna see his face.
You say, well, I don't believe in him.
You're still gonna see his face.
He may not be smiling at you when
you see his face, but you can change
that tonight, by the way, but that's what
we're living for.
Until that time comes, you and I are
dealing with the time issue.
All of us, to some degree or another,
will eventually begin to take stock of our
lives.
It's the way the human nature works.
Everybody does it.
Some men do it, and they fall into
what's called a midlife crisis.
They, at least psychologists, tell us that a
man begins to look at his life and
figures out, hey, I should have more money
than this.
I should have a faster car than this.
So he trashes his Yugo, and he gets
a red Honda, and he begins to unbutton
his shirt and wear gold chains down around
his navel, and think all of a sudden
that it's time for him to cash in
his wife of 20 years and get a
20 year old instead, and he begins to
go insane.
People begin to evaluate their lives.
Others begin to evaluate their lives, and they
begin to conclude that I've lived for nothing
in life.
People have a crisis.
They have a panic.
Listen, not all of those crises are bad.
When someone wakes up to the fact that,
man, I've lived for myself.
I've got nothing in life that matters.
That's a good crisis.
That can lead you to Christ.
But when we talk about the declining days
and years of our lives as believers, as
we continue on, and that's what I want
to stress tonight, we are to continue on
in our walk with faith.
Don't give up.
Don't quit.
Keep your eyes on Jesus.
Don't cave in.
But time is like a thief.
Do you guys remember, some of you, there's
people in here young enough to be able
to agree with what I'm saying, what I'm
remembering, and then there's some of us that
just flat-out understand it because we've lived
it, and that is this, for example.
Remember when you were young?
Summer.
Now, look, when I was young, we actually
had like three months off for summer, and
it was during the summer.
We had a real summer break, summer vacation,
and summer seemed to have lasted a few
days.
We were having so much fun, riding to
the beach.
We were goofing off, all that stuff that
you did, and summer seemed to have just
lasted a moment, and I remember my mom
getting us in the car and saying, come
on, we've got to go school shopping.
Oh, I got sick to my stomach when
I heard that.
I'd get sick to my stomach, and then
I got to tell you something.
This is my pathology.
Every year, we bought our clothes at JCPenney,
and even now, when I walk in, I
don't know what it is about JCPenney, but
it immediately makes me think of school's coming.
And then school begins, and the school year,
which is about nine months, feels like 24
years, right?
And then you get into higher grades.
You get going along, and all of a
sudden, your junior high year seems to be
going kind of quick, and then now you're
a sophomore in high school.
Now you're a senior, and all of a
sudden, you start thinking those thoughts like your
parents are thinking, and that is, where's the
time going?
And then you get to college, and it's
like, oh my gosh, I can't keep up
with the calendar, and now you get to
where I'm at or where you're at, and
I'm still in February of 2010.
Do you know where I'm at?
Are you right?
Are you with me?
Time is moving so fast, and then you
get sick, and it seems like the sickness
has got a grip on you forever, and
then you're having a great day, and it
seems like that day lasted a minute.
Why?
Because time is like a thief, and those
strange things that we just laughed at a
moment ago can very directly apply to our
spiritual person of who we are.
How are we investing our spiritual life right
here, right now in this world?
Are we busy for Christ, or are we
goofing off?
Time will rip us off.
I want to give you...
Remember Mick Jagger sang a song, time is
on my side.
Yes, it is.
Look at this picture of Mick Jagger.
Is time...
Time.
He said time is on his side.
I don't think so.
No!
Uh-uh, Nick.
No, no, no.
Time is not on our side.
Even as believers, we need to be applying
our lives to the cause of Christ.
We need to be living for Him.
Time, life, opportunity, age, the responsibilities that you
and I have, all of these things will
someday be brought to a conclusion and will
answer to God in the end.
And the disciplines of those, even in our
childhood...
Think about this.
The disciplines of decline actually begin in our
early days, if you think about it.
From the very beginning...
I know this sounds silly, but it's true.
Listen.
A parent needs to get their child to
eat those vegetables.
You've got to learn how to eat vegetables.
I hate them.
Well, our little kid wouldn't say it like
that.
The little kid moves his face around, he
pushes, he cries.
Why?
He doesn't like vegetables.
But he's got to have them.
For his kidneys to develop right, for his
brain, for his skin, for his tissue, he's
got to have fruit.
He's got to have vegetables.
She has got to have her...
Are you with me?
Vitally important.
The Bible tells us in Ecclesiastes 12...
Now, I'm going to ask you to look
at the screen.
Watch this and think about it spiritually.
And while you look at that, I'll read
this verse.
Ecclesiastes 12, 1 says, Remember now your Creator
in the days of your youth, before the
difficult days come and as the years draw
to an end, you have no pleasure in
them.
Watch this little baby age before you.
Imagine your spiritual life.
When the scripture says to us, Remember the
days of your youth and in your youth,
your Creator, your God, because the older days
will come.
The days when it's not so easy to
get out of bed or get into bed
will come.
You'll lay awake all night tired and be
up all day.
When nothing is pleasurable, the Bible says.
Somebody's life there in 60 seconds.
And spiritually, you and I are doing the
same thing.
We're born into this world and the time
clock begins and you are to be living
your life for the glory of God.
You're to be living your life for Christ.
The Bible tells us again in Ecclesiastes 3,
verse 1, To everything there is a season.
There's a time and a purpose under heaven.
Listen to this.
Solomon wrote this.
Wisest man that ever lived.
Listen to him.
A time to be born and a time
to die.
A time to plant and a time to
pluck what is planted.
A time to kill and a time to
heal.
A time to break down and a time
to build up.
A time to weep and a time to
laugh.
A time to mourn and a time to
dance.
A time to cast away stones and a
time to gather stones.
A time to embrace and a time to
refrain from bracing.
A time to gain and a time to
lose.
A time to keep and a time to
throw away.
A time to tear and a time to
sew.
A time to keep silent and a time
to speak.
A time to love and a time to
hate.
A time of war and a time of
peace.
That's life.
Number one, church, jot it down tonight.
What can we learn in this brief time
together in the disciplines of life and the
disciplines of decline?
Number one, for each and every one of
us, no matter how young we might be
or how old we might be tonight in
this sanctuary, it's the days of declining strength.
Write that down.
The days of declining strength.
And obviously I'm speaking about physical strength, yes.
But listen, you and I can be so
caught up with the days of declining strength.
This morning early, Lisa said, come on and
do some stretching with me.
I don't do stretching.
And she had me do her little thing.
And I'm telling you right now, I'm sore.
I can bench press more than my wife,
but I can't stretch.
I can't do that.
I can't.
And she says, oh, do this and do
that.
And I'm like, hey, wait, wait, wait, wait,
wait, wait, slow down.
I'm two years older than you are.
There's a time when physical strength begins to
wane.
And listen, you young people, enjoy yourself now.
But there's going to come a time with
what you eat and and how you invest
your physical energies.
It's going to matter.
It will catch up to you.
Look at Mick Jagger.
It caught up to him.
And you are the temple of the Holy
Spirit.
The Bible says Paul told the church at
Corinth that the Holy Spirit dwells within you
as a believer.
And you need to present your bodies as
a living sacrifice unto God, he told the
church at Rome.
And then he again tells the church at
Corinth, don't you know that the spirit of
God dwells in you and you've been bought
at a price?
Therefore, glorify God with your body.
Your body.
This physical thing is to be used for
the honor of God.
And yes, you and I live in days
of declining strength with every year that passes,
but those days are to be met.
Right.
Write this down.
Jot it down.
You're going to need it.
It's going to fight off depression.
In the days of declining strength, those days
are to be met by you and I
with the eyes of greater vision.
Are you getting older?
Stay tuned.
Pull out a piece of paper and a
pencil, begin to pray and watch God give
you vision.
Corporate, creative, spiritual vision should never die of
old age.
The more seasoned a leader becomes or a
Christian becomes, the greater the vision is available
to share.
Think about that.
Declining strength doesn't mean it's the end.
Are you in a sense tonight saying, well,
you know, Jack, I've been around ministry a
long time, been a Christian a long time.
And what what are you doing?
You're hanging up your Bible.
Are you retiring?
What?
No, more than ever.
If you find yourself tonight, as we'll read
in a moment, having gray hair, that doesn't
mean you're supposed to retire from ministry.
It may be that you retire from DuPont
or Ford Motor Company, but it doesn't mean
that you retire from ministry as a Christian.
There's a lot of awesome stuff the Bible
talks about regarding the Lord using old guys.
It's encouraging.
It really is.
I just marked down a few of them.
Noah.
Abraham.
Joseph.
Man, when Pharaoh saw Joseph, he said first
time, first he saw Joseph and he said,
how old are you?
Moses.
God didn't even start using Moses for realsies
until he's about 80.
It's amazing.
And then what about Daniel?
Daniel's pretty cool because God starts using Daniel
from the earliest ages all the way through
to the end of his old, old life.
Daniel, what an amazing man of God.
Daniel got old throughout the Bible.
Following God, Acts chapter two, verse 17 says,
and it shall come to pass in the
last day, says the Lord, that I will
pour out my Holy Spirit on all flesh.
And he goes on to say, and your
young men shall see visions.
Listen, and your old men.
And I'm sure that applies to ladies, too,
shall dream.
And the word in Greek means divinely inspired
dreams.
Isn't that a great word?
Divinely inspired dreams.
Old men shall dream divinely inspired dreams.
Why?
For what reason?
For ministry, my friend.
Listen, I challenge you tonight.
Are you 50 and above?
Maybe God's just getting ready to use you.
Oh, I can hardly move.
You can pray.
Samuel prayed in his old age.
In fact, it's argued that Samuel got more
done in his old age in, quote, retirement
than he did in his ministry years.
But there's a stillness that comes with years.
There's a sweetness to it.
And I want you to join with me
in praying this prayer.
I pray it every day.
Lord, please keep me usable.
That's a prayer.
That's the most profound prayer that I've ever
prayed.
In my opinion, that wraps it all up.
Lord, keep me usable.
That means he's going to keep me pure.
That means he's going to keep me in
prayer.
That means he's going to keep me in
the word.
That means he's going to keep me in
fellowship with you.
Lord, keep me usable.
Think about what that means.
Keep me usable.
Keep me discerning.
Keep me on track.
Keep me, Lord.
It's comforting.
In Luke chapter 2, verse 25, the Bible
tells us there.
And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem
whose name was Simeon.
Remember him in the Christmas story?
And this man was just and devout, waiting
for the consolation of Israel.
That means waiting for the Messiah.
And the Holy Spirit was upon him.
For it had been revealed unto him by
the Holy Spirit that he would not see
death before he had seen the Lord's Christ.
And so he came by the Spirit into
the temple.
I love that.
This old man is being led by God
and he goes into the temple and he's
waiting.
He's got a sense of expectation.
He's waiting.
And he sees Jesus being brought to the
temple.
On the eighth day, he's going to be
circumcised.
And Joseph and Mary bring him.
And that man goes on to say, Lord,
let your servant now depart in peace.
Time for me to go.
I'm coming home, sweet Jesus.
I just saw the Messiah.
What a tremendous thing.
God uses old people.
If you're an old person tonight and you're
not being used by God, I'm going to
ask you, why not?
Oh, don't sit around and wait for the
young people to do it.
They're sitting around waiting for somebody else to
do it.
Everybody's looking at one another.
We need 200 people to sign up for
this thing, to tear down or set up.
Come on, be honest.
Doesn't everybody in the room think that the
person next to them is going to sign
up?
And nobody signs up.
Because they think the other guy is going
to sign up.
Hey, man, listen.
And I'm very, very vested in this.
As we get older in this church, we
need to show the younger people how to
do it.
We need to lead the way.
We need to be more like Caleb.
You ever read about Caleb in the Bible?
Caleb's out there, he's got his old gray
beard.
And can you see, I kind of grew
this for tonight.
Did you see this?
Huh?
Can you?
No?
Nothing?
Caleb comes out there and, hey, come on,
where are those old Philistines?
Give them to me, I'll take them on.
Amazing.
We don't have to give up.
The disciplines of declining days, yes, our physical
strength will wane.
But the Bible tells us in 2 Corinthians
4, 16, Therefore, we do not lose heart,
even though our outward man is perishing, yet
our inward man is renewed day by day.
Listen, those of you who are growing older
in Jesus, you are absolute gems and we
need you.
And the younger people need you.
So many of our children are growing up
today without parents, without grandparents, and they need
grandmas and grandpas in the faith.
You want to start a ministry that has
a tremendous need?
It's getting spiritual grandmas and grandpas to talk
to their spiritual granddaughters and grandsons in this
church.
Too many kids have no parents and no
grandparents in their lives.
That's a tremendous loss.
I know what I'm talking about.
I had no grandparents in my life and
I see people who do.
What an amazing thing.
You know what's cool about that?
Grandma and grandpa, they're like God to that
little kid.
And it should be that way as long
as grandma and grandpa is pointing them to
the Lord.
Because grandma and grandpa, they have huge power
and influence.
Oh, don't listen to your dad.
Just come with me.
Let's go get an ice cream cone.
Come on, let's go.
Right?
I mean, that's what happens.
It's cool and all that kind of stuff.
Very much so.
Number two, listen.
The disciplines of declining days, it's not only
physical strength.
And we don't need to think that God's
given up on us because we are not
as physically strong.
No, no, no.
Second thing is, it's the days of declining
responsibilities.
And don't think that that's necessarily a bad
thing.
Those days are to be met with the
hands of increased delegation.
To delegate things out.
Listen.
This is very, very important.
Wisdom and experience cannot be gotten with a
PhD.
Only PhDs are fooled by that.
I'm not making fun of your education.
Go get smart.
Just get wise.
And here's what happens.
Wisdom and experience is how you stay alive.
And you can have a PhD or a
master's or a doctorate or whatever it is.
But it doesn't matter until you lived it
out.
You've got to live it out.
A planned, systematic handing of the baton is
what's needed today in the church and in
family and in life.
And as responsibilities decline in your life as
you get older, don't panic.
A lot of people freak.
You know this.
As people get older, listen, the phone doesn't
ring as much.
They're not in demand anymore.
They're not getting as many emails.
Maybe people are not visiting or coming by
anymore.
People without Jesus absolutely have a meltdown over
this.
They come into the retirement age and they
begin to absolutely panic.
Because all of a sudden, life seems to
be over.
I just saw, maybe you saw it too,
a couple of weeks ago.
An interview that was done by some channel
with former First Lady Laura Bush.
And they were talking to her about that.
And they asked her, how is Mr. President
handling no longer being President?
And she said it was very hard for
him.
Listen to this.
Can you imagine?
She said, on one day, he's receiving phone
calls from world leaders.
And that's how it was for eight years.
Every day, there was a new crisis.
There was a new issue.
There was some head of state.
There was some king.
There was some queen on the phone waiting
to talk to the President.
And then she said, one day after the
election.
She said, our phone didn't ring once.
And she went on to say that she's
doing fine with it.
But George had to go out and cut
some wood and take the dogs on a
walk.
And he drove around the property in his
pickup truck.
Trying to cope with it.
Christian, listen.
As responsibilities wane, spiritually, it begins to open
up in a very powerful way.
All it takes is a careful eye to
watch and to learn.
If you're in your 40s or your 50s,
start now to develop an exit strategy.
I mean this.
For your life.
For business.
If you're in business, then develop now an
exit strategy for your life.
Whatever that thing may be.
I don't care how difficult financial times are.
I'm not talking about money.
I'm talking about your heart and your head.
Vitally important.
For business, ministry, sure.
For your family, sons, daughters.
For your husband, for your wife.
Develop an exit strategy.
What do you mean by that?
Begin to live your life in such a
way that you're not going to be here
forever.
So what you want to leave behind is
really going to matter.
And I've got news for you.
It's not going to be some palace.
Or some gold bullion bricks that you bought
from one of these constant commercials.
Your kids are going to care less.
Your husband and your wife will care less.
It will be the legacy that you leave
behind.
It's not the stuff.
It's the love.
It's the relationship.
It's the interaction.
That song, Cats in the Cradle, in the
Silver Spoon.
And that's about all I know of the
song.
What a huge depressing song of regret.
The man didn't have any time for his
son.
Dad's trying to make a living.
Dad gets old in the waning years.
Declining responsibilities.
And the son now who's developed his own
life has no time for his father.
It's a horrible cycle, unless it's broken.
And Jesus breaks it, by the way.
But listen.
The more a man or a woman achieves
in this life, the more difficulty they have
in letting go.
There's a human tendency to hang on to
things.
Longer than what the Lord would have us
to hold on them to.
We need to let things go.
We can get lost in what we've accomplished
in life.
And here's a dangerous thing.
Men are very, very prone to this.
It's dangerous.
You begin to see that the things that
you've either acquired or achieved becomes your personality
and your identity.
That's me.
That is not you.
Like Nebuchadnezzar.
Look at this kingdom I've built.
Hey, God gave it to you, man.
I did it myself.
You did nothing yourself.
God gave you the ability to have a
brain and to think and to do what
you do.
All glory belongs to him.
And remember, mind you, he can take it
away in one second.
The days when responsibilities begin to decline and
maybe we're not so much in demand anymore.
What do we do?
We begin to delegate things to people and
handing that baton.
And it may not be a good feeling
to realize that your face is either not
on the letterhead or on the desk any
longer.
Or maybe there's somebody in your family's life
that's more prominent than you.
That's normal life.
You need to cope with that.
You need to deal with that.
But understand this.
You have got a lot to give away.
You can sit them down.
You can talk to them.
And boy, listen.
This needs to be said.
I don't see this very often, but once
is enough.
When you see somebody grow older in their
life as a Christian, instead of handling life,
their life, biblically, they come to the end
of days in their lives and they've been
bitter, critical, sarcastic, and rude.
And nobody wants to be around them.
And that's a tragedy.
Because God has invested so much in your
life.
And He wants to do so much with
you.
But your grandkids don't want anything to do
with you.
Your kids don't want anything to do with
you.
It's a sad thing.
That doesn't have to be that way.
And if that's you tonight, you change that
now while you have time.
You change that now.
Because listen.
In the years of declining responsibilities, it means
that we have time.
And we have time now to invest in
other people's lives.
That's why, listen, the world is not throwing
us a curveball.
God is giving us opportunity.
I hope I don't embarrass them, but I
have them right here in my notes.
On Wednesdays, one of the ushers that served
here on Wednesdays, at last count, I think
he's 83.
World War II veteran, Bob Baker, serves.
Always praying.
Always encouraging me.
Praise for you.
Doesn't even know you by name.
Praise for you.
And serves as an usher.
83 years of age or more.
And then I think of a woman who's
been with us since this church started.
20 years.
Since the home Bible study.
Catherine Hazelrigg.
She's in her mid-80s.
She serves all over this church.
You can't hold her back.
She came to my house recently.
With a little note thing to encourage me.
What kind of a price tag do you
put on encouragement?
You can't buy that.
Number three, the disciplines of declining days.
Opportunities.
The days of declining opportunities.
Yeah, I guess so.
Sure.
Looks that way.
Seems that way in one chapter of your
life.
But those days are to be met with
the joy of passing on the mantle to
other people.
Eventually, as I said, the phone stops ringing.
The emails drop off.
Fewer visitors stop by the house.
Or what's the danger to that?
Temptation of loneliness could set in.
My wife, she grew up at Anaheim First
Baptist Church.
And I remember her telling me that they
used to have a bus or van or
something.
They used to go around to people's house
and pick up what's called the shut-ins.
And bring them to church.
How cool would that be?
Do you know anybody who, listen, is a
shut-in?
They don't get out.
Hey, what if you target them?
I mean that lovingly.
And you say, hey, you know what?
How you doing?
I live a couple doors down.
And I don't know.
You may think I'm crazy.
But I go to church every Sunday.
And then, you know, we go get a
bite to eat afterward.
You want to come next week?
You could wind up leading a soul to
Christ.
You could wind up rescuing someone from depression
or more.
Body ministry is an amazing thing.
When the days of declining opportunities seem to
come upon you, you can pass on the
mantle to other people.
I would like to see all the old
guys get together with the young guys.
And the old guys can teach the young
guys how to pray.
How about the old ladies getting together with
the young ladies and teaching them how to
be women at home or cooking this or
that?
Did you know this is a crisis?
A lot of young girls today do not
know how to cook.
You say, what's with you?
I hear about it.
Can't a man cook?
Do you want a man to cook your
meal?
Lisa gets nervous when I get into the
kitchen.
I'm a freak.
I put a bunch of eggs in there,
and I get every bit of spice I
can find.
And I don't know, man, I love it.
People are running out of the house.
You do not want a man to cook.
But think about that.
There's so much that you can hand on
by the way of the mantle.
Samuel did that.
Samuel raised up the school of the prophets
that you read about in 1 Kings.
The Bible tells us in 1 Samuel, listen
to this, a life dedicated to God.
You know, God called Samuel from his youth,
and he used his mama.
Remember Hannah?
Great story, awesome thing.
Just from a little guy, God begins to
speak to him.
All of his life, all of his life,
God was using him in chapters of his
life throughout his age.
In 1 Samuel 3.19, it says, So
Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him,
and let none of his words fall to
the ground.
Wow.
And all Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, those
of you who just got back with us
from Israel, Dan is way up by the
Golan Heights, way up there, right where the
Temple of Pan is at, in the headwaters
of the Jordan River, all the way down
to Beersheba, which is way heading down toward
Egypt way.
Everybody came from all of that region to
experience Samuel's wisdom and leadership as a prophet,
says the Bible.
Then 1 Samuel 7.15 says, And Samuel
judged Israel all the days of his life,
and he went from year to year on
a circuit to Bethel, Gilgal, Mizpah, and judged
Israel in all those places.
Tremendous, tremendous.
I mean, this guy was the most famous
man other than the king in all of
Israel, and yet his days were declining.
He was getting older, but he never gave
up.
A discipline of life is to never give
up.
Yeah, it hurts sometimes to get out of
bed, or yes, you didn't have sleep, or
your body's not working all that good.
Just know this.
Those are growing pains.
The inward man who is designed after Jesus
Christ that's being renewed day by day, the
inward man is coming out.
This old carcass, this old body's got to
give up someday.
It's not made for heaven.
It can't go there.
Not until the resurrection comes.
The Bible says flesh and blood cannot inherit
the kingdom of God.
Did you know that?
Oh, I thought I was going to take
my body with me.
Yeah, you're young now.
That's great.
You keep that attitude going there.
We're all for you.
Just know this.
There's big hope.
Because when your leg falls off because you
pivoted on the basketball court or something, you're,
well, what is going on?
Just know.
Your body's just getting ready for heaven.
Number four, the days of declining resources.
How do we meet those days?
We're to meet them with the spirit of
deeper things.
An age and a time of life when
you're not pulling down the money that you
once did.
You don't have the income or you don't
have this or you don't have that.
And not only monetarily, but you just don't
have the wherewithal to get from point A
to point B for whatever reasons.
Maybe it's vision.
Maybe your eyes are fading.
Or maybe you're just not so confident driving
any longer.
Move to Italy, we just found out.
If you're losing your eyesight, go get your
driver's license in Italy because nobody seems to
care.
The driver of the bus told us.
I said, man, that guy almost killed us.
And he said, in Italy.
I can't do accents, so pretend with me.
He said, in Italy, the lines on the
street are artwork.
Nothing to be obeyed.
Everything is art, even the lines on the
street.
So everyone, they don't care.
Maybe you're driving and you're losing confidence and
you feel, hey, listen.
Don't think for a moment God is done
with you.
Meet that with the spirit of deeper things.
Man, this culture knows more than ever.
I wrote it down.
Money is evaporating.
Houses are going away.
Power is being lost.
All these must give way to reality.
And the reality is that very simple things
are the things that last.
The value of relationships is what matters in
the latter days.
And ultimately, your relationship with Jesus.
In the end, the old ways, the ancient
ways, they prevail.
God's ways.
This is one of the hardest things to
teach or pass on in life as our
days decline.
Listen to this.
I don't mean this to be an insult.
By no means.
Please receive this as instruction.
But there's something about being young that's very
dangerous.
I'll tell you a little secret.
You send the young guys to war.
You never see a general running into battle
unless he's George Washington.
Why?
Because the generals are usually older guys, really
smart, and they've realized how valuable life is.
And so they're back in the control center.
You send the young guy out on the
front line.
Why?
Because he doesn't think he's going to die.
Young guys think they're invincible.
That's why you send them to war first.
You put all the young guys up front.
You go, go, go.
All the old guys in the back saying,
pray, pray, pray.
There is a sense of the human heart
and spirit with a young man or a
young woman.
Here's the tough part.
It's hard to teach them anything because when
you're young, you think you know everything.
No doubt it's part of the fall of
man.
You try to tell somebody, are you done?
And then they go do that thing and
they fall off the cliff and they're down
at the bottom crying and you say to
them, I told you.
It's a hard thing.
Inexperience, immaturity, it's hard to teach young people
and yet it's the very thing that needs
to happen.
As resources decline, we need to pass on
the spirit of deeper things.
The things that will last, the stuff of
God and our reason for instructing them in
their youth and in their vitality is to
have them be spared from all the brutality
that we went through.
Wouldn't it be amazing if young people really
trusted some old guy or old gal who
said, now listen to me.
You do this and you try this and
you watch this and you come back next
week and you tell me how it turns
out.
There's a movie that never got off the
ground.
It's a tragedy.
I don't even think, you may be able
to rent it.
Help me out here if you did see
it.
I think it's called The Gift Maybe.
It's with James Garner, I think.
Does anyone remember?
You guys, nobody knows about it.
I don't think anybody went and saw it
but Lisa and I and a couple of
people right here.
You guys, you need to go rent it.
Why?
Because the values it teaches, it's awesome.
And girls, go rent it because the guy
in there, I was told, is really cute
and handsome.
So go rent it.
Watch what happens when the young guy decides
to trust the old guy.
It's awesome.
It's very cool.
I could have played it tonight.
Just thought about it.
It was just amazing.
Go do it.
1 Samuel 12 20 says, Then Samuel said
to the people, Do not fear.
Now he's an old man.
Don't fear.
You have done all this wickedness, yet do
not turn aside from following the Lord, but
serve the Lord with all of your heart.
What a grandpa.
And do not turn aside, for then you
will go after empty things which cannot profit
or deliver, for they're nothing.
For the Lord will not forsake His people
for His great name's sake, because He has
pleased the Lord to make you His people.
Moreover, as for me, far be it from
me that I should sin against the Lord
in ceasing to pray for you, but I
will teach you the good and the right
way.
That's an old man now.
In latter years.
Listen to what Samuel's saying.
Is that not beautiful?
This was spoken during his retirement.
And then number five, the days of declining
activity are to be met with days better
spent.
Well, you know, I don't get out much
anymore.
Don't do much.
Well, listen, your days are to be spent
in a better way then.
Samuel just said a moment ago, Be it
far for me to sin against God and
not pray for you.
Isn't that a great attitude?
Grandma, will you pray for me?
How great for a grandma or a grandpa
to say, I've never stopped praying for you.
I would never sin against God, sweetheart, and
stop praying for you.
You know what that will do to a
kid?
That will galvanize them in life.
That will strengthen them.
Have you ever gone to one of those
places?
Usually it's like a novelty type shops or
places.
We were in Solvayne when we did it.
You know, you do the little research.
What do you call it?
Genealogy search.
And we did a genealogy search and I
did one of mine.
Apparently, I come from a long line of
idiots or something.
But up in about 1840, there was a
blip on the screen of hope where my
grandmother, who I only met once in life
for just a couple of days, her dad
was a pastor in Europe, in Germany.
And then I find out that my grandmother,
who I'm referring to on my dad's side,
that I'd only met for a few days,
that the whole family couldn't stand her.
They didn't like her because she was a
Christian.
Hey.
Starting to feel my roots.
And I wonder, I'm only wondering, was she
a praying woman?
Did she pray for the salvation of her
family?
Well, hmm, let me think.
I got saved.
I only met her a few days in
my entire life when I was real little.
I mean, I was like nine.
But you know what?
I got saved.
And then my brother gave his heart to
the Lord.
My sister got saved.
My mom got saved.
And then my dad got saved, who that
would have been his mom.
Could she have been praying?
Could she maybe have thought, I'm not going
to sin and stop praying for...
Is somebody praying in your life?
Are you praying for someone in your life
for them?
Activity.
Samuel now is out of the limelight of
ministry.
He's got no entourage anymore, no more black
donkeys pulling up and carrying him off in
an entourage.
He's retired.
And what does he do?
He starts a ministry of prophets.
He trains young men how to follow God.
I'm going to give you this quote.
I think it's pretty cool.
It's been said that the spirited twenties press
toward the tireless thirties, and the roaring forties
and fifties make way for the sensible sixties,
while the slacking seventies prepare to yield to
the quiet eighties until the day comes.
Wow.
No, not for the believer.
Listen to this.
As we get older, we can pray giant
prayers, even though we might shrivel in size.
I'm going to give you a prayer of
a man who you don't see often in
this way.
He's old now.
He's very crippled from mistreatment.
He's not very attractive, according to church history.
He's a very little man in stature.
His eyes are extremely close together.
He's got a very, very bald forehead.
And he's old now.
He's got a big hooked nose and extremely
bowlegged with severe scars.
He kind of looks like, I guess, a
scary guy.
His name is Paul, the apostle, the battle
-hardened apostle of Christ.
Excuse me.
And he's writing from a cold, damp Roman
prison.
And he writes, For this reason I bow
my knees to the Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in
heaven and on earth is named.
You think that matters to an old man
who's alone now in prison?
Family.
He's talking family.
That he would grant you according to the
riches of his glory to be strengthened with
might through his spirit in the inner man.
Why?
Because his outer man was almost dead.
That Christ may dwell in your hearts through
faith.
That you being rooted and grounded in love.
He wrote another prayer from a Roman prison.
I thank my God upon every remembrance of
you, always in every prayer of mine making
request for you with all joy.
Excuse me, sir.
You're old, decrepit, and in jail.
With all joy for your fellowship in the
gospel from the first day until now being
confident of this very thing that he who
has begun a good work in you will
complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.
That's Paul.
That's getting old.
And number six, we'll end with this.
We're out of time.
Number six, the disciplines of decline is the
days of declining numbers are to be met
with words that bring new life.
Jacob spoke blessings in his old age.
In Genesis 49, verse 22, he speaks, Joseph
is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by
a well.
His branches run over the wall.
Translated, Joseph, your life is going to be
blessed.
Everything you touch is going to turn to
prosperity and you're going to be so overabundant
that people will be able even to take
the benefits from your life as they pass
by.
Your life will be like a big tree
that overflows.
Jacob spoke that into a life.
We rarely think of gray-haired apostles speaking
into our lives.
That gray-haired man, Paul, also said in
2 Timothy 4, 7, he says, I fought
the good fight.
Wouldn't that have been beautiful?
Just think right now.
I think if we had that on the
screens, if we had an old man who
was kind of dressed up like how we
think Paul might have looked and he would
be speaking to us kind of shaking with
his well-earned wrinkles in his gray hair.
I fought the good fight.
I have finished the race.
I've kept the faith.
Finally, you hear that word finally?
Finally, there is laid up for me the
crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous
judge, will give me on that day and
not to me only, but also to all
who have, note this, market Bible students, who
have loved his appearing.
First and last time Paul ever mentions the
imminent return of Christ in the sense that
he was going to go meet Jesus.
After all, Jesus was not going to pick
him up.
That's the first time Paul ever admitted, I'm
going to go see him.
By the way, right after he wrote that,
they cut his head off, which is amazing
to me.
What the Lord has laid up for me,
a crown of righteousness.
I'm wondering, I don't know, but I kind
of know how the Bible works.
I could almost hear a Roman executioner sharpening
the blade.
And Paul just writes down, oh, I got
to write this down.
There's a crown laid up for my head.
Hey, stupid, your head's going to get cut
off.
Oh, no, no, no.
You may cut it off, but it's going
to be right on my shoulders when I
blink my next blink.
I don't plan on being around here long,
buddy.
What an awesome man.
When I say the decline of numbers, I
mean when we don't have many days left.
I don't mean few people.
This old guy wrote to the church at
Rome.
We know that all things work together for
good to those who love God, to those
who are called according to his purposes.
What an attitude from an old guy.
God's patriarchs are no longer distracted now in
later years with the burdens of day-to
-day problems of a business or of a
ministry or of stuff.
They're free from all that now.
And many of you are free from all
this stuff now.
You come to church because you thought you
came to church to kill time.
Listen, you're needed.
Last verse, Psalm 37, 25.
David said, I've been young and now I'm
old.
I've never seen the righteous forsaken.
What an awesome statement.
Wow.
We have to end.
I'm out of time.
No, I can't go on.
I mean, I appreciate that.
But you guys, listen, I hope tonight that
if you're thinking, you know, gosh, pastor, I'm
getting on in years.
And when I start taking inventory, you know,
you start going through your drawers and you
collect nickels and pennies that have been in
your sock drawer for a hundred years.
Gathering some stuff, you know, and here's a
cuff link from Grandpa Barney and you know,
whatever.
Stop for a second and realize that spiritually
we're supposed to do that.
We're supposed to open the drawers that were
of our lives and look around and say,
no, wait a minute.
You know how valuable this is?
If this is not going on in your
life, listen, gray hair, wrinkles, no hair.
Listen, your days could just be starting now.
Well, you know, Pastor Jack, I was thinking
about this and I noticed we don't do
it at the church and I'm wondering if
that's how he gets things going.
You guys don't want to be around here
if I live to be old because I
will have handed this thing off.
I've already written it out.
I've written it out.
It's in writing.
The board of this church at a certain
time has instructed to replace me.
I had that done.
I'm not going to hang on to this
thing.
I'm going to start some old timer ministry
and drive you nuts around here.
Come on.
Let's go bungee jumping.
Bungees for Jesus.
Right?
I mean, think about it.
I don't want to be standing here when
I'm old.
I want to go do something.
The responsibility is, oh, let some young guy
worry about all that stuff.
No, come on, man.
You know what?
We are going to get out of here
and we're going to take our gray hair
or no hair and we're going to go
to Denny's at four o'clock.
And then from there, we're going to go
go-karting or do something crazy.
Go-karting for Jesus.
But listen, seriously, go for it.
Father, we come to you tonight and we
thank you that the body of Christ is
incredibly diverse.
And I thank you, Lord, that you're not
like any of the gods of Hollywood where
you only accept the offerings from about 18
to 25.
And then everybody from 25 on is pumping
up this and injecting this and implanting that
to try to appease their gods.
And thank you, you're not like that.
We think of the gods of Wall Street.
Massive, giant, brazen, bull altar where people spend
their lives and have their life spent.
And you're not like that.
Tonight, Christians, eyes closed, heads bowed.
Christians, be praying right now.
And if you're old, be praying hard.
That someone tonight, maybe someone tonight, it's clicked
with them, that their life has been lived
and it's not good.
That right here, right now, you would hear
this, that Jesus Christ, the Bible declares him
to be God in human flesh, died on
the cross, rose again from the dead for
our sins, for the sins of the entire
world.
So, he was the sacrifice that we might
go free.
There's nothing fair about it.
Nothing fair at all.
The innocent was tortured for the guilty.
And the Bible says that God the Father
accepted his sacrifice on your behalf.
Only if, for you personally, you accept that
offer.
Oh, he died on the cross.
He rose again from the dead.
And most of us in this room benefit
from that.
But what about you?
Well, heads are bowed and eyes are closed.
No spectacle tonight.
No embarrassment.
But as I look across this sanctuary, tonight,
would you say yes to Jesus Christ?
Would you say tonight, Pastor Jack, I want
my sins forgiven.
I want Christ to take control of my
life.
And don't think tonight that if you're an
old person, that somehow, either A, he doesn't
want you, or B, you're almost as old
as God, so maybe he needs you.
No, that's not true either.
You need your sins forgiven.
And Jesus called those that he called publicly.
No one's looking around but me.
Will you acknowledge Jesus Christ tonight as your
brand new tonight Lord and Savior by just
raising your hand?
Don't be shy and don't be bashful.
God bless you.
To my left, you can put your hands
down.
God bless your hand right there to my
left.
In the very back, God bless you.
Hands down, anyone else?
God bless you to my right.
Listen, if you're too old to raise your
hands, you tell them.
You tell them, Lord Jesus, forgive me.
Those of you who raised your hands, listen,
pray this prayer.
Dear Lord, forgive me of my sins.
I ask you now to write my name
in your book of life.
Fill me with your Holy Spirit.
Change my life.
Make me new.
If you prayed that prayer tonight, at the
end of this song, we have Bibles up
here that we want you to take.
We want you to read them.
But you've made the greatest decision of your
life.
Church, let's stand together as we close in
a song of worship to him and praise
him now.
Worship him while we have the moment.
Bless his holy name.