KEY TO A LONG PRODUCTIVE LIFE

Most of us want to live as long as possible.

We want a long healthy life.  Then when we 

get toward old age we want health enough to 

spend our time "playing" in our second 

childhood.  "Playing"?  Yes, you know.  Hitting

a little white ball out in the grass, then chase 

it down and hit it again.  Or, perhaps driving

around looking at things or sitting on the couch

being entertained and eating too much.

Personally, a lot of that does not appeal to me.

In my old age I still want to do things.  Accomplish

something worth while.

But how?

God [Who gives us life it's self]

said it this way;

"But the godly will flourish like palm trees

and grow strong like the cedars of Lebanon.

For they are transplanted to the LORD's

own house.   They flourish in the courts of 

our God.

Even in old age they will still produce fruit;

they will remain vital and green."  

(Psalms 92:12 -14 NLT)

Did you catch the key?

"... the GODLY..."

Webster defines "godly" this way;

"1. of or from God; divine

2. devoted to God;  pious; devout; religious "

The ring of people that I have associated with

over a long life time have been mostly "godly"

people.  And most of them have lived long 

productive lives.

It is true, I have known a few "godly" people

who have suffered in their bodies during this 

life time.  But then, what would their life have

been like if they had not the blessing of God

on them.

Then there are those who have not lived a "godly"

life and had there lives destroyed by selfish living

through alcohol, drugs, tobacco etc.

The need, no matter what out stage of life is now,

is to turn to God with all our hearts and lives so

we can have his blessing on what ever is left of 

our lives.

THE PATH TO LIFE

“For everyone has sinned; we all fall

short of God’s glorious standard.” 

- Romans 3:23 NLT. 

“For the wages of sin is death, but

the free gift of God is eternal life

though Christ Jesus our Lord.” 

- Romans 6:23 NLT. 

“But God showed his great love

for us by sending Christ to die

for us while we were still sinners.”  

- Romans 5:8 NLT. 

“If you confess with your mouth

that Jesus is Lord and believe in

your heart the God raised him

from the dead, you will be saved.

For it is by believing in your heart

that you are made right with God,

and it is by confessing with your

mouth that you are saved. 

- Romans 10:9,10 NLT. 

“For ‘Everyone who calls on the 

name of the Lord will be saved.’” 

- Romans 10:13 NLT

TOO HEAVY TO WIN THE RACE

All my life I have been a "hot rodder" at heart.

I grew up in the 1940's and 50's.  That was back

when we took the fenders, hood and anything else

that was not needed off our old cars.

Why?

It was excess weight that would slow us down if

we were in a race - legal or other wise.  So, most

of my life my cars at least did not have extras on

them and all of my motorcycles have been stripped

down ready for a race.

Believe it or not, that is the attitude that God wants

us to have toward life.  The race of life that God

has set before us.  Consider;

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such 

a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, 

let us strip off every weight that slows us down,

 especially the sin that so easily trips us up. 

 And let us run with endurance the race God 

has set before us."

(Hebrews 12:1 NLT)

Or consider the apostle Paul and his attitude 

about keeping the Jewish law or the accumulating 

of worldly goods.

"I once thought these things were valuable,

but now I consider them worthless because

of what Christ has done.  Yes, everything else

is worthless when compared with the infinite

value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.  For

his sake I have discarded everything else, 

counting it all as garbage so that I could gain 

Christ and become one with him." 

(Philippians 3:7,8 NLT)

In another place Paul said;  

"So if we have enough food and clothing,

let us be content."  

(1 Timothy 6:8 NLT)

The more time, effort and expense we spend

in accumulating the things of the world, the

more weight we add to our lives slowing us

down in the race of life that really counts.  

That would be the reason that Jesus Christ

himself said;  

"Don't store up treasures here on earth,

where moths eat them and rust destroys them,

and where thieves break in and steal.  Store

your treasures in heaven, where moths and 

rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break

in and steal.  Wherever your treasure is, there

the desires of your heart will also be."  

(Matthew  6:19 - 21 NLT)

THE END

Years ago I left the confusion of California and moved

back into the hills for a more sensible life style.  Yes,

into true "red neck" country.  I have been grateful ever

since.

My daughters live in several different states.  Yes, they

have fled from California too.  But they come to visit 

their old "dad" once in a while.  Now one of these 

daughters is a writer and when she comes to visit dad

she often wants me to take her to some of these old 

cemeteries back in the hills.  It has something to do 

with her writing.

That of course is the reason for the photo above.   It

is a cemetery in a small community that is not even

incorporated.  And, my daughter wanted to look around

in the "old" part of the cemetery.  This part of the cemetery

is from back in the 1800 hundreds.

One of the things I noticed was that some of the head

stones were simply a rock.  Some of those people were

so poor they could not even afford a real head stone 

for their burial.  So that rock you see in the foreground

is the headstone or tombstone or whatever you want. 

 But, only a rock without a name or date, just a dead

 body in under it.

But notice the tombstone about ten feet behind it.

Wow!  It probably cost a ton of money.

My point is, whether you live in a mansion or are

homeless, we all are going to end up dead.

God himself through the Apostle Paul said:

"For we have brought nothing into the 

world, so we cannot take anything out of

it either."  

(1 Timothy 6:7 NASB)

But even beyond that God tells us;

"And inasmuch as it is appointed for men

to die once and after this comes judgment,"

(Hebrews 9:27 NASB)

Our concern in life should not be how much money

we can make, or how much fun we can have - But

are we ready for that moment we come to the end

of this life and will have to stand before God, whether

we like it or not.

TODAY'S PROMISE

"All of us used to live that way, following

the passionate desires and inclinations of

our sinful nature.  By our very nature we

were subject to God's anger, just like every-

one else.  But God is so rich in mercy, and

loved us so much, that even thought we

were dead because of our sins, he gave us

life when he raised Christ from the dead.

(It is only by God's grace that have been saved!)

For he raised us from the dead along with

Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly

realms because we are united with Christ

Jesus." 

(Ephesians 2:3 - 6 NLT)



TODAY'S PROMISE

"Now listen!  Today I am giving you a choice

between life and death, between prosperity

and disaster.  For I command you this day to

love the LORD your God and to keep his com-

mands, decrees, and regulations by walking in

his ways.  If you do this, you will live and multi-

ply, and the LORD your God will bless you and

the land you are about to enter and occupy."   

(Deuteronomy 30:15,16 NLT)

TODAY'S PROMISE

"God blesses those who patiently endure

testing and temptation.  Afterward they will

receive the crown of life that God has promised

to those who love him."  

(James 1:12 NLT)

THANK GOD, THANK GOD, THANK GOD.

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THANK GOD, THANK GOD, THANK GOD.

This morning as I was spending some time with God

a Scripture came to my mind:

"The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places;

Indeed, my heritage is beautiful to me."

(Psalms 16:6 NASB)

I was reflecting back over eighty five years of life.

Plane and simple, God has been good to me.

Yes, I have had heart ache.  Lots of it, both as a young

man and as a mature adult.  And many of you know

that often heart ache can be worse than physical pain.

But God has been good to me.

I have several times in my life had constant physical

pain.  Times that I was in pain day and night.

But God has been good to me.

I have spent a lot more time in hospitals than I want

to remember.

But God has been good to me.

I have spend days not knowing whether I was going

to live or die.

But God has been good to me.

For over sixty of those years I have been [In my own

poor little way.]  living and walking with Jesus Christ.

Yet, despite the trials and hardships of life I have to

declare that through it all;

GOD HAS BEEN GOOD TO ME.

With the Psalmist I can say:

"You will make known to me the path of life;

In Your presence is fullness of joy;

In Your right hand there are pleasures forever."  

(Psalms 16:11 NASB)

TODAY'S PROMISE

"Therefor dear brothers and sisters, you

have no obligation to do what your sinful

nature urges you to do.  For if you live by

its dictates, you will die.  But if through the

power of the Spirit you put to death the 

deeds of your sinful nature, you will live.  

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are

 children of God."

(Romans 8:12-14 NLT)  

TODAY'S PROMISE

"The LORD keeps you from all harm

and watches over your life.

The LORD keeps watch over you as

you come and go,

both now and forever."  

(Psalms 121:7,8 NLT)

TODAY'S QUOTE

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"The vigor of our spiritual life will be

in exact proportion to the place held by 

the Bible in our life and thoughts."

- George Mueller

THE STORMS OF LIFE

If you are old enough to read this, you know that life is

full of storms.  The weather kind, of course.  But even

worse the personal storms that come up in your life.

At my age I have been through the storms of child hood, 

adolescence, courtship, mariage and failed mariage, life

threatening sickness and now old age.  But the question is

how to survive.

One of the storms I see facing all of us right now is the 

world conditions.  Things are headed in a direction that

if continued will completely destroy every one of us.

This morning while reading in my Bible I was reading

a passage written by King David many years ago.  It

reflects my attitude often.  See if it does not express the

way you often feel when life's problems confront you.

"My heart is in anguish within me.

And the terrors of death have fallen upon me.

Fear and trembling come upon me,

And horror has overwhelmed me.

I said, 'Oh, that I had wings like a dove!

I would fly away and be at rest.

Behold I would wander far away

I would lodge in the wilderness.

I would hasten to my place of refuge

From the stormy wind and tempest."  

(Psalms 55:4 - 8 NASB)  

I have found that what worked for King David

works for me too.

First he was in relationship to God Almighty.

That is the only place that we can get any real

peace.  Then when David closes out his Psalm

he says;

"Cast your burden upon the LORD and He

will sustain you;" (v. 22)   

Every time I have turned to Jesus Christ with

my problems - He has brought me through.

Even to old age.

WATCH WHAT YOU SAY.

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"Death and life are in the power of

the tongue." (Proverbs 18:21 NASB)       

Consider the Titanic.

You know the story better than I do.

Allegedly the architect of the ship, Thomas Andrews

states that, "God himself could not sink the ship."

In case you are not aware of it, it's not smart to

put a challenge up before God.  So, April 15, 1912

God showed him differently.  The ship went down with

Andrews himself on board and over 1,500 other lives

with him.

Oh!

By the way, Thomas Andrews knows better now.

I do not know about you, but I want to tame my

careless tongue. 

TODAY'S QUOTE

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"The only saving faith is that which casts

itself on God for life or death."

-Martin Luther

TODAY'S PROMISE

"And many of them that sleep in the dust

of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting

life, and some to shame and everlasting 

contempt."

(Daniel 12:2)

MESSED UP LIFE

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Why let Jesus Christ fix your messed

up life when instead you could spend

the rest of your life complaining about

it?

LIFE SUCKS

                        This is the way your life is going

                        to be, until you put Jesus Christ

                                      in control of it.

SEEKING APPROVAL

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Why do we do some of the things that we do?

To seek approval among our peers.

Consider some of the things that teens do in an

effort to enhance their standing among their peer

group.  I do not need to say any more there, do I?

  Yet, we "adults" are no different.  We buy, think and

act often in ways just to influence our standing in

our peer group or culture.  We want their approval.

There were people like that in the days that Jesus was here

on earth.  Speaking about some of the religious people he said;

"...for they loved the approval of men rather 

than the approval of God,"

(John 12:43 NASB)   

SO!

The approval of people is only good here on earth,

and no further.  We might have their approval for this

short span of time we call a life time.

BUT,

what about all those years and years and years and years

and years that go forever after death?

"And inasmuch as it is appointed for men

to die once and after this comes Judgment,"

(Hebrew 9:27 NASB)  

I want to spend the little bit of time I have left

in this life seeking the approval of God.

TODAY'S QUOTE

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"It is distinctive of the Christian life, that while it

grows more conscientious, it also grows less and less

a task of duty and more and more a service of delight."

-Newman Smyth   

IS YOUR LOAD TOO HEAVY?

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Is your load to heavy?

I have been noticing something on Facebook lately.

It is almost impossible to believe that so many people

are hurting in life.  Relationships are broken.  Health

is broken.  Dreams are frustrated.  Wrongs have been

done, etc, etc, etc.

Or on the news, accidents, overdoses on drugs and 

suicides.  Any way you look at it life is too much in

many cases for people to handle.  Even all the self-

help schemes about how to "tough it out" or take control

of yourself etc., fail.  They at the best are only band aids 

over a cancer.

But there is good news.

There is someone who wants to help you out.

God almighty himself wants to help you.

Even best he wants to actually come right into

you and become the strength of your life.

A person needs to realize that Jesus Christ is

the one who gives them life to start with.  But

we have ignored him and gone our own way.

So he came to earth as a man and became a 

sacrifice for us.  He died in our place, if we

will accept it.   Then all we have to do is cry

out to him to forgive us and honestly ask Jesus

Christ to come into our messed up life and 

take over.

If we will submit to him and allow him to

he will actually come into us as a person 

and bring the very strength of God into our

being.

Nothing is too much for Jesus Christ to handle.

Invite him in to take your load off you.