Sermon Transcript — December 22, 2007
Good afternoon everyone. It's a real pleasure to see all of you here this afternoon. It is our first time to be here for the Winter Family weekend, we normally been other places during this period of time, traveling and other things, but, really it's nice to be here. It's so wonderful to see so many people that you've known over the years from different parts of the country - we've seen people from New England, from Georgia, from Texas. In fact it's so interesting that there are actually people I saw here that I thought died a few years ago. It's kind of hard to start a conversation, "I thought you were dead!" But, I kind of avoided saying that to a couple of them, but if you don't see people for a number of years then a lot of things happen. I did make a comment to a couple of the pastors (and I am counting the pastors that are here and are not working this weekend as well) - but I did make a comment to a couple of the pastors, if we had an event like this ten or fifteen years ago, on the sports team, all of the pastors would have been playing on some sports team. I don't think you'll see very many now! In fact I was speaking to Mr. Jim Servidio, he was quite a basketball player in his day - he said, "Yeah, the only dribbling I do these days is when I have a glass of water!"
So, I think times have changed a bit. But being here, it's also a good opportunity to see so many young people and to be around the young people, and I think it's just simply a wonderful influence, and how you can be influenced by people that you're around, and I think in a very positive way for God's people to be together in such a manner. In fact, I found a little story that identifies with how we can be influenced by our surroundings, again you can say a positive way or negative way, and sometimes as parents, especially with younger children, you end up with so much time invested in your young children, and you tend to pick up their talk, or their language, or whatever they're involved with - you know, you're watching Sesame Street, Mr. Rogers, and you're reading Dr. Seuss.
Well, evidently this one lady who had spent a great deal of time with her children decided that she wanted to buy a car, and she was determined to give the salesman a run for his money. So she goes into the salesman, and she finds a car and she says,
"The car's nice, the look is handsome, but the price you ask is a king's ransom - there's no need for me to say, I will not buy this car today." Well, the salesman who also had small children and was familiar with Dr. Seuss said to her: He said, "Would you, could you, on a dare, buy this car with factory air? If I throw in a music box, would you buy this "Audi Fox?" And she responded without even thinking, "I would not, could not on a dare, I do not want your factory air; I would not buy it in the rain, I would not buy it on a train, not in a house, not in a mouse, not in a goat, not in a boat - I don't care if it runs on green eggs and ham, I will not buy it, Sam I am."
See, you began to see that we can influence one another, and I think in a positive way. And it is really wonderful to see all of the young people here, and I certainly complement all of them, and of the influence they certainly can have on all of us as we look back on the number of years we've spent in God's church and we look ahead to the future and what the young people can bring, and what they do bring to the Church of God: the vitality, the enthusiasm, and certainly the interest.
Probably in this part of the country I would get no arguments when I said that the greatest sports movie of all time was the movie "Hoosiers". Now we're not all that far from Indiana, we're not all that far from where this particular movie took place, or where the events took place. It was based on a true story from a small town in Indiana, Milan, Indiana, about a team that was a small-town team in basketball that went to the state tournament and won the state tournament back in the 1950's. In this movie Gene Hackman is the coach of this particular team, and all through the movie, at periodic times, you see these poignant moments where Gene Hackman will be looking at his players and he'll ask them, "What kind of heart do they have?" Do they have the heart to really win the game? And he referred to this on several occasions.
If you go and look at some of the reviews of the Movie "Hoosiers" you'll find this particular theme comes out in the reviews as well. One particular review about the movie said: "There are few films, whatever the topic, have the heart that this movie has." Another individual said, "Gene Hackney and Barbara Hershey are great even though the romance is not the greatest - who cares, the movie is about heart - it isn't about basketball talent, it is about heart."
When the term heart is used, in this particular method, or this particular matter, it isn't referring to the organ that's beating in your chest. Heart is a metaphor for your spiritual center, for your character, for what drives you and for what you have a passion for; it is called your heart. I submit to you this afternoon that matters of the heart are the most significant matters that you and I face in life as Christians - "matters of the heart."
Years ago, when I was entering high school, I lived my own Hoosiers movie. It may be a smaller way in some ways, but yet in a very similar way. I grew up in a small town in northeastern Arkansas that struggled even to have any sort of a sports team. We had approximately 150 students in four grades of high school. The population of our town was 601. All of my life I watched that sign - it said 601; it never changed. Didn't matter how many people left or how many people were born, it was always 601 was the population of our town.
In 1964 something dramatic happened in our little town. For the first time in our school history we fielded a baseball team. Spring of 1964 a group of seniors decided they would rather have a baseball team than to have a track team. In the state of Arkansas baseball was a big sport, but track was big as well, and most schools couldn't afford to have both, so they had one or the other. For the first time in our school history we chose to have a baseball team because we had a group of seniors who were very talented and played American League in baseball with one another - they were very good. They had powerful hitters, they had good pitching - they were quite a good team. In 1964 our little town was catapulted to actually state-wide attention, as that first team ever in our school won eighteen consecutive games all the way to the state tournament. It was quite remarkable. It indeed was a school record - it was the first year we ever had a team, so it was a school record! It was also approaching a state record in the state of Arkansas. The state of Arkansas, every school plays every other school in high school in baseball - there's no class distinction. So our little town played Little Rock, with a couple hundred thousand people, or played schools from Little Rock or Fort Smith, and other places - huge metropolises in the state of Arkansas. And you had to beat all of those teams to win the state tournament.
But before you could get to the state tournament you had to win your district; only one team out of each district could advance to the state tournament. Not only did they advance to the state tournament, the first time in anyone's history anyone could ever believe our school was playing baseball on the radio! And so that Spring as I was an eighth grader I listened to our team play in the state tournament. It was great excitement for the entire town. Unfortunately, they fell short of the state tournament - they fell short of the state tournament. When I entered high school that fall, 1964, I entered as a freshman in high school. All of the seniors had graduated and we had six freshmen that became a part of this now second ever baseball team. We were considered not only a long-shot, weren't even considered a shot at all, with six freshmen taking on the team.
Since we'd never had a baseball team before, they bought all the uniforms the previous years for these seniors, and now we had six freshmen who couldn't even hold the pants up on their uniforms. In fact, we couldn't alter the uniforms because they were owned by the school, but we could take the uniforms and pull and pinch them together in the back, and put a stitch in the back so that they wouldn't fall down while we were playing baseball. We were a motley looking crew in the fall, or actually in the Spring as we came to 1965 as freshman.
Our Coach was an interesting fellow - we used to call him "Deputy Dog." If you remember the old cartoon, Deputy Dog was a cartoon character who never smiled, but when he did it was a very wry little smile in the corner of his mouth - that was our baseball coach! The first day of practice he put us in the gym and he put us up in the bleachers, and he said to all of us that we are considered having no chance to repeat and go back to state tournament; It was a once in a generation event, when all the seniors were playing - there was no way it could happen again. The six individuals who joined the team that year brought the entire team to twelve players; we had the nine starters and we had three substitutes. When we went to a baseball game we drove in three cars - other schools showed up in three buses. But we were determined to play baseball because it was a passion - it was a matter of heart.
Our Coach explained to us on the opening day of practice, he said, "We'll play hard, we'll practice hard, but we will only win if we have the heart to do it." He said, "You're going to see pitchers this year in high school that you will be unable to hit as freshmen - they will simply throw that hard. In fact there were two seniors that year who signed professional contracts, and we would have to beat them both in order to get to the state tournament. But he said, "There's one thing you can do: no one can throw the ball so hard that you cannot bunt. You will be the best bunting team the state of Arkansas has even seen!" And we bunted before practice, we bunted during practice, and we bunted after practice. We did that all through the month of February.
Then we started playing, and amazingly we started winning. And by the time we got near the state tournament, (actually, the start of the district tournament), we'd won twenty-four games, more than the previous team had won. We'd lost three along the way, but twenty-four and three was an impressive record for a team that wasn't supposed to be anywhere in the district. But then we came up against the real big team of the district: Greene County Tech was a regional high school in northeastern Arkansas, from Paragould, Arkansas. Greene County Tech was the first regional high school that I recall in that area. They showed up, as I said, for games with three bus loads. They even brought cheer leaders! I'd never seen cheer leaders for a baseball team before. They brought more people to the ball game than we had in our whole high school - and we showed up in three cars.
They also had a pitcher by the name of Morton who was one of the highest rated prospects in northeastern Arkansas - he was signed that year to professional contract. He was a senior who threw the ball extremely hard. We were fifteen years of age and facing an obstacle that seems, that you would think, would bring our season to an end. We began the game on this fateful afternoon (actually the evening) playing Greene County Tech, in a small town called Bay, Arkansas. Bay, Arkansas was the home of Wally Moon, who played for the St. Louis Cardinals and he built a big complex, a beautiful baseball area where we played the district tournaments. We were playing Greene County Tech! It was considered to be a very lopsided event on that day. As I said, we showed up with our ten/twelve players - they showed up with three bus loads. They had an "away uniform" and they had a "home uniform"; one was gray, one was white. Our uniforms were kind of gray and kind of white so we thought we had both! Since they were originally gray, but they kind of become more white after they had been washed, so we wore our "away/our home uniforms" to the same game! But we were there and we were ready to play.
First three innings went by pretty quickly; Morton struck out all nine batters first three innings. But after three innings we were only behind one to nothing - we were still in the game. We simply needed a break along the way. I watched the catcher change mitts after the third inning, because Morton threw so hard he actually destroyed the catcher's mitt after three innings. I walked up to the plate in the first inning, and I never even knew what happened and I was sitting down! It was just "pop, pop, pop, pop, pop" and that was it! And he did that for three innings. But the fourth inning our first batter actually hit the ball, and it was a ground ball to the second baseman. The second baseman hadn't even seen any action - he was so shocked he could barely throw the ball and the runner was safe - our first base runner.
Well, Coach walks over and he says: "Here it is gentlemen - if you have the heart, everybody bunts starting now." So the next batter up bunts the runner over to second base - he's thrown out at first; we have one out. Next batter up, so we get another break - he walks him. So we have first two runners, first and second; next batter bunts the ball and he's thrown out at first. We now have two outs, runners on second and third - fourth inning of a seven inning ball game.
Now Coach comes over and he says: "Now we're going to do what I told you in the beginning of the year, and we'll see if you really have the heart to win this ball game. Coach had designed a play that was the most unusual thing I've ever seen on a baseball field - no one thought it would ever work, but what did we have to lose. The play was designed this way: The pitcher who was very confident, all he had to do was strike out the next batter, or if he even hit the ball, throw him out at first - he didn't worry about the two runners that were on second and third. So, he doesn't do his stretch - he goes into a windup. He goes into his windup to throw home. As soon as he steps on the rubber to go into his windup, the runner on second breaks for third, running as fast as he can. The second baseman and short-stop are dumbfounded - there's a runner on third, why are you running to third? They can't believe it. They're standing there in amazement. The pitcher can't see the second baseman; he's throwing home. The man on third is still standing there - he can see him out of the corner of his eye.
But all this confusion is going on. The ball reaches the batter and he squares around and bunts the ball. The pitcher runs over to field the ball, still not knowing what's happening (the runner on third is still standing at third). He picks the ball up to throw to third - (I'm sorry, to throw to first) - as soon as he picks the ball up to throw to first, the runner on third breaks for home too. But now the runner from second has caught him; there are now two runners coming home at the same time - one step behind the other! Everybody's yelling, "somewhere,second baseman, third baseman" - the catcher's yelling for the ball! The first baseman doesn't tag first - runs toward the ball to grab it and throw home. The catcher is yelling, the pitcher's totally confused, the first baseman has the ball and wants to throw home, but the catcher has two runners - who does he tag? He throws home and in a cloud of dust two runners slide across home plate at the same time! And the umpire, when the dust clears, says "safe"! We scored two runs, we won the game two to one and never got a hit!
Morton struck out eighteen batters in a seven inning ballgame - only three were not on strike outs! He was praised for pitching a magnificent game - we won the game and went to the state tournament. We didn't win, but we showed something that was incredible. A group of young men, age fifteen years, who had the heart, the passion, and the compassion to play hard, to play together, and to produce a wonderful outcome. It was an incredible experience. To this day it's talked about in our local town as the biggest game we ever played - it was shocking, it was unusual, but it was real.
When you speak of the subject of heart, you often think of sports. Heart makes a difference in sports, it makes a difference in relationships, it makes a difference in life, and it makes a difference in Christianity. The Bible speaks a lot about the subject of the heart - "matters of the heart." You know, a search of your Bible, just using the word "heart", you'll find there will be so many examples - you know the Bible program simply says: "You want to narrow your search."; there are too many verses to list. You look in the New Testament, you find how often Christ used the concept of the heart; again, a metaphor for your spiritual center - a metaphor for your spiritual center. Christ referred to the pure in heart, Matthew 5. Christ also said, "Where your heart is, there your treasure will be" - or where your treasure will be, there's where your heart will be. He said, "Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth will speak." He said of the Pharisees, "With your mouth you draw near, but your heart is far from me." When Christ was asked the greatest commandment, he said, "Love God with all your heart."
On the Feast of Pentecost we're told that the three thousand who were there were cut to the heart, when they responded. In referring to the first Christians, in the Book of Acts, it says they had simplicityof heart. There's a reference to those whose heart was not right in the sight of God. In the Book of Hebrews it says, "Draw near me with a true heart."
Turn with me to the Book of Acts - Acts 4 - The New Testament Church was incredibly successful for a very small group of people. In fact, within ten years after the Feast of Pentecost, when we document the beginning of the New Testament Church, in about ten years we find that they have turned - it says, "turned the world upside down." Why? How could these people do that? How could they have such an incredible impact on the Roman Empire in the first century? What was it about them that was so special? What was it?
Acts 4:32 And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul; - a small group of people, committed, passionate, filled with heart to produce dramatic results on any playing field - on any playing field.
The New Testament Church accomplished incredible things when you read in the early chapters of the Book of Acts. You find that they were capable - capable, or they did accomplish great things in spite of the fact they were a small force in the beginning of the Book of Acts. Till later on .... you know the Roman Empire is this great Empire - within about fifteen years of the Book of Acts, you've got Nero telling that they're the ones who are destroying the City of Rome, and the persecution that comes upon them as a result of that particular period of time. They went from obscurity to greatness - why? It was a matter of the heart, I submit to you.
You know, when you look around the Church today, we have a lot of young people that are here; we actually have a lot more young people than sometimes we think we do. Young people are the future of the Church. We have a lot of things to be hopeful and thankful for when we look at the young people, and look at what they are capable of doing. We published statistics that 33% of those who attend the Feast of Tabernacles, United Church of God, are under the age of thirty. It's remarkable!
Mr. Register - about the surveys that are coming in - the strategic issues facing the Church (the strategic issues facing the Church). There's been over 1,000 surveys that have come in already, and he told me, preliminarily, (you know the results - not all the results are in), that one of the most significant strategic issues facing the Church is replacing those who are older and retiring, specifically the pastoral ministry; the need to do that. I've seen some startling statistics recently; we currently struggle to find or to have enough pastors for all of our congregations.
If you advance ahead a few years into the future, you look three to five years in the future, you look at the ages today, and I was joking about, you won't see any pastors probably out playing on the field of sports while we're here. There's a particular reason for that - not because they don't desire it. Look around at some of the ages certainly of our pastors. I had one individual, he made a comment that I thought was rather interesting. We have a pastor who is 75 years of age, and he asked if he could come into the pastoral Training classes, and I said, "Well, we're actually bringing the younger ministers in and we're working our way down the list." And he looked at me, and he said, "Well, by the time you get to me I'll be dead!" He said, "Can I come this year?" Well, of course, you know - we're happy to have you come this year, because he's right! By the time we got to the 76 year old pastor, he would be dead.
Within five years, actually within three years, we will have eighteen pastors who will be beyond the age of 70. That's 20% of all the pastors we currently have. The young people in the Church of God are a wonderful, wonderful resource.
Turn with me to Malachi 4. There is a prophecy here that we're all familiar with, and it also deals with a matter of the heart.
Malachi 4:4 "Remember you the law of Moses, My servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments.
Verse 5: "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.
Now we can discuss over and over again about Elijah the prophet: Is this a unified work being done? Is this an individual? You know, what is this all about? The issue though that I want you to take a look at is Verse 6:
Verse 6 : "He shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers,
It is a matter of the heart - it is a matter of the heart. The work of God, the Church of God, the people of God, before the return of Jesus Christ will see a dramatic event take place. Now I've had individuals give me their own theories, (and I suppose people can have their own theories), that the two witnesses are going to be the ones that will finish the work, and they're going to get all of this great publicity - it will be focused on Jerusalem. And again, I can read the Bible as well, and I read about the two witnesses in the streets of Jerusalem and all the attention they will get. This particular prophecy, this particular verse, is dealing with the hearts of the fathers and the hearts of the children. It's talking about something quite dramatic occurring, I believe, among the people of God, as we get closer to the end of the age.
And if I read the Scriptures correctly in Acts 4, it says the miraculous events and the powerful things that occurred were where the people of God were of one heart and of one soul. If the hearts of the fathers are turned to the children, and the hearts of the children are turned to their fathers, the power and the dramatic possibilities are truly unimaginable for the people of God approaching the end of the age and the return of Jesus Christ.
We also see very clearly: Children / fathers - we see a viable, powerful, coordination, (or you know, conglomerate you might say), of union, and I believe producing powerful results as we're approaching - but it's a matter of the heart - it is a matter of the heart. You can view this in many different ways, but it provides a powerful insight into the time approaching the return of Jesus Christ - it is a matter of the heart.
Turn to Acts 2. I'm enthralled to read the story of the Church of God in the first century - the Church of God that came out of the Feast of Pentecost, shortly after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Church began with a powerful sermon by the Apostle Peter. Peter preached a sermon that had dramatic results. We know the results were that 3,000 people were baptized and the Church was off to a powerful start; a team of individuals who were not only committed and convicted, but also passionate - passionate in their heart for what God had given them to do - 3,000 individuals at this particular time. 120 of course just before this. Look at verse 36 - Peter concludes his sermon:
Verse 36: "Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made that same Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ."
Verse 37: Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?"
They were affected to the core of their being - they were pricked in the heart. And it's almost as though this is presented in unison - they say, "Well, what do we do now? What would God have us do?" They have an extraordinary beginning to an extraordinary story of an extraordinary people that continues to this very day. Christ wasn't simply filling time or filling space when he said that "the gates of hell would never prevail against His Church" - never prevail against His Church. The power that exists in the people of God is a matter of heart. Of course, it's a matter of the will of God, it's a matter of God's Holy Spirit, it's a matter of God working in our lives, but the powerof passion - the power of , you know, this burning desire.
The question I would ask of our young people, and really ask of all of us, has to do with a matter of heart: Are we powerfullyconvicted, are we passionatelyconvicted of God's way of life? What about our young people? For our young people to begin to fill in, and to begin to provide the substance for the future of the Church of God, there must be that passion.
You know, when I grew up in the Church of God, it was quite a powerful experience - I remember it very clearly. You know, I grew up in a period of time in the Church when you were excited to go to church, because you knew there would be some exciting news. I mean, I recall every Sabbath, virtually, our pastor reading lists of new churches started - of Memphis, which is where we began attending services, was the 39 th church at that particular time. So every Sabbath it seemed like, there were announcements of new churches and new pastors. It was a powerful thing to be a part of - you felt a part of something that was galvanized - something that was just powerfully doing something - not just something, but the work of God.
Our young people have grown up in a period of time when it may not have been all that encouraging to go to church. You know, being responsible for, in the sense of working in Ministerial Services, every day I pray that God will give us an atmosphere of encouragement and hope and enthusiasm in every single congregation that we have - whether it be a congregation of twenty people, or whether it be a congregation of 200 people. And I pray every single Sabbath that every congregation on that Sabbath will experience a powerful, energized, enthusiastic service, and that it will be exciting to go to church for our young people - exciting to be around the people who are there, because there is a future, because there is more to do, and the Church will be in the center of it - it is a matter of the heart - it is a matter of the heart.
The Book of Ecclesiastes has some interesting things to say on the subject of the heart. But if you think about this whole issue of teaching, of you know, the idea of the heart, when you think about that, think about how that is done. Let's go to Titus 2 first; I want to go there before going to Ecclesiastes - Titus 2. When you look at the Apostle Paul and his writings to Timothy and Titus about the Church, and how the Church develops, and you know, the pastoral epistles and all of the issues there, (Titus 2), we have a summary of teaching in the Church. To me it's always been interesting to read this particular chapter, because it talks about the older men, the younger men, the older women and the younger women. It talks about teaching them. Why? What is the purpose, if it isn't to provide for the future of the Church - if it isn't to provide for the future of the Church.
Titus 2:1 But speak you of things which become sound doctrine:
Verse 2 : That the older men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, and in patience;
Verse 3: and the older women likewise, that they be in behavior as become of holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things --
Verse 4: that they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children.
Verse 5: To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.
Verse 6: Young men likewise exhort to be sober-minded,
You notice you have one generation teaching the next generation, but in each example it begins with their personal example - that's the way that we teach the next generation in the Church of God is by the way we live our lives - the way our heart is. Do we have the passion, do we have the drive, do we have the enthusiasm for God's way of life? That will speak louder to the next generation than even the things that we do - yourexample and my example is incredible. It has an incredible impact upon our young people.
The almost twenty years that we spent in Houston, I spent many times visiting in the local prisons. Now I learned something quite profound in all of the years of visiting in the prisons. You know, I was a volunteer chaplain in the Texas state prison system, and visited hundreds of individuals over the twenty years - conducted many Bible studies. You know, the most common person who is a volunteer chaplain in the Texas prison system is someone who was a drug addict, or someone who himself was an alcoholic, or someone who had serious problems and issues, had been to prison, was now out of prison and wanted to go back to help the prisoners. Now there's nothing wrong with that. But I talked to a lot of prisoners and you know what they said to me? They said: "While it is encouraging to know that someone can come out of this way of life that we're in - (but he said) - the most powerful example is someone who'd never got into it - who never went down that path." That's actually more encouraging than someone who did, because you know what he said, when someone who did? He said, "Well it's okay (you know, this is not what they're saying) but you can follow this path, you can break all of the rules, you can end up in prison and you can turn your life around and everything will be alright." They said, "and that's true, and that's encouraging when you're already in this, but you know, we'd rather hear about people who never went down that road - people who lived a life of morality, and who show the other life that we wish we had taken, and now we're determined to get to."
It was quite different than I had expected, but I heard that over and over again. The power of a positive example upon other people is beyond understanding, beyond our comprehension when you look at the bigger picture - when you look at the bigger picture.
Let's go to Ecclesiastes 11. We all know the story of Solomon. Solomon was an individual who was given a great gift - God: "Do you want wisdom, do you want wealth?" And he chose wisdom. And God blessed him immensely for that. And Solomon was also an individual who had great influence, until his heart was changed - until his heart was changed - and he began to be drawn away from God's way of life. His heart was changed - it was a matter of the heart. Ecclesiastes 11, beginning in Verse 9 and going for ten verses, down to 12:8. These ten verses talk a lot about the heart. In fact, in these ten verses you'll find what I call the "four "R's" of the heart. There are four specific issues of the heart that are dealt with by Solomon in these ten verses, that outline to all of us (and especially to our young people) what it means to have a heart turned to God - a heart that has passion, a heart that has the willingness, the desire, the strong push to be a part of God's way of life; the enthusiasm and the excitement. Solomon addresses this. Notice beginning in verse 9, the first "R" of the heart:
Ecclesiastes 11:9 Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth;
The Bible speaks of relationships, (and how they should be enjoyed), in many places. If there's one mistake that either we all made, or made to some degree as young people, and our young people make today, it's involvement with individuals who are not the best example for us. When you visit into the prison system you see all kinds of people who will tell you their stories about falling in with a group of individuals and ending up where they are, their whole lives a shambles.
A happy marriage is a wonderful, physical gift, that a young person can have in this life. Rejoice in your heart. Find the right people to associate with; find the right person to marry; find the job that you enjoy. Every young person in this audience can have those, but it must be a matter of the heart. Solomon warns that whatever you choose to do for fun be sure it's still fun tomorrow - rejoice in your heart - havejoyin your heart.
Verse 10: (The second "R" - First two of these points are found right here in the first two verses, verses 9-10 ):
Therefore remove sorrow from your heart, and put away evil from your flesh, for childhood and youth are vanity.
Life has tragedies - life has tragedies. Sometimes our actions bring even more tragic events in our lives - bring more tragedy. There was a time when I was growing up in the Church that I actually thought: "Well, nothing bad could ever happen to the people of God." I've long since realized, not only is that not Biblical, it certainly was not true in fact that I saw around me growing up; bad things do happen to good people. Bad things and tragedies do happen to the people of God. We can do our part though to avoid some of those by making better decisions over time.
The Book of Proverbs - it talks about the company you keep; it talks about putting evil away from your flesh, as Solomon mentions here in Ecclesiastes 11. In other words, we do have some choices to make. A few years ago I met a man on death row, in Texas. It's very difficult to get in to see someone on death row unless you're a family member, but as a volunteer chaplain in the state of Texas I could go and visit in almost any prison system, or almost any prison unit in the state of Texas, if I had an invitation. I received a letter a few years back from a man named Calvin Wilson McGee. Calvin Wilson McGee was on death row; he was convicted at the age of 19, of murder. In order to be on death row in the state of Texas, you have to kill someone, obviously, but it has to be pre-meditated to be on death row. If it's an act of passion, or in a moment, it doesn't qualify for the death penalty in the state of Texas. Calvin Wilson McGee at the age of 19 was in an automobile with two of his friends when they decided to steal a Cadillac, after they'd been doing drugs all day - this was in the evening. They pulled up behind the lady who was driving the Cadillac - Calvin pulled her out of the car while his two friends jumped in. She began to scream, he panicked and pulled a gun and shot her in a drive-through of a Popeye's Chicken place in Houston, Texas. Age 19, sent to prison, put on death row, prepared to die.
I met him at the age of 26 - he was seven years into this journey. It takes about ten years to work through the system, until you're actually put to death. Death row in the state of Texas is in the Pulaski unit, which is in Livingston, Texas. The death house, or the death chamber, is in the Walls Unit, which is in Huntsville, Texas. I conducted a number of Bible studies in the Walls Unit and walked by the corridor that leads to the death chamber every time I went in to conduct a Bible study. Calvin Wilson McGee was a huge man. They brought him to me, because when you are on death row .... they brought him to me; He sat across from me .... a plate glass window .... he was on one side and I'm on the other side. They bring him in in shackles: He has chains around his neck, chains around his feet, chains around his hands. And they put him in this little cubicle and as he puts his hands behind him, they unlock the chains, they remove the chains, but they leave them on his feet.
And here was a huge man, probably six feet tall and every bit of 300 pounds - filled up the entire glass across from me. And he began to talk to me, but before long he began to cry. He said: "Why did it take me this long to find out God's way of life? Why? Why am I at age 26 just discovering the Sabbath and the Holy Days and all of these wonderful things? Why didn't it happen when I was 19 ?" He said: "My life is ruined. I took a path that led me with my friends in a wrong direction, and I'm going to die; I deserve to die."
One of the strangest things that I've experienced over the number of years visiting in the prison, within two days after I visited with him, I read in the newspaper (actually it was the next week in the newspaper, but it happened two days after I left), they found him dead in his cell from an aneurysm. Calvin Wilson McGee died, understanding the truth of God, but unable to do anything about it because of the choices he had made and the people he associated with. 67% of all the prisoners in the state of Texas are there because of drugs, alcohol, or poor companionship. It is a matter of the heart. It is a matter of removing sorrow from your heart by living passionately God's way of life with people who have the same passion.
Chapter 12:1: The third "R" - Rejoice, remove, - the third "R" :
Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh when you shall say, "I have no pleasure in them" :
"Remember your Creator" - think about God; think about His way of life. It is crucial for your heart, if these be your thoughts. Also the next few verses in this twelfth Chapter are rather strange, or enigmatic, or at least to me they are. Verses 3-8 talk about evil days; they talk about bad times that are going to come. If you put Chapter 12 and read it all the way through, you will see: Put God in your lifebeforethe evil days come -and this was what the prisoners were telling me. You know, it's a wonderfully, encouraging thing to see someone who's gone the wrong road and come back - "The Prodigal Son" - that's a wonderful story. As they said, it's a greater story to see someone who from the very beginning put God in his heart, and had a passion for God's way of life, before the evil days came.
Chapter 12 talks about that. Beginning in Verse 3:
Verse 3: In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow himself and the grinders cease because they are few, and those that look out of the windows be darkened; (It's a very dark and dreary story beginning in Verse 3)
Verse 4: And the doors shall be shut in the streets when the sound of the grinding is low; and he shall rise up at the voice of the birds and all the daughters of music shall be brought low;
Remember God before the days of evil; put God into your heart, your passion, before the evil comes. And then when the evil comes, to summarize these verses, when the evil comes, reflect, reflect, and that's the fourth "R" - reflect on what you've known all your life.
Rejoice, remove, remember, and reflect. It really is a matter of the heart. You look at all the great people in the Bible, the ones that we would hold up to be great examples - how many of them began obeying God when they were young men and women? Joseph, Samuel, David, Solomon, Josiah, Daniel, just to name a few; Timothy, Mark, Christ Himself, to name a few - (so follow the four "R's" of the heart: Rejoice, remove, remember, and reflect) - and were used by God to do powerful things at one time. If God is not changed, then is God not willing and able to do powerful things through the people today who have the heart and are driven by a passion for God's way of life? A statement was made about Timothy - Paul writes to Timothy in II Timothy 3, a verse that you've probably memorized, but,
II Timothy 3:14 But continue you in the things which you have learned and have been assured of, knowing of whom you've learned them,
Verse 15: and that from a child you have known the Holy Scriptures,
From a child - when did Timothy learn God's way of life? As a child. Did he not rejoice, remove, remember and reflect.
Everyone in his life will see some difficult times; there will be sadness and tragedy that will occur. How you deal with that may very well have to do with the passion of your heart; the conviction and the commitment for God's way of life, and for God, Himself.
Ten verses in Ecclesiastes (going back to Ecclesiastes 12) - Solomon sort of concludes this section - actually Verse 7.
Ecclesiastes 12:7 Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.
The ultimate end of all of us - you know, our lives will come to an end. What will it be like? What will we have done with the life that God has given us? The Church of God - we have a privilege and we have an opportunity, and we have challenges ahead of us. Our young people in the Church of God are precious, valuable, and they are the future of the Church of God.
Those who have the heart that God talks about throughout His word, the passion, the drive, the enthusiasm, the excitement for God and His way of life, there's no end to what can be accomplished. A small team working together with the heart that's described throughout the pages of the Bible can accomplish tremendous things. Your life and my life will pass before us in a hurry. Consider where we all will be when it's all over. We all know that we'll be in God's hands. How many times have I stood before a grave, and all the Ministers here, and all of you stood around the grave, and you know that when a person dies they haven't gone off somewhere. But truly at that moment in time we are in the hands of God - our life is over.
What have we done at that point of time? What did we accomplish? What sort of hearts did we have? What drove us, what inspired us, what encouraged us? What made us do what we did in a positive way? What sort of hearts do we have? It is a matter of the heart. There are challenges facing us in the future that can seem overwhelming, but with the heart that God speaks of, with the conviction, the commitment, the passion, it can be an incredible experience.
I read a book a few years ago - it's quite an interesting place to read this, and I'm not necessarily advocating that, but it was a book written by Ellen G. White; she wrote it a hundred years ago. She prophesied that at the end time...she wrote a book called "The Great Controversy". She said at the end time there will be a battle; it will be a battle between Satan and the people of God. And it will be a battle over your heart - will be a battle over your heart. I read that, and read what she had to say about the Sabbath, and about, you know, this great battle that's going to take place. And I thought a lot about it, and when you read through the Scriptures it's hard to dispute that that isn't true, that there's a battle going on today: there's a battle for the hearts of our young people; there's a battle for the hearts of our old people; there is a battle for our hearts - it is a matter of the heart. What kind of Christian you are, or what kind of Christian you will be, will be determined by the quality of your heart. What you accomplish in life will be determined by your passion and by the quality of your heart.
The Indiana team that inspired the movie "Hoosiers" won the state tournament. A small town in Arkansas produced a team that beat a school many times larger with much greater talent. In each case we used the metaphor of : "It was a desire of the heart that drove that accomplishment." It is an incredible fact of synergism that causes and produces a quality performance when there is a unity of heart. Even though a team can be short on talent...God tells us in His word that the people of God are not the great and mighty of the world, but it doesn't mean we can't be big on heart, if we are short on talent.
One more verse I want you to take a look at, Galatians 6. The Apostle Paul writing to the Church in Galatia talks about how the future will be, and he has something interesting to say in Galatians 6:7-9.
Galatians 6:7 Be not deceived, God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap.
Verse 8: For he that sows to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption, but he that soweth to the spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting.
In the new King James version:
Verse 9: Let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.
The battle in the end time is over your heart: Whether you will lose heart, whether your heart will be diminished, or whether it will be passionate and driven, by the very word of God. God has given us an opportunity to know a truth that is so precious and so unusual in this world today, that it gets completely overlooked by the majority of the world. God has given us an opportunity to be a part of a way of life that will set an example for the entire world for thousands of years into the future - certainly the thousand years into the Millennium. An opportunity to lead people, to change people's heart. You know the greatest thing in the world, the thing that has driven me in the Ministry over the last thirty-five years that I've been a part of it, is to see people change their hearts, and then to see their lives change. How many times have I sat in a home of a brand new person and look across the table as you're sitting in a living room and have them tell you their story and pour their hearts out, and to tell you how dramatic it is to have come to the knowledge of God's truth, and wanting to know where there's a church for them to go to. It's a powerful, powerful thing. We have an opportunity and a responsibility toward the people whom God calls, as He brings many sons to glory.
I stood on that baseball diamond on that night in Arkansas, northeastern Arkansas, in Bay, Arkansas, in the middle of this beautiful baseball complex, and I watched as this whole event unfolded in front of me. I still had the picture of that district champion team, with all these loose-fitting, oddly-looking uniforms, and these young boys standing there with a smile on their faces, because they had become district champions; they had produced something that no one thought possible because they were driven by a passion and a heart to do something very, very good for them, at that time.
God has provided something much greater for us: Rejoice in your heart, remove sorrow and evil from your heart, remember God in your heart, and reflect upon the events that brought you to where you are a servant and a person involved in God's way of life. The battle is for your heart; it is a matter of the heart; we must not lose. God has given us so much.