Sweating With the Oldies

If you will, please turn over to Genesis 25. I'd like to read a few verses that conclude the life of the patriarch Abraham. Genesis 25, verses 7-11. Unless we're reading through the book of Genesis on an annual reading program or our own personal study, we may not necessarily focus on this particular passage. But I did as I was preparing for this message, but I thought it would be a good one to start with. In verse 7 of Genesis 25, it says, this is the sum of the years of Abraham's life, which he lived 175 years. Then Abraham breathed his last and died in a good old age.

An old man, full of years, and was gathered to his people, and his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, which is before Mamre in the field of Ephron, the son of Zohar the Hittite, the field that Abraham had purchased from the sons of Hith. And there he was buried, and Sarah his wife. And it came to pass after the death of Abraham that God blessed his son Isaac, and Isaac dwelt at Beir lehiroy. So Abraham died at age 175, but it said that he came to a good old age. Now that is not an anachronistic statement.

A good old age. What a testimony! The title of my sermon this afternoon is Sweatin' with the Oldies.

That's a play off of a video series from back in the prehistoric period called Sweatin' to the Oldies. When I told some friends that the title of my sermon yesterday, they suggested that I come up here with a curly wig and a pair of tight shorts and a tank top.

But I said, no, I can't do that. I've got a brand I have to keep up. So that just doesn't fit. And Jonathan McGee didn't have that kind of stock upstairs in the prop room, so it just didn't work out. But anyway, Sweatin' with the Oldies.

I'm going to talk this afternoon about getting old. That's right. Getting old. An inevitable part of life. It happens to each one of us every day. We get a little bit older. We just don't want to admit it. We don't see it. We don't think it will ever happen to us. And I'm just like every other young person, my youth. I never thought it would happen to me. And that I would grow to a point of where I am now. Youth doesn't think that. And when you get to a certain point, even when you're older, you don't even want to admit that you're older. Hearing aids are verboten. And all of those things like that. Yet, it's inevitable. And it is a fact that we have to consider. I recognize it from my audience here today that many of you are beginning to think, is that Wi-Fi working here? Can I tune in and tune out of this? It doesn't apply to me, but it really does. As I said, we're all moving in that direction. But it is something that does impact all of us because of the scriptures that teach on the subject, not just to the aged in the congregation, but also to children and to the young and to those of you that have parents who are at that age where they're getting older.

Or, as we look around in our congregation and we see people that are of gray hair and obviously older. And quite frankly, if we look around even in our own congregation and compare it to a year ago, we know that there are some faces that are no longer here. And that is across the board. And that's just a fact of where we are. And we should understand that. There are a number of things that we do need to believe and to understand about this. You know, back in August, we had a minister conference down in Texas. And one of our ministers was presenting some material about the young adult leadership initiative. And he put up a graphic that represents a kind of a demographic of the United Church of God in rough forms. And he basically was showing that about 52 to 3 percent of our attendance in the United Church of God is over the age of 50. And about 47-48 percent of our attendance is under the age of 50. It's actually, I thought, a pretty positive demographic that nearly 48 percent of our population is under 50 and under. That goes all the way down to the youngest of years. I think that's a tremendous base to build on. Obviously, 52 percent above the age of 50, and probably a majority of those in that older demographic are probably 60 and older, a number of them, as we know as well. Your parents, your uncles, your grandparents, people that you know and other congregations and yours truly. And so we recognize that in this congregation, while we may have a larger percentage of young people, young adults, than the typical United congregation, you go to some others and visit around and it changes dramatically in size as well, but also the age. And that's where we are. And we work with that. We are thankful for that, quite frankly, for those that are with us and all who are with us at this time in life. We have always had old people in the church. I came in the church at age 12, and some of the first people I met were the elderly. And it's always been a part of the church. And I went through Spokesman's Club very early on as a teenager and was trying to evaluate men who were old enough to be my father. And they were giving me the wisdom of their experience as they would evaluate me and my speaking and my dress and everything else about me as it was done at that time. But the membership and especially the senior membership, the aging membership, the elderly membership in our congregation, is frankly something we should understand because it is a blessing from God. It truly is.

We know that America is aging today, and medicine prolongs life. That's obvious as well. That new building that you see going up on your drive to work or back and forth in the commercial areas of our community here, it's either a new drugstore, dispensing drugs, or it just may be a new care center or senior home center in what is going up. And that reflects, again, America's aging demographic as well and the impact that that has upon the culture and the society. But it's shaping attitudes, it's shaping our society, and frankly for my generation that which is called the Boomer Generation, we are there and in some cases still dealing with parents who are at that particular point in life. And so there are lessons for us to learn. When we look at what Scripture tells us and where we are, old age, senior citizens, whatever we choose to call it, is really a fruition of a moral life and can be an indication even of God's favor. Let's turn over to Deuteronomy chapter 5 and look at a verse that tells us that. Deuteronomy the fifth chapter. And let's look at verse 33. Deuteronomy 5 and verse 33.

It says, follow the whole instruction the Lord your God has commanded you so that you may live, prosper, and have a long life in the land that you will possess. You will live long in the land in which you will go into possess. Dr. Spock paraphrased that in Star Trek, but God said it first. All right? And it is a true fact that there is embedded in this the promise because of obedience and living a godly life. There is the promise that God holds out of a long life. All right? We saw Abraham at 175. We could consider 75, 85 today more realistic for us in our time.

We don't live to the age of even the patriarch Abraham today. Some few do get over age 100. I saw that Olivia de Havilland just turned 102. I know. See there? Somebody's saying, how many of you know who Olivia de Havilland was? How many of you have seen Gone with the Wind? All right. Then you've seen Olivia de Havilland. She was Melanie in Gone with the Wind, long-suffering Melanie in that movie. She's still alive and hopefully still got her faculties about her 102 years of age. But more realistically, it's going to be 75 to 85 or 94, so many of us. But God's Word here promises us a long life. And to the degree that one follows that living law that is stated here, we can reap a good life. It is possible. This is a law of God, and it affects all people, frankly. It affects all people. I have known many elderly people in my years of service in the ministry and the church. And to see them into their 70s and 80s and into even their 90s, I had one lady that at one time in my congregation that lived to be over 100. At the time, she got her little card from President of the United States, Ronald Reagan. So this was back in the 1980s, and I think that still happens. Typically, one turns 100 in America, they get a note of congratulations from the president. But I've been fortunate to work with a number and from them learn so much. But also, just to look and recognize that this principle, this teaching of God, that if we obey Him, there is that promise of life and a level of prosperity and goodness, and even a long life as an added blessing to that that comes along from living a moral, a clean, a godly life. I have members of my family that are not never have been a part of the church that represent this as well. They're religious people in their own way. They were in our church-going people. And because in my father's side of the family, there were 12 children that survived and grew to adulthood, and only three are living at this time. But I know that several of them had, they took the religious teaching from their mother, my grandmother, to heart in all many aspects of their life. They were not part of the church of God, but they lived good lives. And in several of them, I can hold them up, is that they lived good examples. They lived clean, what you might call a clean life. They didn't smoke. They didn't abuse alcohol. They lived a good life of good works along their faith and lived up into their 80s and now, in some cases, into their 90s. And so this principle, I've seen to be something that is true.

And we celebrate that. We should appreciate that. And for those of us that think that those years are longer, let that be kind of a marker for your life at age 18, at age 28, 38, of what God's word promises, what can be because we obey, because we follow principles, teachings, food laws, health laws, moral laws, the commandments, and every aspect of them and seek to live them in our life. I thank God that I grew up in the church and came into the church at the age that I did and didn't become a smoker because of the church teaching. I would have become a smoker.

I was a smoker, but that's another story. I started when I was before... I started smoking before age kindergarten and I was all done with it by the seventh grade. All right?

That's about the time my mother came into church. I showed her to think what I'd look like today.

Probably wouldn't even be here. Every adult in my life smoked. It was everything I was around.

And I probably imbibed even enough in the closed rooms where I was working and growing up that who knows, it may come back to hit me at some future point in my own life.

But I inhaled a lot of secondhand smoke as well. But I'm thankful that I was able to see the teaching through the church. And that part of it, I think, has given me blessings as well in my own life as it will to any others. Let's look at another Scripture on this regard in Ephesians 6. Ephesians 6. This is a well-known principle to us. But old age may be one reward for those who honor their parents. And again, this is where this hits all of us. It still hits me. And certainly, it will hit you in your youth, and it should, because it is addressed to all generations. Old age can be a reward to those who honor their parents. Look at this verse in Ephesians 6 and verse 1. Children, obey your parents and the Lord, because this is right. Honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with a promise that it may go well with you and that you may have a long life in the land. So again, from what we read in Deuteronomy 6 or Deuteronomy 5, this is bringing it forward in a more specific way and tying it to the commandment to honor our parents. It is right.

Honor them. And it has a promise that it will go well with us and that we might have a long life. So really, it's tied to the younger generations, but to look at and to care for and to respect, to honor the older generation, whether it's your parents or, again, all of us together in our spiritual family here within the Church. And to be honest, I'm still living by this and reading it and understanding it applies to my life and our life today. My wife and I, some of you know, my mother-in-law's husband died back in early June after 35 years of marriage. And because of a number of circumstances, it won't go into, we have relocated her here to Cincinnati and into a nice, very nice assisted living facility where she is, in a sense, kind of just recovering and living. And we're able to put her in there. She has been attending with us in the morning service, a long-time Church member. But we are at that age where we're still taking care of a family, aging parents. And God miraculously provided for us the means to financially care for her. And there was a moment when we didn't know that we would have that. And it was a test for us that God knows what He's doing in our lives, but God also takes care of not only the elderly, but even the specific promises to the widow. He backs those up. Sometimes He backs them up double time and in ways you would not imagine. I'll have to probably tell that story in another sermon. But God honors and God backs up all of these promises. And if we take Him at His Word, then we can expect that His promises will be there for us, that it will go well with those who see honor to their parents. It's an old age at times of the honor, maybe most needed.

And by that, I mean making sure that their life is comfortable, cared for, that they are provided for. And sometimes that's harder to give and that presents new challenges as you get older yourself. And this is what I mean by, you know, you're sweating with the oldies. You're sweating with the oldies because our life has not been turned upside down or turned around necessarily, but it has been altered. There was a pretty stressful period back in the summer months. But it has certainly been altered into a good way. Now I see my mother-in-law at least once a week. My wife sees her several times. She's close by. We're able to make sure that she is taken care of and she's able to rest up after being a caregiver for a number of years and the added stresses and problems that that provide for people. And so we're still living that while at the same time, at our age, we're kind of got the horizons a little closer for us. And we're wondering, well, will our kids take care of us? Where, you know, what's going to happen? Where are we going? And you're looking at, you know, you're watching that stock market a little bit closer every day because if, you know, when it drops 800 points in a day, five more years of work, not retiring next year or whatever. So you are thinking those things, but you're still providing care. I had an elderly member years ago, one of my wise men and one of my congregations that I looked up to for his example and his wisdom. And he told me one time, he said, you never stop being a parent. And I didn't understand at the time what he meant, but I've learned that that is true. I have middle-aged sons and grandchildren. You never stop being a parent. And now we are being a parent to a parent. It adds another dimension to that. You know, I talked mentioned about my mother-in-law, but in recent months, I had to settle some accounts out of an estate that was left to my siblings and I by my father back in Missouri. And it took 23 years to kind of settle things. And again, that's another interesting family story, but it was a piece of land, not a big piece of land. It was a suburban house and a lot not worth, you know, millions of dollars, a few thousand dollars, and a simple house. And yet it was a piece of land. But as we all know, a lot of things happen around land.

I'm hesitating to whether I should make another movie illusion, but I'll do it anyway to see how many of you get it. It's the land, Katie Scarlett. It's the land. How many know where that came from?

It's the land. One person, two. Go on with the wind. Scarlett O'Hara's father takes her out to look over the land of Terra, and he's telling her it's the land. It's all about the land.

Every year's class at ABC, I can't tell anymore. I can't do illusions like this because, and I can't even do it with some of you here, so...

But it is the land, and land creates some very interesting family dynamics at time. But I had... it took me 23 years to settle my father's estate, and we've got it settled. And in the meantime, at one point, a few years into it, I had to... I got a phone call that the land, the house and lot might go up to sheriff's auction in a few days because of back taxes, which I thought were current. And so I had to call the county courthouse where I grew up, take my credit card out, and pay a tax bill. And then when we finally got to where we could sell it and divide it up, I found out there were some additional liens against the property that had to be settled.

And so we were able... so I settled... sat down with a lawyer and negotiated a settlement.

You know, you do things like that. You're kind of going to the gate of your city. In the Bible, it talks about the class of people called the elders at the gate, the wise men, the administrators of a town before whom matters were adjudicated, settled. It's kind of... today we call it the courthouse. It's where you go to settle all the county business. And so I had to go to a lawyer into a courthouse and to get it all settled, and finally did, and settled my... essentially settled my father and therefore my family's estate to keep the name of the family in my... our small town still held in honor. One thing my dad would have would have been incensed at if his name, his property, appeared on a delinquent tax roll. My dad taught me to work and he taught me to pay my bills. And that would have... that would have incensed him. And so we got it taken care of, and we settled up all the family debts. And when it was all said, settled up that estate, I said a little prayer of thanks to God that I could do... do that with what little had been left to... in... in our family. And I know that when I see my father in the resurrection, I will be able to tell him that, dad, I honored your name. And I took care of the family business with what you had worked for by the sweat of your brow. It wasn't mine. It wasn't my siblings. It was yours. We were raised there and we lived... we lived there and we took care of the family business. And I can look at Medeaiah at the resurrection and... and take care of that. I think God honors those who honor their family, their parents, all their life is my point out of all this. And we... we must take a reverent view of our family business and of our aging parents and of each other within the church and apply God's spiritual principles because dividends will be reaped for that.

Both spiritual and even at times physical. Larger dividends than spiritual because God has embedded deep spiritual meaning even into the care of each other, the care of property and land, and that's important. So start... start now with whatever your business is. And I might just make one last comment about this. Make sure you have everything taken care of in your family. It's called estate planning. And when you think you have it all taken care of, think again.

And make sure you understand all of the possibilities and ways in which to do it. And if there's even a few dollars and maybe a small amount of land, whatever it might be, make sure that it's tied up or taken care of to the point that it takes care of those who need to be taken care of and there can be no changes, no surprises. Those things can be done. And I think that God honors that when it is done. The Bible has a lot to say about various characteristics of those that are the elderly, the aged within the family of the church. They are perceived as a resourceful people who have valuable gifts to share for the good of everyone.

Wisdom is an attribute of the age who depend upon God. Back in Proverbs 9. Proverbs 9.

10. Beginning in verse 10, Proverbs 9 verse 10 says, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

For by wisdom your days will be many, and years will be added to your life.

So wisdom comes from the experience of the years that have been lived, the families that have been raised, the jobs that have been worked through, the experiences, the seasons of life. And to tap into that is a remarkable and very important thing to be able to do within the congregation. In Deuteronomy chapter 32, it says, Remember the days of old? Consider the years long past. Ask your father, and he will tell you. Your elders, and they will teach you. But you have to ask.

Sometimes an older person in the family, in the congregation, they have learned not to offer advice unasked. And it doesn't mean that they are standoffish or they are not interested.

It means that they've learned that don't don't advise unless you're asked.

And you will be surprised what you might learn if you sit down and ask a grandparent, an older member of your congregation, for some advice on a particular situation that you feel they might be able to offer a wise counsel. You will be surprised what you may find. And it can be some very, very astute advice in terms of life.

That's what God is telling us here. And we have a number of people in all of our congregations who can offer that. I had a notice this week, an email notice, that another one of our elderly members had died in a congregation that I used to pastor. He was a World War II vet. We lost another World War II veteran in this case, and he was one of our long, long time members.

I got to know him about 23 years ago, and he was a deacon. He and his wife at the time.

He lived a solid, straight-arrow life. A straight-arrow life of faith. Just a tremendous example. He was a friend of all the young people in the church. He was one of those that always had a ready smile. I'm told that at one time in his years, he was the one you went to for candy, all right, in the congregation. And sometimes those are things that are done, and the children know where to go to find that. But the youth sought this gentleman out. And as I got to know him, in the years that I was pastoring in the congregation where he was, and his wife, he was a delight. In fact, just a few days before he died, I saw him in a Facebook picture with a young man from the congregation. The young man was visiting him in his care facility, and I saw him sitting there in his wheelchair. I said, yep, that's my man. Good to see him again. And then a few days later, he died. But this young man was still visiting with him. I actually was called into a prison to visit a man a few years ago. And the prisoner that I was visiting had been a part of the church, and his youth, and he'd left the church, got into trouble as an adult, and now was in prison. But one of the people that he wanted me to put on his visiting list to come in and visit with him was this same deacon, this gentleman who just died, because he remembered him from his youth. And what a good man he was, how approachable he was, how friendly he was. He lived into his 90s, and he lived a good life. And those people are important to us, and they are noted. Our ladies are the same way. They have instruction in Scripture that show the same thing. Let's turn back to Titus 2.

Titus 2, beginning in verse 3. Paul's instruction here, again for the congregations, in the same way, older women are to be reverent in behavior, not slanders, not addicted to much wine, to teach what is good so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands and children to be sensible, pure, good homemakers, submissive to their husbands, so that, and this is the reason for all of what went before, so that God's message will not be slandered.

Sometimes we might think about some of these things, and ladies, you might look at this and think, well, then I'm not quite sure I agree with that because of whatever. Maybe, all right, I don't see that, or I don't quite believe it should be that way. But God's word is sure. And the reason is so that God's message, the Word of God, the way of God, will not be slandered, will not be seen to be fraudulent or fake or hypocritical by an example because everything we do in this listing of character traits, as well as many others, is to uphold the Word of God, the message of God, and again, then to reap those benefits from that.

There's a 90-plus-year-old lady that's still alive. She's in a care facility. And when I was her pastor, she was bright, cheery, always asking questions. And if her hand went up in Bible study, I knew it would be a prophecy question. She loved prophecy. But just kind of impish and always trying to catch you in something in a good-natured way, and just a fine lady. And she and her husband age, they had to both go into a care facility, sell their home, go into a care facility.

And then he began to have dementia, but she took care of him until he died. And she's still alive. She's sharp, and I think 96 or 7 at this time. And a year or two ago, she got an iPad.

You're never too old to learn an iPad. And every once in a while, she taps out a message to me, an email, and comments on a message I've given or something on Beyond Today. And she'll remember what we, you know, maybe something from the past. But I called her once after her husband died to express my condolence to her. And she got to telling me about their life and what it had come down to. And she made a comment out of the wisdom that can only come through 50-plus years of marriage and a life well-lived and a godly life as well. And she was talking about the love between the two of them. And she said it developed, even through his years of dementia, she said, it developed into a real deep love. Deeper than you can imagine, deeper than I ever thought available and possible. Their physical, the physical part of their marriage had passed.

They were still together. They shared things. And then she became his caregiver within a care facility just to kind of be the backup to make sure that everything was taken care of. But she loved him even through that stage of his life. And she reflected in her own mind of how deep a love she came to recognize between two people that she'd never thought possible. And that has always stuck with me. When someone you've known and been a friend with for so many years like that can offer you a reflection about that type of life. It's like the earlier man I mentioned who said that you never stop being a parent. Those are gems of wisdom. Gems of wisdom that you hold on to.

And you catch them in the moment they come to you. And you bottle them up. You write them down. You remember them. Best of all, you write them on your heart so that you don't forget them. And you recognize that that's what I've got to look forward to. I hope and pray, God, that I will come to that point in my life where I will learn what they learned. And I will see that and live long enough to be able to do that. You know, the Bible talks about aspects of our care for those that are older. As I've mentioned, our society is recognizing and doing its best, I suppose, to shoulder the responsibility to care for our aging population. And the responsibilities that come upon us are important. But we understand from God's Word that we, we in the church, a Christian, has to be especially sensitive to the needs of the aged and have an active ministry to them from all of us within the congregation and to follow certain principles that are laid out there. One of them is here in 1 Timothy 5, just a few pages back in 1 Timothy 5. We read verses 1 and 2. 1 Timothy 5 and verses 1 and 2. Paul writes this, he says, do not rebuke an older man, but exhort him as a father. Younger men exhort his brothers. Older women exhort them as mothers with all propriety, with all purity. And so, it's interesting. He says, rebuke an older man, exhort him as a father. We could say that, you know, certainly exhort and care for and look after an older woman as if it were your mother and treat them as such. Recognize the nature of the stage they're going through.

One of our elders pointed out a book to me recently that I read and gave a talk to a group of our ministers about just some of the unique facts of life that we in the ministry and all of us in the church must understand, especially if it's in your family, about how to deal with that aging father or mother when at times come that they can't take care of themselves and they can't write the checks when they may need to be having somebody come in more often or the consideration of selling a property and going to a care facility. There are ways and delicate ways that need to be done to handle all of that. One of the key points this book was bringing out was to recognize that what's going on in an older person's life at that point is they are afraid of losing their dignity. And to take that driver's license, that car key away, to take that checkbook away because you don't want some shyster coming in and cleaning out the accounts with some scheme, which can happen as older people are preyed upon, you have to delicately traverse those things because that represents their life. I remember visiting a man one time who was in the early stages of Alzheimer's and his wife would call me over at various odd hours to help arbitrate a situation. And I remember one day walking into his office and he was sitting at his desk where he conducted all of his business and there was a dispute about money and the checkbook. And I watched him take that checkbook and make his statements and he put that into the drawer where he kept his checkbook and closed it and locked it. Not from me, but from his wife.

And that was the issue. And it was a very delicate situation to just, even in that moment, to work through. But that represents a life, an independence, a dignity. And maybe the car might be something else and all of that has to be properly taken care of and understood so that decisions are not made coldly, irrationally, hastily, but in a way that maintains their sense of even independence and dignity. I once had to, came into a congregation. I was in my, I guess I was in my early 30s at the time, brand new congregation, large congregation. And there was a gentleman there, Deacon, who was giving sermonettes, a long-time member. He was up in his late 80s at the time and after a few months there and talking was and listening and it was time that it was evident that he needed to no longer give sermonettes. He couldn't get through it without just forgetting where he was and ultimately became an embarrassment for him. But it was my responsibility as the pastor to finesse that, if you will. I remember agonizing over that one and praying over that one because I recognized this was one of these gentlemen that was, you know, prim and proper, suit neatly pressed and pencil-thin mustache and respected, dignified Deacon in the congregation. And here I was, this young whippersnapper, and I've got to tell him it's time that you can't speak anymore, Mr. Logan.

And I worked it through and we were still friends afterwards and he can, you know, he continued on. It worked out, but you have to finesse those things very, very carefully so that that we follow this instruction. And God bless will bless that for your family, for your congregation very, very easily. The other scriptures that speak to this are important as well. We're here in Timothy. Let's look at chapter 5 of 1 Timothy and look down at verse 16, just to look at another point, because this speaks again to the family responsibilities.

It says, if any believing, let's look at verse 8 first. I'm sorry, verse 8. If anyone does not provide for his own relatives and especially for his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. All right. Now that's principle that it is a family responsibility primarily and first to care for your family.

And down in verse 16, then it says, if it gets specific about widows, if any believing woman has widows, she should help them and the church should not be burdened so that it can help those who are genuinely widows. All right. So there are widows that, you know, maybe their husband worked at P&G. Okay. And so they're set up. Then there are widows whose husband didn't work at P&G and get a big retirement situation.

And they're just barely getting by. So, and, you know, again, family members and other circumstances that will dictate how you provide the resources financial and otherwise to them. And Paul's principle is, if you have a believing woman, it's a widow. Again, they should be helped by a relative or family so that the church can take care of those who are genuinely widows and provide that along.

The principle in these two verses is that if you have a family member in the church who isn't a need, you should, the primary responsibility from God's Word falls there. We have always gone to a family member, can you help here first? And then whatever other social means can be helped put in there. And then the church can pick up the last remaining gap so that there's a good standard of living that can be provided to help out here.

So we've tried to approach that in that three-fold approach through the years. But again, when there's members involved that are family, they are there. They're taking care of the family. I always gave my mother, my mother was a church member, and when she was able to go to the feast, she had a little bit from her savings, I would give her money. I didn't want her to have to go to the local congregation and ask for festival assistance. I felt that was my duty.

So I would give her what she needed on top of what she had to be able to go to the feast if she wasn't with us. And I felt that was my responsibility. My dad had taken care of her amply otherwise, and I didn't have to do that. But I have learned one thing through the years, that when these principles in 1 Timothy 5, 8, and 16 are not followed, because a family member will not do their job, they will not step up and fulfill their biblically mandated role when they can and they won't, then usually confusion comes out. And I've never seen any good end or good work out of that when a church member or family member would refuse when they had the means to do so.

I've had a few of those through the years, and the fruit of that decision is not good, because the parent, usually it's a woman in many circumstances, at least where I was dealing with it, and confusion and problems come up. God's Word is sure on these matters to all of us that we must remember and we must uphold.

God's Word is sure in terms of providing the resources for all of us, especially for us in our life as the years go by. There are specific promises that God gives. In Luke 2, there is a story when Christ was brought as an infant into the temple of two individuals that Luke records who wanted and saw Jesus as a baby, as a child, when they were brought into the temple.

After eight days, verse 21, this was at the time of the circumcision of the child. And at that point, Christ was brought into the temple area. And skipping down, it says that there was a man, verse 25, in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.

And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. So he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him according to the custom of the law, he took him in his arms and blessed God and said, Lord, you are now letting your servant depart in peace. What I like about this statement is back in verse, or this part of the story, is back in verse 28, where it says about Simeon that he was waiting for the consolation of Israel. It's another way of putting that he was waiting and looking, as everyone else was, for the hope of Israel, of the Messiah. And he wanted to see that. And because of his devout nature, and Luke has moved to record his story, he was one that God allowed to see. And he gave a blessing. There's also in this story another second individual that begins in verse 36, who comes and sees Jesus, and that's Anna, a woman. Verse 36 says, there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Faneuil of the tribe of Asher. She was of great age and had lived with the husband seven years from her virginity. And this woman was a widow of about 84 years, who did not depart from the temple, to serve God with fastings and prayers night and day. And coming in that instant, she gave thanks to the Lord and spoke of him to all those who looked for redemption in Israel. So she praised the fact that she was able to see Jesus. And she testified to those who looked for the redemption of Israel.

I like these two words out of here, consolation regarding Simeon and redemption regarding Anna.

This is what these two older people looked for from God, hope, redemption, salvation.

And they went into the temple, seeking that and on a particular day, they found it.

Now, what does that tell us? What lessons might we draw from this? Well, we come together every Sabbath as the part of the temple of God, a spiritual temple.

And we are looking for hope as well, from different perspectives in our life.

We are looking for the hope of eternal life, salvation. We are hoping for the hope of a good way of life and the hope of maybe even on a particular day, just getting a kind word from someone in the congregation. Maybe a good message is going to kind of get us through the next week.

We're seeking that redemption as well. We come into the spiritual church of God, and we're looking for something. And we're looking for God to teach us and to work with us. Just as Simeon and Anna were in their lives at that particular time. We're looking for consolation. We're looking for something. And God promises that. Let me conclude with three things that God promises all of us, and especially those of us that might be a little bit older.

Let's look at Isaiah 46. God has promised us His abiding presence, His abiding presence. He is with us. We have His Spirit. The Spirit led Simeon and Anna into the temple. God's Spirit leads us not only into the church and in our lives in the church, but every day as we yield to God. God promises us all, especially as the years and the ailments and illnesses. And the time takes its toll. He promises His abiding presence. Look at Isaiah 46 verses 3 and 4. Listen to me, House of Israel, all the remnant to the House of Israel, who've been sustained from the womb, carried along since birth. I will be the same until your old age. It doesn't change. The God that leads us in our youth, who calls us in our youth, the God who called me and mine and you and yours through your mother and father, and whom you serve and remain faithful. He says, I will be the same until your old age, and I will bear you up when you turn gray. Wow. That's a promise. That's a benefit. I have made you and I will carry you. I will bear and save you. God says to the elderly, my presence is not going to fade because of your faith, because of your dedication.

And that's a promise that we can begin to grab hold on at any point in our life.

A second promise from God is that God gives strength to endure suffering and infirmity.

He gives strength to endure suffering and infirmity. Let's look at 1 Peter 4.

Suffering and infirmity covers a multitude of matters and issues, dozens of folks in our life, especially as the years go by. 1 Peter 4, verses 1 and 2, it says, Therefore, Peter writes, since Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same resolve, because the one who suffered in the flesh has finished with sin. In order to live the remaining time in the flesh, no longer for human desires, but for God's will.

Take out the parenthetical aspect of that. And Peter is saying, since Christ suffered in the flesh and yourselves also with the same resolve, live the remaining time in the flesh, no longer for human desires, but for God's will. There comes a point where we begin to mature and we recognize that the things of our life are not that important, that it's the people, it's the relationships, it's the family. And we don't need as much as we thought we did when we were 30, 35. And we realize, you know, even to the point you get to the point, you know, I don't need this house or this much house. I've literally, my wife and I, started to look around our home and think, what are we doing here? I mean, that every year at this time I get tired of moving a yard. And, you know, she gets tired of going upstairs, making the beds, and we're thinking, do we, we're not, we're not, don't come try to buy my house tomorrow. We're not, we're not going anywhere. We're not selling out. But the question is, we're gonna pop up, and it's because we downsized my mother-in-law. We looked at their big house, and we don't want our children to have to go through ours like we had to go through hers. And, you know, that's just so much, you know, that's kind of sometimes a piece of cake. But then there's other things, as the scripture is talking about, of suffering, that we, that then will come that presents its challenges, and it can happen younger than one might think as well. But he says, arm yourselves with resolve. And God promises that help, because we were living through God's will for us. That's really what it means. What we deal with in this stage of our life is what God is continuing to work with us on to perfect us for His family, and what He has had in mind for us from the time of our calling, to equip us with and to bring us to for the particular place that He has in mind, for that Kingdom and for that place to assist Jesus Christ and His Kingdom as a King and a priest.

The third point is that God gives deliverance from the fear of death.

Romans 8. God gives deliverance from the fear of death.

Romans 8, beginning in verse 38. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, Paul writes, nothing in essence, will have the power to separate us from the love of God, that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Tremendous passage of Scripture to give us courage, to face that inevitability, and to be able to face it with grace, faith, and no fear.

God promises that to all of us, and it is a promise that when we, as we grow older, we think more about and should think about, because it will give us that courage and faith and lack of fear to deal with what lies ahead and do it in confidence and in courage.

We all have to sweat with the oldies.

We oldies have to sweat sometimes in our own way, and did in different ways from what it might have been like 30 years ago. But that's part of it, and that's okay.

As they say, the alternative isn't all that good.

But we all need to work on that together. We all need to endure one another and to endure with one another and to help one another. God gives these promises. He gives us instruction and teaching, and to the degree we live up to all of those, God's blessing will be there. Let's remember that.

And let's never forget God's care for all of us.