Growing Old Isn't for Sissies (Guest Speaker Larry Webb)

I want to thank you as a congregation for welcoming Drew

and Louvian and Aria and Micah. Thank you for accepting them.

This is almost a surreal moment for me, as I wasn't sure if and

when Drew would become a lead pastor and shepherd his own

congregation. But Drew's more patient than his

father, and he waited for God's perfect timing.

And then God brought all this together and we couldn't be more

grateful, Drew mentioned. We're from West TX.

Texans have the unfortunate reputation of being

braggadocious about everything being bigger and better in

Texas. I heard about a Texas rancher

and an Iowa farmer that met at an agricultural convention.

The Texas rancher said to this Iowa farmer, he said, how big is

your spread? And the farmer said not not that

big, big enough, no more than 100 acres.

This Texas rancher said, are you serious?

That's nothing, 100 acres. I have so much land I can get in

my truck in the morning and drive from sunrise until sunset.

And at the end of that time I still will have not gotten to

the end of my land. This Texas rancher said that's,

that's, that's OK. He scratched his head.

The Iowa farmer did and said, I know exactly what you mean.

I used to have a truck like that myself.

Anyway, you can always tell a Texan.

You can't tell him much, but you can always tell a Texan.

Please turn in your Bibles or open up the Bible app on your

phone to Joshua chapter 14. I am preaching from the newer

Joshua 14 · chapter mention

edition of the King James translation.

If you're using something else, I am certain that it will be

much the same. This morning we're addressing

the subject of age and aging. I read about a woman that sat in

the waiting room for a first time appointment to see a new

dentist. She noticed his diploma from

dental school that had his full name, and she was surprised to

see that because she remembered a tall, handsome, athletic boy

with that same name from her high school from her high school

graduating class long ago. She thought, could this possibly

be the same guy I had a crush on in high school?

But she immediately dismissed that idea when she met the

dentist. He was a short, balding,

wrinkled, pudgy old man. She thought that this man was

much too old to have been in her class, but she couldn't contain

herself. She just had to ask.

So after they had spent some time together, she asked, Did

you happen to attend Morgan Park High School?

He smiled and said, Yes, I did. I was a Mustang.

She asked. And when did you graduate?

He said 1959, She responded, 1959.

Then you were in my class. He paused, looking at her more

closely. Said I was in your class.

And what was it exactly that you taught?

Aging happens, and from a medical perspective, aging is

the alternative to death. So unless we're anxious to die

soon, then aging is a good thing.

Aging is a blessing from God. The percentage of older people

in the US population is increasing at an exponential

rate. This is 2025, and there are now

73 million of us aged 65 and older.

That's almost one fifth of our entire population.

And then there are 6.4 million of us that are 85 and older.

Actually, the fastest growing demographic right now are people

aged 90. Plus we have some widows in our

congregation that are 90 and more than 91 is 95 and she still

drives. Not sure that's a good idea.

On a global scale, there are 1 billion people over age 65.

Japan is aging so fast that adult diapers are out selling

baby diapers. the United Nations is estimated there are now some

316,000 centenarians. Centenarians are people aged 100

and older. And now there's a new

demographic level called super centenarian.

That's people 110 and older and there are live and now an

estimated 300 and Fort Fort 450 super centenarians people.

That's craziness. Caleb is one of my favorite

biblical characters. Our oldest grandson is a Caleb.

He is a second year electrical engineering student at

California Baptist University. His father and our second son is

a Joshua. So we have a Joshua and a Caleb.

Let's read some background to these comments on Caleb, Joshua

14, starting at verse 6. Then the children of Judah came

to Joshua at Gilgal, and Caleb the son of Jofana the Kinnazai,

said to him, You know the word which the Lord said to Moses,

the man of God, concerning you, Joshua and me, Caleb and Kadish

Barnia. Verse seven.

I was 40 years old. This is Caleb speaking.

I was 40 years old when Moses the servant of the Lord, sent me

from Kadish Barnia to spy out the land, and I brought back

word to him as it was in my heart.

Verse 8. Nevertheless my brother, and who

went up with me, me and the other spies made the heart of

the people melt. But I wholly follow the Lord my

God. It is estimated that 2 million

plus Israelites had left Egypt and a journey to the edge of the

land God had promised them. That land was called Canaan and

the people stopped just outside Canaan at a region called Kadish

Barnia. From Kadish Barnia, Moses agreed

to send 12 men on a reconnaissance mission into

Canaan. Those men were instructed to

investigate the condition of the land and more specifically to

bring back some of the grape harvest to demonstrate that

lands fruitfulness. That happened per those

instructions. And so it's no coincidence that

the modern day Israeli Ministry of Tourism has as its logo to

men carrying an enormous cluster of grapes hanging from a pole

beneath between them. Those spies were also instructed

to determine the strength and fortification of Canaan cities

and people. The 12 spies all agreed on the

desirability of the land but disagreed on what to do. 10 of

those spies brought back an exaggerated negative report and

said it would be impossible to conquer Canaan.

The argument was there are giants in Canaan and we're

grasshoppers compared to them, we cannot do this.

But Joshua and Caleb disagreed and said to the others, no, God

told us to invade Canaan and we can do this.

Well, the problem was the people listen to the bad report from

the 10 spies and so rejected Caleb and Joshua and even wanted

to stone them in order to punish the people.

Stubborn disobedience. God pushed pause and God put a

hold on the movement to invade the Promised land.

He forced the entire nation to wander in the wilderness region

until that entire first generation of Israelites that

had left Egypt died off. Only Joshua and Caleb and the

emerging generations would be permitted to enter Canaan.

Notice verse 9. So Moses swore to Caleb on that

day, saying, Surely the land where your foot is trodden shall

be your inheritance and your children's forever, because you

have wholly followed the Lord my God.

Verse 10. And now this is Caleb speaking.

Behold, the Lord has kept me alive as He said these 45 years,

ever since the Lord spoke this word to Moses while Israel

wandered in the wilderness. And now here I am, this day, 85

years old. That's an abbreviated background

to this text. Now let me extract from this

narrative 4 principles about AG principle.

One advanced stage doesn't mean we have to think old getting

older. Advancing age doesn't mean we

have to think old. Verse 11 notice, Caleb said.

And yet as yet I am as strong this day as on the day that

Moses sent me. Carefully notice, he said.

And yet I am as strong this day as on the day that Moses sent

me. Just as my strength was then, so

now is my strength for war, both for going out and for coming in.

From personal experience, the first half of life was a piece

of cake, but the second-half has been more difficult.

Old age is not for sissies. Caleb had a mindset to handle

AG. Caleb essentially said he felt

as strong at 85 as he did at 40. Imagine that he felt as strong

at 85 as he did at 40. That might have been wishful

thinking, but it wasn't old thinking.

Unlike Caleb, I have lost some fitness and strength.

I used to pinch an inch and now it's grab a slab.

I used to lift more weight than anyone in the gym and now I sit

in the tub, pull the plug and fight the current.

I actually sat in a rocking chair this past Tuesday but I

couldn't get it started. And each morning I wake up, what

doesn't ache doesn't work. I admit I'm old, but I don't

think old because unless we die, we cannot avoid the inevitable

ageing process. So we should learn to adjust to

ageing. Aging isn't a choice, but our

attitude toward aging is. From a biblical perspective,

aging and old age is a blessing from God.

Consider some examples of that. Genesis 25 verse 8.

Genesis 25:8

Then Abraham breathed his last and died in a good old age.

Notice old age is described as being good.

Abraham breathed his last, and died in a good old age and old

man and full of years. First Chronicles 29, verse 8 So

1 Chronicles 29:8

he David died in a good old age full of days.

Job 42 verse 17 So Job died old and full of days.

Job 42:17

Proverbs 16 verse 31. The silver haired head, meaning

Proverbs 16:31

the hair on an older man's head that often turns Gray, is a

crown of glory. Now personally I think hair is

overrated, but that's probably just me.

Titus one and verse 5. Paul said to Titus appoint

elders in every city. God specified that the highest

governing group in the church should be elders, and that

original word meant someone of advanced age, an older and

mature man. Titus 2 verses 3 and 4

Titus 2:3

encourages quote older women to teach younger women.

Problem is, it's extremely difficult to find a woman that

actually admits to being an older woman.

Exodus 20 verse 12. This is the 5th commandment.

Exodus 20:12

Honor your father and mother. And why would God tell the

ancient Israelites to do that? That your days may be long.

The blessing God promised His obedient covenant children that

honored their parents was old age.

Moses described aging as something desirable and a

blessing. Leviticus 19 verse 32 stand up

Leviticus 19:32

in the presence of the elderly and show respect for the aging.

Age is something to be respected and something to be honored,

something other cultures understand.

China legislated a recent law that requires adult children to

visit their parents and not to do.

That can result in punishment ranging from fines to jail time.

And that's also the similar emphasis in Korea and Japan.

In the United States, not so much.

In our culture, the aged are often abandoned in convalescent

and nursing homes. Now don't misunderstand that I

understand because of serious health problems the aged, it

happened to my mother, the aged need special 24 hour care and I

understand that. But I've been and I visited

convalescent homes for the past half century often.

I ask does anyone come to see you?

And their response is no, no one.

The older generation should never be abandoned and never be

ignored and neglected. According to the 5th Commandment

in the Decalogue. That is not how we honor our

parents. God has placed a premium on

aging. We should accept advancing age

as a blessing and a gift from God, and we should determine to

appreciate and celebrate our longevity and not just endure

it. Aging is 10% what happens to us

and 90% how we respond to it. There might need to be some

adjustments in order to accommodate the aging process.

I have a General practitioner, medical doctor, and I also have

six medical specialists because aging often includes health

problems. That's part of it.

So aging might require us to make some adjustments, but age

doesn't mean we're done. I read AT Shirt that said I'm

retired but not expired. Older generations might struggle

to keep up with emerging generations.

In some sense, especially in technology, our grandchildren

know more about our phones than we do.

If I have a phone problem, I call our oldest grandson and

he'll explain. Walk me through it.

But remember something. As long as we that are older are

alive, as long as we that are older are alive, we're still

leading. We're still leading because we

are aware of the emerging generations have never been

youthfulness is so naive. Emerging generations consisting

of baby Busters, Generation X. Our son is a Buster.

Millennials, Generation Y, and especially now members of the

Generation Z, the Zoomers, and now the most recent generation

is AA, consists of children born from 2010 to 2025.

But emerging generations have the mistaken notion that old

people have always been old and that they themselves are never

going to get old. That's called self deception.

So generations after us have to learn aging from us.

David commented on that Psalm 71 verse 18.

Psalms 71:18

Now also when I'm old and Gray headed, oh God, do not forsake

me until until I declare your strength to this generation and

declare your power to everyone who is to come.

To everyone who is to come means generations that would come

after David. As older people, we've all made

mistakes, we've all had regrets. We all wish we could have some

do overs and that's not possible.

But we can pass on our experiences to emerging

generations, all of them. The good, the bad and the ugly.

We can pass on those things to generations after us so that

they can benefit from our experiences.

There's so much we can learn from older people.

Someone said aging is just mind over matter.

If we don't mind, then it doesn't matter.

Age is just a number. And that's because it's about

attitude and Caleb have the right attitude.

Principle 2. Aging should be seen as a

challenge. Verse 12 Caleb said now

therefore give me this mountain. Caleb is requesting a mountain

give me this mounting in which the Lord spoke in that day, for

you heard in that day how the Anakim were there and that the

cities were great and fortified. It may be that the Lord will be

with me and I shall be able to drive them out as the Lord said.

Remember, at this juncture, 80, Caleb is 85.

And notice he didn't. He didn't resign himself to a do

nothing rock chair rocking chair existence.

Most of his peers had already probably retired to Red Sea

Condos. Not Caleb.

He didn't go. Been there, done that, even got

the T-shirt. Someone else can do it now.

I'm done. I'm serious.

I'm done. That wasn't Caleb.

Caleb said Give me those mountains.

Caleb said. Bring on those giants, let me

out those fortified cities. Don't get me a Walker, people.

Get me a sword. I'm not through here.

That was Caleb. Some people stagnate in old age.

Those people don't just get old, they get obsolete.

I heard about a dynamic St. who suffered A cardiac arrest and

died suddenly at age 83. But after she passed, her

daughter was going through her things and found a note.

Dated the night before she died and on that note, she had listed

her personal goals for the next 10 years because she accepted

aging as a challenge. Nola Ox was born in 1911,

graduated from high school in 1929.

She married and mothered four sons, 13 grandchildren and 15

great grandchildren. She took her first college

course in 1930. Now, 56% of all students that

start college don't finish college.

She wasn't one of those unfortunate statistics.

Almost 8 decades after she started college, she graduated

from Fort Hays State University where she earned a General

Studies degree with an emphasis in History.

She was 95. Princess Cruise Line heard about

her and hired as a guest lecturer on a Caribbean cruise.

She returned and decided to go to Graduate School.

Nola earned a master's degree at age 98, the oldest Graduate

School graduate ever to that date.

And then once she turned 100, she said yes to another

challenge and accepted a job as a graduate assistant.

People, that's what I'm talking about.

Nolan, I should add, didn't die till she was 105.

As Drew mentioned, this past summer I turned 75.

We've been married for 55 years, which boggles our mind.

How did this happen so quick? 23 months ago, I accepted

probably the most difficult task God has ever assigned to me, and

that was to revitalize an older congregation.

No one was younger than 62. God assigned me the task of

revivaling that congregations, something that all the experts,

denominational experts said could not be done.

I brought in Dr. Jonathan Smith from Dallas.

He spent 2 1/2 hours one Sunday evening with our people, as many

as I could get there. And at the end of his

presentation, and he is an expert on church revitalization.

He's very, very knowledgeable. At the end of the presentation,

he said, I'm so sorry, but this church is not a candidate for

revitalization. You have money in the bank.

You'll last longer than some, but you're not going to make it.

Wow. But I said yes, ultimately yes

to that assignment. And God is doing some miraculous

things. Aging should be seen as a

challenge. Principle 3.

It's possible for our greatest achievements to come in our old

age. It's entirely possible for our

greatest achievements to come in our old age.

Numbers 14, verses 2 through 4. God said that my servant Caleb,

Numbers 14:2–4

because he has a different spirit in him and has followed

me fully, I will bring into the land where he went.

Canaan and his descendants shall inherit it.

So Caleb assisted his partner, General Joshua in invading

Canaan, and in a series of light night lightning strike attacks,

the major strongholds in that land were conquered.

Caleb was a significant participant in that invasion,

and at age 85, that turned out to be probably his greatest

achievement. Anna Mary Robertson Moses,

better known as Grandma Moses, had no formal art training but

became a cultural icon after she started painting at age 76.

Before she died, she painted some 1600 canvases, including 25

paintings she completed at 101. She sold her first painting for

$3, and in 2006 one of her paintings sold for $1.2 million.

At age 59, the pitching phenom from the Negro Lick Leagues,

Satchel Paige, started his last Major League ball game.

He pitched for the Kansas City Athletics.

The Athletics originated in Philadelphia, Philadelphia

Athletics, then Kansas City Athletics, and then in 1968 the

Athletics moved to Oakland and became the Oakland Athletics.

And now in 2028 going to be the Las Vegas Athletics team just

can't stay still. I don't know what's going on,

but he pitched for pitched for the Athletics.

The game was September the 25th, 1965 against the Boston Red Sox.

Satchel sat in the bullpen in a rocking chair and a nurse

massaged his pitching arm and served in coffee between

innings. He pitched 3 scoreless innings

and left the game to the crowd singing The Old Gray Mare.

She ain't what she used to be. At age 64, prolific author

Charles Swindell. He's authored more than 70

books. I'm actually indebted to him for

some of this material. But Charles Swindell at 64,

started Stonebrough Community Church in North Dallas, Frisco,

to be precise. Church is a mega church.

Phenomenal facilities. Dr. Swindell retired this past

fall at age 9090, but he turns 91 this month, and each morning

he still goes to his office at Inside for Living, where he

helps facilitate transmitting his sermons on more than 2000

radio stations. At age 70, Benjamin Franklin

became the oldest signer of the Declaration of Independence.

Most people have the mistaken notion that Daniel was thrown

into the lion's den and survived when he was still a teenager.

Wrong. Most biblical historians would

argue that Daniel was tossed into the lion's den at age 80.

Billy Graham was the greatest evangelist in modern times.

He preached his last crusade in Queens, NY. 3 consecutive nights

of crusade. Each night the attendance was

more than 80,000. Billy Graham preached his last

sermon at age 86. These men and women had some of

their greatest achievements in old age.

Those people subscribe to the adage that it's never too late

to do something significant. Principle 4.

No matter how old we are, God still rewards spiritual

commitment. No matter our age.

No matter how old we are, God still rewards spiritual

commitment. Verse 13 And Joshua blessed him,

meaning Joshua blessed Caleb and gave him Hebron, and gave Hebron

to Caleb the son of Geophonah as an inheritance.

Verse 14. Hebron therefore became the

inheritance of Caleb, the son of Geophonah the Kinzenite.

To this day, because, notice, because he wholly followed the

Lord God of Israel. I should mention that that

mountain Hebron is also pronounced Hebron.

Both are acceptable pronunciations.

That last phrase he wholly followed the Lord God was used

to describe Caleb six different times in the Old Testament.

It's interesting. Biblical historians aren't

exactly sure what the name Caleb meant.

Some believe it meant dog and undomesticated dog.

But then most are convinced Caleb meant wholehearted.

Wholehearted. Caleb had a whole heart for God,

and that wholeheartedness fits this statement.

He wholly, not partially. He wholly, completely, totally

followed the Lord God of Israel. There's a sports line that reads

leave it all on the field. Coaches tell teams, get out

there and give this game everything you have.

Don't hold back anything. Leave it all on the field.

Caleb did that. Caleb demonstrated complete

devotion, unreserved enthusiasm and unconditional commitment to

God. That was Caleb at age 85.

Has that ever been us at any age?

Translated into two Testament language?

Caleb illustrates that being a Christian is a 24/7 full time

job. Being a Christian requires all

of us and all the time, no matter how old we are.

Convenient Christianity is unacceptable.

Comfortable Christianity is unacceptable.

Uncomfortable Christianity is unacceptable.

God wants a Caleb wholeheartedness from us.

Jim Elliott should sound familiar.

He's quoted so often one of the five murdered martyr new

missionaries in the Esquid Ecuadorian jungle in 1956.

I have a good friend, a pastor friend, who spent a number of

weeks there in that jungle with the formerly known as ACA

Indians. And those missionaries were

murdered in 1956. Jim Elliott said this.

When it comes time to die, make sure that all you have to do is

die. Meaning when it comes time to

die, make sure there's no unfinished spiritual business.

When it comes time to die, we are to be faithful to do all

that God required from us, and so all we have left to do is to

die. I'm part of the baby boomer

generation, the stretch from 1946 through 1964.

Together almost 77 million of us, twice the size of the Buster

generation after us, and boomers are now retiring at a record

pace. 8000 or more boomers retire each day.

There are now more retirees than ever.

Most people aren't aware, but retirement is not found in

Scripture. In fact, retirement is a recent

practice. Most historians trace retirement

to Germany's Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, who pushed through a

series of social changes in the late 19th century.

He created a German system similar to our Social Security

benefits that guaranteed a retirement pension to older

people. I'm OK with the idea that we can

require retire from our current employment, but from a biblical

perspective, a Christian should redeploy after his employment

has ended because God still requires commitment from us even

in old age. Christians can retire from Ford

Motor Company, retire from IV, retire from Bank of America,

retire from the post office in the fire department, retire from

the school district, retire from John Deere.

That's fine, that's all fine. But Christians don't retire from

being a Christian. The objective in retirement

isn't to just visit our grandchildren.

Now don't misunderstand that one reason we're here is because of

our grandchildren. We have 4 grandchildren, 2 boys,

2 girls. They're all amazing and we miss

them and they're one reason we're here.

I've always said grandchildren are God's reward to parents who

don't kill their children. And so we love to see our

grandchildren, but that's retirement after retirement.

Our objective should be more than that.

Our objective shouldn't be to just better our golf score, or

improve our tan, or just hunt and fish, or improve our

pickleball game, or restore a classic car, or just RV

ourselves until the wheels fall off.

No, no, there are short term mission trips to be taken.

There are ministries to be volunteered for.

There are marriages to be salvage.

There are people to be friend they were unsaved to be

evangelized. There are people in pain to be

counseled, children without parents to be mentored, the

underprivileged to be fed and clothed, and on and on and on.

Christians never, never retire from being a Christian and doing

all that God expects from us. Now notice Caleb's consistent

commitment was first rewarded on earth and receiving that

inheritance God promised him. Caleb had asked Joshua to give

him a mountain inside Judah. Joshua blessed him, and that

blessing acted as a sign that God had granted him that

request. So God gave Caleb Hebron the

mountain. Hebron was an important site

because it is supposedly where the ancient Jewish patriarchs

Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are buried, and according to

rabbinical tradition, the first man, Adam, was also buried

there. Although no one actually knows

that Caleb wanted Hebron, and in compensation for his commitment

to God, he inherited Hebron. That was his initial reward.

God still rewards us here on this earth, our reward.

He rewards us with financial and material assets.

He rewards us with strategic personal connections.

He rewards us with promotions and recognition.

God still rewards us here, but those are only our initial

rewards. Our greatest and most permanent

rewards are reserved for us in heaven.

Matthew 5, verse 12. Jesus said rejoice and be

Matthew 5:12

exceedingly glad, for great is your reward.

And where is our great reward? In Heaven In Heaven, the

organization ARAP, American Association for Retired Persons.

That organization started sending me stuff at age 50.

I go, man, this is ridiculous. I don't need this now.

That organization suggests that most people after age 50 believe

in life after death. That particular research project

revealed that confidence in life after death increases with age,

and that's because Ecclesiastes 311 reads that God has put

eternity into our hearts. The sense that we have been

created to exist forever is has been a part of all civilizations

throughout human history. Astrophological evidence

suggests that every culture, no matter how primitive, every

culture, has this God-given an eighth sense of the eternal.

There was this sense that our time on this earth is not all

there is. In a grammatical sense.

Death is not a period. Death is just a comma in the

continuation of life. Death doesn't mean termination.

Death just means a transition into the eternal.

Famous German pastor, theologian and strong anti Nazi dissident

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was executed by the Nazis just before the

liberation. His last words were oh God, this

is the end. But for me this is just the

beginning. And that's because there's an

infant amount more life on the other side of the grave than

there is on this side. Breath brings us birth brings us

into time. Death brings us into

timelessness. That's the reason it concerns

me. The contemporary Christianity

seems to focus more on the here and now.

We've all heard them. I'm not going to mention names,

Joel Osteen, but we, we've all heard them say that you know the

emphasis on being happier now, your best life now, having more

here, having good health here, solving our problems here, being

more blessed here, being more fulfilled here, being more

successful here. People, have we forgotten that

here stops at the grave? I read about someone that didn't

understand that concept. He saved and hoarded as much

money as he could throughout his lifetime because he had an

unreasonable, unbiblical affection for money.

Just before he died, he insisted his wife put his entire life

savings into the casket with him.

She was scheduled to receive sizeable life insurance

benefits, so she was provided for after his death, but he

wanted to see if he could be the one exception.

The one exception to take his personal 6 figure bank account

into the afterlife. His wife protested at first, but

then reconsidered and promised him she would do that at his

funeral. After the service, just before

the casket was closed, his wife put a small box into the casket.

The Mortuary staff then closed the casket, rolled it away.

One of the wife's friends was aware of this man's strange

request and she noticed what this woman had just done.

And she said, wait a minute, you weren't foolish enough to put

all that money into the casket, were you?

She said. I promised my husband I would

put his entire life savings into the casket with him.

This friend is frantic and shocked.

Seriously. Seriously.

You mean to tell me that you actually put all that money into

the casket? She said.

Yes, I did. I wrote him a check for the

exact amount here. Stops at the grave.

So the older we get, the more focused on the eternal we should

be. Bruce Wilkerson, famous author.

His books have sold millions of copies and also founder of Walk

Through the Bible Ministries and I've met him and spoke to him

and have listened to him at different seminars.

Bruce Wilkerson's calls that the law of the unbreakable link.

The law of the unbreakable link. Unbreakable link, meaning the

uninterrupted link between the here and the hereafter.

That law states our choices on earth have direct consequences

in heaven. That law was illustrating using

a dot and a line as on this poster and as on the note sheet.

You have notice on the note sheet the dots and then the line

beginning after the dot and then going off the edge of the page.

The dot represents our entire existence on this earth from

birth until death, and the line represents our eternal existence

in heaven. The dot is finite, the land, the

line is infinite. The dot almost never lasts more

than a century, but the line lasts forever.

Carrie was on the dot until this past Wednesday afternoon.

Now Kerry is on that line and someday we will all be on that

line. Please understand there is a

direct connection between what we do on the dots during our

life here and then what we experience on the line.

That which we do on earth as on the dot is going to be

recognized and then rewarded in heaven on the line.

That means that the at this moment, we're all existing on

the dot, but we were meant to live the line.

We need to understand that this is an eternal perspective we are

to have. We're existing on the dot, but

we are to live and invest in the line.

One of my all time favorite communicators was Howard

Hendricks from Dallas Theological Seminary.

Dallas Seminaries 1 of this nation's elite seminaries before

his death in 2013. Doctor Hendricks taught at

Dallas Seminary until age 86. All together, he taught more

than 10,000 students throughout his sixth decade tenure there as

a professor. One of the greatest

communicators I've ever heard. Some of his students have become

household names in evangelicalism.

The influence he had on Chrysodom is incalculable.

Doctor Hendricks and I heard him share this in person once,

shared how he and a small group of men had been in a Sunday

School conference at historic Moody Church in Chicago.

At lunchtime, these men were eating at a small hamburger shop

across the street and one of them noticed an older woman who

couldn't find the seat, so these gentlemen invited her to sit

with them. This widowed woman had ridden

all night long on a Greyhound bus from Upper Michigan to

attend this Sunday school conference.

Now get this this woman was 83 and at age 83 she still taught a

junior high boys Sunday school class.

People, junior high boys are potential domestic terrorists.

This woman came from a small congregation in a small Upper

Michigan town. It's combined Sunday school

attendance averaged 65, and 13 or more of them were in her

class. She said to these men, I came to

this conference for one reason, so I can learn how to be a

better Sunday school teacher. At 83, she's investing in the

line. Still investing in the line

Wanted to be a better Sunday School teacher.

At age 83, this woman was barely still on the dot, but she was

still investing in the line. Listen carefully.

After her tenure as a Sunday school teacher at that small

church, 2222 of her formal pupils graduated from Dallas

Theological Seminary and all together 84 of this teachers,

former junior high students ended up in full time

professional ministry. People that's investing in the

line. And that's what we are called on

to do and to continue to do and to continue to do and to

continue to do until we're actually on the line.

Let's bow our heads. I think I've gone over.

I apologize, Father, I thank you for Caleb, for his example, for

all of us. Even the younger people here

should be able to relate to this because their desire is to get

older. And I pray God that you will

help each of us to, to learn these lessons from Caleb.

Help us even though we're still on the dot.

Help us to invest in the line. That's what you require from us

and that is what we should give you out of gratitude for all

that you've given to us. I do want to pray for Carrie's

family during this time and her many, many friends.

We're happy for her, she's with you, but we're sad for everyone

who's been left behind. So I pray that you will comfort

and encourage their hearts. Again, thank you for this

opportunity to meet these dear people and to share your word.

And I thank you in Jesus name, Amen.