INTRO.- ILL.- When a physician remarked on a new patient’s extraordinarily ruddy complexion, he said, "High blood pressure, Doc. It comes from my family."
"Your mother’s side or your father’s?" I asked. "Neither," he replied. "It’s from my wife’s family."
"Oh, come now," I said. "How could your wife’s family give you high blood pressure?" He sighed. "You oughta meet ’em sometime, Doc!"
ILL.- The doctor took his patient into his office and said, "I have some good news and some bad news." The patient said, "Give me the good news." The doctor said, "They’re going to name a disease after you."
Acquiring good health is big priority with most people.
ILL.- I saw an online CNN survey on January 2, 2010: “What is the focus of your New Year’s resolution?” Family. Health. Work/$$$. Other. None. Guess?
37% Health
25% Work/$$$
16% None
15% Family
7% Other
Health was the number one focus for 2010. I thought it might be work and/or finances, but it wasn’t. And, of course, you can’t work and make money if your health isn’t good.
ILL.- Recently, my preacher friend Bob Stacy in Middletown, OH, wrote me about all the illness he’s seen in his church, etc. Here is what he wrote: “You know, Steve, there are more suffering people today than I’ve ever seen in my 55+ years in ministry. It may be that people are living longer, but many of these for whom I request prayer are not really old people. I think our lifestyle, our eating habits, et cetera contribute a great deal to our downward health trend in this country. And I really wonder about medications, too. It seems the more medications that medical science comes up with, the more debilitating illnesses increase. I may be wrong and certainly have no proof, but I just wonder!”
I wonder too, however, the important thing is that we must learn to take care of ourselves as best we can if we want to be able to serve the Lord. And this is why we are. And this is why Bob Stacy at age 75 is still preaching in a fairly large church and doing a good job. God has blessed him with good health. Bob told me that he’s only been in the hospital one time in his entire life. That’s a pretty good record.
ILL.- Many of you may well remember one of my college professors, Don DeWelt. Don passed away in June, 1991, ago at the age of 72. I saw Chris (his son) last year and for some reason (why? I don’t know) he said, “You know that dad never took care of himself.”
Why should we take care of ourselves? Because our bodies belong to the Lord.
PROP.- Consider the secret to good health and soul prosperity.
1- Minister to one another
2- Be faithful to God’s truth
3- Demonstrate love to all
I. MINISTER TO ONE ANOTHER
2Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well.
I do that for you too, just as John prayed for them. What is this? It’s called ministering to one another in prayer. And it could well be that the greatest thing that we do for one another is to pray for one another.
Ephesians 6:18 “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.”
With all kinds of prayers and requests. Any kind. For anything. We should pray for good health and healing for people. WE SHOULD ALWAYS PRAY FOR OTHERS!
ILL.- I’ve got a friend whose daughter and step-daughter have been put in jail for fooling around with Meth. They’ve both been in rehab before and may go back unless something worse happens. THEY NEED PRAYER!
Colossians 4:2-4 “2Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. 3And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. 4Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should.”
James 5:13-16 “13Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. 14Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. 16Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.”
Do it really do any good to pray for people? What do you think? I think the Lord is quick to answer our prayers that are people-centered. It shows that we are not selfish, that we care about others.
ILL.- Here’s a note I received via email from a retired school principle out in PA: “May the Lord continue to bless you and your family in all that you and they are used to do to encourage, uplift and bless others. End of one year. Ready for another, Lord-willing. I continue to share the daily prayers with fifteen others (some of whom, almost assuredly, pass them to their friends). Sort of like a rock, cast into a previously motionless pond. ...>>>great ripple effect!”
“Shirley is still staying at the Riverview Assisted Living Manor. She’s down to 92.5 pounds, presently. She’s been on a "health roller-coaster" for several months now. Currently she is bringing up *some mucous, having *some breathing problems ( even with oxygen available), having difficulty sleeping at night, due to breathing difficulties, etc. My poor sweetie is having quite a go of it. Please, continue to lift her up in prayer. Thanks.”
ILL.- Another note from Ted Skiles, missionary to Taiwan. THE HOME OF GOD’S LOVE wrote: Dear Steve, “Like cold water to a weary soul is good news from a distant land.” Proverbs 25:25
Thanks for your note(s) of encouragement. We especially appreciate your prayers. Were it not for the prayers of the faithful, I’m sure we would have given up long ago. Thank you for remembering us before the throne.
“Right now Bev has 17 infants and we’re expecting 2 more in the next day or two. I’m glad God knows how much she and we can take!” It pays to pray for others!
We shouldn’t stop with prayer, however. If there are other things we can do to minister to one another we should do them: go visit someone in the nursing home. Call someone on the phone and LE THEM TALK! Some people are lonely and need someone to talk to. Run an errand for a shut-in person. Baby sit for a working mother and do it free of charge.
I believe that as we minister to one another in various ways, God will take care of us physically and spiritually.
Proverbs 11: 17 “A kind man benefits himself, but a cruel man brings trouble on himself.”
Galatians 6:9 “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” We’ll reap a harvest of good!
II. BE FAITHFUL TO GOD’S TRUTH
3It gave me great joy to have some brothers come and tell about your faithfulness to the truth and how you continue to walk in the truth. 4I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.
Faithfulness to the truth. Walk in the truth. I think God always blesses us when we are faithful to Him and walk in His truth.
ILL.- Ben Merold retired recently as the Senior Minister of the Harvester Christian Church, St. Charles, MO, at age 83.
Ben has been one of the most beloved leaders in Christian churches and churches of Christ over the past half-century. He began preaching in 1948, and beyond leading churches in four states, he has preached the gospel in 47 states and seven foreign countries. He received his education at Johnson Bible College, Knoxville, Tennessee, and Lincoln (Illinois) Christian College. Ben has been senior minister at Harvester Christian Church, St. Charles, Missouri, for 18 years. He and Pat recently celebrated 60 years of marriage.
Here is what Ben said of the Harvester Christian Church three years ago in 2007: We don’t know what the attendance was for the year before I came, but it was probably a little less than 200. I was 65 years old at the time. I had a vision of getting the church up to 600 to 700, and now we’re averaging close to 3,500—it’s been pretty good for a “country church.”
He also said: “I have just had my 83rd birthday and I’m feeling a deterioration of energy. I’m finding it more difficult to preach Saturday night and three times on Sunday morning.”
Now how could Ben keep on preaching and experience such great growth in his church at his age? IT’S CALLED GOD’S BLESSING ON A FAITHFUL MAN OF GOD. He sounds like John Wesley of old.
ILL.- It was said of him: He traveled two hundred and fifty miles a week for forty years; preached forty thousand sermons; produced four hundred books; knew ten languages. At age eighty-three he was annoyed that he could not write more than fifteen hours a day without hurting his eyes, and at eighty-six he was ashamed he could not preached more than twice a day. He complained in his diary that there was an increasing tendency to lie in bed until 5:30 in the morning.
I don’t know if this is true or not. It sounds good and I do know that Wesley lived to be 87 years old. Could serving the Lord faithfully have something to do with it?
I think any time that we put the Lord and His church first in our lives we will be blessed in many ways, which may well include good health.
It appears that when we are faithful to the Lord He is faithful in blessing us in various ways, including good health. This certainly sounds good to me. I don’t mind living to be 100 years old if my health is good. What about you?
III. DEMONSTRATE LOVE TO ALL
5Dear friend, you are faithful in what you are doing for the brothers, even though they are strangers to you. 6They have told the church about your love. You will do well to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God. 7It was for the sake of the Name that they went out, receiving no help from the pagans. 8We ought therefore to show hospitality to such men so that we may work together for the truth.
5Dear friend, you are faithful in what you are doing for the brothers, even though they are strangers to you.
Faithful to strangers. Sounds like demonstrating love to all.
ILL.- Here’s a story that took place around the first of January, 2010. Johnson & Johnson heiress Casey Johnson was found dead Monday, Jan. 4th at the age of 30 amid a public romance with bisexual reality star Tila Tequila and constant Johnson family drama over money. After refusing to seek treatment for drug abuse, Johnson was cut off financially by her family.
"Casey has been wild since her teenage years and never really slowed down," said the pal, who has known her for years. "Her family often cut off her money and asked her to get help and get her life together. She loved going out in NYC or LA. She used to frequent Bungalow 8 with friends in New York. Casey loved being around her friends, dancing and forgetting about her family and her personal problems."
Leading up to her tragic death, Casey was borrowing money from friends and lying about her daughter, said the friend. In 2007, Casey adopted a baby from Kazakhstan she named Ava. In 2008, her mother removed the child from Casey’s custody after finding her living in squalor.
"Recently she was reaching out to her friends for money," the source said. "Casey would claim she needed the money for baby Ava, but all of her friends knew that her mother had taken Ava to live with her. Her life was out of control, and she couldn’t take care of Ava.”
What a sad, sad story. And it’s a story about selfish living. Could it be that selfish living contributed to her early death?
ILL.- President William McKinley (1897-1901) was considering the appointment of a minister to a foreign country. There were two candidates, their qualifications almost equal. Which one did he appoint? The President related a story of an incident that had decided his choice. Years before, when he was a Representative, he boarded a streetcar one night and took the last vacant seat. Shortly afterward, an old wash-woman entered carrying a heavy basket. She walked the length of the car and stood in the aisle, no one offering her a seat.
One of the men, whom the President was to consider later, was sitting in a seat opposite where she was standing. He shifted the paper so as not to see her. Mr. McKinley walked down the aisle, picked up her basket of washing, and gave her his seat. The candidate never knew that this little act of selfishness had deprived him of perhaps the crowning honor of a lifetime.
The idea of this story is that much of the time we look out for ourselves at the expense of others and it generally backfires. Why is that? Because you reap what you sow. And if you sow good stuff you’ll reap good stuff. But if you sow selfish stuff, you’ll reap such or else good will be withheld from you.
Selfish living can only destroy a person, both spiritually and physically. Whereas when we live for others and demonstrate love to all God will strengthen our spirits and bless us in other ways!
CONCLUSION------------------
I’m not into this “health and wealth” gospel business that some preachers present, but I do believe that God blesses His people with good stuff when we seek to please and obey Him.
“Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added to you.” Matthew 6:33
When we seek the Lord and seek to be righteous, that is, minster to others, be faithful, and love others, God will indeed take care of us in all ways! And I certainly won’t vote against the Lord on this or anything else!
