The Gift of Years 1
Stacy Ikard & Phil Haag

The Gift of Years 1

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The Gift of Years 1 - The Text

                Gift of Years 1 – The Text

The Gift of Years

Creating a Christ-Centered Abundant Life as an Elder

Psalm 31

10 FOR MY LIFE IS SPENT WITH GRIEF, AND MY YEARS WITH SIGHING: MY STRENGTH FAILED BECAUSE OF MINE INIQUITY, AND MY BONES ARE CONSUMED.

11 I WAS A REPROACH AMONG ALL MINE ENEMIES, BUT ESPECIALLY AMONG MY NEIGHBORS, AND A FEAR TO MINE ACQUAINTANCE: THOSE WHO SEE ME IN THE STREET HURRY PAST ME; I AM FORGOTTEN, AS GOOD AS DEAD IN THEIR HEARTS, SOMETHING DISCARDED. .

13 FOR I HAVE HEARD THE SLANDER OF MANY: FEAR WAS ON EVERY SIDE: WHILE THEY TOOK COUNSEL TOGETHER AGAINST ME, THEY DEVISED TO TAKE AWAY MY LIFE.

On the other hand…

PROVERBS 16:31:   GRAY HAIR IS A CROWN OF SPLENDOR;
    IT IS ATTAINED IN THE WAY OF RIGHTEOUSNESS.”

PROVERBS 20:29:  THE GLORY OF YOUNG MEN IS THEIR STRENGTH,
    GRAY HAIR THE SPLENDOR OF THE OLD.

JOB 12:12:   IS NOT WISDOM FOUND AMONG THE AGED?

PSALM 92:14:  THEY WILL STILL BEAR FRUIT IN OLD AGE,
    THEY WILL STAY FRESH AND GREEN,

ISAIAH 46:4:   EVEN TO YOUR OLD AGE AND GRAY HAIRS
    I AM HE, I AM HE WHO WILL SUSTAIN YOU.
I HAVE MADE YOU AND I WILL CARRY YOU;
    I WILL SUSTAIN YOU AND I WILL RESCUE YOU.

LEVITICUS 19:32: STAND UP IN THE PRESENCE OF THE AGED, SHOW RESPECT FOR THE ELDERLY AND REVERE YOUR GOD. I AM THE LORD.

1 TIMOTHY 5:1- 2: DO NOT REBUKE AN OLDER MAN HARSHLY, BUT EXHORT HIM AS IF HE WERE YOUR FATHER. TREAT YOUNGER MEN AS BROTHERS,  OLDER WOMEN AS MOTHERS, AND YOUNGER WOMEN AS SISTERS, WITH ABSOLUTE PURITY.

2 CORINTHIANS 4:16:  THEREFORE, WE DO NOT LOSE HEART. THOUGH OUTWARDLY WE ARE WASTING AWAY, YET INWARDLY WE ARE BEING RENEWED DAY BY DAY.

James Hillman – The Force of Character and the Lasting Life

What did God have in mind when designing the aging process?

Mellowing of the Soul

Mellowing wine?  Best in the oldest cracked wine barrels.

It’s a huge mistake to read the signs of aging as indications of dying rather than as initiations into another way of life. Each physical diminishment is designed to mature the soul. And they do their work without our consent, relentlessly and ruthlessly.

The aging process, eventually turns us all into monks and that, indeed, is its plan, just as it once pumped all those excessive hormones into our bodies to drive us out of our homes at puberty. And again, God is in on this conspiracy. Aging isn’t always pleasant or easy; but there’s a rhyme and reason to the process.

Aging DE literalizes biology. The soul finally gets to trump the body and rise to the fore.

Kathleen Dowling Singh– The Grace of: Aging, Living, Dying

The process of aging and dying is exquisitely calibrated to bring us into the realm of spirit. 
There is a wisdom in the aging and dying process. Here is what it is designed to do.
Aging and dying breaks down our ego.
Process of aging and dying will do for us what a deep life of prayer and selflessness was meant to do for us – break our selfishness and open us to the realm of the spirit.

The process of aging and dying has clear intent: God will get us, one way or the other

Aging – Mellowing of Soul – Maturity

What transitions need to be made?

v From resentment to gratitude

v From bitterness to forgiveness

v From imagination to faith

v From wishful thinking to hope

v From sophistication to childlikeness

v From control to surrender

v From achievement to fruitfulness

v From being driven by the need for recognition and significance to accepting our anonymity inside the Body of Christ

Sermon on the Mount – Matthew 5-7

Collection of teachings and sayings of Jesus – placed early in Jesus’ ministry.

Highly influential in Christian ethics and thought.

Jesus as the second Moses – reinterpreting the law

Jesus’ foundational teachings on righteousness, mercy,  humility, prayer, and ethical living, emphasizing the inner heart and intentions over mere external obedience.

Not a set of rules but an invitation

Calls for a transformation of heart and soul.

Beatitudes
            - What Makes Life Happy?
            - What Does a Mellow Soul Look Like?

5 When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. 2 And he began to speak and taught them, saying:

3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

5 “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

u 7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.

8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11 “Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

The Coming Weeks

Love Alone

Blessing Always

Forgiving

Letting Go

Bearing Fruit

Howard Thurman

The old song of my spirit has wearied itself out. It has long ago been learned by heart so that now it repeats itself over and over, bringing no added joy to my days or lift to my spirit. It is a good song, measured to a rhythm to which I am bound by ties of habit and timidity of mind. The words belong to old experiences which once sprang fresh as water from a mountain crevice fed by melting snows. But my life has passed beyond to other levels where the old song is meaningless. I demand of the old song that it meet the need of present urgencies. Also, I know that the work of the old song, perfect in its place, is not for the new demand!

I will sing a new song. As difficult as it is, I must learn the new song that is capable of meeting the new need. I must fashion new words born of all the new growth of my life, my mind and my spirit. I must prepare for new melodies that have never been mine before, that all that is within me may lift my voice unto God. How I love the old familiarity of the wearied melody—how I shrink from the harsh discords of the new untried harmonies.

Teach me, my Father, that I might learn with the abandonment and enthusiasm of Jesus, the fresh new accent, the untried melody, to meet the need of the untried morrow. Thus, I may rejoice with each new day and delight my spirit in each fresh unfolding.

I will sing, this day, a new song unto Thee, O God.