When it comes to marriages, we use the decades as milestones.  We look forward to celebrating our 10-year anniversary, our 20-year anniversary, 30 years, 40 years, 50 years, 60 years, 70 years.

 

Herbert and Zelmyra Fisher hold the Guiness certified world record for the longest marriage of any living couple.  He’s 104.  She’s 102.  They have been married for 85 years, and if you want to find out how they did it, you can read their answers to questions at http://twitter.com/longestmarried. 

 

Can you imagine 85 years?  That’s longer than most people even live, yet here is a couple that has been married that long.

 

You know what the different anniversaries are?

 

First anniversary is paper.  I suppose that’s because at that point the best evidence of your marriage is the license itself.  You keep looking at the license to make sure it’s true.

 

Then it goes cotton, leather, linen, wood, and so forth.

 

Do you know what the eighth anniversary is?  Bronze.

 

Do you know what the 25th is?  Silver.

 

Do you know what the 50th is?  Gold.

 

Bronze, silver and gold.

 

Reminds me of the Olympics, where athletes from around the world come together hoping they will take home the bronze medal, or even better, the silver medal, or, best of all, the gold medal.

 

Did you hear about that athlete a few years ago who said he hoped his country won the bronze medal because they already had a silver and a gold and he wanted them to have the complete set?  I think he missed the point of the medals.

 

Just like in the Olympics, the bronze medal of marriage is nothing to be sneezed at.  A lot of marriages never make it to the 8th anniversary.  Young marriages are fragile.  Two people trying to figure out what it means to live with each other . . . some of them don’t make it.  One out of eight never see their 5th anniversary, let alone their 8th. 

 

By the 8th anniversary, you’ve survived that 7th year itch they talk about, so that is an important milestone. 

 

But it is nothing compared to making it to the silver, the 25th anniversary.

 

And even that pales in comparison to making it to the gold, the 50th anniversary.

 

Most marriages are the result of a physical attraction that grows into romantic feelings, but the physical attraction and romantic feelings won’t get you the gold, the silver, or even the bronze.

 

What it takes is moving past the physical attraction and the romantic feelings to a commitment of love.  That’s the commitment you make when you get married, when you say I do, when you say your vows.

 

The preacher asks you, “Do you take this man (or this woman) to be your lawfully wedded husband (or wife)?”  He’s asking you about your intent.  Do you know why you are here at the altar today?  Is this what you meant to do?

 

And then he goes on to ask you about the promises, the commitments you are willing to make.

 

Do you promise to love, honor and cherish this person?

 

Do you promise to forsake all others?

 

Do you promise to cleave to this person?

 

Do you promise to be, in all things, a true and faithful spouse?

 

Do you promise to keep doing that, so long as you both shall live?

 

That commitment of love is what will get you not only the bronze, not only the silver, not only the gold, but the world record, if you can only live long enough. 

Thursday evening, Donna Kay and I were among the more than 20 church members who got a sneak preview of “The Choice” during dress rehearsal.  It was terrific!  So much work and effort have gone into this production.  God will surely use it in a remarkable way.

The original walk-through drama, directed by youth minister Sean Wegener and performed by the youth of our church, deals with choices teenagers make and the effect those choices have on themselves and those around them.  It also points the audience to the ultimate choice, the one that trumps them all, the choice to trust Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

Because of the issues dealt with in the play, it is recommended for 7^th graders and up.  It opens at 7 p.m. Friday and 6 p.m. Saturday, with multiple showings each evening until midnight.  Bring your teenagers with you, get in line, and get ready for a powerful evening.

Under the Big Top
Younger kids and their families also have something special at First Baptist Flower Mound this weekend.  The annual Harvest Carnival will offer games, candy and prizes for all who come, 6-8 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 31, in Building A.  “Under the Big Top” is the theme this year.  Sandy Oravetz, children’s minister, and her team of volunteers are looking forward to welcoming families from the church and throughout the community for this fun evening.

God’s Stimulus Plan
Our Sunday morning messages are teaching us that God uses hard times to stimulate us toward godliness.  This week we will see how God’s strength makes up for our weaknesses when we serve Him despite the difficulties we face in our lives.  Come and bring someone with you.

I'm preaching a series on "God's Stimulus Plan: How God uses hard times to stimulate us toward godliness."  It's amazing how much the Bible has to say about hard times.  It seems that everybody in the Bible went through hard times.  The Bible is our "Hard Times History Book" and our "Hard Times Handbook." 

 

We usually see hard times as a mistake, something gone wrong in our lives.  But since Psalm 139:16 tells us that God planned each day of our lives before we were born, then He must have planned the bad days as well as the good days.  He has put together a perfect recipe for our life that will mold us into the person He designed us to be--if we will respond as we should. 

 

James had discovered the secret to understanding and responding to trials.

 

James 1:2-4, 12 (NIV) 

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.  Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. . . . Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.

 

This passage tells us that: 

1. Trials are a part of life.

2. Trials test (or prove) our faith (or our lack of faith).

3. Trials develop perseverance.

4. Trials persevered make us full-grown, grown-up Christians.

 

The passage also hints at how our faith can persevere through hard times: 

1. Consider it pure joy.

2. Remember what testing accomplishes.

3. Keep trusting, no matter what.

4. Love God more than anything else.

I just finished a sermon series using Facebook as the theme, a new way of looking at our relationship with God.  The title of the series was "Friended by God."

Although the series was not about Facebook, but only using it as a hook and an illustration, I did take the opportunity to caution our congregation about two things: (1) be aware that Facebook is public, not private and treat it accordingly, and (2) beware of becoming "addicted" to Facebook.

Here's the official list of five indicators that you have crossed the line in your Facebook use (as reported by ABC, CNN and other news outlets):

 1. You lose sleep over Facebook

 2. You spend more than an hour a day on Facebook

 3. You become obsessed with old loves

 4. You ignore work (or school) in favor of Facebook

 5. The thought of getting off Facebook leaves you in a cold sweat

Paula Pile, a therapist, suggests this quick test to see how addicted you are: "Try going a day without Facebook. If you find it causes you a lot of stress and anxiety, you really need to get some help."

I've come up with my own list of warning signs that you are spending too much time of Facebook.

You might be addicted to Facebook if . . . Facebook is your home page, especially if you wonder why that would be a problem.

You might be addicted to Facebook if . . . You take at least one quiz or survey everyday.

You might be addicted to Facebook if . . . You post status updates about what you are thinking about doing, especially if you come back and post another update saying that you never got around to doing it.

You might be addicted to Facebook if . . . You wake up wondering what has happened on Facebook overnight.

You might be addicted to Facebook if . . . You live on Facebook and have stopped checking your email because if anybody really has anything to say to you they can say it in front of all of your friends on Facebook.

You might be addicted to Facebook if . . . A growing percentage of your Facebook friends are people you have never met.

You might be addicted to Facebook if . . . You ignore the people you are with to Facebook the people you are not with.

You might be addicted to Facebook if . . . You have joined groups that you really have nothing to do with and have absolutely no interest in.

You might be addicted to Facebook if . . . You feel more comfortable talking to people on Facebook than face to face.

You might be addicted to Facebook if . . . You have ever called in sick using Facebook.

You might be addicted to Facebook if . . . You have your own "farm" in Farmville and it is doing better than your real yard.

You might be addicted to Facebook if . . . You have checked Facebook on your phone at least once since this worship service began.

You might be addicted to Facebook if . . . You are a pastor and you preach a whole sermon series on Facebook.

Don't be addicted to Facebook.  Be addicted to God.  Don't check in with Facebook before you check in with God.

Who would have thought that we would be so interested in the moment to moment activities of other people? 

I mean, I would hope that someone would care that I have written a blog and want to read it, but why would I think that someone would want to know that, right now, I am writing a blog?

And yet that is what Facebook would have me tell you.  They would have me stop the process and post a status update that says: "David Williams is writing a blog."  And then they would have you read that update and react to it with a comment ("What will your blog be about?" or "I thought you quit blogging?"), or at least click on the "thumbs up" to indicate that you "like this."

I have to confess that sometimes Facebook gives me too much information about the people I know, and way too much about the people they know. 

But I would love to read God's status update with the ease and regularity provided by Facebook.  Just imagine if God posted His thoughts, plans and activities on Facebook:

"i'm not happy with the way things are going right now."

"I'm getting ready to make it rain."

"Maybe somebody ought to start building an ark."

You recognize those posts from the days just before the flood, of course.  But, what if God were giving us His status update right now?

That's what we're going to think about this Sunday as we continue the message series, "friended by God."  Last week we learned that God created you to be His friend, Jesus chose you to be His friend, and the Holy Spirit came to be your friend.  I hope you have "confirmed" God's friend request by trusting Jesus as your Savior.  If so, then you need to be keeping up with God's status updates.  He's got one for you next Sunday morning at First Baptist Flower Mound.  I'll see you there.

We start a new sermon series this Sunday, Sept. 20, one with a FaceBook theme:

friended by God: if God is everywhere, isn't He on facebook?

It seems that nearly everyone I know is on FaceBook now.  Some people aren't even checking their email anymore.  If you want to reach them, you better be a "friend" so you can contact them through FaceBook.

People accumulate hundreds of friends in this online community, and it is a good way to keep up with people you rarely see.  If you reach a certain point, you can't add any more friends.  You have to start adding "fans."  I'm nowhere near that number of friends on FB.

When you get a "friend request" on FB, we say that you have been "friended."  Then you have to make a choice.  There are two options: confirm or ignore.

That's a decision each of us has to make when we are "friended" by God, when He reaches out, gets our attention and asks us to become His friend.  Will you confirm?  Or will you ignore?

Bring your friends to hear the message this Sunday--not all your FB friends, but the real live friends you actually know and spend time with. 

As for those FB friends, why don't you let them know about the message series that starts this week, with a focus on their favorite online community.  Who knows?  Maybe some of them will show up, too.  I'll see you Sunday.

 

Some people think the Bible is just a religious book designed to get people to embrace a certain religion, and as such, it is just full of made-up stories that some choose to believe even though the stories couldn't be true.  For example, they would say that the story about Jesus' resurrection was included to make people believe that Jesus arose from the dead, even though such a thing would be impossible.

But the Bible is not a book of stories someone is trying to get you to believe.  It is, in fact, an ancient historical document, a record of events written by witnesses of those events.  It is more credible (because of the many ancient copies available for comparison purposes) than any other ancient document upon which we base our historical record.  In other words, there is more documentary evidence that Jesus Christ arose from the dead than that Julius Caesar ever existed.  And yet, many assume that Caesar really lived, but Jesus could not have risen from the dead.

The resurrection is not included in the Bible because somebody made it up and thought it would be neat to get people to think Jesus had risen from the dead.  The gospels were written several years after the spontaneous development of the church, a movement of people who had become followers of Christ because they knew (not thought, but knew) He had risen from the dead.

If you put aside, for a moment, that the Bible is the inspired Word of God, and look at it as only a historical record, then you would have to acknowledge that by Easter Sunday evening, everyone in Jerusalem had heard the rumor that Jesus had risen from the dead.  By the next Sunday everyone in Jerusalem knew that Jesus had risen from the dead.  And in little more than a month, more than 500 people had actually seen the resurrected Jesus in person, and there  was no doubt at all that the resurrection had occurred.  More than 100 actually saw Him ascend into heaven before their very eyes.

When Peter preached to the huge crowd gathered in Jerusalem for the Day of Pentecost, he referred to the resurrection of Jesus as a known fact.  No one stood up and said, "You're lying, Peter.  He didn't rise from the dead.  You're making that up!"  Not one person in the crowd--not a Jewish official, not a Roman soldier, not anyone--spoke against Peter's claim that Jesus had risen from the dead.  Instead, when Peter finished, the crowd cried out, "What must we do to be saved?" and 3,000 of them trusted the resurrected Jesus as their Savior.

Why?  Because they, like everyone else in Jerusalem, KNEW Jesus had risen from the dead.

The word “gospel” means “good news,” and when we speak of the gospel, we are talking about the good news of Jesus Christ.  Paul summarized the gospel like this: “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, he was buried, and he was raised on the third day” (1 Cor. 15:3-4).

But sharing the gospel is more than just reporting the facts of Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection.  It is also telling what that means to you.

Because Jesus died on the cross, my sins are forgiven. 
Because Jesus was buried, my past is buried and forgotten. 
Because Jesus arose from the dead, my life is eternal. 

The gift of salvation is for anyone who will receive it.  To receive it, all you must do is turn away from your sin to Jesus, trust Him as your Savior and commit to Him as the Lord of your life.