How To Stay Young And Fruitful All Your Life - Part 2

God doesn't want you living in the past. He wants you living in the present and having a great imagination about the future, not the past.

I don't have to carry it. A staggering amount of money is spent each year by people who are trying to maintain youth and beauty. But these products and services are obviously not the real way to stay young. Today on In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley, we go back to a message from 2008 that carries timeless truth. Stay with us to hear the key ingredients to staying young and fruitful all your life. How do you stay young and fruitful all your life? Well, a lot of people would like to think they know how, but usually they go about it in the wrong way.

It's something they take, they talk to this one and that one and so forth. But I think the Bible is very clear. It's all about your choices and it's all about discipline. If you're not willing to practice discipline in life, you're not going to get anything done anyway.

But here are some suggestions that I know works. Now, if I were thirty-five years of age and told you this, you'd say, ah, I don't want to do that. I don't believe that. But when you're my age, you better listen because I know that this is true. So, we're talking about being youthful and fruitful even in old age.

So, what is the first thing? Simply this, and that is you've got to keep learning. If you don't keep learning, here's what happens. If you cease to learn, you begin to age. There's something about stimulating your mind, something about reading and something about listening and something about learning to do new things. And when you think about the age in which you and I live with telephones that we have, then you walk around, talk to anybody in the world, computers, you sit down in front of a keyboard and find out anything you want to know in just a matter of a few seconds.

But we have to keep learning. Then, of course, keep looking. Looking at what? I'm always looking for ways that I see God showing up in something. How is God working in His life and her life? How's God working in my life?

What did I see? Where was God in this life? This situation, this circumstance. Looking for the evidence of Almighty God in your life. Looking at the evidence that He's answered your prayer. Looking at the evidence that, listen, that God is loving you and providing for you. And so many times, we're looking everywhere else, looking at everything else rather than to look to see what He's up to in life. So, when I begin to think about what I'm really looking for most, when I get in the Word of God, I'm looking for something that I don't know. I'm looking for a new perspective on Him. I'm looking for how He works. I'm looking for some new way He can work in my life.

I'm looking for how He's going to work out plans and goals and so forth that we've set. And so, you have to look with purpose. Now, if I said to you, you're looking for a young lady or a young man, a husband or wife, what would you look for? Now, if you told me what you were looking for, you'd tell me a great deal about yourself. I'm looking for a godly man. I'm looking for a young lady who's a godly woman. I want somebody who knows Jesus as their Savior. I'm looking for the kind of person who can help me become the person I want to be so I can help them to become the person that God wants them to be. In other words, what are you looking at?

What are you looking for? Just because you're sitting in front of a television set and they've paraded all this stuff in front of you and not only is it coming before you, but it's getting in your mind and in your life. What you focus on is what you will become.

You just mark it down. That's the awesome power of the mind that God has given us for positive or for negative. What you focus on is what you're going to become. You focus on things that are unclean, you're going to get unclean. You focus on things that are godly, you're going to become godly. If you focus on being your best, doing your best, looking your best, that's what's going to happen in your life. Because listen, something happens to your physical body when you begin to think about other things in life, good or bad, whatever it might be.

Looking is very important. And when I open up this Word, you think about this. When I open up the Word and I have the privilege of looking into the written Word of God and discussing, listen. And I remember one time, a young pastor said to me, now look, how old are you?

So I told him how old I was at that time. He said, where'd you get all those sermons? I said, I got them from God.

He said, well, you mean to tell me if I surrender to the ministry, I've got to come up with, see, fifty-two, times forty is two, I've got to come up with two or three thousand sermons? I said, well, that's one way to look at it. Or you can look at it this way.

If God calls you, He'll give it to you. If you're fretting over you trying to figure it all out, it's not going to work. You've got to keep your eyes on God. Listen, we become what we focus on. And when we focus on Jesus, we become like Him.

That's what the Scriptures are all about. Then, of course, we've got to keep doing something else. And that is, we've got to keep laboring. You say, oh my goodness, keep laboring.

Yeah. Six days shall thou labor. The seventh day is the day of rest.

And now we're trying to cut it down to four days. We've got the highest hospitalization, prescription, health bills in the world, and we're one of the sickest nations. I wonder if we just lounge it around too much. Probably not on your job. You'd say, well, not where I work. It's not that way.

Think about this. He says we're to labor six days. When a person decides that they've done another thing, they've done enough.

And they're going to retire. What happens? First thing you hear them say, you know what? My knees are beginning to ache on me.

Next thing you know is that, you know what? My back is just giving me a fit. And then it's my shoulders hurting me. I don't know what the deal is. I don't know why my neck seems to be sleeping too much.

I don't see why my neck's hurting me. Or you notice I notice that my fingers are not as nimble as they used to be. And next thing you know, they've talked themselves into a mess. Now watch this.

This is what they do. They go to the doctor and they say, you know, I don't know what's wrong. My knee is this. My back's this. And so, what's he going to do? He's going to give you something to take. To help this ache, help this ache. Isn't it interesting that one thing doesn't cure at all?

But they've got something different for all of it. Besides that, you've got to pay him. You've got to pay him to tell him where you're aching. Get up and go to work and get busy doing the Lord's work.

You'd eliminate most of those. You see, God wants us to work. He gave us the whole idea of work for lots of reasons. First of all, to get the work done that needs to be done. And secondly, God knows that pure physical labor or exercise or whatever it might be, helps us do what?

Keeps everything working right. Otherwise, what happens is, we stiffen up and we settle down. Can't get out of the chair. Once we get down, somebody says, I can hardly get up again. Well, that's because you've been sitting there too long. And so, we have to keep laboring.

Six days, He says, thou should labor. And the seven days, they have rest. Now, I think about Bertha Smith, who was a missionary to China for forty years and then to Taiwan. She came home after so many years.

She was in her nineties. And so, one day she and I were talking and I said, well, Bertha, I said, you're staying busy. He's preaching everywhere. She said, well, I'm busy for Jesus.

I'm expecting Him to come any minute. So, she and I got to talking and she was in her nineties and she had appointments to preach for a hundred and five years, that she was a hundred and five. Well, that motivated me. I thought, now, if she's got a hundred and five on hers, let's get off of this sixty-five, seventy-five, eighty-five, or whatever it might be. And, one of the things when I think about people like her and people who have given of themselves over and over and over again, and I think about people who want to retire at sixty-five.

So, what I want to ask is this, where did that come from? Where did that sixty-five come from? Now, back in the nineteen hundreds, for example, people didn't live as long as they live now, so I could see why that was true. But today, that sixty-five business does not, that's not who we are anymore. Somebody says, well, I'm going to seventy.

Let me tell you something, what happened. I was talking to a fellow not too long ago and about something that he was going to do and he says, here's what he said, quote, I'm fifty-eight, I guess I do have at least about seven more years. I said, what? He said, well, I'm fifty-eight, I've got about seven more years. I said, where'd you get that from? He said, well, I'll be sixty-five. I said, and so what? Anyway, by the time I got there talking to him, he was up to eighty.

So, what do you mean? And then, here's what I noticed. His whole, his whole spirit changed.

His whole attitude changed. Instead of having seven more years, he might have seventeen or twenty-seven more years. Because God wants us busy. Now watch this, not just being busy, but laboring. Laboring that has some eternal value to it. And the wonderful thing about having age on you is this, you've got more years of faith, more years of watching God grow.

You've got to answer prayer, more experiences in life. And so, why would you take somebody who's sixty-five and put them on a shelf somewhere so they'll die early? Doctor told me two weeks ago, I'd heard it written before, two weeks ago, he said, the average man dies two years after he retires. So, ma'am, if you want your husband to keep living and providing for you, don't let him retire. Keep him busy.

But keep, get him busy for Jesus' sake. Not just busy, but there's something awesome about laboring, what it does for us. It does keep us youthful and healthy. And when I read about people, for example, who are going to the office at the age of eighty-six, going to the office every day, do they get a whole lot done? Here's what they get done. They keep lengthening their life. Because when you and I are laboring, what's happening?

We're keeping everything functioning. And the wonderful thing is we have a sense of satisfaction and fulfillment that we're still making a contribution. When somebody says to me, I don't guess there's any real use for me anymore. I don't know why God leaves me here, because I'm of no use. What they're doing is committing verbal suicide. When a person feels that they are no longer useful and that their life is useless, then you know what?

They don't live long. Because God created us with a purpose. And He says in this passage to bear fruit even in old age.

And I think about the fact that the Bible says that our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. Then He doesn't want us wasting away. He wants us to live, listen, live it out, not till the last day, but through the last day. Then of course, keep leaning.

What do you mean by that? I mean keep leaning on Jesus. He wants us to trust Him for everything.

It doesn't make any difference what you're facing in life. You and I can bring it to Him. We do lean on Him. We rely on Him. We trust Him. We depend upon Him.

The things that you and I cannot do apart from Him. That is, God is dependable. He doesn't move. Listen, you and I may move, but you can lean on Him.

He never moves. And so, we're to lean upon Him. We're to trust on Him. We're to rely upon Him. And when you think about your life, and you think about the fact that God doesn't expect you and me to do it in our own strength, because God wants us to be godly men and women who rely upon Him, lean upon Him, trust in Him, and know in our heart He's the source of our energy. He's the source of our strength. He's the source of our wisdom. And He's the source of His will and purpose and plan for our life. God wants us to be youthful and active and fruitful. He says in old age, He said, full of sap, full of life.

And when I meet somebody, for example, who is, who's got some age on him and now I have to look around about my age and see them excited about life and doing things that make a difference and that life is fruitful, it's inspiring and motivating. Now, if any pastor thought about all that's involved in his responsibility, that's enough to make you say, take me home, Jesus. But when you realize that you've got the sovereign God of the universe to enable you, help you, strengthen you, and give you wisdom and knowledge to do what you need to do, then you don't think about those things. Hudson Taylor said he was going through a difficult time. He was head of the China Inland Mission and he said he was going through a difficult time in his life. And God said to him, bear not a single care of thyself.

One is too much for thee. He says, the burden is mine and mine alone, yours to rest in Me. We're to rest in Him, lean upon Him, trust in Him, and watch Him work. Then of course, keeping our language. And that is keeping our language positive. Now, listen to this.

What your mouth speaks, your ear hears, your brain registers, and your body responds. And I think of that phrase as I hear. Well, I guess I'm just getting old.

Well, don't tell me that. I guess I'm just getting old. Or what is that?

How old is old? Well, I guess I'm over the hill. Is that an ant hill? Is that a mole hill?

Is that a mountain? What are you over? Well, I just can't do as much as I used to. Well, do you try? When I think about all the negative stuff that people talk themselves into, no wonder they're aged early in life. No wonder they're not fruitful.

No wonder they're not getting anything done. Because they talk themselves into it. And as I said before, your imagination is a powerful part of you. And what you tell your body. For example, when somebody says, Well, I'm retiring. Now I'm going to do what I want to do. I'm not going to work any longer.

In fact, I'm not going to do anything. Your mind speaks it. Your ears hear it. Your brain hears it. So your body says, Not going to do anything. Shut down. You say, Well, now, isn't God the one who determines how long we live?

Yes, He is. But when you violate the principles of Scripture, what happens? You suffer the consequences. Listen, why should God keep any one of us here any longer after we decide we're not going to do anything? We're not going to serve God. We're going to do what we please. We're going to forget Jesus, forget God, forget everything else. We're going to do what we please. Then you know what?

Expect to have the consequences. But as believers, he starts his passage out. He says, The righteous man or woman. And so as the righteous man or woman does what?

Walks in the ways of God and does the things we're talking about. They, we're going to remain youthful. We're going to, listen, we're going to remain useful.

We're going to remain fruitful all the days of our life. Listen, oftentimes people don't stop to evaluate themselves. Look at yourself to think about what do I do? What do I do? What do I have?

What do I do? What do I have? What do I have? What do I have? Now, listen, if you think about the circumstances of your life and your life, what do I have? Now, what talents do I have?

What gifts do I have? What could God do with me? When you ask the question, What, listen, if there were no hindrances, what could God do with me? And God is able to make something awesome out of you. Don't settle for less than the best. You can stay youthful and you can stay fruitful all your life, but you've got to think right and your actions have got to be right. Well, one last one, and that is to keep listening. You've got to keep listening. If you want to be fruitful all your life, you've got to keep listening to God. Lord, what would You have me to do?

How do You want me to invest my time today? Keep listening to Him. Listen, because God is so willing and ready to speak to our heart. And when listening, when you listen to Him, here's what He does. He's going to expand your horizons. He's going to show you things about yourself nobody else can see because He sees on the inside. He's the one who's given you the abilities and skills inside of you and the potential.

He knows what that is, all about. And so, you keep listening to Him. And you keep listening to wise men and women and shut your mind of the unbelieving, ungodly who want to give you advice about your life. You keep listening to God. You keep listening for Him to speak. You keep listening. When anybody comes to me and talks to me and wants some advice, here's the first thing I say, God, and I speak to my heart.

I want to be sure to answer properly what they're asking me. But also, I learn things when I'm talking to people because I'm going to be quiet long enough to listen to what they have to say. And sometime they'll say something and I'll think, Oh God, hmm, you wanted me to hear that. But too many people close their ears and they close their ears to good, wise, godly advice. We're to keep listening because oftentimes, listen, a child, when Jesus said a child should leave them, sometimes a child can say the most profound things.

And one of the, one of my friends here who has a little boy, he's eight years of age now, he's, the kid's, he's absolutely brilliant, and sometimes he'll say something and his dad'll pass on to me and I'll think, boy, I wish I'd have thought that when I was eight years old. I mean, it's amazing. But you have to keep listening. But we have to get our focus on God to listen to what He says. When you're praying, are you listening?

Are you doing all the talking? When you sense that God has said something to you, do you argue with Him or you say, Well, Lord, if that's what You said, I'm going to believe what You said. And my heart's going to be encouraged. And think about this, God is not a discourager. There's not a single verse in the Bible that would cause me to believe that God by nature is a discourager. You say, What about those verses about judgment? Those verses about judgment, listen, are encouraging verses to encourage me to live a godly life so I won't be punished for something. God is an encourager. Read the New Testament.

Jesus was always encouraging people. And so, if you and I are going to remain youthful all our life and if we're going to remain fruitful all of our life, we have to listen and be positive in our response to Almighty God. So, all of it boils down to this. It's a choice I make. I can choose to get old early or I can choose to be young to the last day. And secondly, I can choose to be fruitful all the days of my life by doing whatever is necessary and God will give me the privilege to do to help other people, whatever it might be. It's a choice we make.

It is an attitude that we have. And so, what you have to ask is this, Do I want to be youthful all my life? You say, Well, at this age, I'm a little old to be youthful.

Change your attitude. Because I can show you people who are in their seventies and eighties who are vibrant. And the Bible says, Full of sap and green.

That is youthful, life-giving, people you love to be around. Thanks for joining us on In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley. God is in control. Dr. Stanley's message today made it clear that those who trust in the Lord can minimize stress because they rest in His care. To learn more about how to take the first step in trusting God, by trusting in Jesus to forgive your sin, visit us at intouch.org slash believe. If you're already a believer in Christ and want to know more about how to live a Godly life, search our homepage, intouch.org, for a variety of free resources that can encourage steady spiritual growth. And connect to our online bookstore to order a copy of Dr. Stanley's complete message, How to Stay Young and Fruitful All Your Life. Again, log on to intouch.org or call 1-800-IN-TOUCH.

To write to us, address your letter to In Touch, post office box 7900, Atlanta, Georgia, 30357. Patience comes from trusting that God is in control. Today's moment with Charles Stanley is coming up. In Lebanon, an In Touch audio Bible is played and Kurdish believers hear Scripture for the first time, in their own language.

Learn more at intouch.org slash messenger. The believer who trusts in God's love and his perfect timing will experience his peace. Here's A Moment with Charles Stanley. If you have developed patience in your life, there is a sense of quiet stability. Things that will bother some people will not even bother you.

Things that will trouble them, cause them to be upset, get angry, frustrated, anxious about life, you won't feel that way at all. Why? Because you've learned to be patient. You've learned to realize that God is in control of your life.

Listen to this. He's in control of your life and He said He causes all things that work together for good to those who love Him, to those who call it, according to His purpose. Patience allows me to see God at work. One of the most awesome lessons of life is to see God at work.

And here's the wonderful thing about living a pretty good while. The longer you live, the more you watch God work, the greater your faith, the more your patience. Listen, the greater your sense of confidence and assurance that God is in control, He's working everything out. What happens is it allows us to see God work because you see, we're patient and we back off and say, Lord, no deadlines, no requirements.

I'm going to watch you work this out. And until He does, I'm not going to be the king. That's real patience. Waiting for God to do things His way and watching God work. Now, let's face it. All of us see what happens when people don't wait for God.

We see that. But do you ever stop to think about and look to see what happens when we do trust Him and wait upon Him? It allows us to see God at work.

To learn more about the way God works, check out our resources at InTouch.org. If you'd like to hear today's message again, you can find it in the radio section of our website, plus an entire library of messages in our audio archives. You can also download a podcast of our program to your MP3 player and take it along with you. Our web address again is InTouch.org. Today's message was based on Psalm 92. More teaching from God's Word that can help you flourish for God's glory all the days of your life comes your way next time on In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley. This program is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia, and remains on this station through the grace of God and your faithful prayers and gifts.