No Excuses

NO EXCUSES

2 Corinthians 4:16-18, ( NLT )

Intro: An elderly couple was sitting around one evening watching TV and the woman looked over at her husband and said:

"Things have really changed," you used to sit very close to me."

"Well, I can remedy that," he said, moving next to her on the couch.

"And you used to hold me tight."

"How’s that?" he asked as he gave her a hug.

"Do you remember you used to nudge my neck and nibble on my ear lobes?"

He jumped to his feet and left the room. "Where are you going?"

"I’ll be right back," he said. "I’ve got to get my teeth!"

. Today is our senior appreciation day.

. We will have a luncheon right after our service today and we want all our seniors to come and allow us to serve you this day.

. This day is dedicated to you. I hope that you have enjoyed the music program that was created with seniors in mind.

. There seems to be some confusion though as to when someone is really a senior so I thought I would take a page out of Jeff Foxworthy’s “you might be a redneck” by telling you how you can determine if you are a senior or not.

. You might be a senior if:

. At the breakfast table you hear snap, crackle, pop and you’re not eating cereal.

. Your idea of a night out is sitting on the patio.

. Happy hour is a nap

. It takes longer to rest than it did to get tired.

.You stop holding your stomach in no matter who comes into the room.

. You have more hair in your ears than on your head.

. Everything hurts, and what doesn’t hurt - doesn’t work.

. You sink your teeth into a steak - and they stay there

. I’ll let you decide if these apply to you or not.

. To our seniors, let me say from the bottom of my heart, I love and appreciate you.

. Through the years, I have had seniors say to me that they have spent their life in service to God and now they want to retire.

. They want to sit back and take it easy and let the younger folks take on what needs to be done to further Gods kingdom.

. The bible tells us that we can’t do that.

. You have heard me say this before, you can’t retire from God. You can’t quit God.

. Our scripture this morning tells us this.

. In 2 Corinthians the apostle Paul is writing a rather personal letter to the church in Corinth and in the fourth chapter He is sharing with them why he preaches and why he continues even as he is getting older and is being persecuted more and more.

. He is telling them why he has no excuses for not serving God.

. Even though he is persecuted, he continues to spread the good news of Jesus Christ.

. His faith demands the he continue the task.

. Let’s look at our scripture.

. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18:

. 16That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day.

17For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!

18So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.

. Paul writes that he will never give up. Never quit preaching and teaching and sharing the gospel with the world.

. He says that I do this because it is so vitally important for people to know the love of Jesus Christ.

. 16That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day.

. Paul writes that yes we are getting old. He is getting old but his spirit is not old.

. I had a guy ask me this one time. He said “ don’t you ever get tired of doing good, of working at the church and helping people”?

. My response was that I do get tired from doing good but I never get tired of doing Good.

. We should never get tired of doing what God has called us to do.

. Yes we may get tired physically but if we will allow Him, God will refresh and renew our sprit every day, just like He did Paul.

. Folks God will renew and refresh our spirits daily if we will allow Him to do so.