Old Fashioned Remedies For Heart And Health

OLD FASHIONED REMEDIES FOR HEART AND HEALTH

III John 2 "Dear 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."

INTRO.- John prayed for Gaius that his health would improve. His spiritual health was good, but not his physical health. God is concerned about both aspects of our lives.

ILL.- A young doctor examined an old man. "And how do you feel today?" he asked. "Not so good," the old man said. "My left leg is giving me fits. It hurts something awful!"

"Oh, don’t you think that’s just old age?" "No," the old man said, "My right leg is the same age as my left, and it don’t hurt none at all!"

ILL.- An old man, 90 years old, read in the newspaper that his country needed blood for blood transfusions. He decided to help, so he went to the hospital and said, "I want to give some blood."

They put him on the table, and stuck a needle in his arm. Afterward, he was given a glass of orange juice.

He said, "I feel better than ever. I think I’ll just give some more blood right now." "Sir," the nurse said, "WE DIDN’T TAKE ANY OF YOUR BLOOD, WE JUST GAVE YOU A PINT."

Brothers and sisters, how are you feeling today? Feeling old? Feeling good?

ILL.- Here’s what is called "The Age Gauge Test." My twin sister Sharon sent this to me. Count all the ones that you remember.

1. Candy cigarettes

2. Wax coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar water inside

3. Soda pop machines that dispensed glass bottles

4. Coffee shops with tableside juke boxes

5. Blackjack chewing gum

6. Home milk delivery in glass bottles, with cardboard stoppers

7. Party lines

8. Newsreels before the movie

9. PF Flyers

10. Butch wax

11. Telephone numbers with a word prefix identifying the exchange

12. or the one which became a hit Glenn Miller song title! (Pennsylvania 6-5000)

13. Peashooters

14. Howdy Doody

15. 45 rpm records

16. S&H Green Stamps

17. Hi-fi’s

18. Metal ice cube trays-with levers

19. Mimeograph paper

20. Blue flash bulbs

21. Roller skate keys

22. Cork pop guns

23. Drive-ins

24. Studebakers

25. Wash tub wringers

26. The Fuller Brush man

27. Reel-to-reel tape recorders

28. Tinkertoys

29. The Erector Set

30. 5 cent packs of baseball cards…with a pink slab of bubblegum

If you remembered 10 or less: You’re still young.

If you remembered 11 - 15: You are getting old.

If you remembered 16-20: Don’t tell your age.

If you remembered 21 or more: You’re older than dirt!

ILL.- I wrote to my sister Sharon and told her that I remembered almost all of these things. She wrote back and said, "I am sorry that you are as old as dirt." Can’t you imagine that? And if it weren’t for me she never would have graduated from high school!

Brothers and sisters, old is not bad. And even getting older is not bad. In many ways, it can be very good. With age comes gray hair. And gray hair is not all bad. At least, for some of us.

Prov. 20:29 "The glory of young men is their strength, gray hair the splendor of the old."

Webster defines splendor as "the quality of being splendid." Does this mean that old people are splendid and young people are strong? Can a person be both splendid and strong?

Psalm 71:18 "Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, O God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your might to all who are to come."

That’s what I’m trying to do. Declare God. Declare His power to all I can. And I don’t believe the Lord has forsaken me in this worthy work. Nor will He forsake any of us, young or old, when we are involved in declaring Him to people!

Psalm 92:14 "They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green."

Another great Scripture. We can still bear fruit as we age. We can bear fruit for the Lord, that is, in His service: preaching, teaching, calling, listening, loving, etc.

Old is not bad. Old may well be very good. Old books are often very good.

ILL.- The oldest book I can think of in my library is entitled "Preacher and Prayer" by E.M. Bounds. I don’t know when it was originally published, but mine was put out by the Christian Witness Company and dated 1916. This "old" book contains some very good advice for preachers.

For example, chapter one, page one. "We are constantly on a stretch, if not on a strain, to devise new methods, new plans, new organizations to advance the church and secure enlargement and efficiency for the gospel. This trend of the day has a tendency to lose sight of the man or sink the man in the plan or organization. God’s plan is to make much of the man, far more of him than of anything else. Men are God’s method. The church is looking for better methods; God is looking for better men." Amen!