Miracles for the middle aged
Acts 4:22
One of the greatest revivals in the New Testament takes place when a middle aged man gets on fire for God.
The Bible tells us here that the man who received the miracle was over 40 years old. It is most commonly accepted that middle age is from 35 to 50 years old.
If we look at life as a day, birth through childhood would be the dawn and morning. Old age until death would be the evening and sunset. The noon day would be middle-age. We are told in Psalms 90:10 That the days of our years shall be three score and ten (70 years) and if by reason of strength they may be four score (80). Using that verse for a reference, we could comfortably deduce that biblical middle-age falls around 35 to 40 years old.
There is always an incredible amount of energy and funds expended on the children and youth: birthdays (it’s during this time of life that we count in halves), Sunday school literature and supplies, kids crusade supplies, VBS supplies and paraphernalia. Birth days mean so much more during the morning of life. Sunday school class graduations and promotions are always fun events as well. We all go to great lengths to make sure that the dawn of life is as fabulous as possible.
According to the Barna research group, in 2012, 68% of protestant churches offered VBS for children.
In 2018 two out of every three churches would offer VBS to children.
91% of Southern Baptist churches host a VBS annually.
91% of churches with an annual income of over 500,000 will host VBS or kids crusades.
86% of churches with 250 members or more will host a one-week VBS or kids crusade.
76% of churches with a buster pastor (between the ages of 30 and 48) will host VBS for kids crusade.
78% of churches with 100 members will host VBS or kids crusade.
42% of Professing Christian parents who were interviewed hold membership in church. That does not necessarily mean they are faithful or involved. (They may only show up for the annual election on pastors)
68.9% of people who were interviewed said they became Christians between 7 and 19 years of age.
50.5% of them said they are parents were directly involved in their conversion to Christ.
86.3% of them said that their Sunday school teachers played an influential role in their decision to serve Christ.
35.9% of churches that were interviewed said they had ample money in their treasury to fund things for children and youth.
According to the 2018 Holiness church directory, there are approximately 700 churches listed. There are approximately 2 to 300 churches that are not listed. This does not include conservative Church of gods or assembly of God‘s. The Barna research group said most churches will spin between 500 and $1000 annually to fund kids crusades or VBS. If 1000 churches that are in our loose knit Pentecostal Holiness fellowship spend $800 a year funding youth events, that is near $1 million collectively. Somewhere near $1 billion a year is spent to assist the elderly annually. As far as money spent on those in the middle age group, Barna offered no information. The amount of middle aged who were active church members was too small to poll.
There is always a push to make sure the seniors are included, and rightfully so. Large sums of money are spent by our government, churches, and individuals to make sure that the elderly are cared for. Senior living facilities, nursing and convalescent care facilities. It is from 50 years old until death that birthdays start meaning so much more again. Gold and silver wedding anniversaries. Retirement parties. All of these expenditures are justified to make sure that the sunset years of life are as comfortable as possible.
The middle aged years are often the most dangerous in life. It is during the noon day of life that we witness people perishing from heat exhaustion. It is this group that seems to be overlooked. Who gives a Sunday school promotion into the Bible class? Who cares if someone just turned 38 years old? The wooden wedding anniversary? It pales in comparison in to the gold and the silver. This noon day of life is the one in which most people will falter spiritually. It seems as if this particular group are the ones who so desperately need a revival.
1. So many young people work diligently to live up to the expectations of their pastors, parents, and even their peers. At our insistence and urging, they will spend quality time praying and seeking God’s direction for their lives. They will spend hours in prayer and much energy seeking direction for their career, marriage, and much more. So much effort is used during this time of life to make sure that their adulthood will be spent enjoying all that life love and the pursuit of happiness can bring.
2. Great effort is made by the elderly to prepare for the sunset of their life. During adulthood money is placed in 401(k)s and retirement pension funds to ensure financial stability and freedom during the golden years. Often times living wills, funeral Preplanning, and powers of attorney are made in order to lessen the strain on their family in that moment when the sun of their life will go down. As the golden rays of life’s sun begin to stream across the horizon of their individual life mortality becomes increasingly and startlingly clear.
Once again we must realize that middle-age people need a miracle of revival.
3. The paralysis of parenthood. The dreaded noon day of life has arrived. The melancholy moment of middle-age. It’s in this time the people begin to be lax in the prayer life. No longer do they see the necessity of prayer, fasting, and faithfulness to church. They have found a mate and began to raise a family. They no longer since the necessity of prayer to keep their mate and their family steadfast spiritually. What it took to get a husband and wife it will take to keep a husband or wife. All too often we see people beginning to live out a fantasy childhood through their own children. Their parents may have kept the line on holiness issues but now they promote and propel their own children in ways that undermine the Authority of the pastor and the power of a holy life. Resistance to the man of God in the pulpit is seldom felt from the youth or elderly. It almost always comes from a lukewarm or carnal middle aged person. Church attendance suffers in order to seek out job promotions and career advancements. Their worship becomes cold and dead. The fire of Pentecost burns down to a mere ember. All in all, their desire for God lapses into extinction as the heat of lives day takes it’s devastating toll. It’s during this critical time of life that many middle-age people perish from the paralysis of parenthood.
4. The preservation of Pentecost. It is absolutely imperative that we have a miracle for our middle-aged people. I fear that not only the Holiness Baptist Association but the independent Penecostal people are on the precipice of collapse unless we experience a middle-age revival. Many of our young people seem to be experiencing a move of God. Elderly people always seem to be more eternity minded. It is the middle aged that are at a crucial time. The torch of truth needs to To be passed from the elderly to the middle-aged. Our young people are not ready to be placed in leadership positions in the church just yet. Our elderly people are ready to pass the torch of Penecostal power. I fear that unless there is a great awakening among our middle-age people the torch will have to skip a generation.
It is the burning and incumbent passion of my soul that we see a revival in our churches for people between the ages of 30 and 50.
