This message was delivered by Robert H. Schuller from the pulpit of the Crystal Cathedral. It was aired during the Hour of Power program on Hong Kong's ATV World Channel on 7 Mar 2010.
This is the year, 2010, that I owe a lot of people a super big thank you because 2010 is the year when I celebrate anniversaries. And I need to change that "I celebrate"; to "we celebrate"; because I couldn't celebrate the anniversary's that I'm thinking of without all of you because you are a very, very, very big part of it.
This year is the celebration of my 60th year as an ordained minister. I remember when I knelt in the church and ministers came from out of the audience, some I did not know, but they heard a young boy was being ordained into the ministry and they came. They put their hands on my head and they prayed for me. Thank you. I don't even know the names of all of them or where they are, but their prayers are still alive. I've learned that prayers don't have a life span. When you pray, your prayer never dies. So this is the year I celebrate the 60th year of my ordination and that's a big one.
The next anniversary is also a big one. It's the 60th wedding anniversary for my wife Arvella and I this coming June. Wow! And this is the 55th anniversary of the founding of this church. It was 55 years ago I came at the age of 28, called by the great old denomination, the Reformed Church in America to start a church and make it an ecumenical community church. And I walked into a drive in theater about a mile from here at the time, and I thought this is a good place to start the church. I'll stand on the roof top of the snack bar and people can listen in their cars. I became a laughing stock, a butt of jokes, but today this is what lives through that humble start. Wow. What an anniversary. This congregation is 55 years old! Thank you.
Then, I never dreamed that we'd become the first televised church service to the world. Yes, this is the 40th anniversary of the Hour of Power, the world's first televised church service that would go nation wide and world wide. Unbelievable. It would be so expensive and oh how that scared me. It was the cost that scared me, and that's where the anxiety still comes because the costs go up and many of my strongest supporters have passed on. Who is taking their place and how long can the ministry survive? It depends upon new people joining, making commitments and becoming members of this ministry with their financial support. I continue to need help today like I needed it that first Sunday.
Forty years on television. Who have we helped? I remember our 1000th telecast when all of the living United States President's appeared to say thank you and to thank us for what we're giving to the world and that's hope with a capital H-O-P-E.
Yes, this is an anniversary year: 60th of my ordination, 60th of my wedding, 55th of this church, the 40th of Hour of Power, the televised church. We've survived and with your help, we'll continue to survive but it can't happen without you and that's why I started by saying this is a big thank you year.
So how do I say thank you to the people whose names I do not know, whose faces I will not see, but whose tithes and offerings are the power behind the work? How do I thank them? It's impossible. But when something's impossible, I give it back to God. He promises to bless us and make the impossible possible.
This year is the 30th anniversary of this Crystal Cathedral. September will be 30 years ago that we opened the doors. The press was out and there were huge crowds here to see the world's first glass church. It was quite a Sunday and for 30 years now this building has been here. It's been used for Christian programming like the Glory of Christmas, the Glory of Easter and many, many more events.
So as I look back over those 30 years: money? We didn't have it. Vision? Oh yeah we had it. People supporting us? You bet we did and many of you are sitting here today with your prayers and your tithes and you launched it.
So this is a year of celebrations and I've chosen one line out of the forty books I've written and the two thousand sermons I've preached. Out of all those words that are in print I've chosen one sentence to give to you on this anniversary year. Here it is:
Faith + focus + follow through = achievement.
I've lived it and it's worked. Achievement starts with faith, a vision and the vision has to be there. It has to come from God Himself. It has to come into your heart and soul so that you'd be willing to die for it. I've been willing to die for any one of the visions God has given me. Faith: what is faith? Faith is believing that something can come out of nothing.
You know it wasn't until the past year that I noticed my name in a published article which said, "Robert H. Schuller, 1926,"; my birth year. It looked like a bible verse and you know I told you a couple weeks ago I wonder if there's a bible verse 1926? So I looked in Matthew: there's a chapter 19 verse 26. It is:
"And Jesus said, with men it is impossible but with God
all things are possible.";
Matthew 19:26
I've been living under that scripture. It's been my destiny. And I am destined - I didn't choose. I've been; pardon the word, predestined by God Himself to be who I am and what I am.
Faith: Get the vision. Who are you? Why are you here? What are you living for? What's the purpose? I'll tell you what it is. It's to be here this morning or listening to the sound of this voice because God needs you. He wants you. I need you and I want you. I couldn't do this work without you. Faith + focus. Get the vision then don't get distracted by doubts, fears, anxieties or other good ideas. Most good ideas that are destroyed are destroyed by other good ideas that come in and compete. Focus: it's a powerful word. Faith, then focus and keep focused. When you look at these anniversaries, you can tell I have been focused.
Then follow through. Follow through obstacles and achievements. Follow through criticism and complaints. Follow through self-doubts that would tempt you.
Faith + focus + follow through = achievement.
You become an up person in a down world when you have a vision and you have the focus and you have a commitment that you'd die for this work that God has called you to do. Become an up person in a down world. Trials and tragedies will come. I've been praying for the people of Haiti. I've said before I've never had to walk in the street and pass a dead body. Never. But the people in Haiti have been there.
Where are you this morning? Jesus Christ came to be an up person in a down world. And He still comes to you and to me to be an up person in a down world.
Ella Wheeler Wilcox wrote the words: There are two kinds of people on earth today. Just two kinds. No more, I say. Not the rich and the poor for to know a man's wealth you first have to know his conscience and health. Not the happy and sad for in life's passing years each has his laughter and each has his tears. The two kinds of people on earth I mean are the people who lift and the people who lean. Which class are you as you go down life's road? Letting others share your burden and load or are you a lifter who helps others share their portion of labor and toil and care?
That's my message to you today. Become an up person in a down world. Each of you can because I promise you every single person listening to my voice now knows people that I've never met and will never know. People who need this message of hope in Christ. You are the closest they will ever come to Jesus Christ. I repeat that. All of you know people who are not believers and you are the closest they'll ever come to Jesus Christ. Now that's enough of a challenge for living. That's why you need to be an up person in a down world.
There was a priest walking down the street with one of his parishioners and they saw a beggar lying on the side of the street. The parishioner said to the priest, "God's supposed to be a loving God."; The priest said, "He is."; The parishioner said "then why doesn't God do something about it?"; pointing to the beggar in the gutter. The priest said, "He is. He's doing something about it. He just called him to your attention.";
We all need to be up people in a down world and that begins by becoming a close friend to Jesus Christ. He and I have become like friends, you know? That's why if Jesus Christ becomes your friend, you'll become like Him, probably without even knowing it but you will become an up person in a down world.
Let's pray: Oh God, thank You. You have a message for us today. It's a message that there are many possibilities waiting to come out of our lives to help people who need hope. And we're here in a place that You put together with a purpose; a purpose to take us and make us believers. And so we give our lives, Jesus Christ, to You. Amen.
© Copyright Hour of Power 2010. This message was delivered by Robert H. Schuller from the pulpit of the Crystal Cathedral and aired on the Hour of Power January 31, 2010.
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